Let's Quit
"Achoo! Achoo!"
After a few sneezes, Mayrin quickly glanced around, worried that someone might have heard her.
There was no one nearby—only the lava monsters frozen motionless in the ice.
Ugh, let's just get to work.
Tap.
She hopped down from the glacier and landed in front of the Sealing Stone. It was one of the stones the Volcano Castle Lord had claimed by sending his lava monsters. Mayrin laid a hand on it and poured her dark mana into it.
Vuuuum—!
The stone, tainted with strange colors, finally returned to a clean, colorless gray.
[Challengers have claimed an additional Sealing Stone.]
[The Volcano Castle Lord is weakening.]
She turned her head and looked up at the mountain.
Did that help Simon, even a little?
Mayrin had arrived at the central island later than most, caught up in the fierce battles of the exam's early stages. By the time she reached the volcano, the assault team had already departed. At first she wondered if she should push herself to catch up—then Endolas Vaudeville's words from Camp Island drifted back to her.
"We have prepared artifacts capable of weakening the Volcano Castle Lord! Seize or destroy them, and the Castle Lord's power will be diminished!"
Endolas had said exactly that. Which meant someone had to claim the Sealing Stones.
After long deliberation, she had decided to change her destination.
"Mayrin!"
Claudia's head popped out of the ice. In the same motion, her hair transformed into snakes and pierced the throat of a lava monster thrashing helplessly within the glacier.
"You're not hurt anywhere?"
"Hah, obviously not. What do you take me for?"
Behind them, the Kizen students under Mayrin's command were mopping up the remaining lava monsters. As a Top 10 student, she had assembled a group that could hold its own as a fighting force.
Claudia spoke up.
"We've claimed the Sealing Stone. What now, Mayrin?"
Whew—
The cold had turned her cheeks red. Cupping her palms before her mouth, Mayrin breathed out a faint mist as she sank into thought.
The girl, eyes closed and deep in contemplation amid the jagged spikes of the glacier, was a picture worthy of a painting.
"Here's what we do."
At last her mind was made up, and her lips parted.
"We leave a minimal force here and move to claim the next Sealing Stone. The Castle Lord is fighting up there with his back against the wall—we need to move more aggressively too."
Claudia smiled and picked up where she left off.
"Right—for Simon, who's fighting up there."
"That's… huh?"
Mayrin's head snapped around.
"?"
"?"
Their eyes met. Then, slowly, Mayrin's face flushed scarlet.
"Wh-what's that supposed to mean! Why are you saying things like that, like it's for Simon!"
"I owe him a little something from way back."
"What debt?"
"Forgot."
Claudia brushed it off vaguely and playfully pulled Mayrin into a hug.
"Aww, surprised you? Cute."
"D-don't just glomp onto me out of nowhere, you fool! And what's this debt supposed to be?!"
"Heehee, who knows~"
Shraaaaak—!
A blade white as snow sank into the rough hide of a monster. With a wet tearing sound, the blade punched back out through its body, and the monster crumpled.
Thud!
The monster fell, and a black-haired girl panted heavily, tightening her grip on her dagger.
"Don't leave a single one standing."
Loraine spread a magic circle and cast her dark magic.
As if answering her dark mana, the massive Dullahans lurched into motion and began smashing the lava monsters to pieces.
Loraine Original — Royal Guard
Her signature control-type dark magic, commanding no fewer than five Dullahans at once.
She had created it after being inspired by Simon's Royal Guard. It was her pure achievement—accomplished without any innate ability of her own.
The five Dullahans began slaughtering the monsters exactly as the word implied.
"…"
Loraine, eyes hard with focus, was concentrating all her attention on controlling the Dullahans. In that moment, a lava monster she'd assumed was destroyed heaved its upper body up and lunged for her back.
Thwack!
But before its arm could reach her, the monster's head shattered like a smashed watermelon.
Shraak!
Shraaaak!
The other lava monsters nearby were all raked with claw marks and scattered across the ground. A moment later, someone who had been spinning through the air touched down.
"Controlling five Dullahans at once is impressive, but it leaves your own defenses wide open. That's the flaw."
It was Kazhan. Loraine looked back over her shoulder.
"Thank you for the help, senior."
"Forget 'senior.' Just call me Kazhan."
He replied while scratching at the wound under his eye, then turned his head to gaze toward the crater.
Loraine, too, placed her hand on the Sealing Stone to complete its capture, then looked up.
"Sen— no, I mean, Kazhan… I thought you'd be up there."
"I have no reason to go."
Kazhan answered as he kicked a lava monster aside.
"That fight belongs to them."
"Everyoneee!"
Camibarez, wrapped in a great cloak of blood, pointed ahead.
"I can see the next Sealing Stone on that hill!"
Merida, look at this!
All of her memories of her brother were good ones.
When Mom and Dad left for work in the city, the one who stayed behind to look after her was always her brother, Phantassus.
Hyah! The horse rides forth! I am a knight on a flying steed!
The image of her brother riding his toy horse, kicking his legs and beaming, was vivid in her memory—even if their poverty meant the toys were all worn out and missing eyes.
That time. That brief moment of happiness.
Merida could never forget it. It was the happiest season of her life.
What's wrong, Merida? If you're tired, I'll carry you.
When they climbed the hill behind their house and she plopped down, refusing to walk back, her brother would sit down and offer her his back.
She had been happy.
A world with only the two of them in it.
On the way home, she missed that warm back.
"…"
The cold wind struck Merida's face, and she stirred from sleep.
Someone's back.
It felt a little wider than the back from before.
Before, the discomfort had kept waking her up, but now it was wonderfully comfortable.
If only the cold wind would stop.
She turned her head and spotted a blanket flapping loose. It seemed the blanket had torn, letting the cold wind in and waking her. Everything around her was dreadfully noisy, too.
-Graaargh!
-Keep going! Keep climbing!
Noise she could tolerate; discomfort she could not. Merida seized the torn part of the blanket and curled herself up even tighter.
-Kiiiieeeee!
A rush of cold air came from above. Turns out a winged monster was charging straight at them.
Planning to tear the blanket again, was it? She absolutely despised having her sleep disturbed.
"Merida!"
Right at that moment—
Simon was running frantically across the floating terrain pieces suspended in the sky.
"Are you awake? If you're awake, then…!"
Just then, a flying monster came hurtling toward Simon and Merida.
The instant Simon snapped together his own Sphere to counter—
"Don't disturb my sleep."
Merida, riding on Simon's back, opened her eyes.
[…!!!]
Pitter-patter.
Pitter-patter-patter.
Pitter-pitter-pitter-patter—
Rain began to fall.
The monsters' eyelids drooped shut, and they froze mid-motion, teetered, and plummeted from the sky.
The students who had been pushed to the brink whirled around, eyes wide as saucers.
"Whoa! What was that all of a sudden?"
"Wh-who did that?"
Simon turned to Merida in astonishment. At some point she had pulled her blanket all the way over her head and was snoring away.
Nice one, Merida.
He was becoming more and more certain that carrying her along was an unqualified boon.
Simon sprang off the ground again, leaping across the sky-anchored terrain.
We're almost there.
After climbing with all haste, the silhouette of the Volcano Castle floating in the sky finally came into view.
[Too slow, Simon Polentia.]
Above it loomed Hector in his Dragon form. The first to reach the castle's first floor, he was breathing fire to incinerate the monsters swarming toward him.
Simon landed on the castle right behind him, carrying Merida, the second to arrive.
"Is it safe for you to stay transformed?"
[Had I not been fighting in this form, we'd have been wiped out already.]
Hector said, expelling heat from his nostrils.
[Wait here. I'll clear the way below and come back.]
Hector flew back down beneath the castle, unleashing his breath against the enemies below.
Meanwhile, Simon bundled Merida properly onto his back once more and stared ahead.
So this is the Volcano Castle.
It was considerably vaster than it had looked.
The castle had five floors. Judging by the fact that Hector, who could fly, hadn't simply gone straight to the top, every external entrance must be sealed—anyone who wanted up would have to climb from the first floor.
Obviously, the Volcano Castle Lord will be waiting at the top.
While Simon chewed his lip in thought, students began clambering into the castle one by one.
"Ugh, I think my back just exploded."
The first to appear, moaning even as she arrived, was Elisa of the Ghost Ship. She had lost her entire fleet, but she was still showing the mettle befitting a Top 10.
Next came Jules, the greatsword wielder, cleaving a monster in half as she entered, and other top-ranked students clambered up after her, one after another.
Let's see… survivors as of now…
Simon's hand moved as he counted the students who had made it to the castle safely.
Only twenty-one.
Three hundred and seventy students had been thrown into the exam—yet with only a few hours left, just twenty-one had survived to reach the Volcano Castle.
[Two more.]
Hector appeared, wings flapping. On his back lay Cindy Vivace, utterly spent, along with a boy Simon had never seen before.
Twenty-three in all.
[No one else is coming.]
Hector returned to human form. Simon nodded.
"Then let's go!"
The last survivors of the assault team—twenty-three students including Simon—sprinted through the first floor of the Volcano Castle.
They climbed all the way to the second floor without encountering a single attack.
"I expected heavy resistance, but there's nobody here. Did he send every guard to the outside?"
At Elisa's words, Hector frowned.
"Don't get careless, Ghost Ship."
"Yes, yes."
Five floors in total.
They pressed forward quickly, exploiting the lull in enemy attacks—but before long, they had to halt, faced with figures blocking the way ahead.
"!"
They weren't the Castle Lord's forces. The ones standing in their path were, astonishingly, fellow Kizen students.
"Welcome."
The speaker had blocky hair in a tangle of brown, orange, and autumn-leaf colors hanging down.
Overall Rank 6—the Queen Bee, Merdiana.
"…"
Beside her stood Overall Rank 5, Asseraz Mikel, arms crossed with a sour look on her face.
"Oh, so some people made it up here ahead of us?"
One of the assault team stepped forward with a friendly smile.
"Why don't you join up with—"
"Stop."
Hector raised an arm to block him.
"They are not allies."
"What?"
"That remains to be seen."
Merdiana said, flicking out a viper-like tongue. Simon narrowed his eyes, staring past the two of them.
They've already prepared.
Behind the pair, hives spread across the floor like mushrooms after rain. Shrouded in darkness, they were hard to make out—but amid a low, droning buzzz, countless hornet monsters swarmed in writhing masses.
And Asseraz stood waiting with three enormous golems summoned at her back.
They had a bluish, translucent-glass appearance, inscribed everywhere with magic circles too numerous to count. It was her signature weapon—the Arcane Golem.
I don't know how they got here before us, but… do they actually intend to fight?
They would have to get through here to reach the next floor, where the Volcano Castle Lord awaited.
Then Merdiana stepped forward.
"As a fellow Kizen student, and as a classmate of the 329th class, I'd like to make you all one proposal."
"?"
"Here and now, let's all—"
She spread both arms wide.
"—quit."