Big Kroom
Having made it safely up the gorge, Simon now entered the core region.
The jungle grew denser and lusher here, unfolding before him like a painting, and from this point on the atmosphere itself was unmistakably different. Explosions rang out all around, and the chaotic clash of weapons filled the air. Even monsters of Rank 3 and above—the apex of the island's food chain—had begun to appear.
With the Golem Core recovered, Simon resumed his search, moving far more carefully than before. One careless mistake would make him a target for both students and monsters alike.
"Whew."
Simon wiped the sweat from his brow and glanced around. He hadn't crossed paths with a single Kizen student yet, but his hunting points had already exceeded 127P. Still, from here on out, he would need to be prepared to fight at least two or three of them at once.
Fwoosh!
Just as he'd feared. Simon felt a searing heat and looked up—black flames were falling out of nowhere, straight toward his head.
The same Jet-Black flame discipline as Meilin!
BOOM!
Simon leapt back to evade it and stood watching the black flames spread through the grass—when another fireball came flying at his flank before he knew it.
Fast—!
KWAKWAKWANG!
THUD!
That much firepower, and rapid-fire to boot. Simon dashed around in a frantic scramble, dodging the barrage. The moment he tried to climb a tree to put distance between them in one go, a massive flame came hurtling in and swept the entire tree away.
Watching a full-grown tree burn to nothing in a matter of seconds was enough to make his skin crawl.
This is getting dangerous.
Simon cut his direction mid-run and landed on the ground. At that moment, his flame-flinging opponent also came down from the trees and revealed themselves.
Simon's eyes went wide with shock.
"Meilin!"
It really was Meilin. Arms crossed, she smiled and gave a little wave of her hand.
"Knew it was you, huh? Simon."
"I was worried about you! How have you been? Have you been eating—"
Che.
Meilin spread her palm open at that moment. A warning signal: stay back.
"...M-Meilin?"
"We've been on the same team ever since we entered Kizen. We've worked together, leaned on each other."
Simon quickly pieced the situation together. Something was off. The usual spark was gone from her, and even the color of her eyes seemed faintly clouded.
"Honestly, aren't you curious?"
Dark flames swelled up over her open palm, smoldering.
"Which of us is stronger."
Simon's face hardened as he raised his Jet-Black.
"You're planning to fight me?"
"Yeah."
Meilin answered without a beat of hesitation.
"Chances to go all-out like this don't come around often."
"Calm down. Holding back in a situation like this just wastes effort for both of us."
Her eyes sharpened with fierce intent.
"Then get ready!"
FWOOOOOOSH!
The flames roared even fiercer from her hands. Simon cooled his head and forced himself to think clearly.
She's definitely not right.
He knew perfectly well that Meilin was running past the top of Class A toward the very summit. He knew about her pride and her competitive streak, too. He'd even vaguely suspected they might clash someday.
But wasn't this coming on awfully sudden?
Convinced something was wrong, Simon pulled his skeletons out of subspace.
"Haah!"
She stepped on Jet-Black and leapt into the air, unleashing a rapid stream of dark flames.
Fwoosh!
FWOOOOSH!
Every single shot came down like a terrifying offensive. The angles and trajectories of the projectiles were endlessly varied. Worse, wherever the dark flames landed they burned through grass and trees, carving out danger zones—the space Simon could dodge through was shrinking in real time.
"HAAAAH!"
Meilin meant every bit of it. And there was the Multi-Cast technique she'd shown off in the last Duel Evaluation—pouring raw firepower with her right hand while her left quietly prepared her ultimate move, Dark Flare.
Flawless, exactly as the word implied.
Meilin was using her overwhelming specs to drive Simon into a corner.
Well, no helping it now.
Simon resolved to fight for real.
You know me well—but I know you just as well.
What Simon drew from subspace was a one-gold bow. He gripped it in his left hand, nocked an arrow with his right, and infused it with Jet-Black.
Hah!
Jumping clear of the incoming dark flames, Simon drew the bowstring taut and turned his back to her—aiming straight at Meilin, who was still pouring out dark flame after dark flame.
Twiing!
He fired. The arrow punched straight through the dark flames, and Meilin, blinded by her own attack, never tracked its trajectory.
Thwack!
The result: a clean hit to her side. The protective suit spared her any wound, but her Barrier Gauge took a hefty chunk of damage. He could see her stagger backward in shock.
Purely in terms of offense, Meilin ranks among the very best in all of Kizen. But when someone floods the field with nothing but raw offensive power to suppress every counterattack—
Simon nocked another arrow and let it fly.
—she's wide open to simple, pinpoint physical strikes. No complicated tricks needed.
Thock!
The next arrow buried itself in the tree beside her face. A bead of sweat trickled down her forehead.
"Don't you dare underestimate me!"
She charged in far more aggressively now, attacking on the move. As Simon kept his distance and loosed arrow after arrow, she activated her Internal Jet-Black Operation. Her running speed climbed higher and higher, and the arrows began striking nothing but empty ground.
Whoa. If she's this good at Martial Arts too, I'm in real trouble.
Simon clicked his tongue and nocked his next arrow. Hitting a target sprinting at full speed was no easy feat.
The best timing would be—
"HAAH!"
The instant she flung a dark flame, Simon loosed his arrow. Both of them evaded in the same breath as their attacks crossed: she snapped her head aside while Simon flipped backward out of the way.
Fwoosh!
Thwack!
Trading one exchange apiece, the two of them skidded back across the ground. Meilin smiled.
No need to rush. If I just stall like this until Dark Flare is ready—
Thwack!
A sudden impact against her thigh made her jolt and whip around.
What the—who just—?!
As if denying her even a moment to think, Simon fired an arrow straight at her from the front. She leapt sideways to evade it, keeping one eye behind her—
Twee-ang!
Twiing!
This time, one arrow came from either side, each tearing into her Barrier Gauge as it passed through. Arrows alone had already shaved off more than half her gauge.
What on earth is going on!
Dropping back to the ground, Meilin's mind raced. Attacks from three directions. Then she remembered—Simon's Skeleton Archers. There were three of them.
Of course. The Skeleton Archers—!
But wherever the arrows had flown in from, the dense forest swallowed everything in shadow, and she couldn't pin down a single position. They were beyond the reach of her dark flames, too.
Nocking.
Simon drew an arrow to his bowstring. The three Skeleton Archers linked to his will drew in unison, their aim locked on Meilin.
Your weakness—ranged physical attacks. And a four-way barrage on top of it.
The identity of Summoning, whatever anyone said, was sheer numbers. Simon had squeezed that advantage for a hundred percent of its worth—and now it was Meilin cornered instead.
Don't underestimate me. I'm not the only one who's been watching!
She bit down hard on her lip and unfolded a new magic circle.
Papabak!
Two of the four arrows grazed past her, and her gauge dropped sharply once again. As Simon and the Skeleton Archers began reloading, Meilin retreated against a tree, dropped to one knee, and pressed her palm to the ground.
"Jet-Black Elemental Magic — Ice Discipline"
⟨ Wall of Ice ⟩
GRUMBLE!
A barrier of ice bloomed up on all three sides at once. The next volley of arrows slammed into it and bounced off harmlessly.
Seeing that, Simon lowered his bow with a look of relief.
Guess that's that.
Truth be told, he'd never intended to knock her out of the exam. She'd put up her defense first—so now he could simply raise his Jet-Black and slip away.
The moment Simon turned cleanly on his heel—
"Simon!!"
Meilin's shout rang out at his back.
"You're really going to end it like this? This is our first real fight, and you're going to wrap it up this boringly?!"
"......."
Simon looked back over his shoulder.
"Fight me for real!"
FWARRRRR!
Dark Flare was finally complete. He could see the ice wall melting rapidly under its searing heat.
I have no idea what's gotten into her, but—
Simon took hold of his bow again.
—if she's going to insist that hard, I'm getting competitive too.
The ice melted away completely, and she broke into a run. With her Internal Jet-Black Operation pushed to the absolute limit, she gripped the Dark Flare in both hands.
A combination of speed and offense that abandoned all thought of defense. Simon took aim with his bow once more and channeled Jet-Black into both legs. The Skeleton Archers readied their sniping shots as well.
Precision predictive shots are beyond me. When she gets close, I end it at point-blank range.
The distance between them shrank and shrank. A hair-trigger standoff—
and in the very instant Simon's fingers loosened on the bowstring—
...Huh?
Beside Meilin, he saw the ground split open.
"[Boy! It's him!]"
"[That's Big Kroom!]"
Pier's urgent voice reverberated through Simon's head.
THAT'S Big Kroom? Simon's eyes went wide. The crack racing up from the earth was bearing down on Meilin at terrifying speed. At this rate, it would hit her head-on.
Ghh—!
Simon flung aside the bow he'd been aiming. Planting both legs against the ground, he pooled every last drop of his Jet-Black into them and dropped low.
Then he charged toward her with the most powerful Dark Step he could muster.
What—why is he suddenly—?
Meilin's pupils wavered. Charging headlong into someone holding a Dark Flare was nothing short of suicide. All she had to do was extend her arm and unleash it—but she hesitated.
That desperate, urgent expression on his face looked nothing like an attacker trying to harm her, no matter how many times she looked at it.
Her arm faltered—and stopped. And only then did the question surface.
Why am I... fighting Simon, again?
CRACK!
Simon shoved through that split second of hesitation and struck the back of her neck, knocking her out cold. Without a moment's delay, he caught her in his arms and threw himself into a furious backflip.
KUKWAKWAKWAKWANG!
Simon felt as if the earth itself had flipped upside down. The ground detonated with a violent tremor, and from the fissure something enormous erupted.
Good heavens—!
It was a colossal monster's arm, wrapped in green, sinewy bandages. The grasping hand closed on empty air, and Simon and Meilin, still tangled together, escaped by a hair's breadth.
Ghh!
He'd leapt without thinking and hadn't prepared a landing. Simon wrapped her tightly in his arms and took the impact on his own back. With a resounding CRASH, his body sprang up off the ground like a coiled spring, and she went tumbling head over heels across the dirt.
"Meilin!"
Meilin, unconscious, was sliding toward the edge of a cliff.
The gigantic arm swept restlessly around, as if searching for something, then planted its palm flat against the ground.
"...!"
Simon froze solid. Rising up out of the gorge on the far side—the one that dropped off into a sheer cliff—was the face of a giant monster.
So that's—!
Big Kroom, former commander of the Legion's Giant Corps.
Big Kroom glanced around with haunted, unfocused eyes, then turned away as if he hadn't found what he was looking for.
"[Boy! He's running!]"
"But—!"
Unconscious Meilin was rolling down the slope of tilted ground. That way was the cliff.
Simon's gaze flicked between Big Kroom and Meilin—and gritting his teeth, he bolted for her.
Dark Step, again!
Simon poured on every ounce of speed. Meilin, sliding down the incline, was about to tumble off the cliff's edge—
Snap!
—when he caught her wrist by the narrowest of margins.
Spattered head to toe in mud, Simon lifted his head, gasping for breath.
KOONG! KOONG! KOONG!
A giant so massive his mouth fell open at the sight was striding away on the far side of the cliff. Glancing around as though searching for something, his body slowly began to shrink. Smaller and smaller—until he was smaller than the trees, and then gone from sight entirely.
Whewww.
Simon pulled the unconscious Meilin up into his arms. Thanks to the protective suit, she didn't appear to be injured, and her Barrier Gauge was clinging to life in the single digits.
What is this?
There, embedded in the nape of her neck, was a strange white feather.
The moment Simon reached out to examine it more closely, the feather scattered into the empty air and vanished.
Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter.
Oh.
Simon looked up. A few drops of rain fell from the overcast sky—then, with a rushing hiss, a downpour broke loose.
First things first—I need to find shelter.
Hearing the whole story could wait. Scooping up the unconscious Meilin, Simon rose to his feet.