Let's Deal With This Quickly and Move On.
Let's Deal With This Quickly and Move On.
Another day had passed in the danger zone of Berkel.
"This place is far more revolting than I expected."
Trixie muttered as she glanced around.
The ominously barren ground, the turbid currents of magic power, the countless demon beasts. The three mages walked through a land where all manner of danger lay sleeping.
Every so often as they walked, an incomprehensible cry from a demon beast sent a chill crawling down their spines.
"What in the world was he thinking...."
Trixie pressed a hand to her forehead.
To think the magic circle was related to teleportation. Not one of the three had dared to predict it.
A gamble and a miracle both — a formula without the slightest error, using magic power as a catalyst to transport them all into the danger zone.
That was Plan's magic.
Signal, Emergency Evasion, Calmness.
Three essentials for surviving in a danger zone. Looking back now, each of those formulas had been a clue.
Thanks to Calmness in particular, the three were able to keep their composure even in this abrupt situation.
Louis spoke up.
"Plan must have a plan of his own. For one thing, there's no better place to rack up points than the danger zone."
"...What plan could there possibly be. It's already the third day of the Subjugation Festival. And to make matters worse, Plan is separated from us."
Trixie's gaze shifted to the Subjugation Festival record scroll. The top-ranking groups, Cheonchuk among them, were still steadily accumulating points.
...No, accumulating wasn't quite the right word. Forced to accumulate — that was closer to the truth.
Because the moment a group's point increase could no longer be confirmed after entering the danger zone, it was essentially the same as being unable to confirm they were still alive.
Thud. Thud.
"Stay sharp from here on out. If we can't reunite with Plan, we'll have to manage on our own."
Thud. Thud.
"What in the world is making all that noise while I'm trying to talk."
Trixie turned her head in irritation. And then, for a moment, she looked thoroughly baffled.
"...?"
Becky was walking at the very back, methodically crushing conspicuous insect-type demon beasts with ice spears.
"What are you doing."
"Hm? You should try it too. Killing these gets you points."
"...Haah."
Trixie let out a deep sigh. The points you could get from spiderlings were utterly negligible.
"What good will it do to scrape together that pitiful handful of points."
"You've got to gather every last bit, bit by bit."
"It's pointless. I told you."
The idea that many specks of dust make a mountain only holds when there's nothing to compare against.
Right now, with the high-ranked knight groups raking in points like mad, those specks, no matter how many you gathered, would ultimately remain mere specks.
"Now that we've entered the danger zone, what matters is reliably taking down even one high-value demon beast. And reuniting with Plan comes first."
"We'll probably run into Plan soon anyway."
"Don't just spout vague hopes."
"I mean it. I can sense something like a signal."
Trixie's head tilted slightly.
'She's saying there's a detectable Signal?'
Trixie had succeeded in understanding the Signal formula as well. But for her part, Trixie couldn't detect anything in particular right now.
"You're sure it's Plan's signal?"
"Yeah. I'm sure."
Trixie looked at Becky in a new light. When it came to anything involving Plan, Becky's Qi Sense was strangely sensitive.
"...."
Trixie stared at Becky for a long moment with an unreadable expression, then let out a scoff and a dry laugh.
"Anyone watching would think the two of you were lovers."
"Lo... what did you say?"
Becky pressed right up close to Trixie. Very close. Close enough that their breaths nearly mingled.
"What did you just say?"
"Lov..."
Trixie, who had been about to say "lovers," shut her mouth tightly. How to put it — the look on Becky's face practically begged to hear the word, and she found herself unwilling to finish what she'd started.
"...Forget it."
"Huh? Trixie."
"I said forget it. Never mind."
Without giving Becky the answer she wanted, Trixie simply swept her hair back with haughty indifference.
"By the way, doesn't this feel like something other than a forest?"
Louis, who had been walking ahead, finally spoke up. At his words, Becky quietly nodded.
"Right. I was just thinking the same thing."
Becky looked around blankly, studying their surroundings.
"I was relieved when we first found a path, but the more we walk, the stranger it feels. Like we're being herded somewhere?"
"Yeah. It feels closer to a labyrinth than a forest."
"A labyrinth inside the danger zone. An ominous sign...."
Worry crept onto Becky's face.
But their questions about the terrain soon subsided. Because something far more serious made itself known.
"Huh?"
"Wait."
All three stopped at the same time.
For once, their impressions aligned perfectly. An intense energy had surged up in an instant and then rapidly subsided.
"Let's go."
"Ugh, I've got a bad feeling about this...."
"There's only one path anyway. We have to."
Becky quietly followed behind the two who took the lead. About ten minutes later, the three came face-to-face with the source of that massive energy.
"It's a corpse."
Trixie murmured under her breath.
The scene before them: three knights, collapsed in a grisly heap, bleeding. Seeing them lying there, their eyes not even closed, sent an involuntary shiver through her.
"Ghosts...? Or could they be corpses of Mumyeong?"
Becky swallowed hard.
It wasn't that she felt any particular kinship with the knights, but as a girl, the sight of death itself was simply pitiful.
Louis dropped to one knee and examined the bodies closely. Then he shook his head.
"No. These are humans."
"Human knights?"
"Look here."
Louis pointed to the inner wrist, where a pulse could be taken. Across the skin of the corpses, the blue circuits characteristic of Inherent Ability users stood out like veins.
"...."
A chill ran through them.
At the same time, all three felt it anew: the reality of exactly what kind of place they now stood in.
That this was a life-or-death competition, that they had submitted written pledges, the warnings about the danger zone... they had been aware of all of it from the start.
But even knowing everything, the shock of actually seeing other representatives lying dead was enormous.
"So this is the real thing."
Becky murmured quietly.
Under the title of representative, they could no longer receive help from anyone. A single moment's lapse in vigilance would lead straight to eternal rest.
Trixie was the first to recover her composure.
"What's there to be shocked about now. Why do you think people go wild over the Subjugation Festival in the first place? We already knew that death was a possibility."
"That's true, but... ugh."
Becky turned her head sharply, as if she couldn't bear to look any longer.
"Things really would be better if Plan were here."
Louis spoke quietly. When it came to the kind of person you'd think of in a situation like this, there really was only one name.
"From here on, be cautious even with your breathing. There's no guarantee we're any different."
The moment Trixie gave that warning.
A few insect-type demon beasts scuttled past the three of them with a rustle.
"Ugh, the insect-types have already gotten bigger!"
CRUNCH!
Becky froze them solid. The next moment, the palm-sized demon beasts shattered into mere fragments of ice.
"Phew, thank goodness they're easy to take out."
"You. What are you doing."
"Hm?"
Becky tilted her head as if to ask what the problem was.
"If I kill them this way, their insides don't burst. When stuff splatters everywhere, it seriously makes me want to throw up...."
"No. You idiot."
As if exasperated, Trixie let out a sigh.
"Be cautious even with your breathing. Didn't I literally just say that? You heard me perfectly well."
"But I was plenty cautious taking them out...."
Becky shrugged her shoulders as if she'd been wronged.
"And isn't it safer to kill them? The points even add up pretty decently."
That was when it happened.
RUSTLE RUSTLE RUSTLE!
The rustling sound began to fill their ears again. It multiplied rapidly, soon growing so loud that it was painful to hear.
"Huh...?"
As the sound swelled, the bewilderment of the three swelled with it.
Every head turned toward the source.
"...!"
"What the!"
"I-insect-type demon beasts? This many of them?"
An overwhelming number of insect-type demon beasts were surging toward the three of them like a tidal wave. Calling it a swarm wasn't quite accurate — the number was closer to an army.
Sparks flew from Trixie's eyes.
"Becky, you...!"
"Y-y-you're saying this is because of me?"
"Who else would it be, then!"
At the same moment she spoke, Trixie sent a flame-form wolf charging forward. Louis and Becky, having grasped the situation, likewise rapidly drew up their mana.
RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!
As the spider army drew near, the very earth began to tremble. Creatures so grotesque that even one would make you recoil were now crashing down in waves, massed together.
"F-for now, gather toward me─!"
Becky, horrified, spread an ice shield outward in a semicircle and draped it over the three of them. Defense or offense, none of that mattered — her first thought was to at least protect their bodies.
"Becky, you...! Get rid of this!"
"Getting rid of it would be a disaster!"
"This is basically trapping us. Why did you even touch the insect-types in the first place...!"
The complaints directed at Becky steadily rose. The target of their ire merely squeezed her eyes shut and desperately kept spreading the ice.
"Huh...?"
But it didn't take long for that misunderstanding to resolve itself. The spiderlings, as if to spite them, passed right by the three.
Taking no notice whatsoever of the likes of them, the spider demon beasts swiftly trampled over the semicircular ice encasing the three and moved on.
"...What?"
"They weren't coming for us?"
All three stared blankly at the backs of the insect-type demon beasts. It was a relief, if anything, but they had no way of knowing what was actually going on.
RUMBLE—!
But then.
A chilling resonance shook the earth.
When they turned their heads, a colossal queen spider was staring at the three of them with countless eyes.
It was so immense that the trees looked laughable by comparison, radiating a sinister aura that couldn't even be compared to the demon beasts they'd encountered before. More than enough to strike the representatives speechless.
"...."
So the spiders from a moment ago had all been fleeing. In a single instant, the whole situation clicked into place.
"...What do we do now?"
Becky murmured under her breath. No answer came back.
RUMBLE—
The spider drew a long red thread from its body.
The thread coiled around the knights' major joints, and the corpses began to move as if they were still alive.
"...!"
The horrifying sight left the three momentarily dazed.
"It's controlling the corpses? Maybe now, while we still can...."
"No. It's too late to run on foot."
Trixie cut Becky's words off sharply.
"Insect-type demon beasts."
Just then, Louis murmured quietly.
"Louis, we already know they're insect-type demon beasts...."
"No. Not the one in front of us."
He slowly shook his head.
"Then what?"
"The small insect-type demon beasts. They're coming back from behind us."
"...?"
Louis's words were true. When they looked back, the things that had passed by the three of them were surging toward them once more.
If it had been nothing but spider demon beasts before, this time every kind of insect-type demon beast was mixed in. If the first wave had been a tide, the thing now bearing down on them was a tsunami.
"KYAAAAAH!"
Becky screamed and wrung out every last ounce of her strength. A tsunami of insect-type demon beasts swept over the ice spread in a dome, scouring the area.
"Why... why are they coming back!"
"For now, focus solely on defense!"
One second. Ten seconds. Thirty seconds.
As she drew her mana to its absolute limit, a searing pain assaulted her. It was agony she couldn't endure even by gritting her teeth, but the desire to live was far greater.
The result of holding on and holding on.
"...It's done!"
When the final spider had at last passed by, Becky cried out in joy.
However.
She soon realized that there was no cause for rejoicing.
An unbelievable sight spread before her eyes.
"What in the...."
Insect torsos and legs lay scattered in all directions — the insect-type demon beasts, every last one of them, had been diced into tiny pieces. The cause was the knights' bodies manipulated by the queen spider.
"Is this even possible?"
Becky trembled at the reality before her eyes.
She simply couldn't believe that the numbers she'd perceived as a 'tsunami' had been swept aside like mere dust.
The knights' corpses, strung up by red threads, seemed to speak to her. 'You are next.' Her legs began to shake uncontrollably.
Right at that moment.
The red threads pulled slightly taut, and before she could even blink, the knights' corpses surged forward to right under her nose.
No — their vigor and momentum were such that you couldn't even call them corpses. She hadn't even had time to think about how to react.
"Becky! Block them!"
Louis's urgent shout rang out.
"Too lat..."
That was as far as she got.
KABOOOOOM!
With a thunderous roar, the space itself exploded.
The empty air shimmered like a heat haze, and the red threads were sent flying into the distance.
All three faces went blank at the unexpected turn of events.
And in the next moment, they were able to make sense of it.
"All this fuss. It's just a single bug."
That distinctive, cool voice.
The cause of the insect-type demon beast tsunami.
Also, the very person who had brought them all into the danger zone.
A man with a face so calm he might as well have been strolling through his own mansion. Someone who pursued nothing but the path of the mage.
Plan.
He stood there as expressionless as ever, yet the magic power radiating from him was as vast as the sea.
Relief washed over every face.
"You...."
"Plan!"
At some point, he began to step forward slowly.
"But there's still."
He began snapping his fingers a few times.
"A bothersome insect that doesn't know its place."
The red threads all snapped and dropped from the air.
"Let's deal with it quickly and move on."
Forcibly ending the queen spider's puppet show, Plan wrapped things up with flat indifference.
"After all, I've found something quite interesting."