The Floating Island's Trap
Despite the hood, I could still smell the reek of suspicion even if I didn’t see their faces. They waved their hands frantically as they spoke.
“Whoa, no staring like that.”
“I know it looks suspicious, but listen up.”
Two people introduced themselves right away.
“I’m Burke. I’m a martial artist.”
“Shawn. I’m an elemental mage. My main attribute is wind.”
They casually displayed aura and wind-element magic, testing my trust in them. To a mana-user, the illusion of a welcome spell was impossible—mana and aura simply could not coexist. When I thought about it, they had already shown at least half their true power.
“Rank?”
“Ah, I’m a senior promotion candidate. This guy’s just regular.”
Burke answered.
But a senior promotion candidate still meant regular, right? It was like some pre-exam student bragging he’d gotten into Sky Academy after passing the entrance test—except if you didn’t pass the promotion exam, you were still just regular.
“We don’t belong to any guild or sect, so recruiting help is pretty tough.”
“Us too?”
“Hoods are worn by the majority of explorers without affiliations. Those with strong backgrounds show it off. Especially those with solid backing.”
Burke’s explanation sounded completely plausible. Good backing meant you could afford to stand out.
“So three novices, will they be useful?”
“Yeah, should be enough. Right, Shawn?”
“Ah, what we need is someone to provide mana alongside me. You three are all mages, aren’t you? It’s good to get used to auto-mana defense, but remember the downside of letting people know you’re a mage.”
Just a few sentences and I already understood the seasoned eyes of a veteran explorer. They could spot a trap from a mile away.
“The reason we need mana is…”
“Stop right there! That’s as far as I go. It’s trade secret on our end too.”
Shawn cut him off sharply.
Trade secret.
They were worried we’d gulp down the info and run off with it.
“Give me a second to think.”
I said that, then stepped our team a little away from them.
Now or never.
Right away Leaf built a barrier to block sound. It wasn’t as refined as Sanctuarier Holsen’s full seal magic, but it would do for sound alone.
“You really following?”
Ray asked. I shrugged.
“Doesn’t sound bad. Besides, we were heading to the Hollow anyway.”
“My gut says they’re definitely up to something.”
Ray crossed her fingers.
It was mostly a blessing, but sometimes it meant the opposite—especially in explorer circles, where crossed fingers signaled trap or lie.
“I think the same.”
“I know.”
They’d shown aura and even slipped in a bit of magic to deceive us. Believing it fully would make you an idiot. In my position of believing everything without knowing better, I couldn’t believe anything anymore.
“Well, if something goes wrong we can just bail.”
With my Axis-equipped Blink I could reduce mana cost for coordinates and still drag both of them along.
“Yeah, no problem. Looks like Leaf and I could handle it anyway.”
Ray wasn’t being modest.
“Seriously… you’re trusting only Roman? You know that, right?”
Decision made.
§
“Whoa~ smart thinking.”
When we admitted we wanted to join them, Burke’s face lit up with excitement.
“If not now, when are we going to see a Hollow?”
“Yeah, exactly.”
I nodded along reasonably.
“The Hollow we found is a fair distance away.”
“Hmm.”
“Hey, don’t do that. Not even a lure.”
Burke was a genuinely pleasant guy. Over several days of travel, the fun came from his colorful retelling of his own exploits. Shawn occasionally threw in fillers, showing they had been on the same team for a long time.
“With Shawn? A while. Three years?”
“Around four.”
“Already? Time flies. Basically, licensed and straight into it?”
“Pretty much.”
Soon their mutual memories began to spill out, and we started talking among ourselves.
“Looks like we’re getting close.”
Ray pointed upward. A hollow drifting in the sky.
Now it felt unmistakably near.
“Quite high.”
Leaf extended his hand with the staff, eyes half-closed in measurement. He looked like a proper surveyor.
“Oh… Leaf, you know triangulation too?”
Leaf was also a mage.
I had honestly assumed mages were just “give me mana to the spirit”—but proper mages calculated mana equations through measurement.
“Ehehe, just tried it out…”
Ah…
“Hey, almost there. Time to start.”
While Burke called us, Shawn was already drawing a magic circle on the ground. It looked like a summoning circle, though the details differed from demon circles.
Is it for us as offerings?
As I examined the circle closely, Ray asked Burke.
“We could get closer to the Hollow, right?”
“Yeah, but it’s safer this distance.”
Burke pointed at Shawn.
“From now on my summons will carry us up.”
“Summons? A summoner?”
“Elemental mages are usually two-hands, but they can also handle composite attributes like Alexandra or step into other classes.”
“Anyway, my summons require a lot of mana to maintain.”
“So you want us to provide that mana too?”
“Exactly.”
Shawn stepped aside and led us to the circle. Between the dense characters outlining the outer ring there was a three-character gap. We were supposed to place our names there to share the burden.
“No traps, right?”
Leaf whispered as he approached.
I agreed.
We weren’t sacrificing him.
We were the sub-tanks while he was the main.
“Great. Let’s do it.”
Ray wrote her name in one breath, confirming her thoughts.
Leaf and I followed, completing the circle.
“Looks smooth. Then I’ll begin.”
Shawn started chanting.
With the words “Summon,” a massive shadow emerged in a burst of light and covered us. A diamond-shaped form hung in the sky.
“First time, huh? I understand. It’s from the third layer of the Abyss. This guy is…”
“A gaori?”
“Yeah, gaori… wait.”
“Gaori?”
It was definitely that shape, though the size differed. To be precise, a massively large charisma gaori?
Like the giant ones from old documentaries, right?
But the gaori and Shawn’s summon looked completely different. This one was flying in the sky.
“No, wrong! It’s a Stormray!”
“Stormray…?”
Leaf turned to Ray as he muttered the name.
Ray, sensing the glance, snapped, “You know what I’m thinking? I’ll kill you if you say it.”
“Heh.”
Leaf covered his mouth under the hood and laughed.
Ray’s patience snapped.
“Die!”
I turned away from the scuffling pair and examined the gaori.
“Can we board it?”
“Yeah, my magic can take you up. But should I even bother?”
“They grow while fighting, right? Just leave them.”
Both of them were childish.
I wasn’t thinking of turning on the storm and leaving Ray outside with “Stormray! No!”—but I wasn’t about to either.
“So we’re supposed to ride this all the way to the Hollow.”
“That’s right. As a wind elemental mage I can fly, but I can’t bring all of you. My mana is limited.”
That meant they had found us a mana shuttle.
“Hey, Leaf, Ray. Quit messing around and come over. Let’s go.”
“Phew… see you later.”
“Hup… fuu… Stormray…”
“Aah! The letters are different!”
Somehow we managed to climb onto the Stormray’s back. Landing and boarding would cost more mana, they said.
Once everyone was aboard, the Stormray shot upward.
After a while, Burke and Shawn’s expressions changed completely.
“These bastards really wear you out.”
“Well, it worked out.”
Burke spat out his irritation, and Shawn chuckled.
“What? No energy left already? Your mana pools are tiny, huh.”
“Even beastmen have limits, I guess. Also, you’re greenhorns who can’t even read mana equations properly.”
They spoke as if they were already sure we were neutralized.
“Time to relieve some stress. They got lectured for playing nice.”
“Be gentle. You’re in mana-depleted state. Without mana defense you’ll die if you get hit.”
“I know. I’ve done it before.”
They weren’t just sharing mana—they were draining more than necessary?
The circle felt off, but it was exactly what I thought.
Still, our team had overflowing mana, so it was a pity.
“Keep the pranks to a minimum.”
“Huh?”
Air moisture condensed, shaping into an Undine. Silver light gathered in Ray’s two fists.
Mana depletion?
It looked like someone was shouting “What the—?!”
“Eh? Eh?”
Shawn belatedly let out a shocked cry.
He finally realized.
Reaction too slow.
Shawn panicked and tried to raise mana, but nothing changed.
“What’s wrong, Shawn!”
“T-that… my mana… my mana…”
The circle was pulling even more mana from us.
Our total was around nine. Shawn was taking one.
But that meant if I filled nine alone, Ray and Leaf provided zero while Shawn took one—and if I filled ninety, Shawn would need ten.
“Why, did a mana ring pop out?”
I teased, out of breath, as Shawn struggled.
Shawn tried desperately to reverse the summon, but it was futile. A master without mana to offer isn’t a master at all.
The moment Shawn was out, control of the summon transferred to the one providing the most mana—me.
In other words.
This gaori now belongs to me.