How Humans Endure a Fool's Mistakes
It was inevitable that the gaps left by Yan Bongsik's schemes would exist. If I had simply withheld my mana while the rest of us produced it, we would have felt the anomaly and refused. Controlling the summoned beast's influence and freely adjusting our mana consumption would also have required synchronized mana drain, so that was unavoidable. Capturing a Novice as well was probably meant to make suppression easier in a pinch, but it also seemed designed to block cases where mana volume exceeded his own.
Looking back at what Burke had said, it seemed several similar cases had occurred among us. By targeting our team, their luck had finally run out.
When Sean finally lost all consciousness, Burke finally understood the situation.
"Damn it!"
Even as a Senior candidate, his escape instinct kicked in instantly. But we were already high above the clouds. The only path out was to jump from the sky itself.
As expected.
The thing rose up at the very end of the ray's broad back.
"Why? Not jumping?"
"Cluck…!"
It looked like the next line of dialogue should have come next, but Burke simply clenched his teeth. It wasn't something a human man would say.
"Since things have come to this…"
Burke changed his strategy. Direct breakthrough for escape. But that felt like a desperate move.
"I'll handle it. Last time I couldn't finish it properly."
"Since you already caught one, there's no need to spare anyone."
"Received."
I ordered the ray to stop flying and hover instead of moving.
A ray that could easily implement hovering, a feat that even most flying beasts struggled with.
It was a flying ray after all.
The mana investment paid off.
"You want to face me alone? A Novice against me, a Senior candidate?"
Once the floor stabilized, the psychological balance had returned enough for Burke to speak firmly.
The frustration had faded, leaving only self-loathing and anger at having fled in fear of threat from three Novices.
Escape was impossible anyway. So what was the way forward?
"Just suppress all three of you and force movement."
That was all.
§
"Senior candidate, huh."
Ray delivered a soccer-kick to the back of the ray's head, where Burke was sprawled, and shook her two hands.
"You need to grow eyes in the first place."
Not a drop of blood on the hands wrapped in Arjentus mana.
It looked like she was brushing off the lingering impact of the strike from a hand that wasn't bleeding.
"How was it? You caught me properly this time, right?"
I didn't really need to spare him anyway this time. Having a spare was better, though.
"Yeah. Well done."
"Hmph."
Ray raised her head with a snort after my short praise. Placing both hands on her hips and shrugging her shoulders somehow provoked an urge to irritate.
What was that expression again? Toyo Ray? Something like that.
It was hard to say anything to Ray, and ignoring it felt awkward. A strange irritation crept in.
It was impossible to scold the Ray who had fought bravely and won brilliantly. I was a perfectly rational and cold team leader. Unreasonable punishment was not allowed.
But it was fine. There was someone here who would accept my irritation.
"Hey, wake up."
Oh, you were pretending to be dead?
I had stopped pouring mana into the ray and confirmed proper recovery with the mana sight, right?
"Answer."
Sean jerked upright at my words laced with killing intent.
"Y-yeah."
"Yeah?"
"…I did."
Sean carefully folded his hands in a polite posture.
"There are more accomplices, right?"
"Eh?"
"Not just the two of you. There's one in the air too, right?"
"That… is…"
Look at that? Even in this situation, he's evading.
But directly getting angry and scolding him would be sloppy. I employed a more refined interrogation technique.
"Don't want to talk? Fine."
"Eh?"
"My friend is really good at handling things, so my mouth got a bit longer. No need to be so formal, right?"
If you don't speak, I'll just kill you and interrogate Burke.
Sean's pupils trembled violently.
Burke was the one who had immediately tried to save himself the moment Sean became combat-ineffective.
A colleague? If anyone remained, it would be a saint. If I chose to die upholding brotherhood with Burke and chose death here, I would have shown respect and been willing to strike the blow myself.
But I didn't need to do that.
"Y-yes."
Sean's words flowed.
"That… there's a relic in the floating island."
"A relic?"
An undiscovered relic appearing so easily?
The First Layer was highly explored, so it wasn't strange.
"It was under the floating island."
"Ah, so that's why."
Normally, no one would think of digging that deep after reaching the floating island. Though perhaps even with the thought, realization was difficult.
Just reaching the floating island was already difficult enough. And they had to carry supplies to dig through the ground? If not, the loss would be enormous. In fact, even the Enigma Guild, one of the Five Great Guilds, had attempted floating-island explorations several times and given up, saying the returns didn't justify the effort.
Unlike the other Four Great Guilds, Enigma was made up of true pure gamers—adventurers who loved all kinds of bizarre acts. Yet even they had failed despite pouring in capital and manpower.
I knew the story too, but other explorers might not. So people with deep academic curiosity or those like me who approached with pure curiosity or adventuring spirit were the only ones who would notice the floating island. The rarity of floating-island explorers was for good reason.
There were already precedents, yet others had dug up the ground on the floating island too? The answer was obvious. They had identified the specific floating island with solid information. Information that they could be certain there was a relic here.
"Explain in more detail."
"So…."
"Cough, Sean… sh-shut…."
"Leaf."
"Yes."
Squish!
Leaf immediately shut Burke's mouth by splashing water on his face.
With no more tricks left after being completely destroyed by Ray, there was nothing left for Burke to do.
"Keep talking."
"Yes, yes… but we haven't even seen the end yet."
"Why?"
"That is… I don't know much…"
Sean knew little.
Sean and Burke were a kind of supply chain. Sean, who could fly, was essential, and Burke, who had matched him well and was physically close to Senior rank, served as his bodyguard.
They handled not only daily supplies but also external personnel for relic exploration. So they were unfamiliar with the conditions inside the relics. They didn't even know their classes or affiliations.
"Then what exactly do you know?"
Ray shot back sharply.
Sean answered hesitantly.
"…Headcount?"
"Right, as a supply chain, you'd know the numbers."
Even hiding that much would mean failing as a supply chain.
"Even with such fragmentary information shared, you performed the mission well."
Whether stupid or naive, Ray clicked her tongue.
"Um… perhaps there's a real leader and the structure is based on his trust."
"Oh?"
"In a hierarchical structure, if the superiors clearly control the subordinates, the lower ones not knowing each other makes sense."
Unexpectedly sharp analysis from Leaf made Ray's eyes widen. I forced a surprised expression too.
No, Leaf had hidden such analytical power? Leaf hiding analytical power, what kind of thing was that? Sean looked at Leaf with a dazed face as if he couldn't understand how it had hit the mark.
Yet among those reactions, Leaf looked even more flustered.
"Eh? Eh? Everyone didn't think that?"
"Um…."
"Even Roman-ssi? No! We didn't either!"
"We…?"
What? Had I?
Ray shook her head as if she herself didn't know, receiving my questioning gaze.
Leaf, feeling our frustration, clenched his fist and thumped his chest.
"No, the colleagues! The colleagues! If it weren't for Roman-ssi, we wouldn't be able to see each other that clearly, but with Roman-ssi, everyone would swarm together."
Ah, colleagues.
"So that's what you meant? I was wondering what. Just call them colleagues from the start."
Leaf kept punching Ray's chest with the fist that had been drumming it and delivered an elf punch.
Ray, a mage skilled in close combat who had already shattered Burke, didn't even react.
"I roughly get it. The level of your organization."
I asked Sean one last question.
"Tell me everything about that leader."
This time Sean didn't open his mouth easily. Fear, guilt, and doubt created hesitation. But in the face of death, those things were meaningless.
Sean said.
"The boss's name is Jan."
…Hm? Jan?
§
The leader of the floating-island excavation team, an explorer affiliated with Gravediggers, a guild that was not one of the Five Great Guilds but still quite well-known.
Even when it was time to go, Yan Bongsik murmured while waiting for the supply chain that brought no news.
"The supply chain is late."
"Wasn't it the ones who messed with their people that got caught?"
"Hmm…."
At his subordinate's words, Bongsik thought it possible.
Burke and Sean. They were among the stronger ones in the First Layer of the Abyss, but facing proper Senior rank would have been a loss. If the two of them cooperated, escape would be possible, but Senior rank wouldn't travel alone.
Burke was out of the question, and while Sean's existence handling flying summoned beasts was regrettable, it no longer mattered. It would end soon anyway.
"It doesn't matter. Almost there."
Though invisible to the naked eye, Bongsik could feel with his skin that what he wanted was right in front of him.
"The altar is right here. Don't move."