Chapter 112 Different but the same [2]
I felt my face twitch slightly.
It was an involuntary reaction. Something that I couldn't control. Staring ahead, the world seemed a little bit blurry. It switched between clarity and blurriness.
.....I felt sick.
And my head throbbed.
Even so, I had to keep moving forward.
"Boss monster? ....What do you mean we're near? How do you know?"
"I can feel it."
No, that was a lie.
I could just see it from the map. It was also for this very reason that I had led them here.
"....Wait, what? You can feel it? What sort of nonsense is this?"
I turned to look behind me.
Standing just a few feet from me were my team members. They were all looking at me with incredulous looks. I couldn't blame them.
I was just about to speak when Luxon interrupted.
"Before any of that, can you explain what happened?"
His deep voice echoed within the confines of the corridor of the Labyrinth.
"You were suddenly dragged by a hooded figure and then all of a sudden we found you here, claiming that you can feel the boss. How does this make sense? At least explain what's going on?"
His words were met with a wave of nods as Kiera and the rest seemed to be on the same page as him. I looked at them for a short moment before nodding my head.
"....Fair."
Looks like they didn't buy it.
Rummaging through my pocket, I took out a small map and came out clean.
"I managed to get my hands on this."
"Uh?"
At first, everyone was confused by the map. However, shortly after, their expressions changed.
"A map?"
"Wait, hold on... Look at the lines."
As if realizing what kind of map it was, their eyes widened. Pointing at it, Josephine stuttered slightly.
"H-how did you get this?"
Everyone raised their heads to stare at me. Taking in their expressions, I answered,
"From the hooded figure."
"....The fuck?"
I raised my hand to show them my bracelet.
"I'm not entirely sure about what's happening. However, it seems like we're currently under attack."
I went on to press the emergency button on the bracelet. When nothing happened, everyone blinked. They then looked at me strangely.
The first one to speak was Anders who stared at his bracelet with a frown.
"We already knew. We tried using the bracelet the moment that you were taken. However, it didn't work for any of us."
"Ah."
Right. That made sense.
In any case,
"I was able to get the map from the hooded figure."
Yet again, everyone blinked.
Staring at me with a frown, Luxon deeply said,
"You were able to beat him?"
Judging from his tone, he didn't seem to particularly believe him.
I couldn't blame him.
".....Don't get me wrong, but last I recall, he was very powerful. How in the world did you manage to beat him."
"I had help. I met a few cadets along the way."
"Uh...?"
Seeing the way Kiera was looking at me, it was obvious that she didn't believe my story. I shrugged.
"If the map is correct the boss is only a few corridors away. If you don't believe me you can test it."
Kiera's eyes narrowed, and I stared back without saying a word.
It was Josephine's voice that broke the silence between the two of us.
"We should try it."
"....."
Finally, Kiera took her eyes away from me and looked at the map. Then, staring at it for a few seconds, she clicked her tongue.
"Alright, fine"
"Uh, hey!"
Snatching the map from Josephine, she held it in front of her and proceeded forward. As she passed me, she mumbled,
".....I still owe you, so."
And proceeded to leave with that. Confused, I stared at her back.
'Owe? What did she owe me for....?'
"Wait, Kiera! Wait for me!"
The others were quick to follow her from behind. I could tell from their expressions that they had many questions in their minds, but chose to keep them to themselves. In all honesty, it was my fault.
I was currently not in the right state of mind to come up with a plausible excuse. Thankfully, they had left things here.
Otherwise, I really wasn't sure how to explain myself.
Standing still, I stared at their backs for a short moment before taking out the radar. There, I could see a few blue dots.
"The other teams are close."
But they were still a little behind. We were first.
Putting the relic back into my pockets, I slowly retrieved a small gray pill from my pocket.
"....."
It felt smooth to the touch. Almost like a pearl.
Orphion.
A powerful drug that served to boost the consumer's power significantly. It was the drug that was supposed to be handed to the boss monster just before the cadets arrived at it. While the pill was powerful, it had strong side effects.
For that reason, the pill was supposed to be handed to the beast just before the cadets arrived.
That was the original plan.
"...."
It was now in my possession.
Raising my head slightly, I stared at the others before placing the pill in my mouth. I didn't eat it quite just yet.
....I needed a proper audience for that.
*
A large chamber sat in the middle of the Labyrinth. It was where the boss monster was located. Inside a large room with a tall ceiling, a gigantic mammoth-like creature with long tusks and tremendous pressure sat in the middle.
With torches scattered around the room casting a dim light over the surroundings, the place looked extremely eerie.
Surrounding the hall were over a dozen different entrances.
Coming out of one, Kiera whispered.
"....Looks like you were right. We're the first ones here. How should we proceed?"
Staring at the monster's head, I didn't answer immediately.
I could tell from just standing where I was that it was extremely powerful. Perhaps, it was even just as strong as Giel.
Imagining its strength with the drug sent shivers down my spine.
'No wonder they were confident. There's no way any cadet can deal with that monster if it took the drug.'
It also made me understand just why the rewards of the quest were so good.
Indeed, if I allowed the incident to happen, then I didn't see how anyone would come out of it unscathed.
"Oy."
In fact, a lot of cadets were probably going to die.
"Oy!"
"....?"
Lowering my head, Kiera's face appeared just a few inches away from mine.
Staring into her deep red eyes, I was momentarily taken aback by her appearance. It went without saying that her looks were on another level.
However, I was quick to push down such thoughts.
"What?"
".....What do you mean what?"
Kiera's head flicked towards the beast.
"I said, what's the plan? As much, as I hate it, you're the team leader. Tell us exactly what we're supposed to do."
"....About that."
I suddenly looked towards the distance.
Towards one of the other entrances.
"We'll have to first think about how to deal with them."
***
"We're here."
Spotting the center of the maze, Johnathan and his team rushed forward without caution.
Their journey so far had been rather smooth, and staring at the leaderboard, he could see that they were a close second to the Haven team.
— [Team Score] —
[Dream Catcher] - 3915 Points
[Swords of Fiest] - 3901 Points
[Crow's Dance] - 3871 Points
.
.
.
— [Team Score] —
"Get ready to engage. If we defeat the boss, we'll be able to cinch first place."
According to Johnathan's calculations, they were probably the first team to reach the boss. The fact that he couldn't hear any fighting in the distance seemed to further fuel his hypothesis.
....But just as they neared the entrance of the middle area, Johnathan heard the soft sound of footsteps coming from behind.
Turning his head, his brows furrowed at the sight that greeted him.
"...."
"...."
Neither side said a single word as they stared at each other. Instantly, heavy tension plunged the space as Johnathan's gaze fell on Aoife, who stood indifferently.
Just as the tension was reaching its breaking point, Aoife opened her mouth.
"Now's not the time to fight."
Her voice was crisp, sounding rather pleasant to the ears.
Staring in the distance, she walked ahead calmly.
As she did, she passed Johnathan's group without a single care in the world.
In the briefest of moments, Johnathan was tempted to attack her exposed back, but just as the thought came, he felt a slight chill at the back of his neck and turned around.
There, two gray eyes stared at him.
'....Who is he?'
He appeared to be an unfamiliar face. No, rather, after a bit of thought, he remembered and his expression changed slightly.
'Right, there was someone else ranked higher than Aoife. It must be him.'
It was interesting.
Haven's ranking system. The more Johnathan thought about it, the more flawed it appeared to him.
'It's almost as if they are making fun of everyone.'
Ridiculous.
Especially when taking into account just how weak the current Black Star was.
He was pathetically weak.
How was someone that weak ahead of these two?
Taking into account just how powerful the two, no three... there was another powerful one. Johnathan suddenly spoke.
".....I have a proposition."
His words immediately attracted the attention of all present as they looked at him.
Taking note of their gazes, Aoife's especially, he went on to say,
"Let's work together until we defeat the boss. It's no use fighting here before getting to the boss. Since it seems like we're the first two teams, if we work together, we can get rid of it fast before heading for the exit. We won't have to go through the hassle of fighting against the other teams if we do this."
His words were mixed with half-truths.
While it was true that the faster they beat the boss, the less annoying things would be down the line, the real reason why he wanted to fight together was because he wanted to observe his opponents before fighting them.
Currently, he wasn't very confident in defeating them. Especially not when they had three people of similar strength to his with one just being a tad bit weaker.
However...
Things would be different if he had more information on them.
So long as he knew about them...
"Okay."
Aoife's voice broke him out of his thoughts. Lifting his head, he looked at her with a surprised look.
"Just like that?"
"Yes."
"Oh."
A surprising turn of events.
Johnathan previously thought he'd have to do more to convince them, but it seemed like they were more reasonable than he thought.
With that, the two groups headed for the main chamber together.
Of course, the two groups were still wary of each other. For now, it was all just a verbal agreement. Who knew when the other side would backstab them?
"....Huh?"
They had just arrived at the main chamber when Aoife's steps paused. Her expression hardened slightly.
It was an expression of graveness.
'What's going on?'
Following her line of sight, Johnathan's eyes jumped. Off in the distance, he caught sight of another group.
They too had noticed their appearance.
'How could this be?'
Stunned, Johnathan looked at the group.
"Ah."
But upon spotting a familiar figure, his worries were immediately swept.
'....So it's him.'
The Black Star. Lowering his head and staring at his bracelet, he looked at their points and almost chuckled.
450 Points.
A far cry from theirs.
Still, it wasn't as though Johnathan completely disregarded them. As his expression fixed on the platinum-haired girl, he somewhat frowned.
Kiera was it?
She was someone to look out for. But even so, he could deal with her.
"So-"
He had just turned around to address the other group when he stopped. Suddenly, his expression changed when he noticed Leon staring ahead with a similar expression to Aoife.
"What...?"
Stunned, he looked to see that they were both staring at the black star with grave expressions.
Blinking, he couldn't understand why they were looking at him like that. However, before he could say anything else, Leon spoke.
"....As expected. He's here."
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