Chapter 6: An End to a Hunt

Chapter 6:
An End to a Hunt

 

THE DOOR TO THE final floor unlocked, swinging open with nothing but a touch from Lapis and a couple of murmured words. It was so unsatisfying that Loren had to wonder if it had ever been sealed at all.

“What did you just do?” Claes asked, wide-eyed and baffled. Unlike Loren, his astonishment was on full display.

At least his reaction made clear that the door had been properly sealed and that Lapis had done what would usually be considered impossible. Loren realized belatedly that perhaps she shouldn’t have let them see what she was up to. But even as he glanced worriedly at her, Lapis shrugged.

“I reproduced the mana wavelength to dispel the seal. I’d handled the key before, so it was simple enough.”

Claes backed off, apparently convinced that this sounded technical enough.

However, Claes was a swordsman. Ange the magician stared in open confusion. “Huh? Hah?”

Theoretically, Ange was supposed to be this party’s mana specialist, and if Ange thought this situation warranted questioning, Loren worried that their companions were about to get acutely suspicious.

But Lapis had an answer for this too. “There was a certain bandit who often came to confess at the church where I was trained. He was in fact a kind fellow, and when he heard I was becoming an adventurer, he taught me the technique in secret. It just goes to show—even if you have a magic lock, you shouldn’t feel too secure. There’s hardly anything a good thief can’t obtain.”

This explanation did lessen Ange’s suspicious squint. Thievery was outside her field of expertise, and she couldn’t outright deny the possibility that Lapis was speaking truth. Either way, no wise person questioned the abilities of someone who had performed a task they themselves were incapable of accomplishing.

“Was that story true?” Loren whispered to Lapis once things had settled down.

“It is true that some thieves know how to dispel magic locks,” Lapis replied in hushed tones. “However, the flow of information went the other way around—we were the ones doing the teaching.”

By we, she likely didn’t mean priests of the god of knowledge. A demon like Lapis must have disseminated the technique.

So they didn’t just develop this no-good technique; they shared it with thieves, of all people, thought Loren. He was furthermore concerned that this experience had raised the bar for any other priests of the god of knowledge whom Claes and Ange might meet in the future.

“Now, then, the door is open. Standing around here won’t do us any good, so how about we venture to the bottom floor?” Lapis urged the party on, making clear that this was the end of the matter.

The stairs to the tenth floor were a little longer than the prior flights, but there were no other noteworthy differences. They reached the bottom without issue. As for why the stairs were longer, well, this became apparent the moment Loren set foot on the tenth floor.

Unlike the ones before it, the tenth floor was not laid out like a maze. It consisted entirely of a single vast, open space. Here and there, the space was decorated with display cases, each packed to the brim with various bits and pieces of equipment.

The ceiling wasn’t just high; it was also equipped with some sort of light source, which offered excellent visibility across the board.

Parmè propped her torch against the wall as she let out a longing sigh. “So these are the relics of Wolfe…”

The items preserved in the cases all seemed to be of considerable value. The less valuable ones, however, didn’t receive this royal treatment. These were strewn haphazardly about, some of them piled in a mountain by the wall. Even those comparatively worthless items gave off a fair bit of mana and glimmered with silver, gold, and gemstones. One glance made clear that they were fabulously valuable.

“I haven’t been here since I graduated. It’s awe-inspiring, no matter how many times I see it.” Claes gazed around nostalgically.

Seeing as Claes had apparently been a genuine honor student, Loren was a bit interested to learn what had happened on his prior visit. “Did you take anything last time you were here?”

“No, I avoided combat with the guardian and returned aboveground empty-handed. Didn’t feel like putting my comrades in danger.”

Claes smiled as he glanced at Ange, whose cheeks reddened as her eyes glazed. Loren and Lapis clicked their tongues and pointedly looked away. Only Parmè seemed spellbound, eyeing Claes and Ange’s moment somewhat enviously.

“I didn’t ask about that,” said Loren.

“Well, you kinda did,” Claes said.

“Well, forget about it then! You see our surprise visitors anywhere?”

The tenth floor was terrifically large. What’s more, the shelves interrupted what would have otherwise been a clear field of vision. It was entirely possible that someone was hiding somewhere. Moreover, all the mana-enchanted items made it hard to pick up any presences. Loren knew it was no time to drop his guard.

“I’m expecting an ambush or two,” said Lapis.

The state of the ninth floor’s keeper indicated that someone had entered the tenth floor before them. Whoever it was, they were likely one of the examinees, and there was a high chance that they had, in some way, managed to cheat.

If they had gone that far, then they had definitely planned a way to outmaneuver the proctors—either by devising a way to stall them or worse. But despite their suspicions, nothing had yet emerged to confront them.

“Isn’t it better for us if nothing shows?” Claes asked.

“You’re far too naïve, dear Claes,” Lapis sighed. Claes frowned, displeased, unaware of what he could have done wrong. “If nothing’s here, then the prior guests have already finished their business. They’ll get away with whatever they’re up to without us ever figuring out what they were scheming.”

“That…might be true.”

“On top of that, if they were our examinees, they must know that we’ve worked out that they cheated. They’ll have run away by the time we reach the surface. Although, so far as our responsibilities as proctors goes, I suppose it’s not an issue if they get away.”

They would have done their job so long as they reported the facts to the school. The rest could be left up to the academy. It would, all in all, be far less effort for them if no one was waiting. This much was true.

“Lapis, have you forgotten why we’re here?”

“Far from it. I’m searching for it now.”

As Loren and the others scanned the area for enemies, Lapis was searching for her body part—the reason for their participation in the first place.

The only trouble was that, whether the part they were looking for was an arm, an eye, or a leg randomly lying around somewhere, Loren didn’t know how exactly they were going to explain it to the others.

Lapis glanced at him as if to say “Oh, don’t worry, worst case, I’ll give them all a little nap”—and then her eyes stopped on one of the display cases.

The cases had been constructed to protect the valuables within them, yet one shelf seemed to hold nothing but a lone colorless gem offhandedly placed upon it.

Lapis approached it casually. The display case rose to around her eye level. When she scooped up the gem, she lifted it up to the light, closed one eye, and peered into it.

“Lapis, umm…” Claes hesitated. “I don’t want to interrupt you, but I don’t think this is the time for that.”

“You have a point,” Lapis conceded and returned the gem to its original position—or so she made it seem, but Loren didn’t miss the moment when she covertly slipped it into her sleeve.

“Is that it?” he asked her.

“Yes, I’m glad my father made it so easy to carry around.”

“Which is it?”

“My left arm. Not the best, but not the worst, I suppose.”

By what means had her left arm taken the shape of a clear gemstone? What would need to be done to return it to its original form? Loren hadn’t the slightest idea, but Lapis seemed neither confused nor bothered, so he decided it wasn’t a problem.

“Won’t the guardian come for us if you take that?”

“This isn’t one of Wolfe’s treasures. It should be fine.”

If the guardian was meant to prevent anyone from taking one of Wolfe’s belongings, Lapis insisted it wouldn’t react if she was simply reclaiming a piece of her body. Therefore, they wouldn’t involve Claes and the others in any special danger and would be able to escape easily enough.

Then let’s get out of here, thought Loren. He scanned the area for the exit. Unfortunately, that was when he realized he didn’t even know where the entrance was.

“The entrance disappeared?”

“I-It sealed itself off the moment we came in!” Parmè said, having apparently seen it happen.

Everyone exchanged looks. It made sense, given any thought. If the entrance remained open, any intrepid relic-thief would be able to avoid fighting the guardian as easy as anything. All they would have to do would be to come down, pick their treasure, and wander back out the way they’d come. They wouldn’t even need to fight the ninth-floor keeper a second time, and they would avoid the gate guardian wholesale. The entrance was sealed to ensure the guardian controlled the only exit.

“Oh, right. I think that was the way it was before. Maybe.”

“You forgot?” Loren snapped, whapping the back of his hand against Claes’s chest.

Claes collapsed, clutching his breast, while Ange and Parmè panicked as they dragged him to his feet. Loren rolled his eyes, searching out the location of the guardian and the exit.

It took a bit of time, but he finally located a spot where the display cases and the treasures cut off—a wide, open space, beyond which stood a door. He couldn’t see anywhere else that looked the part, meaning the transfer gate likely lay beyond that opening.

Just before Loren called to the others and started toward the door, he noticed four silhouettes standing before it. Then he heard the sound of something flying, slicing through the wind.

Unconsciously drawing the sword on his back, Loren whipped it out in front of himself. Something hard hit its broadside.

“What was that?!” The sound had caught Claes’s attention.

As Claes drew his longsword, Loren brought his own sword to his shoulder and retrieved the projectile he had deflected with his blade.

“A dart.”

“You’re here early.” The familiar voice came from a member of Ein’s party, whom Loren had last seen running from the wave of slimes—specifically, it came from Al, the priest.

However, the attack had come from the girl beside him, who grinned with a second dart held between her thumb and index finger.

“You could have saved us the trouble if you’d just dropped out along the way,” said Al.

“How do you want me to interpret this?” Loren asked. The needle of the dart he held glistened with a thin, liquid coating. It was probably slathered in poison, and there was little room to misinterpret after someone had thrown it at you.

“That was a warning. Would you be so kind as to not get in our way until we have completed our objective?” Al asked.

To Al’s left and his right, Ein and Cloud readied their weapons. For a moment, Loren assumed they were all in cahoots, but upon closer inspection, something was wrong with the fighters’ faces. Their eyes were unfocused.

“Don’t tell me…”

“Yes, I cast Hypno on them—they make great pawns,” Phem answered in Al’s place. Suddenly, the dart in her hand disappeared and she instead held a roll of paper, which she tossed in the air. “Fire Bullet.”

The paper let off a brilliant light in midair and then faded into a red orb of flames that barreled toward him.

Loren cut it down with his blade as Lapis warned, “Be careful! They’re using scrolls to compensate for their limited magic uses.”

“What are they thinking?” Loren snarled.

Scrolls were invaluable; magic could be imbued into paper, so anyone—not only a magician—could use it. When deployed, these scrolls cast the power of the magic inscribed upon them. But there weren’t many in circulation, and they sold for a pretty penny.

“Oh, I’ve merely done whatever was necessary to fulfill my goal,” Al laughed. His face no longer resembled that of the meek priest they had journeyed with.

“Care to explain?” Loren asked.

Al slowly tilted his head. “Oh, I don’t know. I’ve still so much to do, and…”

Al’s eyes turned away from Loren. Claes had been gradually closing in, but he stopped when Al laid eyes on him.

“Our school is full of geniuses, so I’m sure droning on will just put me at a disadvantage,” Al finished.

“That’s no reason to leave us in the dark. We’re still your proctors, for what it’s worth.” Even as Loren said these things, he measured the distance between himself and the boy—was he near enough to close in and cut Al down before he did anything?

The answer, at the moment, was a resounding no. With Phem ready to rain down scroll-powered hell, and Ein and Cloud standing by, blades drawn, neither Loren nor Claes had a clear shot at Al.

“Say we return to the surface now,” said Loren. “What are we supposed to tell the headmaster if we don’t know what the hell you’re up to?”

“You still think you’re going to return? Well, that’s not my problem.” Al seemed astounded by Loren’s ignorance, but he also apparently felt the need to justify himself, when given the opportunity. “It’s nothing special. I am of noble blood, but I’m second-born. Even if I took up an adventuring career, I’d never amount to anything. Don’t you agree?”

“I think that’s up to you, really.” The way Loren saw it, whether an adventurer achieved anything of note had nothing to do with their lineage. It did depend on talent, he couldn’t deny that. But he saw no reason why the second son of a noble couldn’t succeed in life.

“Maybe I wouldn’t be doomed if I had a talent like Claes over there.”

“We all have our own way of looking at things, so I won’t say you’re wrong. But get to the point.”

“Luckily, I had the intellect to become a priest, and when I left home, I managed to make off with several interesting documents. I went through the papers, hoping to find anything useful, when I came across an intriguing bit of information on the Wolfe Adventurer Training Academy. You are aware of Wolfe’s achievements, I assume?”

“More or less,” Loren hardly remembered any of the history Claes had regaled them with during his school tour. Having considered the information rather useless, Loren had neglected to listen. If he’d known it would come to this, he would have paid a bit more attention.

“Wolfe had numerous accomplishments, but one among them caught my attention,” Al went on. “They say he sealed a dark god—and that seal should be somewhere around here.”

“A dark god?” Loren knit his brow; that sounded shady at best. He vaguely remembered something like that coming up somewhere in Claes’s rambling. “Right…something about exploring ruins and dragon slaying or whatever.”

“You weren’t listening, were you?” Claes’s shoulders sagged, but Loren wasn’t going to waste time consoling him, not now.

“I am and always have been a priest to the supreme god. But say I were to revive a god no one else believed in. Say I were to become his priest—what then?”

“Huh?”

“Wouldn’t I become that god’s high priest? His greatest follower?” Al sounded mighty proud of himself for landing on this notion.

Loren, meanwhile, had no idea how he was supposed to react. He took his eyes off this self-indulgent monologue, his gaze pleading. He was looking to Lapis—and everyone else, for that matter—for an ounce of logic.

The way Al’s life was going, serving the god he served, he would end up just like any other priest, forgotten in the crowd of those like himself. Therefore, he sought a new path. This much Loren understood.

However, how did you get from there to reviving some dark god in order to become its high priest? This idea toed the line between sense and nonsense, and Loren hadn’t the slightest idea what to do about it.

“Lapis,” he said. “Tag in.”

“I don’t want to, Mr. Loren,” said Lapis, regarding him with a dire look. “That exchange made clear to me that he isn’t someone I can reason with. Please don’t dump your problems on me.”

Loren gave up on that angle. He’d thought Lapis, who never spared any effort to acquire more knowledge, might be willing to step in, but she clearly intended to leave the negotiations to Loren.

“Ahem, one more thing.” Loren scratched his head, not having much of a choice. He turned from Al to Phem, who was smiling impishly. “What are you doing over there?”

“Well, I mean, I’ve got no real talent for magic. If I graduate like I am and become an adventurer, the best I can hope for is to be picked up by some third-rate party and ordered around for the rest of my life. In that case, I thought it might be nicer to bet on Al, seeing as he’s here making a name for himself and all.”

“This is a dark god we’re talking about. You sure you’re gonna come out of this okay?”

“Mmm, well, he promised to pay me, and it’s not like the other gods have anything against the one sealed here. I looked into the matter—briefly, albeit—and I didn’t find a single church with anything to say about whatever it was that sleeps beneath Wolfe Academy. And if this powerful entity were one that other gods bore grudges against, then wouldn’t it be strange if it didn’t appear in any of their scriptures? So I’m thinking it’s nothing too special.”

“If the god’s not that great, what’s the good in serving it?”

“Ah, you may be right there.” Phem seemed taken aback, as if she had only just realized that.

The rest of Loren’s party looked at her wearily, while Loren exuded the air of a man tired of dealing with this shit.

Nevertheless, Al’s expression remained triumphant. “I’ve already located the seal.”

“What?”

This story of some dark god’s forgotten seal reeked of exaggeration, if not total fabrication. If Al hadn’t already found it, Loren wouldn’t even have had to be the skeptic he was to consider it little better than a fairy tale.

However, each motion buoyed by confidence, Al reverently produced something from the pocket of his vestments. It was a box around the size of the palm of his hand, gleaming with metallic luster, etched with complex patterns across its surface.

Al held it up as if it were an offering to a god above. “This is the container of the god sealed by Wolfe.”

“Must be a pretty shoddy god, then.”

Sure, the patterns were intricate, but it didn’t have any ornamentation—no gems or silver or gold. The box itself was metal, but it didn’t shine as a precious metal would. Forced to guess, Loren would have said it was iron.

In other words, it was the sort of thing any blacksmith could make for a handful of coins, yet Al seemed convinced. Loren wondered how serious he could possibly be, but just in case, he raised his guard, taking a stance with his drawn sword beside him.

“If we assume the box is real…” At last, Lapis opened her mouth. Loren hoped she would take over talking the kid down—but instead, she bowled him over. “Then, and this is pure conjecture, perhaps it’s connected to why the labyrinth isn’t producing any of its normal monsters and is rather filled with slimes.”

“As expected of a priest to the god of knowledge.” Al nodded. “You’re probably right.”

Loren got the feeling that the bar had once again been raised for the god of knowledge’s other priests, but that was beside the point at the moment.

Lapis’s hypothesis sent a shock through the party.

“What do you mean, Lapis?” Claes asked.

“Slimes manifest when the mana in an area is overabundant or in disarray. Don’t you think both of these things might happen if something called a dark god were about to awaken?”

“Th-then the labyrinth’s current state…” Ange stammered.

Lapis nodded. “Yes, the cause could very well be the dark god sealed in that box over there. Its awakening has caused a massive outbreak of slimes and upset the labyrinth’s internal systems.”

“But…Al didn’t get here until just now,” Claes pointed out.

Normally, the labyrinth was controlled by the school. The door to the final floor was sealed so that no one could get past it. No matter how much Al had plotted to awaken this dark god, it was hard to imagine he could have interacted with it until he reached it.

Lapis’s answer to this wasn’t an answer at all. “This is probably a coincidence.”

“Huh?”

“I’m saying it’s a coincidence. Or, well, if something like the dark god’s will existed, you could say this was inevitable, and I wouldn’t be able to deny it.”

“It is the will of the dark god,” Al plainly declared.

“Very well, then let’s just say it was inevitable,” Lapis conceded.

The party stared at Lapis, not knowing whether to be shocked or fed up at this point. For now, she continued her explanation.

“In short, we have that future high priest’s plot to awaken the dark god, and we have the dark god’s awakening, which is tampering with the labyrinth. We must either consider this confluence to be a complete coincidence, or…the will of the dark god has made their simultaneity inevitable.”

“But either way, he’s got nothing to do with this,” Loren said, to make sure.

Lapis nodded.

“The dark god feels my devotion and yearns to waken in turn. How could you call this anything but a result of my devotion?!”

Al was fixated on the idea that this was meant to be, but to everyone else, it just seemed like an unfortunate coincidence. What’s more, this coincidence had already killed at least one student. They could no longer write it off as youthful overambition. However, they didn’t necessarily have to take out Al and Phem. Neither had really done anything so far.

“What do we do about this?” Loren asked.

“Well, it would be appropriate to capture him and turn him in to the school,” said Claes, though he didn’t sound too confident.

“Then let’s do it already.”

“Do you think a mere adventurer can catch me?” Al crowed.

As Loren stepped forward, Ein and Cloud once again blocked him with their weapons. Behind them, Phem had taken out another scroll to keep him in check. If he wanted to do anything about Al, he needed to get past all these obstacles first.

“If I can just awaken the god before you reach me…” Al couldn’t imagine that a handful of adventurers were a threat as long as he could undo the seal while Ein and Cloud held them back.

However, all his hopes would be for naught if he couldn’t undo the seal. And that was one thing about which he could not yet be certain.

The documents he had taken from his home had not included the method to release the seal. However, the seal had grown loose enough to influence the labyrinth, and so he was certain it would take only one more push.

Al poured his faith into the box in his hand—when two dull thuds sounded in front of him.

Al raised his eyes from the box. What had happened?

Ein and Cloud had spun and toppled to the floor. He swallowed his breath. Loren had thrust the tip of his sword toward Phem, stopping it at the tip of her nose before she could deploy a scroll.

Loren narrowed his eyes at Al. His voice wasn’t loud, but it was cold. “Give yourself up, or I’ll make mincemeat out of you.”

Al wanted to ignore that simple threat, but the murderous intent underlying it was too real to deny. He swallowed as he watched Phem drop her scroll and feebly teeter into a crouch.

Al’s hands had lost their strength. The box fell from his fingers and bounced over the stone floor with a shrill clang. He soon found himself following Phem’s example, collapsing under the weight of Loren’s words.

“Do you think that’s settled?” Claes asked Loren, seeing as Al and Phem had lost the will to fight.

Loren shrugged without offering a reply. Of course, he knew how to intimidate people, but he likely owed this newfound ability to incapacitate them with the pressure of his will to Scena. The girl was proudly sticking out her chest in the corner of his eyes. Otherwise, it was hard to think that these soon-to-be adventurers had lost their will to fight after a mere glare.

“For now, let’s tie them up with a bit of rope. We wouldn’t want them running rampant again.”

“All of them, right?” There was pity in Claes’s eyes as he looked at Ein and Cloud.

Those two didn’t seem to be in on this scheme. They had been manipulated and then knocked out by Loren. Objectively, they had been treated abysmally.

Even so, Claes agreed that they had to be tied up. Neither Lapis nor Ange knew how far the Hypno spell would maintain its power over the boys, so they needed to be rendered powerless before they regained consciousness.

“All of them,” Loren confirmed. “It’s unfortunate, but they mismanaged their comrades. Just keep telling yourself that.”

“Got it.” Claes nodded. He took the rope Ange had retrieved from her bags and started by binding Phem and Al, as they were still awake.

“What are we going to do now?” Lapis asked Loren as they watched Claes work.

“What do you mean, what? We use that transfer gate whatnot to return to the surface.”

“But what do we do about that?”

Loren followed Lapis’s gaze, and his expression stiffened upon landing on the object of her interest. He found himself looking at the box Al had dropped.

It had been little more than a metal box in Al’s hands, and it had been left on the floor. Now, however, the patterns on its surface emitted a sinister purple light.

“Hey, now… Don’t tell me…”

“I’m afraid I’m going to have to tell you.”

They had established that the labyrinth’s abnormalities and Al’s plan had nothing to do with each other. Consequently, this meant that tying up Al would do absolutely nothing to resolve the dark god situation.

“We did all that, and it’s still waking up?!”

“We came at the wrong time.” In spite of Loren’s panic, Lapis was horribly blasé. But her general mood had no bearing on whether they could survive this predicament.

“Wh-what’s happening?!” Parmè cried in dismay.

The light from the box grew more and more intense. It let off lightning flashes of purple, covering the entire room. No one could possibly call this remotely normal.

“Ooh, god has revived to save me from my captivity!” Al squirmed like a bagworm, overcome with emotion.

“Claes, whack him good,” Loren ordered.

Claes begrudgingly delivered a chop to the back of Al’s head. The boy slumped momentarily, but he immediately recovered, pushed past Claes, and inched his way toward the glowing box.

“Give me your strength, o, dark god!”

“Shut up and sleep.” Loren irritably sent his heel into Al’s head. The blow came with a heavy thud, and this time, it properly knocked him out. Al slumped, convulsed, and was at last rendered immobile.

Everyone apart from Loren feared he was dead, but Loren merely kicked Al’s unmoving body to the sidelines and faced the box once more. “Seriously, what do we do about this?”

“I’m not sure there’s anything we can do,” Lapis said, resigned.

After a moment of thought, Loren spoke again—as if he had had a brilliant idea. “How about we leave and pretend we didn’t see anything?”

“Looks like it’s a bit late for that,” Lapis said, staring intently at the box. In fact, Lapis seemed genuinely pleased. The rest of the party looked by turns disheartened and dismayed. “Something’s about to come out.”

“Can’t say I didn’t see it coming.”

Ever since leaving the mercenary gig, Loren’s life had been nothing but a stream of bad luck. It was high time he recognized his own chronic misfortune—there was no way playing dumb would ever have worked out for him.

“Here it comes. Everyone, try to stay conscious.”

If they took all they’d heard as a given, this was an entity great enough to be called a dark god. Who knew what would happen in the moment they witnessed such a being manifest in the physical realm?

Just as everyone braced themselves, the box on the floor let off a conspicuously stronger flash. It was bright enough to scorch the eyes, and Loren couldn’t resist covering his face, though he made sure the box never left his sight. Its outline fell to pieces. Gradually, the light increased in volume, taking on a completely new form. Loren could only stand there and watch.

Eventually, the light died down, and what stood before them was a young-looking man. He had sleepy eyes and bedraggled hair, and he wore the sort of clothing one might find on any citizen of any town. Loren’s attention was drawn first and foremost to his eyes, which were strikingly purple.

“Good grief. Where am I now?” The man scratched his head and his back, his sleepy gaze shifting this way and that.

Loren adjusted his sword and glanced at Lapis. She intuited what he was trying to say and shook her head, confirming his suspicion. Purple eyes indicated that rather than a god, they had landed themselves a demon.

Loren didn’t know whether to be relieved because a demon had to be easier to deal with or to be aggrieved that he had run into a demon in the first place. Worse, from Lapis’s reaction, the fellow seemed to be a complete stranger.

“No answer? Well, whatever. Guess I’ll go find a bed.” Stifling a yawn, the man turned his back to them when they had failed to muster a response.

Finally, Loren managed, “Who are you?”

The man opened his mouth to answer. Then shut, opened, and shut it again. Eventually, he sat on the spot and said, “Answering that’s going to be a pain.”

“Are you the dark god sealed by an adventurer called Wolfe?”

Given all they’d seen thus far, that couldn’t be far from the truth. But Loren asked again, needing to know.

The man shifted until he was lying flat on his back. “Well, let me think. I’ve been called the god of sloth before. I think. Yeah, back then, there were so, so many people out to kill me. A real bother, I’d say.”

“So you really are a dark god?”

“Who can say? Does it matter? I’m fine as long as I’ve got a place to sleep.” The man rolled over until he was looking at Loren. “I remember that Wolfe guy. Yes. He said I could sleep in peace if he sealed me, so I let him. Why am I out here again?”

“That’s probably because the seal degraded over time,” Lapis muttered. “There’s no such thing as an everlasting seal. You’ve been contained for hundreds of years now, so the bindings came loose.”

“Oh, damn. It’s been that long already? Then Wolfe must be dead now.” The man lifted himself into a cross-legged position. “Which means it must have changed a lot up there. It may be fun to look around a bit. Troublesome as that sounds.”

“How about quietly letting yourself be resealed here?” Loren proposed, though he knew the likelihood that this would work was slim.

As expected, the man shook his head. “I was thinking a seal wasn’t so bad if I could sleep. I’m sorry to say, it wasn’t nearly as comfy in there as I’d hoped. You just can’t beat a nice, fluffy bed.”

“I can’t allow a dark god to escape on my watch!” Claes declared, his longsword at the ready. Beside him, Ange had the tip of her staff locked on the man; she was already preparing to cast a spell.

The man glanced at the two of them, his eyes screaming that this was more trouble than it was worth. Then he shifted his gaze to Loren, who still hadn’t moved, and Lapis, who stood tense in his shadow. “What about you two?”

“I don’t know,” said Loren. “If possible, I’d like to settle this peacefully.”

“What if I told you that wasn’t gonna happen?”

“Then—”

“Enough. Hearing your answer would be a pain.”

Hey, you’re the one who asked! Loren thought.

The man, however, ignored him; he placed his index finger on the floor in front of his crossed legs and began writing something out in small, slick movements.

Before anyone could figure out what he was doing, Claes made his move. His legs had been enhanced by his Boost, allowing him to close the distance in the blink of an eye. He swung the sword right at the man’s neck while the man was still writing.

Everyone expected a spray of blood and a flying head. However, reality and imagination often differ. Claes’s sword halted the moment it touched the man’s unguarded throat.

“What?!”

“Your technique’s decent, but your weapon’s a dud. You couldn’t cut my nails with a blade that dull.”

While he was shocked to have failed, Claes jumped back to regain himself. The man did not follow. He continued writing on the floor, and once he was done, he lifted his index finger once more.

“I’ll leave a little something to keep you busy. Have fun. If the time comes, let’s meet aga… No, let’s not…”

His body began to sink into the floor—but he had summoned something just as he made his escape. The ground he had written on suddenly burst with light. Simultaneously, they all found themselves frozen, unable to chase after him.

“You go on about this and that—how about you start by telling us your name?” Loren snarled. He knew that wouldn’t stop the man.

Indeed, the man continued slipping farther and farther into the ground, but he turned his sleepy eyes toward Loren, and he got a few words in before his mouth was gone too:

“Dark God of Sloth, Downer Acedia. I have an awful feeling we’ll meet again someday.”

And with that, he completely disappeared.

Precisely at that time, as if rising to replace him, an undulating jet-black mass around the height of an adult emerged from the floor.

“Slimes again!”

I’ve had enough of them already, Loren grumbled as the massive black slime began to shuffle toward them. Its approach was slow, as to be expected, and they were able to back off pretty quickly. Along the way, they passed Al—who had been knocked out by Loren’s foot—and Phem, who was conscious but tied up. They also passed Ein and Cloud, who were lying on the floor, out cold. They dragged all four out of the way of the slime.

Despite the countless delectable items littering the shelves, the slime paid them no mind, creeping on a beeline toward Loren.

“Can we burn it?” Loren couldn’t think of anything more effective.

“Fire’s no good here,” Claes warned. “You’ll end up burning the shelves and relics. But I won’t stop you if you intend to pay for them.”

“Like hell I’m digging myself any further into debt.”

Some of the magic tools might have been able to protect themselves, but these were interspersed with books and paintings with no special properties. How much of that would burn if he lit a flame in here?

Naturally, the cost for whatever was lost would likely fall to Loren, and Lapis would end up being the one paying. The amount of debt on his shoulders would skyrocket.

“Let’s burn it, Mr. Loren. By all means.”

“Lapis…”

Lapis’s eyes were downright sparkling. The moment she encountered a method by which to increase Loren’s debt—and with barely any effort on her part!—she was tugging on his sleeve, egging him on. Loren’s shoulders drooped, and he pushed Lapis toward the slime.

For a moment, Lapis didn’t know what was happening, and she quickly ducked behind Loren again. “What are you doing?!”

“Shut up. If you want me to burn it, go let it eat you!”

“I don’t want to! Who exactly benefits from seeing me covered in fluids and tenta—would you benefit, Mr. Loren?” Lapis looked suddenly meek, her tone dropping.

However, upon seeing Loren’s bewildered face, she summoned her resolve and clenched her fist to her chest.

“You’re always getting the short end of the stick, Mr. Loren. If I can do something to offer you the slightest benefit, then I, Lapis, inadequate as I may be, am prepared to be covered in tentacles and slime. Onward!”

“Argh, just get back!”

Loren grabbed her by the collar and tossed her behind him as the slime attempted to grab her. He sliced through the grasping feeler with his sword.

“I’m jealous that you get along so well, but are we going to just keep on retreating like this?!” Claes asked. He wasn’t holding his weapon; in his need to save the unconscious students, he was desperately dragging them with him, leaving no time to swing a sword.

Ange and Parmè were helping, but it took two of them to carry one person, and moving four unconscious bodies was proving to be more difficult than it looked.

“If we get all the way to the entrance, can’t we just circle around and go past it?”

Though the slime was large, it wasn’t big enough to completely block their way around it. There was plenty of space to its left and right. Loren figured it would be no problem to dodge around it.

Claes shook his head and gestured at his burden. “Carrying them?”

Now tied up, Al and his cohorts were more than a little heavy. Loren and Claes could each carry one of them and maintain full speed, but there were four in total. If Loren were to carry two, his speed would drop, and that would increase the probability of him getting grabbed.

That said, if Lapis, Ange, or Parmè tried to help out, even one of the students would slow them down considerably, and they definitely wouldn’t be as nimble as they’d have to be to dodge the slime.

“But if we want to fight, just look at this.” Loren cut down another feeler reaching out for him.

He could cut it all he wanted, but the slime’s feelers were practically liquid, and while his sword scattered the length of the one he cut, whatever splashed out was soon reabsorbed by the main body, ensuring it took no real damage.

“This is never gonna end.”

“Can you do anything with your magic, Ms. Ange?”

Ange, who was slowly dragging Ein, shook her head without looking up. “I don’t have anything that can take out a slime that big.”

“We’ve got a problem here.”

The enemy was slow enough to give them the leisure to discuss strategy, but that leisure soon disappeared. The slime was beginning to pick up its pace.

Is it getting irritated? Loren wondered.

No, slimes didn’t have such emotions—right? But how to explain this sudden increase in speed? Either way, the slime approached, regardless of his thoughts on the matter.

Startled by its new speed, Parmè tripped, falling on top of Cloud, whom she had been dragging. The slime wasn’t going to miss this opportunity. It spread its body to take her in—

Loren chucked Al aside, grabbed Parmè by the hand, and yanked her out of the way.

“Eek!” Parmè let out a scream far cuter than her high-handed attitude suggested as she flew into Loren’s arms.

Cloud wasn’t so lucky. The slime was on him in no time at all. Abandoned and out cold, he had no way to escape being swallowed whole.

Parmè gasped. “Ah…it’s all my…”

“Don’t think about it! This is an accident, totally out of your control! If you have time to space out, go help Ange.”

The slime wriggled like a worm as its body chewed and digested its prey. The air filled with the sound of crunching bone, and Parmè was on the verge of losing herself before Loren smacked her across the cheek and pushed her toward Ange.

Flustered as she was, Parmè headed over to help Ange carry her burden.

Loren sighed. “Why don’t we just feed them all to the slime and run while it’s occupied?”

“You have my vote,” said Lapis as she casually kicked Al’s body aside.

At that, Phem, still conscious, flailed in Ange’s hands, and it took both Ange and Parmè to hold her down.

“No, for argument’s sake, we’ll need someone to turn in when we explain everything to the school.”

“Wouldn’t one of them be enough?”

“Cloud and Ein were just being manipulated, and we’ve already lost Cloud.”

“But what if we peg Phem as the accomplice and abandon him?”

Loren pointed at Al. Claes had no rebuttal. While the revival of the dark god had come down to coincidence and bad timing, it was hard to feel merciful toward the boy on an emotional level, as he had at least tried to instigate it.

A part of Loren didn’t not want to feed the kid to the slimes, and Claes did ultimately hold his tongue.

“I’m all for abandoning them!” Ange cast her vote while barely managing to haul Phem’s writhing body with Parmè’s assistance. Her response seemed to stem from all the unnecessary trouble the girl was giving her, rather than from moral standing. She wanted to abandon her package and choose the method that would best ensure her own survival. “Let’s just toss them already! We can have this girl testify, and that will be enough.”

“I-I, ah… Yes, I intend to give a proper testimony.” Parmè seemed confused when the conversation suddenly shifted toward her, but she accepted the burden placed on her shoulders.

Ange looked to Claes, hoping that would be enough to convince him, while Claes, in turn, looked at Loren, his eyes making clear that though he wanted to do something, he couldn’t.

“Then if worse comes to worst, I suppose we can—”

In the moment before Loren made this final drastic call, Lapis shouted a warning. “Mr. Loren!”

Having fully absorbed its swallowed prey, the slime suddenly stopped undulating and lunged toward them, several times faster than it had been before. Having had its first taste of flesh, it seemed the slime was eager to seek out more. It hungered, it wanted. This was no ordinary slime.

But as Loren was the closest, he was too late to react.

“Dammit!” Loren cursed, readying his sword as a shield—but he found himself swallowed while in that posture. The slime instantly enveloped him up to the shoulders.

Pushing against the ground with his sword, Loren struggled to free himself.

“Mr. Loren!”

“Forget about me! Now’s your chance! Slip past it!”

The black liquid in which he was enveloped was too viscous, and slowly, inexorably, it drained the freedom from his body. Even so, he struggled, ordering the others to flee while it was occupied.

“But…!”

“Just go! I can handle this on my—”

The slime covered his head before he could finish. Loren had just barely managed to take one final deep breath, but if he didn’t do something about the slime before he ran out of air, he would end up just like Cloud. He gripped his sword and began swinging it around, not stopping to think.

As long as he could crush its core, the slime would die. The problem was that the slime’s body was pitch-black, and he couldn’t see where the core was. But within its clinging, thickened body, his limbs wouldn’t move like he told them to, and even if he did manage to hit the core, he couldn’t be certain that he had the momentum to crush it. Nevertheless, rather than fretting over whether he could manage it, it was far more important to keep moving. Loren swung his arms relentlessly, frantic and determined.

<Mister, please! Let me help.>

Loren shook his head at Scena’s cry. Lapis will find out! he screamed in his head.

<But if I don’t help now, you’ll die. If she finds out, she finds out, and we can deal with that then!>

The slime’s stranglehold on his body grew tighter by the second, and as Loren’s lungs ran dry, his movements dulled. If he did nothing, then soon he would be unable to move a finger. He would either be asphyxiated or crushed to death.

Fine! I’m counting on you!

<Here we go! Energy drain, full throttle!>

Scena unleashed her powers, no restraint. The force she exerted should have instantly killed something as simple as a slime. Yet as was to be expected from a being summoned by a dark god, even when faced with the fearsome strength of a Lifeless King, the slime’s grip on Loren’s body didn’t weaken in the slightest.

However, at the same time, the vitality she drained from it poured into Loren’s body. He was still out of breath—already half-suffocated—but the stolen vitality turned into his strength, and soon he was swinging his sword again.

Don’t underestimate me! I’m not going to be taken out by a mere slime!

Just like that, something clicked into place in a far corner of his mind.

Despite the lack of oxygen, Loren churned through the slime’s insides faster than before. With Scena supplying the power, his blade gradually grew faster and faster, until each blow was ripping off parts of the slime, sending them splashing into their surroundings—then finally, most likely by coincidence, one slash managed to connect with the slime’s ever-shifting core.

Loren sensed the point of contact through his sword, and he poured every last ounce of his strength into the blow. He wasn’t going to let this chance slip by. His blade dug forward—making a crack. He shoved it farther and farther in until finally, he severed the core in two. His blade slammed into the floor with all its stored-up momentum.

The slime could no longer maintain itself. It lost the strength to keep Loren at bay, dissipating into lifeless fluid, its jet-black body spraying over the ground.

At last, Loren managed to fill his lungs with oxygen once more. He took in a large breath, fell to his knees, and splashed facedown into the dark fluids at his feet.