'A Rift—.'
I muttered, looking straight ahead. An unreal black-and-white distortion, neither magic nor black magic — undeniably a Rift.
The game I'd been possessed into had bullshit difficulty to begin with. Being the Hard Mode of such a game, I had figured the Rifts might open earlier than before. Still, I hadn't expected it this fast.
'A Rift opening the moment the entrance ceremony ends?'
A Rift is a passage that connects to an Outer God. For one to have opened meant an Outer God was nearer than before.
"A Rift—!! Damn it! Students got caught in the Rift!!"
Milo's shout broke my thoughts. He was practically having a fit. A more violent reaction than when the headmaster went flying.
I quietly stared at the Rift. It was still small.
"A-aren't you going in?"
Milo asked, his face twitching. I nodded lightly.
"It's not ripe yet."
"......What?"
"It's not ripe yet, I said."
Milo blinked dumbly. Then his face crumpled.
"Not ripe—. A Rift isn't meat! Damn it! With a Rift, time is everything! I'm going in now!"
"All right."
"......Don't you usually stop me once, at a time like this?"
"Why bother?"
"What? Damn it—"
Scratching his head irritably, Milo ran toward the Rift. His face was full of fear. To an Elite Corps guard, a Rift was a hell with a survival rate near zero. Yet there wasn't a moment's hesitation in his steps toward it.
"Motherf—! Blond beauty!!"
With a bizarre battle cry, Milo vanished into the Rift. The Rift that swallowed him grew a shade deeper.
There are two reasons a Rift is such bullshit. The first is that the difficulty is fucking brutal, and the second is that you can't know the interior's nature until you go in.
A Rift is something even a Sword Master could die in if he drew the wrong one. The reason I'd spread my stats rather than pile them into one. In exchange, the reward for clearing was certain.
'It gives a Fragment of the Outer Gods.'
Beat a Rift, and you can obtain a Fragment of the Outer Gods. Right now I was stalled so solidly that even a twelve-year tutorial couldn't break through. But a Fragment of the Outer Gods could break the limit.
A Fragment was dangerous, of course, but sadly I wasn't in a position to be picky. And there was a way to ward off the side effects later, too.
The black-and-white shimmer swelled and shrank as if pulsing. Like a beating heart.
'Looks delicious.'
I flicked a finger.
***
"Let go!"
"You let go first!"
"No! You let go first!"
"On three we let go at the same time! One! Two! Three—!"
"Why didn't you let go!"
"You didn't either!"
"This time for real! One, two—"
"Three!"
Andy let go of Evangeline's hair and fell away. Evangeline let go of his hair a touch later.
Ugh, seriously! Andy shook out his hand in irritation. Pink hairs scattered down.
"Hah! Don't get cheeky."
Evangeline shook out her hand and grinned.
To think he'd gotten into a scuffle with Evangeline—. Feeling self-disgust, Andy forced a change of subject.
"So, this is a maze?"
"Yeah, it's a maze. Can't you see this?"
"See what?"
"This! Can't you see?"
Evangeline boldly pointed above her head. It was just empty air. Nothing there.
"What's supposed to be there."
"Come on, there's a translucent window right here. Says the nature is aura, and you have to defeat Von Derk to escape?"
At Evangeline joking even now, Andy felt deep irritation but forced down his anger. The one he was dealing with was Evangeline. Getting angry would only cost him.
"Stand back. I'll cast detection magic."
"It won't work, you know?"
"Won't work?"
"It says the nature is aura. Conversely, magic gets a debuff."
Ignoring the bizarre-talking Evangeline, Andy irritably swept his hand and moved his mana. Mana scattered along it. Detection magic.
Andy's detection magic was normally wide enough to sweep an entire castle at once. The reason he cast it with confidence. But the detection magic didn't work. No — it worked, but couldn't pierce the corridor.
Andy hurriedly checked the spell formula. There was nothing wrong with the spell. The detection magic had clearly deployed. Yet the moment it touched the corridor, it scattered. As if it had touched a knight's aura—
"Tsk, I told you it wouldn't work."
Andy had no reply to Evangeline's jab. The magic really hadn't worked.
"Come on! This way!"
Just then, Evangeline strode forward with confidence. Andy hurriedly grabbed her.
"Do you actually know where you're going?"
"I told you! It just! Hits me, the feeling!"
"A feeling, my foot—. If this is really a maze, moving around for no reason is dangerous. A rescue team might come from the academy. Move around carelessly and you could make things worse. Better to wait quietly right here—"
"No, we can't stay here."
For the first time, Evangeline spoke with a serious face. The always-clowning Evangeline going expressionless was oddly chilling. Just as Andy belatedly meant to say something—
Splosh, tak—.
A small sound came from far off. Like something being dragged along the ground, and instinct told him — if that thing got close, it'd be very bad.
"Let's run."
Evangeline whispered quietly. Andy nodded at once.
The two ran at the same time. And then—.
Splosh, tak—. Splosh, tak—.
The sound quickened. Andy ran for dear life, holding back a scream that threatened to burst out.
After running for a while, a problem arose.
"It's a fork!"
A five-way fork, no less. Each path dark as a door into hell.
Splosh, tak—. Splosh, tak—.
The sound drew steadily nearer. Andy looked anxiously at Evangeline. Sadly, she was all he had to rely on.
"Wait! Mmmm—. Okay! Got the feeling! This way!"
Evangeline pointed down the left path. Is this right? Andy had doubts, but there was no choice. The two ran again.
After running a while like that—. The sharp sound was no longer heard.
'The feeling was actually right?'
They say even dog dung has its use—. Andy looked at Evangeline with fresh eyes.
Evangeline's own expression, however, wasn't good.
"Hmm, this is definitely the right way."
"What's wrong?"
"This is definitely right, but—"
"But? What?"
With a stiff face, Evangeline pointed ahead. There stood a knight painted over in red blood. A hideous figure, as if it had just climbed up from hell. Click — the knight slowly moved its sword arm. The blade, dripping blood, leveled at them. A vivid aura blazed from it.
A mid-rank knight.
"Hey! You said this way!"
"Weird? This is right! The feeling totally hit me!"
"I'm losing it! That's a mid-rank knight!"
"A mid-rank knight — is that strong?"
"I'm a mage! And mana's thin here on top of it! No way we win!"
"Hmmm, what if the two of us rush it at once?"
"Are you good at fighting?"
"Do I look like it?"
"No."
"Correct!"
Just then. Splosh—. Tak. The ominous sound came from behind. They were trapped front and back.
"Andy."
Evangeline called his name with a serious face. Andy gazed at her, holding out hope.
"Heh heh. Luckily the road to the afterlife won't be lonely!"
Evangeline laughed brightly and gave a thumbs-up.
"You — reject bastard!!"
Andy spat out the words he'd been holding back.
Just then—.
"Motherf—, what bastard's messing with students?"
A crooked voice came from right behind. When they turned, there stood a delinquent-looking man wreathed in blue aura. At the sight of the man's uniform, Andy's eyes went wide.
"It's the Security Corps!!"
"Stand back, you troublemakers."
The man grinned with a growl.
***
Milo had never formally learned the sword. He'd learned to punch by being punched, learned to cut by being cut. Still, he must have had some talent, because he'd awakened aura too. The knights called it cheap, of course, but Milo didn't care. If anything, he took pride in it. That he was strong in a real fight.
Milo quickly sized up the one before him.
'A mid-rank knight.'
Hideous as if it had just risen from hell, but mid-rank, the same as Milo.
'Doable.'
No — he had to. There were two students behind him.
Milo charged the knight without hesitation. The knight's blade slashed at him. A speed unbelievable for a mid-rank. Milo hurriedly raised his fist. The aura-wreathed fist and the blade collided like wedges.
When knights of the same rank clash, it's the purity of the aura that decides it. Milo was confident in his aura's purity. Having learned nothing, he'd always built his aura through sheer grit.
So Milo confidently pressed his aura against the enemy's blade. He planned to push the enemy's aura back, make an opening, and press the attack.
The problem was that it was Milo who got pushed back.
'I got pushed back?'
The enemy's aura was purer than his own. Its blade went for Milo's exposed gut. Milo hurriedly rolled across the floor. Shaak — the blade grazed past his side. The floor split clean open.
Barely dodging it, Milo swung a foot at the knight's lower body. An aura-clad kick. A hit would have wrecked it, yet the enemy didn't even feign a dodge and thrust its sword.
'This bastard isn't a living thing.'
Something alive couldn't react like that. No knight would abandon defending his lower body.
Milo gave up the attack and closed the distance. Close enough to see inside the helmet. Naturally, the knight's sword could only cut empty air. Milo swung his fist point-blank. It sank into the knight's gut. When the aura-clad fist pierced the bizarre armor, he saw it was hollow inside.
'Hollow inside? What kind of monster—'
At the unexpected sight, Milo's eyes wavered. The knight's blade went for him without delay.
Just then—.
"Ice Spike!!"
A large ice spike appeared from behind and went for the enemy's head. It struck dead-on, but the effect was slight. The knight's head was barely twisted aside, and that was all.
Still, to Milo it was rain in a drought.
"Aim for the noggin!!"
A student shouted from behind. Milo kicked off the ground and swung his fist. It punched through the helmet. Empty again, but unlike before, the knight moved no more. The masterless armor tumbled to the floor.
'What kind of monster......'
Milo muttered, wiping the blood running down his cheek.
Just then—.
Splosh, tak.
Footsteps came from somewhere. When he turned, dark-red knights were approaching. The same kind as before. The problem was there were four of them.
'Bullshit.'
He'd barely beaten even one, and with help. There was no way he could beat four.
"Hey, you two."
"S-sorry!"
Evangeline and Andy hurriedly apologized. Milo forced a hearty grin.
"I'll buy time, so run."
"What?"
"Run, I said. From now on, stay out of danger zones."
Milo spat and stepped forward with a swagger. The four monstrous things stared at him.
'In the end, I die without ever meeting my blond beauty.'
There was no special reason he was hung up on a blond beauty. It was only that the single clue to finding the mother he'd never even seen was that she was blond. Though even that wasn't certain.
Milo reached for his baton to set off a signal flare. No — tried to.
'Wh-where'd it go?'
Milo patted the belt where the baton should be. Nowhere. He'd definitely worn it out—
'Don't tell me — that bastard?'
Just then—.
"Gate Opening."
Along with a chilly voice. Chrrng — a wailing metallic sound rang out. At the same time, black chains shot toward the knights.
The knights twisted their swords to block. But that was a presumptuous notion. The black chains pierced the knights along with their swords. Click — all four knights crumpled where they stood.
"Mm, ripened up nicely."
He twisted the corner of his mouth. As if he'd eaten a truly delicious meal.