"Uwaaa—!"
The moment Julien and his team entered the stadium, all eyes fell on them as the audience thunderously cheered or booed them. Their reception was vastly different compared to the other teams who had already entered.
"...He's the Black Star?"
"As expected, he's not that strong."
Karl Redhouse, a cadet with short red hair and eyes stood with his arms crossed. Standing on his spot, he casually observed the new entrants.
His innate skill was [Aura Detection]. So long as the gap wasn't that big, it granted him the ability to have a general idea of someone's strength.
Generally, in his field of view, he was able to see hues. The thicker, and larger the hue was, the stronger the individual was.
"He's decent."
Such was his evaluation of Julien after using his skill on him.
A purple hue surrounded his body. It was neither thick nor thin. Just average.
".....That chick with platinum hair is strong though."
In fact, upon closer look, within his group, he had the weakest aura. All his other teammates had thicker aura than him.
'That said, I heard he's an Emotive Mage.'
His Aura Detection wasn't able to assess Emotive Mages. But it wasn't as though he was worried about that.
To him, the one that stood out the most to him was the platinum-haired girl. She was certainly something...
"What are they doing...?"
A cold voice echoed from the side. Turning his head, Karl caught a glimpse of a young woman with short blue hair and subtly smirked.
Amelia Clementine of the Silver Wing Institute. As expected, her aura was just as large as the platinum-haired girl from Haven.
Staring into the distance, her brows knit.
"Are they fighting?"
"They're a bunch of clowns."
Her voice was followed by an indifferent one from the side. Turning his head, Karl's eyes paused on the black-haired youth.
Johnathan Monroe.
"...."
Immediately, Karl's expression turned grim. It wasn't because he had bad blood with him, but his aura... It was shocking.
To the point where even Amelia's seemed to be overwhelmed.
'A monster.'
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})Such was Karl's evaluation of Johnathan. Still, swallowing his words, he remained calm and turned his attention back towards the group in question.
They were currently...
"Uh?"
Stunned, Karl blinked his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing wrong. Blinking again, and seeing the platinum-haired girl being held back by her other team members as their team leader stood still expressionlessly, Karl didn't know how to react.
"What the hell..."
"I guess they weren't aware that their team was going to be named as such."
Overhearing Amelia's words, realization finally dawned on Karl and he laughed.
"So that's how it is..."
Julien and his sidekicks. Looking at how the team was, he shook his head.
"It doesn't seem like we'll need to worry much about them, then."
Their overall strength was quite good, but compared to their teams, it was lagging by a little. With that being said, the main reason he didn't see them as a threat was that they didn't even seem to be able to work as a team.
"They don't have any chemistry."
It was an observation that everyone agreed to. It was a little disappointing when he thought about it.
After all that talk...
[Next up, let's welcome the next team from Haven.]
Yet again, the announcer's voice echoed throughout the entire arena grounds.
All heads turned towards a certain tunnel.
'The next Haven team.'
To be honest, Karl had some expectations. The team leader for the next Haven team was supposed to be Aoife K. Megrail.
In everyone's eyes, she was the real Black Star. It was still a mystery to them how she had not become one.
'.....I wonder how strong her team is.'
In Karl's opinion, it was going to rival Johnathan's.
And then, their team name was called.
[.....Please welcome, Dream Catcher.]
Booom!
The surroundings shook as the audience roared with excitement.
"Waaah—"
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})Aoife, as a member of the royal family, was an idol to most citizens. Despite some of the tyrannical rules implemented by the Megrail family, they were still extremely respected.
Therefore, the moment she stepped out of the tunnels, to reveal her long flowing red hair, peerless beauty, and yellow pupils, the entire arena grounds quaked with excitement.
"Aoife!!"
"Wooooo—!"
"Black Star!"
There were even chants about the Black Star mixed within. The sight was one to behold, but...
"W-what is this...? H-how?"
Karl found himself shuddering at the sight before him.
Not one, not two, but three.
Overwhelming their surroundings, Karl stared at the three massive auras off in the distance.
In particular, he stared at the aura that came from a young man with black hair and gray eyes. He was handsome, almost as much as Haven's Black Star, but unlike him, his aura...
"Ah, this..."
It was overwhelming.
Almost to the point where it felt suffocating.
"How is this possible?"
***
The moment Aoife's team, which included Leon and Evelyn, entered the arena grounds, the entire surroundings shook with fervor. It was to the point where I had to cover my ears given how loud the noise was.
From above, I could see the recording devices centered towards them.
"Ah, shit—!
With how loud it was, I could barely hear Kiera as she covered her ears with both hands.
Thankfully, this didn't last for very long. Once the cheers ended, the announcer shared the rules of the match. It was something that we as a team had already gone over beforehand so it wasn't anything new.
In the end, after a few minutes of talk, we were all led towards separate tunnels.
[Exams begin]
And with the announcer's words, the test began.
Immediately, all teams entered their respective tunnel. We did so as well. But unlike the other teams, we weren't in a rush.
Tok—
The quiet sound of our footsteps echoed as we found ourselves in a large squared tunnel. Walking at the front, thin threads moved out from my hand.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})They snaked forward, moving along the path.
As we moved, a small device hovered around us. It was most likely the monitoring device for the audience and staff.
Just as I took several steps forward, I heard Kiera's voice from behind.
"Oh, shit."
Turning my head, I noticed that she was staring at her bracelet. Curious, I looked at mine too and understood why she was reacting like that.
— [Team Score] —
[Dream Catcher] - 110 Points
[Swords of Fiest] - 85 Points
[Crow's Dance] - 66 Points
.
.
[Julien and his sidekicks] - 0 Points
— [Team Score] —
"Eh? How are they so fast...?
"I mean, it's them, so..."
Anders was the one who responded to Josephine's question.
"Uh, yeah but still... This is crazy..."
The monsters within the Labyrinth were the same as the ones from the Mirror Dimension. Because of the general strength of the cadets, the monsters included in the dungeon ranked from Infant to Junior rank.
An infant-ranked beast was equivalent to 5 points, while a Junior ranked was 100 points.
"....Not even two minutes passed, and they've killed a Junior and two infants?"
Josephine muttered with a baffled look.
Staring at her watch, her face paled.
"At this rate, we might not even rank within the top."
"Fuck!"
Cursing, Kiera looked at me.
"Oy, you. Let's pick up the pace."
"No."
"Uh?"
"We go at the same pace."
"But—"
"No."
Kiera raised her hands again. It looked like she was eyeing my neck again. Without sparing her another glance, I elaborated.
"We've already discussed this beforehand. There will be a boss at the center of the maze. It will count for 5000 points. I'd rather conserve my energy and face the boss monster than waste time fighting a bunch of weak monsters."
This was something that we had already decided beforehand.
They were probably taken aback by the strong start from the other teams. I couldn't blame them, but if we wanted to win, this was the best method.
Furthermore...
I glanced at my bracelet.
'I'm sure things will become annoying further down the line.'
It was for that reason that we couldn't afford to waste any energy.
At least, not yet.
***
In another part of the maze.
Swoosh—
Several figures flashed quickly. Their speed was extremely fast, and wherever they passed, corpses would appear.
Hieeek—!
A screech resounded upfront.
"I've got it."
Aoife pushed her hand forward, and a large snake floated in the air. Waving her hand, the snake splattered against the wall of the maze.
A chime rang from the bracelet shortly after.
[+10 Points]
Swoosh—
The group didn't stop.
Kracka! Kracka!
From lightning to sword flashes. Wherever they went, all that would be left was devastation.
[+10 Points] [+10 Points] [+10 Points]
Chimes continued to ring constantly.
They were simply unstoppable. Such seamless teamwork and coordination, left the spectators watching outside in a stupor.
The team carried on like this for the next few hours.
They didn't have a direction. However, they didn't need a direction.
"Over here."
Leon had his instincts. Whenever they encountered a fork road, he'd follow his instincts. It was thanks to this that the team didn't encounter a single dead end.
"....Let's stop here for now."
But even so, at some point, they did stop.
"Hooo."
Aoife took a deep breath and wiped some of the sweat on her forehead. While she wasn't exactly tired, she was also not exactly energized.
Looking around, she leaned against one of the walls.
"Are you guys good?"
"Haa... A little. Could be better."
As a mage, Evelyn's stamina was amongst the lowest within the group. For that reason, she had a harder time conserving her stamina.
The two other members, Ronald, and Ainsla were also somewhat tired.
"Haa... Haa..."
Catching up her breath, Evelyn turned her attention towards Leon who was staring at his bracelet with a frown.
"What's wrong...?"
Staring at her watch, and seeing that they were first at 751 points, with over 90 points ahead of the second team, she was confused by Leon's reaction.
"What are you worried about?"
".....It's nothing big."
Though he said that, Evelyn could tell something was taking over his mind.
When she turned her head, she also noticed Aoife staring at the watch with a frown. What's up with these two?
"Are you guys worried that Sword of Fiest will catch up with us?"
"No."
"No."
The two replied almost at the same time.
Stunned, Evelyn looked between the two of them. Leon looked away from his bracelet and replied.
"I'm not worried about them."
"Then...? Crow's dance?"
They were the team headed by Karl Redhouse. He was a strong competitor, but Evelyn didn't think he was as strong as Johnathan from Swords of Fiest.
"Not that too."
"Not them too...? Ice twist?"
"No."
"No?"
Evelyn blinked and scrolled through the list. They were the top three teams and the ones closest to them. If it wasn't them, then...
"Ah."
Evelyn finally realized and her eyes widened.
"Them?"
What sort of...? While she had to agree that Kiera and Luxon were strong, the others were not as strong. Julien was also somewhat strong, but not to the point where he'd worry someone like Leon and Aoife.
"Julien and his sideki-"
"Kh."
A strange noise interrupted Evelyn.
Pausing, she looked up. Aoife and Leon were staring at her expressionlessly. They were looking at her with the same stoic look they usually wore. Hmm. Could she have heard wrong?
"Julien and h-"
"Pft."
Evelyn blinked.
Staring at the two of them, her lips twitched. Especially when she noticed that their eyes were both bloodshot.
What in the world...
".....Are you guys okay?"
In response to her question, Leon took a deep breath and nodded.
"Yes."
Aoife did the same.
"Oh."
Evelyn casually nodded. Then, just as the two seemed to have gathered their bearings, she quickly spat.
"Julien and his sidekicks."
"Pfttt—"
