Chapter 28: Formation of an Alliance (3)
Elwin silently observed, watching what exactly the uninvited guest was doing.
“……”
Only after the intruder finished tampering with the seal and disappeared completely into the shadows—
Tap.
Elwin dropped down to where the sealing formation had been.
“Hm?”
He slowly ran his hand over the magic circle. Nurous formulas had been superimposed over the original structure.
“One, two… Ha! They really did go all out in that short ti, didn’t they?”
Though Elwin wasn’t a mage himself, he was quite well-versed in magic theory.
Thanks to a certain friend who was utterly obsessed with magic.
Swish, swish.
As he lightly traced the altered formulas with his finger, faint magical sparks crackled.
Bzzzzzt…!
The formula resisted his touch—an automatic defense against external interference.
“All of these are supplental formulas to accelerate the seal’s release.”
Even counting just the ones he could identify, there were over ten.
“And if I dug deeper, I’d probably find even more hidden layers.”
On top of that, the seal was already in the process of being released by Arey Oswald, who had administrative authority.
Putting the pieces together…
“Well now, it’s going to break soon. Originally, it wasn’t supposed to be released until the evening of the third day…”
His words might have sounded dismayed on paper, but his voice betrayed none of that.
In fact, he sounded pleased.
“Well, this works too.”
His cheerful tone revealed he was enjoying this unexpected twist.
“They keep exceeding expectations.”
The original story of LAMPAS officially began next year.
But Elwin had decided to start moving a year earlier—this very mont, with the 616th Hunter Exam.
“Hahaha!”
The reason was obvious.
“Guess this class of applicants really is sothing special.”
The participants of the 616th Hunter Exam—no, those who would pass—were all main characters of LAMPAS.
Each one had a clear purpose, and for the sake of that goal, they could beco either saints or villains.
To put it nicely, they were thorough in their intentions. Less generously—
“Bats.”
Even now, several such "bats" had infiltrated the labyrinth.
Those who could sacrifice others without hesitation for their own purposes—just like the person who had tampered with the seal.
“I get it. I understand. If you’re foolish and clumsy, you won’t survive.”
That was the unspoken law of LAMPAS: the tricked, the betrayed, and the murdered were always the ones at fault.
But Elwin didn’t particularly like that standard.
“Right now, ‘they’ haven’t fallen yet. …They can still be saved.”
Even if unjust laws are still laws, and hypocrisy still counts as virtue—
He couldn’t let feigned evil beco actual evil.
Of course, Elwin had no intention of saving these ‘bats’ out of kindness. That sort of thing was Noel’s specialty, not his.
Noel is gone now.
So Elwin had decided to use his own thods.
—Submission. Subjugation. Domination.
Those kinds of things. After all, even hypocrisy could be a kind of virtue.
“Well, we still have so ti left… I’ll let them play however they want for now.”
He was soone who knew everything about this world.
“They’ll realize it soon enough. Exactly where they stand.”
And because of that, didn’t he have the right to bend everything to his will?
“No matter how much they crawl and fly, they’re all—within the palm of my hand.”
With a cold smile, Elwin gave the seal one last glance, then leapt.
With that single bound, he vanished without a trace.
Woooooooong—
All that remained in the now-empty space was the massive sealing formation.
Pulsing with ominous, blood-red magical energy…
***
The afternoon of Day 2, during the third test.
Sowhere in the labyrinth.
“Gyaaaaah!”
A cluster of examinees was under attack by an unidentified group.
Taken by surprise, they were overwheld one by one before they could even respond.
“Everyone stay alert! Don’t let your guard down! —Urgh!”
A man who had been shouting warnings to his comrades collapsed, blood spilling from his mouth after the next attack.
Splatter!
Sothing hot struck his face.
[Examinee 61105, rdin Alon, has been eliminated.]
The glowing fish circling above the fallen examinee vanished without a trace.
A clear signal.
He had been eliminated not just from the test—but from this path in life.
“rdiiiin! Dammit… Who did this?! Who the hell—?!”
One of the examinees wailed over the lifeless body of his friend.
But sadly, he too soon t the sa fate as the others.
“Whew! Looks like that’s all of them?”
One of the attackers laughed mischievously as he kicked a corpse.
“Hey, Hake. Cut the crap and get over here.”
“Yeah, yeah~”
The man called Hake trotted back to his group, lowering the bow he had been firing monts earlier.
The attackers’ appearance was… strange.
“Is anyone hurt? I’ve got ointnt if you need it.”
“Ah, lasa, do you have a mana potion too?”
“Of course! Here you go.”
“Much appreciated.”
No, it wasn’t just strange. Compared to normal LAMPAS folk—
It was different.
“Hmm~ Wonder how many points we scored with that?”
So had twitching ears and tails.
“Natuia thinks: high score, guaranteed!”
Others had webbed ears, or scaly skin.
“The effect of your potion was excellent, lasa. I’ve nearly recovered all the mana I used. This should be enough to control the golem again.”
So were massive—far larger than normal humans.
“Hahaha! Even though this is our first ti fighting together, our coordination was spot on! I have a good feeling about this!”
And so were covered in thick fur, like beasts.
“Frau, are you okay? Any injuries? Tell right away.”
Among them, the only one resembling a typical LAMPAS-born human was lasa, a witch—though her outfit was certainly peculiar.
A hat taller than a man’s head, long robes and a cape, and even a broom for so reason.
“I’m fine!”
“Fufu, that’s good to hear. No injuries is always a good thing.”
Their unusual appearance made sense.
They were an interracial temporary alliance, consisting only of beastfolk and minority race examinees.
“Ah~ seriously. When we first dropped into the labyrinth, I thought we were dood. I was ready to die.”
Having achieved their first big victory, the five of them relaxed into easy conversation.
“I agree. Dropping several hundred ters underground with no safety asures was a spine-chilling experience.”
The massive golem-user Batan nodded slowly.
“Even after landing, the place was crawling with weird creatures called monsters. My prized punches didn’t even phase them.”
The hairy martial artist Frau scowled.
“Monster, ancient-type, demonic beast… Natuia can’t tell the difference. Too confusing.”
The cold-faced rfolk spearwoman, Natuia, slumped her shoulders gloomily.
“Fufu. Don’t worry, everyone. I think we’ll soon have a way to fight back.”
lasa stepped forward.
She covered her mouth with her long sleeves, either out of habit or style.
“Ooh—! Really!?”
She nodded gently.
“They looked strange… but also oddly familiar, don’t you think?”
“…Familiar?”
“Ghost-type demonic beasts.”
Seeing that the others were still confused, she answered directly. Their eyes widened in realization.
“Now that you ntion it!”
“They’re similar… Physical attacks passing through, resistance to basic magic…”
“Hmm. Makes sense. Demonic beasts supposedly wiped out the monsters. If that’s true, then they likely inherited so of their traits.”
“Exactly. And that ans the counterasure is simple.”
lasa opened her subspace storage and pulled out a massive cauldron along with various ingredients.
“We just need to enchant our weapons with light or holy-elent magic.”
Clatter—
She raised a large herb container and dumped its contents into the cauldron.
A strange, fragrant aroma spread throughout the space.
“Unfortunately, none of us have dual-elent mana, right? So I’m going to make a potion that imbues those elents into our weapons.”
“W-Wow! That’s even possible with potions?! First ti hearing that!”
“lasa, you were in the alchemy departnt? You’re really talented!”
“…Fufu. It’s not quite alchemy. It’s just sothing all witches can do.”
Wearing a faintly bitter smile, lasa reached for the ingredients.
Plop. Plop-plop.
She picked out a few, dumped them into the cauldron without hesitation, and began stirring with a giant ladle.
“It should be done in about five minutes. Please wait a little.”
The others sat quietly, nodding in understanding.
‘Can’t wait…’
They all knew.
Once that potion was complete, it would mark the mont they could finally fight back against the monsters.
Stir, stir—
For a while, only the sound of potion brewing echoed in the quiet space.
“Hey, by the way. Don’t you think it’s weird?”
Suddenly, the cat beastfolk archer Hake spoke up, tail flicking.
“What do you an?”
Seeing their puzzled looks, he grinned mischievously.
“How did we beastfolk and minority race examinees all end up finding each other so fast? Doesn’t it seem like soone made that happen?”
“…Maybe it was just coincidence.”
“No way! It must be fate! I’ve got a good feeling!”
“Timur, not here. Not all gathered yet.”
Batan, Frau, and Natuia offered straightforward answers. Hake chuckled.
“So simple. …Well, I guess it doesn’t matter. As the weakest of the bunch, I’m just glad I found strong allies like you.”
He shrugged.
“It’s obvious. The other LAMPAS-born candidates wouldn’t have accepted . Probably would’ve hunted down. I really owe you guys. Unlike you, I’m no help at all. And yet, you still didn’t throw away.”
“Hake… I never thought you’d say sothing like that. A burden? Not at all.”
“Hake, kind, comfort, help!”
They had only been together for a short while—but they already shared a powerful sense of camaraderie.
“Yeah! Let’s keep this going! All five of us are going to beco Hunters! I’ve got a really good feeling about this…!”
A warm, cheerful energy spread between them.
A bond forged by their shared status as outsiders, the joy of their first victory, the relief of finding a solution.
“When the potion’s done, who should we target next?”
But imrsed in those layered emotions, they failed to notice—
“Next?”
Shooosh!
Shadows moving swiftly through the air!
“You’re next.”
The mont an unknown voice rang out—
“Gahhh!”
A knife from the air struck Hake, and he let out a scream.
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