章 30: The Path 030

With weapons and equipment supplied by Will, the party of sixteen made steady progress through the Labyrinth. Most monsters wouldn't go out of their way to attack large groups, so their advance was largely unimpeded until they reached the spacious enclosure encircling the central obelisk.

Encircling the more than one-hundred-meter-tall obelisk was a six-sided, star-shaped structure with entrances at the interior angles of each point of the star. More notably, there were statues depicting various elemental creatures flanking each entrance, implicitly indicating what lurked within.

"Now I understand what Assistant Professor Buttplug meant by elemental tribulations..." mused Will, standing cross-armed and gazing up at the pair of statues adorning the entrance closest to where they had entered from, depicting a pair of Báirseach Teine, a type of fire-breathing monster with the physique of a feline but the scales and hide of a wyvern.

"Báirseach are Grade Three monsters..." muttered Ishyll, swallowing hard as he added, "Surely they can't expect students to defeat such a foe. Not at our current level..."

"Don't be such a coward," said Aisha, emulating Will's stance and cross-armed posture as she asserted, "There are sixteen of us, eleven warriors and five mages. If my brother can reduce its speed, birdbrain here should be able to lop its head off in a single go."

"Mmm...I definitely have the ability..." confirmed Will. "But if I take all the glory, the likelihood of others in our group passing decreases."

Turning to face the crowd of nervous ten-to-eleven-year-olds gathered behind him, Will added, "I'll let everyone decide individually. If you wish to prove yourselves, step forward. If no one does, I'll fight the Báirseach alone. I can't guarantee victory, but the odds are in my favor."

Raising her hand, the bespectacled Sile tentatively inquired, "Will we...will we have to fight alone?"

"Of course not," replied Will, smiling as he clarified, "If the situation looks dire, I'll step in. I just want to give everyone a chance to show what they can do."

"Then...then please permit me to fight...!" exclaimed Sile, gripping her twisted, crook-like staff anxiously but with a determined gleam in her pale, violet-hued eyes.

"You mean stand in the back while I face all the danger..." muttered Aisha, sporting a half-lidded expression as he stared at Sile with a hint of venom in her gaze.

"You won't be alone! I'll fight with you...!" asserted Tim, doing his best to appear and sound confident.

Nodding in approval, Ishyll stated, "My capabilities in close quarters are lacking, but I'm confident in my speed and can provide cover fire with my crossbow. If the enemy has any weak spots, I'll be sure to find them."

"Ugh...there's nothing more repulsive than weaklings faking confidence. And the last thing I need is someone shooting arrows over my shoulder..." retorted Aisha, directing her half-lidded stare to Tim and Ishyll.

Taken aback by Aisha's retort, Tim and Ishyll fell silent. Instead, it was Ohta who countered, "Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. Do you really think you're special because you're stronger and faster than other children? At least reach the top of your grade or obtain a title before you start behaving arrogantly..."

"Hmph! Big words coming from someone even a Dwarf could look down on...!" Aisha riposted, causing Ohta's right eye to twitch.

"I'm going," said Will, sporting a slight deadpan as he stepped between the duo and entered the structure encircling the obelisk. He considered himself fairly patient, but Aisha's standoffishness was starting to irritate even him.

"Ah! Wait for me...!" exclaimed Sile, hurrying to catch up with Will as she didn't want to miss the opportunity to fight alongside him. Those with an aptitude for Magic had a much easier time being accepted into the Royal Academy, but without a sponsor, the competition for materials was fierce. Thus, while she knew it was a little shameless, Sile hoped to impress Will enough with her go-getter attitude that he would finance at least a part of her studies.

Following Sile's example, and for similar reasons, Ishyll and several others hurried to catch up with Will. The Royal Academy didn't charge a standard tuition, but unless you were a part of the scholarship program, everything from textbooks to the uniforms required for specific courses was deemed an out-of-pocket expense. Some of the Professors had you purchase their full range of published works before they would allow you to enroll in their courses, so the only way to avoid accumulating a tremendous debt before graduation was to get a part-time job, often within the Academy, or find a sponsor.

As nearly everyone hurried to catch up with Will, Aisha lingered behind to direct a withering stare at Ohta, stating, "This isn't over. The Gamma Star of the Oirthear Constellation won't always be around to protect you. Just wait until we meet on the field of battle...there you will learn your place is beneath my heel..."

'I have never wanted to pull on someone's ears more than I have at this exact moment...' thought Ohta, staring up at Aisha with slightly furrowed brows. He knew for a fact he was stronger than the animal-eared brat, so if he gave in to her provocation, he felt like he would be losing, even if he won...

"Whatever..." muttered Ohta, being the first to break eye contact as he rolled his eyes, slipped his hands into his jacket pockets, and followed after everyone else. This caused Aisha to puff out her non-existent chest and stand triumphantly with her hands on her hips, but Ohta did his best to ignore her, closing his eyes and telling himself, 'Calm down. She's just a brat...' as if he weren't the youngest-looking member of the group...

...

'This place is a lot bigger on the inside...' Will noted, looking around the spacious, dimly lit chamber the entry corridor had led to. The floor, walls, and ceiling were either matte blue stone or appeared that way due to the blue torches lining the walls. More concerningly, its shape was hexagonal, with five additional entryways, suggesting it hadn't mattered where they chose to enter from.

"There's nothing here..." remarked Ishyll, giving voice to the same thought that had crossed the minds of nearly everyone present. Unfortunately, as if to spite him, a complex, hexagonal magic circle abruptly materialized on the ground, followed by heavy, magic-resistance stone slabs sliding down to seal off all the entrances.

Since Ishyll was too surprised to react, Will took the initiative to sweep his arm and shout, "It's a summoning circle! Form a defensive line with Mages and archers at the back! The moment something emerges, hit it with superior elemental spells! If you don't have any, save your Mana...!"

Reacting to Will's commands, everyone got into the formation they had practiced the previous day. At the same time, similar to a 3D model being loaded into a game, a holographic figure with visible topology took shape above the summoning circle. Its textures materialized soon after, giving it an appearance similar to a tiger but with scale-covered black limbs, black spines along its back, and a thick, lizard-like tail reminiscent of a Komodo dragon. Its physique was also reptilian, but its head, jaws, and prominent musculature were distinctly feline.

Causing several prospective students to nearly empty their bladders and bowels involuntarily, the tiger-like beast, a chimeric form of a Báirseach, inhaled deeply before exhaling an indescribably loud roar that resonated with the bones and organs of everyone present, stunning them. Even Will felt its effects, but as it wasn't his first time encountering such a creature, he recovered nigh-instantaneously, shouting, "It's fire element! Hit it with water or earth magic...!"

Though it was only a bit, Will empowered his shout with Dominate. Thanks to that, Sile, in particular, felt invigorated enough to respond, "R-Right! I'm on it...!" despite her legs feeling like jelly.

Grasping her staff and raising it like a sledgehammer, Sile summoned all her strength and focus to chant, "Torrents surge and flows intersect! Let all tremble at your name! Flash Flood...!"

Swinging her staff forward, Sile struck seemingly empty air, causing a large, vibrant blue Magic circle to appear. From its center, a torrent of water shot out, surging toward the Báirseach with the force of a dam's spillway being opened. Sile's Mana reserves plummeted to nearly zero, but as it wasn't expecting such a quick response, the Báirseach was left wide-eyed as the torrent of water slammed into it like a truck, sending it crashing into the far wall.

"The finishing blow is mine...!" exclaimed Aisha, darting forward and leaving tiny plumes of water where her feet impacted. Sile's attack had weakened but failed to kill the Báirseach, so Aisha raced forward with the aid of her brother's Acceleration Magic, intending to finish things before it could recover.

Noticing Aisha's approach, the Báirseach struggled to rise and adopt a defensive, ready-to-pounce posture. Steam exuded from its body due to Sile's Magic, but it was still a Grade Three creature. Even while weakened, it was much faster and stronger than a Grade One Beginner.

Meeting the Báirseach's gaze as she approached, Aisha felt a shiver run up her spine, her eyes widening, and goosebumps spreading across her body as it abruptly leaped forward to meet her. She managed to leap up and over it at the last moment, spinning acrobatically through the air, but she quickly realized she was outmatched when the Báirseach slid through the water, using its tail as a counterbalance to turn and execute a second pounce where she had just landed.

'Papa, save me...!' Aisha exclaimed internally, outwardly closing her eyes and steeling herself for the pain set to follow. Fortunately, while she was knocked off her feet, it wasn't by the Báirseach, as, midway through its flight, a thin but durable earth spike abruptly emerged from the ground, impaling it through its relatively vulnerable belly and protruding from its back.

Still alive, the Báirseach issued an ear-piercing yowl of pain as it thrashed about and made several swipes at Aisha, the latter gawking at it from just outside its range. She was too stunned to even try and evade, but just as the Báirseach stopped to gather Mana in its throat, intending to emit iron-melting flames, a second earth spike exploded from the water, piercing it through the head.

"Aisha...!" exclaimed Azir, emerging from behind the Báirseach, hurrying to his sister's side.

Blinking back to awareness, Aisha muttered a confused, "Azir...?" while the boy in question embraced her tightly. Her brain was still attempting to make sense of everything that had just happened, but one thing Aisha was keenly aware of was that she had just been saved, causing her brows to crinkle in conflicted discontent...

...

"Was that necessary?" asked Ohta, gazing up at the relaxedly smiling Will with a disproving frown. "The only thing that can mend arrogance like that is a much-needed reality check. It's not like she would have died."

"If you're that bothered by her, feel free to eliminate her," responded Will, looking down to meet Ohta's gaze as he appended, "But it's not healthy to desire that someone be inflicted with a trauma. Having your face or throat crushed in the jaws of a predator isn't something you forget easily..."

"You say that like you've experienced it..." retorted Ohta, raising his right brow with a hint of suspicion. At the same time, however, he couldn't deny that the punishment he desired for Aisha was a bit...extreme for the crime of simply being annoying. Thus, while he still felt that Aisha deserved her comeuppance, he decided not to fault Will for intervening to prevent what might have been a lifelong trauma...

...