Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

Chapter 173: One-on-One

Godwin Lopez stared at the Sword of Ruinous Fire in the center of the stone platform while clutching the hilt of the holy sword, Breaking Dawn, in his hand.

Once again, it had rejected him.

When Godwin first stepped into the center of the labyrinth a few years ago, this possibility hadn’t even entered his mind. With a determined momentum, he stretched out his hand and firmly grasped it.

Immediately, the blackening searing pain in front of his eyes instantly ignited in the palm of his right hand.

What he held wasn’t like a sword, but more like a red-hot soldering iron. In the heartbreaking pain, Godwin seemed to be able to hear the sizzling sound of burnt skin, but when he retracted his hand and opened his palm, the skin on his palm was as intact as ever.

[Anyone who feels guilty or confused in their heart would feel as if their palm was being burned like a soldering iron when they picked it up.]

It was the curse on the Sword of Ruinous Fire. It wasn’t that Godwin hadn’t heard about it, but he never thought he would meet the condition and trigger the curse. For so many years, he had never felt confused or regretful in his heart. Perhaps there were some when he was still young, but now those immature feelings had long disappeared.

Everything in the world could be explained by reason, and he had always chosen the most reasonable path. Perhaps there was a lot of helplessness, blood and sorrow on this road, but it was indeed relatively the least harmful, and he thought he had a clear conscience.

But that sword obviously disagreed.

With the Breaking Dawn, Godwin had no obsession with the Sword of Ruinous Fire itself. After all, “only the Hero can use the Sword of Ruinous Fire” was just a weird standard set by Pope Dawn Quinn himself, and it had nothing to do with the prophecy.

Godwin cared about it for only one reason…

That was Flint Lopez’s sword, and he once took this sword to the bottom of the Abyss. The man was able to use the Ruinous Fire freely, while he couldn’t even hold it steady. He wasn’t as good as Flint Lopez, as his father had once said. He thought that he had come this far already, enough to surpass the unrestrained leader of the Tin Soldier Mercenary Regiment.

It wasn’t enough.

Godwin could feel a painful agony spreading from near his heart, flowing with the blood. If there was a bleakest memory in his life; it was the uncle he had never met.

“If my older brother’s child had survived, he would assuredly become the greatest warrior,” his father once said something like this, “But Zenni gave you to me, Godwin. Maybe this world only has a guide like me, because Zenni took the best one first.”

“No, not even close! You have that kind of power, Godwin. What did I teach you? Now you don’t need to take care of anyone. You have all the time in the world, but Flint was familiar with his swordsmanship when he was your age. Listen, you can’t save anyone if you go on like this.”

“Why hesitate? Why are you merciful? If the battle takes place in the city, it will bite off other people’s throats in the next second. You’re lucky this time. Remember, be as quick as you can.”

“You want to conquer the Abyss at this level? Pick up your sword and continue for me. Don’t be distracted. What are you looking out for? I have said countless times that you are different from them. To be a hero is to carry such responsibilities! ……Maybe my teaching is too much of a failure. If it was Flint… If my brother’s child had not died…”

Although his father had long since passed away, the torrent of that voice still pounded in his eardrums from the inside out. The most ironic thing was that Flint Lopez’s son wasn’t really dead.

Oliver Ramon was alive and well.

Godwin shook his wrist, leaving a warm and beautiful arc of light in the air. Yes, not only was Oliver Ramon still alive, but he may also have possessed strange powers that he couldn’t see through. He needed to confirm this matter, not only for the current task but also for some kind of obscure emotion of his own that was pushing him.

Meeting Oliver Ramon for the first time in Caleb Village and confirming the identity of the other party, Godwin initially felt vaguely relaxed and happy, followed by unexplained anger and resentment. The anger didn’t erupt immediately, but slowly and continuously burned his nerves like hot magma under the earth’s crust.

This was the son of the man you chanted to death, father.

At that time, Ramon looked like he had no pursuit, and it seemed that he was destined to have nothing to do with the prophecy. Scattered, short-sighted, without the slightest ambition or ideals. His temperament wasn’t much different from ordinary people who could be seen everywhere, but the talent was commendable, and the heart wasn’t bad, but three out of the four teammates had poor reputation creating an extremely unhealthy environment.

He obviously possessed such power, yet how could Oliver Ramon be content with the status quo and live like this? He never thought about how many people he could save if he used that power to the extreme.

As the leader of Horizon, as a competent older brother, Godwin stretched out his hand and issued a sincere invitation. If Oliver Ramon chose to go on the right path and relied on his talent, he would definitely make a difference. Ramon still had time to choose a life that wasn’t so unbearable.

But in the face of such a well-deserved invitation, Ramon refused him. His cousin didn’t even have the will to step out of the quagmire. Godwin thought that his wasteful cousin, who threw away his talents, wouldn’t appear in his vision.

But Tumbleweed’s actions were the opposite of plain, as it got crazier. As captain of the team, Oliver Ramon was very likely to have acquired dangerous forces that shouldn’t belong in this world during this period of time; enough to disrupt the current order.

As one of the only two remaining descendants of the Lopez family, Godwin believed that he had a responsibility to confirm the true situation of Oliver Ramon.

If the worst happened and Ramon really touched areas that humans shouldn’t touch, with his current status, he may be able to come up with a less bad outcome.

The edge of the stone platform.

Oliver finally walked near the center of the labyrinth. At this distance, he could clearly see Godwin Lopez.

His cousin was standing in front of the sword in the center of the stone platform, directly below the dragon breath stone orb. The leader of Horizon hung his head, as if he was lost in thought. The members of Horizon gathered to one side of the stone platform, in a pile so large, Oliver couldn’t immediately find where the former knight commander who had lost his powers was.

“Don’t look. Horizon isn’t barbaric. Adri should be detained in the tent over there. They won’t hang him upside down to show off.” Jesse didn’t sound worried at all.

Oliver stopped and looked back at the students who were following him.

“Go ahead,” he said softly. “Horizon is over there.”

But except for Leonard, who had agreed to act together in advance, the other three didn’t move. Hayden and Elmer didn’t even turn their faces, but Marilyn hesitated for a while, then gritted her teeth and retracted her outstretched feet.

“I want to stay if this could repay the favor of saving our lives. Even if it’s true that the academy wasn’t involved and it’s a misunderstanding from Horizon, they should see our attitude,” Hayden said. His voice was trembling a bit, but still stood firm.

“Oliver helped me a lot.” Elmer scratched his head. “Leonard is so stubborn. I don’t want to be part of the ‘rescued’ and be hunkered down in a tent watching you guys negotiate… Ugh, it makes me feel useless.”

“What do you mean, ‘stubborn’?” Leonard said disgruntledly.

“To be honest, I don’t know those two well.” Marilyn drooped the corners of her mouth, revealing a bitter face.” But… Alas, fuck this hostage situation thing.”

Leonard blinked. His face, which had been pale and tight, finally showed an expression similar to a smile. “Not going?”

“Not going.”

“Good.” The little nobleman activated a loudspeaker array and opened his mouth to Horizon.

“Marilyn Lawler, Hayden Wilhelm, Oliver Elmer, Quentin Leonard. We are the students who were swept into the depths of the labyrinth. We’re all here, not one missing. It was Tumbleweed who saved us.”

He paused. “Mr. Lopez, I don’t know what information you got, but we have not been subject to any form of coercion or mental control. If you have any questions about this matter, you can send members to come and confirm.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Leonard.” Godwin Lopez turned around with a serious voice. “Clementine’s request to us is to send you back to the academy in this way, and not do anything superfluous, including mental appraisal.”

Leonard tightened his jaw, wrinkled his lips, and temporarily stopped the effect of the voice amplifying spell. “It seems you’re right. There must be people in the academy waiting to make a fuss about this. If this was just an ordinary rescue, this request would obviously be an insult to Horizon.”

Tumbleweed may not know about the hidden intrigues between those in power, but Leonard, who grew up in a noble family, knew this well.

Horizon had a reputation, but this requirement was clearly to prevent them from intervening without authorization, falsifying evidence against Tumbleweed, or challenging the results after obtaining them. It was unreasonable, but effective.

If Godwin had abided by the rules, then he would have accepted all the results given by Clementine afterwards. If Godwin violated the requirements and really did a mental examination on them in advance, this violation would also put them in a position where they couldn’t argue. Even if Horizon found out that they hadn’t been manipulated in any form, the Mercenary Guild would not accept Horizon’s testimony.

If the academy just wanted the students to be safe, it wouldn’t do anything extra. What was irritating was that the relationship between Clementine Academy and the Mercenary Guild had never been good. Although this requirement was excessive, it wasn’t “abnormal”.

“It seems that we have to go with Tumbleweed.” Leonard shook his head.

The students were silent. They were no longer teenagers. In their early twenties, no one would be happy to be used as a pawn at will. If they just wanted to protect themselves, it was the right choice to go with Horizon immediately. However…

No one moved.

“You guys go over there.” Nemo couldn’t watch it anymore. “Tumbleweed will be fine. Godwin… Well, you should know the measures he’ll take. No one knows what’s about to happen now, and you’ll likely be implicated if you get involved. We—”

Leonard glanced at him with stiffness and embarrassment in his eyes. The little nobleman shook his head, and before Nemo could finish speaking, he used the loudspeaker spell again, “Then I’m sorry. We have our consideration. Mr. Lopez, we’re going to stay with Tumbleweed.”

He glanced at Marilyn and continued, “And we have a lady here who is very unwell now. She needs a gentle environment.” Horizon should be able to understand this context.

Marilyn rolled her eyes and flipped Leonard off before she slid to the ground “softly and weakly”, making it look like she was about to faint.

Nemo: “……”

The scene fell into a stalemate for a while.

In order to figure out the strength of Tumbleweed, there were several young people who were fooling around, but no one dared to do anything. Detaining Tumbleweed members was also only to prevent them from directly finding another escape route. No one really dared threaten the safety of the former Chief Justice of the Knight of Judgment. Godwin stood in the center of the stone platform while Oliver stopped at the edge of the platform. The two men looked at each other, both quickly considering the most appropriate way to deal with this.

At that moment, the last member of Tumbleweed returned to the team.

Ann didn’t look right. The female warrior, who had always been full of energy, looked as pale as a lime and there was no smile on her face.

“What are you doing?” She frowned. Her voice was a little hoarse. “What’s the matter with these little guys?”

Seeing Oliver still staring at Godwin, Nemo pulled Ann aside and briefly explained the current situation.

“Oh.” Ann didn’t show any expression similar to surprise. She threw the gray parrot at Nemo and strode to Oliver’s side.

“Captain, I have a request.” The tone of the female warrior was terribly serious. “I hope we can get out of here soon.”

Oliver turned his head and raised his eyebrows. He was just considering the possibility of a protracted battle.

“I heard Nemo say that Clementine locked down the academy. Combined with the information I have, I think I know what this is all about,” she said very simply. “Tumbleweed and Horizon have been used.”

“As long as we are still here, the academy can continue to be in lockdown. The principal is Salter, right? He calculated that Horizon could hold us back. If I guessed correctly, the teleportation array in the center of the maze is no longer usable. Seeing the speed at which Horizon reached the center, they definitely got permission to use the special passage for the royal family to come in—that permission can only be used once, and they are probably counting on using the teleportation array to retreat.”

“Assuming that the teleportation array cannot be used, even if it’s a group as strong as Horizon, it would take at least half a month to retreat from here. Taking into account guarding students and escorting us, this time is likely to extend to more than a month. Then in this month, Clementine has a reason to maintain a complete lockdown… Many things can happen in a month.”

“Completely offending Horizon, just to put the academy on lockdown?”

“They won’t offend. They’ll make an excuse to say that there was a problem with the teleportation array. After all, Lopez isn’t the kind of person who has nothing to do and would be obsessed with petty revenge. As for the lockdown… Do you know how many descendants of the greatest nobles are here? At the Clementine Royal Military Academy, the combat majors are more or less related to the military. If something happens outside, a group of perfect hostages are being held here, and those nobles are really going to get angry, and we’re going to take the fall.”

This Ann wasn’t quite like the Ann they knew.

The female warrior had always been forthright and open-minded. Although Oliver knew that Ann usually thought things through, she could occasionally be impulsive and would make lewd jokes. She was their comrade-in-arms and was always calm and intimate.

The current female warrior was slightly gloomy, with a faint aura of superiority that he couldn’t understand.

“Ann…”

“Godwin Lopez.” The female warrior stepped onto the stone platform. “Let your people try the teleportation array to see if it can be used. As Delia’s fiancé, you should be aware of something.”

Godwin Lopez didn’t move but kept looking their way coldly. He waved his hand casually, and a Horizon member not far away ran towards the teleportation array knowingly.

Within a few minutes, the member ran back with a pale face and reported something in a low voice.

“It seems that it really can’t be used anymore.” Ann smiled wearily, putting a hand on Oliver’s shoulder. “Now you have two choices—one, eliminate us, depleting your own forces and implicating those lovely young people, then break out exhausted. Two, we cooperate and leave here as soon as possible.”

Godwin was silent for a long time.

“No,” he said, staring at Oliver. “You’re right. I do know some bad information, but I also have things that must be confirmed, so I want to choose ‘three’. Oliver Ramon, fight me. One-on-one.”

“If you want to know more about me, I can just tell you directly.” Oliver took a step back. “I don’t think we have to fight like this. Lope… Godwin.”

“Did you destroy the Withered Castle?”

“…Yes, if you must know this.” If they were to escape together, in order to cover up Nemo’s true abilities, it was impossible for him to not take action. Godwin would notice this sooner or later. Oliver took a deep breath, glanced at Nemo soothingly, walked forward alone, and finally stood opposite of Godwin. “Now we can—”

“Then it is even more necessary for me to have a fight with you.” Godwin murmured, raising his eyes.

If that desperate power really belonged to Oliver Ramon…

“Why?” Oliver raised his hands, indicating that he had no intention of holding a sword.

“Prove yourself.” Godwin curled the corners of his mouth. There was something burning quietly in his eyes. “I never cooperate with dangerous people of unknown strength. This is about the battle plan for Horizon after we leave the labyrinth.”

If Ramon was stronger than him, as the commander of Horizon…

“…If it’s for that, okay. To be honest, I don’t want to hurt you.” Seeing the other party’s resolute attitude, Oliver sighed.

“There is no need to fight to the death. According to the Articles of Association, I have to escort you to the Mercenary Guild alive,” Godwin said, coldly raising his Breaking Dawn. “Draw your sword.”

Oliver drew his Rest in Peace from his waist, but before his hand touched the hilt, Godwin spoke again.

“If you can, I hope you can use the one in front of you,” Godwin said in a voice so low it couldn’t be heard by others. “Use your father’s sword.”

Oliver was silent for a long time as he stared at the strange black sword between them. His gaze swept across the fire, leaping on the blade. Finally, he stretched out his hand, slowly grasped the hilt of the sword, and pulled it out of the stone platform.

There was no change on Oliver Ramon’s face as if he didn’t even waver for a single moment.

The author has something to say：

Tumbleweed is about to wreak havoc again! There will be dog food too~

Anyway, it’s just a small box made by your own team member, so go wild! (X

Jesse: (Making aggrieved noises)

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

Chapter 172: Leonard’s Plan

A quarter of an hour later.

Nemo moved his hand away from his eyes. His expression became serious. Oliver was still looking at Jesse stiffly, whose eyebrows kept raising higher and higher.

“It seems that the problem in front of us is not just Horizon. The principal of Clementine has locked down the academy on the grounds of arresting the Black Chapters,” Nemo said dryly. “The school firmly believes that we kidnapped those four students, so we have to get out of here as soon as possible.”

They were only a snake-level Black Chapter. Even if the four students were really held hostage, it wouldn’t cause the entire Clementine Royal Military Academy to go into lockdown as a result. Quentin Leonard was indeed a nobleman, but the power of his family wasn’t so great that they could cover the sky with a single hand, so his status was at most moderate. Hayden was born to a wealthy businessman, and the remaining two were just civilians. There were many students in the college whose identity was much more important than theirs.

Originally, Clementine Academy did tend to prefer closed teaching, but a lockdown was another matter. The picture returned by the little spider shouldn’t be false. Principal Salter was going to cut off all communication with the outside world in the name of “severing the Black Chapter’s contacts from the outside”. If they were really dangerous people at the spider level or above, it would make sense.

The problem was that even if their members were actually more dangerous than any Black Chapters, the snake level was still a snake level. This kind of behavior could only be called putting the cart before the horse, as if to eliminate a mouse by burning down a barn full of grain.

They were definitely using it as an excuse, and now Nemo was very sure of this. The only thing he was not sure about was why Clementine’s principal did this, but now wasn’t a good time to analyze it. No matter what reason Principal Salter ordered this, they had already been recognized as real, dangerous kidnappers.

“Good. I have to talk to Leonard and the others… and uh, let them know what’s going on.” Oliver took his attention away from Jesse and replied without hesitation, without any curiosity.

Quentin Leonard’s mind was a mess.

For a short quarter of an hour, the students failed to come up with any useful conclusions. After a whispered discussion, they only had time to select a negotiator to conduct serious negotiations with the three Black Chapters, trying their best to figure out the current situation.

Leonard, who knew tumbleweed best, naturally took on this responsibility. Unfortunately, although Leonard initiated this discussion himself, his mind seemed to be floating in a certain corner of the sky, and his thinking was covered with clouds.

The young nobleman first noticed Tumbleweed because of the Bluebirds incident in Vincent Town. The old chef of his own house was a real talker, but his baked pies were unique. As a young warrior who exercised too much at every turn, he sometimes sneaked into the kitchen and asked the old man for some extra food.

Leonard learned about this team while stealing some pie.

“Ramon used a broken sword to directly split the air and release an incredible monster! The mage in their team is a demon worshiper. Have I told you that? That gloomy guy directly cursed everyone. A team of five ended a small war. Oh, when Old Rucker told me, he almost dropped the wine glass on the table.” The old chef beamed as he danced with his hands and feet in the hot aroma of the pie.

Knowing the tradition of Clementine Academy well, Leonard did a lot of homework in advance. He didn’t lack money, but he was going to make a fortune on the Wheel of Calamity. He was going to take a shot at the Wheel of Calamity as a way to prove to his family that he had a keen eye. At that time, he only thought Old Rucker, who the chef talked about, had just drunk too much and was talking nonsense.

But he still paid an extra gold coin and attention to the resume of the fledgling Black Chapter team, Tumbleweed, when he was collecting information. After all, it wasn’t often that a demon worshiper would cooperate with ordinary people, and if Old Rucker didn’t outright lie, then the situation of this team might have some research value.

However, the facts shocked him.

The people who provided the information were an old couple from the town of Vincent. According to their description, the facts seemed to be almost the same as Old Rucker’s oral statement. A hero who was born recklessly, didn’t seek fame and fortune, and was hidden in darkness. He could even split space and make the demon worshiper surrender. These things were just hidden under an unnamed team, and Leonard’s interest instantly skyrocketed.

In addition to the mysterious leader and his abyssal mage, the other members of this fledgling team were also very interesting. The well-known lone ranger Ann Savage, the blood-stained “viper” Jesse Dylan, and even Adrian Cross, the former Chief Justice of the Laddism Church.

Leonard faintly felt the excitement of digging up a treasure that had never been discovered. The second time, he took out a whole bag of gold coins. Even regardless of the expenses and time, he went to Caleb Village to investigate himself. According to intelligence, Tumbleweed confronted the world-famous Horizon there once, but the people from Horizon were very tight-lipped, and few knew the details.

After listening to the local innkeeper’s passionate praise, Leonard decided to focus his research entirely on Tumbleweed. He had no resistance to this kind of hero born from darkness. Unfortunately, he completely lost Tumbleweed’s trail after they completed their last mission related to the Abyssal Church.

Leonard had imagined what Oliver Ramon looked like. It should be a tall and burly man with a stoic and restrained face, and perhaps a little taciturn. He probably had a cold side if he could calm down such teammates. In short, Ramon was definitely an absolute powerhouse who transcended worldly vision and scoffed at money and honor.

Instead of…

“Uh, Mr. Leonard,” Oliver coughed dryly. His voice was a little faint. He glanced at the positions of several students and quickly noticed their intentions. “I guess you want to understand the current situation. You… Uh, are you the representative? Excuse me.”

“No, after you… Borne, no, Mr. Ramon,” Leonard said in a dreamlike voice, staring at his peers who were not as tall as himself.

“No, no, please you first.” Oliver looked even more uncomfortable.

“…” Nemo took a few steps forward and pressed his hand on Oliver’s shoulder. “I’ll do it.”

Leonard turned his gaze to Nemo, and his entire body stiffened like a stone statue.

“We’ll send you to the center of the maze. Oliver mentioned that Miss Lawler might also know that there is a one-way teleportation array leading to the outside world.” Nemo tried to make himself sound softer.

“Yes, leading to the Clementine Cathedral.” Marilyn nodded, her voice still a little shrill.

“We will escort you there, but…”

“But?” Hayden said keenly. His face was still a little pale, but he looked much calmer than Leonard.

“Horizon is waiting there. For some reason that we don’t know, Horizon firmly believes that we have kidnapped you.” Nemo explained. “You will leave here with us. If possible, I hope you can help us clarify it.”

Oliver nodded. “That’s it, everyone. Please follow me.”

Except for Leonard, several students clearly observed the expressions of the two of them. After a while, as if confirming that those words were not lies, the students showed varying degrees of relaxed expressions.

“Horizon is chasing you?” Leonard’s face didn’t intend to relax at all.

Oliver, who had just turned around, stopped.

“The relationship between Clementine Academy and the Mercenary Guild is very general, and they wouldn’t allow a mercenary group of Horizon’s rank to come and go at will, unless they have clear evidence that the mission goal is in the academy,” Leonard spoke quickly, staring closely into Oliver’s eyes. His facial muscles twitched a little. “Even if you really did take us as hostages, Principal Salter won’t let them intervene so soon. At present, I can’t think of other possibilities.”

“Yes, Horizon is investigating us,” Oliver readily admitted. “You have also seen our ‘murderous’ mage, right? I don’t want to have too much contact with Horizon.”

“But it’s weird.” Leonard stubbornly didn’t move, his gaze still glued to Oliver’s face. “Anyone who was on the scene could tell that I fell first. You and Mr. Light followed after. This couldn’t be a premeditated hostage-taking situation. Would Horizon be so easily fooled?”

“It may be because the Black Chapter’s reputation isn’t very good, and we are quite used to this situation.” Although Oliver had thought of this, he didn’t put too much importance on it.

“No.” The noble warrior raised his chest with a bit of aristocratic momentum, and his tone became excited. “If you’re really the target of Horizon, Horizon will definitely ask the school for all useful information, not to mention such important details. Captain Lopez is not the kind of person who does things indiscriminately. They won’t miss this.”

Oliver frowned and thought about Principal Salter’s abnormal behavior. He and Nemo exchanged glances. “What do you mean?”

“My father and Godwin are acquaintances, and I know their style of doing things very well. Maybe, uh, just maybe. Anyway, logically speaking… Someone in the college may have deliberately concealed the truth and given him false information, but I can’t think of a reason. Whether it’s a Black Chapter or a mercenary, it obviously has nothing to do with the academy.” Leonard’s voice dropped again.

“Thank you very much for your information.” Oliver stepped back, and he solemnly saluted Leonard.

“Ah, oh.” Leonard’s aristocratic air broke to pieces. “Actually, I have a little suggestion.”

“Please speak.”

“Can you send the three of them back to Horizon? I’ll stay with you.”

“……Why?”

“If we all run to Horizon, they will have no qualms about attacking you. I really don’t want to see that.” Leonard looked away.

Oliver shook his head, amused. “Wouldn’t that mean you have really become a hostage, Mr. Leonard?”

“No, that’s not what I meant.” Leonard quickly waved his hand. “I believe Elmer and the others will definitely explain things clearly, but in case, erm, in case someone from the academy really intervenes in this matter, their voices will likely be suppressed. Even if everyone explains clearly to Horizon now, as long as the people from the academy get a psychological evaluation and say that everyone was under your influence, your crime will still stand.”

He smiled a little reluctantly. “I’m an aristocrat… Ah, I hope to go out with you so I can contact my family. My family’s statement will at least be a bit more weighted. If you go with Horizon, according to the Articles of Association, in order to ensure that we’re not manipulated by you, Horizon must send us directly back to the academy for inspection.”

“You don’t seem to trust Clementine Academy very much.” Nemo couldn’t help but interject. “Generally speaking, students don’t directly suspect that someone in the academy is doing this kind of thing.”

“My father warned me that now is a sensitive time.” Leonard lowered his gaze. “These things should have nothing to do with you, but believe me, the academy has their own position.”

“I agree with this young man.” Jesse sauntered over slowly, patting Leonard’s sturdy arm casually while staring at Nemo. “There is nothing wrong with being careful.”

After thinking about Jesse’s identity, Oliver sighed like he had a toothache. “Okay. Thank you for thinking of us so much, Mr. Leonard. If there is anything we can do for you—”

“I hope you will remember the Leonard family.” Leonard stretched out a hand. Oliver shook it nervously and found that the other man’s palm was full of sweat. “And, and…”

“And?” Oliver thought that the other man must also have realized that his palms were sweaty as his voice became a little dry.

“…When we get out, can I get your autograph?”

“……”

“Leonard, are you sure you want to do this?” When Oliver stiffly returned to his original position and began to lead the way, Elmer asked Leonard in a low voice. “I’m not doubting Oliver, but if you claim that you went with them on your own accord, the academy is likely to punish you.”

“You don’t understand,” Leonard whispered. “Principal Salter actually allowed Horizon to enter the school quickly, so something must’ve happened. I can only say this much. Don’t put this account on Mr. Ramon. There are people above Horizon, not to mention…”

After that, he took a deep breath, clenched his fists, and his face began to blush slowly. “I can fight alongside Tumbleweed! Screw punishment! This makes me happy!”

At this moment, not far from the center of the labyrinth.

“How strange. I thought this was a ‘labyrinth’.” Bagelmaurus stopped on Ann’s shoulder. The female warrior was carrying a delicate golden lantern that had a blood-red flame burning quietly, flickering from time to time. Three small white magic arrays flew around the flame, like translucent moths, one of which was a bit dim.

They were walking down a long corridor.

The corridor was like a long crystal tube, or it was really a crystal tube that led directly to their destination. Magic patterns flickered slowly on the transparent crystal surface, blocking out the distorted space. Five steps before, the tube was a tropical green forest, while five steps after, it could be the bottom of the sea, a desert, or even smoke-filled ruins. Ann moved forward calmly, looking straight ahead as if she was uninterested in everything that lay beyond.

“This is the Great Isamel Labyrinth.” The female warrior raised her free hand and scratched the parrot’s neck. “It’s just a secret passage. Don’t make a fuss.”

“Secret passage? You just dripped blood into this lamp. It’s not a secret passage, but rather it appeared to your summons.” Bagelmaurus narrowed its eyes, but its mouth didn’t stop. “There is a powerful and ancient spell attached to this lamp. Don’t think I can’t see it.”

“Oh, you’re amazing.” Ann shrugged. “Such a great Lord Bagelmaurus could surely fly yourself. My shoulders are a bit sore.”

The gray parrot, which was dyed in various colors, snorted with dissatisfaction and flew straight up.

“That’s good.” Ann smiled and shook her head. The gray parrot’s attention was always easily distracted, making it very good for her deflection.

The space ahead was a bit dim, like the bottom of a deep sea. Ann raised the light a little bit—

Then she accidently dropped it to the ground.

The blood-red flame was still burning, but even under the red halo, the paleness on the female warrior’s face could still be seen clearly.

“Why did you stop?” The gray parrot stopped by the light and pecked it curiously. As if there was something different, Bagelmaurus tilted its head and quickly found the change.

The white magic array, which was three, had become one.

“Isn’t it just two decorations missing? ……Hey, hey, Savage. What’s wrong with you?”

“That’s not a decoration.” The tone of the female warrior was frighteningly cold. “I know Eldric is an asshole. I knew for a long time. Even if he and Ettram bite each other to death, I don’t care. But he—”

She picked up the golden lantern and squeezed the fragile light pole, causing it to make a creaking sound. Bagelmaurus had never heard the female warrior speak in this tone, so it instinctively took a step back.

“It’s just as well if he really did it to Ettram, but how could he be crazy enough to kill Annabelle,” Ann murmured with a trembling voice. “…How could he?”

Bagelmaurus listened in confusion. It had limited information from the corpses in Roadside Town. The gray parrot had no idea who the names of Eldric and Annabelle belonged to and could make Ann give a deadly look. The female warrior had never mentioned them before.

But it did know who Ettram was, as there was a very famous Ettram in Alban.

Ettram Alastair, the current emperor of Alban.

The author has something to say:

No need to remember these long names! They will have abbreviations soon _(:з”∠)_

Tumbleweed rolled itself into a big event~

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

Chapter 171: Hostage

As the strongest species of intermediate demon, the Midnight Walker weren’t much inferior to humans in terms of intelligence. Seeing that their companion was easily defeated and flew into the distance like a rag in the wind, the demons didn’t hesitate and ran away—without delay, faster than a rabbit with its tail on fire.

Nemo put away the dark shadow. He chose to stand silently against the wind, facing the endless darkness, rather than turning his head to face the suffocating embarrassment. He decided to throw the difficult task of explaining to the sociable Oliver, leaving only an inscrutable back to everyone.

Thanks to Nemo’s abyssal magic, there was not a single beast in the vicinity. As dawn approached, the early morning sky turned slightly cyan, and the original scattered stars became sparse.

Oliver put away his sword skillfully and coughed. Then he took a deep breath, trying to make himself look serious, but when his gaze swept onto the expressionless Leonard’s face, his whole demeanor quickly deflated again. While Oliver had dealt with all kinds of difficult guests when he worked at the inn, he had no experience in this special situation.

At least those guests wouldn’t praise him to the skies before they trouble him.

He was embarrassed enough that his eyelids were twitching. At this moment, he couldn’t stand well. He looked at Nemo, who was looking at the scenery rigidly in the distance. Oliver realized that he couldn’t escape this disaster after all.

“Ask. There is a safe place ahead. We’ll talk as we walk,” he whispered, taking a little shaky step.

He didn’t even have the courage to say, “We’re not suspicious people.” From the perspective of outsiders, they were probably one of the most suspicious people in the world right now. Instead of racking his brain to think of a less explosive opening statement, he decided to delicately throw the problem to the back.

The students followed mechanically, but no one said a word.

Marilyn stared at the back of Nemo’s head, as if trying to ignite the short ponytail behind his head with her gaze. Hayden turned pale again and finally felt like shrinking again. An expression finally began to appear on Leonard’s face. He narrowed his eyes, and his face grew long.

Elmer himself couldn’t tell what his mood was. During this time, Oliver taught him a lot in private, and he could faintly see his strength. Unfortunately, Elmer was limited by his own abilities. Before, Elmer couldn’t estimate the level of the opponent’s strength, but now he was clear.

However, the Midnight Walker retreated too quickly, and Elmer couldn’t dig out the slightest sense of reality from his mind.

“Oliver is not a deserter.” He could only be the first to speak out, trying to break this awkwardness. “During the last training… Uh, he actually threw the snake mongoose at the snake-maned lion. I can tell. He actually helped us, but I don’t know why…”

“Why hide your strength?” Leonard took over the conversation and successfully stabilized his expression without showing too much shock. “Mr. White uses abyssal magic. That means a person who used abyssal magic sneaked into Alban’s largest military academy. He might as well just put a label on his forehead that said, ‘I love abyssal magic, come and catch me’.”

The little nobleman cast his gaze on Oliver, and his facial muscles twitched a few times. He seemed to want to raise his sword to defend, but out of some emotion he didn’t want to do that, so he had to twist into a nondescript posture. “Black Chapter or criminals on the run?”

“Black Chapter.” Oliver only felt that he was about to suffocate in thick embarrassment as he carefully said those words. The center of the maze was right in front of them, and they could already see the abnormal sphere suspended in the air. Oliver accelerated his steps and stood beside Nemo, praying that the thing would distract the students.

“That thing… Oh my god, it’s the ‘Eye of God’.” Marilyn staggered in place, seemingly trying to stabilize her soft leg. For the first time, her voice was a little shrill. “Praise Zenni. We… We’re at the center of the maze. When you said ‘safe zone’ you meant the center of the maze?!”

“Nn.” Oliver nodded stiffly and tried to make a stoic appearance. “There’s a teleportation array leading to the outside over there. We’re indeed Black Chapters, and we entered the academy in order to… Uh, perform a certain task.”

“The academy doesn’t conduct this kind of cooperation with the Mercenary Guild,” Leonard said stiffly. When he heard the words “center of the maze” he shook his entire body involuntarily.

“That’s why we snuck in.” Oliver tried to be sullen.

“So what is your goal? ……We are in the depths of the maze, and it’s impossible for a Black Chapter to do this kind of work out of ‘kindness’. Only a spider-level Black Chapter could guarantee their survival in this kind of place, and of the spider-level… I don’t remember anyone so young. When you entered the school, you must have been tested for any illusion spells. Obviously, you haven’t disguised your face and age in any way. There’s only one possibility, and your mission goal is among us, so you have to risk chasing in.”

“Maybe they are really here to help,” Hayden finally spoke, although the person was still shivering a little. His voice was very calm. “Do you remember when you pushed me in the hallway? If White doesn’t want to attract unnecessary attention, he could leave me alone… You have to come here a little bit, Leonard. Miss Lawler’s healing technique is great, but you are losing blood and need to drink some medicine.”

The first half of his words could be called cautious, but the last sentence immediately became a lot tougher.

“But they repelled the Midnight Walker, and there are still surface creatures that are stronger than the Midnight Walker here. It’s not the same thing to go out on a limb and put your life on the line. Even mercenaries won’t do this kind of tiring work for free. I know there is only one team that will do this,” Leonard snorted and leaned forward, his face flushed with embarrassment.

“If it’s Tumbleweed, it’s normal to do this kind of thing.” Speaking of his favorite Black Chapter team, Leonard’s eyes lit up.

Oliver held his breath.

“…But they can’t be Tumbleweed. Although there’s no image, I have heard my chef describe them—Oliver Ramon is a two-meter-tall burly man, and the mage in their team is a gloomy and fierce murderous guy.” Leonard squeezed the glass vial, shook the muddy dark green liquid in it, then pinched his nose and poured it into his throat in one go.

Hayden looked at the scratches on Leonard’s skin critically and seemed very happy to use this to divert his attention. Regardless of Leonard’s instantly distorted face, he carefully used the liquid to eliminate the poison.

Oliver, who was only 1.81 meters tall and of moderate size, fell into complete silence. Nemo pricked up his ears and finally stopped pretending to watch the scenery…

“Forget the gloomy,” he said in shock. “Murderous? What do you mean murderous?”

“That’s what he said. I also know the other three members—the former Chief Justice of the Knights of Judgment in a monk’s uniform, the terribly beautiful pirate, and the remaining female warrior who has a strange fire spell. It’s a gun with feathers on it. The two of them don’t meet the criteria at all,” Leonard said solemnly. His mouth was hissing with pain from the disinfectant. “And I haven’t heard of anyone on their team being in a relationship. That’s the most rigid and pure team I’ve ever seen.”

‘This is hopeless,’ Oliver thought numbly, looking at the dragon breath stone orb that was getting closer.

He couldn’t think of any way to confess without hurting Leonard’s feelings. Nemo was still immersed in the “murderous” evaluation, looking a little confused.

Suddenly, an unexpected person saved the day.

“Oh, captain.” Jesse crossed lightly from behind the gap in the stone wall, raised his hand, and greeted “Why are you treating your wounds here? Since you’re here, it’s nicer to clean up at the center.”

He raised his eyes and scanned the students behind the two of them with words of concern in his mouth, but those eyes were full of indifference.

The students looked straight at the person who came out of nowhere, making gasping sounds of different volumes. Jesse was obviously a little satisfied with this reaction. He blew a kiss at the fledglings and showed a charming enough smirk.

“Too beautiful.” Hayden wiped Leonard’s wound with a soft cloth stained with liquid medicine and lowered his voice.

“’Jesse the Viper’, Jesse Dylan?” Leonard’s tone was a bit dazed, and it was not a good kind of daze.

“Uh-huh?” Jesse nodded.

“…Tumbleweed?”

“Actually, I don’t like this name very much, but I can’t help it. Who made the head of our household have such earth-shattering taste? Earth-shattering in various meanings.”

“He called you captain.” Leonard turned to Oliver in disbelief.

Oliver looked at him bitterly and said, “Nn” as if confessing. He glanced at Jesse Dylan, and his expression became more complicated.

“Does the medicine you just gave me have a hallucinogenic effect? Its side effects are likely appearing.” Leonard turned to Hayden with a stiff expression.

“No, I heard it too.” Hayden’s movement of treating the wound became a bit rougher.

“We didn’t mean to hide it from you, sorry.” Without a second thought, Oliver poured it all out. “Mr. Leonard, you seem to have a lot of, uh, misunderstandings about us. Anyway, that’s the way it is. If you…”

“Dear captain, if you want to chat, now is not a good time.” Jesse moved his shoulders. “Let’s go to the center and settle these people down first.”

“Captain,” Leonard murmured and repeated, staring into Oliver’s eyes, trying to find any traces of guilt that he might be lying. As a result, he only found a ton of embarrassment.

Oliver took a deep breath, grabbed Jesse and Nemo, and dragged them away from their temporary classmates. “Let’s talk here.”

Nemo finally broke free from the shadow of the “murderous” evaluation. Unlike Oliver, who was still madly embarrassed, he was relatively detached from the situation. He keenly smelled something. “Where’s Mr. Cross? ……Why did you come to pick us up?”

“Oh, about that issue.” Jesse tucked a wisp of brilliant blond hair behind his ears, glanced at the few confused young people not far away, and threw up a mute array. “He’s fine for the time being. He’s waiting for you in the center of the maze.”

Oliver instantly suppressed the embarrassment in his heart, and his voice became serious. “It’s okay for the time being?”

When facing Jesse Dylan, Oliver and Nemo’s sentimental student aura disappeared instantly, and the momentum of the strong was naturally suppressed. Although he couldn’t hear the content of their conversation, Leonard couldn’t help but take a step back. His mind was still blank from shock. Hayden continued to work mechanically, and he was about to disinfect his entire body. Elmer and Marilyn remained silent, but their shoulders collapsed a little, and they wanted to shrink a bit.

“Should we… take this opportunity to talk about the current situation?” A few seconds later, Leonard suggested a little blankly.

Marilyn frowned and nodded slightly. The four young people gathered in a pile, unable to figure out what their mood was. Gratitude, shock, and a trace of fear were all mixed together. Regardless of whether the other party was malicious or not, they couldn’t passively accept everything.

Indeed, they were reserve soldiers, not civilians to be rescued. They should never be confused with the status quo and blindly follow it no matter who the other party was.

“Godwin Lopez is waiting for you. They just arrived not long ago.” Jesse on the other side ignored the two auras and spoke in a calm voice. “Cunning guy. He must’ve used a special passage from the Alban royal family. Mr. Light, you should know the particularity of this place. I can’t use communication magic to contact you two in front of him.”

“He detained Mr. Cross and asked you to come to us.” There was a bit more unhappiness in Oliver’s voice. “Godwin Lopez doesn’t look like someone who would do this kind of thing. I think they should have good reasons.”

“Very simple. Important members of Horizon decided that you specifically detained these little guys as hostages.” Jesse raised his chin at the four students.

“You didn’t clarify it?” Nemo stared at Jesse. Knowing Godwin’s past, he didn’t think that the man who lived like a textbook would do anything too much to the former knight commander. He was more worried about the position of the guy in front of him. Since Jesse Dylan didn’t come for himself, it was even more unlikely that it was for Oliver or Ann. After thinking about it carefully, whether it was the timing of joining or the habit of action, it was Adrian Cross that Jesse cared about.

Now that Nemo probably knew who Jesse was, he wasn’t going to believe in that love at first sight crap.

He was very curious about this guy’s position.

“You have forgotten my abilities. I am a ‘diviner’.” Jesse bent the corner of his mouth. “My darling Adri will be fine. At any rate, we’ve already spent a warm night, so I can’t simply leave him alone.”

Nemo stared at Jesse in disbelief, and Oliver looked like he had been smashed in the face with a hammer.

“That’s it for small talk.” Jesse clapped his hands. “Now the problem is here. We have to escape, captain, or we’ll just treat it as if we really took these little guys as hostages. If the situation goes wrong, I have the confidence to take Adri away.”

“No.” Oliver forcibly recovered from the shock, with a very determined tone.

“Ann is still in the academy. We can’t just leave her like this.” Nemo’s focus was elsewhere.

“Well, this answer isn’t really surprising. As for dear Ann, I have already contacted her—she’s in the labyrinth, and it is estimated that she’ll be able to catch up in a bit,” Jesse said indifferently.

“Even with Bagelmaurus, this is the Great Isamel Labyrinth. If you start from the outermost layer…”

“Believe me, she definitely has a way to handle this. Miss Savage is not the kind of tragic character who wants everyone to leave her behind.”

“Then before she arrives, I will meet Godwin,” Oliver said in a deep voice. “Since we can’t avoid it, it’s time for us to make a clean break.”

Nemo wanted to nod, but a vague shadow suddenly appeared in front of him, and broken voices got into his ears. This situation was a bit familiar. He shook his head abruptly, then tentatively covered one eye.

The image became clear.

After spying on Telaranea and Vance in the archives, he put the little spider back on its web and gave it the ability to completely hide its aura. Besides that, its hunting life would become smoother and nothing else would change.

But it still followed Telaranea and even took the initiative to send back images this time. Did he accidentally make its intelligence too high? With a faint guilty conscience, Nemo began to observe the images that were being shown…

Then he understood the reason why the picture was sent.

“Completely lockdown the academy.” The old principal announced it in front of a group of professors. “A Black Chapter with an unknown purpose has taken a group of students hostage and is now hiding in the Isamel Labyrinth. Horizon has already dealt with the matter, but just in case, we must block their possible paths.”

“At this time?” Mrs. Mandy—Telaranea raised her eyebrows.

“Yes, madam.” A sneer gradually appeared on Salter’s old face. “I’m afraid you won’t be able to go home for the time being. I’m very sorry.”

“…” The beautiful female professor in the picture was silent for a while, covering her lips with her hands. From the angle of the little spider, he could see that what the hand was blocking wasn’t a gasp, but a distorted smile.

“If you must,” she said. “The hostages of the First Academy are in your hands, Salter.”

The author has something to say:

Godwin: I borrowed my ID card and went to the VIP channel.

Ann: I myself am the proof! ……Walked the VIP channel.

————

Leonard: Tumbleweed is just and pure! There is no ambiguity among colleagues!

Oliver: ………………………………..

Kinky Thoughts:

Poor Leonard. His image of Tumbleweed was crushed. He turned out to be pretty cute, despite being somewhat annoying.

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

Chapter 170: The Strongest Intermediate Demon

Jesse Dylan was humming a song while filing his nails with a small stone file, leisurely as if on vacation. Adrian Cross crossed his arms and looked at the scene in the center of the maze.

In the center of the maze was a wide stone platform with many weapons and books floating on it. The transparent beam of light surrounded them firmly like a display cabinet, with one exception. A dark red sword was pierced in the middle of the stone platform, and the exposed blade seemed to be burning with flames.

The Sword of Ruinous Fire. The sword that Oliver’s father wielded, Flint Lopez, the head of the Tin Soldier Mercenary Regiment.

Adrian stared at it for a while, then calmly turned his gaze away. He has no interest in the Sword of Ruinous Fire or the identity of the “last Hero”. He had never challenged the Great Isamel Labyrinth. Out of some strange emotion, he had a faint awe of this place.

The Great Isamel Labyrinth wasn’t a “maze” at first.

When it was discovered more than a thousand years ago, there were no walls, and it was called the “Cursed Land” at that time. No one could explain what happened in this vast land. It seems that someone had cut different landscapes and climates into pieces, put them together casually, and even rotated them from time to time to twist the space in an ordered fashion. The creatures inside were also very rare, including almost all the creatures that could be detected on the surface. Scholars have even found many ancient life that should have been extinct long ago on the edge of space, as well as… Surface creatures that resembled demons and pure demons that resembled surface creatures.

In order to unlock the secrets of the Cursed Land, countless scholars and adventurers died here.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t solve the mystery here. People went through a lot of hard work to find the center of this weird space, but only found an orb made of pure dragon breath stone. It was as big as the most magnificent palace, snow-white and smooth, without any flaws. The ball just hovered in the air, exuding a faint sense of oppression.

In order to facilitate research, scholars established a research institute on the land adjacent to the Cursed Land. As time passed, the increasingly expanding institute became the Clementine Royal Military Academy. Research was still ongoing, but until now, the researchers had just understood the function of the stone orb—

It was powering the stability and resetting of space.

As for where it came from, who made it, and by what means it hovered there, no one knew, but the unsolvable puzzle didn’t prevent people from using this strange land. After the brave adventurers conquered all the spaces, they marked the boundaries of the space with high walls, and the Cursed Land officially became the Great Isamel Labyrinth, an excellent testing ground.

People always like to classify completely unexplainable, strange phenomena as miracles. If this definition was followed, then the most magnificent miracle on the surface was here.

Adrian looked up at the huge dragon breath stone orb. The huge shadow it cast blocked the gradually setting red sunlight, turning slowly without making the slightest sound.

‘A beautiful miracle,’ he thought.

But the other person completely destroyed the solemn scene. Jesse was finally satisfied with all ten fingernails. He came over unwillingly, stood next to the knight commander, and looked curiously at the other party’s gaze.

“A ball.” The blond young man glanced at the white sphere floating over the maze. “Adri, you… Well, you’re in such a good mood.”

“Surface creatures that look infinitely close to demons, and demons that look like surface creatures. This place is quite similar to you,” Adrian said softly, turning his gaze back. “You’re also very familiar with this place, aren’t you?”

“Uh-huh.” Jesse scratched his chin carelessly.

“How much do you know about this place?”

“Enough, but Adri, you’re not suitable to know the truth yet.” Jesse leaned closer and tried to kiss the other’s cheek, but Adrian slapped him on the mouth and pushed him away smoothly and resolutely.

“Oh,” Adrian responded coldly, without meaning to continue asking.

“Aren’t you even going to ask me?” Jesse’s mouth was still against the palm of the knight’s hand, so his voice sounded muffled.

“How can I be considered ‘suitable’?”

As soon as he finished asking, Adrian felt the lips under his palm tighten. Jesse Dylan was laughing, and then there was a wet numb itch. The other party was licking his palm.

The knight quickly retracted his hand and moved his gaze away.

“First of all, I didn’t take the initiative to mention religion.” Jesse wiped his mouth regretfully, though the smile at the corner of his mouth was obvious. “When you decide to turn your back on your God, then you’ll be considered ‘suitable’.”

After that, Jesse whistled good-naturedly and looked at the knight commander, who was staring firmly elsewhere. Yes, of course he knew the truth about this place.

After all, this was the place that he built at the behest of someone. It was just right now, that guy had forgotten everything, while he was happily playing with his toys here. He even brought a bunch of dumbfounded little ones with him.

Jesse shook his head, retracted his gaze glued to the knight commander, and swept in a certain direction…

On the other side, not far from the center of the maze.

Time was normal in the depths of the maze. The setting sun was sinking behind the trees, the air was gradually growing colder, and the mysterious chewing sound of shadows coming from the bushes became clearer and louder. Elmer had used up all the tent cloths and supported a temporary tent that was spacious and strong enough against the stone wall. The camouflage spell was triggered, so from the perspective from outside the tent, there was nothing on this stone platform.

He didn’t know the surrounding environment yet, so it wasn’t wise to go out hunting rashly. Elmer and Oliver separated a small part of the dry food from the logistics backpack, added enough water, and used the heating method at the bottom of the pot to boil it into a warm, thick porridge. They didn’t even know which area of the labyrinth they were in, and no one knew if there would be any creatures that were easily attracted to open flames. At least they made sure that the dry food and water were clean, and the temperature at this level should be enough, so there was no need to light a campfire.

The porridge had a rough and dull taste, but no one complained. Everyone stayed in their positions peacefully, trying to regain their strength and trying to find some positive emotions from the unknown anxiety.

The sun finally sank completely. As night fell, no one dared to cast a light spell. The six young people shrank in the tent as the wind blew on the tent, causing it to rattle. The weird howls and terrifying footsteps around them gradually increased, and it sounded closer.

“Someone has to keep watch, and we must be prepared to fight or escape at any time.” Leonard was silent for a while, but still couldn’t help but speak.

“We can take turns. Did anyone bring a mechanical timer? One person keeps watch for a while so that everyone can rest.” Marilyn rolled her hair into a tight bun and asked.

“I’ll do it.” Leonard glanced at the back of the young girl’s snow-white neck. Her face was a little red.

“We can take turns.” Marilyn emphasized.

“I agree with Miss Lawler,” Hayden muttered. “It’s better for everyone to take a break.”

“Uh… How about Mr. Leonard and I keep watch for a while longer?” Elmer scratched his head.

“We’re reserve soldiers, not civilians who need protection. Being able to stay alert at night is the most basic requirement. And you two are the main combat power. Your lack of energy is likely to kill the whole team. Don’t worry, I still know a few refreshing techniques.” The beautiful female nurse has no intention of backing down.

“Marilyn, the situation has reached this point, so you don’t have to keep targeting me.” Leonard lowered his head, his voice a little helpless. “Well, maybe I really have upset you, but now is the moment of life and death…”

“Then let me make things clear.” The female nurse simply stood up and walked to the noble warrior.

“No matter how I refuse, you’ll follow. Don’t you know what ‘no’ means? Yes, your face is not bad. Although your personality is a bit rotten, you’re indeed not bad and your brain isn’t stupid. As a noble child, you are indeed excellent—perhaps very good.”

What Marilyn said was praise, but there was no expression on her face.

“I’ll give you back the same thing you just dealt to Oliver Borne, Leonard. Do you think your conditions are good enough, your abilities aren’t bad, and you have an interest in me, or even ‘love’ me, that I should accept it happily? Yes, I’m a civilian woman with no future, and I know this very well, but…”

She took a deep breath, squatted down, and looked up at Leonard, sitting on the ground. “There are countless excellent and lovely men in this world. Is it possible that as long as they express their affection for me, I will love them all? I made it clear that I don’t like you, so ‘no’ is ‘no’. No one is obliged to fall in love with anyone.”

Leonard blushed.

“By the way,” Marilyn didn’t intend to stop there, “I didn’t mean to target you along the way. I’m speaking and refuting from the standpoint of a soldier, not the ‘wayward woman mixed with private emotions’ in your mind. Please don’t continue to misunderstand. Now we are comrades-in-arms, and everything I do is just to make everyone’s survival rate higher, that’s all. Now I repeat it again, I suggest everyone take turns keeping watch.”

She stared into the warrior’s eyes solemnly, then lowered her gaze, and stood up humbly.

Witnessing someone else’s lovelorn scene wasn’t a good experience. Nemo and Oliver shrank to the edge of the tent almost at the same time. Leonard, the tragic actor, didn’t say a word, and the noble warrior stared at the place where the broadsword was inserted into the soil, and began to become lost in a daze.

“I’ll do it.” Seeing that no one wanted to break the dull atmosphere that was beginning to spread, Nemo opened his mouth.

“What do you mean?” Hayden raised his head.

“I am very good at staying up all night, and there will be no fatigue the next day, and it will definitely not affect my actions,” Nemo said. “I promise this is not being brave. And you see, I…uh, I’m not a combat member, am I?”

Hayden and Marilyn quickly exchanged glances. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Yes,” Nemo responded firmly.

“I have no problem, Mr. White. I hope you’re not playing with everyone’s lives.” Marilyn frowned.

“Nemo’s words should be fine. He is very strong. I can guarantee that.” Hayden breathed a sigh of relief, and secretly glanced at Leonard, who had suffered a loss.

Leonard still didn’t say a word and remained silent until everyone was wrapped in a thin blanket and fell asleep.

Oliver and Nemo stayed outside the tent. There were stars twinkling above their heads. Not long ago, there were indeed a few big guys nearby. While everyone was asleep, Oliver went for a trip and forcibly dragged them a few miles away. The surroundings got a lot quieter now, and only the whispers of vague beasts could be heard.

They were a lot freer now. Demons were rampant here, and as long as Nemo controlled his strength within the capabilities of these demons, even if it exceeded a little bit, it would not appear too conspicuous. Although Oliver’s abilities were weird, in the Great Isamel Labyrinth, where strange things happened frequently, the same saying still applied—as long as it wasn’t excessive, the possibility of exposure would be much less.

After cleaning up his surroundings, Oliver wanted to lean against the rock wall while wrapped in a blanket. As soon as he leaned in the direction of the stone wall, Nemo grabbed him and pressed his head onto his thigh.

“Lie down and sleep.” The silver eyes gleamed in the moonlight. Nemo smiled and inserted his fingers into Oliver’s soft hair. “You also need to rest. I said, I can just stand guard.”

Within three minutes, Oliver fell into a deep sleep. His left wrist rested relaxed on the slate, showing off the demon engraving that he had no intention of removing. Nemo stared at it, and his smile became a bit bitter.

After enough lessons, Nemo was not about to let down his guard just because his strength was enough. This decision of his could be said to have saved the lives of the entire team. A little after 3 in the morning, disaster suddenly struck.

Nemo leaned down and kissed his lover’s slightly opened lips. Oliver woke up immediately. He stood up neatly, and the drowsiness in his eyes dissipated in a second.

“Feel it?” Nemo randomly pointed in a certain direction in the dark.

It was a demon tide.

Unlike those big guys with unusually good brains, the demon tide was composed of only subordinate demons, beasts, and intermediate demons that weren’t very strong. They were by no means smart, and they didn’t have any tactics, but sometimes they gathered together like locusts, gnawing at everything that blocked their way, whether it was dead or alive.

They were a bit like a group of rats. The combat effectiveness of a single individual wasn’t strong but became troublesome when the numbers increased. According to the dangerous rumors of The Great Isamel Labyrinth, it wasn’t uncommon for this kind of thing to appear in the deeper layers. They couldn’t disperse them by driving away the big guys. Even if they really resorted to violence, they didn’t know how long this strange tide of activity would last.

It was the best policy to leave. It wasn’t far from the center of the maze, where it was as calm as the center of a tornado. They might be able to lure this group of young people directly there.

“Nn.” Oliver nodded blankly, obviously quickly understanding the current situation. “But next time you can kiss me harder. I won’t care.”

“Let’s go wake them up.” Nemo shook his head amusedly and took a breath.

“Enemy attack!” he shouted loudly, “It’s a demon tide!”

The students reacted extremely quickly. In less than three seconds, Elmer grabbed his backpack and then carried the thin Hayden and Marilyn on his shoulders. Leonard drew out his broad sword, ran to the front of Elmer, and ran as fast as possible…

“This way! No problem here!” Oliver pointed in the direction of the center of the maze.

Leonard glared at Oliver, but the noble warrior could feel it for himself, and the murderous aura in that direction did fade a lot. He didn’t hesitate anymore and changed his direction decisively.

Nemo and Oliver took the initiative to step back and quietly let out a little breath to lead the demon tide in the other direction. After two hours of rolling around, the numb sound of gnawing on the scalp finally disappeared from the ears of the group.

“I haven’t encountered anything unusual.” Hayden coughed a few times on Elmer’s shoulder. His face turned pale. “Maybe we are still in the shallow part of the maze.”

“I hope so. It would be great if there were signs in this hellhole,” Marilyn on the other shoulder responded across the backpack.

“Run,” Leonard spoke for the first time in a long time. His voice was a little hoarse. “Elmer, you take them and run quickly. Go immediately!”

“What’s the matter?” Marilyn asked immediately. Her and Hayden’s faces were facing Elmer’s wide back, and they couldn’t see a way forward.

“The strongest intermediate demon, Midnight Walker. It smelled us.” Leonard didn’t talk nonsense. He raised his sword high and wide, and a golden arc of light climbed onto the blade. “I’ll delay it. Go!”

The Midnight Walker was good at concealing its breath. It wasn’t big; the tallest was no more than five meters. They sneak in the dark night, harvesting lives with slender and sharp, sickle-shaped claws.

Three claws split off. Leonard held two of them firmly while the third slid down against his shoulder, directly breaking through the metal armor and even cutting a large piece of flesh at his belt. Blood burst from the wound, causing a layer of sweat to appear on the face of the little nobleman.

‘It stopped,’ Leonard thought. In fact, he knew very well in his heart that there weren’t any mages that were good at binding spells with them. They weren’t this thing’s opponent. If he wanted to improve his survival rate…

Suddenly, a beautiful healing spell was applied to his wound.

Marilyn Lawler broke free of Elmer’s arm forcefully and rushed to the rear of the warrior.

“So you can last longer,” she said. “I’ll leave in a while.”

It seemed to be stimulated by the smell of blood. The Midnight Walker stretched out four arms in the air, making a sharp chirping sound with its mouth. The hook claw split like lightning. Leonard’s scalp exploded as he reluctantly raised his sword, ready to defend with a standard defensive formation.

He knew this definitely wouldn’t work, but Leonard’s mind was blank, and he couldn’t think of anything else. The Midnight Walker wouldn’t wait for him to ponder the current situation slowly; he must act. As a glorious soldier, he must protect himself…

Wrong.

Elmer, who had always been honest and obedient, unexpectedly didn’t move this time. The burly young man stood in silence, and he didn’t seem to have any intention of pulling out a hunting knife to support him. Leonard was confused for a moment, causing his defense array to suddenly loosen.

“Fuck—”

The swear of the noble soldier got stuck in his throat before he could finish his curse. Leonard understood why Elmer hadn’t moved. He became aware of something.

Yes, they had no escape.

“This won’t work.” The deserter scratched his head and smiled a little shyly. “It’s too early for them to deal with it.”

In just a few seconds, the Midnight Walker only had time to let out a vague scream before they watched it fly into the trees in the distance and fall disgracefully.

The author has something to say:

Yes, Jesse built this place.

Jesse: What did you humans do to my little box…!

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

Chapter 169: Professional Rescue

“The two of them are more like the kinds of people who can’t take care of themselves, and they care about each other at most. I think the last test has fully proven this.” Leonard raised his broad sword, warding off possible attacks around him, but his mouth didn’t stop. “So, what exactly do you two want to do?”

Nemo scratched his nose and turned his gaze to Oliver.

What they had to do was actually pretty clear. Send these passionate peers to a relatively safe place, or even a safe area in the center of the maze. Until now, Nemo didn’t think they could continue to hide their identities. After they escape, Horizon would definitely find the wonderful hiding place of Tumbleweed. It was only a matter of time before Clementine Academy learned of this.

Anyway, these young people were unable to get in touch with the outside world right now. They have no reason to hide it, and there was no need to tell them in good faith, so they could just let it be.

Oliver’s thoughts were obviously in line with his. Facing Leonard’s questioning, he laughed a little embarrassedly. He untied the big bag on his shoulders and started to dig out his modified light armor.

So Nemo took over the conversation. “We couldn’t watch it, so we came to help.”

This was the hard truth. The second Quentin Leonard fell into the vortex; Nemo discovered the location of the noble warrior. The unlucky nobleman fell in the deepest part of the labyrinth, and there were several powerful auras that were moving in this area. According to Leonard’s strength, let alone waiting for the school’s rescue, he wouldn’t even make it out through the night.

At that time, their team was operating on the outermost layer of the Isamel Labyrinth. The professors and other combatants in the academy were able to arrive quickly, but it was undoubtedly a stupid thing to expose their strength and identity of a Black Chapter back then. Nemo and Oliver originally planned to come to a relatively reasonable place, hiding in the middle-level area of the maze for a while, and then, when the time came, they would rush to the center of the labyrinth and leave the academy.

Clementine Academy would detect their traces, but by that time, they would’ve left the city long ago—assuming that they could eliminate the threat of Horizon along the way in time.

According to Godwin’s Lopez’s cautious style, they would only have such a chance once, so they’d better hold the initiative in their hands, but…

Leonard wasn’t stupid enough to ask for trouble. Although the young nobleman had an unflattering personality, at the end of the day, he didn’t really have bad intentions. What was more, after several hot-blooded young people followed without thinking and took the initiative to throw themselves into this terrible place, under the premise of being able to be rescued easily, they matched their momentum as well. To see these young people die—Nemo didn’t think he could do such a thing.

It was a pity that Leonard obviously took that explanation as a mere bluff. His eyebrows rose in an instant and went straight to his hairline. After more than ten seconds of silence, the noble soldier snorted coldly, and his face had disbelief written all over it. “Wilhelm… Er, Hayden and Elmer came to help, I can still believe it, but you guys?”

Elmer was keenly aware of the contempt in the air. The burly young man hurriedly stepped forward, trying to change the subject. “Now’s not the time to chat, Mr. Leonard. Of course, it’s important to relax, but it’s also necessary to scout the surrounding situation… Miss Lawler, you seem to know the Isamel Labyrinth well? Do you know where we are now?”

After that, Elmer hesitated for a moment, put down the backpack behind him, and drew a long, sharp hunting knife from it. He touched the knife painfully and held it tightly in his hand.

Nemo stopped talking cooperatively.

He knew the answer.

The vortex had already closed behind them. At present, the area where they were located was very close to the center of the maze, and the magic fluctuations in the air were powerful and weird, making people feel uncomfortable, like they couldn’t breathe. According to this depth, it would take at least half a month for the people in the academy to find them.

All means of communication belonging to surface magic wouldn’t work here. The academy could only track the locator on the student’s uniform. It was sewn from the hard skin of a special subordinate demon, which could leave a little trace under the powerful magic fluctuations.

However, there was Bagelmaurus by Ann’s side and Nemo was by Oliver’s. Naturally, they could use the communication line dominated by abyssal magic. As for Jesse Dylan and the knight commander—Nemo didn’t believe that this matter could really cut off Jesse’s communication. That annoying shiny creature couldn’t wait to put a permanent communication array on their heads to ensure that not a word of their chatter would be missed.

If there was a mage student among them with rich knowledge, perhaps they would be able to find a clue, but the Isamel Labyrinth was still too complicated for students of other majors.

“I don’t know.” Marilyn shook her head quietly and admitted bluntly. “My knowledge is limited to paper. I only learned this from reading in the library.”

On the other side, Oliver finally took off the logistics uniform and fastened the last buckle on his black light armor. He grabbed the ukulele that Nemo had given him and slowly drew out the Rest in Peace and pinned it to his waist.

Leonard wasn’t distracted by Elmer. He looked up and down at Oliver’s outfit, and his face was getting darker.

It may be that he felt the hostile gaze from the other party; Oliver scratched his head and prepared to explain, “We’re really just here to help…”

“Even if you’re kind enough to do bad things?” Leonard narrowed his eyes and cut through the tangle of wet creeping vines in front of him. “You have ‘good intentions’, so I should be grateful even if I sacrifice my life for your trouble. Is that what you mean?”

“Actually I—”

“I can see that your sword isn’t made by a serious blacksmith, right? The whole thing is very rough.” The noble warrior pointed out mercilessly. “As for the armor… The materials are pretty good, but they have been reduced to half-useless. The defensive magic pattern is completely broken and the protection covering the key points was roughly broken off, as if a dragon had chewed it out. You’re embarrassed by the desertion last time, I understand very well, Mr. Borne, but this is not a joke.”

At the end of his sarcasm, Leonard turned around beautifully, and his broad sword split another bunch of squirming vines approaching.

“Brainless courage can’t clear your reputation. On the contrary, this kind of foolhardy behavior will only make things worse.”

“…” Oliver’s explanation got stuck in his throat. He thought deeply for a few seconds, then poked Nemo’s waist and lowered his voice. “Did I really change the armor and make it look ugly?”

“It’s okay. I think it’s very handsome.” Nemo comforted in a whisper. “Relax, Ollie—if everyone can still see what it originally was, you’ll be taken away from the street as soon as you get out.”

“Don’t say that.” Seeing Leonard’s tone getting worse and worse, Hayden finally spoke. The short male nurse grabbed a piece of the truncated creeping vine and skillfully squeezed the juice into the glass bottle around his waist. “In fact, in front of the labyrinth, everyone’s power gap may be negligible. One more person is one more way, and Nemo’s level is still very good.” He glanced at Oliver a little coldly.

Oliver swallowed and chose to remain silent. He and Nemo guarded the left side of the team, but unfortunately, the carnivorous plants frequently attacked from the right, tacitly ignoring them. These things weren’t strong, so they had no intention of interfering in the battle of their companions.

This was a real battlefield. When there was no deadly danger that the strength gap wasn’t too wide, having these young people battle was good for them.

Elmer and Leonard became the main combat power. The cold light of the broadsword and hunting knife split the air, and all the ill-intentioned vines were cut into dark green mud. Their efforts paid off. They quickly found a dry stone platform close to a rock wall. There were no weird snakes or colorful hypertrophic poisonous insects entrenched on it, so it looked very suitable for camping.

The six people climbed up the stone platform in silence and retreated into the connection between the stone platform and the stone wall. Elmer put down his hunting knife, rubbed his wide hands, and began to pull out the tent cloth embroidered with a camouflage array from his backpack. Leonard thrust his broad sword into the stone platform, and the blade lightly broke through, as if what was under their feet was not a hard slate but a large piece of hard cheese.

“Get a sword and put on the armor, and you think you’re really a warrior?” Leonard sat cross-legged, moving his shoulders. His gaze was still fixed on Oliver. It seemed that he was extremely dissatisfied with his behavior for not doing much along the way.

Nemo finally couldn’t help sighing. Now the members of this temporary team were emotionally stable, the environment was comfortable, and there was nothing too powerful nearby. Maybe it was time for them to share their thoughts—

“A true swordsman will not cling to armor or weapons,” Leonard said before he could begin. “Since you have studied Tumbleweed, then you should know that they stopped a war in Vincent Town. The leader didn’t wear any armor or even wield a decent weapon. The sword collapsed at the end of the war, but they still won. That’s a real swordsman.”

“How do you know?” Nemo swallowed the explanation with difficulty and asked in shock. He almost choked on his own saliva. “No, that’s not right. What do you mean, ‘You studied tumbleweed’, Ollie?”

“…It’s a long story.” Oliver’s voice drifted a bit. In a sense, Leonard was right. He didn’t wear any armor at that time, and his weapon was a standard silver sword taken from a Knight of Judgment, but the reason wasn’t because it was his style as a swordsman, but just the simple word “poor”.

Oliver was a little speechless and didn’t even dare to look at Leonard.

He felt guilty.

“My chef has always liked to order smoked fish from Vincent Town. When it happened, the grocer who delivered the goods to my house happened to be there,” Leonard sneered. “All that came out was a mess of fake news. That team is the real deal, a group of heroes. They took gossip in stride, no fame, contrary to some people—yes, Mr. White, your lover claims to know a lot about Tumbleweed and is trying to make a small fortune gambling, but if you ask me, with all that disinformation…”

“Have you said enough? Your blabbering is endless.” Marilyn simply cleaned her hands and interrupted the little nobleman impatiently. “Everyone needs a quiet environment to rest, not to listen to your speech. No matter what the motivation is, Oliver Borne is here now. You can’t just stir up a vortex with your tongue and throw him back, can you?”

She glanced in Oliver’s direction casually, and her gaze stayed puzzled for a few seconds. The deserter, who was notorious among freshmen, actually reserved his attitude and blushed a little strangely.

His handsome lover pinched his chin with his fingers, pondered for a moment, and leaned over. He was whispering about something.

“Gambling? Anyway, it’s impossible for us to go back and get the money. Are you…” Nemo said, almost angrily, raising his chin at Elmer.

“Uh-huh.” Oliver nodded very slightly. “Nemo, why don’t we force away the big guys around us first. There’s a lot of food nearby, and this is an ideal camping place… It’s too embarrassing to admit our identities now.”

“No problem, no problem.” Nemo secretly glanced at Leonard, who shut up for an instant. The noble warrior was holding back so hard that it made his neck red. “But we’d better make excuses to go together. I have a question that I care about very much.”

Perceiving the seriousness in Nemo’s tone, Oliver’s expression quickly became serious. “What?”

“There are demons here. This isn’t accidental.” Nemo completely retracted his joking tone.

“But some of them… They look no different from surface creatures.”

Inside Clementine Academy.

Old Salter was in a terrible mood.

Originally, this was an extremely sensitive period, and the freshmen in the academy chose this kind of thing to happen now. It would be easy if it was one or two missing, but six people was really exaggerated. Such a situation was considered unique in school history.

There was also the young man who was originally scheduled to be transferred to become Mrs. Mandy’s assistant. The Viscountess would certainly be unhappy. The only good piece of news—among the six, there was only one nobleman. Even if things got worse, the situation wasn’t unmanageable. At most, the process would be a bit more troublesome.

What a headache.

The old principal had to straighten almost every wrinkle on his face. He coldly unfolded the parchment sealed with gold paint in front of him, and then his face wrinkled even tighter.

“Where did they get the news?” He frowned tightly and cast his gaze at the assistant standing beside him.

“I’m sorry, Lord Salter. After all, it’s—”

“After all, it’s Horizon, I know.” The old man squeezed a cold snort from his nose. “Isn’t Godwin Lopez the fiancé of Her Royal Highness Delia? To come here at this time… Ha.”

“They have the permission of His Royal Highness Eldric and have expressed their willingness to assist us in rescuing the missing students. Godwin Lopez has only one request, he wants permission to view all our freshman information.”

“Hmm.” Salter knocked on his smoke pipe. “Since there is no proper reason for refusal, yes, I agree. Give him the information.”

“That’s fine.” The old man carelessly moved his gaze out of the window. “I’ve always been curious about Lopez’s true position. It’s time to take a closer look at him.”

The author has something to say:

Oliver: First time to be praised to my face, but there’s also a strange embarrassment…

However, cousin is coming soon√

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

Chapter 168: Mutation

Pretending to be killed was much harder than they thought.

Except for individual majors that didn’t need to go on the battlefield, a few mediocre talents would be mixed in. Despite their aristocratic origins, those who could enter the combat major of Clementine Academy were all genuine elites. These young men could also be assistants to generals after graduation, and they would not make a low-level mistake of losing teammates at the beginning of training. The two commanders had a clear division of labor, and the joint army composed of two groups was walking on the flat snow, skillfully avoiding the dangerous narrow roads or the dense mountain walls of the lairs of monsters.

It was estimated that if they wanted to disappear in this situation, they could only pretend to faint and then roll down the gentle slope into the bottom of the valley.

The sun hadn’t set yet, and the sky was clear again, making the reflection of the snow very dazzling. Nemo chatted with Oliver in whispers and wandered at the end of the team with a very improper attitude.

“We may have to wait for the sun to go down.” He poked the skeleton helmet disguised as a decoration on Oliver’s bag melancholically. “There are no powerful auras nearby, and it’s not like we could pretend to be defeated by a snowfield droopy-eared rabbit.”

“You’re right,” Oliver responded in a low voice. “Have you seen a snowfield droopy-eared rabbit? That’s at least an ingredient.”

At present, the team was still advancing steadily, and the glacier where the glacier mammoth was located was still some distance away. Probably taking into account how much energy it took for the people treading on ice and snow, the students entered the maze after lunch. For the time being, it wasn’t time for logistics to start worrying. They didn’t receive the task of finding food or setting up camp, so they were idle.

Oliver had even planned ahead and began to consider possible recipes for dinner for the entire regiment.

“Let me make an analogy.” Nemo quickly interrupted Oliver’s thoughts. “In terms of strength.”

Except for the few combatants who were assigned to prevent unexpected situations, the auxiliary personnel basically followed at the end of the team. They hung at the end like this, so it didn’t look particularly conspicuous.

Nemo bounced a little and saw the light blue top of a large piece of ice floe from behind the snow mountain. They were getting closer to the glaciers…

Maybe they could only slip away in the middle of the night. The glacier mammoth was no bigger than a snake-maned lion, but they were as cautious as a fox caught in a trap. If they guessed correctly, compared to the last combat capability test, the focus of this one was probably teamwork, personnel control, and offensive strategy.

The two groups were specially arranged to work together, most likely as a consideration for safety issues.

There were many naturally formed ice arches and strangely shaped giant ice cubes near the glaciers. They could find an excuse to leave temporarily after nightfall, then hide in those maze-like ice cubes. By the time the team members found that they were gone, the two of them would already be deep in the maze.

The snow under their boots made a dull creaking sound, getting thicker and thicker until it had almost buried half their calves. Nemo had already discovered a lot of spatial folding points. He was so bored that he began to calculate the possible ways forward. It was still far from nightfall, and he was ready to chat with Oliver for the rest of the day.

Everything was very peaceful, and there wasn’t even a beast in their field of vision.

This time, Ollie stopped first. Nemo’s body stopped instinctively, still making calculations in his mind, and he almost stumbled into the thick snow.

“What’s the matter?”

“Something’s wrong.” Oliver grabbed a handful of snow and squeezed it casually. “The aura is too weak.”

“Right?” Nemo raised his eyebrows. “This place is really calm, and the level of those two commanders is really good.” The academy equipped each commander with the most basic topographic map, but the knowledge of specific routes was gone. From the habitats of demons and beasts to snow conditions in a specific climate, everything had to be calculated.

“Although there are some small bugs, the aura is not all…” Halfway through, Nemo broke off.

The aura was indeed too weak to be worth mentioning as they whizzed around under the snow. Although they felt like ordinary snow ants, their number was really large, so he didn’t really mind.

But now those auras were gathering.   

“The aura is very weak, but it’s not normal that there’s only one such thing around.” Oliver frowned. “I also sense hostility.”

Nemo took a deep breath and felt it hard, but he could only feel the snow grains on his face and the chilling cold wind, so he could only provide what he knew. “To be honest, I can only think it could be snow ants from this strength… They don’t attack humans. But…”

“But?”

“Snow ants don’t have such exaggerated gathering behavior.” Those tiny auras gathered in the permafrost below the snow layer and became less tiny. “But if it isn’t snow ants, other than that it’s just—fuck!”

Nemo suddenly raised his voice, but unfortunately, he was blown away by the oncoming cold wind, and a few people looked back at him as a result.

“It’s a corpse-controlled stinger,” he complained with a pale face and pulled Oliver’s thick coat into his hand and strode forward. “Isn’t this thing extinct?”

“But I don’t sense any demonic… energy.”

“They are good at concealment.” Nemo gritted his teeth and hissed. Before those little things were scattered everywhere, he didn’t have any obvious feelings, but now he wouldn’t mistake it. “Didn’t we talk about abyssal magic? As the source, I’ll never mistake this fluctuation. They are converging to me… paying taxes to me.” Nemo used a simpler analogy. “This can’t be hidden. They are corpse-controlled stingers, not snow ants on the surface.”

Oliver’s expression went blank for a few seconds.

“How strong is it?” When he spoke again, he tried his best to remain calm. 

“It’s hard to say.” Nemo shook his head. The snowflakes on the tips of his hair were shaken off. “If there are no remains of powerful creatures nearby, then they do not pose any threat.”

“But this place looks quite old—”

“Ollie, don’t…”

“Well, if it’s a human remains—”

“Ollie!”

A white dragon surfaced from the snow directly in front of the team.

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t really a dragon, but a fake product made of “snowflakes” wrapped in debris, which made it look even funny at first glance. Even so, when the dragon that seemed to be piled up in snow opened its mouth, the joke-like idea completely disappeared from the minds of the crowd.

The mouth that was still falling snow residue opened extremely wide, spewing out an ice flame with a trace of dragon breath.

“…Ollie.” In the chaos, Nemo buried his face in his palm. “Remember to hold back.”

“The dragon bones turned out to be there.” Oliver looked at the snow dragon and his face almost became as white as snow. “I… I definitely didn’t summon it.”

“I know. Just asking for a good omen.”

Corpse-controlled stingers were extremely ancient demonic insects shaped like snowflakes. They inhabited the permafrost. If one were to look at their power, they weren’t much stronger than the average beetle, but they had an extremely deadly skill—borrowing the power of a corpse.

They would attach to the bones of other creatures and use the information in the bones to restore the original appearance, physical power, and a very small part of the magical abilities of the creature. They would use this new body to kill their prey, wait for the flesh to cool completely, then slowly devour it. If they were attached to chicken bones, the combat effectiveness would never exceed that of a chicken. Scholars were once troubled by whether this thing was a subordinate demon or an intermediate demon. In the end, considering the probability of coincidence, people reluctantly classified them as a subordinate demon.

But now they possessed a dragon’s bones.

Corpse-controlled stingers weren’t without weakness, either. They could pile up strength, but they couldn’t match the intelligence. Their brains were equivalent to a mussel, and they usually acted instinctively. As long as you dealt with them carefully, they weren’t too difficult of an opponent.

The problem was that this ancient demon insect had long been extinct in theory, and no one could figure out what they were. They were more worried about the ice flame that was hurtling towards them. The commander was a little flustered for a moment, and several soldiers were almost caught in the flames.

“Think of a way to distract them, and then we take advantage of the chaos to retreat.” Ollie quickly made the decision. “I’ll just—”

However, before he could make a move, someone else acted first.

The noble warrior Leonard reacted extremely quickly, and before the others could react to the impact of the snow dragon, he once again took the lead and rushed out. The broad sword in his hand cut solidly into the decaying dragon bones and the corpse-controlled stingers. The snow dragon’s mouth enlarged and roared silently at him, then directly arched its head towards Leonard.

The little nobleman neatly raised his sword to defend and held his balance hard. He stopped beautifully on the edge of the snow slope, lowered his body, and rushed to the snow dragon’s feet again to deal another heavy blow. The bones of the corpse were too old, and the fragile leg made an ear-piercing cracking sound. The snow dragon’s body tilted and was no longer worried about the broken bone. With less magic this time, the snow dragon once again spewed out an ice flame towards Leonard, who rolled on the spot and decisively dodged it.

“Looks like we don’t need to make a move now.” Seeing the soldiers react, they gathered around. Oliver stopped striding out. “The hostility of that thing is weakening. When it drains all the power from the bones, it’ll scatter and flee without incident.”

“Nn.” Nemo stared at the struggling soldiers and agreed with his lover’s view.

Unfortunately, just as he finished speaking in less than two minutes, a sudden change occurred.

The corpse-controlled stingers used up the power of the bones and gave up. The huge bone dragon smashed down from the sky, hitting a warrior who wasn’t mentally prepared. He immediately fell to the ground and rolled down the snowy slopes with the bones.

Below the snow slope was a large unnatural vortex, which was constantly changing shapes. The air there seemed to be like a gelatinous substance being roughly stirred, and the scenery coming from behind it was distorted.

The space folding point caused by the labyrinth reset.

Leonard leaned out of his body without hesitation and grabbed his companion, who was sliding. He climbed the snowy slope, sweating profusely, for fear that the power of spells would cause unnecessary snow to collapse from the snow crust. Just as he pushed his companion to the top of the snow slope, the stone under his feet couldn’t bear it any longer, suddenly loosened, and fell off.

Leonard’s entire body slid down with the collapsed snow shell, and before he could scream, his figure was instantly swallowed by the twisted vortex.

“Stay away from there!” The commander immediately ordered. “He’s an excellent warrior with a clear will, and he’ll be fine! If something really happens, even if you go in…”

Hayden didn’t hesitate.

No one paid attention to the short male nurse. The thin young man decisively crossed the snow slope and took the initiative to plunge into the vortex. Then came Elmer, who was standing next to him. The burly young man was stunned for a moment, scratching his head, with an unexpected look of confusion on his face, but his steps were still firm.

“…All retreat to me!” The commander’s voice broke a bit. “It—It’s probably dangerous over there! You heard the warning from the school; don’t be stupid and be a hero at this time!”

“Soldier, nursing, logistics,” Marilyn Lawler said softly. She stared at the team of healers who obediently retreated, without any expression on her face. “They need a healer.”

“’No survivors shall be abandoned’,” she sighed after a while. “’I must walk in the world with kindness, and anyone who’s injured or sick will be treated’… Since the damage is irreparable, I prefer to increase the survival rate of my companions.”

The beautiful girl let out a sneer, and then slid gracefully into the vortex.

The vortex continued to change and was about to disappear.

“Uh, although this situation is quite awkward.” Oliver packed his backpack, grabbed Nemo’s wrist, and the two rushed to the vortex together. “But it doesn’t look bad for the two of us, right?”

The logistics department’s deserter was uncharacteristically smiling. “Goodbye, everyone!”

The swirling vortex completely disappeared.

Half of Quentin Leonard’s heart felt tragic heroism as he stood up from the hot and humid jungle, while the other half was completely dumbfounded. The noble warrior took off the badge with an insulation spell painted on it from his armor and clenched the broadsword in his hand…

Then Hayden, who came later, smashed into the ground and almost vomited blood.

“You…”

Then came Elmer, causing Hayden, who was hit below, to let out a muffled groan. If Leonard hadn’t been wearing armor, he would probably have broken his ribs by now.

“I’m sorry.” Elmer scratched his head, quickly moved his big body and carried Hayden to the side while Leonard rolled his eyes and was just about to stand up…

When Marilyn fell gracefully and landed beautifully half-kneeling on Leonard’s back. She glanced at the warrior under her feet, frowned, and crushed her heels twice before casting a healing spell.

“…” Leonard couldn’t say anything despite the instantaneous healing of his injuries. He took a deep breath and propped his hands on the ground…

“I’m sorry,” Oliver said dryly, jumping off Leonard’s back. This time, Nemo moved more neatly than him, as his Demon King even calculated the place to land in advance. Although Oliver himself noticed something was wrong below, his movements weren’t as proficient.

“Is there anyone else?” Leonard hissed angrily. “If there is, I’ll just lie here.”

“The vortex has disappeared.” Nemo patted the snowflakes off his body and looked curiously at the jungle around him. “No one will come.”

“So it’s… only you who are here,” Leonard murmured.

He could probably guess why Hayden and Elmer came down first, and he felt grateful for it from the bottom of his heart. It was an unexpected joy that Marilyn would follow.

There seemed to be no shortage of food and water in this environment. The noble warrior was confident in his own strength. Coupled with Elmer’s logistics equipment, if they acted carefully, the possibility of successfully holding on before rescue came was high. However, Leonard couldn’t figure out the purpose of Oliver Borne and the little snowflake White. There was no friendship between them and the grievances weren’t deep enough that the two would come down and sacrifice their lives just to pit him.

Six people stood opposite each other silently, creating an awkward and tense atmosphere.

“Everyone, I have memorized the relevant information,” Marilyn was the first to speak. “There have been more than 500 cases of distress among students in the Great Isamel Labyrinth. We have had more than 500 cases before, and the record for the fastest rescue is two weeks. Overall, the mortality rate is about 30-40%, but we’ve been lucky here. Some have been thrown into the desert or swamp.” She lifted her chin and looked around the room. “I can deal with most of the wounds and toxins if I can make sure there’s enough food.”

“Well, I think we will be fine.” Elmer glanced at Oliver carefully and added in a jarring voice. “First of all, we have to, ahem, scout and find out the situation nearby, and then find a safe place to camp.”

“If you are not in a hurry, it is better to recover your strength first.” Hayden’s shrinking look disappeared again, and he looked extremely calm.

“I also agree to take a break.” The little nobleman narrowed his eyes and turned his face to the remaining two.

“Let’s have a chat first. For example… I’m very curious about the intentions of the two of you.” He raised his voice slightly. “After all, you two don’t look like a couple of busybodies.”

The author has something to say:

Oliver & Nemo: I’m so moved. It’s the first time I’ve received such an evaluation. I even want to record it for Ann to play in a loop (……

Ann: Hehe.

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