PHZZT-! SWISH-!

A dart materialized and hit the minion in the leg, making it stumble. I didn't finish the minion and rushed ahead.

These minions didn't give any exp upon dying. It was better for me to only obstruct them and keep running till the student council arrives.

"GRAA!"

From the back, a different minion came.

PHZZT-!

Turning back I fired another dart at its leg. These darts were considerably smaller than other weapons, two fingers thick and the length of a forearm, thus constructing them uses less ether.

"Huff...Hufff"

My ether reserves were around 40% capacity. Although I was only using the darts to hurt the minions and run away, their number was still overwhelming.

"Are all the Lycans already corrupted?"

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I only needed to kill two more lycans to level up and get extra stat points to increase my ether reserves.

But the speed of corruption was a lot faster than I had expected.

"GRAA!!"

"!!!"

A bulging black arm suddenly popped from the path I was about to enter.

PHZZT-!

With my high agility stat, I ducked, firing a dart at the minion's face, and ran to the other empty path.

While running I looked at the hologram that showed the location of the central room and teammates.

"Dammit!"

The minions were only appearing on paths that were branching away from the path to the central room.

No matter how many times I changed paths I was still being led toward the central room.

The demon was purposely controlling the minions to make me come to the central room!

"I need a large empty area."

If I could find it before reaching the central room I could reduce the number of minions by a lot.

Sure, it was dangerous. Using a large-scale attack would leave traces of ether behind. But it was safer than going to the central room where everyone was gathered.

If I went there it will be easily exposed that the minions were targeting me. Then, the moment we go outside I will be held hostage and tortured to get information about ether. I had no backing, no one will come to save me nor did I know how to develop an ether core.

Sensing that no minion was near me, I quickly hid in the small section at the corner.

"Urghh.."

Lark, who I carrying on my back, groaned. It seemed he was awake after losing consciousness. Staring at him I felt a sense of incongruity.

"Why aren't you killing me?"

Lark asked, moments after waking up, with a tired voice.

Suppressing the sense of incongruity I felt the rage boil inside me. Still, I playfully smiled and answered. I wanted him to feel as hopeless as I was feeling.

"To use you as a bait, obviously~"

"I see."

The quiet words that leaked from his mouth, before he again lost consciousness, increased the sense of incongruity I was feeling.

"Why is he acting like this?"

Lark was a haughty awakener who uses dirty means to push his position higher in society. If he was given two ways to solve a problem he will always choose the more malicious choice.

But the Lark in front of me was different. He had already given up on living and was only waiting for his end. It was as if..

"…The situation is irredeemable."

I kept feeling a sense of incongruity. It was as if I was forgetting something very crucial. The answer was on the tip of my tongue but I couldn't remember it.

No, maybe I already did. Wasn't it why I was waiting for Lark to wake up?

-SLAP!

"Urgg.."

"Why aren't you with Leon and the others?"

Lark answered me in a confused and weak voice.

"Leon? Why would I be with him? …If you mean Cadmus, then all of us left him."

"All of you?! Why?!"

-SLAP!

Cadmus was capable of influencing others' decisions with only a few words. If there was a reason for the cadets to leave then it was something significant.

"Answer me!"

-SLAP! -SLAP!

"Wake up, dammit!"

What could be it? What could be the reason they refused to follow Cadmus?

Seeing that Lark wasn't waking, I opened the black dairy I had been carrying on me since the day I got it.

"GRAAA!!!"

But before I could read anything I sensed a minion near me. With no other choice, I left Lark and ran while trying to find any clues in the dairy.

Reading while escaping the pursuit was dangerous. Dividing my concentration affects the speed at which I can construct weapons but I had to get a gist of the situation.

Skimming through the pages I quickly realized that only Leon, Cadmus, Lilith, and Anna were the ones moving to the central room.

All of them were battered but Lilith and Leon were in the worst shape. But unlike Lilith, Leon was mentally strained.

For minutes I kept running while reading the diary. Finally, I found the reason everyone had decided that fighting the Royal demon was useless.

======

Cadmus completed briefing the cadets he had gathered. Now, he only needed to find a few strong cadets and they could start attacking the central room.

It was a dangerous move but he knew that leaving the Royal Demon alone was worse. He had himself seen that 'thing' recovering by sucking the energy of monsters lying around it.

"No, we can't do that."

Cadmus' brows knit when Ken spoke. Ken was the only top ranker other than Cadmus in the current group. As such his words weighed a lot.

Before Cadmus could stop Ken from further aggravating the situation, someone entirely else intervened.

"I also agree with Ken. We should run away and hide for as long as possible."

Looking at the person who spoke Cadmus truly frowned. The cadet who spoke was someone belonging to the top 100, Henry Maybell.

Everyone was already scared because of the Royal demon's ability to corrupt and control others. With Ken and Henry speaking against him, Cadmus was losing momentum.

Still, Cadmus believed that he could overturn the situation.

"Why?"

"The student council is outside the Ward for a mission. If we fail and get corrupted, no help will come from outside."

Cadmus' eyes widened in utter shock.

If Student Council wasn't in Ward then the earliest they would be rescued will be after a day. By that time anybody who got corrupted will die.

Henry wasn't someone who will lie in this kind of situation. And Henry's sister was a member of the student council. This proved the veracity of his statement.

======

THUMP-

I shut the dairy tightly in shock.

Dungeon of Trails provided more resources and artifacts the higher you climbed. Everyone in the Ward would have entered the dungeon at least once.

The current years were the same but this was their first time. Thus, we were the only ones with access to the 0th floor.

The Student Council was responsible for many things, one such responsibility was accidents in Dungeon of Trials. The members are forbidden from entering the dungeon so a few should be able to enter the 0th floor but….

"Student council isn't coming?"

This wasn't possible. This shouldn't be possible.

Without them intervening the Royal Demon will kill everyone. No one in the group could kill the Royal Demon.

We were too weak to fight against it.

"Susan! If it's her it's possible!"

I hurriedly checked her location. She was …still at the edge of the maze. Even if I was able to bring her to the central room it will be too late.

Unconsciously, I started chewing my lips.

….Was this how I was going to die?

Clenching my jaws and fists hard, I let out a long breath.

I couldn't lose my calm.

There has to be something. A way to get out of the situation alive.

I needed to be calm to find that way.

SWOOSH-

I continued running to the central room while using as much ether as I could in one go, to peek into the future.

The original plan was to save as much as ether possible while avoiding the central room. Unfortunately for me, the very foundation of that plan was faulty.

======

BANG-!

The boulder hit the ground, raising a curtain of dust, preventing Leon and Anna from seeing anything.

Yet Leon was sure, the demon was smashed to oblivion.

"Huff…Hufff"

Strength left his limbs and he plopped to the ground. They had won but Leon's expression only turned more miserable. He had been completely useless in the fight.

Leon looked around, through the curtains of dust, at the black lumps lying spread throughout the room.

They were his classmates who were corrupted and used by the demon to recover itself.

The demon was dead but what about the others? Were any of them even alive?

Leon looked around, at the craters formed on the ground. In one such crater laid Cadmus with his entire body covered in blood, seemingly dead. The only indication that Cadmus was alive was the movement of his chest.

Lilith, pale as a sheet, was lying in the corner of the room. She had fainted in mid-battle from the extreme blood loss.

"We won…"

Anna plopped next to Leon. She had used all her mana for the last attack. Now, unable to move a single muscle, she was as helpless as a newborn baby.

"If only I was stronger."

Leon's mental condition was on its last leg. He was on the verge of a mental breakdown. Today he was again reminded of the day he lost everyone close to him and his powerlessness.

Fortunately, no one close to him had died. Otherwise, Leon wouldn't have been able to handle it. Leon knew that it was selfish of him to think like this when several cadets had died. But Leon was only one person. If nothing else, he wanted his close friends to be safe.

"It isn't your fa-"

-CLAP! -CLAP!

"Merveilleux! Humanity's progress in the last 7 years is astounding."

Chills ran down their spine when Anna and Leon heard a voice from inside the curtain of dust.

Slowly the curtain of dust settled revealing a humanoid figure. It had grey skin, a thin black tail, and two curvy horns on its forehead. Its pitch black hair melted into those bat-like wings, becoming indistinguishable.

CREAK-

The sound of doors opening echoed inside the room.

"It seems my children are hungry~ Then I won't stop them any longer. Bon appétit!"

A horde of minions rushed inside the room and started devouring anything alive. But all of them avoided Leon and Anna like a plague.

"Don't worry. You guys are reserved for something else~"

SWISH-

Immediately after, Leon's world became dark and he lost any feeling in his body.

CRUNCH-

"Délicieux~"

======

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