Light (1)
When I opened my eyes again.
All that filled my vision was darkness, devoid of even a single point of light.
I blinked for a moment.
I couldn't see a thing.
Around me, only sleepless shadows dripped down, thick and viscous.
A backdrop soaked in pure black.
With a low hum, I snapped my fingers.
"Hmm."
Click
A light cracking sound echoed.
The faint reverberation soon transformed into a handful of echoes, filling the silent void around us.
A single noise that shattered the silence.
Immediately after.
Fwooosh!
Flames erupted here and there.
As if they had been waiting for the sound to resonate, torches mounted on the walls began to ignite.
The light, increasing one by one, soon spread to fill the entire space.
Before I knew it, the scenery was sufficiently illuminated.
"Uh, uh··· Y-Young Master?"
"······What just happened?"
Two girls were positioned beside me.
Their faces, as they looked around, were clearly etched with bewilderment.
Their eyes trembled slightly.
"I-I'm sure, the magic circle glowed strangely······."
"It seems like the teleport activated, at least."
"D-Did we arrive at the right place···?"
"That's··· I don't know."
The outburst that occurred right before the teleportation.
Perhaps remembering the ominous flow of mana, the two didn't seem to let their guard down easily.
Did they decide that grasping the situation was the priority?
Emilia calmly surveyed the space we were in.
"This place feels strange."
The air that touched my cheeks was particularly chilly.
A corridor stretched out before us. However, there were no windows to be found on the long walls, nothing to illuminate the outside.
Only the torches attached at intervals illuminated the darkness.
Emilia fell into thought for a moment.
She soon spoke, as if asking for my opinion.
"It seems like we're underground, right?"
"I think so too."
"The fact that the torches are placed so meticulously means that light doesn't reach here even during the day."
"It's also strange that there are no windows."
"One thing's for sure, this isn't the Academy."
The unique musty smell of a basement wafted through the air.
It was a scene covered in dust, as if untouched by human hands for a long time.
And yet, the corridor seemed to stretch on endlessly.
"······Something feels off."
The girl muttered softly.
As I quietly looked around the passage, Regia, who was standing behind me, grabbed my sleeve.
Her fingertips trembled faintly.
"Y-Young Master."
"Miss Regia?"
"The emergency call artifact we received··· I-It's dead."
"What?"
I checked the bracelet on my wrist.
Right before entering the exam.
The call artifacts Selena had given to each of us.
Originally, it should have been blinking with a blue light, connected to the supervising professor's mana, but now it was off, showing no signs of life.
It seemed like it had stopped functioning altogether.
"I-It's been like this for a while."
"Hmm."
I checked Emilia's, but it was the same.
In a situation where we didn't know where we were or if we had arrived at the right place, our connection to the Academy had been cut off.
In short, we were isolated.
"W-What should we do now···?"
"The Academy must have noticed that something went wrong with the exam. Don't make a fuss."
"B-But, My Lady."
"It's fine, I said."
The villainess snapped, as if annoyed.
She was frowning calmly, but perhaps she was actually feeling anxious, as she was biting her nails.
An air of confusion hung in the air.
I quietly observed the situation.
'So··· it's flowing according to the original story.'
I glanced sideways.
In my vision was the scenery of an old basement. The deep-seated darkness emphasized the ominous atmosphere.
The humid air resembled the breath of some monster.
It wasn't the exam venue, but··· technically, we had arrived at the right place.
Because this was the stage for this episode.
I quietly recalled my memories.
[EP5. Midterm Exam]
- Abandoned Laboratory, the Monster That Cannot Smile -
In the original story, the midterm exam had a similar flow.
Regia's group gets caught in a teleportation accident and wakes up in a basement.
If we stayed here, those 'women' would come looking for us soon.
We needed to move before that.
I addressed the two, who were standing with grave expressions.
"Shall we take a look around?"
"Y-Yes?"
"······Are you out of your mind?"
Both of them immediately turned to me.
Maintaining my composure under their gazes, I continued to share my thoughts.
"I'm perfectly sane."
"We don't even know where we are exactly. And you want to move around carelessly in this situation?
"We can't just wait here forever."
"I'm against it."
"I don't know what you're so afraid of."
I shrugged lightly, as if wondering what the problem was.
"If we wander around, won't we get lost and unable to find the exit? Besides, judging from the fact that we're underground, this seems like an artificially created facility··· Maybe we'll run into someone here and get help."
"But it looks like this place hasn't been touched by humans for a long time."
"That's all the more reason to move. If there's no one to help us, I think it's better to familiarize ourselves with the surrounding terrain, even if it's just us."
"······Hmm."
Emilia groaned as if in deep thought.
Others might have suggested staying put, but as someone with business here, I needed to look around a bit.
There was someone I needed to find here.
'Because her whereabouts were so uncertain, I couldn't even solve it with my knowledge of the original story, but······.'
Today, the opportunity had finally arrived.
The reason I had willingly walked into this midterm exam trap was because of this.
Of course, one might ask, why not just use my abilities to search the entire basement instead of wandering around? However, to scan such a deep and wide space would consume a significant amount of power.
It was on a scale comparable to Astro headquarters, after all.
Structurally, it was far more complex and convoluted.
'I need to be cautious.'
I wouldn't waste my power unnecessarily.
I was going to see this through to the end, just as I had prepared for it.
Employee benefits were truly a pain.
Who in the world asks their boss to find their missing family member?
As I was reflecting on my minor grievances.
"······Fine. I'm sure you have your reasons."
The villainess's reply came back to me.
Had she succumbed to the serpent's tongue after all?
Or maybe, remembering the content of our deal, she had reluctantly decided to follow my lead.
Either way, I was thankful.
"Hehe."
As a token of my appreciation, I patted her head.
Her neatly combed blue hair. Emilia frowned but silently accepted my touch.
The point was to make her look as disgusted as possible.
"Well then, shall we proceed down this way?"
"Do as you please."
"I-I'll come too···!"
We started walking.
Towards the seemingly endless corridor.
***
Meanwhile, at the deepest level of the basement.
A hidden room, reachable only by descending seven flights of stairs that intertwined like a maze.
A man sat there.
"You've finally arrived."
He was cloaked in a jet-black robe.
Behind him was a tree-like pattern, a symbol of the cult.
The man shifted his gaze discreetly.
Tap, tap-.
His tapping finger struck the desk.
Unlike the seemingly long-abandoned basement outside, this room was neatly organized.
The man's eyes were fixed on a screen.
"They're reacting more calmly than I expected."
The vast basement.
Hundreds of pre-installed artifacts continuously operated, displaying the situation.
The man smiled ominously.
"Vanity's girl, the year's top student, and even the summoner who handles a wyvern… It seems the girl did a good job. To think such high-quality sacrifices would fall into my hands."
It was madness, tinged with a sinister aura.
He stroked his grotesquely stretched lips and began to scribble something in the book he was holding.
Drip, drop. Crimson droplets fell from the ceiling.
The redder the paper became, the more turbid the man's smile grew.
"Let's observe for now."
This was a process to test how much potential these sacrifices possessed.
He thought of the 'creations' he had released into the basement.
Due to the lack of resources.
Most of them were low-level failures, but.
"Among them, I planted just one··· 'masterpiece'."
He stared at the screen located in the most secluded corner.
The center of the chaotically disorganized basement. Only an eerie shadow flickered there.
The man felt a shiver of thrill run down his spine.
The greatest work of art Belsen had ever produced.
How much blood and flesh of living creatures had he poured into creating it?
His lips mumbled absentmindedly.
"······Beautiful."
He hoped the sacrifices would enhance the perfection of his 'work'.
His lips twisted into a repugnant smile.
The image of the students, drenched in blood, already flickered before his eyes.
His pupils, hidden in the darkness, gleamed with depravity.
A tree, its roots spreading wickedly.
The man wiped his bloodshot eyes and clasped his hands together.
"All for the sake of the One who is the source of all things, our Lord···"
A moment of silent prayer, followed by the lowering of his eyelids.
Because of that, the man missed it.
[······.]
The narrowed eyes secretly watching the screen.
The golden snake flicked its tongue, eyeing its prey.
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