…24 hours have passed.
"It seems to be over."
Room 106 of Elise.
We had been dealing with the crimson figures for almost 4 hours. It was much easier than before, thanks to Soliette's joining.
Grrr-
Suddenly, the sound of a growling stomach echoed. I looked at Soliette. She bowed her head with a slightly reddened face. Elise next to her giggled.
"Soliette. Are you hungry?"
"Yes. It seems I've moved my body too much..."
Grrr-
A similar sound echoed again, but this time it wasn't Soliette.
It was Elise. I asked her.
"Are you hungry?"
"..."
Elise clutched her stomach and quickly turned around.
Grrr-
But my stomach was the same.
"You thought I wasn't?"
Elise grumbled.
"...Ahem. Let's eat first. How many hours have we been going?"
I asked as I took out food from the cart.
"Exactly 24 hours."
We've been fighting almost all day.
I lifted a large frying pan and placed it on the burner. Snap- I sparked a flame and put the meat on it.
"Wow... that looks delicious..."
Terence, admiring the sizzling, cooking meat.
Elise glanced at him with a somewhat dissatisfied face.
"Don't you have anything on your side?"
She almost despises freeloaders.
"Oh. Right. Just a moment."
Terence created a portal of magic in the air. He reached into it and pulled something out. It was a 1L bottle of water. Elise's eyebrows twitched.
Terence shyly spoke as he put down the water.
"Now I can put things in or take them out of the 'home' without summoning the 'home' itself."
"Oh~ You've grown too?"
"Yes. It's still incomplete though."
"It's useful."
Elise also complimented.
"Thank you."
Terence smiled brightly, but his expression quickly darkened again.
"But how many hours do we have to hold out?"
"I don't know."
I divided the meats and put them on plates. I don't know how many hours we have to hold out.
But if it continues like this, I won't be able to hold out until the end. My stamina is too disadvantageous for this kind of long-term battle. I need to find a way before I become a burden.
That's when it happened.
──Bang bang bang bang bang!
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.
Another enemy?
I took a defensive stance, but.
─Open the door!
This time it was a human voice.
─If you don't open it, we'll break it!
"Hey, hey. Wait a minute."
I quickly went and opened the door. It shouldn't be broken.
Sure enough, there were not monsters outside, but three seniors. They deliberately made their faces look scary.
"What are you eating? Hand it over-"
"Who are these guys?"
Elise peeked out from beside my shoulder. As soon as they saw Elise, they hesitated and backed off.
"Oh, ah, that... sorry."
They bowed their heads and tried to run away quickly, but Elise caught them with telekinesis.
"...You guys seem to be from the 13th floor. Are you looting?"
"Ah... Ha, haha. The smell was coming up... My Five Senses are sensitive. I didn't know it was Elise's room. We don't have anything to eat either..."
The seniors scratched their backs and bowed, trying to look pitiful.
Elise frowned.
"Get lost."
"So, sorry! We'll go!"
The seniors quickly ran down the hallway.
"Hey!"
I called out to them. I threw four chocolate bars and half a kilo of meat at the halted seniors.
"Take it. Don't try to loot next time."
"Thank you! Sorry! We won't loot next time! We were just too hungry!"
"I get it, now go."
They quickly gathered up the food and ran up the stairs, and I closed the door.
Elise stood there with a dissatisfied look on her face.
"You're too soft-hearted, aren't you?"
"What does it matter? We have enough for ourselves to last a month."
"That's not the point. If they come begging again-"
Just as she was about to continue her nagging.
Roarrrrrrr!
The crying sound became clearer.
Again, the wave had started.
* * *
…48 hours had passed.
During that time, a total of eight hordes had attacked. By the time the seventh one ended, I had already retired.
By the way, all the fruits were also consumed. I even took back the one I had given to Elise. She looked disappointed, but there was nothing I could do.
"Why are they making us do this?"
I mumbled while lying on the floor.
I was seriously dumbfounded. Efficiency is one thing, but there's no way to withstand this kind of onslaught…
If this is why they say the college board is a college board, then I admit it.
It's tough.
"It seems to be getting harder."
Elise and Soliette also looked unwell, though not as much as me.
"Hang in there. It seems like it's almost over."
Elise seemed to harbor such hope, but…
"Hahaha! There are still many of you who have survived!"
The speaker in the ceiling rang out again. It was that damned stone statue.
"But it's still far away! The remaining time is 120 hours!"
"One hundred and twenty…"
Elise was speechless, and I suddenly had a headache.
"Where the hell are these hordes coming from?"
Elise grumbled irritably.
"Exactly."
I agreed listlessly, then suddenly.
"…That's a good point."
Where the hell are they coming from?
Maybe there's a 'total amount' set.
If that's the case…
I quickly got up.
"Shion?"
"I'm going to scout a bit."
I have to find something out. Anyway, I can't hold out for 120 hours. I know my body's limits best.
Soliette the replied.
"Then I'll go with-"
"We'll stand out if there are two of us."
Instead, I pointed to the walkie-talkie. It was something Terence had brought from his 'home'.
"Let's communicate with this. Does it work?"
─Let's communicate with this. Does it work?
Soliette held the walkie-talkie.
"Yes, it works. But going together-"
─Yes, it works. But going together-
Elise grabbed the flustered Soliette.
"What will we do if you go?"
"…Ah."
"Right. Soliette, you stay here. We'll keep in touch with the walkie-talkie. I'll give up if it gets dangerous anyway."
Soliette wore a slightly sad expression at me saying 'give up'.
I shrugged my shoulders.
"You know it too. I'm already spent. I can't last 12 hours, let alone 120."
"..."
Elise clicked her tongue, and Soliette let out a small sigh.
My entire body is currently under extreme stress. I need at least half a day's sleep to recover.
But it's unreasonable to ask them to watch over me until I wake up. Even if they offer to endure it, I would decline from my end.
"Let's meet a bit later."
I said, as if sighing.
"Or, after the second quarter ends. I'll send anything I find out via radio."
"...Yes. We'll wait."
"Take care."
"Shi, Shion! We'll wait!"
These were the respective farewells of Soliette, Elise, and Terence.
I chuckled and opened the door.
I stepped beyond it.
Creak...
I carefully closed the door.
The hallway was quiet, but just in case, I activated the 「Shadow Spot」 formula. A faint shadow clung to my entire body.
The dormitory was a mess. It was like hell. Dried bloodstains were everywhere, and the whole place was filled with the claw marks of beasts.
"The first floor is..."
Annihilated.
There's not a single sign of life.
I looked at a map of the dormitory on the side of the hallway.
[Map]
There's a single 'dormitory' building where we're staying, a 'park' in front of it, and behind it are the disaster prevention room, broadcasting room, electrical room, and other 'facility management rooms'.
"...Broadcasting room?"
I squinted at the broadcasting room among them.
Broadcasting room.
No matter how I think about it, this test is impossible to clear alone, or with two, or three, or even four people.
Also, the voice of the statue that descended from the ceiling.
I looked up.
There was a speaker.
A speaker from the broadcasting room.
At the same time, a thought suddenly popped into my head.
"What if..."
This test wasn't an individual test, but a cooperative test?
If all the seniors weren't 'competing', but 'collaborating'?
"..."
I stepped outside the front door of the dormitory on the first floor. The sky was dark. The entire dormitory grounds were wrapped in a barrier.
Just then, a summoning formula flickered in the empty air. I quietly hid and watched.
Zzzzzzzzzt───!
Sparks flew in the space. The formula became a 'passage'. Countless monsters rushed in, howling like mad. They swarmed into the windows of the dormitory.
Watching this spectacle, I was certain.
...The total number of monsters that all seniors have to face is ultimately fixed.
If the person next to me dies, I have to deal with it, and if I die, the person next to me has to.
Therefore, as many seniors as possible must cooperate to survive this test.
So──
I quietly walked to the opposite side of the dormitory.
─Grrrrrrrr!
But these creatures have sharp senses.
─Graaaaaaaa!
"Damn it."
I was quickly discovered, and I switched to sprinting at full speed.
After about 20 minutes of running, I arrived at the facility management office, a building separate from the dormitory.
As I opened the door and entered-
─Kyaaaaaak!
"Ah!"
There were already several monsters inside. I killed them all.
Then I went straight up to the broadcasting room.
──Oh ho! It's you!
Sure enough, there was a statue in the broadcasting room. It raised its eyebrows in front of the microphone.
──What's going on here?
"What do you mean, 'what's going on'? You know everything. I have something to do, so move."
I pushed the statue aside and took its place.
* * *
"Gerkhen! The wave has started again!"
At that call, Gerkhen, who was on the roof, opened his eyes.
As a resident of the top floor, he had formed a 'team'. It was semi-forced. The test was impossible to clear alone.
"Wow… how are we supposed to do this?"
One of the team members muttered blankly.
The monsters descended from the sky like crazy. The creatures themselves aren't difficult, but there are so many of them that they're now on the verge of exhaustion.
"There's no answer."
James and Brown, the two top-tier members, sighed first.
"One step at a time."
That's all Gerkhen said. James drew his sword.
"It's impossible to take it one step at a time. We still have 120 hours left. And, it seems like the number of monsters is increasing."
The top-tier team of six, including Gerkhen.
Just as they were muttering in fatigue…
──Ah ah.
A strange voice echoed from the speaker on the roof.
Everyone turned to look at it.
"It's not the statue… is it?"
──Ah ah.
Gerkhen looked at the speaker carefully.
──Can you hear me?
It's certain.
It's Shion Ascal's voice.
"…I can hear you."
Gerkhen responded without thinking.
...
"Oh! Chocolate bar, my chocolate bar."
On the 27th floor, Layla found a chocolate bar while rummaging through someone else's room.
"Where!"
At that moment, Kain and Asher turned to look at her. Layla quickly hid the chocolate bar in her arms.
"I saw wrong!"
"You're lying. I saw it just now."
"Let's split it."
Kain and Asher looked at her suspiciously.
"…Split it?"
"Yeah. You eat half. You found it."
They cleverly persuaded her, but Layla, after some thought, pointed to the end of the hallway.
"Oh! Hey!! It's coming!!!"
"What, already?!"
"Where!"
Kain and Asher drew their swords. They also raised their Magic Body.
Nom nom nom nom nom nom nom.
Layla quickly ate it while they were distracted. Kain turned around abruptly.
"There's nothing."
"…Ah. Sorry. I must have been mistaken. The chocolate bar was a mistake too."
"You've got chocolate all over your mouth."
"…Sorry."
"Ugh. I didn't want to eat that nasty thing."
That's when it happened.
──Ah ah.
"Kyaaaaaak!!!"
Layla screamed. Kain and Asher also jumped.
"Ah shit!"
"Ah, I was more surprised because of you!"
──Ah ah. Can you hear me?
The voice coming from the speaker.
The voice was familiar.
"Wait, isn't this Shion?"
"…What?"
Kain and Asher furrowed their brows.
──Can you hear me?
Kyaaaaa──!
The real cries of monsters seeped into the corridor.
──I am about to make the only proposal that can help you survive this test.
The three of them prepared for battle while listening closely.
──The number of enemies rushing in with each wave is steadily increasing…..
...
Room 106 on the first floor.
Elise, Soliette, and Terence were engrossed in battle. Countless monsters flowed in through the shattered windows and doors.
Soliette burned them with her swordsmanship, Elise crushed them with telekinesis, and Terence also diligently helped in any way he could.
──I am about to make the only proposal that can help you survive this test.
They heard Shion's voice coming from the speaker.
──The number of enemies rushing in with each wave is steadily increasing.
"So what?!"
Elise asked while beating back the monsters.
──Therefore, as the number of seniors decreases, the Magic Space becomes increasingly disadvantageous.
She nodded her head.
─It means you can't 'compete' to last 120 hours.
That's true.
If the total amount of enemies is fixed, then if half of the remaining seniors give up, the other half has to handle twice as much.
However, because all the seniors are aware of the fact that they are each other's competitors.
While 'team play' might be possible, 'total cooperation' was not in Elise's mind. It was as if such a thought process was somewhat excluded from the start.
──Therefore, it is a winning strategy to form a front line through complete cooperation rather than being defeated separately as incomplete teams.
Elise looked back at Terence.
"Terence. Can you put the cart in the 'home' too?"
She blurted out in informal speech due to the urgent situation.
──I recommend the park in front of the dormitory as the location. Form a front line and barricade in the open field.
"Yes, yes, I can!"
Terence immediately prepared.
──Well.... Whether you listen to my words or not is up to you.
Shion inside the speaker let out a small sigh. Suddenly, Elise's hand stopped trembling. She looked up at the speaker.
──I wish you luck.
I wish you luck.
For them in room 106, it was somehow an ominous phrase.