“Teleport…? So basically, you’re saying we teleported from Althea into the world of AM?” Tomori asked. Sawa considered this for a moment before nodding. “Yeah, that’s one way to look at it. I think…the reason we turned into our avatars here is that, just like how physical existence takes precedence in the real world, data seems to take precedence in AM.” “If data takes precedence…does that mean that while we’re here, we won’t bleed or feel pain when we get hurt?” asked Kenk, tentatively flexing his right hand as he spoke. Sawa nodded again, but then she added a warning. “That’s right, but don’t get reckless. Not to state the obvious, but you can still lose hit points even if it doesn’t hurt, and I have a sneaking suspicion that if we die, that’s it for us.” “What?! That’s not fair! I thought we were supposed to respawn at a save point!” “Like I said earlier, these bodies are avatars, but they’re also real. If our HP runs out…I think our real life expires with it.” “You think? Does that mean that Valac won’t tell you what happens if we die in here?” asked Yuuma. Sawa frowned. “Valac popped into my head out of nowhere when we logged out of AM the first time. She told me all sorts of things, like how she’s a demon who’s possessing me now, and about how the real Althea and the game had fused. But it all happened so quickly. I know she told me about diving back into AM, and how that would work, but we ran out of time, and I never got to hear the rest.” “Out of time…? Can’t you just call her up in your head and ask again?” said Yuuma. “Apparently there’s all kinds of conditions that need to be in place for us to talk directly. I can change places with her, like I did earlier, but I can’t talk while that’s happening.” “Hmmm… And you said there’s a time limit for how long you can change places, too, right? What was it, ten minutes per day?” “Yep.” As Sawa nodded, Yuuma examined her head once more to make sure the long horns weren’t back, and she let out another “Hmmm.” In they were going to successfully find Nagi, turn Sumika Watamaki back to normal, and escape Althea, Valac’s information would be indispensable. Since they had only ten minutes per day with the demon, Yuuma would have liked to have Sawa change places right at the end of the day so that they could use the full time limit to interrogate Valac, but Valac had already told them they needed to pay her “price” before she answered—i.e., complete their mission of finding Nagi. “Well, first things first. We need to figure out where we are right now…,” muttered Yuuma, glancing around once more. The four had materialized atop a knoll that was covered with some sort of thin, soft grass, resembling monkey grass. The plain stretched out in all directions. It was currently lit by the evening sun, and faint purple mountain ridges stood out in relief against the northern sky. Small copses and lakes were scattered across the landscape, but there was no sign of anything resembling human architecture. Yuuma cocked his head in confusion. “When we logged out, we were in the boss room at the bottom of the playtest dungeon, weren’t we? So what are we doing here…?” Kenk grinned with apparent self-satisfaction. “Fear not, for I have just the answers you are looking for!” He lifted his right hand into the air and performed the pinch-out gesture to open his menu. As he did so, Yuuma finally realized what he was doing. “Watch closely now. For you see, if you just open this bit here…,” Kenk explained theatrically. Yuuma nudged him gently from behind. “I get it, you’re opening your map. Just hurry up already.” “Fine, fine.” As Kenk tapped the Map tab, his menu screen changed to a semitransparent map view. Sawa and Tomori both exclaimed in surprise. Yuuma was just as surprised as the girls. This map was completely different from the one during the playtest; back then, it had been divided into grid-like zones, with a small town named Calcina tucked away in the southwest area, a grassy plain in the middle, a forest to the north, and beyond that, the final, weathered castle dungeon. That had been the full extent of AM’s world at the time. The map they were looking at, however, showed a rounded crescent island, shaped almost like a cashew. Most of the map was fogged out, except for an area in the bottom left—or the southwest—which featured a glowing dot to indicate their current position. The area immediately surrounding that dot was colored in. Wordlessly, Kenk placed his thumb and index finger on the dot and spread them open. The map expanded, tracing out the nearby topography in rays of light. “Let’s see… This is the hill we’re on now. That’s that forest here and the lake there. You can see those bits farther along there and… Is that a town?” What Kenk was pointing to on the map did, in fact, appear to be a town. A semicircular wall, facing the river, with a radial line moving away toward its center, almost like a road. The shape looked strangely familiar— “Wait, isn’t that Calcina?” said Tomori. “You’re right!” cried Sawa. The small bit they could see seemed to match the layout of the playtest’s starting town, Calcina. During the playtest, they hadn’t spent much time there, just enough to do some shopping, but Yuuma distinctly remembered the shape. It was like a map symbol for a lighthouse but cut in half. “Hold on,” said Kenk. “If that’s Calcina, then this area must be the plains where we spent time leveling up, and this would have to be the forest where the last dungeon was located.” He pointed to one location after another on the map. “So the whole playtest area is now just this little space down here? That means this map must be about five times the size of the playtest one… In terms of real distance, that would make it…um…” “About thirty kilometers from end to end… Around the same distance from Lake Yamanaka to Lake Motosu, I believe,” said Tomori. Tomori really did seem to know everything. Just what you’d expect from the student librarian. Yuuma, Sawa, and Kenk oohed and aahed, impressed. Nozomi City, in Yamanashi Prefecture, where the four of them lived, was located right next to the western shore of Lake Yamanaka, one of the Fuji Five Lakes. If you continued northbound along the public lakeside highway, you would arrive at Lake Kawaguchi, Lake Sai, Lake Shoji, and then finally, Lake Motosu. It was a familiar sightseeing route for the residents of Nozomi, but even without traffic, it took nearly an hour by car. A child would need more than half a day just to traverse the entire route on foot. Yuuma hated to admit it, but without some clue as to Nagi’s whereabouts, finding her on a map of that size would be like finding a needle in a haystack. It would take them days, at the least, but they had only an hour before they needed to log out and return to the shelter. “Sawa, did Valac give you any insight as to where Nagi might be?” asked Yuuma. Sawa shook her head softly. “Not a word. I don’t think she knows much more other than that Nagi is inside AM.” “Huh… It’s too bad she’s not in our party anymore. Then we’d be able to see where she is on the map right now…” Yuuma glanced up and to the left. Unfortunately, the only HP bars that were displayed there were his own, Sawa’s, Kenk’s, and Tomori’s. It made sense that their previous four-person party had been automatically disbanded after logging out, but that didn’t make them feel any better about losing contact with Nagi. Yuuma had been feeling anxious enough even with Sawa and Kenk by his side the whole time. He could hardly imagine what it must be like for Nagi, who had been left behind inside the game, all on her own and with no idea of what was going on. Apparently Kenk was thinking the same thing. “C’mon, Yu, it’s not like we’re gonna find her by just standing around,” he said, shaking Yuuma by the shoulder. Yuuma nodded. “You’re right. If Nagi didn’t log out at the end of the playtest, then she must’ve either been transported to a random location or got left behind in the boss room of that dungeon. If she was warped somewhere random, then the only way we’re going to find her is by searching the map section by section. But if she was left behind in the boss room, she’s either waiting somewhere near the dungeon or has already headed back to Calcina… If I was Nagi, which would I do…?” Yuuma tried to picture Nagi’s face. Most of the time his crybaby childhood friend was a big scaredy-cat, but she could be surprisingly levelheaded and brave when things really mattered. Sawa answered Yuuma’s question without hesitation. “She would probably leave the dungeon and head somewhere else, but I think she’d leave a message behind so that we would know which way she went. She’d only need a bit of wood and string to make a sign.” “Of course…” The idea would’ve never occurred to Yuuma, but it did sound like something Nagi would do. That settled it, then. “Okay, let’s head to the forest dungeon first.” “Let’s go!” “All right!” “Okay!” Kenk, Sawa, and Tomori shouted in reply. Their new starting point, the grassy hill, was located just a few kilometers east of the original playtest area. It was unclear why they had been plonked down in the middle of nowhere, but at least they hadn’t been sent clear to the other side of the map. From there, they sprinted northwest as hard as they could, avoiding the insect- and plant-type monsters they encountered along the way since they didn’t have time to waste on random battles. They arrived at the forest less than fifteen minutes later. While proceeding down the same road they had taken during the playtest, they soon discovered an unexpected distraction. An NPC merchant was sitting on a stump at the entrance to the forest and sucking contently on his pipe, his goods laid out neatly by his side. Yuuma eyed him carefully from a few dozen meters away. “Should we at least see what he has for sale…?” he wondered aloud. “Why? It’s not like we’ve got any money,” Kenk pointed out. Yuuma had forgotten. They’d farmed a significant chunk of change—aurum, as it was known in AM—during the playtest, but that all disappeared once they were forcibly logged out. There was no point in checking out the merchant’s wares if they were broke. “Why don’t we just sell something?” Sawa suggested out of the blue. “Sell what, exactly…?” Yuuma asked as he opened his inventory. He was surprised to see that his inventory was packed full with the medicine and food they had picked up while in the real world, as well as with materials that had dropped from the monsters they fought over there. “So equipment is off-limits, but we can still bring in items? That doesn’t make much sense…” “Maybe it’s to keep data from overlapping for items currently equipped. Either way, we might as well sell anything we don’t need,” said Sawa. “I guess so…,” Yuuma replied, although honestly, he wasn’t so sure. The two of them had played RPGs together for years—all sorts of RPGs. Sawa was the type to sell everything she got her hands on, whereas Yuuma tended to hoard his stuff. There was no telling when something might come in handy later, even the drop items from the Tabanus Hellfly Larva. “How about I just sell half?” said Yuuma. “Suit yourself,” Sawa replied, unsurprised. They approached the NPC merchant, an aging man who sported a gray beard. “Welcome,” he said, removing the pipe from his mouth. Then he suddenly furrowed his brows in realization and broke into a smile. “Or rather, welcome back, I should say.” “Wait…you know us?” Yuuma asked. “’Course I do. You were here just past noon and purchased quite a few of my wares.” “…Oh!” Yuuma glanced down at the leather armor and tunic he was currently wearing. Come to think of it, this wasn’t his starting equipment; he had purchased these items from an NPC merchant toward the end of the playtest. Yuuma’s party had been in such a hurry at the time that his attention had been entirely focused on his own inventory screen. This was around where that merchant had been. Still, the merchant must have had a pretty advanced NPC script if he was able to change his conversation patterns based on how much they had bought previously. Maybe he was a quest-giver. While Yuuma was mulling this over, Tomori took a few steps forward and began speaking to the man as if he were a real person. “Is there where you always set up shop, sir?” she asked. Yuuma expected him to give some kind of default reply like, “Well, I don’t know much about that…” It was the sort of thing NPCs usually said if they hadn’t been programmed with a specific response to a question. Surprisingly, however, the old man laughed pleasantly and shrugged. “Wouldn’t have many customers if I did, not unless I wanted to sell to stray cats. I usually travel back and forth between Calcina and Solieu. The trip takes a few days. But I heard there’d be adventurers coming round from another island today to challenge the dragon that lives at the heart of this forest. I’m glad I stopped by, since quite a few of ’em made purchases. Yourselves included, of course.” He gave an exaggerated wink, causing Tomori to giggle. Yuuma, who was standing behind Tomori, was a little—no, more than a little—surprised by this exchange. This NPC was interacting with Tomori so naturally that Yuuma could almost believe he was human. According to what the merchant said, he had set up shop here in anticipation of all the playtesters who would be passing through on their way to the dungeon. For a brief moment, Yuuma wondered if the merchant was actually another player just like them, or maybe even a member of the staff. If so, however, Yuuma doubted they would still be roleplaying at a time like this. Apparently, Actual Magic’s NPCs were just more sophisticated than NPCs in other MMORPGs… Yuuma stepped forward, next to Tomori. Something that the merchant said had caught his attention. “Solieu… Is that the name of a town?” he asked. “Sure is. Head five or so kilometers east from here and you’ll run into a river. Follow that about ten kilometers to the north and you should see it. It’s much bigger than Calcina, puts that town to shame. You oughta pay it a visit yourselves sometime.” The merchant tapped his pipe on the edge of the stump he was sitting on, knocking out the ashes. “Well then,” he said. “Care to buy anything?” “Y-yes, please,” Yuuma replied. “Although we were hoping we might sell some things first.” “My pleasure. What is it you’d like to sell?” Yuuma hurriedly opened his inventory. It suddenly occurred to him that making a transparent window appear in midair like this was kind of spooky, but the merchant didn’t seem surprised. Maybe it’s just considered another kind of magic here, thought Yuuma as he navigated to his Inventory tab and rearranged the rows of items from Most Recent to Type. Yuuma obviously wasn’t going to sell any of their food or medicine; those things were too precious. That left just the material drops from the monsters in Althea. He was about to remove the Tabanus Hellfly Larva fangs when his eyes were instead drawn to an entry several rows up. I wonder… Yuuma tapped the entry and then selected Materialize from the pop-up window that appeared. A narrow glass container, about fifteen centimeters tall, showed up above his window. The container was filled with small, white granules that glittered in the evening sun. The container’s cap had been plastic when Yuuma placed it in his inventory back in the real world, but now it was cork. Strange, thought Yuuma as he held it out for the merchant to inspect. “What’s this?” asked the merchant as he took the item from Yuuma’s hands. The merchant squinted at the container suspiciously before carefully unstoppering the cork. He tapped a few of the white granules out onto the palm of his left hand—and then licked them. His eyes, beneath his bushy eyebrows, suddenly grew wide. “Why…it’s salt! Pure white salt! Even the salt for sale in the markets of Solieu isn’t this refined! How many bottles do you have?” “Let’s see…” This was the table salt taken from the staff breakroom in Althea, a fairly commonplace item in the real world. Yuuma had a feeling, however, that pure refined salt would be pretty rare in a fantasy setting like AM—apparently, he had guessed correctly. Unless they happened to get stranded in blistering heat, however, as far as foodstuffs go, salt wasn’t particularly valuable to Yuuma and the others right now. “I’ve got four more…” Yuuma materialized another four bottles, leaving one behind in his inventory, just in case. The merchant tasted each of them and then nodded, satisfied. “How about five hundred aurums for all five bottles?” “Um…could you hold on a second?” Yuuma retreated a few steps and huddled with his sister. They began whispering back and forth quickly, in the way that only twins can. “Psst, Sawa, how much is an aurum worth?” “Back in Calcina, I think there was a stall selling bread rolls for one aurum apiece.” “So that means five hundred is a lot of money…right?” “I think so. Why not just sell it? We don’t really have time to haggle.” Yuuma turned back to the merchant. “We accept your price.” “Excellent. It’s a sale, then.” The merchant thrust his hand into the leather pouch at his waist and drew out five golden coins. When Yuuma took them, he saw they featured a relief etching of a castle, along with the number 100. Come to think of it, all the gold they had acquired during the playtest had gone directly into their inventories and had come straight out of their inventories when making purchases. This was Yuuma’s first time actually holding the raw currency in his hands. “Hey, let me see,” said Kenk, thrusting his face forward. Yuuma let him hold one of the coins before turning back toward the merchant. “We’d like to make some purchases as well.” “My pleasure, but I’m afraid I’m all out of weapons.” The merchant’s items were lined up to his right. Just as he said, all that was left now were preserved rations. Yuuma was perusing the items—dried fruits, meats, fish, and various items in bottles he couldn’t identify—when Tomori stepped in close and whispered in his ear. “Ashihara, since you were able to materialize salt picked up in the real world, do you think we’ll be able bring food from AM back into the real world as well?” “Ah…!” Yuuma had only been thinking about buying food to eat here, but logically speaking, it seemed pretty likely that they’d be able to carry food back with them to the real world as well. If so, that would make securing food much, much easier for them. Food in the real world was limited right now, and the only places they could get their hands on it were in Althea’s shops and food court. But over here they had plenty of options, and the amount was practically unlimited. “Sorry… How much would you charge for everything?” Yuuma asked, getting a little carried away. The merchant looked surprised but answered quickly. “Let’s see, if you’re willing to buy everything, I could cut you a deal and part with it for, say, two hundred aurums.” Yuuma had no way to tell if the man was being honest or if he was trying to hustle them, but at the end of the day, they were essentially getting all this food in exchange for just two shakers of table salt. If they could ever make their way up to the food court, there would be mountains of salt there waiting for them. It would be better to just pay the man’s price, for now. “All right, we’ll take it all.” Yuuma was still holding the hundred-aurum coins in his hand. He selected two and handed them back to the man, who took them with a thank-you before slipping them into his leather pouch with a practiced hand. Kenk was still turning the gold coin Yuuma had given him over in his hand, staring at it open-mouthed. Yuuma tugged him by the sleeve to get his attention and then had him open up his inventory. They began shoveling all the food items laid out on the merchant’s leather display mat into Kenk’s inventory. With Sawa and Tomori’s help, they were done in about half a minute. Now that the merchant was all sold out, he stood up with a refreshed look on his face. “Whelp, I’ll be heading back to Calcina, then. If we should ever run into each other someplace else, feel free to do business with me again.” “Yes, sir. Take care.” Yuuma and the others waved at the man before returning to the road. They hadn’t planned on making such a big detour, but it had paid off handsomely in the end. Not only had they gotten their hands on more food, but they had also acquired some valuable information. Namely, how to get to a town called Solieu, which was possibly the capital city of AM. It might even be a good idea for them to head toward Solieu before returning to Calcina. If Solieu was really the capital, there would be a lot more people there than there would be in Calcina. Maybe even someone who could give them some clue as to how to turn Sumika Watamaki human again, or how to escape from Althea. All of that depended on whether they were lucky enough to meet up with Nagi at the forest dungeon, however. It was still too early to get their hopes up. Yuuma began leading the others down the narrow road, running at about 60 percent speed while focusing on the task at hand. As they left the plains behind and entered the forest, their surroundings grew dark. Not dark enough that they couldn’t see, but still dark enough that Yuuma wished they had brought a light… Just then, Tomori spoke up from behind. “Ashihara, could you slow down a little bit?” Yuuma did as she asked. He heard her begin to chant a spell. “Lumen…Avis…Volate.” A milky white light sprung up behind Yuuma. It took on the shape of a small bird and flew past him, zigzagging back and forth as it fluttered out in front of the group. It was the light-element spell, Brightbird. The light it gave off was as bright as a lantern, but unlike a lantern, it left your hands free and could even respond to hidden monsters. The bird almost seemed to guide them as they raced through the forest, though in truth it was only trying to predict which direction they were already going. Unlike the grasslands, the path through the forest was hemmed in by ancient, mossy trees, with thorny vines growing in dense patches in between. There was no way to avoid any monsters they encountered along the path. They were forced into two battles with badger enemies known as Brutal Badgers and one with a frog enemy known as a Rock Toad, but they had already encountered both of these enemies during the playtest and were able to handle them without too much trouble. It was 6:30 PM by the time the party reached the castle ruins, just as the purple light peeking out from gaps in the forest canopy faded entirely. It was unlikely that the area had changed since the playtest, but the difference between day and night seemed to play tricks on their minds. It almost looked like a completely different area now. Yuuma slowed to a halt, paranoid that monsters could be hiding out in the shadows of the crumbling gates, or in the pools of darkness beneath the protruding battlements. The Brightbird, however, did not respond. Yuuma took a deep breath and stepped inside the ruins. The front courtyard, which was surrounded by walls on three sides, was even darker than its surroundings. The night fog that crept silently through the twisted hedgerows added further to the gloom. Yuuma skirted the hedgerows as the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Once he had reached the center of the courtyard, he turned his gaze upward. Beyond the dry and withered fountains, the castle manor awaited. The manor was around four stories high. The large entry doors had been left open. Small bonfires burned on either side of the entrance, flickering weakly. Now would be the perfect time for Nagi to spring out and rush toward them, tears of relief on her face—unfortunately, they weren’t that lucky. Yuuma scanned every nook and cranny of the expansive courtyard. There was no one waiting by the door, or anywhere else, as far as he could tell. “You think she left? Or maybe she’s still in the boss room…,” whispered Kenk, trying to keep his voice down. “First we should see if she left a message behind for us,” Yuuma said in an attempt to hide his own disappointment. “True. Should we split up and search?” “I don’t think so. Mobs could spawn in. We should stick together.” “Okay. Let’s start on the ground floor of the castle, then.” Yuuma made eye contact with Sawa and Tomori as well, nodding to each of them before heading into the building, side by side with Kenk. The moment they took a single step inside, however, the Brightbird, which had been hovering over their heads, shot up into the air. Immediately afterward— “GWARRGGHH!!” A booming roar, loud enough to dispel the mist, echoed from the sky. The four friends jerked their heads upward in surprise. A dark shadow perched atop the castle’s roof. Although humanoid in shape, it looked nearly three meters tall, with stubby legs, a long trunk, and unnaturally long, thick arms. “Oh crap! It’s not another Conehead, is it?!” shouted Kenk, drawing his sword from his hip. “The silhouette is different!” Sawa shouted. “Look out—here it comes!” A moment later, the shadow leaped from the roof and into the air. As its short, stubby legs made contact with the ground, spiderweb cracks spread out along the already cracked pavement stones beneath its feet. The ground shook as if there were an earthquake. Yuuma and the others stumbled as the shadow leaped high into the air again. Whatever it was, it was just as massive and misshapen as the Conehead Demolisher that had nearly killed all four of them back in Playroom 02 at Althea. “Aghh!” Kenk screamed in panic and tried to crouch down. The shadow lifted a massive greatax in its right hand and began to swing downward, aiming straight for Kenk. Gathering all his strength, Yuuma screamed at Kenk as loud as he could. “Kenk, stand up and fight!!” The Conehead Demolisher was an exception, a creature created from the fused bodies of twenty adults. These old castle ruins, however, were the game’s intro dungeon, meaning the creature before them was probably just a mini-boss. Yuuma had no idea why it hadn’t shown up during the playtest, but he was confident it wouldn’t have the same ridiculous level of ATK power as the Demolisher had possessed. That confidence was evident in Yuuma’s voice. Kenk’s voice cracked slightly as he shouted back even louder in reply. “Hyah… Hyahhhh!!” Kenk stood up tall again, lifting his sword high above his head with both hands. Ka-clang!! There was a sharp clash of metal as Kenk was forced backward, nearly landing on his behind. The greatax, however, was rebuffed, its nearly fifty-centimeter-long blade leaving a cascade of sparks behind in its wake. Yuuma dashed forward, propping Kenk up from behind before he could fall. A moment later, the Brightbird flew back down, finally illuminating the enemy. The monster was humanoid in shape, but it wasn’t human. Its head was lizard-like, its body covered in a rough, thick hide, and it was dressed in scale armor made of overlapping, tarnished steel plates. It held the single-bladed greatax in its right hand and a round shield in its left. Appearance-wise, it looked like a typical lizardman, just unusually tall and broad. “GWARGH…” The lizardman growled, its forked tongue twisting in the air. “What if Nagi exited the dungeon all alone? What if she didn’t notice there was a boss waiting…?” Sawa mumbled weakly as she stared up at the creature. “No…,” Yuuma whispered, trying to suppress his own fear. “If anyone would notice, it’d be Nagi. She must’ve slipped past without catching aggro. Either that or she’s still inside. Let’s hurry up and defeat this thing so that we can go find her.” “All right,” said Sawa. Tomori and Kenk nodded in unison. The lizardman took a step forward, as if sensing its opponents were ready to fight. A dark blue HP bar appeared above the creature’s head, along with its proper name, Varanian Axbearer. Yuuma wasn’t sure what a Varanian was, but this was hardly the time for vocabulary lessons. He drew his shortsword from his left hip and began rapidly issuing orders to his party. “Kenk, you draw aggro and focus on guarding! Shimizu, you buff and heal Kenk. Sawa, you attack with magic. If things get rough, retreat into the castle as soon as I tell you to!” “Got it!!” As the three shouted in unison, the lizardman—the so-called Varanian—lifted its ax once more. It turned toward its current target, Kenk. “Come on, lizard-breath!” Kenk shouted, psyching himself up as he raised his sword in both hands. There were many different types of weapons in Actual Magic, and each weapon type had its own special attacks, known as weapon arts or battle moves. These moves, which could be learned by increasing your weapon mastery skills, may not have been as flashy and impactful as magic, but they were still an invaluable skill, practically a lifeline, for frontline Warriors. Kenk stepped forward with his right foot and slid his left foot far back into a sideways stance, lifting his two-handed sword horizontally above his face. The wide, flat blade glowed with a faint red phosphorescence and began emitting a high-pitched buzz. Unlike magic, weapon arts didn’t require verbal components. In order to activate a weapon art, you had to use your entire body to create specific forms. To put it in different terms, weapon arts basically relied on gesture commands. But there was almost no room for error when creating a form. The position of your legs, the opening of your hips, the twist of your waist, even the position and angle of your sword—it all had to be perfect, down to the millimeter. Kenk was naturally athletic. He had employed the weapon art he was currently using only fifteen or sixteen times during the playtest, but he still managed to activate it on the first try. Yuuma was impressed. Just then, after a tantalizing delay, the Varanian finally swung its ax again. Kenk wasn’t tricked by the delay. He held his form and blocked the ax with the glowing red blade of his two-handed sword. There was another clash of metal, and sparks flew. The Varanian stumbled backward as its ax rebounded off the blade. This time, however, Kenk was barely even knocked back. He drew his left foot in closer and dropped his hips, holding his ground and sweeping his still-glowing sword into a vertical stance next. “Hyah!” With a spirited shout, Kenk chopped downward. The weapon art Kenk had used was called Guard Counter, the very first art learned by two-handed swordfighters. As the name suggested, the first half of the art gave a posture bonus when guarding. The second part, the counterattack, gave a bonus to ATK power. Because the form required the player to hold their sword above their head, the move was difficult to use against smaller monsters. That was why they hadn’t gotten much use out of it during the playtest. Now it was finally showing its worth. Kenk’s slashing chop hit the Varanian on its left leg, creating a deep cut and shaving off nearly a tenth of its HP. “GWARGHH!!” The giant lizardman screamed in a mixture of rage and pain as it stumbled backward even further. Sawa was quick to seize on the chance and fired off a spell. “Flamma…Nubes…Fusione!!” A sparkling red cloud of fire sprang forth from Sawa’s raised wand, undulating through the air toward the Varanian like a snake. It was the Fire Enhancement spell, which added the fire element to targeted equipment. It was usually cast on weapons, allowing them to do additional damage due to the high heat. For a moment, Yuuma thought Sawa had cast the wrong spell, but she seemed to know what she was doing. The cloud of fire targeted the creature’s armor, not its ax. The metal scales on the armor began to sizzle and glow. Although this gave the scale armor better fire resistance, it also caused the armor to heat up. Sawa must have decided that the Varanian’s thick hide would make it difficult to attack directly with her Flame Arrow spell, and she had instead chosen to attack indirectly through the damage caused by the heat of the armor. It seemed to be the right decision. The Varanian groaned painfully as its HP began to gradually decrease. The symbol for the Burned status ailment appeared beneath its HP bar. A moment later, Tomori began chanting her own spell. “Sacre…Circulus…Circum!!” A sparkling pearl-white band of light expanded from her outstretched crozier—her Priest’s staff—and encircled Kenk’s waist to create a ring of about fifty centimeters in diameter. Unlike Holy Healing, which provided instantaneous HP recovery, this spell, Healing Circle, provided continuous regeneration. It also had a longer range and healed more damage than the utility spell Healing Droplet. Naturally, Yuuma wasn’t just standing around while everyone else took their first actions. He was busy scrutinizing the Varanian Axbearer, trying to identify its weaknesses. The Varanian was completely covered in a dark blue hide, which was rough and horny like that of a Komodo dragon. Standard slashing attacks probably weren’t going to do much against it. Battle arts like the one that Kenk had used earlier were an exception, but those required MP and couldn’t be chained together, since each art had a cooldown of several seconds. What about real lizards? What was their weakness? Their snout…? Stomach…? Tail…? None of those seemed like great options. The Varanian’s snout was too high up to easily attack, its stomach was covered in scale mail, and it didn’t even have a tail to begin with. “GWRRR…” The Varanian growled bitterly as the red-hot armor continued to sear its skin. Both of its eyes flashed yellow. It thrust the shield in its left hand forward and stretched its right hand back, winding up with its ax. The ax began to glow yellow. “It’s using a weapon art!” Kenk shouted. Kenk held his two-handed sword out in front of him. Yuuma took a defensive posture as well, gripping his shortsword in his left hand. “GWARGHH!!” With an earthshaking roar, the Varanian swung its ax in a sideways sweep. The swipe left a trail of light behind in its wake, striking Kenk’s sword first but then carrying through to collide with Yuuma’s smaller weapon as well. Yuuma felt like his arms were about to be ripped clean off from the impact. He was unable to hold his ground and was knocked backward in dramatic fashion, crashing into Tomori, who stood a little ways behind him. Yuuma expected them both to hit the ground, but Tomori grunted and dug her heels in, just barely managing to keep them both on their feet. “S-sorry!” Yuuma shouted, glancing over his shoulder. “There’s another one coming!” he heard Sawa scream. “…?!” Yuuma spun back around in a panic, only to see that the Varanian had already spun around in a complete circle and was about to carry through with another sweeping pass. The glow hadn’t disappeared from its ax, and it looked like it was putting even more weight behind this next swing. It was Double Sweep—a weapon art for one-handed axes. Yuuma was still leaning against Tomori. If they took another hit in that position, they would both be sent flying. Yuuma lifted his shortsword into the air, hoping to at least fend off a direct blow. Just then— “Not on my watch!!” It was Kenk. He hadn’t been knocked back as far as Yuuma had been during the first blow, and he was already dashing forward. Kenk brandished his sword aloft, arcing backward with his body as the Varanian began to deliver its second attack. Kenk swung his sword downward with such force that he may as well have been using a weapon art, intercepting the blade of the ax as it swung in from the right. There was an ear-piercing metallic clash and a flash of light so bright, it seemed to light up the entire courtyard. In the chaos, Kenk was tossed straight through the air, colliding hard into a stone statue that sat in the middle of one of the dry fountains. With a thunk, his HP bar suddenly dropped by more than 20 percent. “Ah…!!” Yuuma wanted to run toward his friend, but he gritted his teeth and held his ground. Kenk had risked his life with that death-defying move, and Yuuma couldn’t let the opportunity he had created go to waste. “Shimizu, take care of Kenk!” Yuuma shouted before rushing forward. Kenk had broken the Varanian’s stance mid-art, causing it to stumble backward, significantly off balance. The Fire Enhancement spell on its scale armor had already worn off, meanwhile, possibly because the armor was so large. Together with the damage Kenk had done earlier, the monster’s HP had decreased by about 15 percent in total, which was less than Yuuma would have hoped for. Was the low damage due to the unconventional way in which Sawa had used her spell, or was the Varanian actually resistant to fire? The steel plates on its armor must have been sizzling hot. Even with its thick hide, it shouldn’t have been capable of enduring that much heat… Then Yuuma’s eyes suddenly went wide. There was no way to know for sure just how high the Varanian’s fire resistance might be, but if they were talking temperature, it probably hated the cold much more than it hated the heat. “Yu, I’m gonna recast my spell!” Sawa shouted from behind Yuuma, who promptly stopped her. “Wait! We should use cold instead of heat!” he shouted back without turning around. “That’s a great idea and all, but none of us know any ice magic—” Before Sawa could finish, Yuuma thrust his left hand out and began chanting the word of power for the dark element. “Tenebris!” An indigo ball of light appeared in his palm. “Capere Febris!” The light transformed into a semitransparent hand with seven long, spindly fingers. “Ignis!” With a wintry howl, almost a scream, the hand sped forward. The Varanian, which had just recovered its footing, thrust its round shield forward in an attempt to guard. Yuuma quickly twisted his outstretched hand, bending the spell’s trajectory into an arc. The spectral hand barely avoided the shield, striking the Varanian on its left leg instead. Yuuma immediately closed his hand. The magical hand mimicked Yuuma’s gesture, its seven fingers closing tightly around the monster’s leg. Nothing seemed to happen. No explosions. No cuts or lacerations. “GWRARGHGH!” The giant lizardman sneered. It took a step forward, then another, the ground shaking beneath its feet. Suddenly, it slumped toward the ground. Yuuma glanced at the creature’s HP bar. The status ailment Burned from earlier had been replaced by a snowflake symbol. It was the status ailment Cold, which caused creatures to move more slowly. The spell Yuuma had used, Chilling Hand, robbed targets of their warmth. Like Grasping Hand, it was a darkness spell specific to the Monster Tamer class. It didn’t do nearly as much cold damage as ice spells, so Yuuma hadn’t found many opportunities to use it during the playtest. Unlike an ice spell such as Icy Fog, which targeted a stationary area of effect, Chilling Hand continued to affect its target even after the target moved. If all you wanted to do was apply the Cold status ailment, Chilling Hand was much more effective. “GWRRR…” The Varanian tried to raise its ax again, but it was moving so sluggishly that it seemed like a completely different creature. This was their chance—but Yuuma couldn’t do anything else while Chilling Hand was active. “Sawa, aim for the head! Kenk, can you still fight?!” shouted Yuuma, keeping his casting hand outstretched. Sawa was the first to respond: “Got it!” She cast Flame Arrow, which struck the Varanian square in the forehead, dropping its HP by another 5 percent. Next Kenk, who had been healed by Tomori, dashed forward in between Sawa and Yuuma. “Hyah!” With a shout, he leaped high in the air and brought his two-handed sword down on the Varanian’s left shoulder. “GWARGH!” The monster screamed in agony, dropping the round shield in its left hand. Tomori quickly raced forward, grabbing the edge of the seventy-centimeter-wide shield and dragging it away from the creature’s reach. I know monsters can steal weapons that players drop during battle, but I never realized I could do the same back to them…, Yuuma thought, impressed. He continued to keep his left hand, which he was using to cast the spell, tightly closed. It continuously drained MP while it was running, but since Yuuma was level 11, he could probably keep it active for at least another minute. Kenk landed back on the ground. The Varanian, which was still suffering from the Cold ailment, tried to hit Kenk with its ax, but it was too slow. Kenk had plenty of time to ready his sword over his head. The blade glowed red. As the ax swung downward, Kenk parried it to the side and counterattacked with a powerful thrust to the monster’s solar plexus. Several of the steel plates popped free from the scale armor, and crimson damage effects appeared at the point of impact. Kenk leaped out of the way as Sawa immediately cast another Flame Arrow. This time, instead of its face, she struck it in the hole Kenk had just made in its armor, which allowed the spell to do even more damage. Meanwhile, Tomori repeatedly cast the Light Enhancement spell in order to increase Sawa and Kenk’s DEF. Over the next fifty seconds they continued to rapidly whittle away the Varanian Axbearer’s HP, until finally its health dropped into the red zone, below 20 percent. Since he was still maintaining Chilling Hand, Yuuma’s MP was also down to around 20 percent. At this pace, Yuuma calculated that they would just barely be able to defeat the Varanian before his Chilling Hand expired. However, Sawa and Kenk’s safety came first. “It might change its attack pattern now that it’s injured! Move back!” Yuuma shouted. “Roger that!” shouted Kenk. He and Sawa both created distance. The Varanian had dropped to one knee. There were damage effects spilling out from the wounds all over its body. It continued to glare at the four of them, however, still ready to fight. It bared its needle-sharp fangs and growled angrily. “GWRRR…” During the boss fight with the dragon during the playtest, the dragon had rampaged around the arena blindly throughout the entire fight. In comparison, this giant lizardman was behaving in a much more humanlike manner. If it had a reason for camping out at the ruins, and for attacking them, Yuuma would have liked to have known what it was, but he doubted it would tell them, even if he asked. All it seemed capable of was fighting until the bitter end. As if to take advantage of his moment of sympathy—Yuuma suddenly sensed something new approaching, something hostile. “Ashihara!!” Tomori screamed, followed by a rapid cascade of footfalls. Yuuma spun around to see two dark shadows charging in from the entrance to the courtyard. “GRRRR!” One of the shadows leaped forward with an angry growl, causing it to suddenly be illuminated by the Brightbird spell. It was a wolf, thin and with an abnormally pointed muzzle. Its blue-black fur shimmered metallically, and its bizarre fangs were long and sharp like those of a deep-sea fish. The wolf lunged for Yuuma’s neck, and he raised his left arm to block the creature’s jaws. Yuuma’s arm disappeared, fist-first, into the wolf’s mouth. The sharp rows of fangs easily pierced through his leather glove and sank deeply into the meat of his forearm. “Ngh…” While there wasn’t distinct pain like there was in the real world, an unpleasant tingling sensation radiated across his avatar’s nerves. His HP bar diminished visibly, and the Chilling Hand spell was disrupted. The other wolf bolted across the courtyard, staying low to the ground and springing at Tomori. She tried to bat it away with her crozier, but it dodged easily and sank its teeth into her left leg. These were Barbed Wolves, the strongest of the low-level mobs that inhabited the forest. They took their name from their inward-facing barbed fangs, which they used to capture prey in an inescapable bite that did continuous damage. “Yu!” yelled Kenk. “Stay back!” Yuuma shouted. “You and Sawa focus on defeating the lizardman!” “O-okay…!” “We got this!” Yuuma readjusted his grip on his shortsword. If he aimed for the Barbed Wolf’s head, there was no way he would miss, since its jaws were still clamped on to his left arm. Unfortunately, another feature of Barbed Wolves was that their heads boasted particularly high defense. The dense, short fur growing there was tough as wire and could rebuff most bladed weapons. Although not as tough as the fur on its head, the fur along the creature’s shoulders and back was also fairly strong. Yuuma decided to aim for the monster’s stomach instead, where its defense would be lowest. He pulled in hard with his left arm, and as soon as the wolf, which was attached to the arm, dug its paws into the ground to resist, he thrust with the sword in his right hand. The wolf, however, almost seemed to have a second set of eyes along its belly. It twisted out of the way, evading the sharp point. Yuuma began to panic, striking a second and a third time, but each time the wolf avoided the blow. Yuuma’s HP, meanwhile, continued to steadily fall. Don’t panic, he told himself as he glanced toward Tomori. The wolf was still biting her leg. She tried to beat it off with her crozier, but just as Yuuma suspected, hitting it on the head and back was almost completely ineffective. Where had these two Barbed Wolves come from in the first place? During the playtest, trash mobs from the forest weren’t able to enter into the castle area. The only thing the Varanian lizardman had in common with the wolves was that they both breathed air, so Yuuma doubted the lizardman was able to summon them. Did game logic no longer apply in Actual Magic? In any case, there had to be some way out of this mess. Yuuma peered closely at the Barbed Wolf’s fangs, which were wickedly sharp and currently buried in his arm. The slanted, barbed fangs were embedded deeply in his flesh. There was no way he would be able to free himself using brute strength. During the playtest, one of these wolves had bitten Kenk and hadn’t let go until Sawa had hit it with a Flame Arrow from close range. Its wiry fur was apparently ineffective against fire, but unfortunately, Yuuma didn’t possess flame magic… Yuuma suddenly had an idea. He held his breath. His HP was already down to 60 percent at this point. If this didn’t work, he would wind up taking even more damage per tick. In fact, he might even die. But under the circumstances, he had to take that chance. No, not just take it—seize it! “Ahhhh!!” With a scream that seemed to come from the very pit of his stomach, Yuuma tossed aside the sword in his right hand and grabbed the wolf around the neck for all he was worth. Holding the creature as still as he could, he thrust forward with his left arm, pushing his arm even deeper into the creature’s throat. He shoved hard enough for the barbs to pull free, and they weren’t enough to stop him. Since he was a sixth-grade boy, Yuuma’s left arm was relatively slender, and he was able to push it into the wolf’s mouth all the way up to the shoulder. The fangs, which had momentarily released him, clamped down once more on his shoulder. The wolf’s throat compressed tightly around his entire arm, and he could feel a horrific trembling, like wet meat, against his left hand. This was precisely what Yuuma was aiming for. His left hand was now buried deep inside the Barbed Wolf’s stomach. He spread his fingers open as wide as he could and shouted. “Flamma!!” Yuuma couldn’t see his own hand, but he felt the warmth gradually spread across his palm. “Premis…Conmoror!!” The wolf began thrashing around, suddenly half out of its mind. This was a natural reaction, seeing as a ball of fire had just appeared inside its stomach. Yuuma had just cast Still Fire, which was a fire-element utility spell. The spell created a large ball of fire in the caster’s hand, about the size of a tennis ball. The ball couldn’t be thrown and was usually used for practical rather than offensive purposes. For instance, to create light or to catch something else on fire. If you could bring it into direct contact with a creature’s internal organs, however, surely it would do as much damage, or possibly even more, than actual attack magic. Yuuma’s idea had apparently paid off. The wolf’s HP bar began decreasing rapidly. The wolf danced around in agony as it repeatedly tried to cough up Yuuma’s arm, but the fangs were buried so deeply that Yuuma’s arm barely moved. Yuuma’s MP was almost gone now, but the Barbed Wolf’s HP was decreasing at an even faster pace—and only five or six seconds later, it was depleted. The wolf stiffened unnaturally and then scattered into a cloud of crimson particle effects. “Hah…” Yuuma finally exhaled. He wasn’t done yet, though. He picked up the sword he had thrown aside earlier and hurriedly glanced around to see how things were going. The Varanian Axbearer had been down to about 20 percent health the last time that Yuuma had checked. Kenk and Sawa had now brought that number down to 10 percent, but the Varanian’s attack patterns had changed, just as Yuuma had suspected. Both Kenk and Sawa had taken significant chunks of damage. The other wolf, meanwhile, was still clamped on to Tomori’s left leg. She was already below half health, and her HP continued to drop. Yuuma raced toward Tomori first, praying that Sawa and Kenk would be able to hold on for just a little while longer. After a few steps, however, the strength drained from his legs, and he collapsed to one knee. He glanced at his HP bar, but there were no status ailment symbols present. Avatars didn’t get tired, so if this was overexertion, it was all in his head. He had to keep going. Yuuma gritted his teeth and willed himself to stand. As he began to get back to his feet, however, he heard a new set of footsteps coming from behind. Another Barbed Wolf? If so, he would just have to burn this one like he had the last. Yuuma turned around, bracing himself for another bite, but this time it was no four-legged beast that awaited him. Instead, Yuuma was confronted by a humanoid silhouette, standing on two legs and dashing forward like the wind. A demi-human monster? A hostile NPC? Yuuma realized it was neither. The name next to the HP bar above the newcomer’s head was displayed in the font reserved for players. Yuuma squinted, trying to make out the name, but whoever it was, they were moving too fast for Yuuma’s eyes to focus. Yuuma froze. The silhouette ran past him without even glancing his way, heading straight toward Tomori instead. A moment too late, Yuuma realized that the silhouette was wielding a slender longsword in its right hand. Yuuma ordered his numb legs to begin moving again. Just as Yuuma thought this intruder was going to attack Tomori, he realized it was another student—a member of their sixth-grade class. Yuuma had no idea what someone from their class was doing here, but surely one of their own class members wouldn’t turn on them. Would they? Fortunately, the new arrival did what Yuuma had hoped. Still running forward, the figure brandished the longsword above their head and jumped high into the air. The blade of the sword began releasing a blue glow. It was the one-handed sword weapon art Power Smash. It was a very straightforward art, causing the next attack after activation to do extra damage. Its simplicity was what made it so versatile. The wolf was still attached to Tomori’s leg. With a flawless downward swipe, the figure brought the blade down onto the neck of the creature. The blade sliced through the creature’s tough fur and sank over ten centimeters deep into the flesh beneath. “Hyah!!” This was the first sound the new arrival had made. Their voice was clear and strong, almost like the main character from an anime. The blade, which was already buried deep into the wolf’s neck, cleaved through the remaining flesh as if struck by an invisible hammer. The Barbed Wolf’s headless body trembled slightly, from legs to tail, before scattering into an explosion of crimson light. A moment later, the head, which was still attached to Tomori’s leg, dissipated as well. Yuuma had already realized who the new arrival was at this point. Just to be sure, he glanced up at their HP bar once more. The name read Kakeru Niki. He was one of their classmates, although Yuuma didn’t interact with him very much. Niki was dressed in light golden armor. He stood back up after recovering from his swing and turned to the left, where Kenk and Sawa were still fighting the Varanian Axbearer. Yuuma had lots of questions he wanted to ask, but first, Kenk and Sawa needed their help. After double-checking Tomori’s HP, which was at just a little below 40 percent, Yuuma began racing toward Sawa and Kenk. He stopped suddenly, however, as Niki lifted his left hand into the air. “Ventus!” Niki’s powerful casting voice carried through the air. A ball of yellow-green light appeared in his hand. “Colligo Pulvis!” The light traveled about a meter forward before turning into a swirling cyclone. It began sucking up leaves and pebbles from the ground, soon shifting from a yellow-green hue to dusty gray. “Ignis!!” The gray cyclone shot forward in an arc, enveloping the head of the Varanian just as the creature was about to swing downward with its ax. “GWARGGHH!!” The giant lizardman howled in anguish, shaking its head. The ball of wind had no real mass, however, and clung stubbornly to the creature as the flying dust and debris that it had gathered assaulted its eyes and nose. This was the Dust Eddy spell. Its attack power was almost negligible, and it could be used only if there was enough small debris and dust around, but when successful, it could block an enemy’s sense of sight and smell almost entirely, making it one of the best early-level debuff spells. Naturally it wasn’t available as utility magic but instead required a fairly high skill level in wind magic. Niki had also used the one-handed sword skill, Power Smash, earlier. That meant he had to have almost equal levels in the one-handed sword and wind magic skills. Yuuma was curious as to what his build looked like, but there were more important things for them to worry about right now. Sawa and Kenk turned around in surprise once the Dust Eddy appeared. Apparently, they hadn’t noticed yet that Niki had joined the fight. Yuuma gave them the thumbs-up sign to let them know everything was all right. “Don’t hold back!!” he shouted. Kenk and Sawa both nodded; Kenk raised his two-handed sword, and Sawa lifted her wand. A strong, downward slash and a cast of Fire Spike—the more powerful version of Flame Arrow—shaved off the remaining 10 percent of the Varanian’s hit points. The giant creature slumped to the ground and began to teeter backward, before suddenly freezing mid-fall. It clenched up momentarily before swelling up from within and exploding in a massive burst of particles. The fanfare that was reserved for boss-level monsters played, and the battle results window appeared. Yuuma had increased another level, bringing him to 12—which was apparently the point when a character was no longer considered a beginner. Yuuma didn’t even glance at the window; instead, he approached Niki. Ever since entering the upper grades at school, Yuuma hadn’t spent much time face-to-face with Niki. Staring at him up close now, Yuuma was immediately struck by how stereotypically attractive he was. It was almost intimidating. Niki wore his long hair in an asymmetrical style, swept back on the right and hanging over his face on the left. His large eyes somehow managed to look both stern and inviting, while his mouth and nose gave off a youthful, fresh impression. If you looked up the word handsome in the dictionary, there would probably be a picture of Niki’s face. Niki stared at Yuuma with light brown eyes, making direct eye contact. He wore a comfortable, friendly smile on his face. He acknowledged Tomori, Sawa, and Kenk as they approached, and then he turned back toward Yuuma. “I’m glad to see everyone’s all right,” said Niki. So you’re the main character…! Yuuma almost joked, but he just bowed perfunctorily instead. “Thank you. If you hadn’t come to our rescue, we would have been in deep trouble.” “I don’t know, I think you probably could have defeated those monsters without my help. I was so happy to finally run into someone from our class that I couldn’t stop myself from joining the fight.” Niki scratched his head in embarrassment as he spoke. Come to think of it, Niki was one of the students who hadn’t made it downstairs to Sugamo’s shelter on Althea’s first floor. He was among the fifteen who had supposedly headed upstairs when everyone was fleeing from Playroom 01 on the second floor. There were so many questions swirling through Yuuma’s head that he wasn’t sure which to ask first. Sawa stepped forward in Yuuma’s place, speaking calmly to Niki. “Niki, you’re up to date on what’s been happening, aren’t you?” His smile vanished. He nodded, his expression grave. “Yeah… I mean, I know that we’re trapped inside Althea and that there are monsters roaming the place, but that’s more or less it…” “What about the students who went upstairs? Is everyone safe?” “For now, at least.” Niki nodded and took another look around. “If we’re going to talk, maybe we should move somewhere safer first. I doubt another mini-boss will show up, but more of those wolves might wander in.” He had a point. But Yuuma and the others still had something they needed to do before they could leave this place. “Um, Niki… We came here looking for Nagi…for Minagi Sano. We didn’t see her anywhere in the courtyard, but she might be hiding out inside the castle or down in the dungeon.” Sawa interrupted again. “I don’t think she’s anywhere in the castle. The walls aboveground are all broken and crumbling. There’s no way she wouldn’t have heard us fighting.” “No, I guess not,” said Yuuma. “Just the dungeon, then. Before we go anywhere, we need to search the dungeon, from the first layer all the way down to the fourth.” “I see…” Niki glanced down for a second or two before looking back up. “Right. I’ll help you guys, then.” “F-for real?” “Of course. Remember our school motto: ‘Dedication and Devotion.’” “……Our motto?” “There’s a big framed banner with those words written on it hanging up in the student council room. It was apparently written by the very first student council president. You should come see it sometime. Granted, the calligraphy’s so fancy that you can’t actually read it.” Niki smiled again, this time mischievously. Yuuma couldn’t help but grin, too. Inside, however, he was wondering how he was supposed to compete when there were guys like Niki out in the world. Niki really had it all. He was astute, decisive, and even had the courage to smile at a time like this. And the cherry on top: He was a pro Actual Magic player. No wonder he was student council vice president. Unlike Teruki Sugamo. For all of Sugamo’s bluster back at the shelter, he was only president of their class, not the student body. Niki came out on top, both in terms of position and in terms of character. No wonder he was considered one of the two most popular students in their class. A few hours earlier, Yuuma had told himself that Niki and the others had probably already figured out how to upgrade their character class—i.e., how to activate their Actual Magic abilities. He could have scarcely guessed that Niki had figured out not only how to upgrade, but also that the Caliculus capsules could be used to return to AM. Yuuma wasn’t sure if he actually knew more about games than anyone else in class…but he did consider himself the most hardcore gamer at school, so it was a blow to his ego to be upstaged so easily. He was still genuinely happy for Niki’s assistance, however. Finding Nagi took first priority. “Thanks. We could use the help.” Yuuma bowed again. Kenk, Sawa, and Tomori said thank you as well. Niki frowned slightly and shook his head. “Don’t mention it.” Their new party, which was now five members in size, passed through the front courtyard, where the remnants of their recent battle could still be seen, and into the first floor of the dilapidated castle. Tomori’s Brightbird spell, which remained in effect so long as her MP didn’t bottom out, fluttered roughly two meters in front of them. Its white light stretched to the center of the spacious room; the entrance to the stairway that led down to the dragon’s dungeon came into view. Unfortunately, that entrance was now hidden beneath piles of stone and rubble that seemed to have fallen from the ceiling. The way into the dungeon was buried without a trace.
Chapter 22
54 min read