307 – Academy Team Battle – 4

A hair-trigger situation. Tensions strained taut, and cold sweat dripped down.

“A secret, huh… I’ll listen, and if it’s worth it, I’ll let you live.”

Snow White spoke with a serene composure. It was the same air as a cat quietly cornering a mouse. Even though there were clearly fewer on Snow White’s side, it was Gordius’s commando unit that felt the pressure.

Gordius threw a subtle jab into the fray.

“That’s not a negotiation.”

“Yes, there’s no reason to negotiate. Do you think I can’t discover the secret you found?”

“It will be difficult. It’s a gimmick that you can’t grasp without experiencing it firsthand. And once you figure it out, it’ll be too late.”

“Races are relative, and a rabbit is faster than a tortoise even if it naps. If we evict the mansion’s power, we won’t even need the secret.”

*So, reveal all your secrets and entrust your fate to my mercy. Do you think you have any other options?*

Snow White made her position clear with her gaze and demeanor.

It was Gordius who was desperate. For a negotiation table to form, a clear benefit would need to be presented, and that return value would have to appear more enticing than eliminating a rival.

“The mansion is already occupied by the White Lotus Princess’s forces. There is a way to feed them to the『Great Labyrinth』. What could be better than resolving things at once without fighting?”

“The White Lotus Princess’s people are indeed troublesome.”

Snow White’s fable 『The Buddhist Ogre and the Tortoise』’s slowing effect is more effective the weaker someone is, so if she had to choose between fighting 30 ragtag members and 10 elites, she would opt for the former.

Not that she would lose against the White Lotus Princess’s side, but if a weak tortoise would willingly eliminate a strong tortoise…

“You’re premise is wrong, Snow White.”

“Selvier?”

Then, Selvier cut in. She ignited a flame at her fingertips and aimed it at Gordius.

“The most dangerous one is Gordius, it’s him.”

She knew about the『Session』. Even if not the exact details, she knew that Gordius had endured a trial akin to saving an entire world and returned.

Statistically, most people who underwent a Session awakened their fable. So the man proposing a negotiation must also have a fable or be close to obtaining one.

Therefore, negotiations were out of the question. Keeping a difficult opponent alive just to handle an easier one was not to one’s benefit, was it?

Snow White tilted her head for a moment, then gave a small nod.

“Understood. I’ll take care of it.”

The negotiation was broken.

“……Everyone scatter! I’ll buy time, you guys proceed with the operation! *’Gordian’s Maze’*!”

Kugugugugu––!

Gordius instantly raised earthen walls three meters high all over the area. It looked as though a maze was erupting in an instant.

The moment the wall blocked Snow White’s view, the ‘slow’ ability would release. Her speed would return.

The Special Forces students were flustered and didn’t know what to do. But Gordius didn’t waver.

“G, Gordius. Even you will get eliminated! The opponent is Snow White!”

“I’m prepared. I might be eliminated here, but not my team……right? I saw Snow White and Selvier smashing the cabinet. In my opinion, that’s related to the ‘protectable individuals.’ Scatter and eliminate them.”

“……Damn it, understood. Don’t die!”

At the leader’s calm order despite the sudden situation, the Special Forces members didn’t look back, scattering in all directions like a well-oiled machine. They had only the mission of smashing the cabinet left in their minds.

Gordius, left alone, thought calmly. His elimination was almost certain. Then, for the sake of the remaining team members, *how* should he lose?

He recalled. Combined all the gathered information to make a judgment. And he realized.

“……Tiara.”

A tiara he hadn’t seen before was on Snow White’s head. He could dismiss it as mere decoration, but the fact that it was being used specifically today, after not being used before, was suspicious.

Perhaps that was the *’Crown’*.

From beyond the wall, a quiet incantation echoed.

*”Winter Blizzard.”*

Whhiiiiiii––!!

The temperature plummets, and the breath I exhale turns to white mist. Snowflakes begin to flutter, stealing the heat from my body.

Is she trying to freeze me to death?

No matter. Offense is the first step. Being too focused on defense would only give her an opening.

“『Earth Spike』!”

Thud, CRACK-!

Gordius stomps his foot, and thick, jagged rocks erupt from the ground far away. But judging by the lack of any impact, he missed.

With the wall blocking any sight of Baeksul, the only way to hit her in this situation is through prediction and area attacks.

But I won’t demolish the wall. It’s blocking both of our visions equally. She won’t be able to hit me that easily either…

“You can’t escape. 『Ice Axe』.”

Crack- WoooSH-!

Ice congeals in the air, taking the shape of a well-honed axe, and flies in an arc, aiming directly for Gordius. He barely manages to dive to the side.

Shatter-! Shshshshsh!

The ice axe crashes into the ground, exploding and sending shards scattering everywhere. Razor-sharp fragments graze my clothes, tearing holes as they pass.

“You couldn’t have seen me, how…?”

“I know where you are. Because my eyes are good.”

Such a precise hit. Luck, or…?

Gordius’ head snaps up. The 『Winter Blizzard』 Baeksul cast earlier is still sending snowflakes swirling. But it’s not raining, so it’s odd that it’s snowing.

It hits him. This isn’t ordinary snow. It’s snow formed with magic, and the moment it makes contact with Gordius, it must reveal his location to Baeksul.

“Then how about this? 『Small Golem Forging』.”

Gordius creates a golem with a similar height to himself and unleashes it. It drains magic, but it’s better than being struck by Baeksul’s magic.

It worked. Several of White Snow’s ice axes came flying, but they all shattered against the golem. At this rate, I could fight for half a day.

But as if to shatter that optimism, White Snow declared,

“It’s fine if you give up now.”

“⋯⋯I still have plenty of mana left, though?”

“A traditional mage’s role is saturation. That’s why I didn’t bother demolishing the wall. I’m going to blow you away with it all at once.”

“⋯⋯⋯⋯?”

Crack. Crackling.

At the ominous sound, Gordius turned his head. The sound wasn’t coming from the front where White Snow was, but from his side or behind. It was right where the ice axes had landed.

Somehow, the broken ice axes were sprouting ice buds on the ground, like plants. Looking at the sharply honed petals, it was clear they were about to explode like claymores.

If she’s so confident as to declare victory, it means she’s sure she can break through even Gordius’ strongest defense magic.

Is this the end?

As regret and disappointment flashed through Gordius’ mind, facing the threat of elimination, a phrase of White Snow’s echoed through his head.

‘A traditional mage’s role is sa-‘

Role, role?

The role of the moving “Great Labyrinth” is 1) to gather participants to the safe haven of the mansion, and 2) to trigger conflict within so they struggle to survive.

Then, in order to achieve its purpose, at what timing should the Great Labyrinth move, and when should it eliminate participants from the mansion? Does it visit periodically at a set time every day?

No. If the Great Labyrinth visits too frequently or too infrequently, problems arise. There must be a condition.

For instance… the ownership of the “Crown” changes.

Inspiration struck.

“⋯⋯⋯⋯!!”

Gordius instinctively surged forward. He shattered the summoned earth wall, driven to get closer to Baekseol.

“『Ice Flower Bloom』.”

*Fwububububung──!!*

*Swish. Shshshshshak──!*

An all-encompassing explosion of ice storms and flower petals. The planted flowers burst, unleashing terrifying destructive power across the area, and Gordius’s safety gauge rapidly turned crimson.

Just before he was eliminated and forcibly summoned out, Baekseol came into view. Gordius reached out his hand.

Baekseol looked at him as he thrashed his last and murmured,

“Did you forget my ability?”

*Whooong──*

Slowed. His entire body’s movements grew sluggish, his running speed reduced to a walk. However, Gordius smiled.

“It’s not *me* that’s moving⋯⋯!”

“⋯⋯?!”

*Thud.*

Veering around and infiltrating Baekseol’s rear, a small pebble golem, equipped only with a jump function to avoid detection, sprang up.

*Thuk.* The fist-sized stone golem knocked Baekseol’s 『Crown』 off. The crown rolled and stopped at his feet.

He picked up the 『Crown』 and placed it on his head. Then, he stretched out, spread-eagled. Checkmate. Gordius looked up at the sky with a relieved expression.

*Beep──.*

A buzzer sounded. Death signal, elimination confirmed.

Baekseol crouched down beside Gordius’s head, retrieved the 『Crown』, and *thump* placed it back on her own head. She asked, as if she couldn’t comprehend,

“⋯⋯Did you just want to wear it before you were eliminated?”

“Yeah. It was quite pretty.”

“It doesn’t suit a man.”

“Well, at least for that moment… it felt like the perfect fit right on top of my head.”

*Swish* Gordius dissolved into particles and vanished. The effect was designed to look like it was dissipating, but he’d definitely made it to the safe zone.

Selvier crossed his arms and stared at the spot where Gordius had been.

“…That was kinda unsettling.”

“Don’t mind it. Turtles often act weird like that. And your magic hasn’t recovered yet.”

“It’s because you keep using it! I offered to help again and you refused!”

“It just keeps happening. And besides, if I accept help from Selvier, my dignity will suffer.”

“Hey!!”

Was there some meaning behind his actions? Leaving something suspicious hanging in the air, the two mages teleported to 『Mansion of Glory』.

–

I chewed on popcorn, gazing up at the monitor, and muttered in admiration.

“That little rascal…”

The Gordius vs. Snow White match had just ended. With my right hand, I was editing the video in real-time, while my left was scribbling down feedback points.

Gordius is pretty good.

It seems he figured out the activation conditions for 『The Great Labyrinth』 at the last moment.

Goldie’s hunch was right. 『The Great Labyrinth』 moves when ownership of the 『Crown』 is transferred to someone else. It doesn’t count when it’s first obtained from a state of non-ownership.

That’s why it didn’t move when Bennet got it first, and why 『The Great Labyrinth』 activated for the first time when Snow White snatched Bennet’s 『Crown』.

Basically, this logic was put in place to mess with the meta where everyone was supposed to be all chummy-chummy and taking turns with the crown for an hour each.

Imagine this. You’ve just told them, “Okay, your turn to rack up points for a full hour!” and handed it off, and bam—the Great Labyrinth comes barreling in, ready to obliterate everything. At that moment, the alliance would crumble, and they’d all be at each other’s throats.

Even though Bennet, who said he wouldn’t participate, ate the crown, and the 『Great Labyrinth』 activated faster than I anticipated… Honestly, it’s good for me. And it’s good for the students too.

The Academy team competition is ultimately a project to help students get jobs, isn’t it?

A TRPG GM’s duty is to make their players’ characters shine.

“It’s not like you got sulky because the kids didn’t want to do it, so you activated it, right?”

“What do you take me for?”

I ignored Aisha’s slander.

For the students who come into my territory, I can provide customized advantage-highlighting-content. In fact, those guys captured by the Great Labyrinth are showing off their talents and making things happen.

“I’m gonna kill that crazy professor when I get out—!!”

They seem to be having a bit of a hard time, but they’re pulling off incredible scenes because of it, so isn’t that a win-win? The audience is actually giving it good reviews.

So… personally, I hope Selbier gets eliminated.

Well, you know how it is, with the arm bending inward, I’ve meticulously prepared a heart-pounding stage just for Selbier. If she just enters the 『Great Labyrinth』, I can make her, like, seriously, a huge star.

The editing of the Gordius vs. Snow White fight is finished. I used various angles and a sprinkle of effect-pepper to make it look slick. I’ll hand it straight over to Aisha to broadcast.

And then I manipulate the 『Great Labyrinth』 side.

The number of people the mansion can protect is dwindling.

What exactly is the formula? The protectable number starts at 100 initially, and it decreases by 20 each time the 『Crown』’s owner changes.

However, the times it changes while the Great Labyrinth is active are not counted. Otherwise, just two of them wiggling back and forth four times would vaporize the protectable number.

Also, each time a ‘temporary safe zone’ placed in the field is used or destroyed, it decreases by 1. And it doesn’t go below 1.

Bennet -＞ Snow White, minus 20.

With that, nineteen temporary safe zones were used, so the number of protectable people during the first mansion raid was 61.

From here, White Snow -＞ Goldie -＞ subtract 20 from White Snow.

And then subtract the number of temporary safe zones Selvier and White Snow broke.

[Available to Protect: 35].

Currently, the mansion has 39 members from the Gordius Party, 9 from the White Lotus Duchess Party, 3 prisoners, and Selvier and White Snow, making a total of 53 people.

If the Gordius Party’s 3rd floor strategy isn’t exposed— maybe their victory can end this game.

Move, you『Mad Mage’s Labyrinth』!

“The trials I prepared, the attractions… I’m going to force-feed those Academy brats, who swore they wouldn’t taste a single bit, with a service on their path to finding my love!”

“…You’re definitely sulking. Hey, but the Envers video footage still hasn’t arrived. Is the editing taking long?”

“Huh? No… There’s no footage of him at all yet. He suddenly went outside the test site, I mean, outside the cams we set up. Did he go to the bathroom or something?”

“Hmph.”

–

In the dim forest, men wearing hoods discussed their sinister plan.

“The time has finally come. We’ll completely ruin the Academy festival, broadcast the massacre of the students to everyone… shake the empire’s authority, and spread chaos across the continent. Everyone ready?”

“Heh heh… that’s obvious. From the moment I was expelled from the Academy, I’ve become a creature that can only live by destroying this place.”

“How can a society for the superhuman be right? Damn it, damn it, those geniuses need to be wiped out. Only then can average talents like us survive!”

They gathered here, harboring a deep-rooted hatred for the Academy. Eerie emotions glinted beneath their deeply pressed-down hoods.

Among them, one man stood out, fidgeting awkwardly. The leader who instigated the attack on the Academy asked for his name, trying to ease the newcomer’s tension.

“…But newcomer, you’re a face I don’t recognize. What’s your name?”

“I am… Nam, no, Hee Young-hyun. I, this one, yes, this self, also really hates the Academy. Um.”

“That’s an unusual name… and an unusual way of speaking.”

Of course, it was Namgoong Cheonghwi.