Chapter 99: Trial of the Forsaken (3)

King appeared beside her in his smaller form, his golden eyes fixed on the place where Caius had vanished.

[That boy continues to speak like a man haunted by his own funeral nya.]

King hovered beside her shoulder as if he had been there the entire time.

Misha snapped her head towards him. "You’re back."

King’s tail curled through the air. [Your concern is overwhelming nya.]

"You disappeared for days."

[I was occupied nya.]

"Doing what?"

[Important work beyond the comprehension of mortals nya.]

"So, nothing you can prove."

King drew himself higher, his horn nearly level with her eyes. [Your ignorance does not diminish my accomplishments nya.]

Before she could press on, a crack rolled through the chamber.

KRRAAAK.

The sound rolled through the floor and climbed the pillars.

Misha turned and saw behind the massive throne, the sealed stone doors split along the center. Something scraped against the other side, slowly and heavy, followed by a growl deep enough to vibrate through her boots.

King floated higher. [Try not to embarrass yourself before your dependents, nya]

"They are not my dependents."

「 Fear and panic suppressed. 」

Misha reached into her storage and pulled out a flat piece of pale stone no larger than two fingers laid side by side. A sharply carved ’II’ marked its surface and golden light ran through the grooves in slow pulses, warming her palm.

"Well," she said, turning the rune between her fingers. "I suppose it’s time to leave."

[Nyauh?] King’s head snapped toward her.

Misha glanced down at the rune with a quiet, crooked smile crossing her face.

「 〔TELEPORTATION RUNE II〕

Allows the user to relocate to a registered settlement destination.

Registered Destination: Floor 11

Restrictions:

• Cannot be used in teleportation-sealed zones

• Destination must be recognized by the Tower.

• Rune will be consumed upon activation. 」

Her eyes skimmed the description once.

Then again, there was no warning informing her that spatial movement in the Floor 10 had been restricted. Nothing.

Misha had seen Elyes use it once. Back when Yara betrayed them, when everything had fallen apart too quickly for anyone to properly think, he had escaped with a return stone.

At the time, she had barely registered it. There had been too much happening.

The linked quest on Floor 9 had somehow created the confusion. The idea had already settled into everyone’s head: ’teleportation is forbidden here too because it’s a boss floor.’

They had carried the previous floor’s rule into the next one and treated it like fact. That was the problem with surviving something once. Sometimes they carried the wrong lesson forward. Everyone had been so focused on the thought of leaving someone behind that, little by little, everything else had begun to slip from their minds.

Back in Genesis, the System had also displayed a clear warning that teleportation was restricted. There had been no such warning here. It only said the passage through the portal would be denied if no Raider volunteered.

The quest had closed one door. It had forgotten she carried another in her storage.

[You intend to flee nya.]

There was enough judgement in his voice to condemn an entire kingdom.

Misha glanced at the doorway.

A hand emerged from the darkness. It was enormous. Green-gray skin stretched over thick knuckles, and each finger ended in a black claw. The hand closed around the edge of the door, stone groaned beneath its grip.

"I intend to survive. Hiiro did his job in scaring me with this boss."

[The loud one was speculating nya.]

"He was very convincing."

The second hand appeared.

BOOM!

The doors tore apart. One slab crashed against the wall. The other fell forward, hitting the floor hard enough to send broken stone skittering between the pillars.

"GRRAAAAAH!"

The chamber shook and dust fell from the darkness above. The carved goblin faces along the pillars seemed to tremble with it.

「 〔BOSS ENCOUNTER〕

<Goblin King>

Classification: Disaster

—

The Trial of the Forsaken has begun. 」

"Why do I feel like it remembers me?"

[The oversized vermin is attempting to intimidate you nya.]

"It’s doing a decent job. I’ll give him that... that’s why I need to flee."

Nowhere did the Floor Quest say the selected Raider had to finish the fight. It did not even say she had to stay in the room. Elyes had already proven the rune worked. Misha had simply failed to connect the pieces for a while, not until Astrid mentioned there should have a hidden method.

Mateo would have mocked her. Her brother had always been irritatingly careful with contracts, employment forms, rental agreements, or anything that asked for a signature earned his full attention.

"People tell you what they want you to notice first," Mateo had told her once. "The important part is usually what they hope you won’t."

People with money called that finding a loophole in a contract. People without money called it surviving someone else’s rules.

Misha closed her fingers around the rune. She had deliberately kept it from the others. She had already planned to separate from Caius, Astrid, and Hiiro once they reached Exodus. They were useful companions. More than useful, if she was being fair, which she generally avoided whenever fairness became inconvenient.

They had their own path, she had hers.

Travelling together because circumstances forced them into the same fights did not make them permanent companions. This Tower was full of people who confused surviving beside someone with belonging beside them.

Misha had made that mistake before. She had no intention of making it again.

Those three would probably wait for her in Exodus. It may be a little cruel for youngsters like them but they needed to learn. By the time they realized she had no intention of joining them, Misha planned to be several floors ahead.

The Goblin King stepped fully through the chamber. Its shoulders nearly scraped both sides. Scarred muscle strained beneath strips of iron armor. Bones and teeth hung from cords around its neck, knocking together with every step while it dragged its enormous axe with a shriek of metal against stone.

[You possess multiple Constellation Souls to defeat this creature nya.]

"Probably... but ’probably’ is a terrible reason to fight something when I can just leave."

The Goblin King stopped. Its single clear eye locked onto her. Then it drew in a deep breath, chest swelling before another deafening roar tore from its throat.

"GRRAAAHH!!"

Misha pressed her thumb against the center of the rune. A thin crack appeared through the carved ’II’, then she snapped it in half.

The Goblin King charged, its first step fractured the floor.

BOOM!

[It appears the creature objects to your strategy nya.]

"I don’t care," she said as gold finally swallowed her body.

Ding!

「 〔SYSTEM NOTICE〕

Participant has exited the designated combat area.

’Trial of the Forsaken’ has been abandoned.

No quest rewards will be issued. 」