“Hey, watch out!”

  A voice belonging to a young man echoed from afar, but it was already too late.

  “Oops…”

  Gwen responded as she looked down at the ground and saw a glowing symbol.

  “Not again…”

  Syber, who had managed to stay composed, furrowed his brows even more than before. Gwen had stepped on one of the tiles, activating a trap that sent arrows flying in their direction.

  “Airy shield!”

  Astrella shouted as she ordered her fairy to create a protective barrier. Rusty lifted his shield and used his body to intercept the sharp arrows. Luckily, he was sturdy enough for them all to bounce off his frame. Syber, who had walked ahead, was not so fortunate. Some of his beasts were hit, and he was forced to dodge the attack as he kept running.

  “Just leave me alone!”

  He shouted as he reached the end of the trapped corridor. Gwen, unwilling to let the group split up, called back.

  “No, we must stay together!”

  “This would not have happened if you had stayed with us and stopped moving ahead.”

  Said Astrella while laughing at Syber’s schematics. Thanks to Airy and Rusty, there was no danger from the traps, but their classmate did not see it that way.

  Syber ignored her and stormed ahead through the winding tunnels. The sound of his boots echoed off the stone walls. His two tigers stalked behind him, their tails flicking as particles of mana drifted from the areas they had been struck.

  “Wait! Don’t just…ugh!”

  Astrella groaned and clutched her staff tighter.

  “Why does every group project have to have that one guy? Can’t we just go in the opposite direction, Gwen? If he wants to get himself killed that badly, just let him.”

  Rusty looked into the distance and rested his halberd to the side. They had been moving through the tunnels for a while, chasing after the young man. He seemed determined to get away from the group, though Rusty did not understand why. It did not seem that Syber was suicidal, and in some way it felt as though he was hiding his true abilities.

  “I don’t see a reason to cooperate with someone like that. He might get you hurt, Gwen.”

  “Not you too, Rusty? It’s better if we all work together!”

  Astrella rolled her eyes, and Rusty stepped forward. With the trap already triggered, there was no danger ahead, yet he remained curious about what the young man was concealing.

  “I didn’t know you were such a softy, Gwen. But fine!”

  The narrow tunnels twisted endlessly, and Syber’s irritation only grew. Each step echoed sharply against the walls. The light from the crimson veins crawling along the rock pulsed steadily. His tigers padded silently beside him, their wounds mending as he shared a portion of his mana with them.

  “Still no exit…”

  He muttered under his breath and turned another corner, only to halt abruptly when the corridor ended. An uneven wall of stone blocked the way, covered in more glowing veins. There was no exit in sight and no branching path, only an empty chamber.

  “Tch.”

  Syber clicked his tongue and stepped forward. His tigers sniffed the air, searching for a hidden passage, and he did the same. Often in such cases, a secret path would appear, yet nothing revealed itself this time.

  “A dead end? Did I make a mistake?”

  He spoke quietly to himself and was about to turn back when he felt the mana in the area shift.

  “What?”

  The chamber began to rumble. At first, he expected arrows to shoot from the sides, but none came. Instead, a deep grinding sound echoed from above. When he looked up, his blood ran cold as the ceiling began to descend.

  “Damn it!”

  He spun around and tried to run, but the ground shook violently beneath his feet. It was another trap within a trap. The ceiling continued to fall while the trembling floor made it nearly impossible to keep his balance. Each step forward grew harder, and the situation turned desperate.

  Just as all hope seemed lost, a suit of armor charged out from the corridor from which he had previously come.

  “Move, you fool!”

  Astrella’s voice rang out, and Gwen shouted as well.

  “You need to run!”

  The two cried out just as the ceiling came crashing down, but instead of being crushed, Syber found himself still breathing. To his shock, Rusty stood beneath the falling stone with both hands raised high, holding the ceiling like some kind of steel pillar.

  “Gwen, I won’t be able to hold it for long.”

  Even surrounded by his twilight haze and reinforced by skills such as Fortify Armor, Rusty could feel his joints waning. Syber did not have much time to escape, and it seemed he had finally chosen to reveal a glimpse of his true power.

  Gritting his teeth, Syber glanced at one of his tigers. With a quick command, the creature charged forward and burst into orange particles of mana that gathered around his legs. The energy surged through him, and his limbs grew stronger, faster, and bulkier. With his agility heightened, he launched himself forward, moving with a speed that could not be underestimated.

  Rusty kept his stance steady as Syber shot past him like a blur. The newly enhanced youth rushed ahead and tumbled into the corridor. Once he was safely inside, Rusty stepped back and allowed the trap to continue its descent. It slammed down with great force, crushing the summoned creature that had been left behind almost instantly.

  “Are you alright?”

  Gwen yelled over the rumbling and the cloud of dust that burst from the now closed entrance. Syber coughed slightly but nodded. Rusty, however, looked down at his joints and saw that one of his knees and one of his elbows were in bad shape. If it had been a second or two longer, he would have been crushed along with the tiger.

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  “...You saved me.”

  Syber spoke flatly, his tone missing its usual sharpness. Rusty tilted his head as he looked at the young man’s legs. Though his pants had not torn, they had ridden up enough to expose his ankles. He could sense that more mana was flowing through them, but he also noticed something else. Tiger stripes had appeared on Syber’s legs, showing that he had taken on a new, more animalistic form.

  “Is that... Summon fusion?”

  Astrella narrowed her eyes as she noticed the change as well. Syber seemed uncomfortable under her gaze, and now that he was safe, he released the spell he had cast earlier. The tiger that had fused with him reappeared beside him, and his legs returned to their normal shape. He seemed ashamed of what he had done and quickly pulled his pants back into place to cover the fading stripes.

  “Gwen, what’s Summon fusion?”

  Rusty was, of course, interested in this phenomenon since he had never seen anything like it before.

  “Um, some summoners can bond directly with their summons and familiars…”

  Gwen spoke out loud this time as she explained it to Rusty, but she trailed off at the end and looked instead at Astrella, who was approaching Syber. It seemed that the part-fairy had realized something that only she could truly understand.

  “Is this what you were trying to hide and why you were avoiding us?”

  She asked as Syber stood up and brushed the dust from his clothes.

  “What? ...Are you going to laugh too?”

  Rusty tilted his head at the question, unsure what was happening. The technique that had been used seemed quite powerful, giving Syber an agility boost equal to that of a D-rank monster. To Rusty, who cared mostly about becoming stronger, this made little sense. If he had such a technique, he would use it proudly. But for these humanoids, there seemed to be a heavy social cost tied to such a transformation.

  “Hah, why would I laugh, you idiot? You don’t think that I don’t know how it is for ones like us?”

  Astrella replied and moved her green hair aside to reveal her ears, which were different from those of humans. At last, Rusty understood what this was about. The people at this school cared deeply about the purity of both their lineage and their race. It seemed Syber was ashamed of showing his transformed self because of that. This explained why he relied on his two weaker summons even though he was far stronger when using this strange fusion technique.

  “I…”

  Once Syber looked more closely at Astrella’s ears, he lowered his gaze. Gwen stepped closer, her expression softening as she saw her friend speaking with Syber, but this was not the time for a heartfelt conversation. They were still inside a dangerous, corrupted void, and Rusty noticed that some creatures were approaching.

  “Gwen, mend my joints; some creatures are coming.”

  “Ahh… Rusty says that monsters are coming!”

  Rusty moved forward to intercept two incoming hobgoblins. As before, his halberd pierced through them, but more of them appeared. To his surprise, someone appeared beside him: Syber.

  Without speaking, the young man summoned both of his tigers again, and this time he used them together. For a moment, Rusty paused as the young man seemed to have finally made up his mind. With a wave of his hand, Syber drew the mana from both of his creatures into himself, and his transformation began to take shape.

  “So this is summon fusion… does this mean you and I can fuse, Gwen?”

  “I… I’m not so sure about that…”

  For a moment, Rusty imagined fusing with Gwen, but he was not certain it would make him stronger. His summoner was not made for battle, and he feared such a fusion might only weaken him. In this case, however, it was clearly different as Syber’s aura soared and his body changed even more while he used multiple summons.

  Syber’s body became shrouded in pale orange light as the mana from his tigers merged into him completely. His golden eyes began to glow as a transformation took form. Stripes appeared on his face, and his fangs grew longer. His frame expanded, and his fingernails turned into sharp claws. When Syber finally spoke, his voice was deeper and his words carried a faint growl.

  “Stay behind me.”

  Without waiting for a reply, he shot forward faster than Rusty had ever seen him move. A hobgoblin lunged, but Syber’s clawed hand tore through its chest before the creature could raise its weapon. The two girls were stunned as they watched their companion tear through the approaching monsters.

  ‘He’s around the level of that person.’

  Rusty tried to gauge Syber’s true battle prowess. He was reminded of the man he had faced during the D-rank adventurer test and thought this young man was around that level, clearly much stronger than others expected him to be. In less than a minute the fight was over, and Rusty found himself with little to do. The small monster attack subsided, but the ordeal was not yet finished.

  “He’s strong…”

  Said Gwen.

  “Yes, but a bit of a knucklehead,”

  Astrella whispered, though her comment did not go unnoticed.

  “I’ve heard that.”

  Syber looked at her with a mean expression. In this form his features appeared somewhat animalistic, yet he still looked mostly humanoid with small patches of fur on his forearms.

  “Uh… how about we go back and try one of the other paths?”

  Gwen stepped in to refocus the group on the real issue.

  “I agree…”

  This time their third companion did not complain and even waited for them to get closer.

  “I’ll stay in front. Use that summon of yours to kill any monsters that manage to get through.”

  He said with a low growl before turning away, but before he could leave, Astrella interrupted.

  “Wait a moment!”

  “What?”

  He turned around with furrowed eyebrows. Gwen watched with a concerned look as Astrella moved closer, and without any further words, Airy used her magic to give Syber a few buffing spells.

  “If you’re going to be the vanguard, you’re going to need these…”

  “...”

  The exchange between the two was awkward, but the earlier animosity had disappeared. For a moment, silence settled over the group as Airy finished casting her spells on their new vanguard, who now seemed willing to cooperate. Once that was done, the group decided to retrace their steps to the juncture and try another path.

  They had not been inside for long, as only an hour had passed, but clearing the void gate was best done quickly. The longer they stayed, the greater the danger became. Without food or drink, their stamina would drop, and eventually they would collapse from exhaustion. Gwen was the least physically gifted among them, and after another hour of exploring, her legs began to tremble.

  Even so, the group continued their exploration. With all three working together, the monsters were not that dangerous. Airy used her spells to strengthen, heal, and restore stamina. Rusty and Syber fought the monsters that attacked them and cut them down with ease. After passing through all three tunnels, the group finally arrived at another chamber.

  “How long have we been here?”

  Asked Gwen as she sat down on a nearby rock. Her face was paler than usual, but she refused to give in.

  “Close to four hours now. This should be the last one.”

  Replied Astrella, who was also tired.

  “There is something inside. The mana density is the strongest here.”

  Even Syber had become more talkative. The group that had been split had somehow managed to make it this far, but their struggles were not yet over, as one more hurdle remained.

  “I think something strong is in there. Get ready, Gwen. This is probably the boss chamber you mentioned.”

  “Rusty senses something strong inside. We should rest before going in.”

  Gwen said to the others, and they nodded. Everyone took out their remaining support items, the most important being the mana and health recovery potions. They only had two left. One was given to Syber, who drained his mana reserves quickly in his fused form, and the second ended up in Astrella’s hand. Airy’s buffs and healing also consumed a great deal of mana, leaving Gwen with the highest amount of MP among them as the only one without a potion.

  “We’ll use the same formation as before. Just use your summo…”

  Before Syber could finish, Astrella interrupted him.

  “He isn’t a summon. His name is Rusty. Remember it.”

  “…”

  The young man looked at Rusty awkwardly, then returned to speaking.

  “Then use… I mean, tell Rusty to defend. Considering how weak these hobgoblins were, the last boss shouldn’t be that tough.”

  The group nodded, and after restoring their mana, they moved forward. Syber summoned both his tigers again and prepared to fuse once more. Rusty stepped ahead, pushed the heavy door of the boss chamber, and slowly, the group ventured into the unknown.