"Hyung, but listen. Doesn’t this feel strange to you?"
Leonardo and Ero hid beneath the shade of a tree while waiting for the smog to clear. Simply put, the Giant Plarinus smog was a pollen-ejection phenomenon. Yellow powder did not settle nor did it itch the nose, but water particles floating in the air combined with dust to block the sun like a dark curtain.
Because of that, for fifteen minutes after the smog began, the area around the stamen tower became noticeably darker. Unless one possessed goggles as a support item, moving under such darkness was dangerous. Just a moment ago, five or six people fought in front of them, were injured, and were carried away somewhere by match officials.
Even aside from that, the appearance of smog meant someone had passed through the portal again. For forty-five minutes, even if one climbed to the top of the stamen tower, one would merely have to fend off others, and there appeared to be no clear strategic advantage. For now.
"What?"
Leonardo, reviewing the situation in his head, asked absentmindedly. Ero looked at the dim sky hidden by leaves and answered.
"Did you hear the broadcast earlier, when they said three hours had passed? Eleven people had passed."
"Yeah. I heard."
"As far as I know, excluding this smog, there were only two smog events before this. But doesn’t it seem strange that eleven people passed when the portal opened only twice?"
Leonardo crossed his arms, leaning his back against a trunk, and only rolled his eyes.
"Twice? Not three times?"
"I saw it twice. I lingered around here early on, so I know — for over an hour after the match started, nobody approached the stamen tower. More precisely, they couldn’t."
"Why?"
"Some crazy... ah, participant with a whip kept appearing like a ghost whenever anyone tried to approach the tower and stole all their crystals. Yet he never climbed himself, so he wasn’t a gatekeeper either — just an enormous headache. Usually people like that aim to eliminate competitors from the test game onward and try to drop as many as possible, right?"
"..."
"But since about half the passers have appeared now, I think he probably climbed by this point. Though even if he’s still there, he’d cry and run away in front of our supreme strongest hyung!"
Ero added that the difficulty of this match had risen sharply because of that bastard, and he could not tell whether it was fortunate or unfortunate that far fewer had passed compared to the test two years ago. Normally, by halfway through the match duration, the number of passers filled up and the match ended early.
The golden eyes listening to him flickered.
"How do you know things like that?"
"Eh?"
"You talk about eliminating competitors beforehand and the number of passers being low. How do you know that?"
The guy who was begging for his life just earlier.
Leonardo hid the thought that followed. Even before entering the arena he had sensed the feeling of being tailed. How could he be sure no one had secretly infiltrated among participants to approach him?
As his gaze turned suspicious, Ero, who had been stupidly questioning him, waved his hands.
"Hey, hyung! What’s with that look? This is basic knowledge! This is my fourth time in the League. I know at least this much."
"Fourth time? This isn’t your first?"
"Eh? Hyung, don’t tell me...."
For a moment the two failed to understand each other, then calmly sorted out the situation. Both could not help but be surprised in several ways. Ero confessed he thought Leonardo had already attempted to enter the main tournament several times or had prior experience. Leonardo shook his head.
At that, Ero excitedly said that even the concrete-solid main tournament lineup would finally see bloodshed and that he would go all-in on hyung later, shaking his body. The branch he sat on rattled and leaves poured down. Leonardo frowned and calmed him.
"So. You have quite a bit of League experience and know more about it than most, right?"
"Of course! Ask anything you’re curious about! I’ll answer sincerely as far as I know!"
An unexpected gain.
The difference between an experienced participant and an inexperienced one was heaven and earth. He had investigated the League in various ways, but it had all been indirect outside information. The story of an actual participant would be different.
Thinking the baggage number four might not be entirely useless, Leonardo returned to the previous topic.
"So then, why do you say the portal opened twice, not three times? I thought three groups passed three times for nine people, and the remaining two gathered seven crystals of the same color. Though the fact that two people already gathered seven was surprising."
"Did you hear the broadcast when one hour passed after the start?"
At that time Leonardo had been wandering inside a cave beneath the island and did not remember hearing any broadcast. If he had even heard muffled noise outside, he would have gone out to check. But now he could not even recall whether there had been any sign.
"No, I didn’t. What did it say?"
"There was no broadcast at the one-hour mark. My guess is there were no passers then. So even assuming the first passer appeared right after one hour and one minute, the portal could only have opened three times by time calculation — excluding the current smog, twice. Eleven people passed in two openings."
"...Are you sure there were none for an hour?"
"Yes, because of that guy I mentioned...."
Rustle—
A faint presence was suddenly sensed in the bushes. Leonardo’s eyes snapped sideways and he raised his palm to signal silence. Ero, equally tense, hugged his bag and lowered himself. The presence seemed to search around, then crossed beneath the tree where they hid and sprinted toward the Giant Plarinus.
Afterward, he flickered a small lantern and signaled somewhere. Soon two more ran beneath the tree and headed toward the petals.
Watching the retreating figures, Ero turned to Leonardo.
"Hyung, looks like they’re moving already? Probably aiming for the next portal...."
Anxiety lingered in Ero’s voice. Once this lull ended, little time would remain to open the portal. Besides, others would soon have gathered all three crystal types.
Thinking the same, Leonardo pushed off the trunk and stood.
"I know. Let’s talk while moving."
Unexpectedly, quite many participants were climbing along the Giant Plarinus petals in the darkness. True to the name giant, its fuzz was not ordinary fuzz but rose like tall reeds. It was ideal for concealment, and participants crawled through it in prone positions.
Yet even then, unseen events occurred.
Having already twisted his eighth neck, Leonardo covered the last man’s mouth with his palm. The man, face flushed and veins bulging on his forehead, clawed at Leonardo’s hand and forearm with his nails. Leonardo endured silently, pressed the man’s head against his chest, then seized his carotid artery and snapped it sideways in an instant.
Crack—
A chilling sound like a broken cervical spine rang out. The man rolled back his eyes, lost consciousness, and slid from Leonardo’s arms. Leonardo laid the soon-to-be-eliminated participant flat and checked his pulse. Then, feeling a stinging sensation, he glanced down at the back of his hand.
"Damn, I’m cut."
The resisting man’s nails had dug in and gouged flesh. It was not bleeding heavily, but the hot sting was irritating. Annoyed, Leonardo inspected it and tore a clean part of the cotton shirt under his jacket, wrapping his hand.
While he treated the wound, Ero stood stiffly a short distance away, only staring at the scattered victims. Soon, with a pale face, he asked.
"H-hyung... are these people dead?"
"Why, shouldn’t they be?"
Leonardo asked with a playful tone. Ero realized it was a joke, but it did not sound like one.
"Haha... well, it’s a test match, so there’s no need to kill...."
"I don’t kill people unless they torment others. Not now, at least."
So you did before?? Ero swallowed the rest with sweat beading. He wanted to ask what he did outside, but lacked the courage. He only resolved again to be loyal.
"But why did these guys climb without crystals? I hoped to collect all seven."
"It’s late game now, so everyone’s getting desperate. Rather than searching the whole island, they probably waited to steal them. I’ve seen many gather them with ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ difficulty only to lose them to that whip-wielding sadist. We should hurry too, before more competitors gather."
The sky clearing after the smog brightened somewhat, but as evening approached it would never again be like daytime. In about an hour complete darkness would come. Agreeing for another reason, Leonardo nodded and walked.
"Oh right. I have something to ask."
"Yes, go ahead."
"You said there was no broadcast at the one-hour mark."
"That’s right?"
"What puzzled me is, do they normally announce passers by time? Wouldn’t it be enough to announce whenever someone passes — like saying just now some people crossed the portal?"
"Uh... well."
"Was it like this in previous matches?"
"The rules and locations change every time, so I’ve never experienced the same rule twice...."
Ero said he once had a similar match where they had to find keys to exit a designated map; sometimes the key was buried underground or even inside a monster’s stomach. He added obtaining the required items had been more difficult than this match.
"Back then they announced immediately whenever someone passed. This time the method is different."
"Hm... If the portal opened twice, at most six of the eleven passed through it, and the remaining five must have passed holding seven crystals each. Do you think that’s possible?"
Ero scratched the back of his head.
"I also doubted it. Hyung, you’ve been collecting crystals since the start, right?"
"Yeah."
"Even someone like you hasn’t gathered seven of the same color yet. I don’t think five people could. They’d need insane luck or be a powerhouse like that sadist, and honestly it’s rare for a single test group — not even preliminaries — to have more than three main-tournament-level fighters."
"Which means...."
At that moment Ero pushed aside the fuzz blocking the way with the pistol in his hand. A cool wind suddenly passed between them. Before them spread a vast body of fresh water gathered around the stamen tower like a broad lake.
No stepping stones were visible; instead, belongings and shoes of eliminated participants floated on the water. Occasionally sticky mucus clung to them.
There.
Leonardo glanced once at the towering stamen tower rising into clouds. If his guess was right, many others had moved hidden like them. Reaching the ovary from there was effectively the main battle of this match. The weapons and clothes of losers floating on the water proved it.
Then he looked down at the squelching ground beneath his feet.
At the lake’s edge, lumps of mucus clumped together. Touching it, it seemed the same substance that flowed when he split a Small Plarinus earlier.
Did it fall from above?
Just then a startled Ero grabbed Leonardo’s arm and pulled him down. Lowering himself, Leonardo looked at him, and Ero whispered urgently.
"Hyung, look over there!"
Raising his head, he saw Ero pointing somewhere. Someone stood on a protrusion midway up the stamen tower.
"That’s him! The guy with the whip!"
