With a hiss of compressed gas, the laser rope fired.
Three energy tethers, flickering with an eerie blue glow, shot forward on thruster propulsion — and before the spirit could so much as react, they had already coiled tight around it.
"Ghhk — aAAH — ghk-ghk-GHKK!"
The spirit's twisted limbs thrashed in a frenzy. Its fingers raked deep grooves into the wall. But the luminous cords didn't budge — they only tightened, cinching deeper into its translucent form, trailing white wisps of smoke wherever they bit.
"No charge time, no delay — and it can bind a spiritual body directly..."
Katsuragi Kohei watched the whole thing unfold and rubbed his chin.
"So it's a support-type weapon."
"Phew..."
With the monster pinned and helpless right in front of her, Horikita Suzune finally let herself breathe.
She forced down the instinctive trembling in her body and locked her expression back into something composed.
Earlier in the hunt, someone had slipped up — made a sound — and drawn a spirit's attention. When that unlucky soul reflexively threw up a hand to defend themselves, the whole group had discovered just how grotesquely one-sided the rules were.
The spirits could touch humans. Tear into human flesh without a second's resistance.
Humans, on the other hand, couldn't touch them at all. The only thing that worked was the weapons the Black Sphere had handed out.
"If the Y-GUN's rope works on spiritual bodies..."
Katsuragi turned his gaze toward Chris.
"Then there's no reason that blade should be just for show, is there?"
Chris stepped forward. The black blade extended in an instant.
"Only one way to find out."
The words were barely out of his mouth before his arm had already moved.
Like slicing through a soft block of cheese.
The still-howling spirit's head launched clean off its shoulders — and dissolved into a curl of black smoke.
"As expected." Katsuragi nodded.
Ryuuen Kakeru clicked his tongue, clearly unsurprised.
"Obviously it works. If that blade couldn't cut one of these things, then what exactly was the guy who picked it supposed to do — just stand there and get himself killed?"
But he didn't mock Chris for the choice.
As someone who used violence as his primary tool, Ryuuen understood it clearly: closing to melee range against something like this, with a human body as fragile as any other, was a gamble. One missed read, and you were dead.
That was precisely why he hadn't chosen the blade himself.
Know your limits. That was a rule worth keeping.
"You've already taken your two kills," Ryuuen added, his voice a casual reminder.
"Don't worry." Chris retracted the blade with a small nod. "Everything from here is yours. I'm not stealing."
Something in the air eased slightly at those words.
Ichinose Honami stood to one side, watching the last wisps of black smoke fade — and said nothing, though clearly she wanted to.
She knew perfectly well what Ryuuen's words were actually pointing at.
Twenty spirits total for this mission. Nine people hunting them.
Average that out, and each person's fair share came to just barely over two.
On paper, as long as everyone played by some unspoken rule of equal distribution, things would stay civil. And right now, they more or less had.
But the problem was...
What about the last two?
Class A had the numbers advantage — they were sitting pretty regardless. And neither she nor Shiranami were the type to fight over rankings. As long as everyone made it out alive, that was enough for her.
But...
Ichinose's gaze swept across the room — the dark-haired girl with iron resolve written in every line of her face, and Ryuuen Kakeru with that cold, calculating glint in his eyes like he was already three moves ahead.
The only thing that could break this deadlock was a new variable.
Like the hidden monster.
But...
Is chasing a ranking really worth the risk?
She sighed inwardly.
Hunting the twenty ordinary spirits — as long as nobody did anything stupid — was practically a clean run. No casualties necessary.
But if people started splitting off to claim those last extra kills, or to chase an unknown hidden boss... was it worth it?
As if sensing Ichinose's anxiety, Shiranami Chihiro quietly slipped her hand into hers. The warmth of her palm pulled Ichinose back to the present.
"It'll be okay, Ichinose," Shiranami murmured softly. "I trust your judgment."
Ichinose managed a small, strained smile and gave a faint nod.
Not even thirty minutes had passed yet. There was still time.
All she could do for now was take it one step at a time.
...
Just as Ichinose had feared.
Murphy's Law has an unfailing talent for picking the worst possible moment to prove itself right.
The hunt pressed on — and the moment every person's tally hit two kills, the group ground to an inevitable halt at a fork in the corridor.
Two red dots left.
One at each end of the hallway.
"Two left," Horikita Suzune said, breaking the silence first.
She looked at Ryuuen — who was radiating hostility like a space heater — and her gaze didn't waver.
"There's no more room for coordination or flanking. In that case... I suppose we settle it the honest way. Whoever gets there first, gets the kill."
No point arguing over how to divide it. Let ability decide.
"Heh. Obviously," Ryuuen said, his lips pulling into a grin.
"Still..."
Ichinose knew she had no real grounds to stop them anymore. But her sense of responsibility wouldn't let her stay quiet.
"The tracker only shows two red dots," she said, pushing the words out with urgency. "But don't forget — this exam has a hidden target too. For safety's sake, please don't spread out too far."
Neither Horikita nor Ryuuen paid much attention to that.
Horikita Suzune didn't even turn her head. She looked straight at Chris.
"Shall we take the closer one?"
She wasn't asking for his sake. She wanted the blade — the one that could actually hurt these things — and the steady calm he'd shown throughout. Right now, those were exactly what she needed backing her up.
Ryuuen took the cue graciously, gesturing toward the far end of the hall.
"Ladies first, then. We'll take the long way around — out of consideration for the weaker party, of course."
And just like that, the group divided.
Sakayanagi and Kamuro fell in behind Chris. Ichinose, unwilling to leave Ryuuen's group unsupervised, took Shiranami and followed after them. Katsuragi thought it over for a moment and opted to go the same way — he had a feeling Sakayanagi Arisu wasn't going to be particularly pleased to have him hovering nearby.
...
Chris watched Ryuuen's group disappear around the corner and clicked his tongue quietly.
Smooth move, picking that side... The Parasyte is over there.
In a dungeon this structurally complex, with a two-hour time limit and multiple targets in play, he'd decided not to pile on the difficulty for its own sake. So he'd positioned the Parasyte right next to the spirit on the far side — added an invisible air wall for good measure — and left it there, waiting to trigger when someone wandered into range.
Automatic event flag. Nice and clean.
Chris turned his attention back to the corridor ahead and followed Horikita and Sakayanagi toward the right passage.
It didn't take long.
The last ordinary spirit came into view — a mass of crimson fur radiating pure dread. It hadn't even finished charging before—
Fwip——
A capture net fired from the side and locked it in place.
"There you go, Horikita-san. I don't need it."
Sakayanagi Arisu lowered the Y-GUN, then turned her gaze toward Chris — who was looking faintly distracted — and smiled.
"What's wrong? Not enough of a challenge for you?"
Chris didn't answer.
Horikita Suzune blinked, visibly caught off guard by Sakayanagi's generosity.
"...Thank you."
She didn't make a production of it. She needed this score too badly to let pride get in the way. She needed to prove herself, to move forward — and right now, every point counted.
She raised the X-GUN. Lined up the shot on the spirit's head.
But she didn't pull the trigger right away.
Instead, she glanced back over her shoulder at Chris.
"Oh?"
Sakayanagi caught the gesture immediately, and a quiet laugh escaped her.
"Ah... worried that Ryuuen's group might finish off their spirit first and end the whole session before you get your shot?"
She nudged Kamuro Masumi in the side with her elbow. "Look at that — she's adapting faster than you ever did. And you were shaking just a little while ago, right next to me. How embarrassing."
Kamuro Masumi's vision went dark at the edges.
Excuse me? Which eye saw me shaking?
*...Okay, fine, maybe a little. But that was a physiological response! Anyone would!
And for the record, Horikita Suzune was practically in tears at the start — that was way worse than me!*
While Kamuro was busy composing her internal manifesto of grievances—
The blade in Chris's hand quietly shortened.
By the time it retracted, it was no longer than a combat knife. He stepped forward and drove it cleanly into the spirit's core.
The spirit dissolved.
Chris turned back to Horikita Suzune — who was staring at him with a thoroughly confused expression — and explained, his tone matter-of-fact:
"Our phones have no signal in here, so there's no way to coordinate. Rather than leaving someone standing guard and risking something going sideways, we're better off taking this kill now while Ryuuen's group is still on the move — then go find the hidden boss."
"Either way, the outcome won't be too bad. Class C and Class B can't both win — one of them has to end up at the bottom."
Horikita Suzune took that in. And agreed.
He was right.
That was the rational play. Instead of scrapping over scraps here, look at the bigger picture.
"...Understood."
Behind them, Sakayanagi Arisu wasn't paying attention to any of that.
Her eyes were fixed on the blade in Chris's hand — the one that extended and retracted at will — and something lit up quietly in her gaze.
Just as I thought...
The Black Sphere's equipment isn't as simple as it looks.
If the sword can extend and reshape itself... then what about this Y-GUN? Is binding targets really all it can do?
Before she could follow that thought any further—
"Something's wrong!"
Kamuro Masumi — who had been refusing to engage with Sakayanagi and had buried herself in the tracker display instead — let out a sharp cry.
She thrust the screen up for everyone to see.
"Look at this!"
"Ryuuen's group — there's suddenly an extra dot on their side!"
Where there should have been only a single red dot, there was now a massive, deep crimson bloom pulsing beside it.
And it was closing on the green dots representing Ryuuen and his group — fast.
"That's the hidden boss spawning, obviously," Sakayanagi said, sounding more exasperated than alarmed.
"The hidden boss?!"
Horikita Suzune's first instinct was the score — and she was already moving before the words had fully left her mouth, breaking into a run toward the blip on the screen.
"Hey! Horikita!"
Kamuro Masumi reached out to stop her. Horikita didn't even slow down — if anything, she ran faster.
"...Honestly."
Chris let out a short sigh and followed at a brisk pace.
"I'll go check on the situation. You two take your time — and watch where you're stepping. Don't trip."
Kamuro Masumi stared at the two of them — one already sprinting, the other matching her pace — and shook her head slowly.
"Those two... they're out of their minds."
"Weren't they both almost scared to death a little while ago...?"
"Speaking of which — aren't you worried at all?"
She turned to look at Sakayanagi Arisu, who was still standing exactly where she'd been, completely unhurried.
Sakayanagi shook her head.
"Worried about what?"
"Don't underestimate this exam."
"If it's the finale — the boss — then it's never going to be as simple as the small fry we've been clearing all night."
"Sometimes..."
Her gaze drifted to Chris's retreating figure, and something in her expression turned quietly, pleasurably anticipatory.
"...rushing in too fast isn't necessarily a good thing."
____
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