Chapter 17 - The Maze of the Two Kings (1)

Step... step...

The sound of footsteps resounded. Uriel was walking with a calm smile and with both hands behind his back.

Arisha followed him silently from behind, a strange expression was on her face. Every time she looked at his back, the 'thing' she saw yesterday came to her mind and a small red blush appeared on her cheeks.

They were walking towards the place where the Test Administrators were going to explain to them the details about the Floor Test.

'Oh?'

Suddenly, Uriel's gaze caught someone not far from him.

"Here, Mazino!"

Uriel waved his hand smiling at Urek. Because they were on the same team their rooms were not too far from each other, so it was natural for them to run into each other so quickly.

"Hey!" Urek approached with a big smile on his face. With his approach, Arisha stepped back with a startled expression on her face.

Pak!

Uriel looked at Urek who approached at his side and suddenly felt his back snap. He frowned. It was Urek who gave him a big slap with a smile on his face.

"I have to admit. Man, you are really amazing. Hahaha."

Uriel's lips trembled slightly, but he greeted Urek with a smile.

"Good morning to you too. Also, amazing...?"

"Hahahaha! No need to play dumb. It was so loud that I could hear it from my room."

"Loud...?"

Could Urek have felt the change in the shinsu when he was in the process of becoming a devil? Uriel wondered with a confused expression.

At that moment, Urek leaned to his side and whispered softly with a thumb raised in his direction.

"Hehe. I must say, you really are something else, my friend. You met her in less than a day and she even calls you master already."

He then nudged Uriel's shoulder with his elbow.

"You might as well give me a few pointers sometime..."

A question mark appeared on Uriel's face. What was this guy trying to say? He couldn't understand.

Arisha just behind tilted her head in confusion, not hearing what they were talking about.

'So he didn't notice the change in shinsu...? Well, never mind.'

Uriel shook his head and decided to ignore whatever Urek meant by that. Instead, his focus shifted to something else.

'Your Shinsu Flow...'

He felt it. Urek was stronger again.

'But, I also became stronger. Much stronger.'

He smiled deeply.

At the very least he didn't think he would lose to a punch again...

***

Uriel and Urek walking side by side with Arisha following behind them arrived in a large auditorium.

With a smile, Uriel looked around. He saw Khun Huo and his team sitting quietly in one of the rows of the auditorium. Huo stared at him for a second, before smiling at him. Uriel answered his smile with a smile of his own and looked down at the bottom of the auditorium.

Three people were gathered.

'Rankers.'

His gaze assessed the three. One of them was the green woman they had met earlier. Another was a man with short light blue hair, wearing a white suit and with a sharp gaze that seemed to evaluate everything around him. The last was a man with red hair and green eyes, who for some reason was looking at him with a nervous expression.

Also...

'That one is a bit dangerous.'

He squinted his eyes in the direction of the light blue-haired man. He realized that he was stronger than the other two. In fact, it was a very considerable difference in strength.

'Is he from the Khun Family?' Uriel looked at his blue hair and wondered inwardly.

"So you guys have finally arrived."

The light blue-haired man looked in the direction of Uriel and his team and smiled.

"Sorry for the delay, Mister Ranker."

Uriel also smiled and walked toward one of the rows of the auditorium. He sat down quietly and looked in the direction of the three Rankers. Urek sat next to him with his arms crossed and a curious expression.

"No need to worry. You guys didn't take long. Well, now that you are all here, I think it is time to explain what the test you would have to take will be."

The Regulars in the auditorium turned to Khun with obvious curiosity on their faces.

Only six people passing the first two tests is certainly not something that happens all the time. In fact, the odds were close to zero. They were interested in what kind of test they were going to take; of course, except for Urek and Uriel who didn't seem to particularly care about that.

"First, I guess I have to introduce myself, right?"

Khun smiled and bowed his head slightly.

"Nice to meet all six Regulars gathered here. My name is Khun Rian Lyon. As my name already says, I am from one of the 10 Great Families, the Khun Family. I am an Advanced Ranker and the Test Director in charge of this Floor."

'Advanced Ranker...'

Uriel placed one of his legs above the other and observed this Test Director of the Khun Family.

Urek beside him also looked at the man with a slight interest. Yesterday when they were eating, Uriel explained the basics of the Tower to him. So he naturally knew about the division of Rankers, and naturally knew that an Advanced Ranker was stronger than a normal Ranker.

'Khun...' Arisha frowned slightly.

"As you know. Something like only six Regulars passing the first two tests is something very unexpected. So, the test we will give you will be very simple."

Khun turned around and, holding control in his hand, pressed a button. A hologram appeared in front of the Regulars in the auditorium. It was a vast maze formed by gigantic, thick walls. In addition, what was most striking were two thrones that stood on each opposite side of the labyrinth.

Seeing the Regulars watching the labyrinth, Khun turned around again with a smile on his face and continued his explanation. "The test is called 'The Maze of the Two Kings.' Its rules are quite easy to understand."

He pressed a button again and the hologram focused on the two thrones.

"Each team will have to choose a 'king'. The king of each team will have to sit on the throne appearing on the screen. The chosen king will not be allowed to move outside of his throne, if he does his team will naturally be disqualified."

Uriel, Urek, and Arisha looked at each other for a second. Who will the king?

"In a constant 5-minute period, the maze will change. That is, every 5 minutes the walls of the labyrinth and each path will be changed places. Also, those who will be moving through the maze are not allowed to break the walls or climb them; doing so will also result in complete disqualification of the entire team."

Khun then smiled and pressed the control in his hand again. This time, two red buttons appeared on the hologram.

"Each king will receive one of these buttons. It will only have one use and once it is activated the entire map of the maze will change. 'Only' the kings will be able to hold the buttons. So the other team members will not be able to activate them."

Khun Huo and his companions were also listening carefully to what Khun Rian Lyon was saying. Huo was frowning slightly.

'Then the king will have the most important position in the team.'

He looked at his teammates and a sigh came out of his mouth. One was a giant who looked more like a dumb orc and the other was just a small child so weak that it made him wonder how this child managed to survive through the first test.

Khun, oblivious to the concerns of his family relative, pressed the button on the remote control again. Now strange yellow buttons could be seen inserted within the walls of the maze.

"That button can be found randomly within the walls of the maze. Each time this button is destroyed, the team of the person who destroyed it will receive 1 point. To pass this test you need to collect a total of 30 points. In addition, if you manage to take the life of the enemy king, your team will automatically receive a total of 15 points. Normal team members are worth 5 points each."

Khun was silent for a few seconds and scratched his head. "Well, I think that's it. Oh, I almost forget. For every point received on the test, your team at the end will receive 100 points on your Pocket!"

He smiled and announced, expecting the excited reaction of the Regulars in the auditorium, after all, it was so many points! However, all he got was complete silence. He let out two embarrassed coughs and spoke, "That's it. Does anyone have any questions?"

At that moment, Huo raised his hand with a calm expression.

"Oh, we have a question. What is your question, little Huo?"

".....Eu would like to ask about the rewards of the test."

"Ah, that... The losing team will be sent to another district to continue their testing. And the winning team will be able to skip all the general tests, and after learning about the positions, they will be sent directly to the 3rd Floor."

"!!!"

At that moment everyone was surprised. Even the green Ranker looked at Khun in surprise, she had not been notified of this. Only Moore who was not so surprised, because he had talked to Khun about it before.

'So that's it, then. Hehehe...'

Uriel drummed his fingers on the countertop with an amused expression. He found the situation interesting. He had understood what they wanted by making such a test.

'They want to kick us out to the 3rd Floor.'

They wanted to get rid of both him and Urek, two Irregulars, to the 3rd Floor. In other words, this Test Director wanted to evade responsibility by throwing them to the 3rd Floor and pushing the responsibility onto the people there. In fact, it could be considered a good plan, however...

'It's very superficial. Even a 10-year-old could immediately perceive your plan.'

Ta, ta, ta!

Uriel's fingers drummed against the countertop as he pondered the situation. Indeed, they could deflect some of the responsibility to the 3rd Floor, but it doesn't change the fact that two Irregulars passed through their supervision.

If it were another time or season they could preserve their lives, however....

'At this time, Zahard's Palace must have been invaded by Phantaminum.'

With an Irregular invading Zhard Palace the situation becomes incomparably complicated.

If it was some trash like Rachel who had invaded Zahard Palace it probably wouldn't have much of an effect, however, this Irregular was Phantaminum. The future or already current High Ranker #1 in the Ranking. The person who caused a massacre in Zahard Palace.

In such a delicate time, an Irregular would be a much greater source of fear and hatred than when Baam entered the Tower. And with two Irregulars entering at the same time...

'Probably only that guy from the Khun Family might have a chance of surviving.'

In Uriel's view, Khun at most would be removed from all his positions and exiled from his Family for this grave mistake.

'However, as for the others...'

Uriel's gaze sank looking at Moore and the green woman. His lips arched into a smile.

'They will be executed.'

That was his conclusion. Except for Khun and the Ruler of the Floor, the other two, perhaps, even more, would be executed in cold blood by the Zahard Empire.

'Ah, heavens...'

The smile on Uriel's face only widened more and more. A situation like this...

Wasn't that what he had expected?

For something, he thought he would get only after the 10th Floor... Such an opportunity made him question his luck.

For a second he couldn't help but wonder if it wasn't some kind of conspiracy made by his father to help him in his climb up the Tower. But he soon dismissed this absurd idea, his father was too stupid to make any conspiracy…