Amikura Mako's voice came out heavy, and Chris only gave a small nod. He didn't bother answering out loud.
Honestly, if you wanted to get technical about it — the knockoff Hell Lord back in The Cabin in the Woods hadn't put on much of a show, but trace the thing back far enough and it was still a relative, however distant, of Leviathan, Lord of the Labyrinth.
If that pack of students could win the Hell Lord's approval and shed their old skins to become something like "Monks"…
then they'd have carved out a road that ran straight through death and came out the other side alive.
They might even freeload their way into an entirely different system of the transcendent. And if somebody down the line actually managed to get a line open to Leviathan, then forget a two-hundred-point Darkness Devil — grinding a prime, full-power Godzilla under one heel wouldn't be pure fantasy either.
Of course, that hidden route was the sort of intelligence only a man with a god's-eye view could see.
For anyone else, actually pulling it off would be harder than climbing to heaven.
Not that it mattered much.
They were already walking the one road that could possibly clear the trial.
All it took was for the Hell Lord to slacken its grip a little, to stop maintaining its bindings, to give any one of them a single breath of room…
and they'd meet the Black Sphere's clearance conditions.
As for how many of them would walk out alive at the end?
That depended entirely on the mood of the real "Lord of the Labyrinth" standing behind the knockoff — Chris himself.
Truth be told, this Monk concept had a certain flavor to it.
Chris was actually weighing whether to recruit a few of them as his own downline under the Lord of the Labyrinth.
Doing a straight cosplay of the "Demon Team" from Terror Infinity didn't sound half bad either…
While his thoughts wandered, Chris turned to face the Golden *** ahead of him, its whole body wreathed in brilliant flame.
It was the strongest creature in the Mirror World, and he'd been debating whether to go through the motions — fight it once, then bind it.
Instead, the moment the thing laid eyes on him, it showed not a trace of hostility. What came out of its throat was a string of bright, fawning cries.
The way it beat its wings and shuffled closer…
Chris was looking at a divine bird that should have been lording it over creation, and seeing a derpy husky instead.
Clearly there was no need to fight anything.
The "affinity maxed out" clause the system attached to its items was just plain busted.
As the Golden *** came homing in like a fledgling swallow to the nest, Chris arranged a suitably startled look on his face, then put away the Enma Blade and lifted the Blank Card Box toward it, testing.
A clear ringing note. A blaze of light flared across the clearing and snuffed out just as fast.
Contract sealed.
Chris turned around to face the girls behind him and the strange looks on their faces.
He drew a long breath and let his voice drop. "While we still have time, let's open the passage to the upper-year exam grounds."
Kei Karuizawa was still a little dazed at that, but she caught Hiyori Shiina by the arm on reflex and pulled her aside to clear the way.
Chris nodded slightly and stepped forward, Enma Blade in hand.
The edge touched the mirror. A hundred S Points drained away, buying the right of passage into the Overlord world — the world of the Bone King.
Deep blue and dark violet twisted together across the glass, rippling out into a spiraling gate.
Before stepping through, Chris turned his head, his gaze sweeping over the girls.
"If this passage is still open after I'm gone, you can follow me through if you want. But it's better if two of you stay behind."
"If the system rules you have to leave, then forget it. But if it doesn't force you out, one of you can stand guard while the other uses the Mirror World's observation properties to feed us intel and vision from the shadows."
"That's worth far more than the radar on a Controller."
With that, Chris wasted no more words.
The remaining girls traded glances.
After a short silence, they saw that the passage was still there — but the light along its edges had begun to flicker, and it clearly wouldn't hold much longer.
In the end, it was Hayasaka Ai who took the first step forward.
"I have reasons that require me to keep moving forward. Please let me go."
Amikura Mako pressed her lips together and took a step back of her own accord. "Then I'll stay here," she said quietly. "My combat experience isn't anything special. Better than tagging along and dragging you down."
Kei Karuizawa's head turned toward Hiyori Shiina on instinct.
She was just about to argue that Hiyori had surveillance experience and should be the one to stay, which would leave her free to follow Chris —
when Hiyori quietly produced the Phantom Mask.
"Karuizawa-san, I know this world's situation better than most of us. I'll stay."
"I have the Phantom Mask here. I can summon the legion."
"Maybe I can help you help the seniors…"
The words snuffed out Kei Karuizawa's fire on the spot.
Fine. She'd measured a noble heart with a petty ruler.
Meanwhile, over in the world of Overlord.
On the outskirts of a certain hidden little town.
Just as a few shadow ninjas brought Granny Kaire — holder of Downfall of Castle and Country — along with Zesshi Zetsumei and the Captain of the Black Scripture into the camp where Miyabi Nagumo and the others waited, Nagumo had already made his preparations.
Following Hiyori Shiina's earlier advice, he'd long since spent points at the Mysterious Merchant on several bottles of MC Milk.
It wasn't just a courtesy gift for meeting their collaborators from the Slane Theocracy.
Mostly, it was insurance.
After all, what they were about to face was the entire Great Tomb of Nazarick under Ainz Ooal Gown.
Even a Floor Guardian like Shalltear Bloodfallen had been forcibly mind-controlled by the Downfall of Castle and Country in Granny Kaire's hands.
Which meant Ainz Ooal Gown almost certainly had no shortage of his own nasty tricks for warping minds or laying curses.
And MC Milk, per its entry in the Item Illustrated Guide, "removes all status effects."
The description never specified whether those effects were buffs or debuffs.
In other words, whether it was scrubbing debuffs off their own people or instantly zeroing out a dozen stacked enchantments on an enemy…
it was an absurdly cost-effective, outright strategic-grade item that could flip an entire battle.
That said, the intel Hiyori Shiina had relayed made a point of noting that Granny Kaire's Slane Theocracy operated — at least on the surface — on a creed of "protect humanity, exterminate heresy and evil."
So then, a look at their own side…
Their escorts were shadow ninjas that moved like phantoms.
Their master, Akane Tachibana, currently wore a Phantom Mask radiating a distinctly ominous aura…
Say what you wanted, but that whole aesthetic reeked of villainy from any angle.
So, to keep the other side from misreading them and assuming they were pulling something behind the curtain, Miyabi Nagumo didn't bring out the MC Milk right away.
Fortunately, the three natives didn't open hostilities either.
The godkin captain wore an arrogance that could curdle milk, sure.
But both Granny Kaire and the half-elf Zesshi Zetsumei understood exactly how significant the World Items in Ainz Ooal Gown's hands were — items on par with Downfall of Castle and Country.
On top of that, they had no read whatsoever on Nagumo's group, their background or their strength.
So through that first contact, the Slane Theocracy side kept to basic diplomatic courtesy and didn't force a confrontation.
Nagumo couldn't have cared less either way.
The only thing they actually wanted was the item in Granny Kaire's hands, the one that gave them indirect control over Shalltear.
As long as it was useful when they finally stood in front of the Bone King, that was enough.
As for Zesshi Zetsumei and that godkin captain…
Before they'd even gotten close, Nagumo had quietly pulled up their information on the Controller's radar.
Their numbers did put them a cut above the average tester or Black Sphere examinee, but against Shalltear they wouldn't even register.
Call it "enough not to be cannon fodder dragging everyone down."
Of course, if these natives got too full of themselves and started costing the team, Nagumo wouldn't mind teaching them what the rules were first.
For now, though, their goals lined up, and the alliance more or less held.
Nagumo looked around at his own lineup.
Fūka Kiryūin had bought the Yamai sisters' spirit crystal and now commanded the power of storms — pair that with her original The World Stand and her Darkness Devil flesh fragment…
and her overall combat power wasn't even a step below his own.
The rest of the testers couldn't afford the top-tier gear that ran tens of thousands of points, but the older, budget-friendly equipment with absurd value-per-point? That they could buy.
Blank Card Boxes, Phantom Masks, Black Pot Armor, two-star Ultimate Uniforms, even Parasyte…
all of it good for a fast jump in immediate combat strength.
Add the free local firepower Granny Kaire and her people brought to the table, and Nagumo believed that once Kiriyama Ikuha's group entered the exam grounds and their two main forces merged, they would not be outclassed on raw strength — not even going toe to toe with Ainz Ooal Gown's Great Tomb of Nazarick.
The most pressing problem in front of them, though, was still how to formally trigger the exam so Kiriyama Ikuha and the others could get in.
The conditions for opening this exam were on the harsh side.
Either kill one of the Great Tomb's Floor Guardians, or… reduce the number of Intruder captured inside the Great Tomb to zero.
Neither one was something you achieved casually.
They could hardly have Granny Kaire order the already-controlled Shalltear to kill herself just to get the exam started.
That would be painfully short-sighted.
Shalltear was one of their trump cards against the Bone King.
So, on the way to the location where the controlled Shalltear was being held, Nagumo decided to have Akane Tachibana peel off a detachment of the Dark Shadow Legion, paired with several of the more agile students who held Blank Card Boxes and could slip through mirrors.
They'd infiltrate the Great Tomb and see if those unlucky Intruder could be pulled out.
And if they couldn't be saved…
then the Dark Shadow Legion would simply do the job themselves and put them down.
Because if you couldn't walk out of this place alive, then no matter how many S Points sat in your account, they meant nothing.
Nagumo had never believed that some unreachable future mattered more than keeping yourself breathing right now.
With Hiyori Shiina's team watching from a god's-eye view, playing it steady and moving only after the plan was set — that was the correct approach.
A pity Nagumo had no way of knowing better.
Given Ainz Ooal Gown's paranoia — a man who would out-scheme empty air — and the sheer depth of the Great Tomb of Nazarick's resources…
the truth was that a sudden strike while he was unprepared was the optimal path to clearing this exam.
Give the Bone King enough time to think…
and the difficulty of this exam would climb considerably.
Naturally, Chris — the hand behind all of it — had no intention of warning them.
He wasn't their babysitter.
He'd come here for one reason only: he didn't much care for Ainz Ooal Gown as a character, and he wanted to make the man's life difficult.
At most, if Nagumo's group truly botched it and stood on the edge of a wipe, he'd step in to save them.
The Black Sphere's rules included a "hidden score" penalty anyway.
Farm too many points in an exam ground that wasn't yours, and the system came down on you.
Chris could hide behind that reason and coast on the sidelines with a clear conscience, enjoying the show.
And so, when Chris turned his head and saw Hayasaka Ai and Kei Karuizawa descending into this world right on his heels, he set the tone immediately and without ceremony.
"Based on the intel Hiyori just relayed, the Mysterious Merchant for this upper-year exam isn't carrying any high-grade item I want."
"So if Amikura and Kei are still safe inside the Mirror World, there's no reason for us to burn time chasing down Nagumo's group."
He thought for a moment. "Mm… I never planned to farm points on this intrusion anyway. Breaking even on my stake is plenty."
"For the rest of this trip, I'm more interested in rescuing the Intruder."
He looked over at Hayasaka Ai. "If you want to use the chance to farm points and trade up for gear, then maybe tracking their position and linking up with the main force is the better call for you?"
Hayasaka Ai considered it for a moment, then shook her head without hesitation. "No need. We came in partway through, so we don't have much time left to begin with. Crossing a danger zone to chase an uncertain handful of points isn't a good trade."
More importantly than that —
Hayasaka had no spare life as a safety net right now.
The core objective in her mind would always be keeping herself alive.
However badly she wanted to return to her own world alive, to see Lady Kaguya and her mother again — none of that meant anything unless she survived.
Die here, and there was nothing left at all.
And as things stood, with Chris's strength and Chris's judgment, staying at his side was the highest survival rate available to her. By a wide margin.
Of course, if Hiyori Shiina and Amikura Mako, the two currently serving as eyes in the Mirror World, had already been dumped back into the real world, then the entire calculation would have to be thrown out and rebuilt.
In a completely unknown world, a large group moving together, watching each other's backs, really did live longer.
So Hayasaka Ai lifted her head and moved to confirm it. "The first priority is still nailing down Amikura and Karuizawa's exact situation —"
She never finished the sentence.
A voice very much like Hiyori's suddenly vibrated out of the air all around them.
"We're still here."
It was Hiyori Shiina's voice, no question about it.
"After you crossed the gate and left, the passage vanished, but we still weren't force-ejected from the Mirror World."
"No idea whether this world's rules just allow us to stay, or whether it's because Chris-kun spent extra S Points opening the passage and they left us a back door for it…"
"Either way, staying put should be fine for now."
Kei Karuizawa let out a breath, then asked with careful attention, "Then why did it take you so long to contact us? Did the Mirror World spawn more mirror beasts?"
"Is Musou Dragon's group back?"
Hiyori Shiina answered at once, denying it. "It's not mirror beasts…"
"It's because you didn't choose to teleport into the area where President Nagumo's group is. I was searching for their position so I could relay intel to you, and…"
"I stumbled across traces of Yotsuya Miko and the others. Confirming what I was looking at is what cost the time."
Chris pressed his lips together and picked up the thread. "What's their situation over there?"
Hiyori Shiina paused, and her tone turned faintly odd.
"According to Nanase, they were… admired? By the Hell Lord?"
"So after it caught them, that monster decided to torture their souls separately, and it isolated them from the rest."
"And it was exactly because they got set aside like that that they lucked into triggering the exam's completion mechanism."
"But since the only ones set aside and isolated at the time were those few of them… the only ones pulled out of the instance were those few of them. The rest of our classmates, the other Intruder, they —"
Chris nodded, his eyes narrowing. "Given the state of things at that point, the planet was about to blow… anyone surviving at all is already a miracle."
"Right — you said you found their position. Where exactly are they now?"
Hiyori Shiina's voice drifted out of empty air. "Let me see…"
"Somewhere on the outer edge of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, more or less…"
____
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