“Hahaha! I can’t believe it! This is amazing! Who would have thought?”

Zack was laughing while eating some boar meat. The others were all there, but Zack seemed to be having the most fun.

“Whatever, you have to do the least out of all of us here, so shut up. My fire magic is certainly leveling up, but I fear that I may weaken my strength as a result.”

“Then just practice your strength more than before. That was how I did it with my magic after learning the sword.”

“Oh well, if I need to, then Abigail can just help me out.”

Abigail and Yidris let the guys talk, but they were too busy setting up for when their dinner break ended. They had decided to take a lunch break, a mid-evening break, and a dinner break. This was the last break of the night, and the group was about ready to fall down. They had to buy more mana potions, which were expensive. However, they could now have three groups at once, which meant that they were buying more than they expected. This also meant the money they earned was enough to counteract it.

But to be constantly using magic like this, it was no surprise when Nolan managed to get to the next level. Everyone looked on in envy and awe, but they had to admit that Nolan was doing the most this time.

>>><<<

The night ended and the next day began with some bad news.

“I apologize, but we are out of mana potions.”

“My bad, I sold out just last night.”

“Oops, a pretty girl already took all that I had.”

It would seem someone was trying to sabotage the maze. Oh well. Then they could only go for one maze run that day. Then, something snapped into place in his head.

>>><<<

Bailey and Tetra came to see what the big commotion was all about. The maze had remained close all morning, but there was a sign that said, ‘come noon, a huge scene will unfurl.’ Yidris wasn’t at the front, and the opening to the maze was closed off. It was just before the appointed time, so they couldn’t wait to see what was going on.

“Nice, it looks like this will be the only time they go through. Good going, Tetra.”

“Whatever. If the player did nothing to help their club, then the regular group to win would be my very own magic exploration club. This much is necessary.”

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“Well, my cooking club seems to be a close second with my help.”

Tetra looked over with a glare.

“You shouldn’t be bringing over modern foods just to win a small festival prize.”

“But with this, I can get my ingredients at half off!”

Tetra sighed and returned to the maze.

“Enough, it looks like the door is opening.”

Indeed, the wall that was the entrance gave way to a large hall with what appeared to be a glass wall on one side. They looked into a terribly dark room and it was difficult to see. Then, once everyone entered the maze, the door closed itself, locking them in.

“Hehehehe, welcome, everyone. I hope you are enjoying the festivities. I am Nolan! The one who pretty much had complete control over this project! I want to thank everyone for spending their well-earned money on us and I hope you can give us some donations! Hahaha! But first, you came to see some scary stuff, right? RIGHT?”

Some people said yes in response, but the other room was still dark. Even though movement could be seen, they didn’t know what was going on. Then, the lights brightened, revealing a horrific scene.

Yidris was lying on the ground with a vacant and unmoving expression. That was because her lower half was gone, replaced with a gory scene of her waist and lower body being ripped to shreds. Zack was in the corner tied up and hanging upside down while slowly being lowered into a spinning blade.

Even a blackened and shriveled corpse was on the ground, surrounded by scorch marks.

“YOU BASTARD!”

Everyone looked over to see a wide-eyed and creepy Nolan wearing a fake smile that stretched from ear to ear. Before him was Bucco tied to a chair and tears streaming down his face.

“You killed Abigail and Yidris! You monster!”

“Ahahaha! Whatever it takes for the money, right? We are trying our hardest to win, after all! HahahaHAHAHA!”

And with a flash, and a sword was sticking out of Bucco’s chest. He coughed up red liquid and remained still. Then Nolan sent a flick of his wrist and the chain holding the unconscious Zack was broken, sending him to the blade and ripping him to pieces. Blood and meat splattered everywhere, making several of the onlookers vomit. In fact, many people had already emptied their stomachs. It was too gruesome and realistic.

No, was it real? Nolan seemed a little crazy.

Tetra was appalled.

“What are you doing?! Just because you wanted to win that badly, why?!”

“We need to do something so amazing, you guys spend money, right? However…someone messed with our supplies. We had to take drastic measures, of course. Isn’t that right, guys? Oh…yeah…they’re dead. Oops.”

Then Nolan shrugged and stared hard at Tetra.

“Hmmm…so, everyone, line up to pay!”

“We’re not paying for this, this is terrible! Call the guards!”

“I want my mommy!”

“This is extortion!”

“Oh, but you all wanted to see our maze. You wanted to be scared. You got that. Now pay up. Then I can let you out. Oh, and don’t forget, we accept donations, too!”

Nolan winked at the crowd and laughed loudly, holding his hands on his hips. He seemed so…unnatural, it was scary. The normal Nolan was always quiet looking and acting, not sticking out with his behavior, but with his choice of actions.

“Tetra, what have we done?!”

“Calm down, Bailey, we can think of something.”

“But they’re dead! And…are we next?”

Someone heard Bailey and went mad.

“I want out! I don’t want to die!”

“Aah! Mommy! Daddy!”

“Ugh…*thud*”

People started to collapse in fear as Nolan slowly walked to the window-like wall.

And press his hand onto the glass.

And reach out to the crowd.

There was no glass. There was no obstacle between them.

It was unknown who ran first.