2.

My fear was that the initiate wouldn’t return for a few hours. May wouldn’t stay awake for that long. Neither would I. So, we had chosen to repeatedly squeeze each other’s arms to make sure the other was still awake. That precaution wasn’t needed. The door opened barely a quarter of an hour after we decided to hide.

I startled a little. I hadn’t heard the student ascend the staircase at all. Still, I squeezed May. She squeezed back.

Good. A new wave of adrenaline chased away my sleep, and I closed my eyes, honing all my attention on the sounds they were making. Their steps may be silent. But I could listen for a pause in the usage of objects, any giveaway that they were aware that they weren’t alone or that something was off.

Something hard fell on the floor, I heard the sloshing of water, and the drawer screeched open. The motion was fluid. They began writing in their journal immediately. Some time later, they stopped, dropped something in the bookcase, then strode towards the bed on May’s side. I glanced at the floor, where the light of the lantern on the initiate’s desk barely reached. My heart went still.

Their robes were on the floor. May must’ve dropped it there after she finished her inspection, but they had been on the bed. Next to me, May’s breathing paused. She had become a part of the darkness so utterly that I could not separate her figure from the shadows.

The initiate reached down. The moment passed slowly, and my lungs crawled deeper into my chest. Would they notice…?

A basket whipped from side to side, breaking the tension, and a new pair of robes took the place of the old one on the ground. A strong, earthy smell crawled underneath the bed with us, and the bed creaked as a weight came to rest on top of it.

All turned quiet.

I slowly recovered my regular breathing pattern. One wrong move or indiscriminate noise was all it took. A sneeze, because of all the dust, or fart would do the job.

May and I waited, continuing our squeezing. We waited long after the initiate stopped tossing and turning, then I signalled for us to go. May stilled for a moment, but then she moved.

I took care not to bump into anything as I rose from beneath the bed like a metaphorical monster. Looming over the student, I paused, searching the darkness for their frame and where their throat would be.

Then I paused to allow May to catch up. She was a lot slower on the rise because of her wound—

Glass trembled on the floor as May bumped into something. The initiate shot up immediately. My dagger found their throat at the same time, and I grabbed onto their arm, using the small trickle of maura that I had regenerated over time to strengthen my grip and push them down.

‘Don’t move,’ I said.

A silent moment.

‘Millicent?’

A male’s voice, and an older one at that. Using maura had been the right choice.

‘There’s no need for this,’ he said, rushed and afraid. ‘I already said I would share the rewards.’

‘There’s an oil lantern here,’ May said.

Though she was doing her best to sound loud and strong, it wasn’t really working.

The lantern must’ve been what she bumped into. I considered using it but decided against it.

‘I like the darkness just fine,’ I said.

Leave the speaking to me, I added silently.

I lightly pressed the dagger against his skin.

‘We have some question for you. First. What’s your name?’

He sighed.

‘So, you’re not Millicent. Thank God. It’s Taran Oguri.’

Inspect.

[Name: Taran Oguri - Rank: E]

E rank, huh. More than a year in this place, and he was only E rank? One of the rejects. Must be.

I nodded before realising he couldn’t see me in the dark.

‘You’re an older initiate aren’t you?’ I said. ‘How long have you been here?’

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

‘Since the last batch of students joined the academy. Did you arrive with the new group?’

That meant he had been here for at least three years, not one. My nose turned up. Three years just to achieve E rank, and he was trekking through the forest at night by himself? I didn’t like the taste of those thoughts. It could be his silent steps that allowed it, but I doubted it was just that.

‘Your notes talked about a secret entrance,’ I said, ignoring his question. ‘Where does it lead?’

He didn’t like that question. I could tell from the way his shoulder pulsed underneath my fingers.

‘Another hideout,’ he said after a moment of silence. ‘This one’s compromised, as you know.’

Without thinking, I increased the strength behind the knife.

‘That’s a lie. I’ll slit your throat on the next one.’

I heard May’s breath hitch on the other side of the bed. It was a complete guess on my part, going off May’s potentially faulty translation of the entrance as a dungeon. But delay and doubt were the enemy.

My guess paid off. He sighed again. Deeper this time.

‘You may not be her, but you’re like her. It’s a dungeon. I found it deeper in the cavern.’

A dungeon. So, there were dungeons on the island? It made sense. Dungeons existed in the outside world, too. They were separate dimensions that held monsters and incredible rewards, which could make a hunter stronger. Clearing them was difficult, though.

‘You lack the strength to finish it yourself?’ I asked.

For the twentieth time in a row, my subconscious questioned why he was by himself—

‘It requires two physiques of S rank just to open the gate,’ he said.

—and more alarm bells couldn’t physically go off in my head at that answer.

‘Of the Basic Body Enhancement skill?’ I said, voice cool despite the muscles on my forearm trembling.

‘Yes.’

So, he was alone? Is that why he couldn’t open the gate? I pursed my lips. I had nothing to go off of…but I had to keep the questions going, or I risked losing momentum.

‘The initials underneath the sign on the front,’ I said. ‘What do they stand for?’

My brain offered me an angle, and I thanked it.

‘Saar Karga. He’s the expedition professor of the academy…you two are new, right? Look. I don’t know how you found this place so quickly or what you’re doing outside, but there’s no need for this. Your friend is injured, isn’t she?’

I frowned, and my hand jerked.

He noticed.

‘It’s from the inspect skill. It will level as you use it. Listen, I’ll let you both join me in the dungeon. You can even stay here till you’re better. What you say? Just put down the knife.’

A sweet undercurrent had entered his voice. One that promised safety. The minute shaking in my forearm stopped, and he tried to lift his arm and reach for my dagger. Don’t Hesitate—

I pushed his arm down.

‘Not yet,’ I said.

The strength in my muscles returned. Something’s off, I thought. He tried something just now. I had no way of knowing but I knew it. My thoughts started spinning.

Three years and an E rank. Was that all you needed to survive in the wilds outside the academy? At his level he should not have many abilities, yet monsters were naturally stronger than hunters. That, and we met a D rank on our first day here. Did he hide in this cave the entire time?

No. I was starting to believe he was really alone, which meant he only recently discovered the dungeon. Finding a second person to open the gate didn’t take three years. Especially not if there were older students on the island.

Then, there were his quiet steps. I stopped myself from huffing. This was not a shark like I had initially feared but a different creature altogether.

‘The pouches in the bookcase,’ I said. There was no bodily reaction to gauge this time. ‘Where did you get them?’

‘You see my rank,’ he chuckled. ‘I scavenge the woods for unfortunate students. That’s how I survived all this time.’

If the shame in his voice was false, he was doing a good job at faking it.

Unfortunate students, I thought. Students like May and I, who were on our last legs—on our last spurt of energy—and would be at his mercy once we let up.

I hummed. There’s no way I would catch him in a lie like this. I needed something closer to home. Something I had an inclination of myself, so I could lure him like I thought May had been doing to me at the start of this day.

An angle popped into my head.

‘May. Light the lantern, please,’ I said.

A pause. Then, a snap, and the wick lighted, chasing away the shadows.

Taran’s face was devoid of angles. Chubby is what I would call him. Too fat for someone surviving off scraps like he was implying. His taller stature definitely supported his theoretical age, though.

The nerves visible beneath his skin settled a little as he became more assured of his approaching freedom.

‘May,’ I said, glancing to the side on purpose. ‘Is that water next to the desk?’

I had heard it slosh before.

She angled the lantern and stepped closer.

I did not miss how closely Taran eyed May’s limp and bandages as she did.

‘It is,’ she said.

‘I’m parched,’ I said, making it sound like a true complaint.

The chubby initiate smiled, revealing yellow teeth mixed with white ones.

‘Of course. I don’t mind sharing.’

I nodded. Carefully, I eased up on the pressure. But not fully.

‘We would need more than that, I think.’ I turned towards May. ‘May needs to rehydrate badly. Her wound also needs to be cleaned. We had no time to stop earlier, but is the water in the lake at the entrance safe to use?’

I watched his facial expression so closely that I nearly peered through his face and into his core. Everything inside me told me those waters were not safe. If he lied here, I would catch it.

A glint rushed over his pupils, almost too fast for me to catch. Almost.

‘Yes, it is. We can go together if you want—’

My mother’s quote echoed in my head, and a butcher’s practised hands slit his throat.

There was confusion in his gaze at first. Like his brain was registering what was happening. He gurgled and wanted to fall back on the bed. I stopped him and threw him off to the side.

I quickly reached for his dirty robes and placed them underneath him to stop the blood from getting everywhere.

May had gone completely still. I could not read what she was thinking, but she was unable to wrench her eyes off the boy as he bled to death.

‘Were you certain he was a threat?’ she whispered. Quietly, so as to not disturb the dead.

‘No,’ I said. ‘It was an intuition.’

But it was either us or him if I was right.

‘You’ll go to hell if you were wrong,’ May whispered.

On a whim, I inspected his corpse again.

[Name: Felix Lee. Rank: D]

‘He’ll have enough time to prepare before I meet him there,’ I said.

I faced May.

‘I’ll dump him in the lake. Go and rest.’