Episode 25. The Minotaur in the Labyrinth
"Ah, it's bright."
After escaping the dimly lit, dungeon-style labyrinth, his eyes couldn't adjust and protested with stinging pain.
"Come over here."
Sylvia pulled Binaeril toward the shade.
"Where is this?"
Gently opening his eyes, the scenery of the second location came into view.
First to catch the eye were white marble columns, and a domed ceiling with light pouring down through holes punctured here and there.
And a large rectangular floor made of worn marble, just like the columns.
"Is it some kind of temple? It looks old."
The sparsely scattered columns throughout the space stood broken or chipped, supporting nothing.
"Is this also a maze?"
"It's wide open on all sides; what kind of maze is it? To me, it looks like some kind of stadium."
Sylvia, hearing the quip, narrowed her eyes and glared at Binaeril.
"Let's look around the area for now."
Still, the fortunate thing was that all three had been moved to the same space.
The three decided to scatter and check if there were any passages connecting somewhere.
"...Nothing over here."
"Blocked here too."
"Here as well."
The domed space had no paths leading to the surface, at least.
"Don't tell me we have to go up there?"
"Where? Through those holes?"
But while there were broken holes in the ceiling letting sunlight seep through, they looked too narrow for a person to pass.
"If we just use magic, there's nowhere we can't climb, though."
Binaeril tried chanting a simple spell as a test.
"Oh, it works."
Unlike the labyrinth, this place didn't seem to have a mana prohibition.
"Wait! There's something in the center here?"
Sylvia grabbed Binaeril, who had been trying to check the holes in the ceiling.
She was right.
In the very center of the rectangular floor lay something made of a material different from marble.
"You're right. It was next to where the light fell, so I missed it."
"What is this? A statue?"
Looking closely, it was a head.
A statue in the shape of a severed bull's head, the kind one might offer on an altar to the gods.
"This, it seems to be embedded? It won't come off."
Sylvia, touching the head this way and that, tried to lift it but failed.
The statue's head wasn't broken off from somewhere; it was firmly embedded as if carved from the floor itself.
"Something feels ominous."
Binaeril grabbed Rike's shoulder and quietly stepped back.
Since ancient times, hadn't taxidermies and statues been the protagonists of countless tales where they attacked intruders?
"It feels like something's about to rise up, doesn't it?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying."
"If it's a sculpture of a bull, what were they trying to make?"
"There's a classic trope that appears at times like this."
A legendary monster that devoured people with overwhelming strength.
The very trial the three friends had passed through was the perfect backdrop for this monster to appear.
"The Minotaur in the Labyrinth."
And the statue's eyes began to gleam.
Dean Yulio had come to the Tower Master's room.
With the Scala exam marking the end, a semester at Elfenbain was almost over.
The Tower Master did not involve herself in general administration, including faculty meetings, instead conveying her opinions to a representative.
He had come here today for that very reason.
"Then the rest will proceed as in previous years."
The Tower Master's veil shook slightly. Based on experience, Dean Yulio knew she had nodded.
"You must be tired from the Scala matter; this conversation has gone on too long."
"It's fine. Drink all your tea before you leave."
The Scala exam was not held inside Elfenbain.
The virtual enemies, virtual spaces, and virtual exam that the candidates underwent were all the work of Tower Master Elfenbain.
Even a mage of Dean Yulio's caliber couldn't fathom how much complex imagination and mana were needed to manifest something on that scale.
"Besides, things are quite interesting right now."
The Tower Master let out a low laugh.
"Are you quite interested in those children, Binaeril and the others?"
"How could I not be? A girl with the Mystic Eyes possessed of healing talent, a warrior without equal in close combat, and a mage with mana like a bottomless spring. Isn't it a perfect combination?"
Dean Yulio felt pleased at the generous praise for his students.
"Heh heh. Still, the Scala exam is taken individually, after all. I'm a bit worried that even one of them might give up."
"No. The three of them are taking it together."
"Yes? Together?"
"Didn't I say they bear joint responsibility? To do that, they naturally have to take it together."
Dean Yulio had misunderstood the meaning of the "joint exam" she had spoken of.
"Ah, so they aren't just sharing the outcome, but actually cooperating during the exam itself?"
The Tower Master nodded.
A question arose in Dean Yulio's mind.
Even if the first and third Scala exams were one thing, wouldn't the difficulty of the second exam be too low if they worked together?
"Isn't the second exam against a mid-sized monster? If the three cooperate, it seems like it would become too easy."
In fact, Binaeril already had a record of hunting a Dire Wolf alone.
"So I raised the difficulty a bit."
"What monster did you send them against?"
"A Minotaur."
"Mino... yes?"
Dean Yulio wondered if he had misheard.
And he sprang up from his seat.
The Minotaur in the Labyrinth, this monster was a large-class beast that even several veteran mages had to cooperate to subdue, not something for students.
"This is absurd!"
The Tower Master replied in a calm tone.
"Don't worry. It's not a real monster, but a replica made from a gargoyle. They won't lose their lives."
"No, but even so."
Wasn't it too much for students who hadn't even become proper mages yet?
No matter how he thought about it, it was an opponent that the three couldn't handle with their current skills alone.
But before Dean Yulio could voice his complaints, the Tower Master cut the argument short.
"Dean. Believe in your students. The three of them are enough to handle one. I have great expectations for them."
With the Tower Master taking such a firm stance, Dean Yulio was left speechless.
It was true that there was realistically no support he could offer students who had already entered the exam.
In a voice too small for the mage sitting across from her to hear, the Tower Master whispered her expectations.
"Especially for that boy."
Unlike Binaeril's situation, Elfenbain Tower was silent.
The tea on the table was growing cold.
When the creature began to awaken, it felt as if the entire space was vibrating.
No, it actually was.
The Minotaur statue, which had only exposed its head, began pulling its massive body up from the ground.
"Gwoooooar!"
"Get back!"
Even before Binaeril could warn them, Sylvia had already kicked off from her spot. It was a swift reaction.
He had expected it to some degree even when there was only the head, but for an exam trial, this felt excessive.
Binaeril lowered his stance, collected himself, and waited for the Minotaur's body to be pulled up.
It twisted its neck to pull out a shoulder, then one arm, then the other arm, coming out more and more, increasingly...
"Damn it, how much more of it is there?"
He knew from class how large large-class monsters were, but facing one in person, its majesty was incomparable.
It felt like it was taking several minutes for the entire body to emerge.
"Shouldn't we attack first?"
"Well, we don't know if we have to subdue it or not, so shouldn't we wait and see?"
"With something like that appearing, if we don't subdue it, what are we supposed to do?"
"M-maybe it'll suddenly give us a quiz or something..."
"Lady Sylvia, do you think that makes sense?"
This time, Rike was right. It would be better to attack first rather than wait.
Binaeril borrowed Veritas's mana and began sharpening his imagination keenly.
Though he could use magic freely without chanting, spellcasting through chanting was definitely still superior in terms of power and stability.
"A sharp blade that cleaves steel, unfold from my fingertips."
It was a slashing spell. Binaeril swung the chanted magic toward the Minotaur's shoulder.
Clang!
The recoil from his hands was enough to push Binaeril back two or three steps.
"It's completely unharmed?"
Not a single scratch marked the Minotaur's body.
It wasn't a statue merely imitating the form; it seemed to replicate the monster's durability exactly.
The Minotaur didn't even turn to look at Binaeril. It was still in the process of pulling out its half-emerged body.
"I'll try. A light wind dwelling in my feet. The strength of a fire god dwelling in both arms."
Sylvia chanted the two types of strengthening magic she frequently used.
Binaeril watched to see if she had any clever tricks up her sleeve.
Sylvia's actions were simple.
She kicked off a diagonally tilted marble column and soared high into the air,
then brought her heel down on the Minotaur's head with her full weight behind it.
"Dieee!"
Along with a rather forceful battle cry.
The sound alone was like a thunderous clang of a hammer striking.
Sylvia performed a splendid somersault in midair and landed facing backward.
"It doesn't look fazed at all?"
"Still, it looked back at me."
The Minotaur turned its head toward the back of its skull where it had been hit, snorted, then planted both arms on the ground again.
Now its knees were out, its entire body nearly free.
"Attacking blindly is meaningless. We need a plan."
"It's stupidly tough. This is just a student exam? What do we do?"
"Um, shall I drop it back into the floor?"
Sylvia and Binaeril turned to Rike.
She had once put the two of them in a situation similar to this Minotaur in Elfenbain's plaza.
If they couldn't deal damage, neutralizing it first was the priority.
"Good idea, Rike."
"But it takes a lot of mana, so it'll take some time."
"I'll draw its attention."
"Then I'll support Sylvia."
Just like that, their roles were divided in an instant.
"Eden."
Binaeril called out the spirit within his ring.
"Keep that thing from coming out; pull it down from below."
Eden nodded with a determined expression, then dove into the ground and vanished.
"Ha! Cha! Yah! Ha!"
Sylvia began repeating her earlier downward strikes, hammering at the Minotaur's head.
Meanwhile, Binaeril pondered what magic to use.
'If the goal isn't to wound and kill, then for now... like this.'
"Spreading cold shall freeze all things."
"Ung?"
First, he froze the ground where the Minotaur had planted its arms, making it slippery.
Meanwhile, Eden pulled up on the area where the Minotaur was buried, restraining it.
And followed by Binaeril's next chant.
"You stupid bull head, bow down."
After visualizing the image, he couldn't think of a suitable chant.
So Binaeril just chanted whatever words came to mind.
It was magic meant to press down on its arms and shoulders, but since he was applying force over a wide area, it didn't seem very effective.
Binaeril slightly modified the spell's range to press down on the Minotaur's head.
"Kwoooong!"
It was a success.
The creature's head kept being forced downward as if something were pressing on it.
While they were buying time like that, Rike was faithfully carrying out her assigned role as well.
'I don't need it as wide as last time. Just enough for the body to sink. As narrow and deep as possible...'
Limiting the scope of her imagination, she chanted her spell.