Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos
chapter-1726

While Quant was, very quickly, making his way up the spiral stairwell, a feat that earned him quite a bit of fanfare from the Regulars who had yet to participate; a young man with light-blue hair could be seen exiting a blue Lighthouse that had been hovering just above the bridge leading to the exit. This was none other than Khun, and, had there been no rule requiring their 'it' to be a Fisherman, it would have been very easy for him to finish the test.

Since he was the one keeping track of all his allies' movements, Khun knew just when he should exit his Lighthouse to avoid unnecessary suspicion. As for why anyone would be suspicious of him, well, it stood to reason that; if he was able to reach this point so quickly, his 'it' would have been able to do much the same. Instead, he had everyone lay in ambush before splitting his team into multiple defensive lines, even going so far as to have Anak participate in the ambush just to throw everyone off.

If he were being honest, Khun had lost his fondness for tricking people in order to further his goals. His meeting with Baam had slowly started to change something deep inside of him, and, though he found the boy 'painfully naive' at times, Khun felt like his enigmatic friend was something the Tower desperately needed. Because of this, he did not hesitate to betray the team he had been carelessly assigned by the Admins, as, in his mind, Team A was not his 'real' team.

While making a mental note to provide parting gifts to all the Regulars he was bound to fail, Khun turned his attention to the final flight of stairs leading from the elevator to the bridge. It was a total of one-kilometer long, and, though it wasn't that difficult to scale, the Shinsu density inside made it hard for people to breathe. As a result, Anak, despite her superhuman physique, emerged from the corridor with matted hair and beads of sweat rolling down her face.

Seeing Khun standing at the entrance to the bridge, Anak took a moment to bend over, hands on her knees as she fought for breath for one of the first times in her life. Then, after wiping the sweat from her brow, she asked, "What are you doing here? Why did you and the bagworm disappear at the start of the test?"

Though Anak wasn't the brightest among the Regulars, she hadn't evaded the Jahad Empire for more than three-hundred-years without acquiring the ability to sense when something was amiss. She also knew Khun's character after observing him over the past month, so, while she didn't say anything during the planning phase, she knew he was up to something.

Since there were currently no eyes on them, Khun decided it would be prudent of him to be honest with the distrustful Princess across from him. She had a close relationship with Phae and Gandr, two of the people paramount to his plans of climbing the Tower. Thus, even if she was bound to cause him a number of headaches, Khun didn't want to upset the girl and give her a reason to go against him in the future.

After quickly organizing his thoughts, Khun adopted a serious yet sincere look as he asserted, "I'm doing everything in my power to guarantee all our 'friends' are able to move up the Tower. You can beat me up all you want later, but, at least for the time being, please trust me. I might not be a nice person, but, no matter what, I would never betray the people I care about..."

Hearing Khun's 'heartfelt' words, Anak got the impression he wasn't being completely honest with her. Fortunately for the youth, Phae had mentioned him when discussing people she should be able to trust. Though she was far from that point, Anak had already decided she would climb the Tower alongside Phae and Gandr. Khun happened to be on friendly terms with both of them, so, even if she didn't truly trust him, she could tolerate him at the behest of people she 'did' trust.

Before Anak could voice her affirmation, Khun's expression paled slightly as he said, "Everyone else has already been taken out. Please, Anak, there is no time...!"

Though she really hated being yelled at, Anak just snorted through her nose one last time before crossing her arms and saying, "You owe me an explanation later...if I don't like what you have to say, I'll make you spend the next fifty years as my punching bag..."

With Nare being the last among the Regulars, Quant just stared blankly at the crying girl hugging the jar containing her pet Shinheuh. He could hear Lero-Ro and the other Admins making fun of him for bullying a little kid through the invisible red Lighthouse that had been following him since the start of the test. Because of this, he ultimately released a sigh before rubbing his forehead and saying, "I'll admit, you really know how to turn on the waterworks when you're trying to buy time..."

Hearing her Instructor's remark, Nare immediately stopped crying before poking her tongue out and remarking, "What else can I do? Great Teacher Quant is just too amazing-"

Having wasted too much time already, Quant just shook his head one last time before saying, "You won't be able to pass through the 20th Floor like this...". Immediately after that, his figure seemed to vanish into thin air, this time without creating a shockwave and a sonic boom. In his wake, a very downtrodden Nare could be seen sullenly staring at the adorable creature curled up inside the pot, her voice somewhat pouty as she muttered, "As long as I can make enough money to be happy, it doesn't matter where I stop..."

Unaware of the youthful-looking woman's utterance, Quant reached the same stretch of stairs that had fatigued Anak. This was a place even he couldn't tread carelessly, as, without Shinsu to protect the body, moving quickly through such areas could, quite literally, lead to death. Simply moving at the speed of sound within normal Shinsu required you to effectively tear through 5000kgs of force acting on your body. Going twice that speed quadrupled the amount of force, so, when Quant was pacing himself around Mach 2, he had to overcome close to 20,000kgs of drag force, a difficult feat without the aid of Shinsu.

Gritting his teeth, Quant lowered his center of gravity as much as possible, arms streaming behind him in order to reduce as much drag as possible. This was one of the only times he was grateful to have a small body, as, by reducing his profile as much as possible, he could effectively limit the amount of force acting on his body by up to 30%. This was also one of the reasons his hair stuck straight up, as, whenever he ran at supersonic speeds, it was like having the world's most powerful hairdryer blowing in your face...

After a very brief moment of hesitation, Quant managed to clear the 1km long stretch of stairs in just under five seconds. He could have gone even faster, but, much like a person falling from a great height and hitting the surface of a lake, entering denser fields of Shinsu from sparser regions required a slower transition if you wanted to avoid having skin and flesh ripped from your bones...

Inhaling a breath of fresh air, Quant adopted a relaxed stance as he looked down the long bridge, expecting to see Anak's figure in the distance. Instead, he found Khun smiling at him from a few hundred meters away, a fact that instantly soured his mood.

With a smile that wasn't quite a smile, Quant made his way over to the exiled member of the Khun Family, asking, "So, where's the lizard? What kind of game are you trying to play?"

Though he was speaking casually, Quant was also looking around the area for even the smallest trace of a clue. He wasn't the Scout Instructor for no reason, so, even without Khun answering, he could intuit a lot of things just by looking around. If he hadn't already used up his single Baang of Shinsu, he would even be able to see invisible objects and track life signs within a three-kilometer radius.

Having noticed what Quant was trying to do, Khun's smile became slightly more prominent as he shrugged his shoulders and teasingly remarked, "I'm afraid the princess is in another castle~."

Feeling like the nerve in his left brow had been poked by an electrode, Quant's eye began to twitch, his smile becoming slightly vicious as he said, "Unless you want me to kick you off this platform, tell me what I want to know."

Acting as if he was buying time, Khun chuckled lightly in response to Quant's threat before casually replying, "It's true. Anak never came this way. Our plan was to have her trigger the elevator without actually riding up it. She was told to wait until you began chasing after the rest of our team before sneaking to the first-floor exit. I imagine we'll be hearing the Director call an end to the test any moment now~?"

Though the plan Khun mentioned actually had a high chance of working, Quant could tell the boy was lying. Rather, it almost seemed like the young scion was suggesting that he had any number of ways to complete the test. The fact he was here on the bridge was a testament to the fact he could sneakily move himself, and, by proxy, other people around. Despite this, the test had yet to come to an end, so, even if he wasn't able to see through the man's intentions, Quant could tell he was up to something.

After thinking through the various possibilities, Quant's glower gradually relaxed as he walked over to the edge of the bridge and peered over the side. Then, with a teasing tone to his voice, he asked, "So, you're trying to get me to jump down...is that it? Too bad for you, brat. As a Scout, I have a habit of reading up on all the students. You know what they say, knowledge is power, yadda yadda. What I'm trying to say is that I've read your file. I know you can control two Lighthouses. Mind telling me where you've hidden your other one...?"

Though his expression didn't change much, the color began to slowly drain from Khun's face as he replied, "My teammate, Laure, wanted to use it in order to block out the sounds of fighting. He has been sleeping in the Safe Area this-"

Before Khun could finish, Quant grabbed him by the wrist, his grip stronger than a vice as he said, "I see. Well, it's too late for me to catch up with the lizard so how about we drop down to have a little talk with that friend of yours? I'm not fond of people who slack off while their teammates are doing everything they can to try and pass. Before this test is over, I'll make sure to educate both of you on how to properly work as a team~."

Without waiting for Khun to respond, Quant pulled him over the side of the bridge, smiling as he added, "Who knows, maybe a certain lizard will make an appearance on our way down...?"

Quant was pretty confident that Anak was lying in wait beneath the bridge using Khun's Lighthouse as a platform. She was most likely exhausted after running through the Shinsu passage, and, based on Khun's behavior, it was clear he was stalling for time. Though Quant didn't understand why Khun hadn't incorporated another strategy to ensure victory, it didn't really matter so long as he was able to expose the young scion's plot.

As could be expected, Quant quickly sensed another presence within the darkness, but, before he could further goad his captive, Khun surprised him by breaking free of his grasp. He noticed a thin piece of fabric glistening in his hand, it's appearance resembling the wings of a cicada. This caused his expression to darken considerably but not nearly as much as when a leather strep suddenly appeared in the boy's hand, its length attached to a Pulley that quickly lifted the Lighthouse containing Anak to the bridge's surface...

Though he was 'forbidden' from outright killing the Regulars during the test, that didn't stop Quant from loudly shouting, "I'm going to fucking barbeque you, you asshole...!" at the top of his receding voice.

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Bagworm (>,...,<)...','Loli used Crocodile Tears! It was not very effective...','The birth of the Blue-Haired Devil...?')