Morning sunlight spilled across the eastern training grounds.
Unlike ordinary classes...
Every first-year student had been summoned.
More than a hundred students stood in orderly rows, each wearing their academy combat uniform.
The atmosphere was tense.
No one knew what today’s assessment would be.
Noah stood beside Eric, Luna, Sophia, and Damien.
Eric looked around nervously.
"...Why does this feel like we’re about to be executed?"
Luna smirked.
"Because you didn’t eat breakfast again."
"I was nervous."
"You’ll be hungry and nervous."
Professor Ingrid stood before the students.
Beside her were Professor Astrid and several instructors carrying clipboards.
The Headmaster wasn’t present.
At least...
Not where anyone could see him.
Professor Ingrid stepped forward.
"Today’s assessment has only one purpose."
She paused.
"To determine leadership."
Whispers immediately spread through the crowd.
"Every squad will receive an official leader."
"That leader is responsible for mission decisions."
"Formation."
"Retreat."
"Resource management."
"And if necessary..."
"...the lives of every member."
The whispers stopped.
Leadership suddenly sounded much heavier.
Professor Ingrid continued.
"So tell me..."
"What makes a leader?"
A student immediately raised his hand.
"The strongest person."
Ingrid shook her head.
"No."
Another answered.
"The smartest."
"No."
"The most talented."
"No."
She looked across the crowd.
"Anyone else?"
Noah slowly raised his hand.
Professor Ingrid pointed at him.
"Blackwood."
Noah answered carefully.
"...Someone others are willing to follow."
For several seconds...
Professor Ingrid simply looked at him.
Then...
She nodded.
"Correct."
"Leadership cannot be assigned by strength alone."
"It is earned."
She clapped once.
The ground beneath the students rumbled.
RUMBLE...
Large stone walls began rising from beneath the earth.
Within moments...
A massive maze stood before the first-years.
Thirty-foot walls.
Countless intersections.
Watchtowers overlooking every corridor.
Students stared in disbelief.
"They built that underground?"
"Since when?"
Professor Ingrid smiled faintly.
"The maze has existed longer than this academy."
"You simply never noticed it."
Several instructors opened the entrance gates.
Inside...
Nothing could be seen beyond the first corner.
Professor Astrid finally spoke.
"The assessment is simple."
"You will enter in your assigned squads."
"Reach the central tower."
"Retrieve your squad flag."
"Return."
Eric raised his hand.
"...What’s the catch?"
Astrid answered without hesitation.
"There are other squads."
The realization spread instantly.
"It’s a race?"
Professor Ingrid corrected him.
"No."
"It’s an exercise."
"If another squad takes your flag..."
"You fail."
Students immediately looked at one another.
Friendly classmates only moments ago...
Now potential opponents.
Professor Ingrid folded her arms.
"There are rules."
"No lethal force."
"No crippling injuries."
"No destroying the maze."
She looked directly at one student.
"...Yes, Victor."
A lazy voice answered from the second-year observation platform.
"I wasn’t planning to."
The second-years burst into laughter.
Noah frowned.
"Second-years?"
Professor Astrid noticed.
"They’re observing."
"They’re not allowed to interfere."
A horn echoed across the training grounds.
The assessment was about to begin.
Each squad moved toward a different entrance.
Squad Seven stood before Gate Seven.
Eric rolled his shoulders.
"So..."
"Captain."
Noah sighed.
"I’m not the leader."
"Not officially."
Eric grinned.
"Yet."
Damien stepped closer.
"We should decide formations now."
Sophia nodded.
"I’ll stay in the center."
"Luna can scout."
"I’ll guard the rear."
Eric pointed at himself.
"I’ll take the front."
Everyone instinctively looked at Noah.
He noticed.
"...What?"
Damien answered calmly.
"They’re waiting."
"For what?"
"Your decision."
Noah remained silent for several moments.
Then...
He shook his head.
"No."
Everyone blinked.
"We don’t know what’s inside."
"So we’re not making rigid plans."
He looked toward the entrance.
"We adapt."
"If someone finds something..."
"They speak."
"If someone has a better idea..."
"We follow it."
He smiled slightly.
"No heroes."
"No lone wolves."
"We move together."
Silence.
Then...
Damien gave a single nod.
"...Agreed."
Sophia smiled.
"I like that."
Luna adjusted the daggers on her belt.
"Makes sense."
Eric laughed.
"You keep saying you’re not the leader..."
"...but you keep acting like one."
Noah could only smile helplessly.
Professor Ingrid raised one arm.
"Begin!"
The gates opened.
One by one...
The squads disappeared into the maze.
Squad Seven stepped through Gate Seven.
The heavy stone doors slowly closed behind them.
THUD.
Darkness.
Silence.
Then...
Somewhere deep within the maze...
A bell rang.
Not the academy bell.
Not an alarm.
A single...
Ancient...
Metallic chime.
Noah stopped walking.
"...Did you hear that?"
His teammates nodded.
They had all heard it.
But according to the mission briefing...
There shouldn’t have been...
Any bells.
The sound echoed only once.
Clang...
Then...
Silence.
Squad Seven stood motionless.
The stone corridor stretched ahead, illuminated by glowing crystals embedded in the walls.
Everything looked ordinary.
Too ordinary.
Eric tightened his grip around his practice spear.
"...Please tell me that was part of the assessment."
Sophia slowly shook her head.
"Professor Astrid never mentioned a bell."
Luna glanced over her shoulder.
"It didn’t sound close."
Damien frowned.
"...No."
"It sounded like it came from everywhere."
Noah took a slow breath.
"Let’s move."
No one argued.
Their footsteps echoed softly through the maze.
Left.
Right.
Another left.
The passages twisted endlessly.
Every corridor looked nearly identical.
After several minutes...
Eric suddenly stopped.
"...Was this statue here before?"
Everyone turned.
A weathered stone knight stood against the wall.
Its face had been eroded by time.
Its sword pointed toward the floor.
Nothing unusual.
Yet...
Noah couldn’t shake the feeling that it was...
Watching them.
Damien examined it briefly.
"Old."
"Very old."
"Probably older than the academy."
Luna tapped the statue’s leg.
Solid stone.
Nothing happened.
"Keep moving."
Noah said.
The deeper they ventured...
The quieter the maze became.
No birds.
No insects.
No distant voices from the other squads.
Only their own breathing.
Sophia suddenly raised her hand.
"Wait."
Everyone stopped.
She closed her eyes.
"...Mana."
"What about it?"
"It keeps changing."
Eric blinked.
"What does that mean?"
She looked around.
"The flow isn’t natural."
"It feels..."
"...like the maze is breathing."
Noah remembered something Ragnar had once said.
Some places remember.
He frowned.
"...Stay alert."
A few minutes later...
The corridor split into three paths.
Each passage looked exactly the same.
No markings.
No clues.
Eric scratched his head.
"Now what?"
Before anyone answered...
Luna crouched beside the wall.
"Look."
Near the floor...
A faint scratch mark.
As if someone had dragged metal across the stone.
Fresh.
"Someone came through here."
Damien observed.
"And recently."
Noah nodded.
"We follow it."
The scratch marks continued through the left corridor.
At first...
Only one.
Then several.
Eventually...
Footprints appeared.
"They’re academy boots."
Sophia whispered.
"Another squad."
The footprints suddenly stopped.
Completely.
As if the students had vanished.
Eric looked around uneasily.
"...I really don’t like this."
Then...
A voice echoed down the corridor.
"...Help..."
Everyone froze.
It was faint.
Barely audible.
"...Help..."
A girl’s voice.
Weak.
Afraid.
Eric immediately stepped forward.
"Someone’s hurt!"
Damien grabbed his shoulder.
"Wait."
"Why?"
"We don’t know who’s speaking."
"It’s obviously another student!"
Damien’s expression remained calm.
"...Listen carefully."
They all fell silent.
The voice came again.
"...Help..."
Exactly the same.
Same tone.
Same pause.
Same volume.
Not almost identical.
Exactly identical.
Sophia’s face paled.
"...It’s repeating."
Noah narrowed his eyes.
"It isn’t talking."
"It’s..."
He listened once more.
A perfect repetition.
Like someone replaying the same recording.
"...An echo."
Luna finished quietly.
The voice continued.
"...Help..."
"...Help..."
"...Help..."
Never changing.
Never growing closer.
Never growing farther.
Eric slowly lowered his spear.
"...That’s creepy."
No one disagreed.
Noah looked toward the dark corridor where the voice originated.
"Whatever made that sound..."
"...wanted someone to follow it."
Damien nodded.
"So we don’t."
The squad turned toward the opposite passage.
As they walked away...
The voice stopped.
Abruptly.
Silence returned.
For three steps.
Then...
From somewhere behind them...
A familiar voice spoke.
"...Noah."
He froze.
It sounded exactly like Eric.
Standing beside him.
Eric looked equally confused.
"I didn’t say anything."
Everyone slowly turned.
The corridor behind them was empty.
Yet...
The voice came again.
"...Noah."
This time...
It sounded like Sophia.
Then Luna.
Then Damien.
Each voice perfect.
Each spoken from the darkness.
A cold chill ran down Noah’s spine.
Whatever lived inside this maze...
It wasn’t trying to attack them.
It was trying...
To imitate them.
Far above the maze...
Professor Ingrid watched through a crystal screen.
One instructor frowned.
"They reached that section faster than expected."
Professor Astrid folded her arms.
"They chose not to follow the false distress call."
Ingrid nodded once.
"...Good."
The instructor looked surprised.
"You knew that phenomenon was still active?"
"It has always been active."
She kept watching Noah’s squad.
"I wanted to see who would listen..."
"...and who would think."
Deep within the maze...
Something unseen smiled.
It had learned five new voices.