All the blood seemed to drain from Nick. His mind went blank, not understanding what he was seeing and lacking the presence of mind to understand why Victor would ever do something like this.
What would he even gain from this?
Victor turned to Nick. Startled, the latter stumbled back involuntarily, but his back slammed against a mirrored wall, only to remember that they had chosen this location specifically so that the odds of being snuck up on were limited.
"What's wrong?" Victor asked. "Are you ready? Let's go."
Nick's eyes opened wide, and then he felt oddly… secure. They were still executing the plan?
Yes, yes… that must be right. Casualties were inevitable for something like this. In a world like this one, how could they all possibly survive? Some people had to die so that others could live.
Nick forced himself to nod, his head feeling particularly heavy for some reason.
"Right, yes—I'm ready, I'm ready."
He scrambled to his feet.
"Remember, use your ability when the timing is right. Not before then. Otherwise, it won't work."
Nick picked up a sharpened shovel from the side and nodded heavily once more.
Victor gave him one more glance then nodded, slowly pulling the bow on his back off. It was no normal bow, and certainly not one of the crude ones the others had barely cobbled together.
It was a compound bow. Unfortunately, there were no real arrows for it. Those, Victor had to make himself.
Luckily, the only parts he had to form were the arrow tips as he still had the bodies. It was just that the tips had been dulled for school usage.
Now, however… they just might be decent enough.
Victor didn't try to make Nick go first as he crouched low, pulling at his bowstring until the misshapen wheels clicked into place. As expected, when Nick saw Victor move, the last of his worries faded as well, and he hurried after.
The rampage of the blood wolf was still ongoing and another one of their companions fell every moment as the two rounded to the creature's back.
This section of the maze had already been mapped out by them perfectly. The way they got the group to pincer the blood wolf from all sides was by first figuring out all the paths and methods of getting here, then working together to clear everything.
What none of them had expected was that the final BOSS would be so much stronger than its mirror images, but Victor still seemed calm as his steps finally came to a stop.
"I'll draw its attention, then you go when the timing is right."
"Got it."
Victor looked back and met Nick's gaze.
"We two are the only ones who awoke abilities and can use them properly. If we want the others to survive, we have to pull through. Don't shrink on me."
Nick felt a welling of pride in his chest and his grip on his sharpened shovel tightened. Clenching his teeth, he nodded firmly.
SHUU.
Victor dashed to the side, unleashing an arrow. He skirted around the edge of the battlefield, slipping away before the blood wolf snapped its head back.
In the commotion, it was hard for the blood wolf to track him immediately, but it was barely an instant of time before it did nonetheless… especially because he launched a second arrow swiftly after.
There was an odd confidence in Victor's stride, a calmness on his face that shouldn't have been there for someone with no real combat experience.
He plucked out a third arrow, pulling it back and then launching.
SHUU.
Every time, the arrow pinged off the side of the blood wolf's body, leaving a slight, acute pain, but not penetrating its thick crimson coat.
The blood wolf roared and launched itself at Victor. But…
BANG!
Its head slammed into the mirror wall.
There was a flicker in Victor's eyes. It was just as he expected.
On the outside, the wolves moved freely through the mirrors, but those that entered this realm hadn't been able to. Victor had wondered why this was until he figured it out.
They could only move through the walls freely because they were mirror images to begin with. The main body, though, was restricted in the same ways all of the rest of them were.
This meant that if he timed things right…
Victor took a strong step forward and released another arrow as he passed through an opening.
… He could fire and protect himself at the same time.
Victor weaved through the tunnels as though he knew them like the back of his hand. The blood wolf didn't seem very intelligent at all, constantly falling for the same trick, and most importantly… being too distracted to form new mirror images.
Rounding the battlefield one more time, Victor's gaze met Nick's. The latter was ready.
Victor crossed a space where Nick hid behind a tree. But he seemed distracted. This time, he misfired.
BANG!
His arrow whizzed forward and slammed against a mirrored wall, reflecting back and spiraling through the air.
The wolf lunged again, but because Victor had misfired, this time, it was lunging right toward an opening in the maze.
Nick moved.
The timing was perfect, a glow coating his sharpened shovel as he roared.
The blood wolf was leaping for Victor and didn't expect to suffer such a blow right into the side of its ribcage.
Puchi.
ROAR.
Everything went perfectly. It seemed almost too perfect…
Except for the fact Nick's shovel only went in three inches or so before its natural curve was blocked by the ribs of the blood wolf.
Unused to battle, Nick's hold on the shovel was too loose and it slipped from his hands as the wolf's momentum continued to send it toward Victor.
But Victor himself didn't even react.
BANG!
The blood wolf slammed into yet another mirror wall, but this time, after being frustrated by Victor for so long and suddenly gaining a new target, it pivoted.
Its maw open out as its head turned toward Nick.
The young man's eyes widened, his hands shaking without the shovel to stabilize it.
The shovel clanged to the ground, falling sprawled out on the grass a distance away.
"V… Vic… save… save me…"
Nick couldn't take his eyes off of the wolf, but he tried to look to Victor from the corner of his eyes, only to see the very same indifferent gaze…
And somehow, the ability that he had just used charging up on a newly nocked arrow.