Chapter 26: The Path of Unity

The airship was scheduled to arrive at 8:00; although straight and stubborn, it easily veered off course to reach the Venue.

Then, looking at the "exam site" where the airship landed, every Examinee thought of the same thing and muttered to themselves.

"Nothing, no one."

"What exactly do you want me to do here?"

It was located on top of a tower that might have been 100 meters high.

Just as the Examinees said, after all 40 Examinees disembarked, Beans began to explain; it was a place with nothing, they were merely on a giant pillar, not a tower.

"This is the top of a tower called Trick Tower, and this will be the starting point for the third exam."

As for the content of the exam, it was the message sent by the Examiner.

"Survive and reach the bottom. The time limit is 72 hours."

While the students were stunned by the overly simple exam, Beans returned to the Airship that had carried the students and went home.

Truly, it seemed the explanation and content of the exam were just that.

Thus, the third trial began in this loose manner.

For a moment, most of the Examinees peered over the edge of the tower in terror, checking the height of the tower and the outer Wall.

The height was so great that the ground became hazy; it was not something a normal person could jump down from. Even for a Nen user, if they were an Enhancer, they might be able to jump down like the Chairman of the exam, but for those not skilled in Enhancement, this was a level that was taboo.

The outer Wall was uneven due to wind and rain, but there were no windows, making it difficult to grab onto anything while descending.

"Leaving here is suicide."

"If you are a normal person."

As a student who was checking the outer Wall muttered to himself, a muscular man spoke up confidently.

"If you have such a large starting point, a first-class rock climber should be able to pass it without effort."

The man with the number 86 badge, a fearless smile on his face, leaned forward from the tower body without hesitation, grabbed a small dent on the outer Wall, and descended smoothly without a safety rope.

A few minutes later, the man had descended to the size of a palm, and Gon and Killua were impressed.

"Wow, so amazing~"

"I'm already like this."

However, this admiration did not last a minute.

"A..."

Just noticing something, he raised his voice.

Killua looked at him curiously, with an expression asking "What should I do?", pointing at what he had found.

"That."

It wasn't just Gon; other Examinees noticed this too, and all were speechless.

Then, a few minutes later, the 86th scream came from below, followed by the death cry of a giant bird larger than a human.

Leorio could only look down at the death throes and the spectacular scene, muttering with a pale face.

"Passing through the outer Wall is impossible."

"Is your target the monster bird?"

Sora responded to Leorio's words with a "Wow..." expression, and Kurapika closed his eyes tightly as if to drive the scene before him out of his mind, then regained his composure, crossed the top of the tower, and said.

"There must be a door leading somewhere."

"... I agree."

Hearing Kurapika's words, Sora narrowed his indigo eyes.

Looking at the floor covered in "lines," Sora sighed and rubbed the corners of his eyes to soothe his weary eyes.

Sora's eyes captured and imagined "death," but that "death" was not so-called "Fate"; it was merely something that captured the power coming from bodies and objects.

Therefore, even if Sora saw a human destined to die in an accident a few minutes later, if the body was healthy, he could only see an average number of "lines" and "dots." Giving me the laxative juice, I could see more "lines" and "dots" than without any technique.

Because of this, I knew from the moment I got here that there was some kind of mechanism, but my eyes could only see the "death period." I didn't know which side had a hidden door.

Looking closely, you might notice the "lines" on the floor were cut, but I didn't know if the number of hidden doors was quite large, or if there were too many "lines" on the floor. Sora kept looking at the "lines" and "dots" of "death" itself, feeling pained inside.

Perhaps out of disgust for this scene that offered no benefit, or because this world was more fragile than usual, Sora narrowed his eyes, narrowed his vision a little, and searched for a hidden door.

"... Is it okay if I break through the floor and go straight down?"

"Sora, at least as a last resort when the time limit is less than twenty-four hours."

Kurapika stopped Sora from seriously considering a method the Examiner would never think of, even if he wanted to, it was impossible to do so.

Rather than stopping it completely, it was shrewd to treat the concession as a last resort.

I gave a wry smile at Kurapika, who was more brazen than before, and then searched the floor steadily for a while; the sound of Sora's Engineering Boots changed.

I sat down where I heard the slight footsteps, tapped the floor gently with my Finger while keeping a certain distance, and with a light tap, the floor somewhere sank slightly.

This line was also broken here, so this was definitely a hidden door.

Repeating the same thing left and right, he discovered a seesaw that seemed to allow one to slide down the floor alone, as well as many hidden doors with the same twisted structure as the stage.

Due to the nature of the test, this hidden door could be safely ruled out as a dead end with nowhere to escape.

If there were hidden doors and traps were set inside like this, with no hints to distinguish trap doors from correct doors, this was not testing the students' ability, but just a gamble.

Since there was no particular difference between the few doors Sora found, he thought the possibility of him missing a hint was low.

The doors were concentrated in a narrow area, so not all doors led to different rooms. Adjacent doors were more likely to lead to the same room.

If it was a room connected to the same room, following the same route to the bottom, if possible, Sora wanted to go with Kurapika and the others, even if not all of them. If you were going to use the battle royale method, you should choose a door as far away as possible.

I thought for a few seconds and concluded: "Now, report the hidden doors to everyone."

The Examiner also concluded that it was meaningless to think about whether the hint doors were cooperative or battle royale, so it was useless to think here, report it first.

If it was a battle royale method, I just needed to stick to "The test is to survive and reach the bottom, right?"

Thinking this, the four were chatting about something when Sora waved his hand, ran in front of them, and shouted.

"Hey...!"

Noticing Sora's call, the four looked up, turned to look at them, and witnessed Sora flipping vertically; everyone froze involuntarily for about ten seconds.

"Sun's!?"

Calling out the name of the woman who had left—which was too mysterious to do outside—the four of them arrived at the trapdoor where Sora had fallen, but the door was locked, just like the ground, as witnessed by the other students, Gon and Killua.

"... What does he want?"

Leorio looked at the locked trapdoor, dumbfounded, and answered everyone's question.

"I, I don't know... judging by your expression, it doesn't look like you're joking... Is Hisoka behind us?"

Kurapika, looking nervous, suggested the highest possibility that he could have retreated and escaped, but when he looked around, Hisoka was in a completely different direction.

What's more, he was still squatting in place, holding his stomach, as if he had also seen Sora's bosshut.

"... For now, I hope you are safe."

"He'll be fine. If the timing is bad, he might just punch through the floor and come down."

Gon smiled bitterly, worrying about Sora who was left alone, but Killua, having lost his worry and surprise, told Sora what he would eventually do and decided to forget about Sora for the time being.

Likewise, the three of them said, "Hmm, it's Sora," believing they would meet again in 70 hours, discussing which secret door they should exit from with a mysterious trust that was almost resigned, confused by Sora's bosshut. Only one person continued to freeze.

Behind Sora, Gidrakul, who had been secretly aiming at her, stood in an "Absolute" state for several minutes; no one except Hisoka noticed.

"Kukuh... how unfortunate, Illumi."

"... Shut up, I'll stab you."

Illumi's stiffness finally thawed when Hisoka called out to him with a laugh, but of course, he wouldn't thank him for it, and even replied with harsh words without so much as looking at Hisoka.

"I mean, seriously, he can predict or read minds..."

"That's right, Sora is really too sensitive, I'll be teased."

"Saying it's very accurate."

If he accidentally stuck out his tongue to complain, he would spit out annoyed words at the Magician who deliberately used different meanings, but Hisoka naturally ignored this and continued his words.

"But seriously, that child's killing intent detection ability is more than just 'face'."

Hisoka didn't need to say anything more now.

Illumi probably understood him better than anyone, and every time he was forced to drink hot water, he twisted his face in disgust.

Just as Hisoka said, Sora was not good at "Yen," but it had reached a level where it was no longer a problem, and his killing intent detection ability was high.

Although he had pushed his footsteps and breathing to the limit by doing "Hard," the moment Sora came down from the trapdoor, the scaffolding tilted and collapsed, leaving no chance of escape and almost no movement. Hisoka threw his Playing Cards at him, but when he rushed to his companion's side and hoped to create an opening, Sora felt Illumi's killing intent leak out like a breath for an instant.

He deliberately retreated behind Illumi and fell, which meant the bosshut was not an accident. He knew there was a trapdoor there, so he deliberately fell there to escape.

It was better than having nowhere to hide at the top of this tower; once he came down, he was locked in and couldn't be chased. There was no guarantee that the adjacent door would lead to the same room, and it was easy to run away, so he most likely chose to get off at the nearest door.

If you are waiting for an opening, it is better to suddenly take an unexpected action that the other party cannot act quickly upon.

As long as she realized she was being watched when she went downstairs, at that moment, she wouldn't cause any rift, and she could deal with it as she pleased. If you know and get rid of yourself, it is even more so.

I don't know if this was an action based on so much understanding or a completely instinctive reaction, but in either case, Illumi couldn't do anything.

I could have expected Sora to run from the front to the side, so I could have reacted, but I completely assumed he would perceive the killing intent, turn around, and back away towards me. Because it was outside at the time, when Sora called him, Killua was facing him, and Sora was in front of him. Although they were there, if you attack them, they will notice you.

Although Illumi was confused by Sora's actions and remained calm, he couldn't do anything in the end and was forced to let Sora escape, which made Illumi very annoyed.

It was the same last night.

Killua discovered Sora was asleep at almost the same time.

Killua didn't intend to sleep near Sora, so he was relieved to find that the perfect opportunity to kill him had come, and the killing intent he had been suppressing only eased for a moment, not even for a moment, like a needle's eye; the woman woke up, faintly revealing a trace of killing intent.

And after giving his younger brother something unnecessary, he slept with Killua on his lap.

To be precise, I closed my eyes and let my body rest for a while, but I didn't fall asleep at all. Just like during the exam, Illumi had no choice but to give up and leave.

Killua slept on Sora's lap.

Because Sora was always on guard.

This was the only reason Illumi gave up on killing Sora.

This was the only reason I didn't do anything.

"I think the Zoldyck education policy is full of complaints, but there are many things that are helpless. At least love is real.

That family knows their sins. We know very well that we don't know when or where our karma will return to whom."

What Sora told Killua had nothing to do with this.

This was nothing more than unnecessary values to Killua.

"That's why I said don't make friends, and don't leave home except for work. Even if you don't participate in any assassinations, someone will call you 'Zoldyck'."

It doesn't matter if Fate returns it to me, but I hope I don't want it to return it to my precious family.

Kikyo and Illumi too."

Illumi told himself that this had nothing to do with not being able to understand each other, not being understood, or being acknowledged for the love she didn't seek.

"... Hypocrite."

Complaining about the resentment he had felt for Sora countless times, Illumi decided to use a suitable trapdoor to leave the tower.

If there was no chance to kill Sora, then there was no point in staying here.

Thinking this, Illumi began to look for a trapdoor, and Hisoka said for some reason: "Don't be so depressed, I'll teach you something good."

However, ignoring Illumi's contempt for her, Hisoka gave a thumbs up and announced with maddening amusement.

"Sora is a virgin because she has absolutely no resistance to this, so it is worth cultivating and developing her."

Illumi said nothing and threw a Needle directly at Hisoka's eyebrow.

"... I really foolishly left the stage. Damn it, who on earth was that flickering bloodthirsty person..."

Sora ran out almost reflexively, ran down the door, and was alone in the room.

I sat down, placed my forehead on my knees, and muttered to myself.

"... I abandoned everyone and ran away... Coward."

I muttered, continued to sink in that position for a while, but after about ten seconds, I shouted: "Alright, time to sink is over! Regret is no use, stand up first! Look forward and run! Anyway, I can only go!" I stood up, raised my fist high, and looked around.

In the center of the small room was a pedestal that could seat three or four people, with two bracelets with timers on it. The timer was at nine-tenths of the time limit.

Moreover, for some reason, a chain shorter than a necklace was hanging on the bracelets.

This was not handcuffs. Because the chain was too thin to be suitable for handcuffs, and the length was 5 meters, which did not hinder arm movement at all.

There were no doors in the room, just walls on all four sides, but in Sora's eyes, only one wall looked like a wall with a strange number of lines and dots.

A Plate hung on the wall of the hidden door.

"A Path of Unity?"

First, reading the route name on the nameplate, Sora tilted his head and continued reading.

"This route is a Path of Unity, where students participating in the exam move forward in pairs.

Neither side can be selfish; both parties must bear equal risks and responsibilities."

"... In other words, wait for others to come for the time being."

For a moment, I wondered what would happen if not all students came here from the other hidden door, but since the stipulated number of people didn't come, it was more unreasonable than Menchi's first exam. Failing without doing anything. Thinking this, Sora waited quietly for the arrival of two people, or some kind of connection.

Just in case Hisoka or that unknown murderer who flickered by yesterday came, I waited in a position where there was a line to break through the floor and escape immediately.

"Ah!"

Fortunately, after waiting for a few hours, Sora was not told to move forward alone, nor was he joined by a natural enemy.

About 30 minutes after Sora came down, a woman with a Number 246 badge and a large hat, who was about the same age as Sora, came down.

"Oh, this is another beauty for sore eyes. I am Sora. Nice to meet you."

"Huh? Ah!?"

For now, ignore him, or treat him coldly, but the pervert who would be happy even if he killed him didn't come, which made us relieved. Retreated.

There was no fear or hostility, but no matter how one looked at it, it seemed that Ponzu was wary of Sora, and even Sora seemed to be slightly hurt.

"Huh? Oh, sorry. I was surprised because it was so sudden... Somehow, you are always with the other four people, so I didn't expect you to be alone..."

Although cautious, Ponzu didn't seem to have any bad feelings toward Sora, so she comforted the depressed Sora while speaking.

And since Sora was also a woman who always said that being angry was troublesome, Ponzu's words were nothing more than an excuse to quickly cheer herself up and focus on irrelevant parts.

"Hmm? Do you know me?"

"... I don't know, because I was conspicuous in both the first and second rounds."

She said she knew a little about herself and her companions, so when Sora tilted his head and asked, Ponzu turned her face away and answered.

Hisoka's gaze fell on me, and for some reason, I was angry at other students for cooking with Menchi, and I thought to myself that no student could forget their number and name.

"Oh, she is beautiful."

"Eh!? Ah, yeah... That is certainly a prominent and important factor, but..."

However, Sora's explanation of it was diagonal, which was undeniable, and confused Ponzu.

"I am happy to have a beautiful partner as my partner. So, put it on immediately."

Sora didn't need to worry about Ponzu's confusion, and while speaking happily, threw the locked bracelet to Ponzu.

"Eh? I mean, what is this place!?"

Ponzu quickly caught it, finally noticed the sign on the wall, and understood the purpose of this route.

"Path of Unity? So you and I are supposed to go down this tower together?"

"That is correct."

It was not Sora who answered Ponzu's question, but a speaker installed near the ceiling.

The speaker's voice, presumably the Examiner for this exam, explained the route for Sora and Ponzu, and added some things not written on the Plate.

"This tower has prepared several routes, and each route has different clearing conditions.

This is the Path of Unity. Until you two get down from this tower, I will have you act under the connection of that bracelet. As you can see, the chain is not very strong, so be careful. The bracelet is designed to trigger an Explosion if the chain breaks."

With this explanation, Ponzu's face turned pale when she saw the bracelet she had put on, but Sora said with a serious face.

"In other words, by sacrificing one wrist, you can cancel the pair and move freely."

"Stop!"

"... In extreme terms, yes, but I think you should take care of yourself, don't you?"

The Examiner set the exam, saying that if he went through the outer wall to aim at a monster bird, or if the fragile-looking chain broke, it would explode his wrist, and urged him to "take care of yourself," which disappointed Sora.

However, Sora himself had no intention of taking such a high-risk, low-reward approach from the beginning, so he simply replied: "Yes, yes." At the same time, the Wall rose, revealing a Hidden door.

The third exam for Sora and Ponzu finally officially began, but Ponzu was already exhausted before it started, and at the same time, he was full of anxiety.

At first, I was cautious, but thinking about it carefully, even if he was undoubtedly a weirdo, he wouldn't do anything dangerous like Hisoka. Considering Ponzu, he didn't have the confidence to beat Gon, which was better. And Killua, the children with Sora, among the current students, with his physical strength, I think it is a lucky thing.

However, I don't know if I am a narcissist or just waiting for a retort. La.

I was worried that this guy was the same as Hisoka, but I still had to move forward, so I said: "Let's go."

"What?"

"First of all, what is your name?"

Speaking of this, I remembered that I hadn't said my name yet, and answered: "Ponzu."

Just when I thought it was over, Sora kept asking: "Thank you. Then, Ponzu."

In her view, this question must be true.

"What is in that hat?"

Ponzu involuntarily grabbed the hat he was wearing with both hands.

At first, Sora had mistaken the hat for being black. Looking at the hat where countless "Death God" creatures were wriggling, which could only be recognized as small black things, he said, "There are living creatures; judging by their size, they should be insects.... You should throw it away." He gave an unnecessary Suggestion.

"... How did you know?"

"You have a good eye."

Ponzu gave a bitter smile, glared at Sora with more vigilance than when he had come down, and answered with an answer that was neither true nor false.

The reason I don't speak is that the explanation is too long and too troublesome.

"I know you don't want to expose your hand, but in many cases, if it leaks badly, it is best to expose everything.

When your hand is exposed, the most disadvantageous situation is that you do not realize the other party has already been exposed. After all, you are the one who knows best what is in your hand, so did you discover it? Think about it, it is better to tell the other party everything, so it is easier to predict and prevent the other party's purpose; conversely, you will fall into a trap."

I don't understand why I saw through what was in the hat, but I was disappointed by the second half of the sentence, yet I was convinced; Ponzu sighed and gave up.

"... That's right. And due to the nature of this route, if I don't tell you, it will only be disadvantageous to me."

Ponzu flicked his hat with his Finger while speaking.

"! Wow! What is up with that hat!?"

"This is what I was worried about."

It seemed to be a type of hornet; from the appearance, it was a ferocious bee extending from Ponzu's hat.

"When I scream or fall and feel shocked, these children will come out to attack nearby people.

So spray this. This is a scented spray that these children do not like. Sure enough, I cannot follow orders to not just attack specific people."

Ponzu took out a small spray can and handed it to Sora, while signaling with his Finger to put the bees back into his hat, and sprayed a faint fragrance over his whole body.

For Ponzu, who had absolutely no confidence in his own strength, this bee was indeed a trick, but if his partner died of an allergic reaction, even if only temporarily, whether he passed the Hunter Exam or not, there would be a bad aftertaste. Honestly, I also have defensive measures in case the attack Switch is turned on.

Then, praying that she would not become an enemy in the exam after this, and would not kill him because of this information, he finally left the small room Together with Sora.

"Hey, Ponzu."

"What is the next step?"

However, just a few steps after leaving the room, Sora stopped, unexpectedly pulling the Bracelet Chain that connected them, stopping Ponzu.

Knowing that this thing was not fragile enough to break with a light pull, but when Sora made a move that might break the Chain, he still made an annoyed sound.

Sora did not care about his frustration at all, looked at the road ahead, and said.

"Do you have the confidence to fight, or are you just dodging around?"

This question made Ponzu even more frustrated.

Although there was no way around it because of the gender pattern, Ponzu indeed had no confidence in his own strength. Therefore, I have failed the Hunter Exam many times.

Although the age difference is not large, I naturally feel paranoid about being mocked by a newcomer who passed the third exam.

"I don't! I'm not a genius like you, so I don't rely on bees, I rely on medicine!!"

"This is the first time I've been told that you are a genius."

Even if Ponzu yelled at him, Sora would still care about irrelevant things and ignore him completely.

Sora picked up Ponzu without hesitation.

Placed in the so-called princess carry state, Ponzu was dumbfounded.

"... Hmm? What? What is this situation?"

"Well, first of all, I feel that Ponzu is not telling me what I want to hide, and there are many traps ahead, so I'd better run alone like this. I came to the conclusion that..."

Ponzu was held in his arms and asked, dumbfounded.

"I know there are traps, but my eyesight is not good enough to know exactly what kind of trap this is.

So, I am going to cut through like this, so grab the Chain and hold Ponzu tightly."

"Ah? Hey! Wait a minute!"

Unfortunately, Ponzu's plea could not even be finished; she learned that she could use a living person to Copy the screaming machine.

Thinking that spraying the bee repellent spray was a good idea, Ponzu followed his instructions, held the Chain, wrapped her arms around Sora's neck, jumped in front of herself word by word, and continued to scream at the spears. Dodged, the guillotine that slipped at the critical moment, the iron ball that was kicked and shattered.

If Sora instead of Tonpa were placed in the hero group, the story would progress with almost no trouble, and the story would not be interesting.

With Hisoka and Illumi, Sora would definitely destroy the Wall and the floor, and then they would get Together and run away. I think.

Because of this, Ponzu is the only character who has a certain understanding of the character's personality and will not make people think "Who knows!?".

Furthermore, the next time will not be a rare journey for Sora and Ponzu, but a 50-hour chat with the protagonists during their leisure time.