The sigh of relief didn't even have time to leave their lungs before the dry, sickening rattle of bones echoed across the cavern. From the shadows on the far side of the bridge, dozens of Traum Soldiers—heavily armed labyrinth skeletons—began pouring out, their empty eye sockets glowing with violent magical energy.
"Suzuki-kun!"
The rest of the class instantly panicked. Almost subconsciously, they looked directly at Suzuki, fully expecting him to calmly formulate a flawless escape route.
But before Suzuki could even open his mouth, Kouki stepped forward to seize the narrative once again.
"We have to stop this cowardly method of fighting!" Kouki shouted, his golden armor reflecting the dim light as he glared at the retreating backline. "Heroes don't win by making monsters slip! We must stand our ground! We fight with honor! If we use cheap tricks... we are no better than the monsters!"
"NOW, FOLLOW ME, EVERYONE!"
Kouki's holy sword flared brilliantly as he recklessly charged forward alone.
"....."
The class stood entirely frozen.
"Oh god, what an absolute idiot..."
Nana Miyazaki, who was entirely incapable of keeping her mouth shut or choosing her words wisely, blatantly stated what everyone else was thinking.
Suzuki didn't say a word, though he rubbed his throbbing temples, feeling a massive migraine blooming behind his eyes. Fortunately, he wasn't alone in this sentiment. The entire backline—the mages who had just successfully executed his frictionless trap—stared at Kouki with cold, completely flat eyes.
The "Hero" had just called them all cowards for surviving without taking a single scratch. In that one naive, arrogant outburst, Kouki entirely lost the respect of half the class. Why would they abandon a flawless, safe strategy just to bleed for Kouki's ego?
"CELESTIAL SLASH!"
Kouki swung his sword wildly, completely surrounded by skeletons. He was supposed to be the protagonist. He was supposed to inspire them to fight bravely.
But no one followed him.
Still, Suzuki thought clinically, even if Kouki is a massive liability, he's a fantastic lightning rod. He can tank the aggro while we clean up.
After this raid, Suzuki fully separated from Kouki entirely. Managing this boy's ego was simply too exhausting.
"Mizushima, Miyazaki, grease the floor again. Do not let it thaw," Suzuki ordered, his voice cutting through the panic with flat, unquestionable authority.
The Water and Ice Mages instantly complied, eagerly abandoning Kouki's suicidal honor to re-coat the bridge in frictionless ice. They weren't nervous this time; they trusted him entirely.
But among all his classmates, Suzuki undoubtedly valued Suzu Taniguchi the most. He didn't like her romantically, but he profoundly appreciated the sheer, terrifying utility of her Job.
"Suzu."
"Aye! Aye! Should I trip them all again?!" Suzu bounced on her heels, her fans ready.
"No. I need a snowplow," Suzuki instructed. "Spawn a heavy barrier across the entire width of the bridge, and just walk forward."
"Ah!" Suzu gasped, instantly grasping the physics. Her lips curved into a wide, terrifyingly cheerful grin.
She summoned a massive, flat wall of heavy magical energy that spanned from the left edge of the bridge to the right. Because the floor beneath the skeletons was frictionless ice, the undead monsters had absolutely zero traction to brace themselves against the weight of the spell.
Suzu simply giggled and walked forward. Her barrier acted like an invisible, magical bulldozer, casually sweeping dozens of flailing, heavily armored Traum Soldiers straight off the cliff like dust off a desk.
"....."
The class watched in absolute, stunned silence. It was so terrifyingly easy that they were completely speechless.
"Kaori, heal Amanogawa," Suzuki ordered flatly.
"Y-Yes."
Kouki, who had charged the front alone, was currently sitting on the ground in a daze, covered in minor cuts and heavy bruises. Naturally, no one had stepped up to help him. Kaori quickly moved to mend his physical wounds, but her magic couldn't heal his deeply fractured ego.
"So... is it over?" Shizuku asked, her katana still drawn, breathing slightly heavy.
"....."
Suzuki looked at his beautiful girlfriend, his face entirely unreadable. He knew perfectly well that it wasn't over. The plot demanded a climax.
"Nagumo."
"A-Ah, yes?!" Hajime Nagumo violently flinched, startled by the sudden, sharp command from the most terrifying man in the class.
Suzuki pointed directly at the edge of the stone bridge where the Behemoth had fallen. "Go stand right there. Prepare to transmute the bedrock at maximum output."
"Eh? Transmute the floor...?"
Nagumo was entirely confused, and the rest of the class even more so. But the labyrinth didn't care about their confusion.
BOOOOM!
A massive, bloodied, terrifying claw suddenly slammed onto the edge of the bridge, cracking the stone.
The Behemoth hadn't fallen all the way. It had miraculously caught one of the lower structural supports in the dark and violently hauled its multi-ton body back up the cliff face, roaring with absolute, apocalyptic fury.
"RAAAAAA!"
Suzuki narrowed his eyes. The Behemoth seemed exponentially stronger and more desperate than the original lore suggested. But Nagumo was still Nagumo.
Despite his initial terror, Nagumo didn't freeze. Driven by pure adrenaline and Suzuki's precise warning, Nagumo slammed his bare hands onto the stone directly beneath the ice. Pushing his Synergist abilities to their absolute limit, he forcefully transmuted the bedrock, wrapping thick, unbreakable pillars of solid stone tightly around the Behemoth's front limbs, physically fusing the monster to the bridge.
"SHOOT IT! NOW!" Nagumo screamed, his veins bulging as he desperately held the transmutation steady against the thrashing boss.
"GO!"
The vanguard didn't hesitate. They unleashed everything they had. Fireballs, lightning strikes, and holy slashes rained down in a blinding barrage of high-tier magic, completely engulfing the trapped Behemoth.
BOOOOM! BOOOOM! BOOOOOM!
Yet, amid the chaotic explosions, Suzuki's [Assassin] perception wasn't focused on the dying boss. Instead, he felt the distinct, sickening buzz of an annoying, treacherous fly behind him.
Exactly like the original plot, the idiot who had caused this entire mess was about to cause one more.
Suzuki snapped his head around. Just in time, he saw Hiyama—petty, terrified, and fundamentally malicious—launch a highly condensed, volatile fireball.
But it wasn't aimed at the boss. It was aimed squarely at Nagumo's exposed back.
"HIYAMA, YOU STUPID BASTARD!" Suzuki roared, his voice magically amplified to echo over the explosions, ensuring that every single person on that bridge turned and saw exactly what Hiyama had just done.
But the warning wasn't enough to stop physics. The fireball detonated violently against the stone right next to Nagumo. The explosion shattered the transmuted restraints and completely crumbled the edge of the bridge.
Nagumo, caught entirely off-balance and drained of mana, tipped backward into the yawning abyss.
"Eh?" Nagumo gasped, staring up at the ceiling as gravity took him.
"....."
Suzuki felt a profound, exhausting headache wash over him. He let out a long sigh. "Shizuku, Kaori. Let's talk later."
"Eh?" Both girls blinked, their hearts suddenly dropping.
Suzuki didn't hesitate. He activated his [Shadow Step], the high-tier movement skill from his Assassin job, instantly closing the distance. He didn't even try to secure his own footing on the crumbling edge.
As the stone broke away entirely beneath them both, Suzuki grabbed Nagumo by the collar. Using the fluid, redirective momentum of a Pencak Silat throw, Suzuki violently hurled the boy backward, safely over his own head, sending Nagumo crashing onto the solid, unbroken section of the bridge.
There's a part of me that thinks Nagumo really is a massive burden sometimes, Suzuki thought clinically. But he's a genuinely good kid. I couldn't just let him get murdered by an idiot.
As Suzuki's own momentum carried him over the edge, he realized he was actually profoundly exhausted. Managing Kouki's delusions, Hiyama's treachery, and the emotional weight of the class was draining his soul. He needed a quiet moment. He needed a solo project. If he disappeared for a while, the class would finally realize exactly how vital his logistics were, and how utterly useless their "Hero" truly was.
But as Suzuki began to plummet into the pitch-black maw of the abyss, he didn't scream. He didn't flail. He didn't curse the gods.
He simply looked back up at the broken bridge, his cold, deadpan eyes locking directly onto a horrified, trembling Hiyama.
If Suzuki was going to take a vacation in hell, he was going to permanently erase this liability from the company payroll first.
Mid-freefall, Suzuki extended his hand toward the shrinking figure of Hiyama. For the very first time, he activated the ultimate, most terrifying application of his Merchant class at absolute maximum capacity.
[Hostile Takeover].
He didn't just steal Hiyama's mana. He aggressively ripped the conceptual foundation of Hiyama's System Status right out of the boy's soul. An invisible, violent tether of golden energy yanked from Hiyama's chest, diving straight down into Suzuki's open palm.
In that single, agonizing second, Suzuki completely liquidated him. He stole Hiyama's base stats, his elemental affinities, his skill proficiencies, and most devastatingly—his growth limit.
He left Hiyama as a stagnant, empty husk.
From this moment forward, Hiyama would never level up again. He would never learn a new spell. He was permanently, biologically capped as the absolute weakest person in Tortus—a complete waste of space trapped in a world of monsters.
Falling into the true depths of the Great Orcus Labyrinth, Suzuki casually slipped his hands into the pockets of his tailored suit. The sheer, suffocating exhaustion of micromanaging the Kingdom's politics washed away, entirely replaced by the quiet, comforting darkness of the abyss.
He felt Hiyama's stolen stats permanently integrate into his own body. A small, deeply comfortable smirk finally crossed his handsome face.
Finally, he thought, adjusting his posture for the landing. A solo project. No dead weight.
He had completely shattered the original plot. He had exposed Hiyama as a traitor to the entire class, effectively ruining the boy's life. And he was descending into the abyss not as a helpless victim, but as an apex predator actively choosing to leave a highly toxic workplace.
He just hoped Shizuku and Kaori wouldn't be too angry when he finally came back.
"SUZUKI!"
Despite the rapidly growing distance, he could hear the completely shattered, heartbroken screams of his two girls echoing down the chasm.
Don't worry. I'm just going on a little holiday trip for a bit.
Leaving those unspoken words behind, Suzuki vanished entirely into the darkness.