Chapter 75: Borrowed Time

There were roughly 900 players left.

Some had died defending the walls, the rest inside the tribulation dungeons.

Beyond them, about 1,500 soldiers and 5,000 civilians remained. A sizable crowd, enough that the area in front of the castle was packed shoulder to shoulder.

While everyone gathered, Raive had already gone through the other tribulation dungeons’ drops.

His own eighth tribulation gave the same reward as last time.

A crystal that let its user uncover traitors hidden among them.

This time, though, he’d maxed out the charges—24, meaning he could identify up to 24 fakes, if there were that many.

Shymine, who’d cleared the first tribulation, got a crystal that raised a barrier to protect the objective crystal for a few minutes. Having cleared 10 waves herself, hers would hold for a full 10 minutes.

Hazel’s reward worked differently—something like a screen-clear gimmick from a game. With 15 waves cleared, it could wipe out every monster within a 15-kilometer radius of the caster.

Useful, if they ever got pushed back too far.

A safeguard, essentially.

The rest were much the same—a crystal with some helpful ability, nothing decisive on its own.

Unfortunately, the only reward that actually helped with the impostor problem was Raive’s.

Once everyone had settled, Raive stood atop the castle’s inner wall and addressed the crowd, his voice carrying far. At the same time, Hercy’s skill broadcast him to everyone watching.

"Everyone, I’m about to activate an artifact that will reveal the impostors among us!" Raive called. "If you see someone marked by a bright red pillar of light, subdue them—but don’t kill them. They’re the impostors!"

At that, people began eyeing the ones standing beside them, wary, as if waiting for an attack that might never come.

Feeling the tension build, Raive didn’t wait any longer.

He crushed the crystal in his hand, activating it.

Sixteen pillars of red light rose into the air.

Fifteen of them were subdued almost instantly by those standing nearby. But the last one left everyone frozen, staring in shock and fear.

"So it comes to this, huh..."

Raive sighed, looking at the last beam.

No.

He was standing inside it.

Nobody had predicted this.

Not even Raive himself had suspected he was an impostor. Still, there was nothing to do but accept it. Though one problem remained.

"I’m too strong to dispose of this early."

He wasn’t being conceited—he genuinely believed he was the strongest person in the entire trial space, combined. Losing his support now could tip the whole trial into chaos and lower the chances of a clear.

’But if I don’t deal with myself, the risk of the trial failing is real too. No way the others would just let a threat like this walk free.’

He thought it over, then raised his voice.

"Anyone here have a skill that can bind someone to a command? A contract, something like that?" He called out. "If so, come to the gate below me. And someone, bring the other fifteen impostors here too."

Once he’d said his piece, he turned to Hazel and Shymine, both watching him with a mix of worry and hesitation.

Raive just smiled wryly.

He didn’t need to read their minds to know what was going through them. So he pressed his palms together, as if asking them to bind him for everyone’s safety.

"T-This has to be some kind of mistake..."

Hershey wasn’t taking it well, though. She rushed at him, hugging him tight, sobbing. "Brother, you’re not an impostor! I know it!" She cried.

Raive knelt down, patting her head gently, trying to reassure her.

"Those angels are nasty, but they wouldn’t lie." He said. "So I believe what she said—those who turned impostor still pass the trial, as long as it’s cleared properly."

His hand kept moving, patting her head over and over.

"So it’s not like I’m actually going to die. Trust the process."

Right.

The archangels might withhold details—important, critical details—but from everything they’d said so far, not one word had turned out to be a lie. He trusted that much, even without trusting them archangels themselves.

Hershey didn’t let go of him for another minute.

Her eyes stayed puffy, her breath still catching, but eventually, she accepted it.

After that, they came down from the wall and faced the other impostors.

Some had been caught by soldiers, others held down by players. All of them shouted the same things.

"P-Please spare me... I’m not an impostor!"

"This can’t be... I’m me... Am I fake...?"

"I’m innocent! Let me go, you...!"

They all acted equally stunned, as if genuinely unable to accept being singled out. But Raive knew they were, same as him.

No mistaking it.

"So, you’re the one with the skill I asked for?"

Raive asked, turning to a lawyer-looking man standing a short distance away.

"Yes, I am. Yuuichiro Kendall. A naturalized citizen."

He answered, adjusting his glasses with his middle finger.

"My skill ties into my old job as a lawyer. I can draft contracts that magically bind the other party. Break it, and you die—or suffer whatever penalty’s written in."

"Good." Raive nodded. "Then draft sixteen contracts for me. Here’s what I need..."

He laid out the plan.

Everyone listening went wide-eyed in shock.

Only Yuuichiro stayed unmoved, his expression never shifting.

"So, basically, you want me to bind all of you to fight monsters until the last five minutes remain, then force you into suicide?"

"Exactly." Raive nodded at the summary.

"I see... a single contract with multiple signatories should cover it." Yuuichiro nodded.

With a wave of his hand, a contract materialized before him. About twelve pages, every detail Raive had described written out clearly in formal legal language.

The penalty for failure was death.

If any of them failed to take their own life in the final five minutes, the breach alone would kill them.

A death contract, plain and simple.

"Looks good." Raive nodded after reading it through.

Without hesitation, he took the magic pen Yuuichiro offered and signed. A single tap against the paper, and the rest completed itself automatically.

No forged signatures, no loopholes.

A thorough measure.

"With this... I’m living on borrowed time now."

Raive smiled, feeling oddly conflicted now that he knew exactly when he’d die.

There was just one thing he was curious about—

’Would it hurt?’