Thick fog and the musty smell of earth.
And humid air rushed into their noses with a whoosh, as tension pressed down on their shoulders.
The Shadow Forest.
A space into which not even sunlight could squeeze. True to its name, it was a space as dark as night even in the daytime.
Standing at its entrance, the Section 5 trainees could not hide their frightened expressions at the sight of the forest.
“Everyone, enter the forest!”
Just then, Bengle's voice burst out from behind.
His razor-edged order forcibly pushed the hesitating trainees into the forest.
But not a single one of them moved first.
Because they had the feeling that if they went inside, they would never come back out.
But it was at that moment.
STEP, STEP.
A boy standing on the left side of the group walked into the Shadow Forest without hesitation.
“Th, Theron!”
Renil, who had been standing right beside him, called out to him, but Theron did not even answer and entered the Shadow Forest.
Behind him.
“Let's go too.”
“Yeah.”
As Perka and Tioren followed after him.
“W, wait for me!”
Renil hurriedly ran and stuck close behind them.
Only then did the other trainees, who had been watching for cues, hesitantly begin to set foot into the Shadow Forest.
WHOOOOOOOSH!
A rough wind swept once through the darkness.
Having entered the forest, Theron examined his surroundings.
Because of the darkness, the deeper they went, the more the trainees would naturally split apart.
A forest where not a single speck of light came in.
Visibility did not reach far, so first of all, they needed a torch.
“Perka. Stay where you can still see us and find me a thick branch. I'm going to make a torch.”
“A torch?”
Along with Perka's question, Tioren said to Theron.
“The branch aside, what are you going to do for fire? And just setting a branch on fire won't give you a usable torch.”
“I'll handle the rest, so just get that for me.”
“……Got it.”
“I'll look too.”
Tioren cautiously moved in a different direction from Perka.
At the sight, Renil asked carefully.
“Wh, what should I do……?”
“Stay right here. If you wander around clumsily and get bitten by a poisonous bug, you're done for.”
“Sh, should I……?”
Renil gulped, his face already pale white.
Theron looked back.
‘……The groups have already split?’
Most of them would probably be moving in alliances with their roommates or guys from other rooms.
There were fifty people, but even among them, there were factions large and small.
But…….
‘The more people there are, the worse the conflict will get once they find a Moltir Flower.’
Of course, it was not something Theron needed to worry about.
Soon, Theron peeled off the outer bark of a nearby tree.
When he peeled off a thin layer of the inside, which was dry yet retained a little moisture, it had a texture much like very thin leather.
‘It should be around here.’
Theron looked down at the ground near a thick tree and searched the surroundings.
He was looking for oil mold, which formed on damp, mud-like surfaces.
It would have been easier to find with a light, but for now, he had no choice but to search by memory.
And had about ten minutes passed?
“Found it.”
Beside a gray lump of stone lodged in the ground was dark-purple oil mold.
Theron carefully tapped the inner bark of the Shadow Forest tree he had peeled off against it.
As he kept tapping over and over, the inner bark soaked up the oil coating the surface of the oil mold.
“Theron.”
“Will this do?”
Before long, Perka and Tioren came over with branches to use for the torch.
Theron nodded.
“That's plenty.”
Theron immediately wrapped the oil-soaked bark around a thick branch.
Then he lit it using a flint he had found on the way.
CLACK! CLACK! CLACK! FWOOSH.
The small spark caught on the oil and flared up in an instant.
Since it was a makeshift torch, it could not be used for long, but there was still spare oil-soaked bark.
“We're only using one torch. Let's save it as much as we can.”
“……Okay.”
“Right.”
“But Theron…… you're seriously amazing. How'd you just whip up a torch like…….”
The day he had received help during the run.
Since then, the way Renil looked at Theron had completely changed.
Until then, he had always tended to look down on Theron, but now his gaze, going beyond reliance to something like worship, was burdensome.
Letting Renil's words slide, Theron took the lead.
Anyway, the Moltir Flower could be found more easily than one would think.
The catch, though, was that after gathering it once, no one would dare try a second time.
Because they would come to realize that simply gathering a single flower was far more dangerous and terrifying than they had thought.
‘That's when…….’
Most of the trainees who had formed teams would split apart.
To take possession of the single flower already gathered.
Next, Theron lit up his view with the torch and slowly moved inward.
Fortunately, because of the light from the torch, the poisonous insects around them could not easily attack.
“Be careful. There are quite a few poisonous bugs with paralytic venom around here.”
“Poisonous bugs? Do you die if they bite you?”
“You just get a light paralysis. It doesn't last long either, so it's not life-threatening.”
What was dangerous, though, were the beasts that appeared when you went down like that.
Theron went deeper into the Shadow Forest with his companions.
There were Moltir Flowers on the outer edge as well, but he wanted to avoid needless disputes with the others.
‘Besides, they're easier to find further in.’
Theron moved deeper into the Shadow Forest slowly, without rushing.
And how much time had passed?
Unable to move quickly because of the darkness, they ducked every time they heard the cry of a beast along the way, paying as much attention to safety as possible.
Thanks to that, it took a long time, but.
SQUISH.
Along with the squishy feeling of the ground underfoot, the marsh they had been looking for revealed itself.
Because Moltir Flowers bloomed abundantly in marshes like this.
But just then.
“…….”
Theron casually turned his head backward.
At that, Renil tilted his head and asked.
“What's wrong?”
“……No, nothing.”
He had expected it, but he had not thought they would move this quickly.
Cunning bastards, all right.
But Theron pretended not to know and turned his gaze back to his companions.
“Watch the ground from here. If you don't switch feet quickly as you walk, you'll get sucked in up to your ankles.”
“Whoa?!”
“Renil, keep it down.”
When Renil was startled by the mucky ground, Tioren said in a low voice.
But he was just as flustered.
The three, all but Theron, moved forward, quickly switching their feet.
Naturally, a rapid splosh, splosh reached their ears.
And there, on one side of the marsh, Moltir Flowers were in bloom.
Luckily, three of them were blooming in one spot.
Then Theron looked back at his three roommates and shouted.
“Everyone, gather over here! There's a Moltir Flower here!”
“……?”
“Theron?”
It felt quite different from the Theron who had been speaking quietly until now.
For a moment, Perka made a puzzled expression, but soon came over to where Theron was.
Theron pointed at the Moltir Flowers blooming on the ground.
“That's it.”
Not just one, but three.
Along with the blooming Moltir Flowers, several reddish caterpillars the size of an index finger were crawling around them.
“Is that a Silen Nak?”
Theron nodded.
As expected, when it came to composure, Perka was by far the best among his roommates.
Having found the Moltir Flowers, he could have gotten excited, yet was he not the first to spot the danger?
At Perka's behavior, Theron smiled faintly before he knew it.
But soon, he took out the knife at his waist.
With a single dagger, the atmosphere turned chilly.
Perka, along with Tioren and Renil, also raised their knives.
They had already received plenty of training, but this was the first time they were using it for real.
“Watch out when a Silen Nak folds its body. That's the preparatory motion before it springs. They're faster than you'd think, so you have to react quickly.”
No one answered, but everyone was preparing, tense.
And as Theron and his companions moved closer to the Moltir Flowers.
FWIP!
A Silen Nak that had folded its body shot toward Theron at a considerable speed.
But…….
WHACK!
Theron swatted the Silen Nak down with the flat of his blade and headed unhesitatingly to where the Moltir Flowers were.
Then he rubbed the oil mold he had brought vigorously onto his hands.
This way, the toxicity of the Moltir Flower would not touch his hands directly.
Theron scraped away the ground around the Moltir Flower with the knife he was holding.
Next, with his oil-coated hands, he carefully gathered the Moltir Flower.
“……Got it.”
Having plucked one Moltir Flower, Theron carefully placed it in the pouch he had brought.
“I'll hold on to these. If any Silen Naks come at us, you guys take care of them.”
“Got it.”
“Okay.”
With that, Perka and Tioren stood on either side of Theron, as if guarding him.
When Renil tried to move to the back.
WHIP!
“AAGH!”
Renil suddenly ducked toward the ground and screamed.
But…….
“……!”
Renil's eyes shook greatly as they met Theron's.
Because Theron had pulled his face close and whispered something softly.
“Th, Theron.”
NOD.
Renil called his name, flustered, but Theron just nodded and helped Renil back to his feet.
“So we're done if we gather just one more?”
“This is…… way easier than I thought? Is the test this easy?”
Tioren said with a puzzled expression.
Recalling the instructors' words, the atmosphere had been as if half the trainees would die.
But what was this?
Who would have imagined it could be gathered so easily?
But there was something the three did not know.
That there had been several great dangers on the way here.
It was simply that Theron had used his wits to get past them safely.
Of course, not knowing this, it was only natural for the three to feel that the test was far too easy.
Soon, Theron placed the three gathered Moltir Flowers in the pouch.
“I'll keep these.”
Theron said, raising the pouch exaggeratedly. But just then.
“Hey.”
“……!”
At the voice suddenly coming from behind, Perka, Tioren, and Renil were startled and spun around.
Before they knew it, the blades in their hands were pointed toward where the voice had come from.
And along with it, a group revealed themselves from the darkness.
“Falcot?”
“Don't tell me…… you tailed us?”
Tioren said, scowling.
Because those who had appeared before them were twelve trainees, including Falcot.
What was more, they were among the strongest in Section 5.
Falcot stepped forward and said.
“Watching from behind earlier…… looks like you dig up these sh*tty flowers easily. You're going to have to help us out.”
“…….”
By the look of it, they had already gotten badly hurt trying to gather a single flower.
But Theron had already known they were following.
No, to be more precise…….
‘I made them follow us.’
Because from the start, Theron's goal had not been only to gather Moltir Flowers.
Theron casually hid the pouch holding the Moltir Flowers behind his back.
“And if I refuse?”
“Then you die here.”
Falcot said, looking at Theron with ominous eyes.
He could not accept it.
That he had been knocked out by Theron in one blow that day.
He had probably just thought he had bad luck.
It happened sometimes.
When something ended in an instant, one would say one had lost by chance.
‘Thanks to that, things should go smoothly, though…….’
Theron looked at Falcot with a deliberately calm expression.
And…….
“Take it if you can.”
TAP-TAP!
“……!”
Theron turned and ran.
Falcot and his group made bewildered expressions at the sight, but.
“G, get the bastard!”
Soon, they began running after Theron.
Tab 9