Chapter 23

Chapter 23

The Heroine of the 1st Playthrough Remembers My Training.

Episode 23: Lucia Is Smiling (6).

For Vivian, finding the marbles was surprisingly easy.

It was so simple that she couldn’t understand why it was even part of the test.

“…Are finding these three marbles really the test?”

She could understand if it was about finding three slightly hard-to-detect marbles.

Unfortunately, the marble that seemed to offer the highest score was located completely opposite the starting point.

Usually, Vivian would have given up immediately…

“…But this time, I won’t.”

She wanted to show Yujin that she was a person of worth.

So, with that resolve, she set out to find the marble.

However, as Vivian earnestly walked towards the marble, its magic suddenly disappeared.

…As if it was playing tricks on her.

“What is this…”

She really tried this time…

It was so unfair and frustrating that she felt like crying.

She wanted to give up and just pick up any marble.

But there was still a second marble left.

So, she walked, and walked.

With her weakened stamina, even a little walking required a rest.

She had no confidence to fight the disgusting centipedes, so she avoided them by taking a long detour.

It took several times longer than others, but she kept going to show Yujin a wonderful sight.

“…Found it!”

And so, as dusk fell, she finally found the silver marble.

The marble was embedded in a fairly tall tree.

“Huh..!”

She tiptoed and stretched her hand, but couldn’t reach.

“Again… Heave!”

She stretched her hand further and jumped.

After repeating this several times…

Tat-!

She managed to knock the marble loose.

“Found it…”

She hurriedly picked up the marble that fell, fearing she might lose it.

Tears suddenly welled up.

For the first time in her life, she felt like she had accomplished something.

It was nothing big, but the fact that even someone as foolish as her could do something made her incredibly happy.

That’s when it happened.

“Growl─”

A rough smell of blood was felt behind her.

Slowly turning her head, she saw a ‘Wolf’ there.

──Scream!

It was an instinctive scream.

“…Why, why?”

At first, she denied its presence.

There couldn’t possibly be such a dangerous monster in the testing grounds.

It must be an illusion.

A misconception.

Thinking this, she slowly tried to back away…

Crunch─

A terrible sound snapped Vivian back to reality.

At that moment, she realized what the wolf was gnawing on.

A human hand.

The fingers, adorned with rings distributed to the students, stuck out grotesquely.

Crack─

The wolf swiftly swallowed the remaining hand and slowly approached Vivian.

“No, I don’t want this,”

She tried to step back, but she knew the truth.

…that escape was impossible.

The wolf raised its forepaw as it came right up to her.

‘…No…who…please…help.’

Vivian tightly shut her eyes and prayed.

…And then.

──Boom!

Yujin appeared.

‘Damn it…’

It’s damn heavy.

With one attack, I assessed the hierarchy of strength.

I absolutely couldn’t win this.

Even after stacking psychokinesis several times to create a barrier and reducing its power with wind blades, it barely stopped.

“Growl─”

Annoyed at having its hunt interrupted, the wolf bared its teeth and growled.

Scary.

In the game, it was just a mid-level monster left to grow freely, but what on earth did it eat to level up to high mid-tier already?

‘…Let’s think about that later.’

Anyway, how the wolf got so strong didn’t matter right now.

I must survive.

Honestly, I wasn’t too surprised.

Wasn’t this what such games were all about?

If you didn’t know, you died—a damned game of failure.

It seemed like an event I wasn’t aware of had kicked in.

Now that the exploration seemed over, the wolf slowly approached me.

「Wind─Blade」

The magic I fired sliced through the wolf’s skin.

“Growl─”

The wolf’s eyes turned fierce as it looked at its wound.

If it were a human, it might feel like getting cut by a box cutter—painful and irritating, but…

Easily ignorable.

“Grrrr!”

The charging wolf suddenly snapped at the air.

[Wind ─ Blade]

[Psychokinesis (Rank E)]

The magic was ignored, but could it ignore psychokinesis?

A telekinetically sharpened blade pierced the wolf’s skin.

The wound was deep, and blood spurted out, perhaps as severe as an excessive cut.

Not fatal, but not ignorable either.

“Grrrg…”

The wolf stepped back, scanning for its attacker.

「Wind─Blade」

[Psychokinesis (Rank E)]

I deployed magic and unique abilities again toward the wolf.

Splash!

Now, the wolf seemed to realize I was its attacker.

“Growl…!”

It snorted angrily, its breath heavy.

「Wind─Blade」

As I chanted, the wolf flinched and backed away. This time, I relied solely on magic.

‘How many more times will this work?’

To begin with, I expended a lot of mental power on psychokinesis.

…Definitely less sustainable compared to magic.

‘But still…’

If I can keep delaying like this until the professor arrives, I might last.

「Wind─Blade」

As the wolf showed signs of advancing again, I chanted once more.

Tadadat-

Then, showing its back, the wolf fled into the woods.

“Running away…?”

Would a high mid-tier monster flee from just this?

…That can’t be.

Player’s intuition told me.

Be careful.

And at that moment, a sinister presence loomed behind.

Boom-!

I was right.

That damn wolf had circled back, targeting Vivian.

“Ah…Yujin…!!”

“Eugh…!”

I hastily used psychokinesis without considering ability distribution.

Still, I feared it wouldn’t be enough, and I was right.

‘…Grrr…good thing I shielded Vivian.’

Fortunately, the injury wasn’t too deep.

Just the tips of the fangs slightly embedded in my forearm.

With ‘World Tree’s Blessing’, recovery was possible.

[Wind ─ Blade]

As I chanted, the wolf cub stepped back again.

Its eyes looked at me as if mocking, ‘Can you still fight like this?’

‘Smart little bastard….’

The assessment of a cunning beast fit perfectly.

I said I could hold on when I was alone.

Fighting while protecting Vivian like this, I wouldn’t last long.

So, I had to remove the obstacle….

“…Vivian.”

“I, I…because of me…Yujin is…”

Vivian seemed overwhelmed by the situation and fell into a state of panic.

I couldn’t afford to look away.

If I turned my gaze, that wolf would charge right at us.

I kept my eyes fixed on the wolf and shouted again.

“Snap out of it, Vivian Beatrice! Are you even my sister?”

“Yes…no…!…eh?”

I tried it just in case, but it had a remarkable effect.

When I spoke in the tone of Vivian’s sister, Vivian immediately snapped back to reality.

“Vivian, can you get up? I’m sorry, but you have to get up even if you can’t.”

“…Yeah…ah, got it.”

Yes, if she didn’t want to die, she had to get up. Vivian, now on her feet beside me, clumsily prepared to fight.

“…No, you should not fight, just get out of the forest.”

“Ha, but… Yujin is…”

“If you’re here, I can’t fight properly.”

“…But, alone…”

Vivian didn’t obey my commands as much as Lucia did.

Moreover, she was disgustingly kind, so there’s no way she would run away while I was fighting for her.

…So I needed to give her a reason to escape.

“Please, Vivian. Go and bring Professor Loreos. That’s the only way both of us can survive. If you tell him I’m fighting, he’ll come right away.”

“…Yu…jin…”

“I can’t hold on much longer! Hurry!”

As I shouted, Vivian finally began to move her feet.

“…Yu, Yujin…sorry. I’ll…definitely bring him…”

“Growl-!”

Seeing Vivian running away, the wolf rushed towards her.

「Wind─Blade」

[Psychokinesis (Rank E)]

“Where do you think you’re going?”

The bridge of the wolf’s nose was sliced by psychokinesis.

The spurting blood seemed quite painful.

“You’re supposed to play with me.”

“Growl…!”

The wolf’s angry howl sent chills down my spine.

Thump, thud.

Just then, the rain began to pour down impressively.

‘Well… let’s see how long this can last.’

I bit my lip as I glared at the wolf.

Vivian ran.

‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry.’

Cursing her own weakness, she ran through the rain.

Gasping for breath, falling midway, and bleeding profusely, she didn’t even feel the pain.

She had to save Yujin.

That was all that mattered to her.

As she thought of Yujin, who had been hurt because of her, tears burst forth.

“Ha…ha…aaaaah!”

‘Why am I so weak?’

‘Why am I so useless?’

‘If I had given up earlier…’

‘If I hadn’t delayed by trying to find the marble…’

‘I wouldn’t have encountered the wolf, and Yujin wouldn’t have been hurt…’

Vivian thought as she ran.

‘I am…’

Vivian was a useless being.

Loreos ran through the rain-drenched forest, his face twisted in frustration.

‘Damn those useless administrators!’

He should have acted when the signal from the ring first disappeared.

But the test administrators claimed it was just a glitch because the signal wasn’t ‘death’ but ‘disappearance’.

Soon after, signals for ‘death’ and ‘danger’ started appearing continuously, and even then, the administrators insisted it was likely a mistake and blocked any action.

Fuming, Loreos was about to explode when that kid showed up.

─Professor, a monster has appeared in the forest.

They only started moving after hearing from the next head of the Uruella family.

‘…I should have beaten them up back then.’

The faces of the stupid and arrogant administrators made his stomach turn.

Tap tap tap-

Then, he heard footsteps.

Turning towards the sound, he saw Vivian.

Clearly in a distressed state, Loreos grabbed her to stop her.

“Vivian!”

“Aaaa!! Let go! Let go of this! Let me go!”

“Vivian! Snap out of it! It’s me!”

“Let go! Yu, Yujin is in danger!!”

「Wind─Blade」「Earth─Spear」

A high-speed chant unfolded in a moment, seldom seen even on the battlefield.

If Loreos hadn’t been there to block it, it would have hit.

Barely avoiding the magic, Loreos grabbed Vivian’s wrist.

“Calm down, Vivian! Calm down and look at me!”

“Ha…ha…let go…please..!”

Loreos noticed that Vivian was in a state where normal judgment was impossible due to hypothermia, exhaustion, and lack of magic energy.

…It was amazing how she could run without collapsing in such a condition.

Loreos created a small flame to warm the surroundings and took off his coat to put it on Vivian.

“Calm down, Vivian. It’s okay. I’m here.”

After some time, Vivian calmed down and regained her senses.

“Ha…ha…Lo, Loreos…Pro…Professor..?”

“Yes, it’s me. So tell me, what happened.”

“Huuk…Yu..Yujini..alone…with the monster…he’s hurt…”

Vivian rambled, but such a state of panic was routine on the battlefield.

Realizing the situation, Loreos patted Vivian’s back and said.

“Got it. Thank you for telling me. And Vivian, your body is at its limit. Just stay here quietly and wait for other professors to come.”

“But, but…Yu, Yujin…”

“Following would only cause trouble. This is an order as your professor. Stay here quietly.”

“Ha, but…because of me…Yujin…ah…aaaaah…”

Checking the locator, Yujin’s position wasn’t far.

“…Instead, I promise.”

With a stern face, Loreos took leather gloves out of his pocket and put them on.

“I will definitely find Yujin and return.”

Just like when he was on the battlefield.