056 – When Three Nymphs Band Together, Nothing Is Impossible! #4
"So all you have to do is escape the way I taught you. Then you win."
Back at the dormitory, I briefed the nymphs on the bet scheduled for tomorrow.
A bet I had entered them into without asking. I'd worried they might refuse, but thankfully the nymph girls were absolutely bursting with enthusiasm.
"This is our chance to show everyone the greatness of the homegrown fairy sisters known as nymphs…!"
"When us nymph sisters join hands, there is nothing we cannot do…!"
"Mwehehe, this Illinoi is very interested in that so-called SNS thing, I must say…! The pictures this Illinoi draws… If I sell them, they will surely make me money…!"
They were so overflowing with confidence that it actually made me nervous.
Fortunately, tomorrow's rift was a Fixed Rift with no monsters inside. All they had to do was overcome the natural terrain, find their way out, and escape. Think of it as an extreme version of an escape room, maybe?
"Alright then, let me teach you some survival tips."
Shwoop─
I unfolded the notebook I had painstakingly organized. It was a study journal I'd kept diligently since the start of my life as an awakener, filled with hard-earned know-how about the things one might encounter inside a rift.
"First thing you do when you enter a rift: find a safe zone. Securing your personal safety comes before anything else. Second, once you have some breathing room, secure an open field of vision."
How would the nymphs react to my premium lecture?
"It is said that tomorrow morning's breakfast will be stir-fried sausage and vegetables…!"
"Mwehehe, what a delicious-sounding name, I must say…! If a different menu comes out this time, this Illinoi will no longer hold back…! I will scribble my heart's voice everywhere…!"
"This Oinoi is very sleepy, that is the fact…!"
Would they really be okay?
Were we just going to embarrass ourselves for nothing?
"Instructor, I'd like to run a rift escape exercise with the F-rank recruits. Would that be alright?"
I proposed a change to today's training schedule to Master Sergeant Jo Gyo-hee. Thankfully, Instructor Jo Gyo-hee turned out to be more flexible than I'd expected.
"You'll be handling the training yourself, Senior? Then I'll take a quick break. Could you maybe bring Keongkeongi by?"
━Woof-woof…!
Instructor Jo Gyo-hee agreed to look after Keongkeongi for us. That little guy was popular wherever he went. I was jealous. Was it the stripes? Would I get a bit more popular too if I had stripes?
As I was pondering that, Ari arrived leading the F-rank recruits. There were five of them. They took one look at the nymph sisters and went wide-eyed.
"Those are nymphs?"
"They're tiny!"
"Smaller than me. Elementary schoolers?"
"Those things are supposed to compete against us?"
The nymphs' appearance screamed harmless at first glance, which was exactly why they seemed to be so easily underestimated.
I addressed the F-rank recruits. "Ahem! Do not judge danger by appearance alone!"
This was important. In truth, the nymphs' fighting spirit today was fully charged.
"This Oinoi…! Doesn't know what's going on, but it seems like it will be fun, that is the fact…!"
"This Coris also drank loads of water-filterer water and is overflowing with power, that is the fact…!"
"This Illinoi is very angry, I must say…! The sausage side dish ran out right in front of Illinoi…! This anger… will no longer be contained…!"
Would they really be okay?
They'd be fine. Probably. I had crammed crash-course lectures into the dozing nymphs all last night, after all.
Shwoop─
The nymphs now each wore a camera on their heads, streaming their point of view to the monitors in the control room installed inside the rift. If anything went wrong, Ari, our physician, was on standby to deploy immediately.
"Alright, go─"
Bang!
Pop-pop-pop!
At Ari's signal, fired from a starter pistol, the F-rank cadets came pouring into the rift. The nymphs, by contrast, were leisurely about it.
"Then, as the Master of the House has instructed, we shall begin our warm-up exercises…!"
"This Coris is already having fun, that is the fact…!"
"Mwehehe, this Illinoi is a cheetah, I must say…! No matter how fast the puppies run, they cannot outrun a cheetah that starts late…!"
Shwoosh-shwoosh─
The nymphs stretched by pulling on each other's arms, faithfully following my lesson that loosening up before entering a rift was a good idea.
Pop.
Soon Oinoi, then Coris, then Illinoi entered the rift, and I followed behind them.
The rift was a wide garden. A springtime scene of blooming flowers and grass stretched out, quite warm and beautiful. What a lovely rift.
As I was thinking that, Oinoi threw both hands up with a flourish.
"It reminds me of the garden where this Oinoi once lived…! A most nymph-friendly environment indeed…! The flowers are blooming everywhere…!"
"Illinoi, let us smell the flowers together, that is the fact…!"
"Mwehehe, this nymph-friendly smell─, so exciting, I must say…!"
The nymphs stopped focusing on the rift escape and started picking the flowers! They wove crowns and necklaces out of blossoms, playing merrily, while I watched the scene through the monitors growing anxious.
A check of the GPS showed the ten-recruit F-rank team had already advanced a full kilometer.
"Those guys, why are they so fast? Are they sprinting full-tilt?"
"I told you, Senior. Those kids are Class A."
Ari laughed as if she were enjoying this. And that was when it happened.
"Ah! Now is not the time for this, that is the fact…! We must escape this place quickly, that is the fact…!"
"Hieeek…! This Coris feels very sad that we must leave such a magnificent place, that is the fact…!"
"A special something has just occurred to this Illinoi─. According to the House Master's teachings, we were told to find high ground and secure our vision, I must say…!"
That's it─
The nymphs climbed up onto a tall hill. Looking down from up high, they could see that this Fixed Rift at Nonsan Training Camp consisted of a flower-blooming garden, a babbling brook, and a forest.
"Ahh─! There's a nice cool-looking brook over there, that is the fact…!"
"The Master of the House said that inside a rift, following a stream usually leads to the escape route, that is the fact…!"
"Let us go quickly, I must say…!"
Ari explained to me: "The Rift Core is a special tree. It's in the forest, and the exit opens right next to it. Until then, there are the obstacles we set up, plus some basic traps."
Traps. At that word, horrible visions flashed before my eyes. Reading my expression, Ari added, "They're not real traps. More like pits filled to the brim with rubber balls."
What a relief.
Soon the nymphs ran with all their might and reached the brook. And then, a problem arose.
"A most nymph-friendly brook…! It seems perfectly fine for everyone to splash around at least once, that is the fact…!"
"This Coris thinks so too, that is the fact…! Dipping our feet in would feel so very cool, that is the fact…!"
"Mwehehe, according to the House Master, staying calm instead of panicking inside a rift raises your survival rate by over fifty percent─. For the sake of our mental health, everyone into the water, I must say…!"
Splash!
The nymphs dove straight into the brook. Then they all began splashing around together, looking for all the world like children who'd come out to play on a scorching summer day — an utterly joyful sight.
It was true that keeping a healthy mindset served survival better than panicking and cowering inside a rift. But wasn't that a little too healthy and positive?
The distance to the F-rank team on the GPS display had quietly grown to two kilometers. I'd heard the average escape time was three hours, but the recruits' pace was impressively high.
Were they just sprinting flat-out with no pace management? At this rate they'd clear it within the hour, and if things stayed like this, the nymphs─
"At this rate they couldn't escape in half a day."
Splash, splash─
On the monitor, the nymphs were having a grand old time in the water.
"This Oinoi hasn't had this much fun in so long, that is the fact…! To splash around with the nymph sisters again — it is like a dream…!"
"This Coris too used to do nothing but fight with the invasive fairy trolls every day, so having this much fun after so long makes her happy, that is the fact…!"
"This Illinoi also finds it very funny, I must say…! Coming to this rabbit-shaped country from America was an excellent choice…!"
They really were playing a bit too happily. Well, these were girls who had longed to meet other nymphs. Now that they'd finally gotten the chance to enjoy themselves, it would be sad to snatch it away.
"Senior, at this rate you're going to lose the bet. Should I speak to the nymphs through the camera speakers?"
"No, leave them be. If we lose like this, well, so be it. It just means my teaching skills were lacking."
"You're taking this rather coolly, aren't you? Senior, if I'm honest, I didn't think you were the type to hate losing more than anyone."
That was true. The old me had hated losing to others more than anything. But after so many years pinned beneath everyone else, I suppose I'd changed.
About ten minutes passed like that.
Then Oinoi spoke up. "Ahh! We've played too much, that is the fact…! If we stay like this, we will lose, that is the fact…!"
"Then this ice-water nymph Coris shall show her strength, that is the fact…! The Master of the House said that escaping a rift requires making proper use of the surrounding nature and objects…!"
Whoooosh─
Coris blew a stream of air from her mouth.
"─Nymph Secret Technique: Non-stop Wind Blowing…!"
The water touched by Coris's breath froze solid, turning into a sheet of ice the size of a picnic mat. Coris peeled it free and sat down on top of it. A strange raft indeed.
"Everyone aboard, that is the fact…! If we ride this down the slope, we will clearly reach that forest in no time, that is the fact…!"
"As expected of nymphs — so very intelligent, I must say…! A brilliant plan the invasive species could never even dream of…!"
Riding their ice-sheet raft, the nymphs came hurtling down the sloping stream. The speed was faster than expected, and they caught up to the F-rank recruits in the blink of an eye.
"Whoa, what is that? What are they riding?"
"What even is that thing?"
"Mwehehe, hasta la vista, I must say…! All aboard the boat, I must say…!"
"Guess there aren't any traps in the flowing water! Bae Hu-seong! What do we do? Should we ride the stream like them too? You're the leader — decide! If this keeps up we might actually lose!"
"Hah… hah… the valley path is way too rough and full of traps. We're all exhausted."
The nymphs traveled the trap-free water. The recruits were slogging through a booby-trapped valley. All my worrying while the nymphs played around had been for nothing.
Above all, the recruits had sprinted at full speed with no pacing, and picking their way over rough rock and gravel had worn them down. Honestly, I'd expected as much — a bunch of greenhorns rushing off without even doing warm-up exercises.
And so Oinoi and the nymph team overtook the F-rank recruits. Before long, they hit the five-kilometer mark. The stream ended, and Oinoi and the nymphs reached the forest.
"Mwehehe, this Oinoi is a forest nymph, born of the forest…! She is confident she can move through the woods faster than anyone…! Onward, that is the fact…!"
Oinoi took the lead. As a forest nymph born from the forest, she knew woods inside and out. For reference, Coris was supposedly a mountain nymph, and Illinoi a nymph of the open plains.
Pop-pop-pop!
The nymphs went tearing through the forest. They were blisteringly fast among the trees, and it looked like they'd reach the escape route without a hitch.
And then—
"Ahh, this tree…!"
Near the exit, Oinoi discovered a single tree. Strange characters were carved into it, as if cut with a knife.
Ari explained the image coming through the monitor. "That's this rift's Rift Core."
"Really? Do you know what's written on it?"
"No idea. It's an unknown language, so we haven't been able to decipher it."
I see. Rifts still held so many mysteries─ I was musing on that when Oinoi spoke.
"The letters carved into this tree are the language of the nymphs, that is the fact…! I thought this forest was nymph-friendly, but it is in fact a forest where nymphs once lived…! And these letters are─."