Survival Exam (19)

In this world, elves were not the beautiful beings of fairy tales. They were a breed of monster — deranged creatures who took genuine pleasure in hunting humans. They had intelligence, yes, but their language was entirely different, making communication impossible. Not that it would have mattered. The High Elf was under magical control, so even if we could have understood each other, there ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠would have been no talking to it.

The High Elf was a mechanism the Academy had prepared to deal with cadets who hid until the very last day and did nothing. Anyone who had properly hunted monsters and found treasures over the week of the Survival Exam could easily rack up around two hundred points. The High Elf was the exam's way of declaring that cadets who spent the entire week hiding and running would not be allowed to survive to the end. Of course, simply being alive until the last day earned a decent score on its own. Surviving by hiding was no easy feat either.

In the original story, the High Elf had only cleaned up a handful of freeloaders before facing off against the protagonist. Things were very different now.

"What the fuck is that?!"

"Aaagh!"

Kim Young-han's team, which had been closing in on me, was collapsing under arrows that the High Elf could land anywhere on the island. Forming a team of eighty had backfired spectacularly. More people was not automatically better. If those cadets had competed among themselves, stolen one another's points, and whittled their numbers down to around twenty, the elf would never have targeted them first. Only the ones who had truly been hiding and coasting would have been picked off and eliminated.

But far too many cadets had survived. The point supply was fixed. When the number of people ballooned, those points had no choice but to be split thinner. It was not Kim Young-han's fault. Predicting this would have been absurd.

There had been a hint, actually. The message that appeared on day six.

That was the hint for the High Elf's appearance. Whether they had put it there expecting anyone to actually figure it out, I had no idea. I had only understood it myself after reading an explanation circulating online much later.

Hoping no cadet would die in an actual accident, I pulled up the point rankings.

Only five cadets on the entire island had more than two hundred points. Which meant—

"Talk about easy mode."

I could sit still and the exam would clean house for me. It almost felt too simple. I slipped away from Kim Young-han's team, still in chaos from the arrows, and checked the map, heading for the coordinates of Elise and the Lucy-Rumi twins. Time to go share some points with Rumi.

The Academy conference room. The professors were locked onto the monitors, watching the final day of the Survival Exam unfold.

"...Shouldn't we change this?"

One professor spoke up carefully as cadets teleported out one or two at a time with every draw of the High Elf's bow.

"The two-hundred-point threshold we calculated at the start is completely different now. At this rate, everyone except five people is going to be eliminated."

"And what does that matter? Elimination is not disqualification. This is a relative evaluation. The order just shifts."

"That's true, but... if a large number of cadets suddenly get eliminated on the last day because of a point restriction, it could become a fairness issue."

Another professor let out a sigh. Fairness. It was always the newly arrived professors who brought that word up. They had not adapted to Victoria Academy yet.

"Fairness? Since when have we ever concerned ourselves with that? You know the Academy's policy. That whole business of cultivating situational adaptability."

Situational adaptability. Getting cadets accustomed, in advance, to the defining feature ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of a profession in which sudden and unexpected events happened constantly. As an educational institution, Victoria Academy placed enormous emphasis on it.

"Even so, fairness..."

"If you want to start picking at fairness, there is no end to it. Mages have a genuine advantage in survival, and that is a fact. Some of them used Cleaning magic to maintain a minimum of hygiene. Some even used magic to make themselves a place to sleep. Others lit fires and roasted meat. Are we going to take issue with those things too?"

"No — a mage using magic is unavoidable. That is not what I am talking about. I think we should have stopped Cadet Lee Ho-yeon from bringing food supplies in the first place."

"During last year's special exam, there was a student who brought an internal map of the Academy just in case a test like that took place. I hear several of this year's first-years heard that story and packed one as well. I see this as the same logic. Preparing is a cadet's prerogative. We announced that there would be a special exam, and that is where our responsibility ends."

"...I suppose so."

Debates over fairness flared up among the professors often enough, but in the end, none of them could override Victoria Academy's policy. What kind of preparations a cadet made was their own freedom. The Academy simply observed how they handled the situation. Whether that situation was advantageous or disadvantageous did not enter into it. Creating an advantageous situation was a skill in its own right. Kim Young-han, in fact, was receiving high marks precisely for the ability to talk cadets into joining his team and tilt the circumstances in his favor.

"Stop wasting thought on things that do not matter and keep watch so that no one actually dies."

An older professor barked the order without taking his eyes off the monitor. Even if it felt unfair in the moment, the Academy-graduate professors all knew that experiences like these, stacked up through exam after exam, became a solid foundation.

"The cadet under drone A-13 looks like they are in danger. I think we need a forced teleport."

"Don't ask, just do it. And keep the monitoring focused on Lee Ho-yeon and Kim Young-han."

The professors stared at the screens, determined not to miss a second of the exam as it drew to a close.

"Whew. Thank god. Rumi, scan it quick."

"Okay. Thank you."

They had rushed to share points after hearing that cadets below two hundred were in danger, but Lucy's total was only two hundred and ten. When they asked Elise to share some of hers, they discovered the share function itself had been locked. A last-day trick by the Academy, designed to keep cadets from simply pooling points and surviving without eliminating anyone. Fortunately, Rumi had only been twenty points short, so they had been able to make up the difference by taking down a monster they found along the way.

Lee Ho-yeon had originally planned to share his points with her, but in the game there had never been an opportunity to transfer points to anyone else on day seven, so he had not known the function would be sealed. On top of that, Nam Da-eun's appearance had thrown his plans off and eaten into his time.

"He's coming this way. He must have slipped out in the chaos."

"Whew. That's a relief."

"Th-thank goodness."

Lucy and Rumi pressed their hands to their chests and let out matching sighs of relief. Watching them, Elise found herself thinking, not for the first time, that these twins were something else. Apart from the hair — one blue, one black — they looked identical, and everything they did was so cute she wanted to take a big bite out of—

"Ahem."

What on earth was she thinking about girls her own age.

Watching Lee Ho-yeon close the distance at high speed, Elise decided this was her chance. Her last chance to ask these two for their honest opinions while he was not around.

"What do you two think of Lee Ho-yeon?"

"W-why so sudden? I mean, he's a really great guy."

"I-I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠also... think he's a wonderful person."

Lucy and Rumi tilted their heads at the abrupt question, but they answered readily enough.

"Don't you think he's hiding something?"

"...I dunno?"

"I-is... is that so?"

They both seemed like they had something they were not saying. Elise had no idea what to do with this frustrating feeling. Was she actually going to have to investigate him herself?

"Hey, girls!"

A man's voice, calling from a distance. Lee Ho-yeon's, familiar as anything. They had been fairly far apart, but he had already arrived. Elise composed her face so that nothing would show.

What's with their faces?

Nobody was saying anything, but an awkward current ran between the three of them. I pulled up their status windows.

Their thoughts were all over the place. Looking at them only made me more confused. No — this was not the time to be worrying about that.

"Rumi, where did you get the points?"

The rankings showed that Rumi's total had already hit two hundred. I had run all this way to share some with her.

"Ah, we hunted a monster together."

"Yeah? That's good."

If they had the points, how they got them did not matter much.

"Let's move. Right now."

"Where to?"

"Where else? We're going to hunt the elf."

"...The elf? Do we have to?"

"Once it finishes off those meat shields, we're next."

They had said it would prioritize cadets below two hundred points. They had never said it would leave everyone above that line alone. Lasting the entire seventh day under arrows with that kind of range was not realistic. In the original, the protagonist had happened to be near the center of the island and managed to deal with it somehow. If I wanted the hidden piece, I needed to handle this the same way the original had.

The plan had been to take it down alone. But after fighting Nam Da-eun, I was short on mana. I had topped myself up as much as I could on the run over, but I had no interest in taking unnecessary risks. Even if we killed it together, I could still claim the hidden piece by myself. All I needed to do was set the stage. Elise and Lucy could handle the actual takedown.

"Fine."

"Okay. Let's hurry."

Convince Elise, and Lucy and Rumi following along was a free bonus. We ran for the center of the island. The arrows were too busy hunting Kim Young-han's eighty-person army to spare us any attention. A glance at the rankings showed only about thirty cadets left. We needed to get there before the meat shields ran out.

A massive tree stood at the heart of the island. From its crown, the High Elf was loosing arrow after arrow. I prepared a spell — Blaze, at full power. A simple magic that threw sparks of flame, and all the more effective for that simplicity. The target was the tree itself. I was going to burn the World Tree down.

A magic circle spun into existence from my hand at blinding speed, and flame roared up the tree, swallowing the elf standing in its crown along with it.

The High Elf shrieked, a raw and tearing sound, lost its grip on the bow, and clutched its head as the fire took hold.

What the hell.

Had I brought them along for nothing? I may have miscalculated my firepower.