Outdoor Practical Evaluation (6)

Getting the Insight skill is great, but what the hell are those broken characters…

I hadn't even finished the thought when—

KUUUUUUUNG—!

An alien vibration surged up from beneath my feet and tore through my entire body.

"Ugh! What the hell—is that an earthquake?!"

"Aaaah!"

Kado and Abo's screams ripped through the air.

No. This wasn't an earthquake.

Along with the tremor, a suffocating pressure of mana crushed down on the atmosphere itself.

—Grrrrrrngh!

When the shaking finally stilled, a monstrous roar rose from the depths of the forest. It was a sinister, bone-chilling noise, as if an entire mountain range had begun to move.

This was nothing like the lingering aura of the magical beast I'd felt at the ruins last night. This was an overwhelming, primal terror of an entirely different order.

And then—

The morning sunlight cut out in an instant.

A mountain-sized shadow blotted out the sky, and the world around us sank into a darkness as thick as nightfall.

I swallowed hard and slowly, very slowly, lifted my head.

And I saw it.

Something was rising, its massive upper body towering above the trees as if they were nothing more than weeds underfoot.

The owner of the footprints I'd seen last night.

The true predator of the Moonlight Forest.

Its head scraped the sky, and eight eyes burned with a molten crimson radiance as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠they looked down—directly at us.

Every instinct in my skull screamed a frantic warning.

Run.

Run.

Run.

Run.

Run.

But my legs refused to move, frozen solid.

Damn it. In the end, we're the ones paying the price for stirring up trouble in this forest.

"Uh… uh…!"

I watched the color drain clean out of Kado's face. Abo was already trembling, her bloodless lips bitten white. Ricotta could barely stay on her feet—caught between the lingering effects of the paralysis toxin and the hopeless spectacle before her eyes.

At this rate, we were all going to die.

Blood from the wound in my shoulder was dulling my senses, but that only meant I had to hold onto my wits that much harder. There was no room to waver.

There's only… one way.

I steadied my staggering body and shouted to everyone.

"Abo! Support Lady Ricotta and get out of here—now."

"Sa-Saya! What about you?! Don't tell me you're—"

Abo cried out, her face twisted in horror.

"I'll buy time. While I do, take everyone and run."

Ricotta tried to say something to me, but I turned my head away.

Before her voice could break free, I clenched the hand gripping my wounded shoulder.

Crack—!

Agony tore through the muscle as the wound ripped open again, and hot blood surged out in a thick rush. The dense, metallic stench of it flooded the air in an instant.

—Grrrr…

Just as I'd hoped, the giant magical beast's eyes locked onto me with perfect clarity.

The freshest, most stimulating ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠scent of blood.

To that thing, I was the ultimate bait.

"Over here, you monster bastard!"

I shouted even louder, deliberately baiting it—then spun around and sprinted into the forest, in the exact opposite direction my companions had fled.

—KWAAAAAAAAH—!!

A roar condensed from pure predatory instinct shook the entire forest.

Behind me came the sound of massive trees snapping like matchsticks, the vibrations rolling after me in waves.

It worked. I'd pulled its aggro completely.

Please… please just get away safely.

I gritted my teeth.

The pain in my shoulder had already blown past any limit—my entire left arm was numb, as if it had gone dead. My vision flickered red, and my heart hammered like it was about to burst.

I mapped the forest terrain in my head and ran for my life, vaulting over roots, crashing through underbrush, thrashing for every extra second I could buy.

But a game of tag between a colossal predator and a tiny human had a predetermined winner from the start.

KWAJIIIIK—!!

A massive tree was ripped out by the roots right beside me. The wind pressure alone from its passage made every bone in my body scream.

Damn it…! Is this as far as I go?!

What appeared before my eyes was a sheer cliff dropping dozens of meters—no path forward.

A dead end. The perfect stage for a hunter to finish its prey.

I turned, gasping for breath.

Before I knew it, the beast was right in front of me. A nauseating stench of rotting meat and blood stabbed at my nose, and the drool dripping from its gaping maw melted the grass where it fell.

Eight crimson eyes looked down at me the way a beast looks at a kill it's about to complete.

No escape. No strength left to resist.

……

Driven by pure instinct, I brought my trembling right hand to my chest. My fingertips brushed something cold and smooth.

The hidden piece from the ruins—the Beast's Mask.

If I put this on, I could at least leave a wound on that monster.

But the price was clear.

In my current state—massive blood loss, stamina completely drained—if I accepted the mask's madness… there was no telling what would happen.

In the worst case, my sense of self would be swallowed whole, and I'd become nothing more than the mask's puppet.

…Still better than dying like this.

In all the time since I'd transmigrated into this world, I had never felt death this close.

I wanted to live.

I wanted to survive ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠somehow, fix this damned story, and see a happy ending.

…

In the split second I resolved myself and brought the mask to my face—

Shuuuuu— PAANG!

From a corner of the sky, a vivid streak of red light burst forth like a flash of lightning.

…A distress flare?

Judging by the position, it was probably the academy's emergency signal that Kado and Abo had fired.

The brief relief that they'd made it out safely lasted only a moment. I realized it wouldn't change my situation at all.

A rescue team would take far too long to arrive. Before then, I'd be that thing's next meal.

As despair rose to my throat, I turned my eyes back to the mask.

And that was the exact moment.

"Hmm. Is this the place?"

A soft, gentle voice—sweet as a musical instrument, yet somehow unsettling.

At the same time, every sense in my body rang a warning bell.

A presence different from the giant magical beast's—chilling and razor-sharp.

My gaze snapped instinctively toward the sound, to a tree branch above the cliff.

Someone was standing there.

The gem at the tip of the staff in his hand was drinking in the surrounding mana, radiating an eerie light.

"This is clearly beyond what a first-year can handle."

The voice was strangely familiar.

—Grrrrr!!

Even the giant magical beast sensed him and bristled with wariness.

The man gave his staff a light flick.

A slow, simple arc—like a conductor beginning a performance.

A silver flash burst from its tip and sliced through the empty air—

and nothing happened.

Or so it seemed. But in the next instant, a single thin silver line was drawn across the center of the giant magical beast's body. And from that line, its form began to split—slowly, so very slowly—into two halves.

Kugugugugung…!

The mountain-like bulk collapsed to the ground as two enormous slabs of meat. A single strike. The catastrophe I'd been risking my life to stall had vanished with one casual attack.

I stood there, stunned before that overwhelming spectacle, the mask in my hand completely forgotten.

The man descended from the branch without a sound, landing lightly in front of me.

An immaculate upperclassman's uniform, and golden eyes that seemed to see through everything.

The center of countless bad endings that had driven the heroines—and me—to death over and over in the game.

Scone.

The moment that name slammed into my mind, my heart sank to the floor.

"Ah, even from a distance I thought you were remarkably beautiful—so it was you, junior."

He spoke with a gentle smile.

"We seem to have run into each other 'by chance' rather sooner than I expected."

Scone… damn it, why the hell is this guy showing up again?

I forced my voice out. My grip on the mask tightened.

"…What brings you here, senior?"

"Outdoor training tends to produce unexpected variables. Ordinarily, dealing with those is part of the exercise—but when things exceed the bounds of training, third-years like myself step in to… 'clean up.'"

That distress flare just now. He came the moment he saw it?

In the game, the "restart button" for a failed outdoor training stage seemed to function here as an actual rescue request.

But even so, this speed made no sense.

No—this bastard was never supposed to make sense, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠even in the game.

A monster of pure variables that no strategy could ever pin down.

Of all people, I had to end up owing my life to him!

I never wanted to be in this guy's debt—not for anything…

With no idea what kind of chaos he might cause as a variable in this world, I had no choice but to stay on guard.

In that moment, the pain I'd been holding down forced its way through the cracks.

"Kh…!"

A searing heat spread from my left shoulder all the way down my spine.

A pain like flesh burning alive pressed down on me, as if exacting delayed revenge.

A tremor I couldn't stop no matter how hard I clenched my teeth.

"That shoulder wound is rather deep."

"…I'm fine."

"No. You are not fine."

He cut off my answer and took a step closer.

The formless pressure in that single step made me swallow dryly without meaning to.

"This isn't empty comfort. As a senior who came out on a rescue, I'm making an objective assessment of my junior's condition."

"At this level, a recovery potion and some herbs should be enough to—"

He interrupted me with that same gentle smile.

"Knowing when to put on a brave face and when to accept help is also an important skill, junior."

…

He was right. He was completely right—

but the problem was that he was the one saying it.

I swallowed every curse I wanted to spit and locked down every muscle in my face so that not even the slightest twitch would show.

Wait—so I don't get caught? Come to think of it, maybe I should try out that skill I just got.

I doubted my own eyes.

I dropped my gaze and checked the last line again. I hadn't misread it. It wasn't a typo.

Worry…?

This lunatic was… worried about me?