The Necklace of Deceit
Simon's timing in crossing over to the central island could not have been more perfect.
With daylight breaking and the students resuming their activities in earnest, the four bridges leading into central Kera Island transformed into vicious war zones. Students who had their own methods of crossing the rivers could avoid the conflict entirely, but everyone else had no choice but to take the bridges.
"Cross now, for the low, low price of just 50 points!"
The western island, in particular, saw a faction built around Special Admission No. 7, Elisa, and the students of Class E seize control of the bridge outright. Using the Tongue Pad's point-transfer function, they collected points from crossers like a toll.
As a result, there was even an incident where students who had started on the western island found themselves trapped there for a stretch of time. In the end, a massive alliance formed on the western island with the sole purpose of toppling Elisa's faction, and she shrewdly withdrew from the bridge before things could boil over.
And so, while battle raged across every corner of the archipelago without a moment's pause, Simon—who had arrived on central Kera Island early—was leisurely devoting himself to the search for Big Kroom.
In a way, finding and contracting Big Kroom mattered more to Simon than clawing his way into the upper ranks of the Island Survival.
"Whew. But the traces are hard to come by, aren't they, Pier?" Simon said as he pushed through the undergrowth.
[Can't be helped. The big fellow was never the type to leave tracks,] replied the portion of Pier dangling from Simon's uniform.
[Still, once the Kizen students start fighting in earnest on the central island, the odds of a roused-up Big Kroom showing himself should climb naturally!]
"I suppose that's what we'll have to hope for."
According to Pier's information, Big Kroom in his resting state was small enough to pass for one of the wild mushrooms sprouting along the roadside. But the more he was threatened or enraged, the larger he grew, and at full size his body stretched well past twenty meters.
At that scale he would be impossible to miss, so rather than blindly hunting for traces, it made more sense to wait in a contested area and be ready for the moment Big Kroom appeared.
As Simon walked on toward the center, a vast canyon came into view in the distance. Seen from above, Kera Island rose toward its middle like a steepening mountain, the incline gradually sharpening until—right here—it shot upward all at once.
It really is high.
To reach the Indestructible Mansion, the final destination of this survival exam, crossing this canyon was non-negotiable. Scaling the cliff face itself was out of the question without the relevant abilities, and the sheer exposure made climbers easy targets for long-range attacks from below.
Of course, there were ordinary routes up. Following the canyon's base, Simon came upon terrain where the hillside had formed into terraced steps, like highland farmland. Crude tents and huts clung to the slopes in dense clusters.
And from those huts swarmed small, dwarf-like creatures.
...Whoa. There are a lot of them.
Grade 2 monsters: the Kera tribe. This island was called Kera Island for a reason.
They resembled the 'goblins' found across the continent, only smaller, skinnier, and shambling—a full-grown adult supposedly had the intelligence of a human child of six to nine. Even so, they were true monsters, with a monstrous capacity for breeding, the ability to wield weapons, and a remarkable talent for cooperation. In practice, they were the ones who ruled this island.
And this particular Kera settlement sprawled across the single best route up into the canyon.
I deliberately came late, hoping someone else would have cleared the way first...
There were signs of burned and wrecked huts here and there. But weighed against the sheer scale of the whole settlement, it was a drop in the bucket. He would have to punch through this place under his own power.
Rustle.
While his attention was fixed on the settlement, a noise stirred in the bushes behind him. Simon spun around, drawing up his Jet-Black, his skeletons rattling into a guard stance.
"Hold on! I'm not here to fight."
A boy in a Kizen uniform emerged from the brush with both hands raised in easy surrender—a gray-haired young man with his forehead swept clean and bare.
"...Who are you?"
"Vincent Wherli, Class C," Vincent said, flashing a smooth smile. "You're planning to get past that Kera outpost too, aren't you?"
"...Yeah. That was the plan."
"Then team up with us! Honestly, breaking through something that size alone is impossible. I'd stake my points on it."
"Us?"
Vincent smirked and gestured behind him. "I didn't bring them along since I figured you'd be jumpy, but there are eight more waiting back there."
Eight. He'd gathered quite a crowd, Simon thought.
"I'm going alone."
"...You're serious? That course is designed from the ground up to test teamwork! Going up there solo is insane."
He wasn't wrong. Vincent's offer to combine forces even seemed reasonable.
But.
"I've already got a plan of my own. Sorry."
He couldn't trust Vincent yet. And with a way through in hand, there was no reason to shoulder that kind of risk just for the sake of a team.
With nothing more than that, Simon turned his back and walked off into the woods.
Vincent trudged back to his companions alone. They were lounging in a convenient spot, idly chatting and trading jokes.
"What'd he say?"
Vincent shrugged. "Says he's climbing up on his own."
"Pff-hah!"
"Look at him posturing. Guess his head hasn't been knocked straight yet."
Vincent's team had a lively energy about it. And since they'd entered Kera Island on only the second day, it was fair to say every one of them had the skill to back it up.
"Should we go drag him up with us?" one teammate asked. Vincent shook his head.
"Forget it. Waste of time. Let's focus on our own business."
"If he comes crying later begging to be let in, we pound him and take his points."
"Hahaha!"
In high spirits, Vincent's team set out.
Reaching the edge of the Kera outpost took no time at all. Above them, on the terraced hillside, the dwarf-like creatures could be seen shuffling about.
"Alright, this is a race against the clock," Vincent said, calling his team to attention. "Climbing even one step higher matters more than killing monsters. We're Kizen—we won't lose to the Kera—but the moment we tire and slow down, we might end up facing every monster in that outpost at once."
Everyone nodded with grave faces.
"Then take the positions we talked about, and we move out immediately."
"Okay!"
"Right."
They snapped into their breakthrough formation at once. Two Magic Combat students took the point, with aspirants of Jet-Black Mechanics, Curse Magic, and Hemomancy falling in behind them. Vincent, the leader, planted himself dead center of the line.
"Go!"
The eight students surged up the hillside as one.
-Keruk!
-Kerruk!
The surrounding Kera spotted them and came charging. The alarm hadn't yet sounded, so for now they were only trickling out of the huts one by one.
"Kera? Easy pickings."
The Magic Combat students at the front gathered Jet-Black into their fists and swung.
CRACK!
A single casual punch sent Kera flying tens of meters with their necks bent at wrong angles. The firepower of the students behind them poured in after, and the area around them was swept clean in an instant.
"This way! This is the fastest way up!"
Vincent led his team, and everyone moved as one, breaking through with terrifying momentum. The monsters now came at them in earnest, and the group fought and fought until they'd clawed their way to the midpoint of the slope.
"We're halfway there! Just a little farther!"
Vincent clapped and cheered his team on. The students, drenched in sweat, belatedly had a nagging thought.
W-wait, we're only halfway?
Fighting while climbing a slope burned through stamina far faster than it looked. And hunting quick little monsters barely the size of your own lower body was no cakewalk in itself.
But with monsters swarming at their backs without pause, there was no other choice. Everyone gritted their teeth and ran.
"AAAAGH!"
Mid-breakthrough, pushing recklessly hard, something finally gave.
One of the teammates, sprinting too desperately, had apparently twisted his ankle—he was rolling on the ground, clutching his leg.
Everyone whirled around in alarm.
"What happened?"
"Uuugh! M-my ankle!"
Vincent was the first to rush over, propping the boy up by the shoulder. "I'm not leaving you behind! Hang in there!"
"...Th-thanks."
With an injured man in tow, their already sluggish pace dropped by nearly half.
The Magic Combat student at the front kept knocking monsters down while an uneasy feeling gnawed at him.
Am I trash for thinking this? If we drag an injured man through here, one guy's going to get all of us wiped out.
It wasn't as if anyone actually died. The moment a Barrier Gauge hit 0%, the emergency shield activated and an instant teleport whisked the student off to a safe location.
Even with everyone healthy right now, he couldn't guarantee they'd punch through the outpost at all. There was no real need to carry a man with a busted leg up the hill.
The other students felt the same. The team atmosphere had been too good for anyone to say it to his face, but the sentiment was shared.
"Ten more ahead!"
"They keep coming!"
The slower their breakthrough, the more monsters they had to fight. Stamina and Jet-Black alike were at their limits—and just as everyone, feeling the wall, was on the verge of giving up—
KOOM! KOOM! KOOM! KOOM! KOOM!
A thunderous roar split the earth out of nowhere.
Every head turned. Through the dense, ant-swarm mass of clustered Kera, a monster was simply walking straight through.
"A g-golem! That's a golem, right?"
"Someone's riding on top of it!"
Perched atop the mud golem, Simon was smiling as a fresh headwind washed over him. Below him, Pier's portion let out a laugh that rang across the battlefield.
[KHAHAHAHAHA! Onward! Keep going!]
To the small-framed Kera, the golem was a giant, plain and simple. No other weapon was needed—the mere act of the golem running crushed countless Kera flat beneath its feet.
Was there a more boneheaded way to smash through a monster camp? But nothing could have been more effective. The notoriously aggressive Kera were now too busy fleeing. The golem was a wolf loose in a flock of sheep.
"That's the guy who said he'd climb up alone, isn't it?"
"Unbelievable. He's actually going to solo the whole thing."
Vincent's teammates watched Simon with expressions half admiration, half envy. After laughing at him earlier, it stung a little—but a few even nursed the hope that he might bail them out. Simon and the golem, whether they noticed them or not, blew straight past.
Then it happened.
-Keruk! (What is going on?)
Drawn by the commotion, a Kera decked out in flamboyant ornaments emerged from a hut.
-Keruk! Kerrrruk! (The humans have invaded!)
-Kerruk! (Leave it to me!)
It was none other than the Kera chieftain.
His mere appearance sent the tribe's morale soaring. The surrounding Kera threw their arms skyward and began to cheer.
Fwoooosh!
As the chieftain raised the staff gripped in his hand, flames roared to life and began rapidly taking shape. He was the one and only Kera capable of wielding magic!
The instant he leveled his staff to unleash the spell—
SQUISH!
He was run over dead by the charging golem's foot.
Simon, eyes elsewhere, hadn't noticed at all.
Uh? What was that? Did something bump us?
That was the extent of his reaction.
But the shockwave of Simon accidentally decapitating the enemy's leadership was enormous. The Kera, robbed of their chief and sole commander in the blink of an eye, plunged into confusion and began thrashing about directionless.
"Huh? Why aren't these things attacking?"
Vincent's teammates noticed the change too. Vincent alone went stiff, bit his lip hard, and stepped forward.
"Something's changed! Everyone catch your breath for a—"
-Keruk!
-Kerruk!
Suddenly, several of the surrounding Kera dropped to one knee—toward Vincent.
As Vincent stumbled backward in bewilderment, a sword was suddenly leveled at his throat.
"Gahk! Wh-what are you doing?!"
"I knew something was off about you," the boy holding the sword to Vincent's throat said, his voice cold as ice. "You're the only one whose Barrier Gauge is still at 100%, aren't you? Why is it that only you never take a single hit from the monsters?"
"...!"
"A hundred percent? Seriously?"
The other students finally caught on as well, and a low murmur spread through them.
"Leading us on weird roundabout detours on purpose to grind down our stamina, insisting we bring the injured guy along so he could milk the drama and slow us down. It all adds up now. Don't tell me you..."
The boy grabbed the necklace hanging around Vincent's neck and tore it off.
Vincent flailed his arms in horror, but the boy pressed his sword closer to his throat to stop him, then examined the necklace's appearance carefully.
"It looks just like the ones those Kera are wearing. This is an artifact from a Supply Drop, isn't it?"
The supply drops falling from the sky contained not just food, but all manner of artifacts useful for this island survival. This one was probably an item that made the Kera treat the wearer as one of their own and leave him unattacked—or a necklace that commanded their reverence.
The boy tossed the necklace to the girl beside him. She put it on herself and walked toward the Kera.
The surrounding Kera flinched and shrank back—then promptly knelt on one knee before her.
The girl's face hardened with fury.
"You played us beautifully, didn't you? Vincent."
"N-no! Everyone, calm down! Just hear me out!"
In an instant, the atmosphere turned to frost.
"You were planning to harvest our points after we all went down."
"No wonder he had so many points."
"Are there other victims besides us?"
Once the suspicion took root, it swelled beyond all control. The girl wearing the necklace gave a small signal with her hand.
"No need to hear any more. Bye now."
The sword at Vincent's throat drew across it in one clean stroke.