Chapter 11

Eight hours had passed.

Kinjo Shua.

‘I spotted an instructor up in a tree. The map I secretly memorized was right. If Mago can just stall long enough, I can still aim for first place, even with this injured leg.’

He had left his pack with Mago and climbed down.

‘If I don’t finish first, I won’t be able to face Mago.’

Kinjo stared at his own leg.

‘Still... it feels like it’s about to snap. Just five minutes. I just want five minutes to rest.’

Then he heard rustling and looked up.

A black wolf was glaring at him with glowing eyes.

“What the...?”

The wolf moved slowly, eyes locked on Kinjo, as if it knew its prey was already wounded.

Soon, more wolves appeared.

One by one, they surrounded him.

‘Five of them.’

He drew his wooden sword.

‘I might be able to take one, but the others would pounce the moment I moved. This isn’t about the exam anymore—I could actually die...’

He bit his lower lip hard.

‘Think.’

His eyes stayed fixed on the wolves.

“Think.”

He froze, every muscle still, and spun his thoughts at lightning speed.

A two-second pause—then action.

Kinjo set his wooden sword ablaze.

The flaming sword made the wolves hesitate; none dared lunge.

The tip of the wooden blade began to char.

A makeshift torch wouldn’t last long.

‘I can’t let this become another obstacle.’

Staring into the fire, he steeled his resolve.

‘I have to finish this myself.’

Kinjo’s blue eyes blazed brighter.

* * *

I walked up to Louise, who lay on the ground.

“Mago, you know exactly what you’re doing to our classmates, don’t you?”

Louise glared up at me, her eyes full of resentment.

“I know. But you threw a weapon too—so we’re the same, aren’t we? Speaking of which, I’ll borrow these. Might come in handy.”

I gathered the spears scattered on the ground.

Four in total.

I tucked them between my uniform and undershirt.

I looked like some half-baked hunter.

Next, I pulled a matchbox from my pack.

I struck a match and spoke.

“Listen closely.”

I unbuttoned the front of my uniform.

Maps spilled out.

Twenty-seven of them.

I’d taken down twenty-seven groups alone.

More than half the total.

I dragged a spear across the dirt in front of me, drawing a line.

“Cross this, and I’ll burn them all.”

The fallen trainees groaned in protest.

“Mago, do you really have to go this far?”

Louise spoke up.

“I do.”

I had to stand out in the Special Task Force and rise through the ranks fast.

This was just the first step.

Getting in barely ranked versus entering as top scorer—those two paths start very differently.

Looking ahead, there was no question: I had to be number one.

I’d promised myself I wouldn’t go easy on anyone.

If that made me the villain, so be it.

“What are you all doing...?! You’re scared of one guy? Get up—now!”

At Amon’s shout, the trainees began to rise.

In response, I lowered the match toward the maps spread across the ground.

Maps A Team and B Team had fought tooth and nail to collect.

All of them seconds from turning to ash.

“I’ve said it before—your real opponent isn’t me.”

I pointed toward the others still fighting elsewhere.

“I’ve got twenty-seven out of fifty maps. If I burn these, the ones left will be worth even more.”

I tilted my head and added,

“Well? Aren’t you going?”

The ones who’d been glaring at me cursed and turned away.

Even Amon’s shouts lost their power.

Some gave up entirely.

“Amon, Belle, and Louise—all taken down at once.”

“Are we... Is there anyone here who can actually beat Mago?”

“He’s been hiding his real strength this whole time...”

The trainees muttered among themselves.

I lifted my head slowly.

A full moon peered through the clouds.

By now it should be the hour Kinjo and I agreed on—maybe already past it.

“Let first place go to Mago and just rest here...”

“Yeah. Kinjo’s probably gone on ahead; that’s why we can’t see him. Didn’t notice at first, but the fact he’s still missing...”

“So first place is already out of reach... What have we even been doing?”

The trainees’ will was crumbling. A few had begun setting up camp right at the checkpoint. Movement and voices were fading to silence.

“The moment we quit, everything goes exactly the way that bastard wants!”

Louise’s shrill cry shattered the hush.

“On your feet, idiots!”

The words snapped everyone awake. Amon was first, pushing himself up with the tip of his wooden sword.

“Right—numbers beat skill.”

He glanced at Belle, still asleep, and added, “Though we’re not at full strength without her.”

Louise’s voice had been enough to rouse the whole 66th class. As one they stood and leveled their wooden blades. Every point aimed at me. Their eyes had changed.

Even if every map burned.

Even if every last one of them failed here.

I intended to drag myself across the finish line.

The trainees closed in slowly.

“I really feel like the villain now.”

I stepped back.

“Rush him together!”

At Louise’s signal they surged forward.

I gripped my wooden sword straight at my side—

“I’m out.”

—and spun on my heel.

“Wh-what?”

“I’ve stalled long enough.”

The maps I’d scattered on the ground hadn’t been gathered for intimidation.

By making myself the common enemy, I’d stockpiled them so the others would fight each other again once I left.

Team A and Team B collided once more, scrambling for the maps they’d lost to me. Their shouts rang in my ears.

* * *

‘I have to settle this myself.’

Kinjo’s eyes blazed with resolve as he swept the area with clairvoyance.

Trees. Trees...

To his vision every object looked sliced in half, its cross-section glowing blue. Where Mago saw only light and shadow, Kinjo saw color—violently vivid.

A tree I can climb.

He rolled his eyes ceaselessly, hunting for the right trunk.

There.

Keeping his gaze fixed on the wolves, he backed away, waving his flaming wooden sword in warning.

When he reached the chosen tree he whirled around.

Low branches—perfect!

He sprang with everything he had, seizing a limb like a gymnast on the horizontal bar, swung half a circle, and barely landed on a thick bough.

Looking down at the wolves, he thought, Higher. I have to go higher.

Without pause he reached up, clenched the sword’s hilt between his teeth, and climbed toward the canopy. Only at the top did he allow himself a breath. He extinguished the flame; from here on moonlight would suffice.

Below, the wolves scrabbled at the trunk. One after another they tried to climb.

So they can manage it, after all.

They were learning fast.

Still, it’ll buy me time.

He stared at the half-burned wooden sword. No rest—not even time to blink.

He massaged his overworked legs while the wolves, drooling as if they’d starved for days, glared up without quitting.

Then something came flying through the air.

A long, thin object.

It struck one of the wolves square on the head.

‘An arrow? No...’

He squinted.

‘A spear.’

Instinctively he turned toward the direction the spear had come from.

“Mago?”

“Afraid not.”

The hair was white, but the man wasn’t.

“Who are you?”

“You don’t even know my name? I’ve been right beside you the whole time!”

It was the fellow with ash-gray hair.

“Beside me?”

“From the very start! Too busy drooling over Louise to notice, huh?”

“Louise...?”

“I’m in the same group as Louise! I forged this spear and the launcher myself!”

With a flourish he slid another spear into the support device and fired. The shaft punched into a second wolf; the rest tucked tail and fled.

“I’ve been working separately from Louise since the beginning.”

“Why pull a stunt like that? You finally team up with her and then ditch her? Typical.”

“Louise told me to! I didn’t have a choice.”

Then he launched into his war story as if it were legend.

“When we reached the checkpoint we took out B Team’s Hanal. Lucky for us, I had a map. Louise told me to go on ahead.”

He puffed his chest and shouted,

“I’m the one who’ll bring Louise first place!”

He pivoted toward Kinjo, spear arm cocked back.

“Hold on! I’m at the top of a tree—if you hit me I’ll fall and die...!”

“Toss the map over and I’ll lower the spear.”

‘Map? I don’t have a map. I memorized it on the sly. If he finds out...’

The verdict flashed through his mind: disqualification.

“Now!”

At that instant the gray-haired man screamed.

‘If I’m caught here, it’s over. I have to stall, pretend I still have the map.’

“I’ve already stalled plenty.”

A familiar voice cut through the dark.

White hair emerged from the shadows.

Mago’s hand chopped the back of the man’s neck.

“Ghk—”

He crumpled, unconscious.

“Kinjo. What are you doing up there?”

“Mago!”

* * *

The gray-haired trainee hung over my shoulder.

Kinjo descended slowly, checking the ground beneath each foothold.

He nudged the unconscious man.

“He’s in Louise’s group. Name’s... ”

“Oscar. Oscar Sita. Must’ve gone down before I used the lake.”

“Huh? You remember his name? I had no idea.”

“I remember every trainee.”

Especially the ones who’ll die later.

I shifted Oscar from my shoulder to a cradle carry. A J-shaped device lay where he had fallen.

“Guy supposedly built that spear-launcher himself. Pretty handy... and all he had to work with was an emergency dagger.”

“Yeah, the instructors don’t know. No test in the program checks for tinkering skills.”

Suddenly Kinjo gripped my shoulder, urgent.

“More importantly, Mago—did you bring the map?”

He whispered it.

“The map?”

“Yeah, the map. One of us has to carry A Team’s map or we’re disqualified...!”

“Disqualified? Right—you memorized it.”

“So, did you bring it or not?”

“If you don’t have it, we’ll have to go back, right?”

“Mago, don’t tell me—”

His face was priceless.

“I’ve got it. How else would I get here?”

Kinjo finally exhaled.

“How are the legs?”

“They hurt. A lot.”

“Then let’s rest here.”

“We can afford to? I figured you’d tell me to tough it out.”

“Maybe once. But wolves are in the forest now.”

“So we’re... resting?”

“The ones behind us will light fires to keep the wolves off. They’ll build camps, keep the flames going.”

I sat on the ground and continued.

“If they want to live, they’ll band together—everyone who’s been fighting to the death will form one group. That’s what the instructors wanted: to see us unite when our lives are on the line.”

“...What?”

“Don’t you remember the ‘orientation’ we got before it all started?”

We dropped and did push-ups until we screamed.

All of us.

As one.

“Why make us carry daggers we’d never use? Why post instructors along the route? Without a map we were guaranteed to wander in circles and miss the deadline anyway.”

“Mago, what are you driving at?”

“They knew the wolves would be here. The Chief Instructor spelled it out when he handed us the daggers—‘just in case.’ They planned for this.”

“If... if you’re right—”

“Yeah. You went down first. I stalled at the checkpoint. Then Kinjo caught up.”

A grin flickered across Kinjo’s face.

“And now that I’m here—”

He flopped onto the ground beside us.

“We’ve already won.”

“We won the moment we sat down.”

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.