The second day bled into evening with surprising ease.
Just like Day 1, it was mostly uneventful as the students were not dragged into any major engagents.
The caravan finally moved from the stable forest terrain into a mana-saturated wild zone that was indicated in the map that Professor Elira instructed all the students to go through.
The Wild Zone was filled with corrupted soil and blackened roots, with faint mana storms flickering in the distance.
The air felt heavier, as the instructors warned the students.
"This wild zone was abandoned years ago. Anything you face here is the consequence of mana corruption".
"We take it because it's the fastest route to our destination".
Despite the warning, nothing significant happened as the freshers had another fully safe day as the mission progressed.
They were in high spirits by evening.
What had begun as groans and curses over blisters on raw heels now turned into chatter and laughter as nobles leaned against logs with their shoes off, treating their feet with ointnts from personal healers.
They no longer complained, instead, they finally adapted to the wilderness trek as they took extra care of their skin.
A handful of common-born students joined them, sharing dry rations and stories of ho as the atmosphere was harmonious among them.
Maybe it was finally because they left the protective confines of the Academy walls, but out here, the noble-commoner distinction was not stressed as much as they did things together knowing that their lives were on the line.
To them, the dangerous first mission like it was tagged was slowly shrinking into a camping trip with extra walking.
A circle of fire crackled bright in the clearing.
To spice up the mont, soone pulled out a flute, its sharp notes rising against the star-washed sky as it helped the other students relax and admire the beautiful visage of the full moon.
Even the instructors, seated at their separate fires didn't intervene, just maintaining their watchful silence as they also seed to enjoy the quiet.
But not everyone relaxed.
If not because of anything else, but simply because of the fact that Professor Elara was already one of Kairo's best Professors since he got enrolled in the Academy, he believed her claims.
This was why unlike most students, he sat on the edge of the firelight with his back pressed to a tree, his dagger balanced across his knees.
His stomach gnawed again, his fra visibly shrinking, yet his eyes kept scanning the treeline. His instincts, honed in years of slum survival, whispered that sothing was wrong even if he couldn't tell what yet.
"Relax for once, Kairo," Mira muttered, plopping down beside him, her hands dusty from fixing tents. "You look like a wolf sniffing for prey."
He didn't answer. Instead, his grip on the dagger tightened.
The forest was too quiet.
No insect hum, no rustle of night birds, not even the sigh of wind through branches. 'Dammit, this is getting on my nerves'.
There was just silence.
Kairo's jaw clenched. Tonight, despite the tranquil atmosphere in the camp, his paranoia grew even stronger. 'No… this isn't right'.
Then, it happened.
GRRR!
A low growl rolled through the trees, deep and guttural.
Heads turned and for a brief mont, the flute stuttered and stopped, laughter dying on lips as the students stared.
From the darkness beyond the fire, two eyes glowed, then four, then dozens.
"Wolves," soone whispered.
Not just any Wolves.
The first beast stepped into the firelight, a Wolf the size of a Horse, patches of fur missing where corrupted mana crystals jutted from its flesh. Its jaws dripped with black saliva that hissed where it touched the ground.
Sizzle!
The noble who had been laughing the loudest a mont ago didn't even raise his blade in ti.
The wolf lunged.
CRUNCH!
Everything happened too fast. The other students stared, stupefied as their classmate's scream ended in a wet gurgle as he was torn apart.
"…!"
Panic erupted.
From the shadows, the rest of the pack surged forward. Not just wolves with cracked bone spines, also boars with crystal tusks, and birds with wings like razors.
They swooped straight at the camp.
And just like that, the peaceful camping trip shattered into hell.
Students scread and scrambled for weapons, panicking as they stumbled over each other. So bolted into the forest only to be dragged down imdiately by waiting predators.
This was not a drill, students were actually dying!
Kairo shot to his feet, kicking the fire's embers into the onrushing horde, his eyes wide with alert as his dagger flashed in his hand.
"FORMATION!" He bellowed.
Kairo did it instinctively as he realized that if his classmates stayed panicking, this could quickly turn into a disaster.
He didn't even need to think about it. He'd done this before, and this ti, it was easier for him.
He didn't use the Monarch's Roar this ti, but the mory of it still lingered in their bones as the panic-stricken students jerked to his command, rallying as if their survival depended on obeying him, because it did.
The scholarship students especially reacted as soon as he bellowed.
Draven stomped forward, Titan Arm swelling as he slamd a corrupted Wolf sideways. Behind him, Mira hurled blades of wind that tore into the boars' hides, then raised earthen spikes to stall their charge.
Alric and Barros locked shoulders, shields braced against the frenzied tide.
It wasn't pretty, but it was survival.
The beasts smashed into them and were stalled.
Kairo ducked under a swipe, plunging his dagger into a wolf's throat, twisting before rolling aside as black blood sprayed. Hunger clawed at his insides, but his instincts carried him, refined by two weeks of combat training at the Academy.
Strike, pivot, slash, survive… he did it seamlessly. For a heartbeat, it looked like the line would hold.
Then a corrupted Boar barreled straight through, its tusks ripping a shield apart. A student scread as he was flung into the fire, his body catching alight.
The formation teetered.
And that was when the instructors moved.
Like shadows breaking free, three C-Ranks strode from their fires. Their auras slamd outward, crushing the corrupted beasts mid-charge.
One swung a greatsword, cleaving through wolves in a single arc. Another raised his staff, hurling a net of searing fla that burned the sky. The last flicked twin daggers, each throw dropping beasts with surgical precision.
The difference was night and day.
Where students bled and stumbled in panic, the instructors were reliable and calm as they carved a path of utter dominance.
Within minutes, the clearing was quiet again, save for the crackle of flas and the ragged gasps of the survivors. Beast corpses littered the ground, leaking corrupted blood that sizzled on contact with grass.
The nobles trembled, their fine clothes torn, their arrogance burned away with the fire. So vomited, and so stared blankly into nothing.
Mira slumped against a rock, dirt-streaked face pale but defiant. This was not her first ti seeing gore.
Kairo leaned on his dagger, his chest heaving with blood running down his arm where claws had grazed him.
He spat into the dirt, glaring at the nearest wolf carcass.
Mira's voice ca, hoarse but steady. "Not a camping trip anymore, huh?"
Kairo didn't answer, his silence was enough.
Above them, the night pressed heavier, as though reminding them all… this was only the beginning.
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