Chapter 52
Adela, who had left the camp, had still not arrived atop the ridge.
“How much longer?”
She asked Serena, who had been acting as their guide.
Serena took out her notebook and began writing letters as usual.
[Not much longer.]
“I see.”
Adela let out a sigh.
The anxiety in her heart gradually eased, and she finally found the room to worry about those she had left behind.
By now, they must have encountered the variant.
Did they win? Or are they dead?
Mixed with expectation and anxiety, she felt confused about which way her heart leaned more.
“What is going on?”
Said Calvin, who was walking side by side with her.
It seed like he was asking Serena.
She stopped in her tracks and looked around suspiciously.
[There are zombies. Quite a lot of them, too.]
Adela’s heart raced.
She stroked her racing chest with her hand and took a staff out of her backpack.
“What do you think we should do? Is there a path we can take to avoid them?”
Serena shook her head with a troubled expression.
[They are everywhere except for the path we ca from. I am not sure exactly, but there must be more than ten of them.]
The gazes of the two directed toward her.
Because she was the one who insisted on returning to the ridge, she had implicitly beco the leader.
Adela desperately racked her brain.
This was not the first ti.
Back when she led people before joining the Moonlight Knights.
She had been forced several tis to choose between life and death.
“...Let us fight.”
She made a decision after much conflict.
Her voice was delivered unclearly and faintly.
The two felt uneasy, but they did not otherwise object.
They likely did not want to shoulder the responsibility.
Calvin drew his sword.
Serena looked toward her and showed her notebook.
[To fight, I have to release the detection magic. And it will be difficult to use it again when the fight is over.]
Adela swallowed a groan.
The value of detection magic clashes with Serena's value as a combat force.
Which choice is more advantageous?
Her stomach churned.
She covered her mouth with her hand and endured the dry heaving.
“Calvin and I will handle it sohow, so Serena, you please wait.”
She nodded her head.
The zombies were now close enough to be visible.
They were about to be surrounded.
Without panicking, she drew a magic circle in her mind.
She gathered moisture from the air and carved it into a lump of ice.
She fired the ice, which had beco sharp like an icicle, at the zombie in the very front.
“Roar!”
Her attempt to hit the head missed and hit the shoulder.
The zombie growled and lunged.
Calvin ran forward and cut off its head.
It was quite a decent skill.
As much as he was selected to co to the eting site.
Even if he was not as good as Leonard, he was a student with above average skills.
“Let us break through the encirclent while attacking in one direction like this.”
When she said that, Calvin nodded and ran forward.
It felt as if the distance was widening a bit.
He ran out vigorously and cut down about two creatures in succession.
“Calvin, do not go too far ahead!”
“You guys just trust and follow. I will open the path.”
Calvin’s back was dyed by the darkness.
Suddenly, a chill settled on her spine.
A sense of deja vu, as if she had experienced the sa thing several tis before.
She had to stop him.
However, her throat was blocked as if by sothing tight, and she could not make a sound.
While she was struggling to shake off the fearful emotion.
The ti that flowed helplessly eventually brought us a sense of despair.
“Aaaaaaaagh!”
A scream was heard.
It was a familiar voice.
It belonged to the boy who had confidently told them to follow him just a mont ago.
A light dizziness occurred and her vision flickered.
She hurried her steps toward the sound.
“Help !”
Two zombies were on top of the boy’s body, biting him.
It was his right arm and left shoulder.
As they pulled the bitten areas with their jaws, sothing that was either muscle or flesh stretched out like a thread.
The boy’s body trembled as he went into convulsions.
The scream that felt like it would last forever also stopped abruptly at so point.
The shirt he was wearing turned the color of wine, and it gradually spread out.
Adela fired ice arrows.
As many as seven arrows pierced through the zombies and moved forward.
The creatures, now turned into honeycombs, tottered and fell away from the boy.
“Huff, huff, Calvin?”
There was no answer.
She approached the fallen boy and checked his face.
She regretted it after seeing him.
Covered in snot, tears, and saliva, his face was distorted beyond recognition.
It felt as if the terror the boy must have felt until right before his death was being delivered.
She looked into his wounds.
The flesh was peeled off, and blood flowed from the gaps.
However, it was not fatal enough to cause death.
The cause was death by shock.
Adela barely endured almost screaming on the spot.
Serena pulled her, as she was frozen in place.
“S-Serena?”
There was no room to write an answer in the notebook.
These two were not the end of the surrounding zombies.
Adela grit her teeth.
As she gradually regained her cool, she realized she had used too much mana on the arrows earlier.
She used seven arrows just to deal with two of them.
“Ah.”
Adela lanted.
No matter where she looked, zombies were blocking the path.
The monsters crushed by gluttony slowly narrowed the gap.
One last drop of mana remained.
With that, she built a wall made of ice around them.
She had to devise a way to escape in the anti.
However, no matter how much ti was given, it seed she would not be able to find an escape route to get out alive.
“What are you trying to do?”
Serena gripped sothing with her hand.
It was the scroll she had received from Joshua.
He told her to use this if she was in danger.
Gathering her mana, she released the magic stored inside the scroll.
An intense flash was scattered from inside the scroll.
It was a light so intense that she would have lost her sight if she had not closed her eyes quickly.
A few seconds later.
The light completely died down and darkness arrived once again.
“That’s it?”
The reactions of the zombies beca dull.
But that alone was not enough to escape from them.
The creatures that hesitated for a mont began to pound on the ice wall as if nothing had happened.
Thud! Thud!
A roaring sound that grated on the ears was heard.
The zombies did not spare their own bodies and continued to ram into it.
Crack! A crack appeared in the wall.
Her hardened body would no longer move, and she felt only tears flowing down her cheeks.
“No, I do not want to die like this. Soone, soone please help !”
The reaction of the zombies seed to get rougher and rougher at her weak, sobbing voice.
They were not creatures that understood human fear.
It might just be an expression of dissatisfaction about not being able to reach the prey even though it was right in front of them.
It felt as if every single one of their actions had a certain intention.
I am going to die soon.
I am going to be eaten alive.
As the strength in her waist gave out and she collapsed to the floor.
The dagger she had attached to her belt bounced out of its loop.
Its original use was for preparing ingredients or gathering.
But at this mont, she picked it up with a different purpose.
“Serena, where can I stab so I can die without pain?”
She asked her friend beside her.
Serena was not much different from her.
She was giving a bitter smile with a face that had lost its color.
“Is it the head? N-No, it must be the neck right? I heard disembowelnt is difficult. Stabbing the stomach takes a long ti to die...”
Spouting shallow knowledge, she chose the area to stab with the dagger.
Her hands were shaking.
She had to calm the shaking sohow.
Otherwise, she would not be able to die at once and would only be left with a wound.
“Would this not have happened if I followed Joshua? Did I make a mistake? I...”
When she asked in a whimpering voice.
Serena comforted her by hugging her.
Warmth was felt.
As heat seeped into her cooled body, her anxiety subsided slightly.
She just felt grateful.
Even in a situation where she could be blad, her friend did not make any expression.
Whether that was sincere.
Or if it was because of her dried up emotions that could only produce a smile.
She could not tell which it was, but this warmth was as cozy as if it were addictive.
Crack!
The wall collapsed.
Even without looking, she could tell by the sound.
In a few seconds, the monsters would grab and pull her body here and there.
“Uaaagh!”
Whoosh!
The sound of the wind whistled through the murky groans of the zombies.
It was repeated several tis as if to let her know it was not an illusion.
Eventually, when the sound of the wind quieted down.
This ti, the sound of footsteps treading on fallen leaves was heard.
“I expected as much, but there is no way that bastard would call .”
It was a human voice.
Adela slowly turned her body.
A man was standing in front of her.
He bowed his head with an expression full of regret.
“I thought it was a golden opportunity to make Joshua owe a debt. But if it is you guys that I saved, the situation remains unchanged. Is this sothing I should consult with Sir Derek?”
A sarcastic tone as if he were upset.
Adela and Serena could not hear that voice and barely checked his lip movents.
“Be grateful to that bastard. Because the reason you were able to not die today is all thanks to him.”
Rodwell shook the blood off his sword and put it into the scabbard.
* * *
After arriving safely at the camp.
Adela heard the whole story from Rodwell.
They said they had agreed with each other that if a light was seen during the night as a counterasure for ergencies, it would be a signal for rescue.
Hearing that story made her feel pathetic.
‘I did not think of it at all.’
She was not able to create an escape hole.
In this changed world, there were many cases where things did not flow according to plan.
She had to prepare several counterasures in preparation for such tis.
She had been careless.
Compared to him, the preparations she had made to survive.
“Are you planning to continue the exam?”
“There has been a casualty. Would it not be better to end it?”
“There is a little ti left until dawn. It would be good to wait until then.”
“I clearly objected. Tell them to stop this crazy act.”
The leaders of each group gathered together and continued their discussion.
Suddenly, an empty feeling swirled.
A student died.
It would be right to stop the exam even a little earlier and save the survivors.
However, they were rely bickering over the suspension of the exam.
Why did soone have to be sacrificed?
Was there truly sothing in the forest that was worth gaining at the cost of a life?
Anger welled up, but she did not have the energy to get angry.
She wanted to close her eyes.
However, she could not lay her body down while thinking of the party that had not yet returned.
‘Tania, Leonard, and... Joshua.’
She thought the situation would be worse over there.
They have to deal with a variant.
Since several hours have passed since then, the outco must have been decided.
While she was resting inside the tent, soone ca inside.
It was her superior, Derek.
“It has been decided to send a search party down below. A total of eight people, including myself and other captains, intend to go down. If it is okay, I would like you to tell us the approximate location of the camp where you said you stayed.”
Derek spread a map on the table located in the center.
Painfully reaching out her hand, she pointed to the location.
He drew a circle on the place he had marked with a pen.
“I have a lot to say to you, but I will report after this matter is finished.”
Considerable disappointnt was delivered from Derek’s business-like tone.
He likely wanted to point out the fact that she could not even last a day in the forest.
She clenched her fists at his cold attitude.
‘We barely survived. If so, instead of scolding us, should you not give us at least a word of comfort or worry?’
When she made up her mind to snap back.
Derek had already left the tent.
This ti, too, she was unable to resist.
Even after experiencing a life threatening crisis, she still had not changed.
It was like that then as well.
After Joshua defeated Leo, she had been called to the room by Derek.
He handed her erald earrings and persuaded her to try and seduce him.
Her face flushed.
It was not that she was not interested in him, but it was not sothing that could be called a romantic feeling.
She wanted to interact with him as a student and get to know him.
That was all.
Even so, she could not refuse, and on that night, she even applied makeup with the help of Mirina and Alisa.
She felt like she was going to die of embarrassnt.
While the two were skillfully displaying their charms, she could not even speak properly.
Fortunately, the boy did not embrace them.
Thanks to that, there was no incident of being called by Derek and being scolded.
She received help unintentionally.
“I am coming in for a mont.”
Soone’s voice was heard from outside the tent.
The person who ca inside was a worker who did odd jobs at the camp.
“Ah, fortunately you are awake. I am sorry to say this, but it seems you will have to co out for a mont.”
“What is going on?”
“It seems the students who were said to have been left behind have returned. The captain is looking for you because he has sothing to ask regarding that.”
“D-Did everyone return?”
Adela stood up abruptly.
The adrenaline that flowed out from excitent created strength that was not there before.
However, the news that imdiately followed made this feeling subside in an instant.
“No, only two people have returned.”
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