Celeste nudged Freya softly on the shoulder, her voice unusually gentle. "Did sothing happen in the monster zone?"
Freya didn’t respond at first.
But her eye flickered—just for a mont.
And that was enough.
Everyone present felt it. A shift in the air. An emotion too heavy to ignore.
Sothing absolutely had happened.
Alia quietly moved closer, her tone soft but firm. She sat beside Freya and gently took one of her hands in her own, squeezing it reassuringly.
"Hey... you can share with us. We’re your friends, Freya."
Freya turned her head slowly, looking at Alia. Her athyst eyes shimred faintly, a glassy film forming over them.
She looked down at their joined hands.
Her lips quivered.
But she didn’t cry.
She was holding back, barely holding on.
Evelyn stepped forward, kneeling down beside her. Her voice lacked its usual edge. It was open. Honest. "If you want to cry, just cry. We’re not here to judge. You don’t have to carry it all."
Freya shook her head. "I... don’t deserve to cry."
The words left her like a whisper but struck like a thunderclap.
The girls stilled.
Even Celeste, who always had sothing to say, found herself stunned.
"...What?" Evelyn asked, her brows knitting. "What the hell do you an by that?"
Lilith was the one to regain her calm first. Her golden eyes narrowed with concern, her voice unwavering. "You’ll have to explain that. Then we’ll judge whether or not you deserve it."
Freya t her gaze. She saw no mockery. No pressure. Just understanding. Silent and vast like an ocean.
She wiped at her eyes, inhaling slowly.
"...Okay," she whispered. "I’ll tell you."
Everyone settled in around her—Alia still holding her hand, Evelyn at her side, Celeste seated cross-legged in front of her, and Lilith quietly listening with a steady presence.
Freya took a deep breath, and when she spoke, her voice was layered—with sincerity, with emotion, and with sothing heavier.
Guilt.
"I was teleported to a mountainous region... one filled with magma rivers and steaming pits. The air was thick, like breathing through smoke. It was dangerous and volatile. That was the monster zone I landed in."
She paused, trying to steady her breath.
"There were others there too. A few panicked, a few ready to fight. That zone was full of infighting. It’s known... that so students kill others for points. That fear was always there, gnawing at the back of my mind."
She looked up briefly, then back down.
"I almost died. A group of three tried to ambush during the first few hours. But another group found . They saved from a ★★ rank Magma Crawler."
Her lips twitched faintly—half a smile, half a wince.
"I was cautious. But they were kind. One was a healer. Another a knight-type. The third just wanted to survive. We ended up forming a party. Hunting together. Guarding each other’s backs. It wasn’t perfect, but... for a ti, we had peace."
Alia’s grip tightened on her hand.
Freya continued.
"We explored carefully. Fought smart. Even managed to down a ★★ Magma Chira by the end of Day One. Our coordination was getting better. Spirits were high. But..."
Her voice drifted.
"...Everything changed when we heard it."
"’It’?" Celeste asked.
Freya nodded, her expression darkening.
"A sound. Like... a collision between two titans. A quake followed. Not natural. Not a monster’s cry. A sound so deep it made the cliffs shake beneath our feet. We couldn’t ignore it. No one could. Curiosity drove us. We followed it."
She paused. Her fingers trembled slightly.
"And there, across the charred ridge, we saw him. Alone. Standing in front of a ★★★ Echo Drake."
That na silenced them.
Even Celeste.
"Cassius," Freya said. "He was fighting it. Alone."
Alia’s breath caught.
"He didn’t just fight it," Freya said slowly. "He overwheld it. Controlled the fight. Every move was calculated. Every attack clean. He wasn’t flustered. Wasn’t afraid. It was like watching... a monster kill another monster."
Freya wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, inhaling sharply as if trying to trap her sobs inside her chest. But her voice still wavered when she continued, soft yet raw.
"After so light banter... I invited him to join us."
She looked down at her lap, shoulders hunched.
"I was still suspicious of everyone. I didn’t trust anyone completely—not even the ones who saved . But I felt... safe around Cassius."
Her voice thinned, almost like she didn’t believe she deserved to say it.
"He accepted. Didn’t say much, just nodded. And after so wandering, we found a cave nestled between so molten cliffs. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for shelter.
Everyone settled inside, resting in groups, but... Cassius stayed outside. Alone. Sitting at the mouth of the cave, watching the horizon like he was expecting sothing worse."
There was a montary silence.
No one interrupted her. Not even Celeste.
"The next day, I took the lead. I thought—no—I wanted to do sothing that mattered. So I ca up with a plan to hunt monsters to help everyone raise their scores and secure admissions. But..."
She hesitated.
"I was using a map I picked up from another student. It was outdated. Unmarked. I didn’t even know if it was reliable. But I didn’t tell anyone about that."
Alia’s hand tightened around Freya’s, but she didn’t say a word.
"Cassius warned ," Freya said, her voice softer now. "He told to tell them. To be honest about it. Said people deserve the truth before they put their lives on the line. And so... I did. I told the group the map might be off, but they trusted anyway. They still wanted to go."
Her lips trembled again.
"We ended up heading toward what we believed was a low-threat zone. There were no lava pits there, just layers of blackened rock and crevices deep enough to swallow a house. When we arrived, everything seed quiet. Peaceful even."
She paused.
"Too peaceful. Then we understood it was a different place Black Ridge Mountain. We had no information about the place but we still moved forward."
Evelyn’s jaw tightened, and Lilith’s fingers curled slightly into fists.
"At first, we encountered nothing but minor serpents. Rank ★ and a few ★★ at most. Cassius took them out without breaking a sweat."
Freya’s voice began to hollow.
"Then it happened."
She shuddered, visibly.
"A Rank ★★★ serpent burst out from beneath the rocks. Larger than a house, armored in obsidian scales. The kind of monster that shouldn’t have even been there."
Her voice began to shake again.
"The group wasn’t ready. I wasn’t ready."
She closed her eyes tightly.
"But Cassius fought it anyway. Alone. Again. While everyone else scattered, he stayed behind and drew it away. I tried to help, I really did—but it was like watching a force of nature battle another. He killed it."
Her voice cracked.
"But not before..."
She looked down at her hands, as if ashad to touch them.
"Not before so of the group mbers—people who had beco my friends—threw themselves in the way to protect . They died. Screaming."
Her body began to shake. Tears dripped freely now, sliding down her cheeks as her words beca fragnted.
"They died... for ."
Silence. Only the sound of the fountain nearby filled the pause.
No one dared speak. No one could.
But Freya didn’t stop. She forced herself forward, biting down her sobs.
"After that, we tried to run. To regroup. But the mountain... it began to tremble."
Her eyes widened as she relived the mont.
"A quake tore through the ridge. Stones cracked. The sky itself seed to groan. And from deep within the mountain, sothing stirred. Sothing that should never have awakened."
She looked up then. Her voice dropped to a whisper.
"Skyshadow Basilisk."
Every girl in the group went pale.
The na alone made their skin crawl.
"A Rank ★★★★," Lilith muttered, visibly shaken.
Freya nodded slowly. Her face had gone almost lifeless.
"It burst out from the rock like a demon crawling out of hell. Its scales were blacker than night. Its eyes glowed golden. It was massive—half the mountain. And it hissed. Loud enough to split ears and shake the world."
She clutched her arms, as if still feeling the vibrations in her bones.
"Everyone ran. No one even thought about fighting it."
Her voice broke.
"But Cassius..."
Her eyes softened, filled with sothing unplaceable. Regret. Admiration. Guilt.
"...he didn’t try to fight it either. Not that ti. He picked up without asking, threw over his shoulder like a sack, and ran. Through the broken ridges, through falling stones, through everything. He didn’t even look back."
Her hands clenched.
"But he couldn’t save them. The others..."
She looked at them. At the girls gathered around her.
"They followed . Trusted . Believed I could lead them to safety. But in the end, every single one of them died."
Her voice shrank to a whisper.
"Because of ."
There was silence again.
But no judgnt.
None of the girls spoke. Not yet.
Freya’s tears stread freely now. But her voice, though broken, carried resolve.
"I thought I could handle it. That I could lead. That I could be strong. But all I did was lead them to their deaths."
She bowed her head.
"And I’ve been carrying that ever since."
The sun dipped lower behind the trees. Shadows stretched across the garden.
Still, no one moved.
Alia was the first to reach out again. She pulled Freya into her arms, no words necessary.
Celeste wiped her own eyes. "You... you really are an idiot," she murmured, voice thick. "But you’re our idiot."
Lilith looked away, her eyes unreadable. "Cassius saved you because he knew what was coming. He probably knew none of them would make it. But he chose to save you. That must an sothing."
Evelyn nodded quietly. "And now you’re here. Alive. So stop wasting that life on guilt. Get strong enough to make sure no such happens again. Not to you and not to anyone else."
Freya didn’t respond. The girls ca closer and gently hugged her altogether.
Freya’s tears finally stopped.
Not because the pain was gone.
But because it didn’t need to be carried alone anymore.
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