I Refuse the Tragic Ending

More movement appeared between the trees. The students slowly turned their heads. More of them were appearing everywhere. Some crawled out from bushes. Others stumbled between the trees with their heads hanging at unnatural angles. Their pale bodies looked almost colorless beneath the crimson sky, while the blue flames burning inside their empty eye sockets gave their faces a disturbing appearance.

”They’re surrounding us.”

One of the students spoke quietly, but everyone heard him.

Another undead emerged behind them. Then another. The group instinctively moved closer together. Their backs nearly touched as they looked around.

There was nowhere left to retreat. The undead had completely surrounded them.

”How many are there?”

”I don’t know.”

”Can we break through?”

The student holding the sword shook his head.

”There are too many.”

The person who saved them standing in front remained strangely calm. He had already drawn his sword again, holding it loosely at his side while observing the creatures.

The students stared at him.

”Shouldn’t we run?”

One of them asked nervously. The swordsman did not answer. His eyes moved across the surrounding undead. It seemed he was analyzing them. The students did not understand what he was doing, but they could tell from his expression that he was not panicking.

Then the undead moved. The creatures suddenly rushed forward from every direction. The students tightened their grips around their weapons.

”Get ready!”

One of them shouted.

The nearest undead opened its mouth and released a low, distorted growl as it lunged. But before the creatures could reach them, something white shot through the air.

Thwip!

A strand of silk struck the nearest undead directly around its ankle.

The creature stumbled. Another strand immediately followed. Within seconds, white silk was flying across the clearing from different directions. One strand wrapped around an undead’s leg. Another caught the ankle of a second creature. A third strand wrapped around the wrist of an undead that had already raised its arm to attack. The sudden resistance disrupted their charge. Several undead stumbled into one another.

One fell face-first into the dirt. Another was pulled sideways and crashed against a tree. The students stared in disbelief.

”What just happened?”

More strands of white silk stretched between the trees. Following them upward, the students finally noticed a large white spider hanging several meters above the ground.

Its body was considerably larger than an ordinary spider, and bluish markings ran across its white body. Its eight legs clung firmly to the web it had constructed between the branches. The creature moved one leg.

Another strand of silk shot downward. It wrapped around an undead’s leg and abruptly stopped its advance.

The students stared at it.

”Is that thing shooting the monsters?”

Nobody answered.

The spider fired another strand.

Thwip!

The silk struck another undead and pulled its leg backward. One of the students stared at the spider as if he had forgotten how to speak.

”That is a demonic beast...”

”Is it helping us?”

”I think so.”

”Why would a demonic beast help us?”

Before anyone could come up with an answer, a familiar voice came from the front.

”Thanks, Quinn. That helps a lot.”

The students froze. That voice. They had heard it before.

The large white spider immediately lifted two of its front legs.

”Qiu!”

The cheerful cry sounded completely out of place in the terrifying forest.

The students slowly looked toward the swordsman standing in front of them. The crimson light illuminated his black hair and silver eyes. He casually stepped forward while the undead struggled against Quinn’s webs.

One of the students stared at him. Then his eyes widened.

”No way.”

His teammates looked at him.

”What?”

”That person...”

The swordsman raised his blade. The weapon flashed. Then the nearest undead’s arm fell to the ground.

The student swallowed.

”That is Kael Grayford.”

The others froze.

”What?”

”Kael Grayford?”

The name spread through the group. Everyone at Astral Dominion Academy knew who Kael Grayford was.

A student who had consistently received the lowest combat evaluations. Someone who had been mocked by students from both departments because of his poor physical ability. Yet the person standing in front of them looked nothing like the Kael Grayford they remembered.

Kael stepped forward. His sword moved again. The blade passed through the undead’s neck with almost no resistance. The creature’s head separated from its body. Kael immediately shifted his stance.

An undead attempted to attack him from the side.

He turned. His sword moved only a short distance. Then the blade struck the creature’s elbow. The arm fell. Kael followed with another controlled swing. The creature collapsed. There was nothing flashy about his movements. He was not moving so quickly that the students could barely see him. In fact, his speed seemed almost ordinary compared to the stronger students they had seen during the examination.

Yet there was something strange about the way he fought.

Every movement had a purpose. He never swung his sword farther than necessary. He never took an unnecessary step. He never wasted momentum. Whenever an undead entered his range, he attacked the most vulnerable point. When one tried to approach from his blind spot, he shifted his position before it could reach him. When another stumbled because of Quinn’s webs, Kael immediately took advantage of the opening.

There was no hesitation. No wasted movement. And no unnecessary flourish. Just a pure intent to cut his opponent. His sword simply continued cutting.

The students watched in silence. They could not look away.

”Is this really Kael?”

”I thought he was the weakest student.”

”How is he doing this?”

Nobody had an answer.

Even the students who had previously seen Kael getting defeated again and again during his previous duels with the other students were struggling to reconcile the person they knew with the person standing before them.

The old Kael had never displayed this kind of outstanding swordsmanship. He had always seemed like someone who was ready to mop the floor every duel. Now he was calmly dismantling a group of undead as though he had done it countless times before.

Above them, Quinn continued firing silk. The spider worked together with Kael almost instinctively.

Whenever an undead tried to approach from the side, Quinn restrained it. Whenever Kael created an opening, Quinn prevented another creature from interfering. The combination made the undead’s formation increasingly chaotic.

Kael noticed the change immediately. Their rhythm had collapsed. He stepped forward. The next few attacks were faster. One slash severed an arm. Another cut through a rib cage. A third struck the side of an undead’s skull.

The remaining creatures attempted to surround him, but Quinn’s webs continued disrupting their movements.

Within minutes, the clearing fell silent. The final undead collapsed. Kael stood among the remains, his sword lowered toward the ground. He briefly checked his surroundings to make sure there were no more creatures approaching. Only then did he sheath his sword.

The metallic click echoed through the clearing.

Kael turned around.

The students were still staring at him in utter disbelief. Their expressions were so stunned that Kael almost felt uncomfortable.

He raised an eyebrow.

”Are you guys okay?”

Nobody answered.

Kael looked at them again. They looked as though they had just watched a comet fall from the sky for the first time.

One of the students finally managed to speak.

”A-Are you really Kael Grayford?”

Kael stared at her.

Then he shrugged.

”Last time I checked.”

The student’s mouth opened slightly. That answer only made the situation more confusing. Kael glanced toward the surrounding forest. The crimson light had not disappeared. If anything, it seemed to have become darker.

”We should not stay here.”

The students immediately became serious.

Kael continued.

”You guys should find somewhere safe and stay together. This entire area is infested with undead now.”

One of the students looked around nervously.

”How did that happen?”

Another student tried to laugh, although the nervousness in his voice was obvious.

”Haha... Is this some kind of special part of the examination?”

Kael was about to answer but a voice suddenly came from the darkness behind them.

”I am sorry to tell you, but it is not part of the examination.”

Everyone immediately turned around.

An injured woman in dark clothing stepped out from between the trees.

Everyone immediately raised their brows. She had been standing there long enough that none of them had noticed her presence.

The students immediately became cautious. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

”Who are you?”

The woman raised one hand slightly.

”Relax. She is not an enemy.”

Kael’s calm voice immediately interrupted them.

The students looked at him.

Kael apparently knew her. Not personally.

The woman gave him a brief nod before looking at the group.

”My name is Rinha. I am your team’s overseer.”

The students stared at her.

”Overseer?”

”Yes. Every team has one or two assigned people like me. And I was the one assigned to observe your team during the examination without revealing my presence.”

She glanced toward the corpses scattered around the clearing.

”However, this situation was completely unexpected.”

Rinha’s expression became serious.

”Senior, you look injured,” Kael suddenly interjected.

Just then, everyone noticed blood on her right arm.