I Refuse the Tragic Ending

”Senior, you look injured.”

Kael’s voice interrupted their conversation, making Rinha pause. She looked at him with a confused expression before following his gaze toward her right arm.

Only then did she seem to notice the blood.

A deep cut ran across the lower part of her arm, just below the elbow. Her sleeve had already absorbed much of the blood, but enough had seeped through to reveal the severity of the wound. A thin stream continued down her forearm before dripping from her fingertips onto the ground.

”Oh, this?” Rinha said, glancing at the injury. ”Don’t worry. It’s just a small wound.”

Kael raised an eyebrow. He wasn’t sure what definition of ”small” she was using, but watching blood drip onto the ground certainly didn’t make him feel reassured.

”I got it when I tried to block another wave of undead coming from the other side a few minutes ago,” Rinha explained. ”For some reason, my weapon was almost completely useless against them. It felt like I was hitting solid rock. I could only slow them down after using magic.”

She flexed her fingers, but a slight grimace crossed her face.

”I became careless for a moment, and one of them got close enough to cut me.”

Despite her words, Rinha remained remarkably composed. She seemed more concerned about explaining what had happened than about the blood running down her arm.

Her attention soon shifted toward Kael’s sword.

”Speaking of which, how did you manage to defeat them with that?”

She pointed at the sword hanging from his waist.

”Don’t tell me that’s a Magic Sword.”

Magic Swords were weapons enhanced through powerful magical enchantments. They were expensive enough that even wealthy students could not casually afford one, and in the game, they were not normally introduced during this stage.

Kael shook his head and drew the sword slightly, holding it where Rinha could examine the blade.

”No. It’s just a normal upgraded sword.”

Rinha stared at it for several seconds. There was nothing unusual about the weapon. It had no glowing runes, no elaborate enchantments, and no magical aura that would suggest it was anything more than a well-maintained sword.

”It really is an ordinary sword,” she said.

Kael nodded.

”But how?” Rinha pointed toward the undead bodies scattered around them. ”My lance couldn’t even crack their bones. I put considerable force into some of those attacks, but they barely reacted. Yet you were cutting through them with that.”

Kael smiled awkwardly. He had expected that question sooner or later, but he wasn’t particularly interested in explaining the reason while they were standing in a forest that had been invaded by an undead army.

”We can talk out the details later. Right now, we should deal with your wound and get somewhere safer. The undead are still out there, so standing around discussing it isn’t exactly a great idea.”

Rinha followed his gaze toward the trees before giving a small nod.

”You’re right.”

Kael then turned his attention toward the students standing beside her. They had remained quiet throughout the conversation, probably because they were too exhausted to interrupt. Their uniforms were covered in dirt, leaves, and blood. Some had scratches on their faces, while one boy was gripping his sword with both hands as though he was using it to keep himself upright.

”What team are you?”

The young man at the front hesitated before answering.

”We’re Team 20.”

”I see.” Kael looked over them again. ”Where’s your healer?”

A girl standing near the back slowly raised her hand.

”M-Me.”

”Can you heal Senior Rinha’s wound?”

The girl’s face immediately became embarrassed, and she lowered her head.

”S-Sorry, but I can’t.”

”Why?”

”I used most of my mana fighting the other teams earlier. By the time we escaped, I didn’t have enough left to cast anything useful.”

”What about your first-aid supplies?”

The girl lowered her head further.

”I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be useless, but the other team defeated us earlier. They took our supplies and all the valuable resources we’d gathered.”

The other members of Team 20 looked away.

Kael glanced over their equipment again. Their packs were nearly empty, their weapons were damaged, and their armor was covered in scratches. They had clearly been stripped of almost everything useful.

He then looked back at Rinha.

The wound was more serious than she had admitted. Blood was still flowing despite her attempts to ignore it, and her complexion had become noticeably paler. She was probably trying to remain calm because she was the overseer, but that didn’t change the fact that continued blood loss could become dangerous.

They needed to stop the bleeding.

Normally, that wouldn’t have been difficult. Apply pressure, clean the wound, keep the arm elevated, and use whatever medical supplies were available. Unfortunately, they had almost none of those supplies, and Kael wasn’t about to waste time searching through an empty pack while undead were roaming nearby.

His gaze shifted toward Quinn as an idea occurred to him. It was unconventional, but given their current situation, unconventional was better than doing nothing.

”Senior, can you raise your arm?”

Rinha looked at him with some confusion.

”Raise it?”

”Just a little.”

She hesitated but followed his instruction. As soon as she lifted her injured arm, her expression tightened from the pain. The movement caused the wound to open slightly, and fresh blood ran down her arm.

”Easy,” Kael said, turning toward Quinn. ”Do it gently.”

The white spider raised its front legs and gave an enthusiastic hiss.

”Qiu!”

A small magic circle appeared in front of Quinn, and a strand of white silk shot toward Rinha. The students of Team 20 watched in confusion as the silk wrapped around her arm.

Rather than tightening immediately, Quinn carefully adjusted the strand until it formed a firm bandage above the wound. The silk was surprisingly strong, yet soft enough not to cause unnecessary pressure.

Rinha flinched.

”Ah!”

”Quinn, loosen it a little.”

”Qiu.”

The spider immediately adjusted the silk, reducing the pressure around the injury. After a few seconds, the bleeding slowed and eventually stopped.

Everyone stared at the improvised bandage.

One of the students couldn’t help asking, ”It can also do that?”

Another looked at Quinn with disbelief. ”I thought it was only useful for fighting.”

Kael looked at the spider, which proudly raised its front legs.

”Apparently, it is more versatile than we thought.”

Rinha gave a weak laugh despite her exhaustion.

”You really have an unusual familiar.”

Kael just smiled.

His amusement faded as he looked toward the forest. The undead had appeared in unusually large numbers, and their resistance to normal weapons was far beyond what he remembered from the game. On top of that, the sky had turned crimson, and teams scattered throughout the forest were apparently being attacked.

Based on his knowledge of the game, the undead legion wasn’t supposed to come out of the catacombs, and the crimson sky wasn’t supposed to be here either.

Kael rubbed the back of his neck.

This was exactly the kind of situation he had been hoping not to happen. But since it was already here, there wasn’t anything he could do about it.

”We should leave,” Kael said.

Rinha looked at him. ”Where?”

”My team has a safe location nearby.”

One of the students from Team 20 looked surprised. ”A safe location?”

”More or less.”

Kael crouched slightly in front of Rinha.

”Senior, get on my back.”

Rinha blinked. ”What?”

”You’ve lost blood, and you’re getting pale.”

”I can still walk.”

”I know, but I’d rather not find out how far you can walk while injured. Also, it’s faster this way.”

Rinha stared at him for a moment before smiling faintly.

”You’re surprisingly blunt.”

”I’ve been told that before.”

After a short hesitation, Rinha climbed onto his back. Kael stood and adjusted his grip to make sure she was secure. She wasn’t particularly heavy, but carrying another person through the forest would still slow him down. Fortunately, his physical abilities had improved enough that it wasn’t a serious burden.

He looked toward Team 20.

”Stay close. Don’t wander off.”

They nodded and followed.

Kael led them through the forest, choosing a route that avoided the areas where he had previously sensed the undead. The forest felt strangely different now. The crimson light filtering through the trees gave the entire area an unnatural appearance, while the usual sounds of wildlife had almost completely disappeared.

Instead, there was only the occasional rustling of leaves and the distant sound of something moving between the trees. The smell of damp earth was mixed with another unpleasant scent that Kael recognized immediately.

Decay and the smell of rotten flesh.

After several minutes, the trees began to thin, and the hidden clearing finally came into view. Ancient stone pillars stood around the area, their surfaces covered in weathered runes. Unlike the rest of the forest, the clearing was strangely peaceful.

The moment Team 20 entered, several of the students visibly relaxed.

One of them looked around in disbelief. ”Why does this place look so peaceful?”

Another lowered his weapon. ”There aren’t any beasts here.”

”Not even insects.”

Rinha also looked around with surprise.

”So this is the safe area you mentioned?”

”Something like that,” Kael replied as he carefully lowered her from his back.

Mira immediately noticed them and hurried over.

”Kael, what happened?”

Kael gestured toward Rinha.

”Explanation later. Can you heal her?”

Mira’s expression became serious when she saw the wound.

”Yes.”

She knelt beside Rinha and examined the injury. Her eyes then moved toward the white silk wrapped around Rinha’s arm.

”Did Quinn do this?”

”Yeah.”

Mira looked at Quinn.

”I didn’t know it could use its silk that way.”

”It just came up.”

Quinn proudly raised its front legs.

”Qiu!”

”Can you remove the bandage, Quinn?” Mira asked.

And Quinn replied enthusiastically.

”Qiu!”

A second later, Quinn’s body glowed briefly then the silk came loose on its own.

”Thank you, Quinn.”

”Qiu!”

Mira smiled briefly before focusing on Rinha again. She placed her hand near the wound and gathered mana.

A soft glow surrounded her fingers as she cast a low-tier cleansing spell. The spell removed dirt and other contaminants around the wound, after which she immediately followed with a healing spell. The injured flesh gradually closed beneath the magical light. Within moments, the deep cut had sealed.

Rinha carefully moved her arm.

”The pain is almost gone.”

”It should be fine now,” Mira said. ”The healing spell can’t replace the blood you’ve already lost, though. You should rest and drink some water.”

”I will.”

Kael looked at her.

”Thanks, Mira.”

”Don’t mention it.”

Elias crossed his arms.

”I think you owe us an explanation, Kael.”

Kael looked toward him.

Elias gestured toward the crimson sky.

”You said something was happening outside.”

Kael nodded and explained what he had encountered in the forest, including the undead, their unusual durability, the crimson sky, and the attacks against the other teams. He kept the explanation straightforward because there was little point speculating about things they didn’t understand yet.

When he finished, Elias stared at him.

”Wait. You’re saying there’s an entire undead legion wandering around the forest?”

”That’s what it looks like.”

Darius frowned.

”And the crimson sky is connected to it?”

”Probably.”

Darius looked upward.

”So we’re dealing with some kind of apocalyptic phenomenon?”

Kael sighed.

”That would be my guess.”

Elias stared at him.

”You’re way too calm about this.”

Kael shrugged.

”What am I supposed to do? Panic?”

”That would at least make me feel like this is normal.”

”I’m pretty sure panicking isn’t going to make the undead disappear.”

Elias had no answer to that. Kael looked toward the forest again.

”Whatever is happening, we need to figure out what to do next.”

The clearing fell silent as everyone considered his words. The examination had already been dangerous enough before the undead appeared. Now, the students weren’t merely competing against one another or trying to survive the monsters normally found in the wilderness.

Some uninvited guests had entered the forest.

Meanwhile, somewhere deeper in the forest, Victor’s team was encountering the same threat.

They had been moving between the trees when Victor heard an unusual scraping sound.

He stopped and looked around.

”What was that?”

Nobody answered.

A few seconds later, the sound came again, seeming to come from somewhere ahead of them as if something were dragging a heavy object across the forest floor.

Victor tightened his grip on his sword.

”Who the hell are you? Come out if you’re brave!”

A figure slowly emerged from behind a tree. Its body was badly decayed, with patches of dark flesh clinging to exposed bones. Its clothes were torn and stained with dried blood, while a dull red glow burned inside its empty eye sockets.

Victor’s expression changed immediately.

”What the hell is that?”

Before anyone could answer, another figure appeared behind the first, followed by several more. Within moments, undead began emerging from between the trees in every direction.

Victor’s teammates drew their weapons.

”What the hell are these disgusting things?” Victor shouted.

One of the undead rushed toward him, and Victor swung his sword with full force. The blade struck the creature’s chest with a sharp metallic sound, but instead of cutting through its body, the weapon simply bounced away.

Victor stared at the undead in disbelief.

He immediately attacked again, this time aiming for its neck. The blade scraped across the creature’s bones and left behind a shallow mark.

Victor’s expression hardened. He had fought some magical beasts during the examination, and he knew the strength of his own weapon. An attack of that power should have cut through ordinary flesh and shattered bone, yet the undead barely seemed affected.

The creature lunged at him, forcing Victor to step backward to avoid its claws.

”Form up!” He shouted. ”Don’t let them surround us!”

His teammates moved into position, but the undead were already closing in from every direction. One of the students suddenly screamed.

”Help!”

Everyone turned and saw an undead gripping him by the shoulder. Its fingers dug through his armor as he struggled to escape.

”Get it off me!”

One of his teammates rushed toward him, but before he could reach them, another undead emerged from the side and drove a rusted metal spike into the student’s abdomen.

The boy’s body jerked violently, and blood spilled from his mouth. The undead pulled the spike free and struck again before anyone could react. A second blow landed, followed by another, until the student collapsed onto the ground.

For several seconds, Victor and the others could only stare.

The reality of what they were facing finally settled in. These creatures weren’t like the monsters they had fought earlier. They didn’t seem to feel pain, their bodies were unnaturally durable, and they attacked without hesitation.

More importantly, there were far too many of them.

Victor looked around as undead continued emerging from every direction, steadily cutting off every possible escape route. His grip tightened around his sword.

For the first time since entering the Wilderness Survival Examination, he wasn’t thinking about winning, ranking higher than the other teams, or proving his strength. He was thinking about whether they could survive.

”Fall back!” Victor shouted.