Crunch.
With every step he took, a sound like dry leaves crumbling echoed beneath his feet. But Sihyeon knew what he was stepping on wasn’t mere leaves. Blackened things filled the ground below him.
Dead trees.
“You may be dropped alone into the virtual world, or in pairs, or in groups of three or four. What matters isn’t how many of you there are. What matters is surviving by any means and earning points through your performance.”
The principal’s words seemed to echo in his ears. Damn it—Sihyeon had been dropped into this field alone. And of all places, into a pitch-black, ominous forest.
Of all the unlucky placements, he must have landed deep within the forest—no matter how long he walked, he couldn’t find a proper path. How long had he been walking like that? Suddenly, a sound reached his ears, and Sihyeon looked around.
—Kiiiiii.
At first, he thought it was just his imagination and tried to ignore it, but the strange sound came again. It sounded like something crying, or like rusted metal grinding together. One thing was certain—it didn’t feel like anything good. Tensing, Sihyeon gripped his staff.
The staff, which he had grown fairly accustomed to over the past month, came into view. It seemed this unfriendly school had at least shown enough consideration to implement weapons within the virtual world.
—Kiiiiii.
The sound came again, and his grip tightened. As he heightened his guard, a faint silhouette suddenly appeared ahead. Sihyeon quickly hid behind a tree. Until he knew what it was, hiding was safer.
—Kiiii, kiiiii.
The figure ahead made the same wailing sound he had been hearing. As it slowly approached, Sihyeon crouched low, only his eyes rolling to track it. The forest was so dark that the black shape was hard to make out.
A little more time passed, and the slow-moving figure came closer—right up near him. With only two trees between them, Sihyeon finally saw it clearly. His eyes widened, and he quickly covered his mouth with his hand.
Nightmare.
A Containment-level Irregular that drove people into hallucinations.
If it only caused hallucinations, that would’ve been manageable—but this creature could also manipulate those trapped in illusions, using hallucinations to induce specific actions.
With its hearing and sense of smell degraded, it didn’t react to simply seeing people. Instead, it responded to movement and breath.
Why did the first Irregular he encountered have to be a Nightmare?
The effort he’d put into staying awake during theory class paid off here. Of all things, instead of a combat-type enemy, he had encountered a mental-type Irregular—one that could detect him just from breathing. Sihyeon frowned.
A single Nightmare wasn’t much of a problem—their speed was very slow. He could just take a deep breath, hold it, and run. But the problem was—
—Kiiiiii.
—Kiiiiii.
—Kii, kiiiii.
They were Irregulars that moved in groups.
Even counting the vague shapes in his vision, there were more than ten. As holding his breath became harder, Sihyeon dug his nails into his face, his brows twitching. He needed to last for two nights and three days—he couldn’t recklessly waste mana. But no matter how much he tried, he couldn’t overcome basic physiology.
Suddenly, with his breath rising to his chin, Sihyeon shot up.
He wasn’t about to suffocate just to save a little mana.
He had finally secured a stable position in the school—there was no way he’d end up as gossip about a Quadruple getting expelled to “Beom” for ranking at the bottom. Sihyeon clenched his teeth. Even rolling in filth, the living world was better—right now, Strongest High was that “living world” for him.
As the feeling of suffocation set in, Sihyeon finally lowered the hand covering his mouth.
“Haa—”
The instinctive breath escaped—and all at once, the Nightmares turned their heads toward him.
—Kiiii!
The closest Nightmare lunged at him. Sihyeon immediately broke into a run.
As he outran one, others ahead of him rushed in his direction. It seemed the forest he had fallen into was a Nightmare habitat. Running quickly, Sihyeon searched for an area with more trees.
He planned to use a large tree as cover, hide, and hold his breath again.
—Kiiiiiii!
Frustrated at failing to catch him, the Nightmares screeched. A chilling sensation ran down his spine, and Sihyeon instinctively turned back—only to face a Nightmare opening its mouth.
—Gweh!
It spat out a black mass. The shapeless substance flew toward him, and Sihyeon, frowning, dodged behind a tree.
—Chiiiik!
The liquid struck the tree, melting into it and being absorbed into its surface without leaving a trace. Seeing that, Sihyeon clicked his tongue, now certain of what it was, and activated a Barrier around himself—something he had tried to avoid using.
A transparent film enveloped his body.
Even if he could run and hold his breath to avoid them, he couldn’t dodge every “nightmare” they spat while running. That was his judgment.
—Kiiiik!
As soon as the Barrier formed, one Nightmare spat again. But the attack dissolved harmlessly against the translucent shield. Taking that chance, Sihyeon fled forward. Spotting a dense thicket between large trees, he sprinted toward it.
It was time for Track-and-Field Kang Sihyeon to shine again.
Without looking back, he dove into the brush, then crawled further in to reposition himself. Even with his breath ragged from running, he forcibly held it in.
—Kiiiiii.
Having lost their target, the Nightmares wandered nearby, crying as they searched for the breath of the living. Surrounded by black figures drifting about, Sihyeon continued to hold his breath.
Only after some time did they seem to give up and move away. Finally, Sihyeon lowered his hand and gasped for air.
“Haa, ha, haa…!”
Of all things, his first Irregular had to be a Nightmare.
Nightmares couldn’t be subdued by force. They had no solid form—cutting them with a blade did nothing, punching them had no effect. Only lightning-type attacks worked on them. Even if their damage output wasn’t high, they were incredibly troublesome to deal with.
Containment-level or not, this was too much.
There weren’t any lightning-type Awakened among the freshmen. In other words, no one here could properly deal with Nightmares.
And yet they threw students into a place like this.
Even if it was a virtual world where “death” wasn’t real, pain still existed. Sihyeon frowned, newly impressed by how insane the school was.
—Rustle.
A sound came from nearby, and Sihyeon’s senses sharpened.
It wasn’t a Nightmare. They had no legs—they couldn’t step on dead trees.
Which meant that sound came from either another student… or another Irregular.
Tightening his focus, Sihyeon quickly ran through possible skills he could Copy. The principal’s Telekinesis, one of Jihye’s skills—Ignition, basic swordsman techniques, Haeun’s buffs. He recalled everything he had observed over the past month as he stared toward the source of the sound.
Soon, a boy about his height pushed through the dark brush and revealed himself.
“…….”
The moment they saw each other, both frowned as if by agreement.
“Fuck…”
The voice spitting out the curse was irritatingly familiar. Sihyeon tightened his grip on his staff. A rising sense of displeasure mixed with foreboding spread through him.
No matter how he thought about it, he’d rather face an Irregular than Kang Donghyeok.
“You alone?”
“What’s it to you?”
Donghyeok asked bluntly, and Sihyeon answered without even looking at him, scanning the surroundings instead. He was wary that the Nightmares might return. If things went south, he was already planning to throw Donghyeok to them and escape.
Ignored, Donghyeok’s expression twisted.
“Fuck, you ignoring me again?”
“What, should I greet you warmly instead?”
We’re not that close, are we?
Sihyeon’s calm gaze turned toward him. Seeing the veins bulge as Donghyeok gripped his sword tightly, Sihyeon let out a dry laugh.
“What, gonna throw a knife again?”
Donghyeok had already caused a scene with a knife once before. And yet here he was again, gripping a blade—if Sihyeon said it wasn’t ridiculous, he’d be lying.
It was beyond a lack of learning ability—he had completely lost it.
“Just stay still, Kang Donghyeok.”
Both of them were more than half ignorant about this place. Making a commotion in an unfamiliar environment and attracting Irregulars was the dumbest thing you could do. Ignoring him, Sihyeon rose from the brush and was about to move forward—
“Acting like hot shit.”
BOOM!
A loud crash exploded behind him. The massive sound echoed through the silent forest. Startled, Sihyeon turned to see a chunk of earth gouged out of the ground.
It was clearly the mark of Donghyeok striking down with his sword.
“Are you insane?”
Stunned by what was practically suicidal behavior, Sihyeon asked—but Donghyeok only scoffed.
The crooked curl of his lips looked ominous. Veins stood out sharply on the back of the hand gripping his sword.
“Guess you’re scared now that there’s no one here to protect you.”
“And you? No one watching, so even the little brain you had left finally broke?”
How many Irregulars do you think you can handle alone?
If Irregulars came, Sihyeon would be fine—he had his Barrier. But Donghyeok didn’t. Watching him, Sihyeon wondered if this was what it meant for stupidity to breed recklessness.
Donghyeok ground his teeth.
“As long as you’re the one who gets eliminated.”
“…What?”
“If it’s come to this, let’s both get kicked out together and sent to Beomin High!”
Gripping his sword, Donghyeok charged at him with a shout.
BOOM!
As Donghyeok brought his sword down with both hands, a sharp cracking sound rang out.
Sihyeon’s Barrier split apart.
His eyes widened.
