Correcting the Villainess of the Academy - Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Predator (7)

On the third night since the exam started, we continued to push forward. The moonlight occasionally appeared, only to be hidden by clouds again.

Although we were trying to maintain a brisk pace, our speed wasn’t very fast.

It was mainly due to the terrain of the basin, which had become a mess because of the meteor impact.

A sheer cliff blocked our path in front of a valley, and we witnessed a vast prairie spreading beyond the horizon.

We had to detour around a clear, enormous lake and a densely green swamp that stretched endlessly.

The atmosphere circulated unpredictably through this terrain, with sudden drizzles following sunny spells frequently.

Even considering the sizable area of the Celestial Basin, its internal environment was exceptionally varied.

“Ugh. Look at that.”

As we passed through a grove of man-sized, petrified mushrooms, Muyoung suddenly grimaced.

A swarm of large, hairy larvae was voraciously munching on the mushroom caps. The crunching sounds echoed far and wide.

“I see why the professor said this place is closer to an alien world. They look like something from hell. What are those things…?”

“…They’re Lepeus moth larvae. Don’t you even know that?”

“Le… what?”

“Sigh… The professor said to memorize all the species names because beasts are a small category of creatures… And you wear glasses but aren’t that smart, huh…”

Yena grumbled in an annoyed tone. Muyoung chuckled dryly at her sharp reaction.

“I did apologize, didn’t I? It’s not like I hold a grudge.”

“If you’re going to say that, take off that cloth on your face when you talk!”

Just like she said, Muyoung had his lower face tightly wrapped with a thick white cloth. It might not be my place to speak, as I wear a mask, but just looking at him made me feel stifled…

“I’m nauseous all the time, so I can’t help it. You should understand by now. You’re surprisingly narrow-minded.”

“Who’s narrow-minded…!”

“Both of you, stop it…”

I barely managed to stop their argument, but now Muyoung and Yena turned away from each other, refusing to acknowledge the other’s presence.

This was the same situation that had repeated several times since yesterday. Being caught between them was indeed frustrating.

But I couldn’t drive either of them away. I had no intention of doing so, and we were already deep into the northern section. The farther we went, the more powerful beasts appeared, blocking our path.

Both were excellent supporters, but neither Yena nor Muyoung was particularly strong in combat.

If one person lagged behind, it was pretty much guaranteed that they’d be eliminated with the lowest score.

Ultimately, we had no choice but to stick together until the exam ended.

“Hold on.”

We were advancing in an inverted triangle formation. Muyoung was at the trailing point, while Yena and I took the left and right flanks in the front.

Suddenly, Muyoung stopped us.

“Why?”

“There’s a crack in the ground at our 11 o’clock. It doesn’t seem natural. I can sense movement inside.”

I looked at the ground where Muyoung indicated. Scratching at the leaf pile with my fingers, I soon gathered a bunch of faintly glowing, translucent, sticky threads.

“…It seems to be a Signata’s nest. Yena, can you lure it out?”

“I’ll try.”

Yena fiddled with the particle array device on her wrist. Soon, small droplets gathered in the air before her, forming a large water droplet.

Yena threw the newly formed water droplet towards the crack.

-Kieek!
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After a moment, a large creature, unable to hold its breath, burst out of its hiding spot.

The huge fangs and twelve legs were quite intimidating. Even excluding the legs, its body was almost as large as Yena.

The beast, resembling a giant spider, turned and fled into the thicket. It wasn’t aiming to hunt but to escape the threat. That made it easier to deal with.

I quickly approached the fleeing beast from behind. I plunged my blade into its chest and sliced straight down to its belly, splitting it in two. The beast’s green blood splattered messily everywhere.

“Eww…”

Yena grimaced at the still-twitching corpse of the beast.

“It seems like the variety of species has increased now that we’re out of the Lupus territory. I wouldn’t have come this far alone.”

Muyoung muttered as he collected the beast’s fangs as a trophy.

“I wouldn’t have made it here this quickly without you guys, either.”
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“Humility is…”

I didn’t bother saying anything insincere. The difficulty itself wasn’t too high, but if our exploration and support hadn’t been as well-coordinated, our pace would have been much slower.

I had to conserve my magic as much as possible.

I could now understand why the Cradle awarded such high scores for teamwork.

Even if my skills were much worse, our speed wouldn’t have been significantly different.

“Ugh… Go away…”

“You… again…! Sniff… Hyun-ah…”

More commotion erupted from behind.

Yena, her face red, looked like she was about to cry.

If only their relationship were better, everything would be perfect…

“Guys. Stop. We’re almost at the halfway point, so let’s rest there for today. And at this pace, we should reach the center soon.”

“Already…? Are we actually going to get first place…?”

Yena murmured in a voice full of joy.

We cleaned up the scene and continued walking under the moonlight. Tonight, the surroundings felt unusually quiet. Apart from the Signata we encountered earlier, we couldn’t find even a single squirrel.

“Something feels off…”
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Muyoung muttered in a suspicious voice.

“The spirits are agitated. What could it be… Ugh…!!”

Muyoung suddenly clutched his head and collapsed.

His reaction was entirely different from before, as he now fell to the ground on all fours, clearly in immense pain.

“Whoa…!”

“Muyoung! What’s going on?”

“I don’t know…! The connection with the spirits was forcibly cut off for a moment and then restored…! Ugh… What is this…”

Muyoung muttered painfully, his hand on his head. We remained in place for a while, waiting for him to recover.

Unlike the earlier silence, we now began to hear unknown noises in the distance. Something was definitely wrong.

Muyoung, still staggering, suddenly raised his hand as a signal.

“Hold on… Team leader, something is approaching from our 3 o’clock. Two entities. Moving fast…”

The area was full of reeds growing up to our heads, obscuring our view. I positioned myself to protect Muyoung and Yena, ready to face any emerging threat.

Soon, the rustling sounds from afar grew louder, coming straight towards us.

And then, figures emerged from the reed field. They weren’t beasts but humans walking on two legs.

“Eeeek!!”

Even though I hadn’t swung my blade, the person who appeared screamed at the top of their lungs, as if they were about to die. Their voice was louder than most beasts.

Seeing this, Yena suddenly called out a name.

“Sera…?”

“Yena…???”

It seemed the person was someone Yena knew. The girl, upon seeing Yena, relaxed and collapsed on the spot.
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Looking closer, the girl’s appearance was a mess. Sera, as Yena called her, was carrying someone on her back, and both of their protective suits were torn and broken in many places.

The person being carried was unconscious.

They had claw marks on their arm, and the bandages around the wound were soaked in blood, with more blood dripping down.

“Sera… what happened??”

At Yena’s question, the girl replied in a terrified voice.

“There’s no time for this… It’s serious…!”

“What’s serious…”

“The southern sector’s barrier is broken!! High-level beasts are pouring in…! People might actually die…!”

“What…?”

***

At the temporary base set up on the grassland near the Celestial Basin, dozens of second-year students from the Cradle were busily moving about.

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They were assisting the professors with various tasks. Many senior students were synchronizing their vision with crows to monitor different parts of the northern section.

Their main task was to monitor illegal activities during the exam. Conflicts and duels were everyday occurrences at the Cradle, and the Cradle didn’t concern itself with minor disturbances.

However, there were always those who crossed the line. Especially in situations like this, it was easy to cause trouble under the guise of chaos. Their job was to prevent such situations.

Additionally, they were also looking out for standout individuals to determine whether to recruit them into future factions.

Raw talents always revealed themselves in unpredictable real-world situations, not in organized exams.

“Really… strange…”

A girl lying on the field with her eyes closed muttered. Her bright appearance and the tear mole under her right eye left a deep impression.

Kwon Yuri was observing a trio that seemed oddly mismatched.

Ha Yena, a natural-born mage from the outskirts who was quite popular due to her cheerful nature.

Shin Muyoung, a spirit mage who somehow gave off an unsettling vibe among the girls.

And the infamous freshman who needed no introduction.

What was particularly strange was that they were the group closest to the center.

Yu Jinhyun seemed to be handling most of the physical tasks, but the other two were supporting him almost perfectly.

“This is what practical training is about. Unexpected things always happen…”

Kwon Yuri murmured. Her gaze lingered on Yu Jinhyun.

The fact that he showed strong animosity towards her friend Baek Seoyeon had already spread throughout the Cradle.

“Strange… He didn’t seem like that type…”

Kwon Yuri had met Yu Jinhyun once. She had helped invite freshmen to a social gathering at Baek Seoyeon’s request.

Despite his unique appearance, he was polite and soft-spoken, leaving a decent impression.

Except for his close association with Ha Yena, he kept to himself without engaging in any social activities, so it didn’t seem like he was trying to create any political conflicts.

Kwon Yuri briefly pondered a reasonable explanation but ended up with a ridiculous thought.

“Could they have run into an ex-girlfriend by chance…? Pfft.”

She chuckled at the silly idea.

Though she was close with Baek Seoyeon, Seoyeon was exceptionally secretive about her fiancé.

However, it wasn’t hard to see how Seoyeon felt about him. Her face always lit up with a bright smile whenever she talked about him.

She often said there was no one else she’d ever loved as much. Such a woman couldn’t possibly have an ex-boyfriend.

On the other hand, she was extremely curious. Even from a woman’s perspective, Baek Seoyeon was a perfect being. In terms of skills, appearance, background, and personality, she lacked nothing.

What kind of man could receive such absolute love from a woman like that?

Who knows… Maybe she oddly prefers a simple, handsome country boy…

“Pfft… I should stop. I’ll have to get her drunk and ask her sometime.”

Kwon Yuri shook off her ridiculous thoughts and tried to focus on her work.

“Alright, back to work… Ugh…!”

Suddenly, an extreme pain shot through her head. It felt like a blade scraping against her nerves. The pain traveled down her head, burning her eyes.

“Ugh… What is this…”

The pain finally subsided after ransacking her entire body. Kwon Yuri barely realized that her vision sync with the crows had been forcibly disconnected.

She staggered up and looked around.

“Ugh…!”

“What happened! What’s going on!”

“My eyes… pain…!”

Her surroundings had turned into chaos. Those who were monitoring the exam site through the crows, like her, were all writhing in pain. It looked like a scene from a mass panic.

“What the heck…? Ugh…”

Kwon Yuri muttered. The others seemed to be experiencing the same rebound effect from their connection with the crows being severed.

But such a forced disconnection was extremely rare.

Unless a powerful particle wave interference erupted nearby, it was impossible for so many people to experience the same symptom.

And such large-scale interference usually occurred when… a minimum of a class 1 danger beast emerged.

-POOM!

The sound of something exploding in the air snapped her back to reality. She saw a firework spell lighting up the night sky in red.

With the appearance of the first dropout, the personnel at the base began preparing a rescue team.
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“Kwon Yuri, come over here!! Quickly!!”

Kwon Yuri was about to start her own tasks when she heard someone calling her from the basin’s entrance. The voice was filled with urgency and panic.

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A group of bloodied freshmen was walking out of the basin’s entrance. They had lost their backpacks, and their protective suits were tattered.

Some were so severely injured that they were covered in blood.

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“You are…”

She recognized one of the students. Guk Jaeryong. A junior from the same Magic 27 family as her, though she wasn’t particularly close to him due to his smug and arrogant demeanor.

She had remembered him leading a large group of nine into the basin. It was somewhat amusing that they had chosen the easiest central route…

“Junior, what happened?”

At her question, Guk Jaeryong trembled as he answered.

“Senior… This is not the time… The exam must be stopped immediately…”

“What?”

“Right now…!”

“Junior. Take a deep breath and slowly…”

She tried to calm him down, but Guk Jaeryong was trembling and speaking incoherently. His face was filled with fear.

-POOM!

Suddenly, the sky brightened as if the sun had risen, and she instinctively looked up. Loud bangs, like a large-caliber firearm, followed the light, echoing everywhere.

“…What is going on…”

Kwon Yuri muttered, looking up at the sky. What she saw were dozens of red fireworks continuously exploding above the basin.

End of Chapter
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