The environment was so comfortable that it was easy to forget I was, in fact, in the middle of a survival test. About forty minutes had already passed since it began, and so far, everything was going smoothly. No sign of other students. No visible danger.
The sun reflected over the calm waters of the oasis, the sound of the wind brushing against the palm trees gently lulling me toward sleep… and I, half-awake and half-dreaming, almost forgot that I could die in there.
That was when I felt it.
A violent chill ran down my spine, sharp and sudden, like a lightning bolt piercing my body. I reacted before I could think, moving purely on instinct.
— Fwoosh!
The instant I ducked, something sliced through the air right above me. I felt the wind tear through a few strands of my hair. When I looked up, the palm tree behind me was… split clean in half.
— W-what…? — I muttered, just before the trunk came crashing down.
I rolled to the side, narrowly escaping being crushed.
— BAMM!
The tree slammed into the ground with a deafening impact, kicking up a thick cloud of dust.
— Cough, cough… what… what's happening…?
I tried to understand the situation while coughing, until something made my body freeze. On the other side of the lake, slowly emerging from the darkness of a cave, three pairs of red eyes stared straight at me.
They glowed like burning embers.
And then, it stepped out.
It was about the size of a small car. Eight long, razor-sharp legs dug into the earth, its black, metallic body resembling molten steel. From its monstrous maw, fangs dripped a glowing liquid, like living magma.
Six eyes burned with a crimson glow, and atop its back, a crown of flames blazed, cascading down like a fiery mantle.
— CHHHHHHRRRRRKKKK!
The roar tore through the air. My eardrums vibrated violently. For a split second, pure fear paralyzed me, until the familiar chime of a translucent window appeared before my eyes.
Infernal Spider {Rank C}
The name shone in blood-red letters above the monster's head, making the danger unmistakably clear.
— R-Rank C…? — I choked, cold sweat running down my back.
Terror washed over me.
If I remembered correctly, this test was filled with dangerous creatures… but the strongest one mentioned so far was a Metal-Fanged Smilodon, a Rank D tiger.Even that would have been a challenge for the main characters.
Me, a Rank F, facing something like this?Three whole ranks above me. I didn't need to think hard to know how this would end.
I scanned the surroundings. The terrain formed a natural amphitheater of stone, like an arena, completely sealed off. There was no escape route. Running wasn't an option.
Slap!
I slapped my own face twice, snapping myself back to reality.
I took a deep breath and drew my katana. The blade reflected the distant firelight as I adjusted my stance.
This thing is clearly fire-type… I thought, watching the magma drip from its fangs and the flames dancing along its back.
If I use Water Breathing, I might have an advantage. But I need to get close first.
The real problem, however, wasn't its fangs or legs—it was the glowing threads floating around its body. They looked like webs… but made of pure fire.
I glanced at the palm tree that had been sliced in half and swallowed hard.One touch from that would mean instant death.
I tightened my grip on the katana. Thinking too much won't help… time to move!
With a single leap, I vanished from my spot. I charged straight ahead, slicing through the wind, and the first thread came at me.
— Swoosh!
I dodged sideways. Another followed immediately, sweeping horizontally toward my legs. I jumped, rolled across the dry ground, and kept moving.
A third thread descended in a vertical slash, fast enough to split me in two. I dodged by a hair's breadth, but the spider had already reacted, spitting a blazing sphere of magma at high speed.
— Damn it…!
Still moving, I focused my breathing. The katana shimmered with a blue, watery glow.
— Water Breathing, First Form — Minamo Giri! (Surface Slash!)
The blade cut through the air, splitting the incandescent sphere in two. Both halves exploded upon hitting the ground, but the shockwave still sent me flying into a nearby rock.
— Thud!
I hid behind it, gasping for air.
One of the flaming threads passed right by my head, slicing clean through the top of the rock.
— Shit… at this rate, I can't even get close!
I leapt back behind another stone, my heart pounding wildly. Another thread whizzed past.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Each attack left a trail of heat hanging in the air.
— I need… mobility… — I muttered, watching the attack patterns while searching for an opening.
With a powerful jump, I reached the top of a rock, gaining a clear view of the creature. Ten meters away, the spider glared at me with boiling hatred.
I pushed my breathing to its limit, air flowing in precise, measured intervals. A faint blue aura enveloped my body, damp like mist. Steam escaped between my clenched teeth, and the rhythmic sound of my breathing filled the tense silence.
— Water Breathing, Ninth Form — Suiryuu Shibuki! (Flowing River Steps!)
I vanished like a ripple of water.
This technique altered the flow of my footing, minimizing ground contact and turning each step into a fluid leap. In an unstable terrain like this graveyard of stone, it was perfect.
Each step triggered a small burst of water beneath my feet, my body moving like a living river, unpredictable, swift, impossible to track.
Dodging the incandescent threads as they tried to cut me down, I circled the spider, advancing little by little, until I landed on a rock barely two meters away from it.
I kicked off hard, leaping straight toward its grotesque head.But midair, something gleamed between us, a vertical thread rising like a blade of fire, blocking my advance.
I swung my katana in a smooth arc, pouring every ounce of strength into the strike.
— Water Breathing, Second Form — Mizuguruma! (Water Wheel!)
I spun my body, forming a perfect wheel of water shimmering around me… until a dry, cracking sound shattered the illusion.
CRASH!
Something broke, and it wasn't the thread.
My sword split cleanly in two.
— S-shit!
Using the momentum of the strike, I hurled myself sideways midair, narrowly avoiding decapitation. Even so, the flaming web grazed my face, leaving a searing cut and the stench of burnt flesh.
Before I could regain my balance, six crimson eyes filled my vision. With mocking precision, the spider's leg shot forward at absurd speed, aiming straight for my chest.
CLANK!
By sheer miracle, I blocked the strike with what remained of my katana. Sparks flew as the impact reverberated through my bones. I was sent flying, slamming back-first into a palm tree.
POW!
The air was knocked from my lungs, a metallic taste flooding my mouth. I spat out a mix of saliva, coconut water, and blood, my entire body screaming in pain.Even with the simulation reducing pain by 50%, it was obvious, several ribs were broken.
Back to square one. Ten meters away. Broken bones. A shattered sword. A bleeding face. My stamina in ruins.
Yet, amid the pain, a realization struck me. The strike I attempted earlier had been perfect. Angle, stance, execution… all flawless.
The problem wasn't precision.
It was strength.
And there was a way to make up for that.
…
I took a few seconds to steady myself. I lifted my head, filled my lungs, and cleared my mind.
— Total Concentration!
The ground cracked beneath my feet. In the blink of an eye, I shot forward like a blue blur.
The first thread came at me, and instead of dodging, I spun my entire body, using momentum and centrifugal force to amplify the strike.
CRASH!
The sound echoed again, but this time, the thread snapped apart. The blade, though short, held firm.
I kept spinning, each rotation increasing speed and power. Slash after slash, every thread shattered with a sharp crack. Water gathered around me, dancing in blue spirals, the most precise and powerful form of Water Breathing.
— Water Breathing, Tenth Form — Seisei Ruten! (Constant Flux!)
RROOOOAARRR!
A deafening roar echoed as a dragon of water emerged from the blade, spinning alongside me, following my strikes like a living tide.
CRASH!
CRASH!
CRASH!
The incandescent threads shattered in every direction as the distance between me and the spider closed rapidly.
At three meters, I stepped onto a side rock and launched myself forward. A wall of flaming webs rose before me, dense like molten steel. Through the gaps, I saw the six eyes widen in fear.
— IT WON'T MATTER!
FWOOOOSH!
A perfect horizontal slash tore through everything. The water dragon roared, devouring the webs and ripping through the air before cleaving into the creature's neck.
In an instant, its head flew off, the crimson glow fading from its eyes as the massive body collapsed.
Silence fell over the world.
Flaming particles rose from the colossal corpse. I dropped to my knees, then fell onto my back, staring at the sky as the sound of my own breathing echoed faintly.
A notification flashed before me:
[Rank 2055 Kazehara Yuto +1 point (Infernal Spider Proof) Team Points: 7]
Lying there, completely exhausted, I let out a breath and muttered, almost laughing through the fatigue:
— What a pain…