Shinji was swallowed by the shadows before anyone could react, his body yanked into the forest as though the trees themselves had come alive to drag him away. A dozen horrified eyes followed the trail of darkness, wide with disbelief.
"What in the hells was that?!" a dwarf cried, stumbling backward, putting as much distance between himself and the treeline as he could.
"He... vanished..." another examinee whispered, his voice trembling as he scanned the dark woods for any trace of Shinji.
The group faltered, their courage bleeding away, until the ground quaked once more beneath the lumbering steps of the forest golem. Despair tightened its grip, but then a voice broke through. sharp, commanding, and unyielding.
"Remember what the proctor said! You cannot die here! You just teleported back to the coliseum. So fight—unless you want this all to mean nothing!"
It was a dark elf, his cry slicing through the heavy silence. The words rekindled the dying embers of hope. Hands tightened on weapons, magic circles flared to life once more, and weary eyes turned toward the towering golem.
"That’s right," a blond-haired examinee forced out, sweat running down his face. "Why fear failure? Even if we fall here, there’s always next year!"
With that, the group charged again, weapons clashing against stone, spells detonating against its towering body.
Meanwhile, deep in the forest’s shadows, Shinji’s body skidded to a halt, the blood chain that dragged him finally tightening around his limbs. Eyes squeezed shut, he flailed in a panic, his voice shrill with desperation.
"Don’t eat me, Demon Lord! Please don’t eat me! I’m not married yet—don’t eat me!"
A calm, low voice answered from the dark. "Relax. It’s me."
Shinji froze. Slowly, he peeked through his trembling fingers, only to see a pair of crimson eyes burning beneath the hood of a cloak.
"D-don’t! I didn’t do anything!" he shrieked again, thrashing dramatically.
The figure sighed, then flicked his head with a sharp snap.
BAKK!
"Ow—!" Shinji clutched his head, finally daring to look up. Through the shadows, he caught sight of the number plate dangling across the figure’s chest: 439.
His panic melted into relief. "Oh... so it’s you..." He staggered to his feet, still trembling. "T-thank you for—"
"No need for thanks," Arzael cut him off coldly. "I didn’t save you for free."
Shinji blinked, startled. "Eh? What do you mean? A-aren’t we... friends already?"
The crimson eyes never wavered, staring at him with merciless calm. "Did I ever agree to that?"
Shinji faltered, disappointment flickering across his face. He exhaled shakily. "...Fine. What do you want?"
"When this exam ends," Arzael said, already turning away, "I want to know about the power you mentioned earlier."
Shinji frowned in confusion. "P-power? What do you—" ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novel·fıre·net
"System." The word was spoken like a blade drawn from its sheath. Then the shadow melted back into the forest, gone.
Shinji stood frozen, eyes wide. His breath hitched. "...I... shouted about the system just now, didn’t I?"
A nervous laugh slipped from his lips as he tried to reassure himself. "Oh, right. No need to worry. Nobody in this world even knows what a system is... right?"
Yet the unease lingered in his chest.
He stumbled back toward the battlefield, thoughts swirling. ’Arzael... how can he wield blood magic like that? And those movements... so fast.’ He stopped mid-step, fists trembling.
’O Goddess... if I hadn’t been granted the system’s power, then I’d want abilities like his instead.’
At last, he emerged from the treeline. The battlefield was chaos, exhausted examinees clashing against the colossal golem, their attacks barely keeping it at bay.
"It’s useless!" one of them groaned, collapsing to his knees. "Its body just keeps repairing itself!"
The ground trembled as the golem’s fist loomed overhead. The examinee’s breath faltered, too weak to move, until a light circle bloomed beneath his feet. In an instant, his body vanished, teleported back to the coliseum in failure.
"Damn it," the dark elf cursed, teeth clenched. "My mana’s almost gone..."
Then, like a whisper of hope, a radiant green glow swept over them. A tiny fairy hovered above, her light spilling down to mend wounds and restore broken bodies.
"Healing magic?!" gasped a blond-haired human, watching his cuts knit closed.
"Summoning magic... but who—?" His eyes followed the glow.
All of them turned to see Shinji, bent over with ragged breath, one hand raised weakly.
"I can only heal you once," he rasped. "So fight!"
The glow steadied their resolve. Their exhaustion lifted, determination flooding back.
The dark elf strode to Shinji’s side, clapping his shoulder. "Heh. I thought you were done for."
"Honestly," Shinji muttered, his eyes still on the golem, "I can’t cast anything else. My mana’s gone."
Still, as he watched the creature lumber, something sparked in his mind. ’Wait... in games, golems always have a core, right?’
His eyes widened. "Attention!!" His shout thundered across the clearing. The others snapped their heads toward him.
"This thing won’t die unless you destroy the core inside its chest!"
For a heartbeat, confusion flickered among them, then smiles broke out.
"Of course!" an elven archer grinned.
"No wonder it keeps regenerating," the blond-haired human added, brushing hair from his face.
Rallied, they struck harder, working together to expose the heart of the beast.
Shinji slumped to the ground, too weak to join. ’If only... when I first came to this world, I’d been given an S-rank skill. I’d be surrounded by beautiful girls by now.’
The golem staggered as its chest split open, revealing the glowing core within.
"Quick! We can’t hold it much longer!"
The dark elf raised his hand, conjuring a blade of stone. With a fierce cry, he hurled it forward, piercing straight through the core.
CRACK!
The crystal shattered, light bursting outward as the golem’s massive body crumbled into dust.
Cheers erupted. The dark elf turned, extending a hand to Shinji. "We did it. Thanks to you."
One by one, the number plates on their chests shifted color, red to green, marking their shared victory.
But before Shinji could savor the relief, the artificial sky trembled with the proctor’s booming voice.
"Spectators! Witness the score for the participant ranked number one! Do not be alarmed, we are still searching for their whereabouts!"
The announcement echoed across the simulation as swarm orbs streaked overhead, scanning relentlessly.
Shinji’s eyes darted to the glowing leaderboard. His heart skipped.
#1 — 40,045 points.
His hands trembled. "W-what... what the hell is that?!"
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the simulated world, inside a vast crater, three figures battled for their lives. Alicia, Lena, and Chitara faced down an ice wyvern, locked in a brutal clash that had already lasted thirty minutes.
"We can’t defeat it..." Chitara gasped, her arms quivering, her body threatening to collapse.
"Hold on, Princess," Lena urged, propping her up, her own breath ragged. "We’ll win soon."
Alicia stood firm before them, bloodied but unbowed, mana nearly depleted. Her eyes blazed. "This is nothing compared to the black dragon..."
The wyvern roared, frost spilling from its throat, only to choke mid-breath.
Above them, from the edge of the crater, a pair of red eyes gazed down. Cold. Merciless.
The very sunlight of the artificial sky dimmed, swallowed by the shadow that had arrived.