“Isn’t that…” Rhys’s voice caught in his throat. His eyes widened in disbelief. The Abyssal moving toward him was grotesque, yet somehow disturbingly familiar. It moved on all fours, but the shape of its limbs bore a striking resemblance to a human’s. Its body was humanoid, yet its movements were fluid, animalistic, almost predatory. Tentacle-like appendages flailed behind it, writhing in unpredictable arcs. Its head was elongated, curved unnaturally, exactly as he had imagined in the back of his mind. The skin was pale, almost translucent, and veins writhed beneath it like tiny, living organisms. Shadows twisted across its body with every subtle movement, giving it a nightmarish vitality. Rhys exhaled sharply, a shiver running down his spine. God… this is exactly like the creatures in Lovecraftian tales… but enhanced. And those veins… it’s as if it’s some kind of living symbiote fused to the body. This world is insane. The thought was interrupted by motion. The Abyssal lunged for

While most of the other students were slowly reaching their limits after constant fighting, Rhys found himself in a completely different situation. Instead of struggling somewhere deep in the forest, he was relaxing beside a quiet stretch of river. The sound of water flowing gently over stones filled the air. "Waaf!" Gaelion’s bark echoed across the riverbank. At the exact same moment, a silver flash broke through the surface of the water as a fish leapt upward. The wolf cub moved with perfect timing. His paw swung through the air and struck the fish with surprising force, slamming it onto the gravel beside the river. The poor creature flopped helplessly, unable to reach the water again. Gaelion glanced over his shoulder toward Rhys. "I finished digging the trench you asked for," he called out. "Don’t tell me you’re going to say the idea doesn’t work." "Almost done!" Rhys shouted back without looking up. Earlier, he had asked Gaelion to help dig two shallow trenches in the gro

"Kh!" Rhys forced himself back to his feet, wincing as pain shot through his hand and the side of his head. The earlier impact still throbbed, but it wasn’t enough to stop him from fighting. If the creatures he faced had been any stronger, he might already be dead. Now he understood why Gaelion had suggested testing this kind of situation here, against relatively weak Abyssals. Fighting multiple enemies at once was far more dangerous than he had imagined. The two Abyssals did not give him time to gather himself. Both of them surged forward immediately, their movements aggressive and relentless. They clearly had no intention of allowing him even a moment to recover. Strangely, the mistake he had just made seemed to calm Rhys down instead of rattling him further. He had already made the biggest error possible in this fight. That meant there was nothing left to panic about. The beast-like Abyssal arrived first. Just like before, it leapt forward, its body twisting midair as the

Night finally descended over the forest, and with it came the true beginning of the trial. During the day, the students had focused on exploring, fighting, and finding suitable places to settle. But once darkness arrived, survival itself became the challenge. In one part of the forest, frustration erupted loudly. "Why can’t you do anything right?" a student shouted angrily as he kicked a small kobold that stood before him. "Hurry up and build me a tent already!" "Kiuuh…" the kobold whimpered weakly. It tried to respond, but the familiar could only endure the mistreatment in silence. The poor creature simply didn’t know how to build a tent. Even if it did, the situation made it nearly impossible. The student hadn’t brought any camping equipment or materials that could be used for shelter. The surrounding forest offered little help either. All the kobold could find were scattered twigs, loose sticks, and piles of fallen leaves. None of it was enough to construct a proper tent.

“Ha… ha… where the hell is that Common-class Abyssal we’re supposed to find?” Rhys groaned, wiping sweat from his forehead as he trudged through the forest. “We’ve been wandering around since yesterday and there’s still no sign of it.” His frustration was obvious. Beside him, Gaelion simply looked up at the dimming sky and shrugged. “It’s not that serious. We still have four days left to search.” He stretched lazily before adding, “More importantly, we should head back soon. It’ll be dark in about an hour, and we’ve already traveled farther than usual.” Rhys exhaled a long sigh. “Fine.” Truthfully, he knew Gaelion was right. Still, impatience had been creeping into his thoughts ever since he promised the tavern owner’s aunt that he would take down a Common-class Abyssal. The promise lingered in the back of his mind. Gaelion glanced at him again. “Besides, haven’t we already killed a ton of Abyssals these past two days?” “Yeah…” Rhys scratched the back of his head awkwar