[381] Volume 16 – The Meaning of Survival (3)
Collie descends the virtual zone and 30 students are divided into red and blue teams.
Sirone took a deep breath and relaxed.
Survival evaluation is neither a person-to-person battle against people nor a strategy tactic for fighting monsters.
There is no way to win against Mother Nature.
The pain was inevitable, and now there were 10 seconds before the pain struck.
Maybe that’s why some of the students who experienced last year were already bleeding from their faces.
‘shit. If it wasn’t for this, I would have been in my senior year for 10 years.’
The number one event that seniors want to avoid the most.
It was a survival test.
-Transmits information to the Virtual Zone. 5 seconds waiting time. 4 seconds. 3 seconds…
When a woman’s voice was heard, different groups were revealed, including students closing their eyes, students loosening their shoulders and necks, and students calming down with calm expressions.
Sirone also gazed straight ahead and calmed down. Then someone hit me on the arm. It was Iruki.
“I’ll see you alive, Sirone.”
-Data transmission complete. Virtual Zone Activates the Virtual Cold Program.
Beyond Iruki’s bitterly smiling face, the scenery began to shimmer.
The scenery of the virtual zone disappeared in an instant, like turning a picture book, and the top of the snowy mountain appeared.
Sirone looked around with a surprised expression.
A cold wind blew into his nose, and the snow all over the place shone with the reflection of the sunlight.
The sky is close enough to touch.
The snowy mountains that wrapped around it like a wall were revealing vivid colors as if condensed milk had been poured on the rocks.
“This is… the first stage of survival?”
The situation itself was the first since the survival program was reset every time even for students of Class 2 or higher.
Iruki looked back and raised a finger.
“It starts from there.”
Sirone’s eyes widened as he looked back.
Huge smoke that I had never seen in my life and that I would never see again was coming down slowly.
It was an avalanche.
“Damn it!”
A number of students, including Boyle and Pandora, cast teleportation and flew in the opposite direction.
However, some, including Sirone, just stood there.
The avalanche’s approach is much slower than expected. It is pouring from great heights. Nevertheless, the fact that it looked huge meant that an unimaginable amount of eyes were pouring in.
“It’s not a situation I made you avoid…”
Kuuuuuuuuuuu!
A snowball of astronomical mass landed on the top, pushing the air outward.
A strong wind blew through the cheeks, and then a 300-meter-high snow storm swept the summit in 0.1 seconds.
“Keuuugh!”
Sirone gritted his teeth and regained his composure.
An avalanche that flowed faster than the torrent relentlessly pushed him off the top.
‘no! Let’s wake up!’
Swallowing the snow as it entered her mouth, Sirone pushed through the snow mass.
“Puha!”
The snowball was larger than an iceberg and was falling downwards out of sight of the ground.
At the top of the snowball, Sirone poked out his face.
“Puha! Pooh!”
I spit out everything in my mouth and opened my eyes, and the round sun was embedded in the clear sky.
After flying into the sky, Sirone inspected her surroundings while maintaining her fly magic.
One by one, students who made the same judgment as Sirone were jumping out of the falling snow.
“Sirone!”
When I turned my head to Iruki’s voice, he buried his face and body in snow, pointing down and shouting.
“Get down slowly…!”
Before he could finish his words, a waterfall of snow swallowed Iruki.
Surprised Sirone’s gaze turned upward. The clear sky was completely blocked by white snow.
“I’m really going crazy…!”
A white torrent flowed where Sirone had been.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh,
” E.
Coli looked at the students who rolled up the Virtual Zone with a sad eye.
Starting from being swept away by an avalanche, all 30 people fell into a half-water state without exception.
‘How hard is it? They are precious children.’
Victory or defeat is in the hands of the final winner, but for that reason, no student gave up the evaluation easily.
Individual achievements, not teams, will be disclosed to the association and scouts, so they will try to endure with all their might.
‘Maybe it’s a situation that I don’t have to go through in my life. But the world you will live in is even harsher than that. Life is hell just because it’s real.’
“Looks like it’s already started.”
Collie hurriedly untied her back and turned around.
“principal.”
Alpheas, accompanied by Vice Principal Olivia, was looking at the Virtual Zone.
“Everyone went into a semi-water state. It’s a natural thing to do.”
“Doesn’t even the pros hate it? It is an event that does not even adopt epitaphs with a small number of graduates.”
Survival evaluation is a subject that has been talked about a lot by associations.
It is good to evaluate the actual ability, but it is because there is room for students to break before they sprout.
Even students who did not graduate are valuable talents who will become members of society in the long run. Without a wizard who opens a magic shop, becomes a teacher, joins the police force, carries out requests from guilds, and receives complaints from administrative agencies, the wizarding society cannot return.
Therefore, the association issued a guideline to conduct survival evaluation only for the five prestigious schools that received more than 10 graduation tickets.
Survival was an event that was not left out of the alumni reunion and became the go-to for drinking as only the chosen ones took part in it.
It would be embarrassing to go back to school days and try it again, but such feelings could also be said to be the pride of a prestigious school.
Olivia asked.
“Is this the program offered by the association this year? Is the current stage 1 ‘Snow Play’?”
“yes. Two minutes left. It may feel like two hours to students.”
Olivia’s brow narrowed displeasedly.
“However, there is not a single dropout. As a result, the ability to discriminate among low-scorers is reduced. In the future, I will have to suggest a higher level of difficulty.”
Alpheas shook his head with a wry smile.
Teachers’ council members seemed to be impatient to give the students even better decorations.
“Aww!”
Seeing a rock crashing right in front of her eyes, Sirone fell while covering her face with her arms.
An exhilarating pain pulsated through his arm bones and his nose tingled. A snowball crashed over his head and hit him.
It was a point that came down considerably from the summit, so the amount of snow was not enough to crush people. Still, it was a shock enough to shake my bones.
‘My arm is broken.’
Even though it was covered with an air shield, it fell so fast that it could not fully absorb the impact.
When he looked up from his face down on the rock, a sharp broken arm bone was sticking out of his skin.
It’s a virtual world, so it will be reconstructed sooner or later, but the pain transmitted through the nerves was more irritating than reality.
“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!”
The place where it fell was on a bedrock protruding from the middle of the cliff.
I’d rather have this I hoped that time would pass and the first stage would end.
jump. damn
As if mocking such an idea, cracks appeared in the rock wall and began to show signs of collapse.
Sirone grabbed his broken arm and shook his shoulders.
“Hehehehehehe.”
I laughed because it was absurd.
‘Is this a regular event? Is there anything to catch someone?’
I could imagine what the students would look like if survival was adopted in the graduation exam.
Once again, all the graduates in the world felt respected.
“Okay, let’s go to the end once.”
Sirone raised her head with eyes filled with poison.
At the same time as the rock wall broke, his body fell to the ground.
* * *
Plop!
‘what?’
Hearing the sound of falling into the water, Sirone opened his eyes.
I felt a chill that would break my spirit. Subsequently, students were sinking, raising foam, regardless of whether they were on the front or back.
‘Is this the second stage?’
The process of going from stage 1 to stage 2 definitely exists, but those who entered the half-water state could not feel it.
It was to leave no room for recovery.
‘Why can’t I use magic?’
I couldn’t get into the spirit zone. Of course, since this world was virtual, magic wasn’t actually blocked.
‘Let’s go up first.’
Sirone struggled like a frog and headed for the surface. I felt like I would freeze to death if I held out any longer in the water.
The moment she reached out her hand near the surface of the water, Sirone’s eyes shook in shock.
couldn’t go up
What he touched was a cold, hard ice wall.
‘What is it then, how do I get out?’
A blurry shadow was visible on the ice sheet. I went up a little further and opened my eyes to see a young boy squatting down.
‘I have to go out. I’m slowly suffocating.’
He pounded the ice wall with his fist as if calling for help.
After staring at him for a while, the boy nodded as if he understood and pointed somewhere.
‘excuse me? Can I just go over there?’
Sirone poked in the direction with her index finger as confirmation.
The boy nodded again and headed there as if to inform himself.
Sirone pushed off the ice wall and followed the boy. All the while, the cold water was choking him.
‘It’s a big deal. I can’t stand it anymore.’
I want to arrive right now and breathe the air to my heart’s content. But the boy’s gait was terribly slow.
‘hurry! hurry! No more….’
The time to hold your breath with will is over. From now on, it’s just that I can’t drink because there’s no air.
My body trembled from the cold and the fear of death.
Finally the boy stopped walking. He looked down at Sirone and pointed to a place a couple of steps away.
‘Hey there!’
Sirone choked with all his might. Even though it was only three meters away, it felt so far away.
‘done! at las…!’
Sirone held out her hand towards the exit, feeling a burst of joy.
chin.
A solid wall of ice blocked him again.
‘what…?’
My brain went pale. Sirone looked at the boy on the ice and demanded an explanation.
Then the boy grabbed his stomach and giggled, then pressed his face to Sirone and stuck out his tongue.
Goreok!
A handful of air rose from Sirone’s mouth.
‘no. Let’s stay calm.’
I hurriedly suppressed the rage that burned my mind.
I hated the boy who was giving medicine with his tongue in and out in a place full of fresh air. But getting angry didn’t make things better.
‘Teach me again. Where is the exit?’
Sirone tapped the ice wall with eager eyes.
Even after putting the person in a hurry under his feet, the boy stroked his chin as if in agony.
Sirone’s head started to heat up again.
‘No no no. If you lose your cool, it’s over.’
After much thought, the boy came to a conclusion. Then, turning to Sirone, he shook his head as if he couldn’t teach him.
‘Control your anger. I am a wizard.’
The light of life went out in Sirone’s pupils. As oxygen is not delivered to the head, the body organs begin to paralyze.
‘Rage doesn’t change anything. Until the moment I die… I won’t let go of my reason…’
Gurreuk!
Bubbles of air in his organs protruded out of his mouth. As much as the air escaped, cold water flowed into his stomach.
Cells seemed to freeze.
The whirlwind stopped and the palms that were touching the ice wall were slowly falling off.
He saw a boy smiling in his sinking eyes.
The boy stared at Sirone’s face as he was being sucked into the darkness of the abyss.
Then, as if he had made up his mind, he nodded and raised his trident from an unknown source.
Aaaaaang!
The ice wall was shattered in one blow.
The sight was reflected in Sirone’s dead eyes.
As the frozen nerves slowly communicated the fact to the brain, the legs shook again and the body rose little by little.
“Puhaaaaa! turn it off! Turn it off!”
Cirone, who rose to the surface, recklessly sucked in the air. There was nothing else I could think of right now.
“Huh! Huh!”
After about a minute, I finally came to my senses.
The ice sheet was peaceful and the boy’s figure had disappeared before he knew it.
“Puha! Pooh!”
Students were coming up to the surface one by one. Amy was also seen not far away.
‘It passed.’
Amy took a deep breath with a look on her face as she faced death. Then, belatedly, he found Sirone and met his eyes.
Greeted with a smile, she blew air and let her wet hair float.
“haha!”
Sirone laughed. It’s really hard to make a living.
And that was the last memory in the second stage ‘Ice Prison’.
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