## Chapter 51 – End of the Special Evaluation
“Ugh… So bright…”
“I guess even the Tang Clan couldn’t do anything about the glare?”
“Would that even be possible?
In the first place, instead of wasting resources on something so inefficient, they’d rather put something else in.”
Hye-ryung shielded her obsidian eyes and grumbled. Anne, having confirmed her safety, chimed in with a scolding.
Next to them, Antonio was helping Carla, who had been sent tumbling by the plasma explosion, to her feet, smoothing out her clothes.
“Carla!! Are you alright!!”
“Oppa…”
“No, what’s with all the blood…!!
It was this dangerous, you should have just forfeited…!!
My precious little sister going through such hardship…!!
I’m going to complain to the academy as soon as we get out of here!!”
The image of the composed gentleman was nowhere to be seen. He was completely focused on taking care of his sister. Watching him, Marie muttered something and clapped her hands together.
“Ah… Sterben… So they really were siblings…”
“Was he always like that?”
“I don’t know… Anyway… It seems like it’s over.”
Perhaps it was because the special evaluation had finally come to an end, but Dang Hye-ryung seemed to be in a pretty good mood as she asked the question. Anne, giving a perfunctory reply, looked around once more.
Only silence remained in the final gate.
It seemed that they were the only living beings left in this place.
“I agree. It seems it’s over.”
Someone approached Anne and spoke, after briefly gazing at the crater left by the explosion in the floor. Anne turned her head to look at her.
Her hair was a little disheveled, but she couldn’t hide her inherent nobility.
Anne bowed deeply towards Lucia, who was looking at her with indifferent eyes.
“Thank you, Senior.”
Lucia was the only one who had truly fought after entering the final gate.
Marie had been constantly interrupted by something unidentified, and Anne had to protect Marie.
And Antonio and Hye-ryung were also kept in check by those things, unable to provide proper combat or support.
In other words, the entire team had been carried by Lucia and the new face, Carla. She was expressing her gratitude for that.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help.”
“No.”
But Lucia simply shook her head, despite the words of gratitude.
Instead, she gestured with her chin towards Carla, who was walking over with Antonio, and slowly tried to sheathe the sword she was holding.
“It won’t go in. It must have swollen.”
The sword, which had clashed countless times with Arachnella, had swollen as if it had been hammered countless times, and wouldn’t fit into its scabbard. Lucia simply stuck it into the ground and turned to face Carla, who had now approached, bowing her head slightly.
“Excellent judgment. So that was the Alchemy Department’s secret weapon.”
“Ah… Well… I was saving it for later, actually…”
“Haha…!! In the sense that she’s a little expensive, that’s true.”
Carla was flustered by the sudden welcome and stammered. Antonio, finding his sister adorable, chuckled and made a joke.
“Carla, was it? Thanks to you, we were able to eliminate the target.
Anne. You perfectly protected Marie, the key firepower, and ensured her safety.
Arachnella couldn’t fight properly because she was wary of you.
Antonio, Hye-ryung, these two defended their positions and continued to provide rear support while I fought.”
“Ah…”
In fact, it seemed like Antonio and Hye-ryung hadn’t done anything, but Antonio had been constantly repairing the mechanical bird and using its functions for long-range cover, and Hye-ryung had been throwing needles coated with medicine from her sleeves without making it obvious.
In doing so, they were constantly interfering with Arachnella, assisting and strengthening Lucia, who was directly fighting, showing a skill that, in a way, even deceived their allies.
“For someone to shine, someone has to take on the role of not shining.
In that sense, this is a victory for all of us. So no one needs to hang their head.
You’re all interesting juniors. It’s a shame I have to graduate.”
Lucia showed a smile for the first time, taking out an artifact from her pocket.
“I hope we have a chance to work together again sometime.
If we’re in the same swordsmanship club, we’ll definitely see each other again.”
Lucia scattered bright fractals and disappeared from her spot.
Watching her, Hye-ryung, who was yawning slightly, also activated her artifact with a smile as if she found it interesting, and disappeared.
Watching them, Anne was about to activate her artifact as well, when…
“Oppa… My… My artifact… is broken…
More than that, we have to go back quickly…!! Yui… My friend is badly hurt…!!”
“That’s a major in the Magical Engineering Department… I can’t fix it either…”
“Ah…”
At that moment, a brief silence flowed through the chamber.
Feeling her sister gently touching her shoulder, Anne turned around and looked back at the gate she had entered through, letting out a small sigh.
“Anne… Should we… help out a little…?”
And so, unable to use the comfortable artifact, they ended up walking back the way they came, with Anne taking on the task of throwing herself at the remaining monsters.
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‘Did they leave…? They left, right…?’
Inside a deep pit with a blocked ceiling.
From the perspective of a Kernel Worm, an earthworm the size of a snake, feeling the vibrations as it looked up at the ceiling, I let out a sigh of relief, sensing that the situation in the final gate chamber had finally become completely quiet.
We had finally timed it perfectly to complete the pit needed for the plan.
The moment the explosion occurred, Arachnella threw herself into the pit, and our plan was thus successful.
‘They’re all gone…!! The plan succeeded!! We’re free now…!!’
But unlike me, who had no time to be happy right now, Arachnella didn’t seem to be responding.
In fact, perhaps because the attack from earlier had dealt a bit too much damage, her condition, huddled in the pit, didn’t seem very good.
‘Arachnella. Are you okay? Are you feeling really bad?’
“My head is ringing… Could you be a little… quieter…?”
‘Sorry. Can you endure it?
We can’t stay here like this…’
First of all, we literally couldn’t stay in this place, so I nodded towards the tunnels being dug by the Kernel Worms in front and started guiding her towards them.
“Just a little… Just a little more…
If I rest like this… Ugh…”
‘Hey…’
But right now, her condition didn’t seem very good.
In fact, worry was taking precedence over everything else.
The exoskeleton of her legs was melted by the fire, and her muscles were contracted by the high heat, making it difficult for her to move properly. Her upper body, no different from a woman’s naked body, was scorched red to the point where it felt grotesque.
Her appearance was no different from a patient with severe burns all over their body.
If she was left like this, it was clear that her life would be in danger before long.
This place was the academy.
That meant that everything from here to the surrounding area was human territory, and no sane human would be willing to treat her.
‘Arachnella… We’re free now, remember…?
Even if it’s hard, try to move a little…!’
Even if I took Arachnella out of the academy as she wanted, she would collapse from the aftereffects of the burns and die within a few days.
Growing impatient, I shook her with my tail, trying to get her to come to her senses.
But she remained unconscious, only breathing heavily with her eyes closed.
‘What to do… What to do… Ah…!!’
At that moment, what I thought of was my trump card.
I closed my eyes and began to concentrate, recalling the thing I had hoped to avoid using if possible.
‘It’ll be okay… It’ll be okay…’
Soon, the ground began to shake slightly, and the intensity gradually increased.
And at the very moment when the intensity of the earthquake reached its peak.
Something that popped out of the ground swallowed us in one bite, and then disappeared back into the ground.
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Inside a hygienic-looking, pristine white building.
A black-haired girl who woke up there was staring blankly at a brown-haired girl who was looking at her and calling out anxiously.
“Yui… Yui…!! Are you awake…?
Are you okay…? Huh…? Yui…”
“Carla… We passed…?”
‘You really did it.’
Carla, who had been on the verge of tears as she looked down at her, burst into tears of relief when she saw that she was awake.
Yui, looking up at Carla, saw the star-shaped badge signifying passage of the special evaluation on Carla’s chest, and gave a small, dumbfounded smile.
“Ugh… Ugh… I have one for Yui too…
Because our whole team passed…!!
You were bleeding so much earlier…
Hic… Are you okay…?”
“Hoo… Anyone would think… that blood was Carla’s…
More than that… Were we… helped…?
By someone…? I need to thank them…”
In response to Yui’s question, who was managing a weak smile, Carla, who had been busy crying until just now, stammered in confusion.
“Huh…? Uh-huh… Well…
I don’t really remember their face…
It was some student… Well…”
“Is that so…? If you remember later… tell me…”
A strange sensation vaguely remained in her fading memory.
Something sticky yet fluffy supporting her body.
And the subtle feeling of squishy yet firm flesh.
‘It seems like it’s been a long time since Carla lied…’
A kind child who always trembled with anxiety when she lied.
Perhaps it was because she received so much love, but her friend was so innocent.
She was definitely just lying still, but an unidentified, heteromorphic being was carrying her somewhere on its back.
‘Or… Maybe I’m just hallucinating because of anemia…’
“Woohoo… It’s okay now, so stop…
How are you going to manage being such a crybaby, Carla?
I’m in the medical department, so I know, but I’ll be fine if I rest for a few days…
If you keep crying like that, it’ll seem like I have a terminal illness…”
Yui reached out and patted Carla’s small back as she clung to her and cried sadly again after her reply.
‘But just in case… If my memory is correct…’
However, in her eyes, a hint of suspicion was cautiously raising its head towards Carla, who seemed to be hiding something.
That unknown something.
And Carla hiding it.
‘Is that… what you would call… a student…?’
Yui’s hand, hugging Carla tightly, was gently digging into her slender back.
