Chapter 351

It seems like the human body is both fragile and sturdy at the same time. Especially when it comes to endurance, it beats out other animals by a landslide.

So, there are times when one can hold out for three whole days and nights without sleep under extreme tension.

But three days is the limit; afterwards, sleepiness takes over, and you end up crashing.

There’s a famous story of a soldier who fell asleep despite the bombings raining down around him.

Anyway, if you can pull out your energy reserves, it’s amazing what you can endure. Especially when your survival depends on it.

“Haek… Haek… Haek…”

“Uh, are you okay? Your Highness.”

“Haek…”

And this applies to Diana, the princess who grew up like a tender flower in a greenhouse.

Normally, this would be the time for dreaming, but not now. The nightmare has come to life.

Her complexion was so pale it was almost ghostly from how much she had run, and she was sweating profusely.

Her breathing had intensified, and it looked like she might hyperventilate at any moment.

“Phew…”

Luckily, she calmed down somewhat after a bit, but the fear didn’t leave her. She remembered that horrifying scene just moments ago.

The bright red eyes that appeared between the split doors. Just thinking about it made the hair on her body stand on end.

‘Am I seriously supposed to hold out until morning? Really?’

Diana couldn’t believe this reality. She wanted to firmly believe it was all a prank set up to tease her.

However, Karas wouldn’t lie about something like this. That crazy wild man had truly unleashed chaos.

The professors must be sound asleep; no one was intervening at all. The situation was spiraling out of control.

‘Just until morning. Just until morning, I have to bear it…!’

She wasn’t even thinking about escaping the forest. She didn’t even know where the exit was.

Or maybe it would be a good idea to send a message out somehow. Diana was wracking her brain as much as she could.

-Flap!

“Huh?!”

“Wh-where is that coming from?!”

But her thoughts couldn’t last long. A bird—an owl or something—had suddenly taken flight high into the sky.

In such an extreme state of tension, every little sound became a source of fear. The forest was cloaked in darkness, not allowing her to see an inch ahead.

At least she had brought a lantern from the house where Karas had just been, or moving at all would have been nearly impossible.

“Ugh…”

“Huh. Huh. Huh.”

The two utterly terrified individuals couldn’t just keep standing around.

Diana checked her compass with a face on the verge of crying. The compass was showing the location of the students.

Lucky for them, there was a flicker of light not too far away. It meant people.

“That way…!”

“Y-yeah?”

“Go that way! Quickly! There are people!”

“Y-yes!”

Taking heed of Diana’s desperate shout, the male student stumbled forward hesitantly. Diana cautiously followed behind him.

But a problem arose. The male student, locked in fear, was moving as slow as a tortoise.

Diana could feel how painfully slow his pace was even from behind, and she couldn’t help but voice her frustration.

“Can’t you go any faster?! What are you, a turtle?”

“I’m moving as fast as I can!”

Not even close. In reality, he was on the verge of collapsing under sheer fear, barely managing to walk.

Diana couldn’t hide her irritation. With him being a man and all, what good was this cowardice?

If he had shown even a little courage, he might have garnered some sympathy, but he hadn’t done that.

‘I need to get out of here quickly…!’

In fact, Diana had a method to escape this situation more easily. She could tear off her bracelet.

If she were to do that, she would be eliminated but would gain the protection of the shield. However, that would mean she couldn’t find Sivar.

But crushed by fear, her ‘Wilderness Instinct’ took the lead, and she couldn’t think that far.

“U-uh, how much further do we have to go…?”

“Just a little bit more. From here…”

-Aaaaaaaaaah!!!

Suddenly, a scream echoed throughout the entire forest. A scream filled with agony.

At that cry, the two froze, unsure of who would move first. The sound was alarming, but the location was far too close.

-It hurts! It hurts!! Aaaaaaaaaah!!

Close. Too close.

And just like that, they turned and ran. They had to escape this insane place.

-Swish!

“Ahhhhhhh!!!”

“Eek?!”

But their escape didn’t last long. The male student who had pulled away from Diana suddenly shot upward.

-Thud!

And that wasn’t all. On his way up, he must have bumped into something, as a thud echoed along with his cries.

With that, the lantern he had been holding dropped with a thud right beside Diana.

“Ah… Ahhh…”

Diana’s legs went completely weak, and she slumped to the ground. The look of terror was clear on her face.

What was she supposed to do now? Her mind went blank, and no thoughts came to her.

She was truly left all alone. With shaking eyes, she gazed at the compass.

There was only one source of light. Just a moment ago, there had been three, and now it had dwindled to one.

In other words, that scheming bastard had set a trap.

‘What… what do I do…’

-Rustle

As she stood paralyzed in panic unable to move, she heard rustling sounds coming from behind her.

Diana’s body shuddered, and she turned her head slowly, praying she hadn’t seen what she thought she had.

But the heavens were cruel. Emerging from the bushes was the very embodiment of her worst nightmare.

Glowing ominously in the darkness were those red eyes. And they were staring straight at her.

“Ahhhhh!!!”

Her instinct for survival kicked in, and Diana summoned every last bit of strength to flee.

The night of nightmares was far from over.

*****

No matter how seriously I take joking around and messing around, there are times when lines should not be crossed.

In strict terms, there are times when one needs to read the room. If you constantly joke around, who would want to play along?

In that sense, while focusing on the core goal of playing tag, I revert back to my original self when it’s clearly not right.

“Ugh…”

“Are you okay?”

“No… I’m in so much pain…”

For instance, when someone gets hurt. They’re not out yet, but it’s tough for them to move.

The girl in front of me right now had badly injured her ankle and couldn’t move at all. If it weren’t for the locator, she could’ve been in real danger.

I snapped out of my Jason persona and removed the mask. I then checked the state of the girl’s ankle.

‘That bone is broken.’

Looking at how severely her ankle was swollen, it definitely wasn’t just a sprain but a fracture. First aid was urgent.

Luckily, I had first aid supplies on me. The professor had given them to the assistants just in case.

“What happened?”

“I tripped over a trap I set by mistake…”

“You made it?”

“No, um… it was made by Princess Frozen.”

“Ah, I see.”

Reina is quite skilled with her hands. Especially with all the bear-related animals in Frozen, she tends to use bear traps really well.

This student was probably one of those gathered around the campfire. The time when I schooled Leo personally.

By the way, I completely ignored those traps and broke through them. Since we’re at it, might as well remove the other traps too.

“First, let’s do first aid. We’ll deal with the bracelet later.”

“Thank you.”

Looks like this one’s got manners. She nodded in acknowledgment, expressing her gratitude.

First, I needed to set the dislocated bone and stabilize her ankle. Aligning a dislocated bone is something trained professionals do.

However, during my time in the Chaos Forest, I had plenty of practice after breaking my bones many times. First, I grabbed a splint nearby.

“This will hurt. A lot.”

“I can take it.”

“Oh really?”

Well, then, trusting her, I moved to adjust the dislocated bone…

“Aaaaaah!!!”

“…”

“It hurts! It hurts!! Aaaaaah!!!”

‘How can someone endure this much? What a drama queen.’ I was so busy dealing with the panicking student.

Honestly, I just wanted to knock her out, but I held back.

“Geez.”

-Whack!

But she was making such a ruckus, which was unacceptable. So I slapped her lightly to knock her out.

At the same moment, the bracelet’s magic activated, and a shield began to envelop her. The first aid was finished in the meantime.

“Ahhhhhhh!!!”

“Eek?!”

“Huh?”

Suddenly, a scream came from behind me. Now that I think about it, didn’t they say there were many traps around?

I cautiously approached to see if someone fell into one of those traps. By the way, I wasn’t even wearing my mask.

“Ahhhhh!!!”

As soon as I showed my face, the girl, presumed to be Diana, screamed and took off running.

I hadn’t even done anything yet.

“What the…?”

What could have happened that made her scream and run just from looking at my face?

Whatever the case, it seemed it was time to get back to my ‘real job’. I slid on my mask and continued onwards.

‘By the way, where on earth is Kara?’

I just couldn’t find her. She was not the type to go down easily, and it made me all the more curious.

Could it be that she got caught in a trap and passed out? If not in the morning, then in the night, it was definitely a possibility.

‘I need to find Reina first…’

I checked my compass. And I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow in confusion.

Even that Diana, who had fled for her life just a while ago, was now starting to glow again.

‘What’s going on?’

When that signal got close to me, I turned to face it.

Could it really be Diana again? That would be hysterical.

-Rustle!

“Choke! Huh…?”

“…”

“Ahhhhhh!!!”

And there she was again, running for her life. I just stood still.

I was beginning to think this was a ridiculous situation.

Looking back at my compass, I saw her…

‘What is she doing?’

She was running in circles. This wasn’t just a lack of direction; she had lost all sense of her bearings.

And that was understandable; in a panic state and with it being dark, figuring out direction was nearly impossible.

“W-why?! I-I swear…!”

“…”

“Ughhhh! Ughhhhhh!!”

Now she was crying as she ran. I honestly felt bad for her.

‘…Perhaps I should make way for her to escape.’

It was becoming clear just how pitiful this was.

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