Chapter 28: Something is wrong
In the command room,
"Calm down, calm down," Ash mumbled to himself, wrapping his arms around his head in despair. "I can't calm down. We're doomed. We're all going to fail the exam."
"What do we have? Cannonballs, mana cannons, and medical supplies?" The students were all frightened.
"Everything is lacking. The morale is also low," Kevin commented. Unlike the others, he wasn't bothered by the idea of failing, but he still felt anxious.
'Everyone is acting like frightened babies, making me anxious as well. But that army indeed looks scary as hell. Why do they make this so realistic?' Kevin clicked his tongue inwardly, trying to ignore his slightly trembling arm.
"In this situation, we are completely surrounded. The skeletons' fighting power is comparable to D rank," Steve analyzed out loud.
"Most of the students are E+, and the strongest among us here is only D."
"Leaving or trying to run away is itself an act of suicide."
Dozens of methods were suggested one after another, but none were plausible or made any sense.
A girl mumbled, "Black mana."
"Huh?" Ash, who was silently despairing, made a dumb sound.
"The anti-royals," the girl's voice grew louder as she exclaimed.
"Huh?"
"I remember this from the history book," she turned to Ash, her eyes twinkling.
She jumped up and down, gaining everyone's attention. "It's the era of the pre-destroyer in the western continent. I remember this."
She looked up and pointed at the duchy's symbol, which was a lion holding a spear and a shield.
"It's the Duchy of Angus, the uncle of the great emperor of the Angustan Empire. Only a few years before the meteorite 'Destroyer' hit, this must be it."
"Huh?" Ash asked dumbly.
People looked at her in confusion, but some started to get the idea. So, this exam is based on a real event in history.
She enthusiastically said, "We are on the western continent before its destruction."
People shrugged, not caring to appreciate how the Western empire looked before it was destroyed. After all, most of them have seen it or experienced it through virtual reality games and simulations.
"I remember this; necromancy is a key figure of the anti-royal army. They fought alongside the commoners who were against the nobility."
Everybody nodded, indicating that they understood.
"What about black mana? I never heard of it."
She cleared her throat and explained, "Black mana is a forbidden lost spell in which the dead soul is trapped within their bodies, transforming the pure mana in their hearts into corrupt dead mana."
"So, what do we do now? What happened at this point in history? Did they survive?"
Catharina said embarrassedly and stepped back, "They were annihilated."
"So, what do we have that is not lacking?" They returned to their discussion, unfazed by the sudden unnecessary history lesson.
Steve said, his light blue eyes staring at Damion, "I have checked the arsenal, and there are only some scrap metal swords and spears. No more arrows, cannonballs have run out.
"There are only three mana cannons that are still capable of condensing and firing magical energy."
"Medical supplies are all mobilized by the medical team of this castle. The morale inside the castle is extremely low and it's not helping."
-Bam
"That NPC lied to us. He said we are surrounded, he lied." A guy slamed open the door as entered the room panting and exclaimed in anger, "There were only skeleton soldiers in front of us.
There is no danger from any other direction. If we run away toward the forest, we can survive until dawn."
"They are going to follow us, turning our back on the enemy is not a wise decision," Steve said looking at him as if he was stupid.
"That's why we need to abandon them quickly and leave the castle; run away and hide."
"What about the people in here? It's a part of the examination to save them," Lisa hesitated weakly, seeing that everyone's morale was low.
"Wake up, Lisa. They aren't real."
"Achoo." Ash sneezed; he suddenly felt cold.
"What if they were real people? Would you have abandoned the people you have to protect? How can you call yourself a hero?" Meanwhile, Lisa tried to reason.
"But... Here we are all powerless."
"Still..."
"What do you think a group of untrained 16-year-olds can do against thousands of soldiers?"
"We need to run away."
"This is just an exam, and the professor said that we only need to survive."
Damion closed his eyes as the rest continued to argue.
"..." Astin's lazy smile disappeared, replaced by a hint of amusement.
"We can't leave; we have to fight."
"It's none of our business if you want to stay here and die."
"I'm leaving too."
Jacob wrapped his magician rope around himself, hugging his body tightly.
"Let's separate!" Someone suddenly said.
"If you want to stay here and fail the exam, you can all do whatever you want."
Some already wanted to walk out; an irrational decision driven by fear.
"..." Ryan felt it too, danger, a dangerous existence was getting close.
'A blood-curling feeling, spine-chilling killing intent.'
"I'm sure the professor said we all need to work together to pass the exam safely," Astin commented casually.
"There must be a way out, that's right," Lisa said, blocking the way of whoever wanted to leave.
"Let's all think of something; sixty brains are better than one. We all need to work together; there is no way they'll give us an unbeatable exam. Look at the bright side. It's fortunate for us that the bigger ones wouldn't attack us even if the army moved." Ash, Class A3's representative, tried to raise everyone's morale, even though he felt even more scared by the second for some reason.
"We need to think of a way out; the possibilities might be slim, but there is a chance of success, nonetheless."
"That's right. If we make a mistake, we'll all be annihilated. Isn't it better to survive together rather than dying alone?"
"Better not to separate; it's such an obvious thing to do." All students nodded; rationality started to kick in the minds of these scared little lambs.
Those who wanted to leave hesitated but stayed. Scared they may be, they weren't stupid.
"It's now time for us to think about how to survive against those damned skeletons."
Everyone started to think, and a plan started to form.
However, all the plans a group of inexperienced and clumsy teenagers had, were crude and unsuitable.
"That's good."
"I'm very smart."
Elsa also boomed, "If we can't think of a proper plan, let's all do it recklessly. If you can't think of a way, just do the best of what you can do."
"That was a cool thing to say." Kevin and Steve said in unison.
Elsa grabbed her reddened cheeks, regretting with every cell of her body what she said.
Still, everyone got busy doing something to distract themselves, each doing what they excelled at.
Earth and wind ability users were working together, busy repairing walls; support mages were pumping their mana crazily into the cannons.
Some grabbed swords from the arsenal and waved them around.
Some just rested.
"Can you ensure no one dies?" Damion approached Astin and whispered in a low voice enough for both of them to hear.
Astin looked at him questioningly.
Damion said, "I have a bad feeling about this."
"I can't do that. If they're so useless they need me to save them, no need for them to live," Astin shook his head, his eyes smiling, "but I can at least save some if anything; otherwise, it would be too boring."
Ba Dum –
'This isn't real.'
Ba Dum--
'It's not like we're going to die.'
Ba Dum--
Everyone's hearts were racing with each passing second.
'One day we have to fight against villains like this one.'
Meanwhile,
Ryan was sweating profusely, 'I'm sure I said only 2000 and a 20 minute exam. How did that become an 8500 and a 5-hour exam?'
Looking down at his hand, the mark of brainwashing was still there. Could it be that the seer found a way to fool him, or is it simply an error in the system?
'Something is wrong…' Ryan thought, his mind racing, trying to come up with a reason behind the current situation.
"Ryan?"
"Aha..." turning around, the one who grabbed his shoulder was Eddie.
"Are you still afraid?" Eddie scratched his fiery red hair and wiped his sweaty hand on his clothes. "I'm terrified."
Ryan nodded, his face showing no trace of nervousness. "I- It's alright."
"Don't be. Although it looks scary, nothing bad is going to happen. It's not like we're all going to die. The worst is that you're going to fail and get sent disgracefully back home," Kevin said, all relaxed. He blinked a hint of carelessness in his dark blue eyes and shrugged his shoulders playfully.
"Still, all of us who have fighting abilities have to go down and fight the skeletons head-on," Eddie said.
"Haaah, whatever. It's just an exam."
Half an hour later,
"How much time is left?" Damion asked the NPC soldier.
"Ten minutes."
"Why did you lie to us?"
"..." Silence followed his question. No one expected Damion to ask directly.
"..." The NPC soldier remained silent for a long time. "I'm sorry. I was afraid you would abandon us."
"Liar." Damion pointed his hand in the direction behind the castle. "What is in there?"
Damion asked slowly, "In that forest?"
"&~#|^@." The soldier answered, "It's a sacred object that symbolizes the Dukedom."
Damion blinked, his face unchanged even though he couldn't understand what he said. "You want us to protect that thing, not the people."
The soldier didn't answer.
"Who are you..."
Vroom
The loud sound of a horn echoed in the silent space.
8,495 skeletons started to move in unison.
"900 meters..."
"CANNONS ARE READY."
BA DUMM
"500 meters."
"EVERYTHING IS READY."
Ptsss…!
The mana poured out of the cannon's core, jumping like an electric current through the cannon's barrel.
Jacob's finger trembled hard, sweating nervously. He muttered to himself, "Get your act together, Jacob. This isn't real."
"100 meters."
"FIRE"
A loud shout echoed through the battleground.
BOOOMM----!!!!
***
[ERROR]
"Kyaa..."
"Do something."
"What is even happening?"
[ERROR]
"What are we going to do?"
[THE PASSWORD IS INCORRECT]
"Have you contacted the seer?"
Beep beep—
"The headmaster is on his way."
Beep---
[YOUR COMMAND IS INVALID.]
[PLEASE ENTER THE CORRECT PASSWORD.]
[ERROR]
[YOUR COMMAND IS INVALID.]
[PLEASE ENTER THE CORRECT PASSWORD.]
[WRONG PASSWORD… WRONG PASSWORD…]
[MANUAL CONTROL WILL BE DISABLED.]
[IN 3...2...1...]
Pooof--
The engineering professor panicked. In her 40 years of working on all kinds of projects, such an error had never happened in her creations. No matter how hard she tried, the capsules of virtual reality did not respond to her at all.
Professors Lucas and Ania were looking at her in despair. "What's going to happen now? What about the students?"
The professor's voice trembled with rage as she closed the entire department with a click of a button. She screamed, "WHO IS IT? WHO RUINED MY BABIES."