SWNOVELXO Chapter 98 - A Small Snowball (2)
Chapter 98. A Small Snowball (2)
A large number of people were wandering through the forest.
However, something was strange about them.
Dark circles under their eyes.
Chapped lips and bloodshot eyes.
Their movements were limp and sluggish.
Some even drooled incessantly.
A group that looked like a horde of zombies.
Such individuals were spotted throughout the animal forest.
“Huff, huff—.”
“Grkk, grk, grkk…”
Making strange noises, indistinguishable from either human or beast, they kept moving without pause.
Their constant scanning of the surroundings made them seem as if they were searching for raw meat dripping with blood.
It was then.
Rustle—
Their extremely sensitive senses caught something.
The eyes of those gathered together turned sharply in unison.
And unfortunately, the rabbit girl had misstepped right into the midst of the zombie horde.
“Eek?!”
She flinched and stepped back when she saw the numerous bloodshot eyes fixed on her.
But could the zombie horde simply let go of the target they had been searching for all this time?
“A… A rabbit!”
“Get it! Catch it!”
“It’s mine… it’s mine!”
“Move aside!”
The zombie horde, having lost their sanity, rushed toward the rabbit girl.
Overwhelmed by their fierce momentum, she stumbled back, only to trip over a branch and fall.
“D-Don’t come near!”
She appeared so fragile and delicate.
But that only excited the zombie horde even more, and they charged at her, drooling.
“Rabbit! Rabbit! Rabbit!”
“Rabbit! Rabbit! Rabbit!”
“Rabbit! Rabbit! Rabbit!”
Just as the zombie horde was about to overwhelm the rabbit girl—
Beeeep— Beeeep!
A sharp whistle sound rang through the animal forest.
It was a signal of some sort.
Upon hearing it, the zombie horde’s movements halted as if by magic.
Instead, they began to tear at their own hair with the hands that were about to grab the rabbit.
“No, no!”
“This can’t be happening!”
“Please… just give us a little more time!”
As they raved, the rabbit girl let out a sigh of relief.
She slowly got up, brushed off her bottom, and carried out her final task toward the zombie horde—or rather, the 50th-year cadets—who were still pulling at their hair.
“As of this moment, the quest is over. The 50th-year cadets are to submit the hides collected at the entrance of the animal forest.”
With those words, the rabbit girl disappeared like an arrow.
As if avoiding something filthy.
The 50th-year cadets’ wails grew louder.
“Dammit! This isn’t even enough to cover the labor cost!”
“Just a little more… Please give us a bit more time!”
But time was cruel to them.
And so, at 10:16 a.m. on January 29th, the first integrated quest for the 50th-year cadets—collecting hides—finally came to an end after ten days.
Gulp, gulp—
Water from a canteen flowed refreshingly down her throat.
Her throat bobbed repeatedly, then finally stopped.
“Paha!”
Pana Taylor exhaled the breath she had been holding back.
She wiped away the droplets of water that had trickled down her lips, and her shoulders sagged.
Having quenched the thirst she had been enduring, a deep sense of exhaustion washed over her.
“Hah… I can finally breathe.”
Shortly after she said that, Pana began to blink sleepily.
Right then.
“Are you falling asleep during training? Get up immediately, now!”
At the voice that came from nearby, Pana shot up.
She assumed an upright stance and shouted in a tense voice.
“Y-Yes, sir!”
Even with her half-asleep face, she reflexively responded in that way.
As she gradually woke up, she realized something was odd.
‘Huh? Wait… this isn’t the training camp, is it?’
As she blinked, someone next to her snickered.
“Scared you? Hehe.”
“You…”
There, squatting beside her, was Nellie Blanc, whom she had become friends with at the Cradle.
Seeing Nellie smiling, Pana patted her chest.
Then, she glared at Nellie.
“You almost gave me a heart attack!”
“You scaredy-cat.”
“It’s weirder not to be scared! Look!”
Pana pointed around with her finger as she spoke.
Nellie Blanc turned her head following Pana’s finger.
She flinched and trembled slightly.
Crackle—
Angry and irritated gazes were pouring in from all directions.
Just like Pana, they had all shot up from their spots, clutching their chests.
It seemed like a major issue would arise if she didn’t apologize, so Nellie slightly bowed her head toward them in a gesture of apology.
Then, she whispered softly into Pana’s ear.
“…Looks like many of them have been dragged to the hell training camp a lot?”
“How many times did you get dragged there?”
“Three times.”
“Well, three times is enough to make jokes like that. But I… it was six times.”
A flash of pain passed through Pana’s eyes.
Nellie, at a loss for words, just patted her friend’s shoulder.
Then, Nellie asked Pana in a small voice.
“Pana, by any chance… have you felt that the quests have become a bit easier lately?”
“What do you mean?”
“Um, like… doesn’t it feel like there have been fewer attacks since some time ago? I think it started around the 7th day.”
After pondering for a moment, Pana nodded her head.
“Now that you mention it…”
Pana, who had been dragged to the hell training camp six times, managed to end her training at six only because things had oddly become much easier to escape from starting from the 7th day.
At first, she thought it was because she had adapted and become more relaxed, but after hearing Nellie’s words, she realized there had indeed been fewer attacks since the 7th day.
“You’re right. It does seem like the attacks decreased around then.”
“Did you see any bears after the 7th day?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Just as I thought, right?”
Nellie’s face stiffened slightly, as if she had some suspicion about something.
Pana tilted her head in curiosity.
“Why? Is something wrong?”
“No, it’s all over anyway, and we’ll find out soon enough.”
“…?”
“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it. So, did you collect a lot of hides?”
It was obvious she was trying to change the subject.
Pana decided to let it slide.
“Well, sort of. They’re all rabbit hides, though. What about you?”
“I got some rabbit hides, a few deer hides, and three wolf hides.”
“What… you even got wolf hides?”
Pana’s eyes widened in surprise.
Nellie shrugged in response.
“Only three, and I didn’t catch them by myself.”
Nellie glanced to one side.
There were two boys standing there.
One boy was dressed impeccably, as if he had come from somewhere else entirely.
The other boy had a somewhat rough and rebellious aura.
Pana, following Nellie’s gaze, blinked as she looked at them.
“Gunter Irons and Ivan Baskin? Did you move with those guys?”
“It just happened that we got out of the training camp at the same time.”
“Well, with the three of you, catching a wolf wouldn’t have been that hard.”
In terms of contribution, most of the effort came from Gunter, but Nellie didn’t feel the need to mention that.
At that moment, Pana reversed the question.
“Oh, right! Who do you think will be in first place?”
The first place winner would receive an additional 100% of their accumulated points.
Second place would get 50%, and third place 30%, but the prize for first place was so overwhelming that everyone’s attention was naturally focused on it.
At Pana’s question, Nellie glanced around.
Gunter Irons.
Ivan Baskin.
Clarice Van.
Eric Redman.
And even a huge bald man and a blue-haired girl sitting on one side.
All were formidable competitors with impressive skills.
But Nellie thought there was only one person who could take first place.
“Of course, it would be that guy… huh?”
Looking through the crowd for the black-haired one, Nellie finally realized that the “black-haired guy” was nowhere to be seen.
There were a few black-haired people scattered around, but none of them had the same long, flowing black hair as that guy.
Nellie blinked in confusion.
“…He’s not here? That guy? That can’t be.”
Nellie’s reaction showed she couldn’t believe it.
She wasn’t the only one reacting this way.
Others, including Gunter, were also scanning around for the “black-haired guy,” just like Nellie.
But no matter how hard they looked, he was nowhere to be seen, and they were all becoming increasingly bewildered.
“He’s really not here?”
The implication was simple.
“Did that guy… get eliminated?”
In this quest, an “eliminated” person was someone who had voluntarily left the forest.
Most of the eliminated were those who couldn’t withstand the nightly beast attacks and the hellish training and ended up fleeing.
But the “black-haired guy.”
The one who always pushed forward at the front, even during the terrifying Hundred Steps Ceremony.
Did he drop out just because of this?
It was hard to believe.
“No way… no way…”
As Nellie was denying it to herself—
“Fall in!”
A booming voice turned the heads of the 50th-year cadets.
Seeing the suddenly appearing Black Sword Corps, the cadets scattered around quickly started to move.
Step, step, step—
In an instant, they lined up and stood at ease.
Seeing the well-disciplined 50th-year cadets, the bespectacled man leading the Black Sword Corps gave a slight smile.
“Now, they finally look the part.”
This was an unimaginable sight for the 50th-year cadets just ten days ago.
However, the hellish training, which was almost like torture, and the marching drills had completely transformed the 50th-year cadets.
If Yuri had seen this, he would have said—
[“Wow, they really got rid of all their attitude in just ten days.”]
…he would have said.
Of course, Yuri wasn’t there to say it.
Meanwhile, the bespectacled man shouted as he looked at the 50th-year cadets standing completely still.
“All the tallies are finished. I will now announce the ranks from third to first place.”
He lifted a folder containing the point tally.
Several cadets’ eyes sparkled.
‘I might not be first, but could I at least make it to third place?’
‘Maybe I made it into the top ranks…’
Those who were confident about their performance in this quest.
They all held onto their hopes.
In a tense moment, the third place was announced.
“Third place, Clarice Van, 87 rabbit hides, 23 deer hides, and 5 wolf hides. Total points: 452,000.”
As the rank and the number of hides were mentioned, the hopes of those who had collected fewer hides were instantly dashed.
Before the cadets could even express their disappointment, the second place was announced.
“Second place, Gunter Irons. 231 rabbit hides, 42 deer hides, and 11 wolf hides. Total points: 991,000.”
Even with the announcement of the second place, the names of Arin and Poppy, who had earned at least 1.5 million points, were not mentioned.
If anyone had noticed that, they would have found it puzzling.
But those who knew nothing were merely astonished by the 991,000 points gathered by the second place.
Especially for those who had only managed to catch a few rabbits in this quest, hundreds of thousands of points seemed like a different world altogether.
“991,000 points?”
“Hah… I would have been happy with just 100,000 points.”
Envious gazes from the other cadets were directed at Gunter.
Now, only the first place announcement remained.
People began to speculate.
With the second place having 991,000 points, would the first place be around 1 to 1.5 million points?
Or, since the points doubled from third to second, could first place be around twice the second place, maybe 2 million points?
As people were roughly guessing the first place points, the name of the first place winner was finally announced.
“First place, Bobikrutankapurtabi.”
The unique and bizarre name immediately caught everyone’s attention.
Then, the bespectacled man turned a page in the folder he was holding and spoke.
“Hmm… there’s quite a bit, so listen carefully.”