Raven stared at his fellow students hunting down the corrupted creatures rushing at them as he stood behind the group.
By now, many had gotten used to fighting the beasts alone. The only thing left was to complete their assigned task of killing three corrupted monsters individually.
'I don't want the plot to change,' he thought, tapping his feet on the ground. 'But I know it will change.'
With all the changes he had made by helping everyone stay safe during the test, there was no way it wouldn't cause a butterfly effect.
Yet, he wished nothing had changed because only when the plot remained the same would his planning for the future work.
But he also knew that it wasn't possible.
'I guess I should man up and stay by my choices.'
It was his choice that he should fuck the plot and save the children.
After all, in this test, most of the sixty participants were supposed to die, leaving fewer than ten survivors.
Raven didn't want to see that happening—not when he could save them.
However, he also knew that the central part of the test plot was still pending.
The plot that killed most of the children trying this test hadn't even started yet.
Raven didn't know.
No one knew.
But the plot had already started.
The moment that wolf-type corrupted beast came in contact with the leopard-type one, the plot had been set in motion.
Since then, without the children noticing, several creatures had been following and observing them.
Of course, the instructors had noticed. They had also noticed that those beasts weren't something the children could face, but before they could intervene, they were stopped.
The one who stopped them was Damien. He asked them to wait.
He wanted to see how children would react when they realized the situation.
Would they cower in fear? Would they give up? Or would they try to fight?
He wanted to know what they would do, what Raven, their leader, would do.
............................
The Ashen Expanse had settled into a rhythm—a deadly, smoky, exhausting rhythm, but a rhythm nonetheless.
From the rocky rise above the battlefield, Raven watched the students below work together, sweat and grit etched into every step.
Corrupted beasts lay in twitching heaps, and for once, no one was screaming or bleeding too dramatically.
Somewhere in the chaos, a student even laughed. Once.
'Progress,' Raven thought.
"They're not completely terrible," Clara remarked, arms crossed beside him. Her black hair was tied back in a rough knot, and her golden eyes matched his as they scanned the field. "I give them a solid 'barely acceptable.' Maybe a 'needs improvement' with a chance of not dying instantly."
"For you, that's high praise," Raven replied.
Clara sniffed. "I'm generous."
Below, Alex came lumbering up the incline like a half-dazed bear. "You see that last one? That scrawny kid from Team Twelve straight-up headbutted a beast. Like boom! I thought he was gonna die, but nope. Beast went down like a sack of potatoes."
"He only survived because he screamed and bit its nose," Clara muttered. "I watched it. It was disturbing."
"Still worked," Alex grinned proudly as if he'd done it himself.
Jake appeared silently behind them, his dull gray eyes scanning the group and then the battlefield before he handed Alex a waterskin without a word.
Alex blinked. "Aw, thanks man—wait, where'd you even come from?"
Jake gave a faint shrug.
"He does that," Raven said, not looking back. "We haven't been attacked by those creatures while resting because of him."
Yes, Jake, who was a striker yet behaved like an assassin, had been cleaning up the creatures that tried to sneak up on Raven, Alex, and Clara.
Of course, the other three weren't slacking. They had already completed their missions; they were racking up extra kills.
"I am very helpful," Jake said, his first words in what had probably been hours.
"Creepy helpful," Clara added. "Like a polite ghost."
Her words were venomous, like always, but no one took her words to heart.
Then Raven's gaze caught on the western ridge—and every thought in his head immediately died.
Something moved through the ash.
Tall. Wrong. Hungry.
Then nine more followed it.
Behind them, a bigger one emerged. Its pace was fluid, its breath steaming, its eyes glowing faintly crimson as it surveyed the world as it owned it.
'Wait—What the fuck?! Why is THAT here?!'
Raven knew what it was. And it wasn't supposed to be here.
His mouth went dry. Internally, he flailed like a squirrel in a thunderstorm.
'Fuck! This is what I get for saving people and doing good?!'
For the first time after his reincarnation, Raven was witnessing a change in the plot that was disadvantageous for him.
In the plot, only one of the minions around the beast was supposed to attack the children, killing most of them.
Yes, one of these beasts was responsible for the first tragedy in the plot.
Raven had wanted to turn that tragedy into a boon by killing that beast.
After all, it was possible to kill a four-star beast when you had sixty Plate-three magic swordsmen—especially when they were the Vaise family's magic swordsmen.
But now? Was it possible to survive? Should he give up?
'Wait—!' His gaze snapped at the instructors. 'They should've noticed it as well, right?!'
He was sure they had—
Raven's thoughts, however, froze when he saw the instructors staring at the students instead of the beasts, their expressions hard.
'...fuck.' He realized. 'They still want to test our limits...'
He glanced at Damien, only to see the guy smirking, as if curious to see how he would react.
'Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!'
The situation had just turned worse—Raven could tell.
Slowly, more people noticed the silhouette of the creatures.
Alex, the first to speak, squinted his eyes. "Uh, Raven? That one's got four legs, but it's walking on two. That normal?"
"No."
Jake leaned in. "I think the big one just made eye contact with you."
"Great," Raven muttered. "Can't wait to be emotionally bonded with the thing that'll eat us."
Clara squinted. "Are those real corrupted beasts?"
That was the main question.
There was a big difference between the real corrupted beasts and the ones they had been fighting until now.
A single scratch from the real corrupted beasts could poison them, slowly making them lose their strength. Those beasts had corrupted bloodlines.
"Yes," Alex replied.
"Four-star?"
"Yes," again.
"And there are ten?"
"Yes," and again.
"And a boss?"
"Yes," and again.
"...Fuck."
"Don't curse; we'll lose marks," Jake reminded, making everyone turn to him, wanting to know if he had time to think about marks right now.
They were about to face a fucking boss monster instead of the single mob they were supposed to, and yet he was telling her not to curse.
Alex, after thinking about it for a while, cracked his knuckles. "I can probably wrestle one. Maybe two, if they don't move. Or breathe."
"No wrestling," Raven said quickly. "You'll die."
"Aw."
Clara turned toward the students. "They're still tired. Can they even fight that many?"
"They'll have to," Raven replied, inhaling deeply. 'Okay, panic now, cry later.'
His face stayed calm, but his brain was doing somersaults. 'You're the leader, Raven. The cool one. The planner. If you try to give up before even trying, then the image you've built until now will all be for nothing.'
He was sure that was the case.
The teachers didn't interfere because they wanted to see how he'd respond to a crisis.
Of course, they'd still save them, but the thing Raven needed to do was show them that he wasn't giving up without a fight.
He had to show them something. Anything.
He could give up right after the fight started, but they surely didn't want to see that.
They wanted to see them kill at least some of the minions.
No one would hope for them to defeat the boss.
Even a four-star beast was too much for the students since it could activate a tainted territorial attack where its surroundings make it hard for normal beings to even get enough fresh air.
If a four-star beast were to capture a human and keep them trapped close to it, they would die automatically from breath poisoning.
Not to mention the five stars, who could awaken their dormant ancestral powers.
'Don't scream. Definitely don't scream like Alex that one time a bee landed on him—' Raven tried to control his nerves before he stepped forward.
"Alright!" He barked, his voice cracking for half a second before he cleared his throat and pretended it didn't. "Listen up!"
Students jerked to attention. The sky seemed to darken with the approach of the real corrupted. Their low snarls rumbled through the Expanse.
Raven pointed. "We've got incoming. Ten real, corrupted beasts. Possibly a five-star leading them."
Silence.
Alex leaned toward Clara and whispered, "Is this the part where we all die?"
"Not yet," she said. "Save the drama for later."
"Squad leaders!" Raven called. "Form rotating defense circles. No one fights alone. Always have your mana physical boost on."
Pausing, he stared at a few students who didn't seem to think of this as a real challenge—the overconfident ones. "If any of you try to be a solo hero, I will personally knock you out and use you as bait. Remember that."
Some chuckles followed. Nervous, but real. The ones who met Raven's gaze when he said that, however, shivered, reminded of his personality.
Raven's expression steeled as he nodded inwardly. "We do this together. We rotate. We protect each other. And when it's over—we live."
Jake nodded and vanished into the forming squads, directing with subtle gestures. Clara cracked her neck and moved to the right flank. Alex stood by Raven's side, arms flexed, muttering "Beast barbecue" under his breath like a personal mantra.
It was his kind of motivation, maybe.
Then, the first shriek ripped through the Expanse like a war horn.
Raven exhaled. "Here they come."