The forest air carried the scent of grass mixed with something foul, though it was hard to pinpoint exactly...

“Hyung, you farted!”

“What are you talking about? Stop blaming an innocent person! When did I—”

“Don’t play dumb. The smell came from your direction.”

“Wow, this is killing me. I really did it? Must’ve been the ham!”

Yeonwoo pointed at Taeeon, who was sitting right next to her. Falsely accused, Taeeon waved his hands and strongly denied it.

“It wasn’t me.”

“Look at that denial—don’t you know that a strong denial is really a strong admission?”

“I really didn’t! Could it be...?”

Suspicion passed to the next person, Seo Hyunwoo. He too sat quietly, wrongly accused, but he flatly denied it, crossing his arms into an X.

“If it wasn’t any of us, who then? Whoever it is, just don’t fart, okay?”

If it happened once more, they threatened, they’d go hunt bears on their own.

From afar came a strange sound:

“...?”

It seemed to come from the direction of the bear zone. Had he misheard?

Roy scratched his ear as he walked forward.

“Hey, where are you going? You said we wouldn’t go to the bears.”

“Wait—”

“No way! I’m not going!”

Yeonwoo grabbed her waist to stop him, but Roy was just a bit stronger—he was S-class, after all. Dragging Yeonwoo by the waist, Roy tilted his head to listen.

Thud! Boom! He thought he heard something breaking...?

“A fight?”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about. Sounds like a rest spot to me.”

Finally releasing Yeonwoo’s waist, she sank to the ground and stretched.

“Ah—let’s rest a bit. I’m really exhausted.”

The others seemed to agree and relaxed one by one. A fight nearby meant another team was close—and that meant one of them would be eliminated soon. So for them it was just lying down and eating rice cakes! Roy agreed, but he felt oddly unsettled.

“Hyung, didn’t you hear something?”

There was someone else on the team with sharp senses: Seo Hyunwoo, already resting before Yeonwoo.

“Ugh! Didn’t you hear that? Really didn’t?”

“No.”

Had he really misheard? Just as Roy tilted his head and was about to return to his spot—

“Ugh! Smell!”

Roy pinched his nose and whipped around. This time, he was determined to catch the culprit and put a stop to it. He’d punish whoever had been fouling the air since earlier.

“Kieeeek!”

“A blood fiend’s cry!”

...A blood fiend? Roy’s playful scolding froze instantly.

‘...But that sound shouldn’t be heard here.’

Turning slowly, Roy met Seo Hyunwoo’s wide-eyed stare.

“Could it be...?” 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Seo Hyunwoo nodded briefly, as if confirming Roy’s thought, then moved quickly. True—there was no rule that blood fiends couldn’t appear even in the heart of the city. Still, with three Guild Masters here, the security seemed too lax.

Roy called to his teammates as he looked back.

“Get up! We have to get as far away as possible!”

“Now?” Yeonwoo, who’d been lying peacefully, asked indifferently. They’d faced three teams so far without once running away—and until just a moment ago had been fired up about eliminating one more. Yet now Roy wanted to flee?

“Just get up when I say get up!”

Impatient, Roy forced his teammates to their feet and herded them in the opposite direction. Blood fiends never traveled alone—just like at the coffee plantation, just like at the athlete village.

‘I wish there were fewer of them.’

In truth, it might already be too late to run. Dongyoi, Seo Hyunwoo, and I could escape somehow, but the others were exhausted from back-to-back fights. They couldn’t just rush into an unknown number of blood fiends...

Then Roy remembered the emergency flare the production crew had given them before the survival began.

“Who’s got the flare gun?”

Since cameras littered the forest, the crew might have tracked them already. But in an emergency, signaling their location could bring help faster. If even one Guild Master arrived they might hold out—though the forest was vast and who knew how long it would take.

Then came a thunderous reply:

“The flare gun? I saw Gwak Hyeol carrying it, but I haven’t seen him for a while.”

Roy’s jaw dropped.

“He’s at the valley.”

They’d left him at the valley. He’d completely forgotten in the chaos of unexpectedly running into Blue Team.

“What?” Yeonwoo shouted.

“Wasn’t he already eliminated?”

“No wonder a spot felt empty!”

Yeonwoo’s scolding made Roy as defensive as ever.

“If you thought someone was missing, you should’ve said something sooner!”

“You told me not to worry about it!”

They were doomed. They had to go back now—no, he was almost certain Gwak Hyeol was already out. And more importantly, their situation was more dangerous than his. If a rival team tore off their name tags, the worst was elimination—but if a blood fiend caught them, they might lose more than that.

“Screw it—just run!”

With no explanation, Roy ordered them to run. A few cast reluctant glances, and in that moment a blood fiend closed in.

“Kieeeek!”

A blood fiend leapt from the undergrowth toward Anna.

“Shit!”

Wham! Roy’s punch crushed the creature’s skull. Dark liquid oozed sticky from his fist.

‘It’s real.’

He even wondered if the crew had unleashed a fake blood fiend as a surprise, but it wasn’t. The others must have thought so too—their faces went pale at the same time.

“A, a blood fiend?”

Yeonwoo went into panic and trembled, dropping to her knees. The trauma from the athlete village resurfaced on the day of her awakening. At that moment another blood fiend appeared and lunged at Yeonwoo. They had an uncanny knack for sensing weak prey.

“Kieeeek!”

“Hyung!”

Roy dashed to shield Yeonwoo. If only he’d used a skill—his body reacted before his head could think. Even with skill lock released, he was useless. And soon he understood how reckless his act was. As he shielded Yeonwoo and they tumbled, the blood fiend’s razor claws slashed through the air—precisely through the shadow Seo Hyunwoo had cast over them.

Screeech! Seo Hyunwoo’s shadow was mangled because of Roy.

“Ugh.”

“Hyung!”

Seo Hyunwoo sank down, gasping, blood trickling at the corner of his mouth. The fiend on Yeonwoo was momentarily held by Dongyoi’s ability, and another seemed stuck in the pit Taeeon had dug—but neither would hold for long.

“Go ahead! Hurry!”

Roy’s shout spurred Dongyoi, who scooped up Seo Hyunwoo and disappeared from sight.

‘Can we hold out until help arrives?’

Roy glanced at teammates fighting on all sides. No. They wouldn’t last.

‘It’s unsettling with fuel everywhere... But it’s better than losing someone.’

His fire was destructive and savage. Unpredictable and out of control—for now. Still, they had to minimize damage and take out these monsters.

‘I wish I could shape flames like Yeonwoo’s arrows.’

Clenching his teeth at the blood fiend, Roy suddenly felt heat at his fingertips. In his clenched hand flickered a small ember too solid to be called a mere spark—almost like Yeonwoo’s arrow tip.

‘Could this work?’

The heat grew stronger by the second. The ember sharpened into a swirling flame. Staring at the fiery spiral, Roy felt a surge of confidence. He raised his hand, and without hesitation hurled the flame at the blood fiend.

Whoosh—

“Kieek!”

The flame struck the beast squarely between the eyes. In an instant its body was engulfed and turned to ash.

‘This is it.’

Recalling the sensation, Roy formed another ember. It was smaller than the last but he didn’t care. He felt breathless and dizzy, but there was no time to lie down.

“Kieeeek!”

A fiend burst through the dirt mound Taeeon had piled and soared into the air. At that moment, Roy threw a second flame—

Whoosh!

‘Two?’

He’d been so focused he hadn’t noticed the flame had split into two. One pierced the airborne fiend’s throat; the other embedded in a large tree trunk.

Thud!

“...!”

But his flame, clever like its master, wouldn’t stick to wood—

Flare!

—of course it would. The feral fire climbed the trunk, racing upward through dry branches and leaves.

‘Wow... it burns well.’

Roy watched the flames as his vision dimmed. Voices calling fire and shouting his name from Anna and Taeeon grew faint.

Boom—

Simultaneous with a head striking the ground, Hangyeol’s voice declared the survival phase over.

[Pink Team out. Red Team has eliminated another queen.]

[With over half eliminated, the second survival ends. Thank you all for your hard work. Participants, please wait at your stations... What? ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) Evacuation?]

Static—

The broadcast was abruptly cut.

‘But seriously, who’s crazy enough to hunt queens while being chased by blood fiends?’

That final thought—wondering who it was—was the last thing he remembered before blacking out.

✧

When he opened his eyes again, the ceiling was black—or rather, Gwak Hyeol’s soot-smudged face was hovering over him, dripping some sort of fluid.

“Leeeeerderrrrrr!” Ewww.