Chapter 53: An Unexpected Alliance

With their course of action decided, they moved swiftly.

Juju filled two water bottles while Ruah kept watch by the river. They planned to boil the water later before drinking it.

“Okay, let’s head into the forest.”

“Got it.”

Juju, with her gauntlets equipped, and Ruah, still with her arm bound, disappeared into the dense trees, prepared for any eventuality.

‘This is strange.’ Ruah thought.

After walking for about ten minutes, a thought struck her.

‘Why hasn’t the safe zone notification appeared?’

The system window for equipping skills had appeared when they landed, so the system notification for the shrinking safe zone should have appeared as well. They had spent some time by the river and had been walking for about an hour, yet no system window had appeared.

‘Is the flow different from what I remember?’

She recalled the incident during the athletic meet.

It started with a minor event – Ruah becoming friends with Himari – but the diverging causality had led to a major accident during the competition.

What if, like then, some overlooked event had started a snowball effect?

“…Tsk.”

Ruah clicked her tongue as she hopped over a fallen tree.

‘There’s no point in worrying about it now.’

Even if causality had diverged significantly, the location of the hidden skill, the camp participants, and the method of winning remained unchanged. It was better to focus on the present situation than to dwell on the unknown—

“—Oof!”

Suddenly, Ruah bumped into Juju’s back and fell. With no hand to brace herself, she landed hard on her bottom.

“Ouch… Juju, why did you stop so suddenly?”

“Shh, there’s someone ahead.”

“……!”

At Juju’s hushed words, Ruah quickly fell silent.

Juju held a finger to her lips and hid behind a large tree, peering ahead. Ruah cautiously peeked out as well.

Ahead was a natural clearing in the forest. Bathed in the afternoon sunlight, three students were engaged in combat.

—Bang!

—Clang!

Looking closer, it wasn’t a three-way fight, but a 2-on-1 battle.

On one side were two male students – one wielding two short swords and the other a shield.

Facing them was a female student with a staff. They appeared to be in the dealer, tank, and mage positions, respectively.

“Haa!”

“S-Stay back…!”

The battle was one-sided. The male students pressed their attack while the female student retreated, trying to defend with ranged attack skills.

However, the tank’s shield seemed to have a special coating, deflecting the mage’s skills every time.

“Good! Keep pushing!”

Standing at the edge of the clearing, behind the male students, were two older adults who appeared to be their instructors.

One had his left leg heavily bandaged, while the other had his eyes covered and a hand resting on the first instructor’s shoulder.

‘The female student will be eliminated soon.’ Ruah thought.

Judging by her heavy breathing, the mage was almost out of mana.

In contrast, the dealer and tank hadn’t even used any skills yet.

Objectively speaking, there seemed to be no way for the female student to turn the tables. Unless her instructor intervened. However, the female student’s instructor was nowhere to be seen.

‘It’s unfortunate, but that’s how this game works.’

The female student would be eliminated soon, but that would be advantageous for Ruah and Juju. Juju, at full strength, could easily take the bracelets from the exhausted victors.

A chance to eliminate three people at once without much effort—

“—Tch!”

“Juju, what are you doing?! No!”

Ruah’s calculations were instantly shattered.

Juju had dashed out from behind the tree, charging forward with fierce momentum.

“Ugh!”

The exhausted female student tripped and fell backward, a victorious smile spreading across the faces of the tank and dealer.

And in that moment, Juju arrived.

“Move!”

“?!”

Juju’s gauntlet left long claw marks on the male student’s shield.

The male student’s reflexes were commendable for blocking the attack, but it didn’t end there.

—Boom!

“Gah!”

An explosion erupted from the claw marks. The tank and dealer were sent flying to the edge of the clearing, crashing into a tree.

It was a clean and powerful [Wolf Assault].

“Goodness, Juju! At least give me some warning…!”

Ruah quickly ran forward and threw herself to the ground in the center of the clearing.

That spot was precisely–

“Whoa!”

–where the limping instructor was rushing towards his student.

“Oof!”

The instructor tripped over Ruah and fell ungracefully.

He couldn’t get up quickly, likely hindered by his bandaged leg and the unexpected obstacle. Ruah, still lying on the ground, shouted to Juju.

“Juju! The bracelet!”

“…! Got it!”

Fortunately, Juju understood immediately. She rushed to the fallen instructor and retrieved his bracelet. Having realized he was outmatched – his student unconscious and himself unable to stand – the instructor surrendered his bracelet without resistance.

“Damn it… Barely any time has passed….”

“Sorry about that.”

But there was another instructor.

The instructor with the covered eyes drew his sword and swung it wildly.

“Wh-Who is it?! Interfering like this!”

His stance was clumsy. Ruah rolled on the ground and bumped into his legs.

“Oof!”

The instructor dropped his sword and fell. Juju seized the opportunity and collected his bracelet.

They had eliminated two people in quick succession with minimal effort.

“Teacher! Nice teamwork!”

After confirming the situation was over, Juju helped Ruah up and brushed the dirt and leaves off her clothes. Ruah, intending to scold Juju for her impulsive actions, put on a stern expression.

“Juju, are you going to keep acting on your own like that?”

“Ah, about that… I-I’m sorry.”

“Just now—”

Unfortunately, the timing was terrible for a scolding.

*Thump-thump-thump…. *

A helicopter suddenly appeared overhead. It bore the ‘Nick’s Brothers’ Guild logo.

“Survivors, please stand back. We are retrieving the eliminated participants.”

An announcement echoed through the air.

A rope ladder was dropped from the helicopter, and two guild members descended.

With movements as fluid as special forces operatives, they swiftly hoisted the unconscious students and the two instructors like sacks of potatoes, then ascended just as quickly.

*Thump-thump-thump…. *

The helicopter flew eastward, the noise gradually fading.

“So that’s how they handle eliminations…” Juju said.

In the game, eliminated players simply vanished when their HP reached zero. But that was physically impossible in reality, of course.

The fact that they retrieved the eliminated participants so quickly meant the claim about the entire island being under camera surveillance was true.

“Um, excuse me!”

Ruah and Juju turned towards the voice. It was the female student Juju had saved. She bowed deeply to them.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, I wasn’t eliminated.”

The student, now wearing her glasses, still had bits of leaves and dirt on her clothes. Juju removed one of her gauntlets and carefully picked them off.

“It was the right thing to do. Two against one is cowardly, don’t you think?”

Ruah, standing a step behind, sighed softly.

Cowardly? As a gamer, Ruah couldn’t comprehend that sentiment. Wasn’t that how Battle Royale games were played?

“I thought I’d be eliminated only three hours in. Thank you so much.”

The bespectacled student smiled brightly.

“I’m Emma, from Leon Academy! I’m mixed-race.”

Now that she mentioned it, her face did have some Western features. But Ruah was focused on something else.

“Leon Academy?”

That name sparked a memory. During the orientation earlier—

“—Oof!”

A woman stumbled into the clearing, pushing through the bushes. Her clothes were covered in twigs and leaves, but Ruah recognized her instantly.

“Oh, hello, Instructor Shin Hwayeon….”

“Ugh…”

It was Hwayeon, her mouth sealed shut. Seemingly delighted to see Ruah, she rushed over and hugged her.

“My student was in danger, and where were you hiding?”

“Mmm.”

Hwayeon led Ruah and Juju to a patch of bare earth and began writing on the ground.

Scribble, scribble.

“Ah, my mouth is sealed, so I can’t use my skills. I was hiding because I couldn’t help…” Ruah interpreted.

“Yes, yes.”

As a mage, Hwayeon needed to speak the names of her skills to use them, making her a walking target in her current state. That’s why she was hiding.

Scribble, scribble.

“She says… let’s form an alliance.” Juju said.

“Hmm.”

Ruah raised an eyebrow. Having more people would certainly be advantageous in a fight, but the problem was Ruah’s current objective.

‘If they find out about the hidden skill….’

She would have to take them to the location of the skill, which would inevitably lead to questions about how she knew about it. She could make up an excuse, but she needed to consider how that might affect causality.

‘And it’s not even certain if an alliance would actually increase our combat effectiveness.’ Ruah thought.

Hwayeon couldn’t use her skills, and Emma’s abilities were unknown.

“Teacher, shouldn’t we go together?”

Juju approached and whispered, keeping her voice low so Emma and Hwayeon couldn’t hear.

“Why?”

“If we leave them now, they might be in danger of elimination again.”

“…Juju, this is a game where only one team survives.”

Ruah spoke seriously.

“Even if the four of us survive until the end, we’ll eventually have to fight each other, won’t we?”

“I know.”

Juju looked down, a wistful smile on her face.

“But I can’t leave someone I’ve saved behind.”

“…….”

Juju took Ruah’s bound hand with her ungauntleted one.

“How can you be so sure?”

“Of course, I have no proof… but…”

Juju’s voice was filled with conviction.

“Just like I trust you, teacher, can’t you trust me too?”

“…….”

Ruah couldn’t argue with that. Juju had always trusted and followed her, even when her plans and training methods seemed baseless.

“…Alright.”

Ruah finally nodded.