Su Qi... I'm so scared...

It wasn’t just Xu Kun.

The others weren’t faring much better.

The skeletal soldier, barely at the third tier, swung its bone club toward a classmate.

That classmate, despite being at the peak of third-tier strength, stood frozen in terror, face pale and mind blank, helplessly watching as the club descended upon them.

This was no exaggeration.

Even before the emergence of the ‘supernatural,’ soldiers underwent ‘desensitization training’ before heading to the battlefield.

Not the kind of ‘desensitization’ that fine-tunes sensitivity—

but the kind meant to steel them against the horrors of war, to prevent situations like this.

Or perhaps, due to this year’s martial exam reforms, the purpose of this Origin Realm expedition was desensitization training.

Too bad someone had recklessly led the group into danger…

Old Li never dreamed that one person could cause such disaster.

Xu Kun had taken the entire student team away from the carefully selected safe zone.

And Old Li certainly never expected this student’s luck to be this uncanny.

He wasn’t wrong—the collective ‘aura’ of the students huddled together should have scared off most creatures in the Origin Realm.

But there was one exception…

The undead.

Mindless, driven only by their thirst for blood, their eerie green eyes brimming with greed for the living.

The more people there were…

The more frenzied they became.

They didn’t care that their ragtag group of third-tiers led by a single fourth-tier stood no chance against two peak fourth-tiers backed by a squad of fourth- and third-tier elites.

Through a series of coincidences, the near-impossible had happened.

This student team was about to be wiped out in seconds.

…

Clatter.

Human bones scattered across the ground.

At the last possible moment, Liu Yuan’s fist slammed into the skeletal soldier’s body.

It sensed danger too late—twisting away but still taking the full brunt of the blow.

Instant annihilation.

Such was the gap in strength.

These monsters were weak.

With the same lineup, a seasoned team could’ve wiped out this undead horde in under three minutes.

But the world didn’t run on ‘what-ifs.’

“AAAAHHH—!”

A scream, raw and piercing, tore through the air.

A butcher’s cleaver, slick with crimson, slid out from Xu Kun’s chest—

The boy hung skewered like a pig on the blade of that grotesque ‘mountain of rotting flesh.’

The creature seemed in no hurry to attack the others.

It just stood there, as if proudly displaying its trophy.

Eyelids stitched shut with coarse thread, its festering mouth curled into a grotesque grin.

It was savoring its prey’s terror before death.

Seven seconds.

That’s all it took.

Xu Kun—who boasted of being at the peak of fourth-tier, one of the team’s strongest—was defeated.

Utterly crushed.

“Ah—!”

Another scream.

A skeletal soldier shattered a classmate’s arm.

Not that there wasn’t resistance.

Aside from Xu Kun, one student lost a left arm, another a right leg.

Seven skeletal soldiers lay destroyed.

Compared to the primal dread inspired by the ‘Rotting Flesh Mountain,’ these bone warriors lacked impact.

But…

The undead knew no fear, no concept of morale.

For every fallen comrade, their assault grew fiercer—until death, or until they tore their prey apart.

Meanwhile, the students…

Xu Kun impaled, limbs broken among the others…

Their courage shattered, their formation crumbling.

So…

One who hadn’t yet been cornered chose the coward’s way out—

Fleeing, with just enough conscience left to justify it:

“I’ll get the teacher… hold on!”

The Origin Realm was dangerous.

Old Li had hammered that into them.

Only now did they understand the weight of those words.

Lessons taught by others never stick.

Lessons carved by experience? Learned in one try.

As Liu Yuan watched her classmate flee, her brother’s words echoed:

‘They’ll die, but it’s not on us. The enemy kills them, not you or me. If you can’t save them, run. No guilt. No throwing your life away.’

Right…

They’ll die…

By the skeletons’ hands, by the Rotting Flesh Mountain…

If she ran—

With agility rivaling a fifth-tier’s, she’d survive.

But…

Even if Xu Kun was insufferable…

Even if these classmates weren’t close…

Her brother had also said:

‘Remember—we’re human.’

To flee when stronger, to let comrades die because fear paralyzed you…

Could you still call yourself human?

Run—live, take the martial exam, find your brother.

Fight—you CAN save them. Conquer your fear. These monsters are nothing.

The voices warred in her skull—

Until a third cut through:

“When faced with overwhelming terror, a person’s true nature is laid bare. The masks souls wear fall away, revealing their rawest hues.”

“They’ll reflect—what they sought in life, what they wished to achieve… what they regret…”

“…Death itself lets you glimpse the other side of existence.”

“In the face of annihilation, courage burns hotter than fear.”

Liu Yuan didn’t know who spoke.

Or maybe her mind had gone blank.

Fear… courage…

Or neither.

She ran—

No.

She charged.

Streaking toward the Rotting Flesh Mountain, she snatched Xu Kun’s fallen spear from the ground.

Though it granted no stats, the weapon’s material alone was a force multiplier.

With brute force, she shattered the monster’s cleaver-wielding arm.

Xu Kun, still half-attached to the limb, collapsed.

The abomination roared, all five eyes blazing with madness.

Its remaining hook-arm flailed wildly, lashing out at Liu Yuan.

Fear spreads.

So does courage.

As the Rotting Flesh Mountain faltered under Liu Yuan’s assault, the students’ will to live ignited.

…

The battlefield reeked of blood.

In the end, the undead were annihilated.

The students, barely standing, were all wounded.

Spear in hand, Liu Yuan finally snapped out of her daze—

And spotted Su Qi perched on a branch, casually munching watermelon.

Those words had been hers.

Xu Kun’s screams had drawn her here.

Liu Yuan’s hands shook violently.

The spear slipped from her grip as she crumpled to her knees, voice breaking:

“Su Qi… I was so scared…”

[Brilliance +1]

Su Qi took another bite of watermelon, silent.

[Delight +666]