CHAPTER 181: PHASE TWO: MOVING INTO THE INTERIOR

The announcement came without ceremony, without warning, and without any acknowledgment of the tension that had been building in the air since the previous night. The instructors stood on the cliff overlooking the beach, their silhouettes dark against the rising sun. Seabirds circled high above them, their distant cries the only sound cutting through the morning’s tight, breathless quiet.

"Phase Two begins now. All assigned teams will advance into the island interior."

That was it.

No explanation.

No details.

No hint of caution.

The students murmured, confused but excited. Some stretched their limbs eagerly; others double-checked their gear. Most believed the island to be nothing more than exotic terrain—a dense forest, new wildlife, maybe some artificial dungeon constructs. Something challenging, sure, but not sinister.

Only a handful of students knew better.

Arios, standing between Lucy and Liza, felt the air shift—not from the sea breeze but from the island itself, as though the forest had been waiting for them. Watching. Holding its breath.

The instructors descended from the cliff with crisp efficiency. Their boots sank slightly into the sand with each step. Their eyes, however, were cold and unreadable.

Arios met the gaze of the lead instructor for a fleeting moment.

There was no warmth there.

Only expectation.

And something else.

Something... aware.

Preparing for the March

The moment the instructors finished their brief, teams began packing up their portable supplies. The tents would remain behind—this base camp would serve as their fallback point. But everything necessary for mobility, defense, and survival was strapped to backpacks, belts, and pockets.

Lucy tightened the straps around her shoulder pack. "I hate how calm everyone looks," she muttered. "Like we aren’t walking into something we don’t understand."

Liza checked the blades at her hip. "They’re calm because they didn’t hear what we heard. They didn’t feel the ground moving last night."

Arios didn’t correct them. He merely secured his own pack, then slipped his gloves over his hands.

"They’ll learn soon enough. Stay close. Both of you."

Lucy nodded without hesitation.

Liza did too—but hers came with a small grin.

"You don’t have to ask us twice."

Students gathered by teams, forming rows in the center clearing of the camp. The instructors outlined the direction: northwest, a long expanse of forest broken only by the occasional rocky ridge. Phase Two’s objective: reach the island’s central basin, assess the terrain, secure a new temporary outpost, and map any environmental hazards.

The instructors never called the hazards monsters.

But everyone in Class D understood what lurked beyond the trees.

The Forest Awaits

The march began.

Students stepped into the shadows of the interior with uneven anticipation—some wide-eyed, some cautious, some trying too hard to appear unbothered.

Arios entered first among his trio. The shift in atmosphere was instantaneous.

The temperature dropped.

The light dimmed.

The air thickened.

The canopy overhead wove tightly together, casting fractured beams of sunlight onto the forest floor. Moss coated everything—tree trunks, rocks, fallen logs—with a strange, soft texture like damp velvet. The ground felt almost too cushioned beneath their boots, like it hadn’t been walked on in decades.

Lucy ran her fingers along a hanging vine. "The biodiversity is insane... but also..."

"Wrong?" Liza finished.

Lucy nodded.

Arios agreed. Nothing in the forest moved in a pattern that felt natural. The breeze blew east, yet the leaves rustled as if disturbed from above. The earth was soft, but the roots beneath vibrated faintly, as if reacting to their presence.

Something pulsed under the island’s surface.

Arios kept his weapon hand free.

The Quiet March

Hours passed.

Students trudged through winding paths, narrow clearings, and dense vegetation. The instructors maintained distance, supervising but not intervening. Birds called intermittently—sharp, metallic chirps that echoed unnervingly in the quiet.

Liza kicked a stone aside. "This place is huge," she muttered. "We’re not even a quarter into the interior."

Lucy examined the map tablet. "There’s a freshwater spring marked ahead. We’re supposed to pass it before the ridge."

Arios gestured.

"Stay on alert. Everything so far has been too calm."

Lucy’s grip on her staff tightened subtly.

Liza scanned the shadows. "Too calm is always the worst kind of calm."

Ahead, other teams joked, laughed, or complained about bugs. Somewhere in the distance, a group shouted about finding edible berries. Instructors didn’t react. They simply walked, listening.

Observing.

Judging.

The deeper they went, the more the forest shifted.

Sunlight vanished entirely under the canopy. The soil turned black. The air smelled of wet stone and something faintly metallic. Branches twisted into unnatural shapes, curling like fingers.

Something moved behind them, too quiet to locate.

Liza nudged Arios. "You hear that?"

He nodded. "Yes."

Lucy stepped closer to him, her voice soft but steady. "Same pattern as last night?"

"Almost identical."

Which confirmed it.

Whatever watched them last night had followed them inland.

The Spring

By midday, the sound of running water broke through the forest’s suffocating stillness. Students sighed in relief as they approached the freshwater spring—a clear pool surrounded by moss and iridescent stones. The water sparkled as if infused with faint luminescence.

Lucy knelt beside the stream, cupping her hands to take a sip, but froze when Arios caught her wrist gently.

"Wait."

He dipped a leaf into the water, studied it, then sniffed lightly.

Not poisoned.

Not chemically treated.

Natural—apparently.

Lucy blinked. "You... smell water?"

Liza crossed her arms. "Arios is just built wrong."

He ignored both comments.

Still, the spring felt off. Not dangerous—just old. Too old. Like water that had existed long before students ever set foot here.

They refilled canteens carefully.

Suddenly—

A branch snapped.

Students jerked upright.

Some gasped.

Others stepped backward.

A silence followed—heavy, suffocating.

Arios turned sharply toward the treeline.

Nothing moved.

But something watched.

The forest held its breath again.

Instructors glanced at each other. One nodded subtly.

They knew.

They always knew.

The Ridge Trail

After the brief rest, teams resumed their march. The path slanted upward, becoming narrow and rocky. Vines draped across the trail, forcing students to duck or sidestep.

Lucy breathed out slowly. "We should be nearing the basin."

Liza squinted ahead. "Doesn’t feel like it. Feels like the trail is stretching."

Arios agreed. Every step they took seemed slightly too long. Every turn felt slightly unfamiliar even when marked on the map.

The island was shifting.

Not physically—no tremors, no visible alterations.

But direction... orientation... distance... all subtly warped.

Lucy stopped suddenly. "Look at the compass."

The needle spun erratically.

Arios’ jaw tightened.

"This is no longer just geography."

Liza exhaled sharply. "The island is doing this, right? You’re thinking it too."

"Yes."

A rustle erupted ahead.

Everyone froze.

Students at the front raised weapons hesitantly.

Liza whispered, "What now...?"

The bushes parted—

—and a small creature scurried out.

Students relaxed instantly.

Lucy stared. "A... squirrel?"

It looked like a squirrel—but its eyes were too reflective, its proportions slightly elongated, its movements too fluid.

Liza snorted. "Oh good. Mutant tree-rats. That’s totally fine."

The creature stared at them for several seconds before darting away.

But the forest didn’t relax again.

Not this time.

Instead, dozens of small movements echoed deeper inside—tiny feet, chittering breaths, leaves rustling—but never surfacing, never showing themselves.

A fragile warning.

Arios stepped forward. "We’re being tested."

Lucy swallowed. "By the exam?"

"No. By the island."

They continued.

The First Sign of Danger

The trail narrowed until students could only walk in single file.

The forest pressed inward from both sides—thick, oppressive, crowding the team until every breath felt stolen from their lungs. The ground sloped again, and roots twisted across the soil like veins.

Then—

A long, hollow howl echoed across the trees.

Students froze.

Every muscle in Arios’ body tensed. The howl vibrated through the forest floor—just like the pulse from last night.

Lucy’s hand instinctively reached for his arm.

Liza’s eyes sharpened like blades drawn in silence. "That’s not a normal animal."

Another howl answered.

Then another.

Then several at once.

Closer.

Circling.

Arios stepped forward, voice low and steady.

"Defensive formation. Slowly. No panic."

Students obeyed—though some trembled.

The instructors didn’t intervene.

They simply watched.

Because this was part of the exam.

Or because they wanted to see how the students reacted.

The Forest Opens

As the trail widened slightly, the canopy thinned, revealing a narrow stretch of sky. Sunlight pierced through, illuminating floating particles of dust—or ash—it was hard to tell.

The howls stopped.

Silence returned, thick and unnatural.

Lucy whispered, "This feels like a trap."

Liza drew one of her blades. "Feels like a welcome party."

Arios raised his guard.

And then—

The forest ahead peeled apart like a curtain.

A creature stepped out.

Not large.

Not grotesque.

But wrong.

Its fur was mottled black and gray, its posture bent too low, its limbs jointed at odd angles. Its eyes glowed pale blue—primitive, hungry, calculating.

A mutated wolf.

Its fangs glimmered with drool.

Students screamed.

Instructors did not move an inch.

Arios exhaled once.

Then the woods erupted.

Ambush in the Interior

Three wolves lunged from the right.

Two from the left.

One from above—dropping from branches with a vicious snarl.

Arios moved instantly, intercepting the closest wolf with a swift strike that slammed it into the earth. Lucy raised her staff, chanting under her breath as light burst from her hands, stunning the wolves that leapt toward the central formation.

Liza spun low, slicing through one wolf’s flank before pivoting to avoid another’s snapping jaws.

Students scrambled in fear—but they held formation. Barely. Weapons clashed against fur and claws. Wolves darted between trees with unnatural speed. Fangs snapped perilously close to throats.

Arios blocked another attack, then pushed forward like a silent spear cutting through chaos.

Lucy’s breath came fast but focused.

"Arios—your right!"

He pivoted sharply, grabbing a wolf mid-leap and throwing it against a tree with bone-shattering force.

Liza called out, "Left flank’s breaking! Cover!"

The wolves surged again.

Faster.

Hungrier.

More calculated.

Arios stepped forward and detonated an attack that forced the pack backward.

The forest trembled.

And with one final, piercing howl, the wolves retreated—vanishing into the shadows as quickly as they had appeared.

Aftermath

Panting students examined scratched arms, torn sleeves, and trembling hands.

One finally said, breathless,

"S-Sir... the instructors—why didn’t they help?"

No one answered.

Lucy leaned on her staff, chest rising and falling.

"They were testing us. Obviously."

Liza sheathed her blade with a snarl.

"Testing? They wanted to see who’d die first."

Arios didn’t disagree.

He looked toward the instructors.

Their expressions remained unreadable.

One spoke, voice calm as stagnant water.

"Continue forward. The basin is close."

Lucy stared in disbelief.

"The basin is close? That wasn’t even the main threat!?"

Arios tightened his gloves.

"No."

He pointed ahead.

"The island is just getting started."

Moving Forward

They resumed the march—more cautious now. More aware.

The forest grew darker.

The air heavier.

The shadows deeper.

But the three of them stayed close together, as silent guardians unnoticed by the rest—except by the island itself.

Arios felt the forest watching.

Judging.

Adjusting.

Phase Two had officially begun.

And survival was no longer a goal.

It was a requirement.