When they arrived in the courtyard, three large metal crates had been placed side by side on the pavement. Their lids stood open, revealing rows of weapons neatly arranged inside.
Steel gleamed under the afternoon sun. Swords, spears, axes, daggers, even a few crude shields. Nothing decorative. Everything practical. Everything meant to kill… or at least delay being killed.
The loudspeakers crackled again.
{Please select one weapon for the test.}
A heavy silence followed, broken only by the faint clatter of someone swallowing too loudly.
One by one, the candidates stepped forward. Some chose quickly, grabbing whatever felt familiar. Others hesitated, hands hovering as if the wrong choice might personally offend fate. After selecting a weapon, each climbed the steps into the waiting bus without a word.
A tall boy picked a massive axe he could barely lift. A girl took two short blades and tested their balance with trembling hands. Someone dropped a mace, the clang echoing across the courtyard like a funeral bell.
When Nathan and Jay's turn came, Nathan stepped forward first. He scanned the weapons with wide-eyed fascination, like this was some bizarre armory exhibit instead of a prelude to slaughter.
"Oh, this one looks cool," he said, lifting a longsword. He gave it an experimental swing that nearly pulled him off balance. "Whoa. Heavier than it looks."
Jay didn't react. He reached into the crate and pulled out a spear, testing the shaft with a firm squeeze. Straight. Balanced. Long enough to keep things at a distance. Sensible. Impersonal.
"Good choice," Nathan said, trying to sound confident. "Classic hero weapon."
Jay shot him a flat look. "I'm not trying to be a hero."
They boarded the bus.
Inside, the atmosphere felt suffocating. No one spoke above a whisper. Metal scraped softly as weapons shifted against seats and floors. The engine roared to life, vibrating through the frame like a distant growl.
Jay and Nathan sat together near the middle. Nathan rested the sword across his knees, staring out the window with restless energy. Jay sat rigidly, spear upright between his feet, hands clasped so tightly his knuckles had turned pale.
Nathan leaned closer. "You're really tense."
Jay didn't look at him. "You're not tense enough."
Nathan forced a chuckle. "Come on. It can't be that bad."
Jay closed his eyes. He didn't answer.
Hours passed. The scenery outside shifted from paved roads to dirt paths, then to dense forest. Civilization disappeared behind them, replaced by towering trees that blocked out the sky. The ride stretched on for more than three hours, long enough for dread to settle in like a permanent resident.
Finally, the bus lurched to a stop.
A woman with long red hair stood from the front seat. Her posture was perfectly straight, her expression carved from stone.
"Everyone off," she said coldly.
The students filed out, boots crunching on gravel.
Then they saw it.
The bus was parked at the edge of an enormous ravine. The ground simply… stopped. Beyond it, a vast chasm yawned open, swallowing light. Its bottom was invisible, consumed by thick darkness that seemed almost alive.
Gasps rippled through the group. Some stepped back instinctively, faces pale.
From far below came faint echoes. Screeches. Roars. Wet, animalistic sounds that didn't belong to anything natural.
One boy swallowed hard. "Ma'am… are you sure the monsters down there are low-rank?"
The red-haired woman nodded once, her face utterly serious. "Yes."
Jay's stomach twisted. Monsters were divided into only two categories: low-rank and high-rank. But "low" didn't mean weak. It meant survivable… under the right conditions. Down there, trapped in that pit with dozens of them?
It would be a one-sided massacre.
The woman suddenly smiled.
It wasn't reassuring.
"Alright, young ones," she said brightly, gesturing toward the abyss. "Welcome to the Valley of Death."
Valley? Jay thought, staring into the endless dark. This looks more like the mouth of hell.
Around him, several students were visibly shaking. One girl covered her mouth to stifle a sob. Another boy muttered, "We can't… we can't go down there…"
But everyone knew the rule. Withdrawal meant immediate execution. No second chances. No appeals. No mercy.
Beside him, Nathan stood frozen, staring into the void, his earlier cheerfulness completely gone.
"Jay…" he whispered, voice thin as paper. "Tell me this is still just a test."
Jay didn't answer.
Because for the first time since they'd met, he had nothing left to lie with.
Without warning, the red-haired woman stepped forward and drove her foot into the back of two nearby youths.
They didn't even have time to scream properly.
Their bodies pitched forward, arms flailing, and vanished over the edge of the abyss.
For one frozen heartbeat, nobody moved.
Then panic detonated.
"What are you doing?!" "Stop!" "Are you insane?!"
Students scrambled backward, colliding with each other, some dropping their weapons as they tried to put distance between themselves and the cliff.
The woman raised a hand, her expression calm, almost bored.
"Don't worry," she said in a soothing tone that did absolutely nothing to soothe anyone. "There's a lake at the bottom. You won't die."
Jay didn't believe a single word. Not her voice, not her smile, not the casual way she stood at the edge of a bottomless pit.
But she kept moving.
One kick. Another shove. A grab by the collar followed by a casual toss. One after another, screaming bodies disappeared into the darkness below.
"Please! No—" "Wait!" "I can't swim!"
Their voices cut off as they fell.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it…" Jay muttered, backing away, heart slamming against his ribs.
It didn't matter.
A hand like iron clamped onto his shoulder. At the same moment, Nathan cried out beside him.
Then the world tilted.
The ground vanished beneath their feet.
Cold air roared past as they plummeted into the abyss.
Around them, dozens of voices screamed, overlapping into one long, animal howl of terror. The walls of the ravine rushed by in a blur of jagged stone and faintly glowing crystals embedded in the rock.
Jay's stomach lurched into his throat. He couldn't tell up from down. Wind tore at his clothes, stole the breath from his lungs.
Then—
Splash.
The impact slammed into him like solid concrete. Freezing water swallowed him whole, driving the air from his chest in a violent burst. For a second he didn't know which way was the surface.
He kicked blindly, lungs burning, until his head finally broke into open air.
The interior of the chasm was dim but not completely dark. Strange luminous stones embedded in the walls cast a ghostly blue light across the vast underground lake. Far off, jagged shorelines were barely visible.
Jay coughed, gasping. "So… she wasn't lying…"
He barely had time to take a full breath.
The water beside them erupted.
Something enormous burst upward, sending waves crashing outward. A massive, pale worm-like creature surged from the depths, its slick body thicker than a tree trunk. Its circular maw split open, lined with rows of grinding teeth.
A girl nearby didn't even have time to scream before she vanished inside it.
Blood clouded the water.
Panic reignited instantly.
"Swim! Swim to land!" "Move!" "Get away from it!"
Everyone thrashed desperately toward the distant shore, splashing, colliding, dragging each other under in blind terror.
The worm dived, then resurfaced again, swallowing another victim whole. And another. Each attack faster than the last.
Jay forced his aching body forward, arms burning, ribs screaming with every stroke. The earlier beating had stolen too much strength. The shore wasn't getting closer fast enough.
Behind him, the water surged.
He turned just in time to see the creature rising directly beneath him, jaws opening wide enough to blot out the faint light.
"Shit..."
The maw closed. And Jay disappeared.