As Rain stepped into the portal, the space around him instantly twisted violently while the feeling of time itself wrapped around his body unnaturally. His vision distorted for a brief second, and by the next moment, he was already standing inside a completely different place.
A forest.
A dark forest filled with towering deep-green trees stretching endlessly in every direction, their branches blocking most of the light above. The atmosphere alone looked straight out of some low-budget horror movie without a doubt. Strange noises echoed occasionally from deeper inside the woods while cold wind passed silently between the trees.
Rain slowly looked around the surroundings.
"Hmm… this place…"
He paused midway before immediately revealing a dead bored expression.
"…Yep. Definitely a third-rate horror movie setup."
There wasn't even a single ounce of fear on his face.
A place like this simply couldn't scare him.
If there was something in this world capable of truly terrifying Rain, then it was probably things like—running out of gacha currency right before a limited banner disappeared forever.
A sudden howl echoed throughout the dark forest, instantly making the atmosphere several times creepier than before.
And in the very next moment—
Someone suddenly grabbed Rain tightly from behind.
Rain reacted almost instantly. His body moved on pure instinct as the one-handed metal sword he had chosen for the exam flashed toward the attacker without hesitation. Unlike his massive greatsword, this weapon was far more practical for real combat situations. After all, if his mana suddenly ran out while using the greatsword's gravity enhancement, he could collapse at any moment like an idiot.
The academy had also provided students with different weapon choices for the exam to maintain fairness among everyone, so using this sword honestly wasn't bad at all.
But just before the blade could fully swing—
Rain's eyes landed on the attacker.
The sword instantly stopped midway.
It was Clytie.
She was clinging tightly onto him from behind with obvious fear written across her face.
Rain slowly lowered the sword before speaking tiredly. "Can you let me go now?"
Clytie immediately realized just how close she was and quickly backed away with slight embarrassment appearing across her face.
"Ah… sorry about that. I got a little scared, haha…" she laughed awkwardly while avoiding eye contact.
Rain simply let out a breath. "No worries."
But internally—
'How…? Just HOW can my luck be this bad!?'
After teleportation, students were usually scattered randomly throughout the pocket dimension, making it rare for teammates to end up near each other immediately.
Which meant this situation could only be explained by one thing.
Luck. Pure, horrible luck—for Rain specifically.
The nearby bushes suddenly rustled loudly, immediately making both Rain and Clytie alert.
"Who's there!?" Rain shouted while tightening his grip around the metal sword. He definitely wasn't expecting another student to appear this quickly.
But what slowly crawled out from the bushes honestly surprised even him.
A four-legged creature awkwardly walked out into the open.
It looked almost exactly like some cute stray dog at first glance, with a completely stupid expression plastered across its face and a thin malnourished body that looked like it hadn't eaten properly for weeks. Its fur was messy, its ears drooped lifelessly, and its tiny eyes somehow carried the same empty intelligence as a brick.
The creature tilted its head while staring at them blankly.
"…Woof?"
Rain stared back silently for a second.
Then—
"…This thing looks so miserable that even attacking it feels like bullying." Rain muttered.
Clytie slowly walked toward the creature with obvious pity visible across her face.
Meanwhile, Rain's eyes narrowed suspiciously.
'No… that can't be right. If the academy classified this thing as a monster, then there's definitely something wrong with it.'
But before he could properly warn her—
The creature suddenly changed.
Its previously stupid-looking eyes instantly turned feral and bloodshot while thick drool started dripping endlessly from its mouth. The skinny body rapidly tensed up, muscles bulging unnaturally beneath its fur as its entire appearance became far healthier and far more terrifying than before.
The harmless stray dog image completely vanished in an instant.
Now it looked like an actual monster.
Clytie froze for a brief second after seeing the sudden transformation.
Too late.
The monster dog instantly lunged toward her with its maw wide open.
"AH!"
Rain reacted immediately.
'I KNEW IT!'
Without hesitation, he shoved Clytie away from the attack path before taking the attack himself. Fortunately, he barely managed to block the monster's massive jaws using his iron sword before the sharp teeth could tear into him.
CLANG!
Rain crashed onto the ground under the impact while the monster continuously pushed downward like a rabid beast trying to rip his face apart. Its sharp teeth scraped violently against the metal blade only inches away from his throat.
"DAMN THIS THING—!" Rain gritted his teeth while desperately trying to push the monster back using sheer strength alone.
Clytie was still slightly trembling from fear, but she quickly forced herself back up.
"W-Wait! I'll help you!"
She immediately raised both of her hands forward as energy started gathering around them. Bright golden particles continuously formed from the surrounding mana before condensing into a glowing sphere of light above her palms. The energy inside it became denser and denser every second, giving off an impressive aura.
"Take this!"
But just before the attack could fire—
POOF!
The entire sphere suddenly vanished into nothingness instantly.
Clytie froze completely.
"How… how is this possible?" she murmured in disbelief while staring blankly at her own hands.
Meanwhile, Rain finally managed to regain control over the struggle.
"GET OFF ME!"
With a heavy kick directly into the monster dog's stomach, he forcefully blasted the creature backward. The beast let out a painful cry as its body lifted slightly into the air from the impact.
Rain's eyes sharpened immediately.
Without wasting even a second, he dashed forward and plunged the iron sword straight through the monster's head with precise timing.
SPLURT!
The monster's body twitched violently once before collapsing lifelessly onto the ground.
Rain slowly pulled the sword back out before standing up while breathing heavily.
"Haa… haa…"
'Barely survived… one more second and that thing would've bitten my face off.'
Rain slowly walked toward Clytie before speaking with both relief and caution in his calm voice.
"Next time, don't rush forward so carelessly."
The moment those words reached her ears, Clytie's trembling only worsened as tears suddenly started falling from her eyes.
"Sorry…! Sorry! It was my fault!" she apologized repeatedly while lowering her head guiltily.
'Eh… this girl seriously…' Rain thought helplessly before letting out a long breath.
Then, his hand slowly landed on her silky blonde hair as he gently patted it.
"Don't worry. At least you tried helping me," he said while trying to calm her down. "And besides, your powers probably can't work properly in a place like this. Barely any sunlight reaches this forest after all."
'…And I'm PRETTY sure those old hags from the academy wouldn't let their students die during an exam… right?'
Even Rain wasn't fully confident about that last part anymore.
Clytie's sobbing gradually stopped after hearing him comfort her.
"Really…?"
The next second, she suddenly hugged him tightly again.
"Thank you, Rain…"
Rain instantly stiffened up in panic.
'DON'T stick to me like this!'
Clytie slowly looked up at Rain after calming down slightly.
"But… how did you know my powers don't work properly without sunlight?" she asked curiously.
The moment that question landed, Rain immediately felt countless alarms ringing inside his head. Sweat started forming crazily across his back while an awkward smile appeared on his face.
'AREN'T YOU supposed to be clueless about these things!? Why are you suddenly becoming smart at the worst possible moment!?'
"…J-Just a guess," Rain answered with a stiff hesitant smile. "Since… you seem to like sunlight a lot."
The moment he said it, even he internally died from how stupid the explanation sounded.
'LIKE HELL she's going to believe that nonsense!'
But unexpectedly—
Clytie's eyes instantly sparkled with admiration.
"Ohhh! So that's how you figured it out! You're really amazing, Rain!" she said sincerely.
Rain's mind immediately went blank.
'…Is she actually this innocent, or is she secretly messing with me on purpose?'
As she finally let go of him, Clytie looked toward the dead monster corpse lying nearby before asking curiously, "But how did that dog suddenly transform into such a scary monster?"
Rain immediately moved into a thoughtful pose, one hand under his chin like some experienced scholar.
"If my guess isn't wrong, then this monster probably works similarly to creatures that disguise or camouflage themselves to hunt prey."
Clytie tilted her head slightly, still confused. "How so?"
'So cool…!' she thought while feeling impressed by Rain's strangely aesthetic pose. Even if he was doing it unintentionally, the way he confidently explained things while standing there with his sword in hand somehow made him look unexpectedly reliable and cool in her eyes.
Rain instantly straightened up with obvious pride in his own knowledge.
"You see, some creatures intentionally disguise themselves as harmless or weak-looking beings so their prey lowers its guard completely. The moment the target gets close enough—BAM—they attack instantly before the prey can even react."
He pointed toward the dead monster with his sword while continuing confidently.
"This thing probably does the exact same. It transforms itself into a pitiful harmless-looking creature to trigger sympathy. Once someone gets close or lets down their guard, it reveals its true form and attacks immediately."
Clytie slowly nodded her head after hearing the explanation.
Whether she truly understood it or not, however…
That depended entirely on whether she was actually paying attention to Rain's explanation—
Or simply staring at Rain himself the entire time again.
The nearby bushes rustled once again, and another dog-like monster slowly stepped out with the same pitiful harmless appearance as before, its skinny body trembling weakly while its stupid-looking eyes stared at them blankly.
Rain's expression instantly turned terrifyingly dark.
"Do you seriously think that trick will work on us again?"
Without wasting another second, he immediately rushed forward and drove his sword straight through the monster's head before it could even react properly.
SPLURT!
The creature collapsed instantly, but just before dying, a loud howl escaped from its mouth.
Rain casually flicked the blood off his blade with confidence.
"Easy peasy."
…Then the entire forest suddenly became silent.
Too silent.
The next moment, bushes all around them started shaking violently from every direction. One after another, more dog monsters slowly emerged from the darkness surrounding them completely.
Rain's face instantly stiffened.
He slowly looked down at the dead monster before angrily kicking its corpse.
"You son of a bitch!"
'…Wait, isn't it literally a son of a bitch?'
Rain immediately snapped himself out of the useless thought as the surrounding monsters started transforming one after another. Their weak appearances twisted into terrifying feral forms filled with drool, madness, and sharp killing intent.
Meanwhile, Clytie instinctively moved closer behind him while tightly grabbing his clothes from fear.
Rain's expression gradually became more serious as he tightened his grip around the sword.
'How the hell am I supposed to protect her AND fight at the same time!?'