Path of the Unmentioned: The Missing Piece-Chapter 80: Artificial Rift [2]

Kyle glanced at the glowing text on his mana band one more time.

——

[Team 7]

Orion Ironviel – Class B1

Sylvie Wavecrest – Class A1

Roland Swiftbrook – Class D1

Kyle Valemont – Class A1

Isolde Suncrest – Class B1

——

’Not bad. Not bad at all.’

Out of the two hundred teams being thrown into this artificial rift.

He could have done a lot worse.

At least he knew two of them—Sylvie and Orion.

The other two were unknowns. freёwebnoѵel.com

But if they were assigned to the same team. They couldn’t be complete dead weight.

Kyle exhaled sharply. Rolling his shoulders to loosen the tension.

His fingers brushed against the hilt of his tachi.

Or rather.

The disguised form of Zalrielle.

The spirit weapon had taken on the appearance of the standard-issue academy blade they had been provided.

Though he doubted anyone would notice the difference.

"This is going to be a long damn exam." he muttered under his breath.

The hall buzzed with noise as students scrambled to find their groups.

Kyle scanned the crowd, searching for familiar faces.

Then he spotted him.

Orion Ironviel.

The guy was hard to miss.

Standing a full head taller than most students.

Orion’s broad shoulders and thick arms made him look more like a veteran soldier than an eighteen-year-old academy student.

His dark brown skin glistened under the hall’s enchanted lights.

His sharp brown eyes flicked from side to side. Clearly also searching for his teammates.

In his hands. He carried a massive warhammer.

Its head nearly the size of a boulder.

The weapon looked like it could crush skulls with a single swing.

Before Kyle could call out.

A small hand tapped his shoulder.

He turned to see Sylvie Wavecrest.

Her blue hair tied back in a loose ponytail. Her round glasses slightly askew.

She clutched her oversized magic wand, nearly as tall as she was like a lifeline.

"O-oh, thank goodness," she stammered. Adjusting her glasses nervously.

"I was worried I would be stuck with strangers."

Kyle smiled little. "Same here."

Together. They made their way toward Orion.

As they approached.

Two more figures joined them.

Roland Swiftbrook and Isolde Suncrest.

Roland was lean and wiry, with messy black hair and long bow hung over his shoulder.

His dark eyes darted around like he was already calculating escape routes.

Isolde, on the other hand. Stood with the confidence of someone who knew exactly how dangerous she was.

Her fiery red hair was tied back in a tight braid and her golden eyes gleamed with sharp intelligence.

Slung across her back was an unusually thin longsword...

A montante.

A weapon built for sweeping, devastating strikes.

"You two were easy to find" Roland said, crossing his arms.

"Hard to miss the Gale Witch’s little brother and the Marquess Wavecrest daughter."

Sylvie blushed. Gripping her wand tighter.

Kyle shrugged. "Guess we’ve got a reputation."

"Alright, let’s get this straight. We don’t know what’s waiting for us in there. So we should at least know what each of us can do."

He went first.

"Kyle Valemont. Swordsman. Lightning and ice affinity. Rank 9."

Sylvie fidgeted before speaking. "S-Sylvie Wavecrest. Water mage. Rank 7."

Roland pointed at his long bow. "Roland Swiftbrook. Archer class, light affinity. Rank 67."

Isolde rested a hand on the hilt of her montante. "Isolde Suncrest. Swordsman, fire affinity. Rank 58."

Orion hefted his warhammer with one hand like it weighed nothing. "Orion Ironviel. Earth affinity. Rank 10."

Kyle’s eyebrows rose slightly.

This was a solid team.

Every one of them was in the top 100 of the first years.

They had close combat, ranged attacks, elemental coverage.

Everything they needed to handle whatever the rift threw at them.

Which, of course. Meant their objective wasn’t going to be easy.

Assistant professors moved through the crowd. Collecting storage rings from the students.

No outside items.

Just their weapons and their wits.

At the front of the hall.

The senior instructors gathered around a massive, swirling portal.

The air around it shimmered like heat haze, and every now and then.

A faint pulse of energy rippled outward.

Seraphina’s voice cut through the noise.

"Teams, you have five minutes to enter. Your objectives will appear on your mana bands once inside. Good luck and try not to die."

Kyle exhaled.

"Alright," he said. Turning to the group.

"Stick together. We don’t know what’s in there, but we move as a unit."

Orion cracked his knuckles.

"Lead the way."

One by one. The teams stepped through the portal.

When it was their turn.

Kyle took a deep breath and stepped forward.

Kyle blinked hard. His vision swimming as the world snapped back into focus.

His stomach churned from the teleportation.

That nauseating feeling of being stretched and squeezed all at once.

Then his foot slipped.

Gravel skittered under his boot as he instinctively threw his weight backward.

Arms pinwheeling for balance.

His heart jackhammered against his ribs as he realized...

’I was standing at the edge of a fucking cliff.’

A deep, jagged valley stretched below him.

So far down that the bottom was lost in shadow.

One more step, and he would have been freefalling into oblivion.

"Are you kidding me?" Kyle hissed through gritted teeth.

Scrambling back from the edge.

His palms scraped against rough stone as he crab-walked to safety.

A quick glance around confirmed his team hadn’t gotten the same death-drop welcome.

Sylvie stood a few meters away.

Clutching her wand like it might float her to safety.

Orion was already scanning the terrain.

Warhammer resting on his shoulder.

Roland and Isolde had landed near a cluster of twisted.

Thorny bushes...

’Lucky bastards.’

Sylvie’s wide blue eyes locked onto him. "K-Kyle! Are you okay?"

He dusted himself off.

Glaring at the valley like it had personally offended him.

"I am fine. Just love almost dying before the exam even starts."

Orion let out a low whistle. "That’s some shitty luck."

"No kidding," Kyle muttered. Rubbing his arms where goosebumps had risen.

This wasn’t the first time.

During the entrance exam.

He’d been dumped midair over a river.

Right into the waiting tentacles of a Grade 3 Silver-Rank Squid.

The damn thing had nearly dragged him under before he had fried it with a lightning bolt to the face.

His so-called [Unpredictable] luck seemed to enjoy dangling him over death before yanking him back at the last second.

He scanned their surroundings.

The forest was dense. The trees twisted and gnarled like old bones.

Then his eyes fell upon it.

The Central hill.

It rose from the heart of the valley.

A lone peak surrounded by sheer drops on all sides.

The only way across was a series of stone pillars.

Jutting from the abyss like stepping stones.

Some were wide enough to stand on comfortably.

Others looked barely thicker than a balance beam.

"Is that the central hill Instructor Brynn was talking about?" Sylvie asked, her voice small.

Roland squinted.

"Seems like it."

Kyle’s gaze flicked upward.

The sky here wasn’t normal.

No sun.

No clouds.

Just that eerie purple-gray haze.

But floating in the air, glowing like a beacon, was a countdown:

[00:01:00]

[00:00:59]

[00:00:58]

The numbers ticked down relentlessly.

No one spoke.

The forest itself seemed to hold its breath.

Then...

[00:00:00]

A sharp ping echoed from all their mana bands at once.

Kyle’s screen lit up.

———