Surviving

After hearing Enri's description of the "thing" she saw moving in the village, Sorath frowned.

"Let's not take our chances."

They all agreed. They knew they couldn't be all brave without knowing what that "thing" really was. That, if they wanted to make it out alive until the final trial.

Seemed like this was not any better than the small island on the sixth floor.

They walked south from the burned gate, staying away from the burning village with an unknown entity residing in it.

On searching for a safer place, Sorath checked the trial objective and smiled. The requirement to clear the sixth trial was to survive for 10 days in this damned region filled with unknown monsters.

'It's still better than trying to hunt one of them.'

That was true. Surviving or running from those monsters was better than fighting them. They were not strong enough to even fight one, let alone kill them.

On top of that, those monsters were terrifyingly strong and disgusting in appearance, as described and illustrated in the book about creatures in the tower.

'Even in 5 years, the book still doesn't have half of this floor monsters recorded, let alone right now.'

He glanced back at the village.

'It's not for no reason the seventh floor was called Hell back then or later in the future,' then he looked at Nihila. 'Although the monsters are stronger here. But with her in our group, we can kill one type of them... maybe.'

...

They walked quite a distance until they stumbled upon a hut in the middle of the forest and settled in.

Atri took the food from the spatial bag, distributing it to her groupmates, eating it together, and then discussing the plan.

"Our objective is simple. We only need to survive for 10 days, but..." Sorath said.

"But...?"

Shrugging dismissively, he continued.

"But it will be hard."

Atri stared at Sorath. 

"Because of the monsters, right?"

"Yes," Sorath. "Based on what Enri described, that was probably an unknown monster that hadn't been recorded before."

"A new species..." Atri grimaced. "There's always one or two new species every year. And this is the 24th new monster seen on the seventh floor."

"If we wanted to report it to the Association and the Houses..."

Before Enri could finish her words, Sorath cut her.

"No need to. Just tell what you saw from afar."

Clearing his throat, he brought back the topic.

"So, about our plan..."

Their plan was simple. Plainly simple. If the objective wanted them to survive, then that was what they would do. And to do that, they needed to stay low and hide, avoiding combats at all costs.

By combat, not only monsters were their enemies, but also the other candidates. 

Unlike the fifth trial, where they couldn't meet because they were in a different "room" or "server" from each other, the sixth's concept allowed them to encounter each other, just like the solo trial stages.

Now, the question is... what challenges would they encounter on the seventh trial?

...

Three days had passed since then. Sorath's group was settled on the hill southeast of the burned village. Even when they did encounter various unsettling monsters during their survival in the forest, luckily, they avoided them all.

The challenge hadn't made an appearance in front of the group yet. All that was because Sorath flawlessly predicted every monster's movement and led his team to the safety of the hill.

After arriving, they set up a camp, finally having a proper rest for a night without worrying about an ambush.

That was it. Sorath's group journey was uneventful, though with a bit of thrill.

However, that would soon end.

Sorath, who kept avoiding conflict all this time, would soon seek one.

Sigh.

On a late morning - or supposed to be a morning, on the fourth day of survival, Sorath gazed at the sky covered by dark, evil-looking clouds.

If the first floor was called a floor that never slumbered because its sun never stopped showering the empty greenfields, then the seventh was called a floor that never awoke because it was always dark like night, even during daytime.

In that gloomy world, the candidates always felt restless. Not only did this floor have strong monsters that could disqualify them in the blink of an eye, but the constant mental drain from the sceneries and surroundings evoked a nightmare in their minds.

Fortunately, Sorath's group was unaffected by those mental sufferings. Of course, they were the most prepared group. And after them was Julian's group.

Sighing at the sight of the dark red sky, Sorath walked away from the center of the camp where most of his groupmates were gathering and talking.

Noticing his leave, Atri called out.

"Where are you going?"

"Looking for Nihila, she's been missing since the dawn," he said, waving his backhand.

Atri's gaze never stopped following Sorath's figure, who slowly became a dark silhouette and disappeared as though swallowed by the dense fog. Only then did she avert her eyes and talk with Enri and Fred again.

Staring at them from the tree branch, Brandon ate the black fruit that grew on that tree. Finding out the taste wasn't to his liking, he threw it to the ground. Without anything that could satisfy him, he held onto the branch as he shifted his weight, hugging his left leg.

"I'm bored... I want to fight something- anything!" he said.

...

Sorath walked and climbed the summit. At that place, he found a fair-skinned girl sitting on the edge with her legs dangling on the cliff.

Standing next to her, he looked down at the cliff. It was filled with darkness. Curious, he kicked some rocks down. But no matter how long he waited, the sound he expected never came. It meant one thing. The cliff was so deep that it needed some time for an object to reach the bottom, and even if it hit the ground down there, it wouldn't produce any sound.

If that were the case, calling it a cliff would mean looking down on this place. Rather than the 'cliff,' it was more like the 'abyss.'

Even after knowing the abyss was in front of him, Sorath stayed calm. Though if it was his previous self, he would have jumped out of his heart and peed out of fear.

Throwing his gaze forward, where the fog clumped up together, Sorath said:

"Aren't you afraid of falling down there?"

There was a pause for a couple of seconds before Nihila answered.

"No. Why would I?"

Sorath smirked, feeling amused by her answer.

"You could die, you know."

Hearing Sorath's words, Nihila looked down at the abyss. After a while, her emotionless face finally broke into a smile.

"Then it would be great. Nothing matters in this world anyway."