In the eastern region of the island, Kaya, Noor, and Ria's team had reached a place no one else had.
Kaya had been right.
The east was different.
The trees here were larger than anywhere else on the island. Their trunks were wide enough that several people standing shoulder to shoulder still couldn't encircle them. Sunlight barely penetrated the dense canopy overhead.
The air itself felt heavier.
Not with humidity.
With something that couldn't easily be named.
As though the entire region carried an invisible weight pressing down on their shoulders.
Ria—her dark brown hair braided neatly behind her, her calm gray eyes fixed ahead, a faint wind aura dancing around her fingertips—came to a halt.
"Do you hear that?"
Noor frowned.
"Hear what?"
"…Nothing."
He looked at her.
"No insects."
"No birds."
"Nothing at all."
"In a place like this."
The three of them stopped.
Slowly, Kaya rested a hand on the hilt of her sword.
Then they saw it.
The den.
An enormous natural cave hidden behind towering piles of stone.
Its entrance was far too large to have formed naturally.
It looked as though countless years had widened it into something massive.
The ground surrounding it felt wrong.
Not merely packed down by frequent movement.
It looked as though something vastly larger than any monster they had encountered had traveled through this area over and over again.
Deep grooves scarred the stone.
Trees had been snapped in half—not near their tops, but straight through their thick trunks.
Immense craters marked the earth.
Nothing about the destruction matched any creature they had seen during this examination.
From deep inside the cave…
Sounds.
Not the footsteps of a single monster.
Many.
Layered atop one another.
Multiple monsters.
Yet they weren't fighting.
They weren't leaving the cave.
There were no territorial roars.
No challenges.
They were hiding.
Level Seven monsters.
Gathered together inside a single den.
Crowding into its deepest recesses.
As far from the entrance…
As far from the outside world…
As possible.
Noor swallowed.
"…Are they hiding?"
"Yes," Kaya answered.
Ria stared into the darkness.
"…From what?"
No one replied.
They didn't need to.
The answer was painfully obvious.
If monsters of this level were hiding together like frightened prey…
Then something else existed on this island.
Something higher on the food chain.
Something capable of making Level Seven monsters look like prey instead of predators.
Noor's eyes drifted toward the shattered trees.
The enormous gouges in the earth.
The scars carved into solid rock.
"What kind of creature…"
"…could break a tree that size clean through the middle?"
Again…
No one answered.
Then—
In a single instant…
Every sound inside the cave stopped.
The monsters hiding within fell completely silent.
As though something…
Had realized someone was watching from outside.
As though something…
Had begun to notice them.
This new silence was heavier than the noise that had come before.
Far heavier.
"We're leaving."
Kaya didn't wait for anyone to answer.
They retreated slowly.
Without making a sound.
Without ever turning their backs on the cave entrance until they had put enough distance between themselves and it.
Only then…
Did they run.
None of them spoke until they were safely away.
"We didn't earn a single point there," Ria said quietly.
"No."
"Then why did we—"
"Because knowing what you should never approach…"
"…is more valuable than any number of points."
Noor glanced back toward the direction they had come from.
He said nothing.
Inside the monitoring room—
"Kaya's team reached the eastern region."
Kuro's eyes narrowed.
"And they withdrew."
"Smart."
Seiji adjusted his glasses.
"Has anyone else made it that far?"
"They're the first."
Silence filled the room.
"The thing in the east…" Kuro muttered.
Ryo finally spoke.
"It's not part of the official examination."
Everyone looked at him.
"Level Seven zones don't normally contain…"
"…what we've detected in the east."
Saya frowned.
"Then what is it?"
"I don't know."
"Not yet."
His answer came calmly.
Yet there was something in his eyes that hadn't been there moments earlier.
Something that looked remarkably like genuine concern.
"We should notify—"
"Wait."
Ryo interrupted before Seiji could finish.
Silence.
"Ryo."
Kuro's voice was quiet.
Ryo didn't answer.
His gaze remained fixed on the screen showing the eastern region.
The enormous cave.
Its vast entrance.
The gouged earth surrounding it.
Then his eyes shifted to another monitor.
The cave where Uzuki sat alone.
He said nothing.
As evening approached…
Tako's team—four students overflowing with confidence—had been among the day's biggest success stories.
At first.
Tako, with his red hair, booming voice, and unshakable confidence, led his teammates with genuine enthusiasm.
Yuma.
Sera.
Kazu.
They followed close behind.
Within the first two hours they had gathered an impressive number of points.
Monsters fell.
Their confidence soared.
Then…
They found the red monster.
It was larger than anything they had faced before.
Heat radiated from its body so intensely that the air around it shimmered.
Its movements were impossibly fast for something of its size.
Tako attacked first.
A direct assault.
Every ounce of strength.
Every ounce of confidence.
The monster took the hit.
Then responded.
A single blow.
It hurled Tako fifteen meters through the air before he crashed into the trunk of a tree and slid helplessly to the ground.
Yuma.
Sera.
Kazu.
All three attacked together.
Their coordination was good.
Their assaults came from multiple directions.
But the monster moved faster than they could think.
Faster than they could react.
Ten minutes.
That was all it took.
The automatic withdrawal system activated for the entire team.
Seiji closed his notebook.
"A complete misjudgment of the enemy."
"They had enough strength," Saya replied.
"They simply used it the wrong way."
Kuro nodded once.
"Enthusiasm…"
"…without calculation."
Meanwhile, Selah, Maya, and Rina's team—a trio of third-year students—had chosen an entirely different approach.
No fighting.
No direct confrontations.
Only movement.
Collection.
Silence.
They knew the forest well.
They moved without making a sound, gathering medicinal herbs and rare materials while avoiding both monsters and other teams whenever possible.
Their points accumulated slowly…
But steadily.
"They're smart," Saya said.
"They won't take first place with that strategy," Seiji replied.
"Perhaps they aren't trying to."
"Perhaps they simply want to leave with the best result they can."
Seiji smiled faintly.
"And that's a kind of intelligence in itself."
By the end of the day, Shina and Iris returned to the cave.
Throughout the day, they had made eight agreements.
Six teams accepted.
One refused and was forced to withdraw.
One was still considering the offer.
Their points had increased considerably.
But something else had begun to take shape across the island.
At a temporary camp, a team led by Hana sat reviewing the day's events.
Her long red hair flowed over her shoulders, and her sharp eyes remained fixed on the numbers before her.
"Fifty percent…"
"…of everything we'll earn."
One of her teammates frowned.
"What about it?"
"Shina."
She spoke the name slowly.
"She didn't help us."
"She invested in us."
Silence followed.
"If we run into them again…"
"…it won't be a friendly encounter."
Back inside the cave…
Uzuki remained seated.
The grip of his hand around his staff loosened…
Just slightly…
The moment Shina and Iris entered.
Shina noticed.
She quietly opened her device.
And wrote a single note.
Just one short note.
We were not shown what she wrote.
End of chapter 17