The question made the air heavy.

From the moment Lucas and Sae had entered the exam, they hadn't encountered anyone besides themselves. No tracks. No voices. No sign of other candidates.

Sae tried to draw in as much air as he could before answering, his breathing short and uneven.

"I have no idea."

The answer came out tired, almost hollow. He seemed to completely ignore the weight of the question—if he had even noticed it at all.

Lucas, though motionless, noticed his condition.

"Sae… if you can't hold on, you can always leave me behind. I can make an effort to get up before ten o'clock."

Sae shook his head, exhausted.

"Lucas… the admission exams can only be taken once."

The words echoed inside the cave, heavier than they should have been.

"Being a knight means protecting people with honor and standing firm."

He paused briefly before continuing.

"But it also means status."

He leaned his back more securely against the stone, closing his eyes for a moment.

"I was born a noble. Even if I fail this exam, the worst that can happen is being looked down on by my family."

"But you?" he continued. "You weren't born a noble."

Sae opened his eyes and looked straight at Lucas.

"If you fail this exam, your chances of becoming a knight are almost nonexistent. And if you don't make it… you'll spend the rest of your life fighting for money, always on the edge."

Lucas kept his gaze fixed on him.

"But that doesn't change anything in your life."

"Of course it does."

Sae cut him off without raising his voice.

"It changes everything."

He took a deep breath before continuing.

"Not only would I fail the exam… I'd have to carry the weight of having wasted a talent like yours."

He clenched his fist tightly.

"So stop complaining."

His voice came out firm—tired, but resolute.

"And let me handle the situation."

After a few minutes of rest, they left the cave and resumed their journey.

Lucas remained on Sae's back, a constant weight that made each step harder than the last. Still, they moved forward.

They passed several demonic beasts without being noticed—thanks to Lucas's ability, which continued to conceal their presence even in his condition.

They walked for long stretches, stopping only for short, irregular breaks. They rested little. Against all expectations, their pace was surprisingly fast. Gradually, they left behind the area of flying beasts and finally reached the region of ground-dwelling ones.

But something was wrong.

Very wrong.

This time, Sae wasn't the only one out of breath.

Lucas looked worse. Much worse than before.

Even without carrying any weight, his body showed clear signs of collapse. One of his eyes remained shut, his jaw clenched as if he were forcibly holding back pain. His breathing came in broken intervals, failing midway, and veins stood out visibly on his forehead, pulsing as if something inside his head were about to rupture.

The pain he had previously pretended to feel—just to force Sae to rest—was no longer an act.

It was real.

Dangerously real.

"Sae…"

His voice was weak, almost swallowed by the hot air.

"I need to stop."

There was a pause that lasted too long. Lucas tried to continue, but it took several seconds before he could gather the strength to speak again.

"My head…" — he swallowed hard. — "…it's burning."

Sae stopped immediately.

Everything seemed to shrink around them. His heart tightened in his chest, beating too fast, too hard. Lucas wasn't moving. Wasn't struggling. Wasn't walking. Wasn't carrying any weight.

So how was it possible…

…that he was suffering more than Sae himself?

Sae hurried over and leaned Lucas against an uneven rock. His body was far too hot to the touch, almost feverish. With trembling hands, he pulled out the water flask and offered it to him, watching every small movement, every faltering breath.

Lucas looked worse than before. Much worse.

"What's happening?" Sae asked, trying to keep his voice steady—and failing. "Is it your Gift again?"

Lucas took only a small sip, as if even swallowing required too much effort. Then he slowly shook his head.

"Not exactly…" His voice was low, heavy. "Concealing presence puts a heavy strain on the mind. Alone… I could endure it without problems."

He paused. Long.

His fingers dug into the rock.

"But hiding the vibration of two people…" — he took a deep breath, as if it hurt. — "…that's taking its toll."

A chill ran down Sae's spine.

It wasn't fear of the exam.

It wasn't fear of the beasts.

It was fear of watching Lucas break… slowly.

"Wait…" Sae spoke carefully, as if afraid of the answer. "So you want to deactivate the technique?"

Lucas lifted his gaze briefly. His eyes were clouded, far too tired to lie.

He nodded.

"It's inevitable."

The silence that followed was crushing. There were no screams, no explosions—only the distant sound of the volcano and Lucas's uneven breathing, reminding Sae that time was closing in on them.

"But without it…" Sae ran a hand through his hair, his fingers trembling slightly. His voice came out lower than he intended. "Without it, passing the second exam is impossible."

Lucas let out a short, heavy sigh, as if even breathing was a calculated effort.

"Not exactly."

He raised his gaze with difficulty. His eyes were dull, too tired to fake control.

"If I can concentrate enough, I can activate my Gift before twelve o'clock."

"By removing the speed restraints… I can take us to the destination faster than they can react."

Sae frowned. The initial relief died before it could fully form.

"But removing four restraints at once left you like this."

His voice faltered for a moment.

"Activating another one ahead of time… won't it completely destroy your body?"

Lucas didn't answer immediately.

He swallowed hard. The silence stretched longer than it should have.

"No."

The answer came dry. Final.

"But it's going to hurt like hell."

He paused briefly, as if deciding how much of the truth to reveal.

"And after that… I'll be completely immobile."

"For even longer."

The words fell like stone.

Sae closed his eyes for a moment. Took a deep breath. His chest tightened. He wanted to argue. To shout. To say there had to be another way.

But there wasn't.

Lucas continued, his voice lower now:

"I need at least one full hour of total concentration to prepare the removal of the restraints."

"For that…" — he hesitated — "I'll have to stop hiding our presence."

Sae opened his eyes immediately.

"Then we just need to hide and wait, right?"

Lucas slowly shook his head.

"No."

"To reach the speed we need… I have to be at least three kilometers away from the destination."

The silence that followed was too heavy to ignore.

Sae slowly turned his head and summoned the runes.

Distance to destination: 8 km

Remaining time: 1h30min

He dismissed the runes. His hands were shaking.

When he looked back at Lucas, there was only disbelief—there was fear.

"No fucking way."

His voice came out low. Trembling.

Sae turned toward the volcano. The heat seemed to intensify just from looking at it.

"You're telling me I have to walk another five kilometers…"

"With you on my back…"

"In plain sight of all those beasts?"

Lucas nodded painfully.

"Exactly."

Silence settled in once more.

Sae drew in as much air as he could. His lungs burned. His body protested. Even so, he stood up.

He let out a heavy sigh.

Brave. Determined.

"This is going to be hard as hell… but it's the only chance we've got."

Without waiting for a response, he crouched and carefully adjusted Lucas onto his back. The weight was brutal, but Sae's gaze was steady.

"I promise I won't fail again."

From that point on, the pace changed.

Their advance became slow and cautious. Sae could no longer run or maintain a direct route.

He was forced to hide behind uneven rocks, take longer detours, and halt his march whenever a beast appeared in his field of vision. Every deviation cost time. Every pause drained energy.

Still, they pressed on.

Guided by the holographic map, they drew closer to the inevitable point.

The volcano.

The colossal structure loomed before them, expelling dark smoke that spread across the sky. The heat increased with every step, making the air shimmer and breathing difficult. The runes were clear. The path led through the volcano's interior.

But at the entrance…

Something was there.

Something too large to ignore. Too large to allow any illusion that crossing would be simple.

Sae stopped abruptly.

Sweat streamed down his face—not just from the heat, but from the primal instinct screaming danger. His entire body went on alert before his mind could even process what he was seeing.

"Of course…" he muttered, a bead of sweat sliding down his forehead. "It couldn't be easy."

Ahead of them, completely blocking the passage, stood a colossal demonic beast.

Beside the creature rested a gigantic hammer—the handle alone was the size of an entire Dwarven Giant. The hammerhead was partially buried in the ground, as if the very earth had been smashed repeatedly.

Compared to that thing, Lucas and Sae were insignificant.

Like insects before a living mountain.

The beast was crouched.

Between its enormous hands, it held something unrecognizable—a piece of dark, steaming flesh. It was impossible to tell whether it belonged to a beast… or something worse. The sound of bones being crushed echoed inside the volcano, accompanied by slow, heavy, deliberate chewing.

Every movement made the ground tremble.

The creature's skin was a deep red, marked by fissures that glowed faintly, like lava about to burst through. Its eyes—entirely red and pupil-less—stared into nothingness as it fed, indifferent to everything around it.

On its back, a massive mantle of thick white fur draped down, covering part of its body, including its lower half, grotesquely contrasting with its incandescent skin.

Sae felt his body go cold.

His stomach churned.

"How are we supposed to get past that…?" he murmured, his voice trembling. "Wouldn't it be better to go around?"

The beast stopped chewing for a moment.

The sound ceased.

Lucas replied without thinking, his voice harsher than he intended:

"Going around is impossible."

Sae swallowed hard.

"We're five kilometers from the destination and we only have thirty minutes," Lucas continued, his gaze locked on the creature, his jaw clenched. "Any detour increases the distance—we won't make it in time."

Sae gritted his teeth, his eyes still fixed on the beast.

"But that's a high-rank Illusory Giant," he said, almost in a whisper. "Even experienced knights struggle to deal with something at that level."

Before they could decide what to do, Lucas felt something wrong.

A sudden, crushing weight—like the ground itself had breathed.

The vibration surged through the earth and climbed up Lucas's legs like a shock.

His expression changed.

"Sae—" his voice came out tense, urgent. "Jump back. Now!"

Sae didn't question it. He threw himself backward instantly, gripping Lucas tightly. The movement was instinctive—and it saved their lives.

BOOOOOM!

A colossal hammer smashed into the ground where they had stood seconds earlier. The earth exploded in a deafening impact, opening a deep crater and hurling incandescent rocks in all directions. The shockwave nearly knocked them over.

Sae dropped to his knees, his heart racing. When he looked up, he saw the hammer embedded in the ground, steaming.

The colossal hammer remained lodged in the earth, releasing vapor as the impact continued to echo across the volcano's slope.

Sae struggled to breathe, his heart beating far too fast to keep up with his thoughts. The ground still trembled beneath his feet.

Ahead of them, the beast slowly lifted the hammer, as if the attack had been nothing more than a warning. Its red, empty eyes locked directly onto the spot where they were hiding.

Lucas felt the vibration ripple through his entire body.

There was no more doubt.

"Shit…" he muttered, his fingers digging into Sae's back. "We've been detected."

Sae felt his chest tighten.

"Then the plan is over…"

Lucas closed his eyes for a second—to steady himself, to contain the frustration threatening to spill over. When he opened them again, there was tension in them. Irritation. Urgency.

"No."

He opened them fully.

Took a deep breath, his body still immobile, but his mind racing.

"Now begins the only chance we have left."

The creature took a step forward.

The ground cracked under its weight.

Time continued to run.

And this time, there was no alternate path.

Only the passage ahead.