Chương 39: The Trial of Faith

Ch 39 - The Trial of Faith How many hours had they been running? Three? No, longer than that. Five hours. Yes, they had been running for five straight hours, and now the sun was beginning to sink in the distance. Its light grew thinner with every passing minute, while the objective of their challenge remained the same: reach the point where the sun set.

"We're not going to finish this challenge. The sun's already disappearing behind those mountains," Hugh said, his voice heavy with exhaustion.

"At the speed we're moving, there's no way we'll make it. I think this is where our journey ends. I'm sorry if I..."

"We can't give up yet, Hugh! We still have one hour left!" Suki shouted back.

"We can still catch it! Come on, pick up the pace! We still have a chance!" They forced themselves to run faster. At least, that was what they intended to do. In reality, their pace only grew slower. Every bit of strength they had was almost gone after running for so long. It wasn't just the blazing heat that wore them down. The terrain itself was just as cruel. Several times they had to cross fields of jagged rocks that were difficult to navigate. The sharp stones made every step painful.

Hugh eventually had no choice but to carry Malon across one of those sections, even though the boy insisted on walking on his own. There were also steep sandy slopes they had to climb, only to slide back down because the dry sand gave way beneath their feet. It did more than waste their time. Every climb drained what little strength they had left. Zeph kept running without knowing how much farther they still had to go.

He had run greater distances before, but those runs had been in the outside world, under cool weather and across smooth roads. This was nothing like that. The sun continued to disappear. Only a sliver of light remained, and night was closing in.

"We're not going to make it," Suki said beside them. Still, they kept running, clinging to the hope that the last remaining light would be enough to guide them to their destination. Then, in the middle of their sprint, the final trace of sunlight vanished beyond the horizon. They came to an abrupt stop. Each of them bent over with their hands resting on their knees, struggling to catch their breath.

"So... did we fail?" Hugh asked between heavy breaths. [Second Trial Completed.] [Participants Remaining: 170 / 2, 300] [Third Trial] [The Challenge of Faith] [Place your trust in the path before you.] [Only those who choose correctly will advance.] [Failure will result in immediate elimination.] They watched as another system notification appeared before them. They had actually completed the second trial.

"But... didn't we fail to reach the destination before the sun set?" Hugh asked, still trying to catch his breath.

"No. Not exactly," Malon replied.

"The challenge only said, Continue toward the setting sun. Reach the destination before nightfall. It never actually told us what the destination was." He paused for a moment, breathing heavily before continuing.

"I think what they were really testing was our determination." He took another breath.

"They wanted to see how far we were willing to keep fighting, even when we had no idea when the mission would finally end."

"Just like during a rift expedition," Zeph said.

"Exactly," Malon replied with a nod. They remained there for a while as night completely swallowed the landscape around them. Only the pale light of the moon and the countless stars provided enough illumination for them to make out one another's faces. They sat together, sharing what little food and water they had while waiting to see how the third trial would begin.

"So... what should we do now?" Hugh asked.

"I don't know. The system only said The Challenge of Faith. It didn't give us any instructions." Zeph said. Then… All of them suddenly tensed at the same time. Something was slowly walking toward them. They immediately rose to their feet, their bodies instinctively shifting into guarded stances.

"Hold," Malon said quietly, raising a hand to stop anyone from acting too soon. As the figure drew closer, they realized it was someone wrapped in a long white robe that concealed their entire body. Even their face was completely hidden beneath the hood. [The Judge of the Third Trial has arrived.] This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. [The Trial of Faith will now begin.]"Is... that the one who's going to administer the third trial?" Hugh asked.

"I believe so," Malon answered.

"It looks... strange. Is that even a human? I can't even see its face." Suki said. A few moments later, the robed figure stopped directly in front of them. A faint white aura surrounded its body, making the mysterious figure appear almost luminous against the darkness of the night. Even with its face hidden, its silent presence alone was enough to make the air around them feel heavy. The robed figure slowly raised both hands.

Resting on its open palms were four plain white envelopes, silently inviting each of them to take one. Malon hesitated at the sight. Every instinct told him this had to be part of the third trial. He reached out to take one, but Zeph grabbed an envelope first. A moment later, Malon took another, and Hugh quickly picked up the remaining two. He handed one of them to Suki.

"Thanks," she whispered quietly. Almost by instinct, they all opened their envelopes. One by one, they unfolded the letters inside and began to read.

"Kill one of them, or you will lose." Zeph read the sentence silently. His hand immediately tightened around the paper.

"It says..." Suki spoke louder than anyone else, her voice trembling.

"It says one of us has to die." Her face turned pale.

"It says one person has to die... and the rest of us will be allowed to continue."

"Then let me be the one," Hugh said.

"I haven't contributed much here. None of you need to..."

"Hugh, no! Nobody's throwing their life away here!" Malon shouted. At the same moment, Suki quietly began stepping backward.

"Suki, don't!" Malon yelled.

"This is ridiculous! I know exactly what you're thinking, so don't do anything that reckless!" Without replying, Suki continued backing away, putting several more steps between herself and the rest of the group.

"Malon... we've come this far," she said softly.

"You were the one who told us that no one would truly die inside this Rift." She lowered her eyes for a moment before looking back at them.

"I don't want any of us to fail. But even more than that... I don't want anyone else to become the sacrifice so that I can survive. I know we only met today, but you've already shown me so much kindness. I still have plenty of time ahead of me. Please... let me be the one."

"No, Suki! This is insane!" Malon shouted.

"Suki, you don't have to do this," Hugh said, trying once more to change her mind. In that brief moment, Suki pulled the dagger from her belt. Without another word, she turned the blade toward her own stomach.

"Suki, stop!" Hugh lunged forward. He was just fast enough. His hand caught her wrist before the dagger could pierce her body.

"Suki, we can talk about this," Hugh said, breathing hard as he held her arm in place.

"No one is sacrificing themselves."

"This is the best decision," Suki whispered, struggling against his grip.

"No one else has to get hurt. It's that simple. Because I know you'd do the same thing if I didn't act first... and I won't let that happen."

"Suki, listen to me," Malon said, stepping closer.

"There has to be another answer. There's no way this trial is as simple as choosing someone to die. We need to think before any of us does something we can't take back. Please trust me." The two of them desperately tried to convince Suki to stop. In the middle of the chaos, Malon suddenly turned toward Zeph.

"Zeph, we have to..." His voice caught in his throat before he could finish. It wasn't just Malon. Even Hugh's grip around Suki's wrist loosened. A second later, Suki gasped in shock and dropped the dagger onto the ground with a loud clang. Because what they saw left all three of them frozen. Zeph had already driven his sword straight into the face of the hooded figure. The figure staggered backward as a pained groan echoed through the area.

Moments later, it collapsed onto its knees before falling onto its back, the sword still buried deep in the darkness beneath its hood. The other three could only stare in complete disbelief, their jaws hanging open as they struggled to process what had just happened."' Kill one of them, or you will lose,'" Zeph said flatly.

"Then this bastard should count as one of 'them.'" He looked down at the dying figure without the slightest change in expression.

"Besides... What kind of stupid trial tells people to kill their own teammates?" Then, without warning, countless streams of golden light burst from every direction, flooding their vision with a brilliant golden glow. The hooded figure dissolved into particles of light before disappearing completely. [The Final Trial: The Challenge of Faith has been successfully completed.] [Trial Condition Cleared.] [Rather than sacrificing one another, your party chose to follow its own convictions and challenge the premise of the trial itself.] [The hidden completion condition has been fulfilled.] [Faith is not blind obedience. Faith is the courage to stand by what you believe is right, even when every apparent answer tells you otherwise.] [You refused to abandon your companions.] [You questioned the trial instead of each other.] [Your resolve has been acknowledged.] [Special Completion Reward Unlocked.] [Congratulations.] [All stages of the Final Trial have now been successfully completed.] [Preparing to transport surviving participants to the next area…] Zeph walked over and picked up his sword from the ground. The moment his hand gripped the hilt, the blade vanished and returned to wherever he stored it. He then turned toward the others and smiled.

"Well, we did it," he said.

"Honestly, I'd rather all of us fail than have to kill one of you. Malon has far too little confidence in himself. If I killed him after everything that's happened, he'd probably spend the rest of his life believing he'd been betrayed by someone he trusted."

"Hugh is too willing to put everyone else before himself. Killing him would only take away someone who's already given so much to other people. And Suki..." Zeph fell silent for a moment.

"She's too pure to be sacrificed." The expressions on their faces slowly changed. Suki's eyes filled with tears before they finally spilled down her cheeks.

"Why?" she asked softly.

"I really was prepared to sacrifice myself." She stepped closer to him.

"I was terrified when I held that dagger against my stomach... It wasn't easy. I kept thinking that maybe I really would die. But what scared me even more was the thought of one of you having to become the sacrifice instead." She stood in front of him, openly crying. A moment later, she stepped into his arms. Zeph quietly accepted the embrace as she buried her face against his chest.

"I never would have made it this far without all of you," she whispered. Zeph let out a quiet sigh. Would he really have made it this far without them? Even he didn't know the answer. Maybe he would have spent the entire journey fighting everyone he came across. Maybe he would have failed to complete the second trial if they hadn't been there to keep him moving forward.

"We did it," he said with a small smile.

"Looks like we're getting into the Lumeris Hunter Academy." Suki slowly pulled away and stepped back as Malon and Hugh finally walked over.

"Yes! We did it! We actually did it!" Hugh shouted happily.

"I finally passed after taking the selection test three times!" He laughed and even started dancing around in celebration. Watching Hugh celebrate, Suki couldn't help laughing through her tears. She wiped her eyes before joining in the celebration with a bright smile. Meanwhile, Malon simply stood there. His expression remained blank, as though he still hadn't fully processed everything that had happened. After a long silence, he looked straight at Zeph.

"Zeph... let me follow you after this."

"Follow?" Zeph repeated, clearly caught off guard.

"What exactly do you mean by 'follow'?"