Ox heard what Sable had said, and he agreed.
"We should tell the other teachers," Ox said.
"What good would that do? You know even if we all went up against Darius, we would lose," Sable whispered. He didn't want any of his students hearing him.
"Yes, but if we tell this to the Ascension group, we could back him into a corner," Ox said with glee.
"Then what about the students? You know as well as I do the Broken Veil isn't the biggest fan of Evolvers. And I hate to say it, but we need Darius to keep them back—at least for now," Sable said, being the voice of reason.
Ox didn't like what he was hearing, but he knew Sable was right.
"You're right, but I'll still tell the other teachers. They need to know. Heck, I think some of them already do know and are, in fact, working with Darius," Ox said, feeling a chill in his chest. He felt like one of the teachers was helping Darius awaken students—at the cost of the others.
⸻
Back with Team C
Riven was sitting on a tree branch, waiting with his gauntlets beside him. It looked like he was expecting someone.
Then someone arrived.
A red-haired girl jumped onto the same branch. She had just finished checking on her friend Kira and the people she gave weapons to. Now, she wanted to talk to the boy sitting in front of her.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" Riven asked, though he already knew.
"Thank you," Nico said immediately with a bow. "I don't know what you did or how you did it. All I know is that you saved my life—and I owe you. Anything you need, I'll provide. I swear."
She was almost kneeling, but Riven gently stopped her.
"No, you don't owe me anything. If anything, we're even—from when your dad and you saved me and my brothers' lives." He placed both hands on Nico's shoulders and lifted her upper body. He smiled. "All we need to do now is sleep and hope the best for our friends."
Nico nodded as she saw Riven getting ready to lie down.
"Aren't you scared of any beasts?" she asked.
"Nah. Looks like those guys are doing watch all night, so…" Riven said nonchalantly as he lay back on the large branch.
Suddenly, he heard a ding.
[System: Party members have been forced apart]
[New Quest Received: Reunite with your party]
[Reward: System Reward]
"A little bit late for that, don't you think, System?" Riven muttered, trying to get comfortable.
But then he stopped.
"Wait… if the system is giving this now, is something happening to the others? Or about to happen?"
He couldn't do anything but hope for the best… and fall asleep.
⸻
The Next Day
Team A was waking from their sleep. They slowly emerged from the cave. The sky still looked the same, and none of them could tell if it was morning, afternoon, or night. They woke when their bodies told them to.
All the students stepped out, heads on a swivel, checking the scenery for any beasts—but none appeared to be nearby.
"Okay, everyone, gather around," the head said. Everyone followed his instructions.
"So, the small team I sent should be nearing team A in about a day or so—if no one slowed them down," he added, thinking of Luka.
"But that doesn't mean we can camp here. It's most likely that this cave belongs to a beast. We leave before it comes back. We'll be keeping a pace that I'm sure all of you can follow."
With that, he exited the cave and started running. Everyone followed.
Joey and Harkel stayed at the back, just in case anyone fell.
"Hey, do you also feel something?" Joey asked.
"Yeah. I thought I was the only one," Harkel replied with a smile.
"What is it?" Joey questioned again.
"Can't you tell? It's like… a power building up inside us, ready to burst," Harkel said, an even bigger grin forming on his face. "We technically never naturally awakened… so this could be the feeling of it. You know what that means, Joey? We're awakening—again. It's slow, but it's happening. This means…"
"We can finally catch up with them," they both said in unison—Joey thinking of Riven, and Harkel thinking of Jordan.
As the group kept moving, a beast—similar in shape to the last one but with black eyes—watched from the distance. A wicked smile formed on its face.
"Let the hunt begin," the wolf-like beast whispered.
It waited for the group to gain distance before following silently—keeping far enough to stay undetected.
⸻
With Team D
Ox, still fuming from his talk the night before, calmed down as he addressed the students.
"Okay, we'll be heading north. We have a rendezvous point where we'll meet the other teams. Hopefully, what's left of Team A will meet us there. So we keep running. We can't carry you, so don't ask If we do a beast could attack, we'll be too slow to react. If you're tired, say something straight away. Let's move."
His tone was firm and straight to the point. Some students thought it was cruel how he spoke about the dead… but they moved on.
After all, the teachers had saved them.
Once everyone was out of the trees, they were on the move.
Wren and Jordan stayed in the middle of the group.
"Hey, can you tell if any beasts are around?" Wren asked.
"No," Jordan replied.
"Isn't it weird? Both us and Team C got low-level beast hordes… but Team A got slammed by high-level ones. I mean, sure, the beasts are strong enough to kill students—but teachers too?" Wren questioned.
"I know. Something doesn't feel right. It feels like… we're caged," Jordan said.
"Like there's a master hand guiding us," another voice joined in. It was Skye.
"Skye? I didn't know you were here. Why couldn't I hear your sound evolution when we were fighting the bulls?" Jordan asked.
Skye scratched her cheek nervously as her twin ponytails were waving in the wind.
"After finding out what happened to Team A, and with everyone splitting up, I decided to stay here. They said I shouldn't use my abilities—might attract more beasts," Skye admitted, sweat dripping down her face.
"Why don't you try putting your hands on the beast and vibrating your power through it?" Wren said calmly.
Skye paused. "Oh wow—that's a great way to use it! How did you come up with that?" she asked, catching Wren off guard.
"Oh, um… I do the same thing with my lightning. It makes a pretty loud sound when I use it," Wren said with a nervous smile.
"Good save," Jordan whispered.
⸻
With Team B
"Okay, we'll be going to this location," the team leader said, bringing up a display. It was the same rendezvous point Team D was heading toward.
Team B set off.
Unnoticed, Leo quietly activated his ability—creating a silent zone around them so no one outside their radius could hear them.
Little did Leo know… this would keep his team alive—at least until the end.
Tessa dropped her ID. Someone picked it up—it was Jude.
"Hey, thanks," Tessa said.
"No problem," Jude replied. "But… why did you bring your ID in the first place?"
"I mean, you can never be too sure," Tessa said with a nervous grin, knowing how silly it sounded.
⸻
Meanwhile, with the six-man—or rather, five-man—group plus one student…
They were running through the large forest after a bit of rest. The five men glanced to the side to see a green-haired boy keeping pace.
They laughed.
"I guess you can back up all that bark after all, kid," one of the men said.
"Who'd have thought awakening would be so easy for the next generation? I didn't awaken until I was in my thirties," another laughed.
"Wait… thirties? But all these guys look like they're in their thirties. I guess awakening affects your outer appearance too," Luka thought, chuckling at the remark.
But something snapped.
The others sensed it too.
A black figure burst from the shadows, claws aiming for one of their heads.
Luckily, they all dodged.
Standing before them… a tall, black, wolf-like creature with red eyes.
"Your use is no longer needed," the wolf announced aloud with a wicked grin
With Team C
Riven was still nervous after the system prompt from last night. And after another scare when he woke up, he felt even worse—he had awoken to find an arm clinging to him.
It was Nico.
She had slept right next to him, her body pressed up against his.
This frightened Riven, who immediately shot up when he saw Nico's body so close to his—especially her medium-sized boo—
"Get it together, Riven," he muttered to himself, trying to calm down.
The team leader then gave the same rundown that every other group had received, but instead of heading to the rendezvous point, Team C would be going toward the six-person squad instead—to try to reach and assist Team A faster.
Riven agreed with this. Out of Team A, Team B, and Team D…
Team A was the group he was most worried about. Harkel and Joey's team seemed to have gone through the worst of the attacks.
Team C was soon on the move.
From a far distance, an orange-eyed, wolf-like beast watched them, giggling softly.
"The hunt has begun."
With Team A – A Small 5-Man Team and One Student
The small team of six was on their way to find Team C, but they were stopped by what looked like a wolf-like beast. However, it wasn't the beast itself that shocked them—it was what it said. That made everyone think the same thing:
"Did that beast just talk?"
This thought raced through everyone's mind.
"Are beasts supposed to know how to talk?" Luka asked, being the only person who really didn't know about these creatures.
"No… not to our knowledge, at least," one of the staff replied.
"What do you mean our use is no longer needed?" asked the man who seemed to be the team leader, trying to stay calm and assess the situation.
"What I mean is—thank you. Oh! I should first introduce myself since I'll be your killer. My original name was Andy, but you can call me Avenor," the beast smiled as he said this.
"Okay, Avenor… what exactly do you mean by your 'original name' and 'thank you'?" The leader was clearly stalling, trying to form a plan.
"Trying to buy time, I see," Avenor said, reading them like a book. He crouched into a running stance and charged toward the group of six.
One man slammed his hands into the ground, raising the earth into a wall. Avenor leaped over it, swiping his long claws toward the man's head—but vines suddenly grabbed the man and pulled him out of harm's way.
"Thanks," the man said to Luka, who had his hand on the ground again, trying to make the earth fluctuate to throw Avenor off balance. But it failed—Avenor dodged easily.
Luka looked like he was about to rush in, but the group leader stopped him.
"Kid, I can multiply my strength by four times, so here's what's going to happen…" That was all the man said as he handed Luka the tracker and strapped it to his wrist. Then he picked Luka up and threw him as hard as he could. Luka went flying through the air.
"Use your vines to soften your fall!" the man shouted—his final words to Luka.
As he fell, Luka used vines and nearby nature to break his fall. When he hit the ground, he immediately started running, fear in his eyes.
"What was that back there? It talked… and its presence—I could barely move. If it wasn't for that mud wall, I probably would've frozen in place." Luka shook his head. "No… I can't think about that now. I need to get to Kira."
He pulled out the tracker map. He could see Team C, and surprisingly, he wasn't far. The man's throw had launched him farther than expected.
"Please be safe, Kira," Luka said as he ran at full speed.
⸻
With Team C
Riven was still looking at the system quest he'd received as the team continued running.
"What does this mean? After the beast quest—which I still haven't claimed—I now know the system can either tell the future or detect things more accurately than anyone else," Riven thought.
Then another prompt appeared:
[System: You are being followed by one of the Broken Veil's long-lost experiments.]
[Quest Received: Kill the experiment before it kills you.]
"What?! System—what experiment? I don't even sense anything following us…" Riven looked around, which didn't go unnoticed by Nico. Then Riven saw an orange-reddish HUD icon in the air—just like it would appear for a party member.
That told Riven everything he needed to know.
"Sir! We're being followed!" Riven yelled out.
"What?" the head instructor barked. He closed his eyes to focus—but sensed nothing. "Don't play games, kid."
"I'm not, sir! It's around 200 meters behind us!" Riven insisted, based on what the system was showing.
"How can a kid sense that far? Doesn't matter. I need to do what Sir Darius asked of me," the instructor thought.
"Stop playing around, kid!" the man shouted.
Riven was annoyed by the dismissal. "Fine. Since it's a system quest, I should complete it myself."
Using his Weightless ability, Riven hopped out of formation.
"Hey! You two—stop!" one of the teachers shouted.
"Wait… two?" Riven thought, turning to see Nico keeping up with him—using flames from her hands as a booster.
"Why?" Riven asked.
"It's that head instructor—I don't trust him. If a student says they sense something, they should be believed, not dismissed," Nico replied.
Riven nodded, knowing it was too late to go back now.
"Grab my hand!" Riven shouted as they ran. Nico obeyed.
They both vanished—air rushing around them—and reappeared in front of a beast.
"What—how did we get here?" Nico asked, but when she saw the beast, she quickly unsheathed her sword and ignited it in flames.
"Ahh… so you sensed me. And you have a teleportation evolution," the orange-eyed beast said.
"Did… did that beast just talk? I've never heard that before," Nico asked nervously. Talking beasts usually meant dangerous ones.
"That's because you aren't a beast. Am I right?" Riven asked confidently, knowing the system had called it a Broken Veil experiment.
The smile vanished from the beast's face.
"How… how did you know?" she asked slowly.
"A guess. Especially since you have feminine features—which beasts don't usually have," Riven replied.
The beast chuckled. "You're right. I guess I do look different. At first, I thought you were part of them," she said.
Riven knew who she meant—The Broken Veil.
"But if you're wondering why I was following you—it's simple. We need one of your teleportations to get out of here. And now that you've come to me, I can kill you without anyone noticing."
"A werewolf?" Nico muttered. Riven understood. The creature looked almost identical to the werewolves from mythology.
"What do they have to do with the Broken Veil?" he wondered.
Suddenly, the wolf-like woman rushed in and punched Riven in the gut. He flew through the trees and slammed into a branch, coughing up blood.
"He should be out," she said, turning toward Nico.
But Nico launched herself upward with a burst of flames. The wolf looked up—only to be met with a black-and-green gauntlet smashing her into a tree.
"Damn… the poison didn't activate," Riven thought, now fully armored with the items he brought the night before
He opened his system and activated an item
[2x EXP Activated]
The wolf stood, and what she saw next made her pause—Riven standing in his Black Verdant Armor, matching his gauntlets.
[Black Verdant Armor Set Equipped]
[Stats:
Strength +38
Speed +25
Durability +30]
Riven glanced at the stats, smiled, and cracked his knuckles.
"A Level 3 armor… is no joke. Now—let's continue," he said, slamming his gauntlets together.
⸻
With Team D
Wren and Jordan were running with their group. Half the day had passed, and they were still moving. Some students had collapsed, but Wren and Jordan picked them up without hesitation.
"Students told him they were tired. What's his problem?" Skye asked, looking around. Most of the group looked like they were about to pass out.
"If a beast shows up, these kids might not have the energy to fight," Wren said.
Then it happened—everyone sensed it.
A beast appeared before them. Another wolf-type—this one with yellow eyes. The group stopped. Most of the students were panting hard, barely able to lift their weapons.
"Okay! Finally caught up to you!" the yellow-eyed wolf said. "Now… let's see if you'll talk—unlike the others," he added with a smile, revealing dried blood on his arms and mouth.
⸻
Back With Team A
After a short rest to let students recover, they were moving again. Joey and Harkel remained at the back, watching over everyone.
Harkel noticed Joey looked frustrated.
"What's bothering you? Besides, you know, everything?" Harkel asked.
Joey looked around, then leaned closer.
"I wish we could access the system without always needing to be in the party. If we had access right now, we could've bought a Level 4 weapon—maybe even higher. Something to make sure what happened never happens again."
"Yeah… but since we're not in the party anymore—"
"—we can't use the system," Harkel finished.
"But something tells me Riven is probably using it right now to its fullest," he said with a smile, fist-bumping Joey.
Suddenly, a black-eyed wolf stepped out from the forest.
"Since everyone's getting into conflicts… I guess I should too," it said coldly.
When Team A saw the wolf-like beast, they stopped in their tracks.
"All students, stay back!" a teacher yelled as they rushed in with their great axe. But when they slashed at the beast, it dodged—then immediately bit off the teacher's head.
This sent shockwaves through every student's skin. Sure, four teachers had died before, but they only died while helping students. This teacher, an awakened one, was killed after a single move.
The rest of the teachers charged in, including the head. But before he joined the fray, he shouted:
"Students, run toward the forest and scatter! Stay close to at least one or two of your peers. We'll come for you after we deal with this beast!"
All the students ran in the same direction, veering into the forest but splitting apart shortly after. Joey and Harkel stayed together as they ran. Harkel wanted to fight, but when he saw Joey running, he couldn't help but follow.
"Why are we running? They can handle that beast," Harkel said, frustration in his voice.
"I don't know… but for some reason, I'm getting really bad vibes from that thing. Even worse than the praying mantis," Joey replied, sweat sliding down his cheek. "And… did you hear it? It talked. And if I'm putting its words together correctly… there are others like it. Fighting the other teams."