"If you're not going to work with us, you don't deserve to lead this raid!" Kara threw down her spear in frustration as she glared at Samuel. "Ha! You're just jealous that I killed the salamander without the help of the Mage types," he taunted. "Oh yeah? Then what was the salamander doing when you were gathering mana? Biting the air?"
"What do you...." Kara grabbed Samuel by his shirt. Gulp! "You don't even pay attention to what your teammates are doing! What kind of a leader are you?" She let him go. Thud! He feel back onto the floor. "That's it! I'm leading this raid. You are no longer the leader of this raid!"
Samuel's face paled. "What do you mean? You're going to lead this raid? Do...do you even know who I am," he sputtered. Kara frowned at him. Samuel desperately tried to take control. "You're not even in Stone House. You think a Pebble House weakling like you can oppose me?" Swish! Kara aimed her spear at Samuel's neck. "Of course I can. You won't even be in Stone House by the end of this month. Stop trying to act strong in front of me." She stared down at Samuel.
"Ha! The classes are set in stone. You can't get into Class 2." He scoffed at her. "Are you willing to bet on that?" Both of them stared at each other, neither willing to back down. Kara pushed her spear under Samuel's neck, trying to intimidate him. "You..." He looked around. Everybody was staring at him, as if they were telling him to back down. "A....alright! You can lead this raid." He held up his arms in surrender. Kara had more people supporting her than he did. There was no point in trying to take control when she was so adamant. There was nothing he could do.
Tap...tap...tap. Samuel's footsteps echoed through the tunnel as he walked away from her. Tap...tap...tap. He walked past Ethan, kicking the ground in frustration. "Bitch!" He swung his foot forward, aiming for Ethan's leg. "Ow!" Thud! He tripped onto the ground. "What are you..." He looked up to see a pair of blue eyes boring into him staring at him. "Y...you..."
"Samuel! Stop messing with the weaklings and get over here. Don't waste any more time than you already have!" Kara's voice cut across, calling him back. "Fucker." He cursed in frustration. Tap...tap...tap. Samuel didn't defy Kara as he walked towards her.
Crackle! "Alright! Thomas is back. We can keep moving." Charlie called out in a loud voice. "Hahh...hahh...hahh." Thomas breathed heavily as he finally broke free of the ice. His face was blue, as if he had just escaped from a blizzard. "Is it dead," he asked in a weak voice. "Yes," said Charlie. "Samuel killed it." She stressed on his name as she looked at him pointedly.
"Sir, that's amazing! I..." Samuel gave him a death glare, silencing him immediately. Evidently, Thomas wasn't good at reading the situation. "Thomas, Samuel. Stand with me at the front. You two!" She pointed at the weakest Mage type awakeners. "You guys will stand right behind us. Focus on scouting out the area with Mana Sense. Do not alert monsters before I tell you to do so. Understand?" They nodded their heads together.
"Charlie, you take those two and stand behind the scouts. Focus on slowing down and separating the monsters. Focus on Earth type spells." She turned towards Ethan. "And you. Stay at the back. Try not to fall behind." There was a hint of disdain in her eyes.
"Let's go!" Samuel picked up his sword, following Kara as she started moving forward. Ethan patted his dagger. There was no need to draw his weapon. The time to fight would come later. Tap...tap...tap...tap. The sound of footsteps echoed through the tunnel as the group moved forward. "The exit is in 100 metres. Get ready." One of the Mage type awakeners warned them. "Everybody, draw your weapons!" Shing! Shing!
Tap...tap...tap. Ethan could see some light as the end of the pathway came in sight. "Mages, keep scouting!" Whoosh! The sound of the wind whistling dwindled as they neared the exit. "We're out! Stay alert!" Ethan was blinded by the light as they stepped outside the tunnel. Splotch! Splotch! His feet landed inside the marshy soil, slowing him down. "Ugh!" Kara gave a disgusted look as she tried to wade through.
Splotch! Splotch! "Ma'am! There's a problem." Kara was instantly alert. "What's going on," she barked. "There's no monster within a hundred metres of us." Kara frowned. "So? What do you..." "Which means that either they're actively concealing their presence, or..." the boy gulped. "A stronger predator killed them all." Ethan stared into the purple fog, trying to look for any potential threats.
.
.
[Mana Sense(G)]
.
.
He couldn't detect any presences within a 100 metres, just as the boy had said. He frowned. This was a lower F ranked gate. There shouldn't be any monster strong enough to kill so many monsters by itself. And it was way too early for 'that thing' to happened. Splotch...Splotch...Splotch!
Ethan didn't think the monsters were masking their presence either. Splotch...Splotch...Splotch! Which meant that there was only one possibility. Splotch...Splotch! The fog slowly parted as they moved further into the swamp. Splotch...Splotch! "Look! That's..." Kara slowly lowered her spear as she took in the scene in front of her. "Oh my God!"
Ethan could see various corpses bobbing in the water, mouths wide open as their eyes stared lifelessly. "Aaah!" Charlie screamed as something brushed past her leg. "Charlie! Are you alright?" Kara turned behind immediately. "Yeah...it's...it's a monster's leg." She shuddered as she kicked the leg away. "Haha! Coward!" Samuel laughed at her.
Splotch! Splotch! He trudged forward as he headed towards a corpse. Splotch! Splotch! Samuel bent down right next to the body of a lizard like creature. He prodded it with a sword, examining it thoroughly. "It's been cleaved with a sword." He frowned. "All of these monsters were cut down by an awakener." He dragged another corpse, examining it as well.
"An awakener? Who could kill so many F rank monsters? I don't think anybody other than the first years are allowed in this gate." Thomas stared into the purple fog as if he was searching for the culprit. "Who else? There's only one person over here who's capable of doing this." Kara kicked a corpse in disgust.
"Noah Evans." The name spilled out of Ethan's mouth immediately. Everybody looked at him. "What? Noah? You've gotta be kidding me. There's no way he could kill that many monsters at once. Right?" Thomas looked at the others, trying to look for acknowledgement. "No, he's right." Samuel stood up. "Noah's killed every single one of these monsters." He glanced at the bodies around him, trying to confirm what he'd said.
"You're telling me that Noah killed about 15 monsters at his own rank- F-1 rank- all by himself?" Charlie scoffed at him. "It's possible. You know what they say about him, right? Noah's a monster that even surpassed those people." Samuel didn't dare to say the names of the five heirs. "And anyways. Who else would kill these monsters? These corpses are along the path we're supposed to take. Unless the teachers are clearing this place for us, Noah must have killed them."
Charlie shuddered as she studied a mutilated corpse of an ice salamander. "It would have been nice to have him here with us," she muttered. "Whatever! Let's keep moving on! We'll pick through any monsters he's left behind. That's all we can do. Let's move!" Kara barked loudly, taking control of the situation.
Splotch....splotch...splotch. Ethan walked next to a corpse as he stared at it. Noah definitely couldn't be classified as normal. Generally, monsters were much stronger than awakeners of the same rank. This difference in power wasn't apparent at the lower ranks, but as your rank increased, taking down a monster at your own rank would be pretty difficult.
Noah killing an F-1 rank monster by himself wasn't unbelievable. If he was skilled enough, taking down a monster at his rank should be possible. But Noah had utterly massacred so many creatures at the same rank as him at the same time. That was what was frightening.
Ethan waded forward through the marsh as he walked passed numerous corpses. Noah had strength as well as the skills to back up his power. He was cold-hearted, efficient and extremely powerful. There was no doubt that he'd rise to become the strongest person in the world. So in front of such a powerful person, such an overpowered behemoth that was the embodiment of strength, what chance did Ethan have?
Ethan grabbed his dagger dangling on his waist. He was jealous of Noah. He, who had so many cheats, and even the temperament to accompany his strength. Why couldn't his luck be as good as Noah's? All he had was a faulty potential enhancer and a dumb shape-shifting weapon that was hard to use.
"There's a monster a hundred metres ahead!" Ethan was snapped out of his delusion. "Everybody, get into your positions!" ROAAR! Ethan could see the faint outlines of a four-legged creature lumbering towards them. "It's a Thorny Dragon. Watch out!" Pew! Pew! Large needles shot through the mist, barely passing over Ethan's head. A thorny dragon? This wasn't good. He crouched down, preparing to intervene if necessary.