The assembly hall was rowdy as usual with murmurs and students everywhere. Some were excited, others were indifferent and a few were terrified of the adventure they were about to embark on. You could hear the clanking of steel against each other, unsheathing of weapons as students showed off their beast gear, and some even betting on who kills the most beasts. It was a madhouse in there.
Blake, one among the indifferent ones stood with his back against the wall as he scanned the crowd and the entrance.
"I still haven't seen that silver head," he thought as he watched the entrance. "Did he truly turn tail and run?"
A month without Ian in the room was the last straw needed to cause an all-out war for dominance between Blake and Flint.
Flint challenged Blake almost every day of the week after his workouts since there was no one to be caught in the crossfire of their exchange. This went on for multiple times a week and even though he won, Blake could feel Flint improve with every fight until it seemed like he was helping the latter become stronger instead of asserting his dominance. Even though he knew this, he could never back out of a fight with Flint who turned out to be a really good trash talker and gets on his nerves more often than not.
Even though he hates to admit it, he needed Ian back in that room.
"Soldiers!" the voice of a well-built man who appears to be in his late thirties with black hair, a clean-shaven face and a sharp jawline filled the room. The most prominent feature on his face was an eye patch that sat comfortably on his left eye.
His voice silenced the hall immediately and every one stood at attention to listen to him. Blake also pushed off the wall to stand at attention.
"I want to thank you all for participating in this race and commend your bravery. As the Commander said, we are all sorry that we have to make you kids do something so dangerous so early but I hope you can all take this as a chance to gain experience faster than your predecessors.
All first-year students are to be distributed into teams of six, with one second year to act as the leader of every first-year team. The leftover second years would form a team of four and would also act as the vanguard force for this raid. Of course, we would have a few officials in the case of an emergency, but all officials are to stay at the entrance of the dungeon to protect against any external forces. Is that understood?!"
"Yes, sir!" the students yelled in response.
"My name is Sergeant Anvil Adam. I will be the one in charge of this raid and I hope you would all be cooperative and make humanity proud with your first contribution to its safety."
"Yes, sir!"
From the corner of his eye, Blake saw Ian tiptoe into the assembly hall and he couldn't bear but be mesmerized by his beast gear. It was all black, with specks of white dots here and there and a little hint of dark blue. It looked exactly like midnight and Blake found it really cool.
"How did that weakling get his hands on such beautiful beast gear?" he thought as he followed Ian with his eyes until he mingled in with the crowd.
"I will now call the names of the groups for this raid," Anvil announced as a holographic screen appeared in front of him.
He called the names and groups one by one with the picture of the first name called, displayed on the holographic screen so that the rest of the members knew who to find. With each group called, the members of each group huddled together to get to know themselves. Blake noticed a pattern in it as the names were called according to the power hierarchy. This meant that depending on the position of the name called in a group, one can easily infer the strongest and weakest person in each group.
"For the next group," Anvil said. "Blake Hightower, Flint Vartos, Bria Croft, Alia Drew, Jake Falcone, and Ian Yaeger."
Blake moved to an open space where he waited for the rest of his teammates to arrive. As they did, there was a collective sigh of frustration from four of the six teammates as they saw each other, excluding the pink-haired girl and Jake who both had a smile on their faces.
The pink head, Bria was happy to be paired with Mr Anonymous, while Jake was simply happy to be paired with his classmates, especially Ian. Alia hated being with her classmates and Ian along with Jake and Flint hated being paired with each other.
"So, you are?" Bria asked Ian with a smile.
He eyed her suspiciously for a few seconds before replying. "Ian Yeager."
"Then who are you?" Blake asked Flint. Even though they all lived in one room, they never really introduced themselves so they never knew each other's names well.
"Flint," he replied. "Isn't it weird that you don't know the names of your roommates?"
"I smell Alan's involvement in this pairing," Ian said to Alia as he could clearly see her frustration.
"That idiot!" she yelled. "How many times do I have to tell him that I'm not a weakling?!"
"Stop yelling," Blake hissed. "We aren't the only group here, and we still haven't gotten our group leader yet, so listen."
"Unfortunately, there would be no second years for Hightower's group," Anvil said when it got to their turn for a group leader. "Instead, we would be having an excellent first-year lead the group. For Group Blake, the leader would be Chelsea Coldwind."
"What?!" Bria and Alia yelled collectively along with other students in the hall. "A Coldwind?!"
"Are they supposed to be important?" Blake asked, causing the girls to glare at him like he was an alien. Before they could explain or chastise him though, a chill filled the air as a girl with light blue hair made her way towards them.
She was the most beautiful girl the boys had ever set their eyes on among the students. Her light blue hair complemented her deep blue with very fair skin, sharp features and a natural cold look that also complemented the chilly aura around her. She was dressed in blue armour, with designs of snowflakes all around it, paired with a blue robe at her back. She looked like a knight from medieval times and it fit her perfectly.
"M-Marry-" Flint was about to say but Anvil's voice interrupted him, much to his displeasure.
"With all of the teams now complete, we would be heading out right now. Let's begin the raid!"