Verity's POV
"Remember this, concentrate. Think about the appearance of disappearing of others, breathe slowly until your mind calms down, and you can even hear the sound of falling leaves being blown by the wind. You must adapt to the environment so that when the prey looks, even sniffing your scent won't allow them to find you." That's Warren's explanation, concise and with no repetition.
But at least it sounds easy to remember. I saw all the kids start running, and they disappeared from my sight one by one. But Warren was still by my side; he gave me an hour to practice without caring about the juniors who rejected his decision.
I sat on the brick and began to close my eyes, thinking about the feeling of removing myself from other people's eyes.
"Alright, I'll be going for a quick lunch before looking for all of you, including you, young lady," he said softly, but I still closed my eyes, ignoring him; only his footsteps were getting further away.
I started to feel my body lighten like I was floating in the air. I don't know how long I did my total concentration until I opened my eyes and saw the sky was no longer above my head.
I saw five children sitting with grim faces holding their cheeks in pain, both cheeks looking red. Whether the search that Warren was doing had started, I didn't even notice because the feeling I was floating made me drift off and imagine it as reality.
I saw that my hands were translucent and tested my strength in one go.
"For God's sake! His punch could make my newly regrown teeth broken by his punch. Is there no place other than my cheek to be slapped." complained the boy sitting under the tree at the far end of the clearing, his hair brown and his eyes dark blue—neat hair, black skin, and handsome.
I approached the group of children to hear more information because it was there. I also need to know the details of hide and seek this time; I don't want to get hit.
But before I walked closer, a bunch of children from the entrance to the field were holding their shoulders, cheeks, and feet while groaning. Even two girls among them were crying to the five children who had already arrived.
"You guys must be found in a group; I told you we can't gang up on Warren!! That man is monster and heartless; I broke a tooth just last week from his punch!" said the little man with brown hair with blue eyes to his friends who had just arrived.
"Shut up, Simon! We're waiting for Ezekiel, Elijah, and Moros to hide until this afternoon. Because if we are all found, it will be over!" said the red-haired boy's friend to the boy named Simon.
I drew closer to them, wanting to hear more. The sound of my breathing slowed down; I strolled to eliminate my presence. After hearing all the information, I walked out of the field. It is said that Warren is drinking under a tree near the entrance to the beginner practice field; I want to know my strength and whether he can detect this or not.
When I got there, I saw three people standing scolded by Warren pressing the air. This big man turned out to be angry; I approached and stood by the side of the three people.
They were Ezekiel Elijah and maybe the man named Moros that the kids on the field mentioned, "I asked you to dispel your presence and camouflage yourself as an assassin, but what do you do? Brought a gun to ambush me, and you don't know where this tool is because someone offered it to you!!" Warren snapped at the three people in front of him angrily.
But I waved in Warren's face; this big guy didn't notice me. I finally gave up and turned towards the guy called Moros, I think. I didn't see this boy earlier; maybe he had lost his presence, so I didn't realize he was among the 20 children Warren introduced to me.
I looked at the weapon in Warren's hand, a catapult with a dark aura.
"I only gave weapons that I thought would be harmless even if they hit you; I don't think these catapults are very dangerous… Warren." Elijah's reply was full of fear; he even spoke without looking at Warren.
"The rock on this catapult has a curse in it!! This wasn't an ordinary catapult; only those with mana in their bodies could feel it!! If this hit me, I would probably die instantly, and then my corpse would decompose rapidly, spreading disease to those near me before a great plague broke out in no time!! You want to kill our pack?!!!" Warren explained with reddened eyes and increasingly compressed air; the three people turned pale upon hearing this.
Ezekiel stepped forward to cover his sister and tried to speak, "Warren, forgive Elijah. She bought it because of my plan to hurt you because you asked us before our joint training with Verity to injure you in any way we could, and we didn't know these catapults and rocks had a curse…"
"SHUT UP!!" Warren snapped, and I was shocked; this guy was furious.
Elijah started to sob, afraid that he even looked guilty, "It's lucky that I was able to find out where you are. I know how good Moros is at eliminating himself until he made a mistake, maybe I would have died, and a huge plague exploded on the Light pack indiscriminately!!"
"I'm—I'm sorry…" Elijah apologized through her tears.
Just as Warren was about to open his mouth, someone grabbed my shoulder, which made me jump and scream.
"Why do you look scared?" asked the familiar voice before I turned to see Alpha Alaric standing before me.
How could that be?
I've lost my presence so that Warren and his three students don't know if someone is in front of them and are now standing behind the three students who have their backs at the entrance.
"How long have you been there, Verity?" Warren's voice was still angry.
"Since you explained about the stone and the slingshot," I said to him, who was now silent with eyes that were getting bigger.