Chapter 61: The Hunters Reveal Themselves

The moment Principal Warren’s spiritual sense brushed up against the limits of Quadrant Delta, his eyes snapped open.

Recognition flowed across his hardened face.

"A subterranean seal array?"

His deep voice reverberated across the command deck.

"High-class shadow magic mixed with corrupt blood script inscriptions. Someone managed to activate a local space disturbance domain within Black Snake Ravine."

General Thorne’s expression darkened.

His hand already moved toward the hilt of his military broadsword.

"An infiltration?"

The general’s eyes gleamed.

"Inside a military designated trial zone?"

"It is not merely an infiltration, general,"

Warren spoke, a trace of coldness in his voice.

"The bypassing of outer defensive wards without alerting the warning runes required either premium-class spatial concealment magic or the utilization of stolen administrative keys."

The principal gazed at the blackened region of the map hovering half a foot above the command chamber floor.

"One of those individuals brought a piece of an ancient array core into that forest."

Without a second of hesitation, General Vance barked out an order.

"Raise Squad Alpha and the Sky-Guard Vanguard to full-strength now!"

The general’s voice boomed from the towering intercom at the center of the chamber.

"Divert Tactical Skiffs 3 and 7 to Sector 4, breach that perimeter wall!"

"Sir!"

An operations lieutenant stared at the trajectory formulas on his holo-display.

As the calculations played out before him a dark expression formed on his face.

"Lovely clear sky conditions above Sector 4, sir. With the low-altitude fog combined with run-of-the-mill magic resistance in the atmosphere, there is no way for the transport barges to make a high-speed vertical insertion inside the gorge without running into the canyon walls."

The lieutenant swallowed hard.

"Estimate time to deploy ground troops and break the array barrier...."

His eyes moved to General Vance.

Approximately fifteen minutes."

"15 minutes?!"

General Thorne roared.

He turned toward the young lieutenant who visibly flinched beneath the general’s piercing gaze.

"There are over 30 students caught inside that dead zone!"

The new general’s fist clenched into a tight fist.

"A-Rank and S-Rank students are currently operating near the periphery of that sector!"

The lieutenant bowed his head.

"Yes, general."

The young man straightened up and frowned.

"Make it ten."

Principal Warren’s voice echoed across the great hall.

Golden veins of mana flashed through the air.

The very atmosphere seemed to tighten under the weight of the principal’s presence.

"Immediate deployment of vanguard squads to the ridge line,"

Warren’s eyes remained fixed on the dead zone.

"Disperse the fog with art winds if necessary. Just get those gates down!"

BLACK SNAKE RAVINE - THE DEAD END

Inside the ice-slicked corridor of Black Snake Ravine the world has shrunk into something far more menacing than a test ground for combat students.

A trap.

And Lucian stood inside it

The sickly sweet mist had stopped hovering several yards above the muck of the narrow ravine.

It stretched along the ground instead,

Thickening,

then twisting

until it coiled around the spiny vines.

The temperature continued to drop.

Beads of moisture along the rock walls formed sharp crystalline icicles that promptly shattered and fell to the ground.

Click

Click

Click

The sound was not unpleasant.

It almost soothed

Eric’s four retainers, who had hauled their seriously injured master toward the mouth of the canyon, abruptly halted.

The retainers’ steel boots screeched on the frozen ground.

No one moved.

Across the narrow ten-five yard opening leading to the ravine, three figures stood.

Uniformed in standard issue blue and gray combat gear, the trio’s sleeves displayed the insignias of Silverwood’s Second Academy. Each carried a sidearm holstered at their waist.

Otherwise, these were unremarkable students.

No signs of unease.

No signs of confusion.

Or even signs of life.

The three men stood absolutely rigid at the narrow opening.

Heads slightly tipped back

arms hanging loose at their sides

Like broken puppets dangling from invisible strings.

’H-Hey!’

One of Eric’s retainers raised a shaking spear.

’Don’t stand in the way of our path!’

The retainer pointed at the trio.

’A disturbance has occurred in this sector! The drones are down, we request immediate extraction to the main trail!’

The man did not notice his fingers had dug into the shaft of his spear.

Not even when the other two retainers stiffened, eyes darting from one member of the strange trio to another.

’Did you hear me?!’

Another retainer, pale faced, dropped his blade and backed away.

"That f-- face! That thing’s face!"

RIIP

The pale young man stumbled away.

As his stomach twisted in visceral disgust

The young man, the one with the stormy gray eyes, titled his head back.

His name was Roy, as much of the face as could be seen suggested.

Eric had seen this man, countless time all over the Second Academy’s training halls, in the last two years.

A familiar face to be sure, albeit an infuriating one

Skin crawled across Roy’s cheek.

The young man’s expression twisted,

as his natural pigmentation faded away, revealing ghostly pale skin beneath the infection.

The new skin on Roy’s cheek stretched, forming a faint but widening crevice down the middle of his face, starting from the nasal bone.

The trembling younger retainer’s hand gripped his spear with white-knuckled intensity.

Something was within Roy’s cranium.

No blood spurted from the widening split, instead something black slithered out of the crack, clinging to the edge of Roy’s lip

’W-What the f---’

’Get this thing off of his face!!’

Another retainer screamed, dropping his weapon and backing away, heels digging into the frozen soil.

"This i-is not n-- normal! This is not human!!"

RIP!

With no concern in the world Roy casually raised his palms, his knuckles now extended into long, black claws.

Ripped at his own scalp

SLURP.

The sounds of the man’s shredded flesh sent bile rising into the retainers’ throats.

Human skin peeled away from Roy’s skull, revealing the surface of a--

The other two figures moved.

At the same moment, both raised their hands, pressing elongated claws beneath the surface of their skin!

One after the other, the figures discarded the facades on their skulls.

Human faces, devoid of all life, floated down into the mist.

The retainers’ widened in horrified surprise.

Those were not students,

They had not been students.

Inside the skulls of the masked individuals, something far grotesque and disturbing peered through

Dark red leather stitched together with coarse bone thread formed the stitched seams of an unholy mask, each constructed into the featureless mug of a feral boar.

Eye holes of impossibly deep crimson shimmered.

Neither fire nor spirit magic burned inside those orbs.

Something else.

Something far more wicked.

The glowing eyes of pure malice searched the retainers’ through the sickly green haze.

The boar-masked individuals’ bulging frames rippled, expanding their muscle mass with every heartbeat.

R R R RIP

With a tearing sound, the dull blue and gray fabric of their Second Academy uniforms opened along the front.

The shredded fabric fell away, revealing a grayish stone exterior covered in swirling markings of dark red runes.

These markings pulsed a dull red light across their chests.

The trio of boar-masked figures stood in the middle of the ravine, three faces discarded at their feet. What remained were the true visages of the hunters.