Chapter 122: "Caught... you..."

Darkness, nothing at all, and it felt so silent. A feeling Ilunia always felt, and one that always made things difficult and frightening for her.

She adjusted her hand, touching something solid and slightly rough. A slender, tangled string felt clear as she touched it.

Then, Ilunia pulled that string while holding the end of an arrow she had already set.

The dark and silent world suddenly seemed to hold its breath. The quiet atmosphere grew even quieter, the air seemed to stop, and whatever happened around her felt so clear, as though every part of Ilunia’s body and senses had become extremely sensitive.

The slow shifting of a breeze, the sound of her own sweat dripping down her face, and finally… a faint movement and something tearing through the air somewhere, in front of her.

The distance was about twenty-five paces. Fairly close. The object moved right and left in a random pattern.

Ilunia let out a breath, then released the bowstring in her hand. A low whistling sound was heard, along with the arrow itself shooting forward and quickly cutting through the air.

At first there was nothing, but then, the sound of something shattering from a strong and fast collision was heard in Ilunia’s ears.

Ilunia stayed silent for a few seconds, and in the darkness within her blindness, she could see a translucent light blue screen forming on its own.

[Skill Learned]

***

“Thank you for your praise, Master.”

Ilunia, just like Kina, the blind girl was able to learn something very quickly, often surprising others. Of course, Julian himself was no longer surprised.

In fact, he felt that for geniuses, that was certainly a standard they possessed. Learning so quickly it felt frightening to other students.

Well, unfortunately Ilunia didn’t stand out for what she did. At this point, most students only thought that Ilunia and Julian simply had a close relationship, only a few had already guessed that Ilunia might currently be Julian’s disciple.

That wasn’t surprising. They probably never thought that the blind girl had something so terrifying behind her fragile appearance.

“With that, as long as you have a group, there shouldn’t be any problem in this hunt.”

Ilunia nodded, “Yes, thanks to Master and Kina, I had no trouble finding a group.”

As can be seen, the topic Ilunia and Julian discussed was related to the group formed for the first battle in the invaded territory later.

Thinking about the old Ilunia, clearly the girl would have had trouble joining a group. So, seeing her now, Julian felt happy for the girl.

He gave a thin smile.

As it happened, today was also the day the battle program would be carried out.

That was why Julian was currently in a vast field, under the scorching sun, full of students gathered with enthusiasm.

There were many buses located in the parking area, which would of course be the transportation taking the students out of the Central region toward outside the Slums.

The sound of enthusiastic students could be heard clearly, some also sounded worried, and some looked quite arrogant and thought highly of themselves.

That was natural for students who had only ever watched a battle instead of going through the battle itself.

With a small sigh, Julian glanced at Ilunia across from him.

“Well then, shall we part here?”

Ilunia looked up, then smiled sweetly and nodded.

After that, the blind girl lifted her feet and walked away to where her group was.

The professors were busy with their own affairs, arranging the lines of students and asking them to board the buses in order.

Watching that, Julian waited patiently when he heard the sound of calm footsteps approaching behind him.

“Lord Juliaaan~”

“…Headmaster?”

With a voice so bright and beauty shining so brilliantly under the sun, Adelle came to greet Julian.

The woman seemed to have gotten quality time that allowed her to recover herself to the point of being this cheerful.

“I’ve gotten information from Odette. She said, she’s checked that invaded territory several times, and except for Rank-F Invaders, nothing dangerous was seen. I hope everything goes smoothly, hehe.”

“If that’s the case, then I’m glad to hear it.”

In a good mood, Julian nodded. He was indeed looking forward to his Rank progress starting to rise again soon.

Although, well, since this was Ilunia, Julian shouldn’t expect too much. Because once again, Ilunia was a seer who shouldn’t really be on the battlefield.

‘That’s also why I need to be a supervisor.’

Julian didn’t want to leave Ilunia alone.

So, after some conversation with Adelle. Julian now went to the separate bus prepared, he and the students, along with the professors then headed to the invaded territory.

Through a special route of course. Because passing through the Slums itself was very risky due to local residents being rude toward people from Central.

While watching the buildings he passed from the bus, Julian looked at the sky for a moment. Since this was just an ordinary hunt, Julian really hoped nothing bad would happen.

He hoped the seer ability he possessed like Ilunia’s would work, but since Julian might not be its original owner, Julian himself actually had difficulty getting a specific prophecy.

It felt as though fate had nothing to say to him, while Ilunia?

The girl always played around with prophecies, seeing how Ilunia’s skill progress had just increased so much recently.

‘Really makes me curious, what exactly does that girl see in her prophecies?’

While Julian was busy with his thoughts, the bus they were riding sped along quickly. From his view full of buildings, now replaced by damaged and unmaintained structures.

There were only a few people visible along the road, but eventually, the people visible soon vanished, replaced by an extremely quiet surrounding environment.

Julian was just daydreaming, and at that moment, his instinct suddenly screamed as he felt something very bad happening.

His entire body froze, a sensation so cold and nauseating made every hair on his body stand on end from fear.

“H-huh?”

As that fear crept in, Julian looked ahead. Other buses passed freely, but only the bus Julian was riding, filled with students and two professors, was facing a large dark and distorted swirling circle.

“W-WATCH OUT!”

“K-KYAAH!”

A strong jolt occurred as the air shifted so heavily. The screams of the students and the panicked professors made everything worse.

Julian couldn’t think of anything, his brain paralyzed for a moment, but only briefly.

Fearless activated at the right time, and before the bus crashed into that large black swirling circle, Julian used his skill.

He vanished and appeared between the bus and the portal.

‘Damn it, what the hell is this!? Is this a sudden attack?’

While wincing slightly in annoyance, Julian looked at the portal for a moment. It wasn’t a breach, not something Julian had ever seen or recognized.

However, he didn’t waste much time thinking about that.

Other buses had stopped due to the sudden attack, while the bus Julian was riding was in danger.

Whatever would happen if that bus entered the portal’s circle, Julian only understood that he had to prevent that from happening.

That was why Julian turned around, looking at the bus speeding toward him, which was in the middle of the incident, and looked at the bus driver who looked very panicked.

Julian’s expression was blank, showing no emotion at all as he raised his hand indifferently.

After that, a green mirror layer appeared, two layers of it. Its size wasn’t large, but it was enough because a bus wasn’t a supernatural vehicle here.

Braak—!

The bus crashed into Julian’s mirror layer. Fortunately, the driver himself had already hit the brakes so the impact force wasn’t too severe, though still enough to leave dented marks and a strong jolt.

Julian’s mirror was fine, but perhaps some students inside might suffer injuries from that collision.

‘Well, there’s a professor in there, they should be able to do something.’

Julian was grateful that he and Ilunia were on different buses. He let out a small sigh, turning his head to see the sudden threat that had appeared.

But before that…

“L-Lord Julian…! Watch out!!”

Adelle’s voice sounded so panicked. Julian didn’t have time to react when a small, pale, and weak voice was heard behind him.

“Caught… you…”

That voice seemed to come from a little girl.

But, did that matter?

Julian found something coiling around his body. He couldn’t move his body, then the next instant, Julian felt an extremely strong and terrifying force dragging him.

Julian didn’t even have time to use Flash Step or use any power he had to free himself.

Because before all that, whatever that thing was had already dragged him into the portal.

‘D-damn it!’

Without any chance to do anything, Julian’s entire body was swallowed into that portal’s circle. Leaving everyone in panic and shock.

And, in that silence, the portal shattered into pieces, vanishing just like that without a trace.

Adelle, who witnessed all of that, fell silent, her face turning grim.

“W-what was that…?”

Meanwhile, on the other side, even Ilunia, that seer girl herself found herself frozen.

“Master?”

That had never happened in any prophecy she had ever seen.