Chapter 295: The Real Manhunt Begins at Night (1)
[Ruvian’s POV]
Keeping to the shadows, Ruvian prowled through the moonless forest without a sound, making his way north toward the place he had visited before.
"How many squads are in this area again, Morvayne?"
The Great Spirit answered almost immediately.
[Only one.]
Ruvian gave a faint nod as he summoned [The Endseeker]. Upon reaching the squad’s location, he came to a halt atop a thick tree branch, silently overlooking their shelter.
[Are you planning to charge in head-on?]
Ruvian smiled darkly.
"Honestly, after witnessing Ruvian over countless regressions, even I managed to learn a few tricks. So now, just watch me."
*****
[Noelle’s POV]
Noelle let out a quiet sigh as she absentmindedly nudged the campfire with the tip of her black dagger. Tiny sparks drifted into the night whenever the blade disturbed the burning wood, yet her eyes remained fixed on the flames.
Her thoughts were in complete disarray.
’Are we really going to eliminate... Ruvian?’
Honestly, she felt terrible about it.
Who would have thought he would suddenly become the target of a bounty, only for her own squad to end up hunting him down?
The thought of eliminating a fellow Polaris scholar simply didn’t sit well with her.
More than that...
She knew exactly how hard Ruvian had worked just to stand where he was today.
She had seen the ridicule he endured, the countless hours he spent studying, and how desperately he chased after everyone else despite starting so far behind.
And now, all of that had turned him into prey.
Emily, her squad leader, quietly watched Noelle from across the campfire. It did not take long for her to notice the distant look in the girl’s eyes and the sadness she was trying so hard to hide.
After a brief silence, Emily finally spoke.
"He’s one of your close friends, isn’t he?"
Noelle lowered her gaze to the flames before giving a small nod.
"...Yeah."
Emily sighed softly before shaking her head.
"Noelle... you’re such a soft-hearted girl, aren’t you?"
Noelle slowly looked up at her.
Her expression barely changed, yet Emily could already tell she had guessed exactly what was weighing on her mind.
"You won’t get very far if you let your emotions decide every choice you make," Emily said calmly. "The world won’t wait for you to sort out your feelings, and your enemies certainly won’t show mercy because you’re kind."
She paused for a moment, letting her words settle.
"Sometimes, taking advantage of an opportunity isn’t cruelty. It’s simply making the most of what fate has placed before you. If we had received this bounty instead of Ruvian, no one would hesitate to do the same to us."
Noelle remained silent.
Deep down, she knew Emily was right.
This was an examination, not a place where kindness would earn rewards. Every squad was competing for the same goal, and everyone would eventually become someone else’s obstacle.
That was why she didn’t argue.
The problem was...
She simply couldn’t bring herself to like the idea of benefiting from Ruvian’s unfortunate situation. Knowing how much effort he had poured into reaching this point only made it feel worse.
Still...
She admitted it was an idealistic way of thinking.
After taking a slow breath, Noelle quietly steadied herself before looking at her squad leader.
"Don’t worry... as much as I dislike it, I’ll do my best to help our squad."
For a brief moment, Emily studied her face before a relieved smile finally appeared.
"That’s what I wanted to hear."
She tossed another piece of firewood into the campfire, watching the flames rise a little higher before continuing.
"Besides, just to clear things up, the reason I haven’t been acting aggressively these past few days is because I’ve been saving our strength. The final day is where everything will be decided."
A confident smile spread across her face.
"That’s when our squad will go all out."
Hearing that, Noelle quietly nodded.
The guilt in her heart had not disappeared.
But for now...
She chose to set it aside.
Almost absentmindedly, Noelle lowered her eyes to the bracelet wrapped around her wrist. More specifically, she opened the map that displayed Ruvian’s location.
A lone red dot quietly glowed against the terrain.
She stared at it for a few moments without thinking much of it.
’Huh...? He’s at F3 now...’
She smiled, then frowned.
Just before midnight, she distinctly remembered Ruvian was around the F4 and F5 regions.
So why...
Why had he suddenly in F3?
The more she looked at the map, the more her heartbeat began to quicken. Her pupils slowly contracted.
The red dot wasn’t merely inside F3. It was near their location. A chill suddenly ran down her spine as an indescribable sense of danger washed over her.
Without another thought, Noelle immediately shot to her feet.
"Emily!"
Emily, who had been quietly organizing tomorrow’s route beside the dying campfire, instantly noticed the panic on Noelle’s face. Before she could even ask what had happened, Noelle hurriedly pointed her trembling finger at the map.
But before another word could leave her mouth—
Whoosh!
A fierce gust of wind suddenly poured through the wide ventilation opening above them; it roared across the underground shelter, stirring the air into chaos and sending dust spiraling through the darkness.
The campfire struggled for a brief second before the wind extinguished it completely.
In an instant, the entire shelter was consumed by darkness.
Crash!
Then, a sharp sound of shattered glass echoed through the night, a cloud of fine powder scattered through the enclosed space.
"Cough!"
Emily immediately covered her mouth as she inhaled part of it.
"Kh... cough!"
’What is this!?’ Emily thought.
Noelle staggered back, coughing violently as the strange particles entered her lungs. Her eyes watered as her vision blurred for a brief moment.
The sudden commotion jolted the other three squad members awake.
"Hey, what happened?!... Cough!"
"Enemy?!... Cough!"
"Cough... What’s going on?!"
Still coughing, they scrambled for their weapons while trying to make sense of the darkness surrounding them.
Noelle’s heart pounded so violently that it almost drowned out every other sound.
She had already realized it.
That gust of wind...
Her face turned pale as she shouted at the top of her lungs.
There was no doubt about it.
"H-he is here!" (+800PP)
*****
[Emily’s POV]
’He’s here?’
Emily couldn’t understand what Noelle was trying to say.
Here? Who was here? That guy Ruvian?
’But... why the hell is he here? And how?’
Before she could ask another question, Noelle suddenly grabbed her shoulder.
"Krudger!" she shouted, her voice trembling.
"Dispel the shelter! Now! And Emily... the moment the shelter disappears, use your wind spell to blow all of this powder away immediately!"
Neither of them understood what had happened, nor why Noelle had suddenly become so frantic.
But hearing the panic in her voice, and seeing the urgency from her reaction for the very first time since they had met her, neither of them hesitated any longer.
Without another question, Krudger slammed both palms against the ground. The earthen shelter instantly crumbled away, leaving them completely exposed to the unnatural darkness waiting outside.
At that exact moment, Emily swept her hand forward and cast [Wind Sweep]. A violent current of wind coiled around the group before violently stripping every trace of the powder from their bodies in a single sweep.
Noelle immediately unleashed her Darkness spell — [Shadow Sense] — her senses spreading through the surrounding shadows in search of the hidden ambusher.
But before her perception could lock onto even the faintest trace of the enemy, a cold, bone-chilling voice echoed from the darkness around them.
"What a commendable judgment... but you’re still late."
Suddenly, from her right, a man’s silhouette appeared beside Krudger and drove a blisteringly fast kick straight into his solar plexus.
"Huk—!!"
Krudger choked out a pained gasp before his body was launched across the darkness at terrifying speed, hurtling dozens of meters before slamming into a massive stone boulder with a thunderous crash.
BOOMMM!
[Alert: Squad member ’Krudger Hive’ has been eliminated!]
A bone-deep, suffocating terror seized Emily’s heart. She hadn’t seen everything that had happened, but she had seen enough to understand.
Instinctively, she sprang backward and drew her double-bladed sword. Cold sweat streamed down her face as every instinct in her body screamed at her to flee.
’Did he... just eliminate a Class B scholar with a single attack?’
"Impossible..." she whispered, her voice quivering as the hand holding her weapon trembled uncontrollably. (+1,000PP)
──────── ✦ ────────
[Chapter 295: The Real Manhunt Begins at Night (1)]
Plot Points= 33,000 PP