CHAPTER 163: EXPOSED

With the help of the principal and his teleportation ability, Rachel, Sophia, and the female teacher had been able to gather all those who survived the explosion.

There was Alice, whom Rachel had found herself. This beautiful senior of hers, who seemed to be very close to Kael, hadn't suffered many wounds and only had a few cuts and bruises. Yet, Rachel was not surprised. After all, she had been held by Kael.

Then there were Nathaniel and Natalie. The two were found half-dead, and from the remains of the Ruinsteed, they could only conclude that if Rose's beast hadn't shielded them with its own body, they would undoubtedly have perished.

As for Claire, she had also survived. And while she was greatly wounded, she was in a far better state than most. In fact, the young teacher had already woken up, unlike the others, and after being healed by Sophia, she had joined them in helping the others. Rachel learnt that her soul weapon and barrier-focused abilities were the reasons she lived.

What came as a surprise, yet a welcome one, was when the principal had teleported back with an unconscious Nathan, Elena, and Daniel. They must have been far away, as they had only suffered minor injuries. But this situation didn't bode too well for her.

After all, Daniel's brother's soul now rested within her. She could only hope she wouldn't be found out. In fact, she couldn't stop thinking about returning to incinerate the corpse with a fireball. Yet, she couldn't bring herself to risk it with the others now awake, and could only pray that no one would connect the deep, spherical imprint on the position his skull should have rested to her.

But that begged the question: if Nathan's group had been relatively unscathed because they were far away from the centre of the explosion, then what about the monsters on the battlefield, far away from them?

Well, the answer was that they had also survived. At least, most of them. Especially the boars, which boasted formidable defences. Not a single one of them had died.

And yet, none of these beasts dared to move an inch, each of them sprawled on the ground in submission.

Even as the undead anomaly remained on one knee, soul-suffocating lightning flashing around him and causing him to writhe and occasionally roar in pain, none of the monsters present dared to approach the abomination. Just one more attack from it had been enough to bring the entire battlefield to a standstill.

Which was why their group was rushing to treat the injured and help the others back to their feet. One by one, they were roused from unconsciousness, while those whose minds had been strained were carried away.

And that was also why she was standing still, as she listened to the words of the mysterious being in her head.

[It would be better for you to ditch them.]

Rachel didn't respond as she watched the old man wake Daniel up. The young teacher, after collecting himself, spoke a few words. But he soon looked around in search of something.

She watched as a look of trepidation slowly surfaced on his face, and soon after, he screamed some more words, but she tuned them out and instead focused on the mysterious being in her mind.

[There's only a few minutes remaining before this night event ends. And believe me, you don't want to be anywhere near here when it does.]

By now, Daniel was panicking as he watched the others avoid his gaze. Soon after, he rushed in a direction as he continued to scream.

'What do you mean?' she questioned back in her mind.

[You see that abomination?]

Rachel finally shifted her gaze away from Daniel, who was still running towards where he had been pointed, and instead turned in the direction of the undead anomaly.

[That creature is somewhat special, true. But what truly makes it fearsome is that it is an E-grade monster.]

'E-grade?'

The mysterious being quickly took some time to explain the vast difference between race grades and how humans were unranked.

By now, Daniel had already reached the headless corpse of his brother and was weeping bitterly without a care for anything else. A sombre air settled over their group as they watched the teacher break down. It was the first time Daniel had displayed such intense emotion since his trial. And while many of them had their differences with him, they had also suffered losses of their own. To make matters worse, Rose, Nathaniel, Natalie, and Alice remained unconscious despite being healed.

Rose and Alice alone represented almost half of their current group's strength.

[This is the final night event, and once it ends, the higher races will be sent back. Then, the true apocalypse will begin.]

The more Rachel heard, the more surprised she was by her own reaction. Rather than feeling fear, she instead felt cold. Perhaps it was because she was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Her luck had never been good, after all.

[While these higher races will be teleported to random locations, they're far more likely to appear in densely populated regions, just as they do during the night event.]

Rachel didn't need to hear more to know how alarming their current situation was.

With the attention of the others focused on Daniel's wretched figure, she began to take slow and measured steps backwards.

First of all, their group was already tired, and even though many of them had been healed, they hadn't regenerated enough of their reserves to jump back into battle.

Not to mention that she didn't want to be anywhere near Daniel. She didn't want to take that risk. How foolish had she been that she hadn't even considered this? She had been spurred on by the mysterious being's words, and had been so focused on taking another life, that she hadn't even stopped to consider the consequences.

She soon reached the edge of the group, and when she made sure no one was watching, she quickly turned and ran away.

With the massive clearing now exposed, she knew that being caught would only make it easier for Daniel to connect the dots. But she also knew she had to run now, or she would die. The final night event was about to end, and she needed to put as much distance between herself and the others as possible. By now, they were no longer a shield but a burden.

Was her decision cold?

Absolutely.

But, Rachel didn't care a bit about how the others perceived her. She had suffered so much this past month, than to die a fool's death.

Sure enough, even after running with all her might, she had barely covered three hundred metres before someone noticed her actions.

"Huh?"

"Rachel? What are you doing?!" Claire suddenly shouted, drawing the attention of the others.

"Is that bitch running away by herself?" Iris spat, glaring at the young girl, who showed no sign of stopping and instead pushed herself to run even faster.

The old principal frowned at this sight and was about to teleport when he heard Daniel's voice.

"Who was the first person to wake up?"

He turned towards Daniel, who had placed his brother's remains down, his combat suit covered in blood, and wondered what was going on.

It was only when Sophia responded, her expression frosty, that the old man connected the dots.

Daniel had not been near the group when Rachel used her orbs, so he wasn't really aware of her new powers.

But what Rachel didn't know was that Elena had not been the only one to see her take a life for the first time.

Daniel himself had abandoned the group then and had been focused on running away. He had been on the lookout for any danger and had glimpsed her actions. He had seen how she mercilessly killed that young boy, that too probably for some experience points.

Funny enough, he and the principal arrived at the same conclusion almost at the same time.