Chapter 355: New Chaos

Damien hurried down the stairs toward the ground floor, as all the elevators were occupied.

He tried calling Ken along the way, but despite the phone ringing repeatedly, there was no answer.

"Dammit!" Damien cursed under his breath.

With a thought, a sword materialized in his right hand. He had no idea what was happening outside, and with the city in such a state of chaos, he wasn’t going to take any unnecessary risks. If something dangerous happened or someone attacked him, he wanted to be ready to defend himself.

He soon reached the third floor, but just as he stepped into the corridor, he noticed someone approaching from the opposite direction.

Without wasting a moment, Damien turned around and hurried back up the stairs.

Instructor Brandon was walking through the corridor, checking whether all the students had been evacuated from that floor.

"Is anyone still here?" she asked.

"No," replied Instructor Carmel, who had accompanied her. "I’ve already checked this floor. I’ll take care of the upper floors, so you should head downstairs and join Instructor Morgana and the students."

Damien remained quiet, waiting until the two instructors were no longer paying attention to the staircase.

Brandon turned toward the stairwell, her gaze lingering on the empty steps.

"Must have been a citizen rushing downstairs," she muttered before continuing her inspection.

Meanwhile, Damien waited a few moments before carefully making his way down again.

Damien didn’t head directly to the gathering point behind the hotel. Instead, he stopped near the corner of the building and cautiously peeked around it, checking whether the students had assembled safely.

He spotted Leonard, Kaelan, and Emma among the gathered students.

However, there was no sign of Ken.

’Where the hell did he go?’

Instructor Morgana stood among the students, doing her best to keep everyone calm. Unlike the other instructors, who were still busy checking the building and evacuating its occupants, she had chosen to remain with the students for the time being.

Although she maintained a composed demeanor, the worry on her face was unmistakable.

Her gaze occasionally shifted toward the hotel entrance, as though she were waiting for someone to emerge.

Damien quickly understood why.

’Noah and I aren’t here yet. And there are probably a few others missing, too.’

He continued observing the gathering for a moment before realizing that Lyria and Arisha were also nowhere to be seen.

’Looks like those two haven’t come down either. Well, they’ll probably be here soon. There are still two instructors evacuating the remaining floors. And instructor Morgan will definitely come to look for me and Noah if we didn’t come down in some time.’

Satisfied that the others were at least in the care of Instructor Morgana, Damien stepped away from the corner.

He couldn’t afford to waste any more time.

Ken was still missing, and Damien had no idea where to begin searching for him.

’All right. I’ll start with the ground floor and check the area around the hotel. If he’s nearby, I should be able to find him.’

With that thought, Damien tightened his grip on his sword and hurried toward the hotel entrance, ready to search for his missing friend.

---

"How could something like this happen? This is the capital city!" Lyria exclaimed as she hurried down the stairs alongside Arisha.

"Well, this is beyond our control," Arisha replied. "Let’s just hope they manage to resolve the situation soon so we can return to the academy."

The two girls continued downstairs, making their way toward the area behind the hotel where the other students were gathering.

Along the way, they encountered Instructors Carmel and Brandon, who were still busy evacuating the remaining floors.

"You’re both here! Hurry downstairs and join the others," Instructor Carmel urged them.

Lyria nodded, but as they continued toward the exit, she couldn’t help glancing at the distant World Tree through the huge glass window on wall. The enormous structure was still burning, its blazing branches illuminating the night sky.

A troubled expression appeared on her face.

"I have a really bad feeling whenever I look at the tree," she said in a tense voice. "There’s something dangerous about it... something deeply repulsive. I’ve never felt anything like this before. Not when looking at the World Tree, at least."

She paused, her gaze lingering on the distant flames. "This morning, it felt almost divine. But now..."

Arisha glanced at her. She didn’t know what to say. Lyria’s intuition was usually worth taking seriously, especially when it came to matters involving divine power.

"Maybe..." Arisha began hesitantly. "Maybe that’s not actually the World Tree we’re looking at, but something else disguised as it."

Lyria turned toward her. "What about the fire?" she asked before shaking her head slightly. "That’s possible. The World Tree shouldn’t be able to catch fire under normal circumstances. Something dangerous must be involved... Those flames might not be ordinary fire."

The two girls exchanged a serious look. Neither of them knew what was happening, but they both agreed that something was terribly wrong.

Soon, they reached the ground floor and stepped into the corridor leading toward the back of the hotel. It was on left side but just then, Arisha’s sharp eyes caught sight of someone moving in the opposite direction.

Damien, instead of heading toward the gathering point behind the hotel, he was making his way toward another exit.

As an archer, Arisha had developed keen eyesight and exceptional perception. Even amid the confusion and the crowd of people moving through the corridors, she recognized him immediately.

"Damien!" she called out.

However, he either didn’t hear her or chose not to stop. He quickly disappeared through the other exit.

Lyria had noticed him, too. She looked in the direction he had gone, then glanced around as if searching for someone else.

"Where is he going? And where’s Noah? Wasn’t he with Damien?"

At the mention of Noah, Arisha fell silent for a moment.

She had a pretty good idea that the two boys were up to something, and she couldn’t say she liked it.

’Those two idiots... What are Noah and Damien planning now?’

"I think he’s looking for something," Arisha finally said, her expression turning serious. "Those two really are troublesome."

Lyria frowned. "Should we inform Instructor Morgana?"

"Yes, we should. Can’t let them do something crazy."

Arisha glanced toward the exit Damien had taken, then turned to Lyria.

"I’ll follow him and see what he’s up to. You go and inform the instructor. Call me and I will tell you his location."

Lyria hesitated. "Are you sure? It might be dangerous out there."

"Don’t worry. I’ll keep my distance and won’t do anything reckless." Arisha gave her a reassuring nod. "Just make sure you tell Instructor Morgana where I went. And call me."

Before Lyria could say anything else, Arisha hurried toward the exit Damien had used. Watching her disappear around the corner, Lyria couldn’t help but sigh.

’Those two... They’d better not do anything stupid.’

Shaking her head, she turned toward the gathering point to find Instructor Morgana.