Chapter 82: The Great Boat

"Well, this was interesting," Steven spoke while helping L out of the rubble.

L was bleeding slightly from his head, and his gaze was a mixture of fear and confusion.

As L took his hand and rose to his feet, he whispered, "Steven, you should really listen to what I tell you..."

"I wasn’t the one being thrown around."

Steven answered while laughing.

But his thoughts were already somewhere completely different.

He had to kill a professor of this school.

This mission was worse than he had anticipated, and with Calostie personally watching over it, failure would be just as bad.

After checking on L, his focus shifted back to the unconscious V as he took a step toward him.

V suddenly jumped up, his gaze confused as he stared around the room in panic. "What happened? Where am I?"

L slowly moved closer.

"All good, V. Just relax. I’ll explain everything later."

His voice was cautious.

"Did I drink too much again? I’m so sorry." V apologized as Steven slapped a hand against his own forehead.

"You weren’t drinking. Calostie took control of you for some time."

As realization hit V like a wave, the young man sat down on the ground, holding his head.

"This explains the headache I got and why my legs feel like they’re on fire."

"Don’t worry. I’ll heal you." L spoke as he stepped closer to V and began casting an incantation.

Steven waited for them to finish before L sent V off toward another room to rest.

Only L returned back to the campfire.

His gaze was troubled, and he could barely meet Steven’s eyes.

"I’m sorry a newbie like you has to handle such a specific mission."

L tried to apologize, but Steven cut him off.

"Don’t worry about me. I’ll handle it."

Steven spoke, but his voice was low.

L grabbed his shoulder tightly. "You should rest for now. There’s nothing to gain from worrying all night." But Steven could feel his hand shaking too.

Nodding, Steven slowly stepped away, leaving L behind inside the house as he walked past all the barriers and into the small side street.

The way back to his dorm was utterly quiet as he rolled the golden cube around inside his pocket.

Even the couples had already left the streets, leaving him as the only person awake at this hour.

Walking past a half-awake guard, he managed to return to the Sapphire dorms without any problems.

Sneaking back inside his room, Steven found Syno deeply asleep, completely unaware of his late arrival.

Barely having lain down on his bed, Steven suddenly felt multiple powerful presences silently approaching the dorms.

For a second, he feared somebody was going to attack the dorms, but he recognized some of the men as members of the staff team.

For a second, he feared somebody was going to attack the dorms, but he recognized some of the men as members of the staff team.

But what are they doing here?

Steven couldn’t find an easy answer.

There was only one possibility he could think of, and he didn’t like it one bit.

As the first few staff members entered the lower dorms, they only took a few students with them.

"They have to be kidding me..."

Steven couldn’t believe the timing.

After all, he hadn’t even had time to think about his new mission.

As somebody finally opened his dorm room, a person dressed entirely in black stepped inside.

Steven pretended to be completely asleep as he felt something being released into the air, probably a sleeping poison so the students wouldn’t be able to resist.

As the staff member moved toward Syno, they picked him up from the bed like a potato sack.

Steven watched the man leave the room, noticing that no other member came inside to pick him up.

This only solidified his theory that the event was starting soon.

His heart raced as the dorms slowly became quiet again.

One by one, the staff members left the dorms, having taken roughly a third of all the students.

Steven waited for them to gain some distance before standing up and opening his window. He tapped his wristband, turning invisible.

Following them through the streets, he kept a great distance to avoid being noticed by the trained staff.

They moved farther and farther away from the university, heading toward the seaside only a few miles away.

Then Steven saw it. A gigantic ship towered in the distance, large enough to easily carry the entire class—and probably the entire school and staff at once.

"Who keeps paying for those things?"

Steven asked himself while waiting on a tree a few dozen meters away from a group of staff members gathering together.

"Everyone, please listen to me."

Professor Alem’s voice echoed through the air.

"The students will only be asleep for roughly one more hour."

A few staff members shifted around nervously as Alem continued.

"We need everyone on board before they wake up, so please continue in the order we trained."

Having barely finished his sentence, the staff members picked up several students and started carrying them forward.

A few remained behind, guarding the rest of the students who were still asleep.

Steven debated whether he should follow the first group, but quickly dropped the idea after seeing how high their concentration was.

Waiting for the later groups would be much easier. As time passed, their attention would shift toward hurrying up.

Listening to the guards below, Steven quickly grew bored.

"Do we really have to do this at night? Couldn’t we just make all the students move by themselves?" One of them asked.

But his comrade only stared at him in disappointment. "That would only give them time to prepare, and we can’t have that."

"But why not? After all, everyone would get the same preparation time."The first guard asked again, still sounding unsure.

The staff member only shook his head.

"If you had listened to Professor Alem’s training, you would know that. But, as usual, nothing much is going on up there in your head."

As both guards burst into laughter, Steven could barely believe these were really members of the staff team.

Just a few moments later, a short sound echoed through the air.

The laughter quickly stopped, replaced by sudden awareness.

"Is it our turn already?"

The first guard asked, hurriedly looking around.

But he only received a hit against the shoulder in response.

"We’re in the fifth squad. That was only the signal for the second one."

The first guard shrugged and sat back down, already looking bored.

"So we just wait until it’s our time to carry some students?"

His staff member quickly agreed, sitting down beside him.

"Yes. And until then, we need to check the surroundings for any intruders..."

His expression darkened."We don’t want what happened last time to happen again."

Their mood quickly turned dark at the mention of last time.

Then the first guard suddenly turned his head toward the tree Steven was sitting in.

The guard rose to his feet and walked toward the tree while his teammate was already summoning a fire blade.

As the first guard arrived beneath the tree, he looked around in confusion.

"I swear I felt somebody here just now..."

He signaled his partner to move back.

"Are you probably just imagining things? Did you forget your morning coffee?" The two returned to their positions.

Steven finally dared to breathe again, having moved down the tree barely a moment before they arrived.

He had underestimated the staff by a great deal. But a mistake like this wouldn’t happen again.

Shortly afterward, another sound echoed through the air, sending the third wave of students toward the boat.

As time quickly passed, the fourth wave was cleared just as quickly.

Even then, however, time was running short.

Steven could feel Syno’s mana among the last group approaching the boat, and the boy was slowly beginning to wake up.

They barely had a few minutes before the most powerful students would awaken, although Steven doubted Syno would resist the orders of a staff member.

Finally, a fourth sound echoed through the air, signaling the fifth and final wave of students.

The guards below immediately moved. One of them roughly picked Syno up, hurrying across the ground toward the ship.

Even the two joking guards were completely focused on their tasks now.

Using the opportunity, Steven followed them from nearby as the ship grew closer in the distance. A single bridge led onto it.

As every guard moved toward the bridge, Steven stopped following them.

Instead, he moved toward the water.

With a silent jump, he plunged into it as the icy cold overwhelmed his body. He could only hope nobody noticed him.

Feeling the staff slowly enter the boat, Steven used the opportunity to climb up the side while nobody was watching.

Finally reaching the top, he checked for anyone nearby.

Finding no one, he dared to move.

As he stepped onto the boat, water dripped from his clothes.

He had managed to do it.

He was on the event boat.