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At last, when tranquility had returned outside the hollow, Flora let out a long sigh of relief. Without realizing it, she began patting her chest in gratitude. Then, halfway through, she suddenly remembered that she was not alone in the hollow. Somewhat embarrassed, she turned around, looked at Teresa with an unnatural expression, and stretched her mouth into an ingratiating smile.

“What is it? You look as though you have done something shameful,” Teresa teased with a laugh.

“I have not,” Flora protested. Whether from guilt or some other reason, her voice sounded especially loud to Teresa.

“All right. If you say you have not, then you have not.” Teresa wore a half-smile.

Flora, thoroughly embarrassed by Teresa’s smile and pointed words, muttered, “I merely ran into a tiresome elder. I just did not want to be lectured.”

“Say whatever you like.” Teresa shrugged. “But should we not go out and meet Habata now?”

“Oh, yes, yes! Meet Habata. Come on, come on.” Flora seized upon the suggestion as though she had found a lifeline. She grabbed Teresa and hurried outside. In just a few turns, they emerged from the hollow and ran toward Habata.

For the rest of the journey, Flora seemed to have been possessed by the spirit of a chatterbox. She had always been exceptionally talkative, but now she talked the entire way without nearly a moment’s pause. Teresa privately mocked her with some wicked amusement: the girl must be afraid of being questioned, and was deliberately filling the air with idle chatter to steer the conversation elsewhere.

Thus, amid Flora’s sweet voice, the three of them returned to Valinda Academy. Little did they know that a “surprise” was about to await Teresa there…

☆☆☆

In the snowfield, Tatu had buried himself deep beneath a mound of snow. The bone-chilling cold seeped into him from every direction, freezing him until he had almost lost all sensation. Even so, Tatu stubbornly maintained his prone position, not daring to make the slightest unnecessary movement—not even an extra breath, for a battle was taking place directly before his eyes…

No, calling it a battle was not quite accurate. It would be more appropriate to call it a massacre.

There were only two people on the side being slaughtered, while the killers numbered twice as many: four.

The four killers seemed accustomed to overwhelming their enemies through sheer numbers, and their movements were perfectly coordinated. The two victims had no power to fight back at all. In less than ten minutes, the massacre was over, and the four-person group efficiently cleaned up the scene, carrying out the work of erasing all traces with remarkable ease.

After killing their victims, the group exchanged a few words on the spot, then vanished into the falling snow in a certain direction. Heavy snow soon buried their tracks—and with them, the traces of the slaughter that had taken place there…

Suddenly, a mound of snow shifted slightly. A figure burst through the surface: Tatu, who had circulated his battle aura to warm himself. He walked expressionlessly to a certain spot in the vast snowfield and gazed down at the white snow beneath his feet, while the conversation he had overheard more than ten minutes earlier continued to echo through his mind.

“Those who fail to complete the mission will be killed. Those who fail to complete it in time will be killed as well!”

The killer was already dead. What, then, was he—the man marked as a target for assassination by someone who had already died—to do?

Time passed silently.

No one knew how long it had been before Tatu swung his blade. His powerful battle aura poured entirely into the short knife, forming a domineering, flame-red arc of sword energy. With a savage slash, the blade aura tore free and plunged straight into the earth.

For a moment, the ground trembled. Amid a low, rumbling roar, a long, narrow crack slowly opened across the snowfield, stretching for more than ten meters.

Tatu sheathed his knife. His expression was cold and resolute, as though he had just made an entirely new decision…

☆☆☆

“Wow, Teresa, look! Even after dragging our feet for so long, we are still ranked among the top hundred!” Flora exclaimed excitedly, holding up her score card and comparing it with the rankings on the inter-academy points board.

Teresa looked at her with utter disdain. “What is there to be happy about? Only one hundred and thirty people have completed missions so far, and all of them were simple missions like ours!”

Flora did not care in the least about Teresa’s malicious contempt. She merely chuckled and said, with shameless cheerfulness, “In any case, we did make it into the top hundred at one point. That is still better than never making it in at all, is it not?”

Teresa rolled her eyes and said nothing more. What was there to boast about when their ranking among the top hundred had no real significance?

While the two were bickering, Habata suddenly let out a muffled cry.

“My heavens—one hundred and thirty-seven points!”

“What do you mean, one hundred and thirty-seven?” Teresa and Flora snapped back to attention at the same time. They instinctively looked up, and both of them stood there with their mouths hanging open.

On the freshly updated points board, the score at the very top was 137.

What did 137 represent? Up to that moment, the highest score achieved by anyone who had completed a mission was only 70 points. Teresa, Flora, and Habata had all been hovering around 60. Yet this newly emerged leader had scored 137—nearly twice as much as the person in second place!

“My heavens, what kind of powerhouse is that? One person completed a mission and earned so many points!” Flora murmured in astonishment. “No, this is something I absolutely have to find out!”

As she spoke, Flora—who proudly considered herself the academy’s walking encyclopedia—hurried toward the mission district to gather information.

Teresa and Habata could only shake their heads and laugh helplessly.

Teresa rubbed the back of her neck. “I am tired. I will go back and rest first.”

Habata nodded and bid her farewell. The two then parted ways, each returning to their own “hollow.”

After returning to her dormitory hollow, Teresa did not immediately rest as she had claimed. Instead, she poured something out of her spatial ring.

The instant the object appeared, the two little demon foxes, who had been listless and weak, suddenly became full of energy. They leaped and darted around the thing as if they had been injected with stimulants.

Teresa gave each fox a knock on the head and laughed. “Settle down, both of you. Otherwise, you will get nothing.”

Only then did the little demon foxes behave themselves. Each stared at Teresa with large, watery eyes and a pitiful expression. Their appearance made the little wolf and little eagle, who were watching from the side, secretly snicker.

Ignoring the two little creatures’ miserable looks, Teresa began examining the mass that resembled a flower bud.

It was the essence flame of a Voidflame Fire Crane—the purest and most vital flame of the creature, which had always existed in symbiosis with its soul. For the Voidflame Fire Crane to use such an attack against the little demon foxes was proof that it had truly been driven to the end of its strength.

Still, the Voidflame Fire Crane had only itself to blame for its misfortune. If the essence flame were used against magical beasts or other living beings—even experts above the tenth rank or super magical beasts—it would be tremendously powerful.

Unfortunately, that particular Voidflame Fire Crane had chosen to use it against the little demon foxes…

The little demon foxes were a unique species born and raised in the Void Realm. They were naturally capable of seeking out and capturing spiritual entities, making them the natural enemies of creatures such as soul-devouring demons. By instinct, they could seize anything related to spiritual entities—including, naturally, the essence flame that existed in symbiosis with a soul.

Thus, when the Voidflame Fire Crane used its essence flame against the two little creatures, it not only failed to drive them away but instead allowed the gluttonous pair to snatch the flame outright. In the end, it suffered the tragic fate of losing far more than it had hoped to gain: its attempt to repel its enemies had merely harmed itself instead…

To be continued.