402 Approaching Storm (1)

Six chapters published. Perhaps three or four more coming tonight or tomorrow...

...

When Wave arrived at the place of the incident and saw the giant hole in the middle of the street, she felt a headache coming.

There were already tens of people gathered in the street, looking at the three-meter-long and three-meter-wide hole that appeared in the middle of the street with curious expressions. Even some demigods were among the crowd, looking at the hole with grave expressions.

The hole was very deep. So deep that she could not see the bottom of it with the naked eye. However, her senses told her that there was something at the bottom.

"What in the hell happened here…?" Wave could not help but murmur to herself.

"A girl in love..."

Wave was surprised when she heard a familiar expressionless voice coming from behind her.

"Eve? It looks like you arrived first."

"Mm. Did you catch the one you were chasing?"

".. I didn't. He was very slippery and did not show his face from the start to the end. How about you?"

"Me neither… He disappeared mysteriously."

Wave sighed in disappointment. However, she was already expecting something like that.

"Such a shame. Anyway, Do you know what happened here? What do you mean by a girl in love'?"

"... A girl in love did it," Eve said with a strange expression.

Wave was confused. But before she could Eve for the details, a person approached her. He was one of her subordinates.

The man gave her a quick summary of the situation, including the tunnels, the people that were trapped inside, and the reason the hole appeared.

When Wave heard about Regina blasting open a twenty-meter-deep hole to rescue Bloed, her expression stiffened.

"Is she crazy?"

"Maybe? I'm not sure."

Wave put on a bitter smile.

"Let's go down. I want to see what is underground."

"Mm."

The situation had long ended when they reached the bottom of the hole. Bloed, Aya, Isabella, and her two club members had left the place long ago, and the only thing that remained of the laboratory was a destructed place.

"Why is it like this?" Wave asked with a frown.

"It was Regina as well. Apparently, she destroyed the place to kill the monster that Bloed was fighting."

"Really? Did she cause all this destruction just for a monster? How strong was the monster?"

"I'm not sure. I asked her and she told me that it was weaker than a demigod."

Wave was speechless.

'That girl… Did she need to cause all this destruction just to kill such a weak monster? Does she know the meaning of self-control?'

Just then, Wave noticed something in of debris.

Frowning, the headmistress waved her hand. Immediately, the debris rose in the air and floated towards her.

"What is it?" Eve asked curiously. Looking at the piece of debris, she saw what seemed like a part of a magic circle engraved on it.

"… If I'm not mistaken, it's an explosion magic circle… Mm, It also has a surveillance function." Wave's expression was grave. She then looked at her surroundings and waved her hand again, making more pieces of debris float towards her.

And surprisingly, every piece had a part of the same magic circle engraved on them.

"… How ruthless…" Wave looked at the parts of the magic circle and put on a grim expression. "The power of this magic circle is enough to injure even a demigod. Moreover, it will produce a chain reaction, collapsing the entire underground laboratory and burying the people inside alive. Even a demigod could be killed by this trap."

Eve was stunned. "… Do you mean, they were planning to destroy everything?"

Wave nodded.

"These kids are lucky. Most likely, the bastards that built this didn't activate the magic circle because they thought they were too weak for it. They probably were waiting for someone stronger to come and then use the explosion to injure or kill them. Unfortunately for them, Miss Regina destroyed most of the magic circle before they could do anything."

Eve's expression turned solemn after hearing that.

She had already heard from Isabella about the magic circles engraved in the tunnels' walls, however, she did not expect that there would be an even stronger magic circle in the laboratory.

"… They planned to bury the entire evidence."

"It looks like that."

Eve and Wave looked at each other and saw the seriousness in each other's eyes.

Just the fact that this place had been built below Academy City without anyone noticing was alarming enough, but the ruthless means of the party responsible for this disturbed them even more.

Just at that moment, they heard a sound coming from one of the tunnels connected to the laboratory.

When Eve and Wave looked in that direction, they saw a silver-haired girl walking out of one of the tunnels while dragging the body of a strange creature.

"Miss Regina? You are still here?"

"… I thought you were taking care of Bloed."

Wave and Eve were surprised.

Regina looked at them coldly and nodded.

"I was. But after I was sure master was stable, I came back. I had to kill the insect that dared to see my master like prey."

Eve and Wave felt their lips twitch when they heard that.

This girl… They could not believe that such a powerful demigod was so loyal (?) to a young man.

"… That creature must have suffered a lot."

Wave agreed completely with Eve's guess.

Perhaps due to that, Wave looked at the creature again, this time more carefully.

But immediately, she froze.

At the same time, it seemed that Eve noticed the same thing.

"The Blight…"

"Impossible!"

Eve and Wave turned pale.

"It looks like you recognize it." Regina raised an eyebrow. "Indeed, this monster is one of the creatures that you call the Blight… Well, not completely. It was fused with some other creatures through an unknown method, so it lost many of its abilities."

Eve and Wave's expressions turned ugly.

Both of them had fought during the war against the Blight, this they knew the danger of these creatures.

To be honest, even though they heard Bloed mentioning that he met the Blight before, they did not take it too seriously. But seeing it with their own eyes, the two demigods realized how serious the situation was.

"… Miss Regina, who else knows about the identity of these creatures?" Wave asked solemnly.

"Master knows, and he could have told to the cat girl. As for the others, I don't know."

Wave sighed in relief.

"Fortunately, not many people knew yet. I should able to control the situation."

She then looked at Regina and at the creature she was dragging. "Miss Regina, can you give me that monster? I fear I'll need it."

Regina raised an eyebrow. But then, she chuckled coldly.

"And why should I?"

"… Miss Regina, you should know the importance of this creature and what it means. Look at the big picture."

"The big picture, huh." Regina nodded calmly. But one second later, her killing intent erupted out, rushing towards Wave and Eve.

"You…"

"... Regina, what is the meaning of this?"

"Meaning?" Regina looked at Wave and Eve and sneered. "Miss Wave, my master was injured due to the mission you gave him. And Miss Eve, You were supposed to protect him. However, due to your big picture, master almost dies at the hands of a monster!"

Wave and Eve were startled. But then, they fell silent.

Sighing, Eve took the initiative to apologize.

"... Sorry, it was my fault."

Despite her expressionless look, it was obvious that she was ashamed.

After all, the reason Regina stayed in the tower was that Eve was going to protect Bloed. However, Eve ended leaving to chase after a demigod, and Bloed almost dies after that.

She could understand why Regina was angry.

Regina snorted and walked away.

"... Master will be interested in this specimen, so I can't give it to you. However, I killed a few other creatures like this in the cave. They were weaker than this one, but they should be enough for you, Miss Wave.

"And Miss Eve, I need to have a long chat with you later."

After saying that, Regina jumped up towards the hole and flew away.

Once Regina was gone, Wave and Eve looked at each other with wry smiles.

"That girl… She sure loves that young man."

"Mm… It's a bit scary."

"However... Bloed is not simple either. Did you feel it too?"

Eve nodded. Just like Wave, Eve had felt it.

That terrifying power that suddenly appeared only to disappear just as suddenly.

That was...

"The same as his strange saber technique," Eve murmured to herself.

Wave agreed with her.

Although she was not sure about the exact situation, it was obvious that Bloed was hiding a very terrifying power inside him.

A power so strong that even Wave herself felt threatened.

Unfortunately, it was not as though she could simply ask Bloed about it.

"This Bloed... And the Blight... Sigh, how complicated." Wave sighed with a tired expression.

"What are you planning to do?"

"For now, I need to warn the others about the Blight."

Wave looked at the destroyed laboratory and put on a solemn expression.

"… I'm going to start a World Calamity Emergency Meeting."