322 Shadows Again

"Well, it was truly an exciting ending. It had been a while since Academy City saw such a lively battle." Wave smiled softly as she watched the end of the battle between Bloed, Aya, Liu Ying, and the B-Ranks. She seemed satisfied with what she saw.

However–

"I'm curious about something." She narrowed her eyes, her attention on the silver-haired girl standing behind her. "When that young man stopped the five magic spells… What kind of technique was that? I'm sure it was not a magic spell… No, I'm sure it did not even use mana. How strange…"

Regina frowned as her eyes emitted a sharp and cold light.

"I hope you stop pestering my master, woman. Although I'm happy with the results of this battle, it did not mean I like it when my master is embroiled in this kind of situation."

"Master, huh." The dragon-turned-human put on a pensive expression.

Now that she thought about it, the silver-haired girl had been calling the young man like that for a while now.

Wave could feel Regina unflinching loyalty in the way she talked about the young man. It was a steadfast belief that she had found her reason to live.

She found it very puzzling.

"… How can a demigod as powerful as you become the servant of a boy like him? No matter how talented he is, that kind of loyalty is not normal."

Regina's eyes narrowed. It was as though she was offended by the fact that Wave doubted her loyalty.

However, she said nothing. She just stared at the dragon headmistress for several seconds before turning around to leave.

There was no need to care about the thoughts of people like her.

Instead, she should hurry up and return with her master. Otherwise, the foxes around him would take advantage of her absence to bewitch him.

Wave watched Regina leave without stopping her. She was not expecting an answer in the first place.

However, that made her more curious about the blue-haired young man.

"Glenn Skysword, huh."

"… He doesn't like that name." Eve, who had been silent until now, interjected.

"Really? How interesting. I'm really curious about that young man now."

"…"

"Are you not curious as well, Eve? Such a talented young man, but for some reason he cut all his ties with his family and changed his name. Moreover, his relationship with the Kingdom of Alterna seems unrepairable.

"Furthermore, the same boy is also someone that got the loyalty of a powerful demigod and the love of two goddesses… Mm, that girl is also weird. Her soul felt incomplete, but it did not seem to affect her in the slightest… Plus, something about her felt… inhumane."

"Like a doll." Eve opined.

"Yes, like a doll." Wave said deep in thought. "Right, did you hear the news? The Skysword Princess is coming to Academy City. What was her name? Eres I think."

Eve was startled. Lowering her head, she put on a pensive expression.

"… Is she coming for him?"

"Most likely. There is no other reason for that girl to come here. I heard she is already at the A-Rank, and her strength… That girl, she is a true monster. I even heard a rumor that the queen is also coming, but I was unable to confirm it... Sigh, the already messy situation of Academy City is going to turn messier."

Eve fell silent with a thoughtful look.

The fact that the Skysword Queen and the Skysword Princess were coming to Academy City was not good news. Most likely, it meant that the Kingdom of Alterna had not given up on getting Bloed on their side again.

And for her, that was bad.

She had seen the potential of Bloed. Someone like him could one day become just as strong as her.

No, even now, he had the loyalty of Regina, a demigod just as powerful as her.

People at that level of power were strategic resources able to change the entire world. They were a one-man army.

Eve was usually silent and expressionless, seeming like she did not care about worldly affairs. But the truth was that as the (ex)saintess of Moonlight Glow, she was not ignorant of the big picture.

Plus, her loyalty towards her goddess meant she always wanted the best for her.

And now, the best for her was to keep Bloed and Regina as close as possible.

"Mm… Should I help the Sharpclaw kitten to seduce him? If they had two or three cubs, Bloed will be completely tied to the Beastmen Countries."

Wave heard her friend's words and rolled her eyes.

"Why don't you seduce him yourself then? I'm sure he will be unable to resist your charms."

Eve thought silently before shaking her head.

"No… I'll only marry someone stronger than me."

Wave rolled her eyes once more.

In this world, what man was stronger than the golden-haired fox girl beside the gods.

Perhaps only her ancestor or that decrepit old man obsessed with swords.

It seemed like her friend's love life was destined to be lonely.

…

"My hero! You are here!"

Gina rushed towards Bloed with a happy smile as soon as she saw him, extending her arms and getting ready to jump towards him.

Unfortunately for her–

"… No."

The cat girl was there to stop her advances.

Gina blinked. Looking at Aya, she realized that the cat girl was not planning to let her plan succeed.

Moreover, looking at the wariness on the cat girl's gaze, it was obvious she was aiming for the third place as well.

For an instant, Gina's eyes narrowed dangerously.

It was as though she was assessing the rival in front of her.

Bloed decided to feign he did not see the competition between the two youngest girls of the group. Instead, he fixed his attention on Gina's big sister who kneeled in front of him respectfully.

"My lord, I did not betray your expectations."

"Well done," Bloed smiled softly. "I don't think we could have won without your help."

"I'm happy to be of help to master. By the way, master, what happened to Miss Liu Ying?"

"Oh that," Bloed glanced at the demon girl sleeping on his back. "She is just tired, don't worry. Let's go, I want to return to our place to rest, but we need to receive the reward from the headmistress first."

"Mm."

"Okay."

"Understood."

Hearing Aya, Gina, and Sara's answer, Bloed proceeded to lead the group towards the great library.

He followed his connection with Regina to lead the group towards the Great Library and claim their reward for surviving until the end of the game.

In truth, Bloed cared little about the headmistress's reward (although he was curious about it). His greatest reward in this battle was the information he got through Oculus instead.

In that sense, his harvest this time had been pretty good.

He had gotten information about the way hundreds of students handled mana, and each one of these students was considered talented. With their information, his predictive abilities would take a step forward.

Bloed could not wait to go to his laboratory and upgrade his predictive software.

At that moment, the group saw a group of men in white robes carrying away the unconscious students.

"They are…"

"Healing mages from Academy City," Sara replied. "They must be taking the students to a hospital until they wake up."

Bloed nodded slightly surprised.

He had to admit that the way Academy City went through a game of this scale was very professional. It was worthy of its reputation as the greatest learning place on the continent.

Just the resources invested in this game were much more than some weaker countries' yearly expenditure in nurturing their talents!

Just at that moment, Gina turned around and glanced at the healing mages.

But then, she froze.

And her face paled.

"No!"

"Gina!?"

"Gina!"

Bloed and Sara were startled. Under their horrified gazes, Gina's body started to tremble and she collapsed on the ground in fear.

Due to the situation, Liu Ying woke up startled, and even Aya started to circle her mana, realizing that something was wrong.

"Gina! What is wrong!?�� Sara asked worriedly. but no matter how she called out at her little sister, the honey-haired girl did not reply.

Instead, she started to mutter something fearfully.

"The shadows… The shadows… They are here… They are here… They are swallowing the students... They came to me..."

"The shadows?"

Bloed, Liu Ying, and Sara's expressions changed.

Looking at each other, they remembered that the last time Gina mentioned the was…

'Just before the disaster in Calice City...'

Bloed's expression turned grave. He remembered how tragic that disaster was.

The number of people that died back then was in the thousands.

Moreover, Bloed knew that the culprits behind that disaster were somehow related to the Devourers.

'But why Gina mentioned them just now? She was just looking at the heali- Wait a moment, the healing mages!'

Changing his expression, Bloed turned around to look at the healing mages.

However, they were already gone.

Moreover, he could not find them even after using Oculus.

'It can't be…'

Looking at the anxious and trembling Gina, Bloed expression turned grim.

He never expected to find clues about the Devourer in this place.