The First Quest (2)

*Tiss...*

The doors of the bus opened and we got off, finding ourselves surrounded by modern buildings and structures. In the distance were many skyscrapers that demonstrated the greatness of the modern world mankind had built. But it also was a sign of mortals' ignorance of the supernatural forces.

After a minute of admiring the city, we began navigating through the bustling streets of the city. We walked for a while and as we came closer to our destination, the streets became less and less crowded. Finally, we reached our destination where a high school building stood.

However, as soon as we saw the state of the school, we were taken aback by the state of the school. The wall of the school was dirty and unmaintained. There were cracks over here and there. One of its windows was smashed into pieces while the shards of glass were still on the ground below the broken window. The concrete garden of the school had only one basketball hoop which had already rusted away. It was obvious, this school wasn't being taken care of.

The children in the school weren't in good shape either. Their clothes were old and unkept and some were even ripped. And none of them seemed happy at all. Their eyes were motionless and hollow. But I was very familiar with those lifeless eyes. Those were the eyes of children who had lost their parents a long time ago.

This high school was an orphan school. And the demigod we were searching for was also an orphan. Her mother was Artemis and her father had left her when she was a baby, leaving her in front of the door of the orphanage. Since then she struggled from orphanage to orphanage and finally ended up in this high school which was specifically made for orphans.

The main cast was also at a loss of words at the scenery in front of them. Eleanor asked with a doubtful tone.

"Is this the right place? Isn't this supposed to be a high school?"

"It is written 'High School' on the sign over there though."

"Why is this place so neglected?"

As we approached the main gate of the school, we realized the unmaintained state of the school wasn't the only thing abnormal here as we felt divine energy coming from the direction of the school. 

"Chiron was right! There really is divine energy here! Let's hurry! The divine energy must be leaking out of a newly awakened demigod!"

Adirel took the lead and began approaching the guard standing beside the entrance. 

"Sir, can we pass? we ha-"

"Yeah, yeah... just go."

Guard's careless attitude made Adriel realize how corrupt the governance of this school was. Although being able to enter the school without confrontation was in our favor, it still disturbed Adriel seeing the security of a school being this careless, considering we were in America.

"Thanks..."

With a forced smile, Adriel thanked the guard and we entered the school and began pacing through the corridors, trying to find the source of the divine energy leak. It didn't take us too long to locate the source. We were standing before the door of a classroom.

"The divine energy is most dense beyond this classroom door. Should we just go in? The classes seem to be continuing."

Adriel voiced his doubts. Amelia responded to his question with a sensible answer.

"The monsters may be coming at any moment now. We can't risk it just to not interrupt a lesson."

"Yeah, Amelia is right. we should just force our way in and take the demigod with us then leave as quickly as possible."

I added in to accelerate the decision process.

"Okay..."

Adriel opened the door and we followed him into the classroom. Everyone's eyes were drawn to the entrance of the classroom where four children appeared out of nowhere. An old teacher also stopped his teaching and frowned at how rude we were.

"You children should have learned to knock on the door before you barge into a classroom. We are in the middle of a lesson right now. May I ask why are you guys here?"

The whispers filled the classroom, which was understandable since there were three demigods whose fathers were the Big Three.

"Omg... Look how handsome he is∼"

"Is she an angel∼"

Ignoring the whispers of praises, we approached a girl at the far end of the classroom near the window, from whose body emanated subtle threads of divine energy.

She had long auburn hair which was disheveled and unkept. The shape of her silver eyes resembled a hunter wolf in the wild. Although her white skin was bruised and rough, it was evident she was the most beautiful girl in this school. She was a bit taller than Amelia and Eleanor.

She was looking out the window and hadn't even noticed us.

"Hey! What do you think you are doing? I asked you a question!"

The old teacher shouted at us. He was quite loud, which alerted the girl and brought her attention back to the classroom. As she tried to make sense of what was happening, Adriel towered before her.

"Can you come out of the classroom real quick? We need to talk to you."

"What do you want?! You fucker! Go kill yourself!"

Dumbfounded by how aggressively she acted, Adriel backed away. Seeing this, I facepalmed and decided to take control of the situation. I walked up to her and met her gaze.

What Adriel didn't know was that this neighborhood was an orphan neighborhood. In such a place, there is no strict legal or moral restriction between children, meaning the one who is stronger would be the highest in the hierarchy.

So children living in the orphan neighborhood, without the protection of a family, had no choice but to be watchful of their environment. Right now this girl was rightfully assuming we were sent by someone to beat her up and we were threatening her. Considering that she had been a menace to other kids till now due to her demigod nature, it was likely that she had quite a bit of an enemy.

Without whining even a little, I spoke in an apathetic voice.

"We are neither sent by someone nor going to beat you up. So don't be so tense. Do you understand?"

"Heh... And you want me to believe that shit?"

"Let me ask you one simple thing. Do you hear voices in your head?"

She didn't answer me but I knew she was hearing them right as we were talking. I slowly pulled out one of my daggers as I proceeded to talk to her.

"Even if you don't believe me now, you will come with us eventually."

The students gasped as they saw me unsheathing my dagger. Some had even stood up from their seats to get out of the classroom. The main cast was also confused seeing me taking my dagger out against the person we were supposed to protect. On the other hand, the girl was already ready to confront me if I ever made a move. Her eyes never left the dagger.

'It's coming...'

Just then, everyone's attention was pulled to a black mass on the other side of the window rushing at them. As what seemed to be a black mass came closer to view, we realized it wasn't just a black slimy mass but a dog covered in a black slimy matter. Amidst the thick coat of black slime, glowed two red eyes.

Diverting her focus from me, the girl's head also snapped towards the window. The beast broke through the window as shards of glass scattered around. Spreading his mouth wide, the dog lunged at the girl who was shocked to come face to face with such a monster. Her eyes widened as she witnessed the razor-sharp fangs of the dog coming down on her face.

For a split second, she thought she was going to die for sure. However, before the dog could drill its fangs into her face, it got hit by a dagger. I pushed my dagger into its throat with a swift thrust. The dog was sent crashing into the wall. The red glow of the two circles died down and the dog's slimy body disintegrated into liquid form.

All of this had happened in a few seconds.

*Kyaa!*

"What the actual fuck?!"

"It is a school shooting!"

"Who the fuck would execute a school shooting at an orphan school? Are they crazy?!"

"Everyone, crouch under your desks!"

The old teacher tried to control the crowd of frightened teenagers but completely failed. Everybody spilled out of the classroom and began running away for their life. Only we and the old teacher, who was hiding under the teacher's desk, were left in the classroom.

Getting out of his daze, Adriel realized the direness of the situation. The monsters had already found us. He hurriedly warned the others.

"We gotta go!"

"Wait! What was that dog just now? And why did it charge at me?!"

"We don't have enough time to explain! Just follow us, alright?!"

"Arghh! Okay, I get it. Where are we going then?!"

"To the camp the voice in your head talks about."

The girl didn't understand what was going on but witnessing the monster first-hand, she knew it was much more reasonable to stick with these people than facing another one of those dogs.

Thus, we got out of the high school and ran across the streets together. While on our way to the nearest bus stop, where we planned to find a taxi, Amelia asked the girl her name.

"By the way, I am Amelia, what was your name?"

"Oh... It's Nadia. Nadia Yale. More important than that, will you guys explain what the hell is actually happening?!"

However, while Amelia and others were breaking the news about the supernatural world to Nadia, they all missed the shadows lingering behind the buildings. They had been following us since we had left the school. Yet...

'Why don't they ambush us? They should have been attacking us right now when the group was distracted and had lowered their guards.'

At that moment, an ominous feeling ignited within me.