"I told you to change your clothes," Matilda said sternly without looking.
Even now, Abigail was still wearing her oversized tunic that barely covered her legs.
Before departing to search for the Awakened Monster, Matilda had a lot of things on her mind that she hadn't realized Abigail was still wearing that. She recalled giving her proper clothes to avoid this from happening.
Matilda, though a High Angel and had properly covered her skin, was still harassed.
She already confronted the lecherous gazes, even from the female students.
But she couldn't be really strong about it.
Snake and Wolf are watching her closely, so she had to compromise and endure the gazes as long as they kept their distance. It's only going to be worse for Abigail, which was the reason why Matilda told her to cover up.
"I was going to change, but that girl…" Abigail bit her lower lip. "Rosaline took them."
Matilda sighed as it couldn't be helped.
Both of them scoured the area, covering the places where the others hadn't covered.
Broken branches, footsteps, and murmurs from other students could be heard.
All of them has one goal in mind.
"What are we doing here, exactly?" Abigail asked. She was shunned by the others, as she was no more than an outsider, so she did not get to listen to the briefing. "What are we searching for exactly?"
"The Awakened Monster," Matilda replied, eyes darting left and right. "One of the captured students from Team Hyperion said that his team had found it, and he pointed in this direction. It's aligned with what we suspected, so it should be somewhere here.
"What?" She paused and turned to look at Abigai. "Do you know where it was? Did Kai also find it?"
"N-No," Abigail shook both hands. "Our focus had been on Team Coeus."
Matilda stared at her a second longer before resuming.
'Actually, I don't really know,' Abigail thought inside—uncertain whether Kai had found the Awakened Monster or not. 'He's really suspicious about me after that night when I planned to meet with Matilda, but if I'm being honest, he's been suspecting me.'
Abigail is not stupid.
Most of the time, after Kai and Dorian came back, the two didn't share many words.
It was obvious that they had talked before returning.
Deep down, she knew that even in that team, she felt like an outsider the same.
"Speaking of Kai…" Abigail recoiled, almost like the name stung her physically. "I meant the Lesser Angel. Is it true?" She looked at the back of Matilda's head. "What you said, is it really true? That you've killed him?"
Abigail heard what Wolf said to Matilda earlier.
That she had killed Kai.
But there was no corpse—at least, Abigail hadn't seen Kai's corpse.
Matilda came back wounded, and the two immediately went back to the main camp.
A long pause settled between them.
Eventually, Matilda stopped and glanced over her shoulder to look at Abigail in the eyes.
"Yes," She answered flatly. "He's dead."
"Well, well... isn't this a coincidence?"
A woman emerged from behind a tree, light brown-skinned and sharp-eyed, her dreadlocks pulled tight into a high ponytail. Her gaze swept over the duo with open amusement as if she was glad to stumble across these two.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything important." She made a deliberate pause, sizing up the duo playfully. "Though from the looks on your faces, whatever you were discussing seemed to be serious."
"Rosaline," Matilda sharply glanced at the woman. "Wolf sent you here to stalk us?"
Rosaline shrugged, "Sent or not, since we're here already—mind if I join you? I believe three pairs of eyes are better than two."
"Suit yourself," Matilda walked past her and continued their search.
For hours straight, the group of three kept on looking tirelessly.
Snake has warned them that Lion is becoming impatient about Team Hyperion—and none of them would want him taking over again. Nobody could guess what he'd do if he took charge, especially after all the savageries that came out of his mouth.
But even after hours, they couldn't locate where the Awakened Monster was.
Some even resorted to making noises and attacking random parts of the forest, hoping that their loud noises would disturb the Awakened Monster and cause it to make an appearance. It didn't seem to work.
"What's wrong, Rosaline?" Matilda noticed that she seemed troubled by something.
For some reason, she kept looking around.
Considering that Rosaline has the bloodline of a Stymphalian Bird, her senses are very sharp.
"I don't… really know," She rubbed her nape nervously. "It's been quite some time, but I felt like we're being watched. And the shadows… didn't feel right. Something about tonight made me feel uneasy."
"You must be imagining things," Matilda brushed her worries off. "Others are all around us."
"No, I'm certain," Rosaline frowned. "I smelled blood."
HISS—!
Just then, a thunderous hiss shook the air, catching the three of them off guard.
It was an ear-shattering hiss that came from about half a mile away.
Seems like the noises made by the others earlier managed to finally disturbed the monster.
"Let's go!" Matilda sprinted straight towards the direction of the hiss.
A few minutes later, the three stumbled across a small hill that could easily be climbed. The hiss came from somewhere up there. Locating the Awakened Monster was priority number one so that Team Hyperion couldn't claim it.
And if possible, they are tasked to kill it themselves and take the Blue Gem.
Across the way, they hadn't stumbled across the others.
Seems like they were the first to arrive.
Matilda was the first one to arrive at the very top. She pushed herself up and looked around the surprisingly flat top. At the center, she saw a sizeable lake which was quite odd to find on top of a hill.
"Where is it?" Rosaline looked around and panted. "Did you find it?"
"I think we're too late," Matilda pointed to the side of the hilltop.
A wet trail of something big slithering out of the lake and down the hill could be seen.
Must be the Awakened Monster, and it's a snake.
"Come on,"
Matilda turned, about to chase after the Awakened Monster and warn the others nearby.
But Abigail stopped her.
"Instead of chasing after it, let's find its nest," She suggested. "We don't know how long the academy has left the Awakened Monster here or how many they are somewhere in Ixos. It may have a nest and even lay eggs."
"Good idea, outsider," Rosaline was pleasantly surprised. "If we have its eggs, we could lure it to a killing zone or closer to our main camp."
For the next few minutes, the three scoured the hilltop.
Matilda swept the outskirts. Rosaline plunged into the lake, searching the depths for anything hidden underwater. And Abigail combed everything in between. Every rock, every shadow, every space that could hide what they sought.
It took time. But not too much.
"Here!" Abigail's voice cut through the air. "I found it!"
All of them gathered around a big hole that was hidden behind a boulder.
It was big enough for the three of them to enter at the same time.
Matilda slid down to check, and a minute later, she came out looking dejected.
"I saw the nest, but there's no egg in it," She said, shaking her head.
"Since there's a nest, there should be an egg," Rosaline frowned as she cleared the water from her body using mana. "I don't trust you," She went down to check herself, and Matilda didn't stop her.
She came back with the same dejected expression.
Having no other choice, the three went down the hill again and followed the trail.
'Where is everybody?' Abigail followed the others while looking around. 'It's silent.'
Considering how big the Awakened Monster was—and the fact that the thunderous hiss from earlier sounded like it was really angry, there should be a clash by now. But there was no such sound.
It was either that the Awakened Monster avoided the others, or it simply didn't find anyone.
'I don't think it would avoid a fight—but finding no one is even more impossible,' Abigail felt a knot forming inside her stomach. 'Unless…'
She swallowed harshly at the possibility and quickly shook her head.
The group soon realized that the Awakened Monster was heading straight for Wolf. The trail led them back toward their temporary camp. As they drew closer, within the mile range, the first sound other than the eerie silence that seemed to choke them finally reached them.
Not loud, but enough for them to notice.
And it was an agonizing scream.
"Shit!" Rosaline picked up her pace. "It's attacking the temporary camp? Why?!"
Eventually, they encountered a stumbling student.
His arms were coated in blood, and there was a trail of blood that crossed over his face from a head trauma he suffered. Rosaline managed to catch him before he could fall, "What's going on?! Where is Wolf?"
"The Awakened Monster…" He rasped, but passed out before he could say more.
Arriving back at the temporary camp, the group was greeted by destruction.
Trails carved by the Awakened Monster's rampage scarred the earth in every direction, deep gouges that befit its massive size. Trees lay toppled like discarded twigs. Their tent was utterly flattened, trampled into the dirt.
And worse, the air itself had turned foul with the sharp, copper stench of blood.
Beneath it all, the ground was drenched.
But what made them feel uneasy was the fact that they couldn't find a single corpse.
Despite the strong stench of blood, there was no body in sight.
Hiss—!
Just then, the sound of the Awakened Monster snapped them out of their stupor. It was still fighting. Presumably with Wolf, so the three immediately went over to check. Losing more of them would damage their team badly.
If they somehow lose Wolf, too, there would be a shortage to fight against Team Hyperion.
Mid-way, Abigail slowed down.
She watched as Matilda and Rosaline rushed ahead, and then turned to look behind her.
Inside, her heart was pounding hard against her ribcage to the point that it was hard for her to breathe properly. Everything she saw across the way made her even more nauseous. Not because of the gore, but because of the possibility inside her mind.
Abigail turned around.
Her steps were slow. Measured. Like she was afraid what she'll find.
And once she returned to where their rallying point should be, her heart skipped a beat.
Across the field, she saw a figure.
Crouching beside the unconscious student they stumbled across earlier was a shadow. A phantom. Even from behind, she recognized the phantom's back, hair, and posture. Despite what Matilda said, she knew who this phantom was.
Then, as if smelling the fear in her heart, the phantom lifted up his gaze and looked over his shoulder.
A chilling gaze met Abigail like the stare of death.
"Kai…?"