Once the students had settled from the appearance of such exalted figures, they were divided into six groups, each to be mentored by one of the Special Instructors.

It so happened that Apatia's group had gotten the chance to be under the King of Fools himself, much to the pleasure of a few within the group. Had it not been for his precious reputation, Arthur might've jumped for joy.

Of course, both Mavis, and Fabio were ecstatic at the idea, but each of them did throw a regretful glance toward Hoshino and Thomas respectively.

Not long after, the six groups departed on foot into the Dead Zone. They'd been given rations, potions, and flares in case of emergency. They were set to spend an entire day and night within the Dead Zone, only to return at the crack of dawn the next day.

—-

The six of them now marched through the ruins of a town overtaken by vegetation and lack of maintenance.

"Say, Apatia. Can I ask you a question?" said Fabio, seemingly having grown tired of bothering Mavis.

Apatia tilted her head. "Sure? Since when do you consider someone else's opinion before saying something?"

Fabio shrugged. "Since now I guess!" He then leaned in closer to her and lowered his voice to nearly a whisper. "If you had to choose between Igor and Arthur, who would you pick?"

She frowned. "Choose? What do you mean? For battle?"

Fabio smirked. "Of course not~ I think you know exactly what I mean~"

'Ugh…He won't let it go if I don't answer him…'

Apatia looked around for a moment. First to Igor, then Arthur, then finally…

"Mavis." She said promptly.

"She wasn't included in the options though?"

"I'm adding a third option." Apatia replied with a smile.

Fabio sighed. "You're no fun."

Apatia shrugged, grabbed Mavis' shoulder, and walked faster, leaving Fabio behind. She whispered in Mavis' ear, something inaudible to anyone else.

"Hmm. Stop." shouted Verity, at the head of the group. "What's wrong? Anyone?"

Mavis gasped. "My… you're right…!"

Apatia raised her hand confidently. "Wraiths. They've been following us for two to five minutes."

Verity smiled, but then gave her a thumbs down. "Wrong. Twenty minutes, at the very least. The only reason they haven't attacked yet is because of me."

"...Wraiths?" wondered Arthur.

That name did not fit any monster he'd ever heard of. He wondered if it was a unique type of monster only found within the Dead Zone.

"Ah, right. You wouldn't know." Verity stroked his chin, thinking of the simplest way to explain this. "You must all know that Gates are really just passageways to other 'Realms', or dimensions, or planets, whichever you prefer."

"That's basic knowledge" Igor quipped.

Apatia threw him a very subtle glare for talking to her Master that way, but quickly composed herself.

Verity continued. "Right, well, in short. Naming them all is too complicated. I've spent a long time in the Dead Zone, and I've seen more varieties of creatures than you could imagine, perhaps three times what's currently within the Protectorate database."

Fabio spoke with a certain playfulness in his voice. "If I may, sir, King of Fools, aren't all Protectors mandated to report any new species of monsters they see? I'm sure none has seen as many as you, but surely, all of the Protectors put together would have uncovered most of what you've encountered, no?"

Verity smirked. "Probably not. The average Protector is too weak to survive in the Dead Zone on their own, plus…"

He retrieved a rock from his pocket and threw it toward an old building that seemed to have been a school at one point.

[Runescript: Explode]

BOOM

The rock hit something with an explosion of incredible force. Strong enough to cause the collapse of the old school building, and more than enough to startle the students.

Mavis' eyes widened. "Magic…? No… You are a… runic sorcerer… then… is this the power of runes?"

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Verity ignored her, and pointed to where the old school had collapsed.

All heads turned, and what could not be seen before was revealed before their very eyes. A heavy creature fell to the ground with a thud… no, to call it a creature might have been too strong a word.

It was a mass of purple flesh, with no discernible anatomical features. It writhed on the ground, surely its last convulsions before death, and as it drew its last breath… if it even did such a thing as breathe, green liquid poured from the crevices of flesh in its body.

Igor squinted as he tried to get a better look. "What… is that?"

Arthur placed a hand on the handle of his sword. "I've never seen anything like this before…"

Verity scoffed. "Yeah, me neither. Anyway, what I was getting at was that monsters are prone to mutation in this zone, that or the Gates in the Dead Zone lead to stranger worlds. Whichever it is, it's because we're so close to demonic territory. The miasma in the air is causing some sort of disturbance."

He seemed to remember something. "And of course… stay too long, and you won't be human for long either. I've seen it, the way people change. Slowly, horribly.

There was a heavy silence for a moment. Was this the reality of what lay beyond human territory? Were these the horrors of the demonic invasion?

In truth, this was just a fraction of it.

Humanity had not yet seen anything.

Igor huffed. "You still haven't told us what a wraith is, old man."

'...O-Old man!??I'm only twenty-six!!''

"...Ahem. If it has no official name, any monster that can turn invisible I refer to as a wraith. Anything very strong is a Thumper. Fast is a Blinker ….The tricky ones I usually call Mimics, and I improvise for the rest."

Verity then took out seven more stones from his pants and threw them in several directions. Explosions resonated like fireworks, and seven more of the strange creatures fell to the ground.

"Wraiths usually move in groups."

Arthur looked around. 'I… hadn't even sensed them, and he just exterminated them in the blink of an eye. Incredible.'

And he then turned to stare at Apatia, which she interpreted as a glare.

She glared back.

Apatia was no pushover.

Arthur turned back around without addressing her. 'And she was able to sense them too…'

Igor, hands over his head, pondered on something. '...How'd she know what he called those things…?'

Suddenly, the sky brightened westward, and the light of judgement fell down from it.

"Empyrean Ray!!!"

Verity scoffed. "Seems like she's already on it. We should hurry too."

"Hurry to where exactly?" Arthur wondered.

"Where else? To demons, of course."

–

They'd now reached a forest, or rather a swamp of some sort. Although it was broad daylight outside, it seemed a spell of darkness had been cast over this swamp.

The atmosphere was gloomy, the terrain uneven, and it was hard to see farther than one's own hand. Or it would have been, if Mavis hadn't cast a 'Light' spell as soon as they had entered, that is.

So far, Verity had personally killed every single monster they'd come across, leaving nothing to do for the students.

He'd mostly used explosive runes, and if the situation had called for it, his hands, but he had yet to unleash the dreadful power of his spear, much to Arthur's disappointment.

Igor sighed. "How much further are we walking? Or have we simply been lost this entire time?"

A vein bulged on Verity's temple. 'Is this kid trying to rile me up...? Sigh, whatever...'

Verity did not reply, only stepping forward without stopping.

Igor clicked his tongue, and he turned to Apatia. "We're not actually lost, are we?"

Apatia shrugged. She knew well that Verity knew the Dead Zone like the back of his hand. It would be impossible for them to get lost even if they wanted to, but she couldn't exactly say that.

So, she smiled awkwardly, and her lips parted. "Why don't we just trust him for now?"

Igor, unconvinced, placed a hand over his right eye. "Yeah…[Bird's eye view]."

Following his example, Mavis and Fabio who'd been walking a few steps behind began using detection skills to scout their surroundings. Without much to go on, they wondered if perhaps this was some sort of test from the King of Fools.

However, not a single one of them could see anything amiss. Besides the strange darkness permeating the place, and a few monsters walking aimlessly here and there, there wasn't anything wrong with the swamp, and certainly no demons.

No matter how they asked the King of Fools just what he had in mind, however, he refused to reply, only holding his silence and walking forward.

Uneasiness began to ripple through the group. Well, the group, excluding Apatia… and Arthur who seemed to have unshakable faith in Verity.

It was not that Verity was too proud to speak to them, or too disinterested to engage with the students, but rather that all his attention had been drawn to something.

'Over the years, I've placed detection runes all over demonic territory, the Dead Zone, and human territory. At first, I used them due to my lack of skill, but less so these days…. They're usually hard to notice because of their size, so people, or creatures, step or touch them all the time. When that happens, I've set these runes to activate, and send me a subtle signal.'

Verity placed a hand on his chin as he thought. 'With how many there are, I receive a tremendous amount of signals every waking moment, which I tend to simply tune out… but runes in our surroundings have been activating consistently for quite a while now…as if whatever was triggering them was following us….'

Which was fine, since it was common to be tailed by monsters, or even demons, in the Dead Zone. When the Wraiths had followed them before, Verity had also received a similar kind of signal, after all. However, the issue now was that no matter where Verity looked, or how much he focused on his five sense, he could not find what had been following them this entire time.

Having lived in hell holes like the depths of demon nations and the Dead Zone, verity had sharpened his senses to an incredible degree. He could feel the slightest tinge of bloodlust aimed at him from miles away, and he could deduce the presence of another simply from the state of his surroundings, by relying on his instincts, or in rare cases, the Rune of Truth.

But now, he couldn't feel anything.

Yet, he knew they were being followed.

Which meant two things.

One - The pursuers were highly skilled.

Two - Either they held no hostility toward them… or they possessed stealth that surpassed even Verity's perception.

And Verity feared it was the latter.

There wasn't a thing alive that held no hostility in the Dead Zone, after all.

Verity abruptly stopped. 'I thought that if I strayed far enough from the border, they'd attack… but I guess not. Better to head back then… going any further would be dangerous.'

He placed his hands on his hips. "Alright. Let's head back. Clearly there's nothing interesting in this swamp."

Igor clicked his tongue. "All that for nothing."

Fabio chuckled. "Haha~ I guess even the great King can be wrong sometimes."

Mavis whacked the back of his head with her staff. "Be… respectful..!" She said, the tone of her voice not matching the strength of her blow.

"Ouch!!"

'Yeah, you tell her Mavis!!' Thought Apatia, though she too, was confused as to why they were so suddenly turning back. Verity and Her had gone past this point several times in the past. It should have still been relatively safe for another mile or two.

Still, she trusted her master's judgement much more than her own, so she certainly did not protest.

Arthur, on the other hand, placed a hand on the shaft of his sword, an apprehensive look on his face. He'd been tense for a while, for reasons even he wasn't sure of.

Verity looked at him with a frown. "Something wrong?" he asked.

Arthur's eyes darted around their surroundings before he finally answered. "I… don't think so…"

'Oh… are these the instincts of a true genius?'

Verity turned around. "Follow me, we'll leave the swamp, and merge with one of the other groups. Maybe they've found something more interesting."

FLINCH

Verity turned back around at lightning speed, took tight hold of his spear, and hurled it toward a seemingly random tree.

BOOM

"Or is that what you thought I'd say?"

Something materialized, impaled by his obsidian spear. It spit out a torrent of blood. "Ehhh… Even with all our preparations… you found us out, huh…" It then screamed at the top of its lungs. "BEGIN NOW!! GIVE YOUR SOUL FOR THE ONLY TRUTH!!"

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