Chapter 180. A Horde
For the next four days, nothing happened.
No blood-curdling screams in the middle of the night. No miasma rising. Not even a flicker of rift-energy detected miles away.
Nothing.
It lulled the students into a false sense of security. The raw fear that had once gripped them—choking, paralyzing, numbing—had begun to dwindle. Bit by bit, their hope returned. They clung to it like fools desperate, daring to believe they might actually survive this ordeal.
But not everyone shared in that fragile optimism.
One girl, in particular, hadn’t smiled once in the past four days. She sat with her group—Verena and Kaelira—huddled beside a large, uneven boulder under a crooked tree that barely offered shade. The bark was flaking, and the leaves were dying, but it was still better than nothing.
The three girls were munching on the few edible things they’d foraged earlier that morning: bitter, sour-tasting fruits. Red, round, and deceivingly similar to cherries—but far more sour in flavor. Every bite was like chewing through acid-coated chalk.
Kaelira, ever the loudmouth, winced dramatically as she gulped one down. "Ugh! Fuck! This is disgusting. Like licking spoiled vinegar off shit." She squinted at the half-eaten fruit, grimaced, and threw it into the bushes.
"When the hell are they gonna open the damn portal already? There’s no monsters, no danger, nothing! We’ve walked like 20 kilometers. No rifts, no signs, no shit. How longggg is this stupid bullshit gonna drag on..."
Verena clicked her tongue, shooting her a sharp glare. "Could you shut your damn mouth for once?" Her voice was calm but venomous. "You think we like this either? None of us know how to open a portal, so unless you’ve secretly a Rank ★★★★★★ and can tear space apart, shut the fuck up and eat your fruit."
Kaelira huffed, not at all chastised. "Tch. So now I can’t even complain? All hail the almighty dictator Verena, silencer of the suffering and slapper of whining redheads."