Chapter 196: The City Qualifier is Over
With Silas’s final battle with Echidna won, the City Qualifier stage was officially over, not because the scheduled three days had peacefully reached their conclusion, or because every academy had completed its objectives, and certainly not because the organizers had planned for it to end this way.
It was over because an S-Rank Mythical Entity had awakened beneath Blackridge Expanse, nearly turned the tournament grounds into a wasteland, and forced the entire event into an emergency evacuation.
The tournament system finally issued the announcement.
[ CITY QUALIFIER STAGE TERMINATED ]
[ EMERGENCY CONDITIONS HAVE BEEN DECLARED ]
[ ALL PARTICIPANTS ARE TO CEASE COMBAT IMMEDIATELY. ]
[ SUPERVISORS AND EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAMS HAVE BEEN AUTHORIZED TO BEGIN EXTRACTION. ]
***
Inside the command center, the atmosphere was nothing short of chaotic.
The organizers were surrounded by floating screens displaying the condition of every participant, the locations of the various academies, the completed objectives, and the destruction across Blackridge.
"We need the preliminary scores compiled immediately."
"Some teams haven’t reached the extraction points."
"Send supervisors to their locations."
"Make sure the medical teams are prepared."
"And what about Valecrest?"
Silence.
Every person in the room looked toward the enormous screen displaying the Central Blackridge Observatory.
The area around it was barely recognizable. The forest had been flattened. Mountainsides had been carved apart. Huge craters covered the ground.
One of the organizers swallowed.
"They’re alive."
Another person stared at the screen.
"All of them?"
"All ten."
The room went silent again. Ten participants had entered the Blackridge Expanse, and ten remained. There was not a single elimination.
Somehow, they had also been at the center of the battle that had just been streamed across the entire country. One organizer slowly rubbed his forehead.
"This tournament is going to be a nightmare to explain."
***
Across the forest, supervisors were already moving. Aircraft descended between the trees while awakened rescue teams entered the battlefield. Students who had been separated from their academies were being located and extracted.
Some were injured and exhausted. Others were just sitting beneath trees, staring blankly at the destruction around them.
Nobody had expected this.
The City Qualifier was supposed to test young awakened individuals.
Instead, they had witnessed something that most professional Hunters would have considered a disaster scenario.
An S-Rank monster, and two S-Rank students fighting it.
***
Back at the ruined observatory, Silas stood quietly. Chloe remained beside him. Echidna was several meters away, still looking at him with that strange, curious expression.
Silas glanced toward the forest.
"They should be coming."
Chloe looked at him.
"Who?"
"The others"
A few seconds passed. Then the air behind them distorted. A figure emerged from the trees, the Crimson Reaper.
Behind it came the Goblin King and the Solar Tyrant Gallus. The three echoes moved toward Silas before stopping. The Crimson Reaper bowed.
Silas nodded.
"Good."
One by one, the others appeared. Alpha came first, followed by Damien and Neil. Alicia walked beside Emma, while Rihanna and Godfrey followed behind them. The entire Valecrest team that had entered Blackridge was now together.
Alpha looked around.
"Wow."
Neil stared at the devastation.
"I don’t even know what to say." He looked toward Silas. "Did you do all of this?"
Silas pointed at Echidna.
"She helped."
Echidna smiled.
"You’re welcome."
Alicia’s expression became strange.
"Why does the monster sound like she’s part of the team now?"
"Long story."
"Of course."
Alpha looked at Silas.
"Where’s the monster?"
Silas pointed. "Are you blind?"
Everyone turned. Echidna stood silently in the middle of the ruined battlefield. She closed her eyes.
Her enormous serpentine body began glowing. Silas immediately sensed the change.
"Something’s happening."
Chloe raised her spear. The others instinctively prepared themselves. Echidna’s body began shrinking. Her massive serpent tail slowly contracted, while the dark scales covering her lower body began changing as her enormous form condensed.
The transformation wasn’t violent. It was almost graceful. The scales shimmered before disappearing beneath flesh, while her tail split, and two human legs emerged.
Her monstrous proportions gradually changed until the gigantic Mother of Monsters stood at roughly human scale.
When the light faded, the woman standing before them looked nothing like the enormous creature they had fought.
She still possessed her long dark hair. The enormous horns remained curved backward from her head. Her golden eyes retained their unmistakable beast-like quality.
Dark fur framed parts of her face, giving her an almost bestial appearance despite her otherwise mature and elegant features. Scales covered portions of her arms and legs, forming natural patterns across her skin.
She looked like a woman who had been crafted from both human and monster. But there was one problem. She had transformed without any clothing.
Silas’s eyes widened.
"OH." He immediately turned around. "Nobody look."
Alpha stared.
"We’re literally surrounded by destroyed trees."
"Look at the trees!"
"What?"
"Find an interesting tree!"
Chloe covered her eyes in embarrassment. Neil suddenly became extremely interested in the ground. Alicia turned around without saying anything.
Silas opened the system shop.
’Clothes.’
[Searching.]
A small screen appeared.
[Heavy Emergency Cloak = 50 Cupid Points.]
"Buy."
[Purchased.]
A thick black cloth suddenly appeared in Silas’s hands. He walked over without looking directly at Echidna and held it out.
"Here."
Echidna looked at the cloth, then at him.
"You are embarrassed."
"I’m being respectful."
"Interesting."
She wrapped the heavy cloth around herself. It was large enough to cover her from her shoulders to her knees. Silas finally turned around.
"Better?"
Echidna nodded.
"Much."
The others slowly turned back. Alpha looked at her.
"She really transformed."
Damien frowned, his voice holding something more than just surprise.
"That’s the same monster?"
Echidna smiled.
"I have many forms."
Silas nodded.
"Apparently."
She looked toward him.
"This is simply the one I prefer when walking among humans."
Alpha stared.
"You have a human form?"
"Several."
"..."
Alpha looked at Silas.
"Of course she does."
Silas shrugged.
"I’m learning too."
A distant siren echoed through the forest, followed by another. Military aircraft began appearing above the trees. Silas looked toward the sky.
"We should leave."
Echidna stepped closer to him.
"Agreed."
Chloe glanced at her.
"You can walk?"
Echidna smiled.
"I can do much more than walk."
She took her first step, and the ground didn’t shake. She just walked like any other woman. Silas looked at her for a moment, then toward the extraction zone.
"Let’s go."
The Valecrest team began moving.
Silas walked at the front with Chloe beside him, while Echidna followed closely behind. As they emerged from the ruined forest, military personnel and tournament supervisors immediately turned toward them and stopped.
Their eyes moved from Silas to Chloe, and finally to the mysterious woman wearing a thick black cloak. Nobody spoke.
Silas scratched his cheek.
"Uh..."
He looked at Echidna, then at the supervisors.
"She’s with us."
The silence became even heavier. One supervisor slowly lowered his communication device.
"She’s the monster, right?"
Silas smiled awkwardly.
"Long story."
Behind them, the Central Blackridge Observatory remained standing amid the destruction. The City Qualifier was over, but whatever had awakened inside Blackridge had changed the tournament forever.