C31. Rescue Mission (I)

"Tell it to me again...slowly," A deep, authoritative voice ordered, his voice echoing across the silent and tense building.

"M-My Lord," Sara stared down at the ridiculously fluffy carpet below her feet, her mind racing and her heart could almost be heard across the room, "D-during the examination... We encountered a mysterious person... They attacked our group... and now... Lenso.... is missing..." Sara croaked out, sweat accumulating on her forehead.

"Jerrion." The voice suddenly turned to an elderly man stood beside Sara, his forehead also sweating profusely, however his hands not daring to move and wipe it with the handkerchief tucked lightly in the breast pocket of his suit, "Tell me. Did you not swear upon your honour for the safety of my son?"

"M-My apologies, My Lord. I swear on my life that I'll do my upmost to search and recover the location of the Young Master," Jerrion, the academy's chairman gave a deep bow, his head almost touching his legs.

"You swear?" A trace of anger present in the Grand Duke's voice as he sat cross-legged on a throne-like chair, his arms clenching the two silver circular ornaments embedded at the end of the chair's armrest, "What good does swearing upon your life have? How much is your life worth? You've already let me down once! Do not even dare believe I will take you up on your word again!" Jeion, the Grand Duke shouted, the ornament smashing into a hundred tiny pieces as he stood up, a vein bulging from his neck as he stared around the room in anger, the dozens of professors and group 19 all stood paralysed in fear, their heads bowed down and refused to take a single glimpse up.

"You all better find my son before the sun sets." He muttered quietly, but loud enough for every single person in the room to hear every word, his chest heaving as he slowly sat back down, resting a hand on his head as a butler immediately rushed over with a handkerchief in a silver platter, "If you do not..." the Grand Duke glanced back up, "Don't even think about seeing the rising sun."

"Understood, My Lord!" everyone all bowed unanimously, the fear still present in their eyes as they continued to stared at the carpet until said otherwise.

"...Good." the Grand Duke simply replied before slowly standing up and walking past everyone, then leaving the room, the giant wooden door slamming shut behind him.

The atmosphere remained heavy as everyone slowly rose, a look of fear and uncertainty filled their eyes as they glanced around at their peers,

"Oh no... What do we do...?" A whimper echoed out, signalling everyone else to begin speaking out as well,

"We're so dead this time!"

"This is bad. This is really bad!!"

"Quiet!" A stern shout and a clap rang out as everyone's attention turned to Professor Deil who had his hand together and a calm look on his face, "Everyone! The more we all panic, the less time we have!"

"P-Professor Deil's right!" Another voice called out, everyone's attention now focusing towards a person on the other side of the room; Professor Sylis, "If we don't calm down and cooperate. We wouldn't only be missing a child, but our own heads."

A wave of murmurs echoed the room as they all nodded in agreement,

"Now first of all. We need a map." Professor took charge once again, "A map of the forest."

"There's one in the storage room," Sylis offered, to which 2 professors volunteered to retrieve it and came back a few minutes later with a giant rolled up detailed map of the forest,

"Group 19. Please give us an image of what happened during the last 30 seconds before the accident," Professor Deil began, turning to Sara.

"So, we just bet the Basilisk, and we let our guards down. I was cheering for the win and the completion of the Hunt card, then I turned to Lenso and I see a figure wearing all black charging behind him. I shout out to him and he turns around-"

"Wait a second," Professor Deil cut Sara off as he points at the map, "So the figure's charging at the Young Duke from the West Side?" He draws an imaginary line on how he pictured the encounter,

"No. From the East," Sara corrected him, drawing her own line on the map's representation of the mountain they were on,

"Alright, go on." Deil nodded,

"Then the person took out something from their pocket, I was too far to see what it was, but I think it did something to Lenso because he just stopped moving. Then the next thing I saw was the person gathering mana at their fist and punching Lenso down the mountain on the West side." She tapped the West end of the mountain, "I couldn't see what happened after that. Palmer ran to the edge of the mountain and the mysterious person just vanished.

"Sir," Palmer suddenly cut in, stepping forward, "I saw a bright flash when Lenso fell. After the flash, he just disappeared. I think it may have been teleportation or something like that."

"You think the Young Duke may have teleported himself to safety?" Deil turned to Palmer with a hand on his chin.

"Yes, Sir." He nodded,

"That's a high possibility." Sylis agreed, stepping in, "If he teleported out of the forest, he may not even be within the searching zone, hence our inability to find him."

"...Or there's another theory..." Another small, hesitant voice suddenly rang out,

Everyone quickly turned their heads as they saw the young Assistant Professor Genosa staring at the map intensely.

"Do you have something to add?" Professor Sylis raised an eyebrow at the Assistant Professor,

"Have you all heard of the Monster of the Dark Forest?" He began...