the big bad wolfs (1)

Ox heard what Sable had said, and he agreed.

"We should tell the other teachers," Ox said.

"What good would that do? You know even if we all went up against Darius, we would lose," Sable whispered. He didn't want any of his students hearing him.

"Yes, but if we tell this to the Ascension group, we could back him into a corner," Ox said with glee.

"Then what about the students? You know as well as I do the Broken Veil isn't the biggest fan of Evolvers. And I hate to say it, but we need Darius to keep them back—at least for now," Sable said, being the voice of reason.

Ox didn't like what he was hearing, but he knew Sable was right.

"You're right, but I'll still tell the other teachers. They need to know. Heck, I think some of them already do know and are, in fact, working with Darius," Ox said, feeling a chill in his chest. He felt like one of the teachers was helping Darius awaken students—at the cost of the others.

⸻

Back with Team C

Riven was sitting on a tree branch, waiting with his gauntlets beside him. It looked like he was expecting someone.

Then someone arrived.

A red-haired girl jumped onto the same branch. She had just finished checking on her friend Kira and the people she gave weapons to. Now, she wanted to talk to the boy sitting in front of her.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Riven asked, though he already knew.

"Thank you," Nico said immediately with a bow. "I don't know what you did or how you did it. All I know is that you saved my life—and I owe you. Anything you need, I'll provide. I swear."

She was almost kneeling, but Riven gently stopped her.

"No, you don't owe me anything. If anything, we're even—from when your dad and you saved me and my brothers' lives." He placed both hands on Nico's shoulders and lifted her upper body. He smiled. "All we need to do now is sleep and hope the best for our friends."

Nico nodded as she saw Riven getting ready to lie down.

"Aren't you scared of any beasts?" she asked.

"Nah. Looks like those guys are doing watch all night, so…" Riven said nonchalantly as he lay back on the large branch.

Suddenly, he heard a ding.

[System: Party members have been forced apart]

[New Quest Received: Reunite with your party]

[Reward: System Reward]

"A little bit late for that, don't you think, System?" Riven muttered, trying to get comfortable.

But then he stopped.

"Wait… if the system is giving this now, is something happening to the others? Or about to happen?"

He couldn't do anything but hope for the best… and fall asleep.

⸻

The Next Day

Team A was waking from their sleep. They slowly emerged from the cave. The sky still looked the same, and none of them could tell if it was morning, afternoon, or night. They woke when their bodies told them to.

All the students stepped out, heads on a swivel, checking the scenery for any beasts—but none appeared to be nearby.

"Okay, everyone, gather around," the head said. Everyone followed his instructions.

"So, the small team I sent should be nearing team A in about a day or so—if no one slowed them down," he added, thinking of Luka.

"But that doesn't mean we can camp here. It's most likely that this cave belongs to a beast. We leave before it comes back. We'll be keeping a pace that I'm sure all of you can follow."

With that, he exited the cave and started running. Everyone followed.

Joey and Harkel stayed at the back, just in case anyone fell.

"Hey, do you also feel something?" Joey asked.

"Yeah. I thought I was the only one," Harkel replied with a smile.

"What is it?" Joey questioned again.

"Can't you tell? It's like… a power building up inside us, ready to burst," Harkel said, an even bigger grin forming on his face. "We technically never naturally awakened… so this could be the feeling of it. You know what that means, Joey? We're awakening—again. It's slow, but it's happening. This means…"

"We can finally catch up with them," they both said in unison—Joey thinking of Riven, and Harkel thinking of Jordan.

As the group kept moving, a beast—similar in shape to the last one but with black eyes—watched from the distance. A wicked smile formed on its face.

"Let the hunt begin," the wolf-like beast whispered.

It waited for the group to gain distance before following silently—keeping far enough to stay undetected.

⸻

With Team D

Ox, still fuming from his talk the night before, calmed down as he addressed the students.

"Okay, we'll be heading north. We have a rendezvous point where we'll meet the other teams. Hopefully, what's left of Team A will meet us there. So we keep running. We can't carry you, so don't ask If we do a beast could attack, we'll be too slow to react. If you're tired, say something straight away. Let's move."

His tone was firm and straight to the point. Some students thought it was cruel how he spoke about the dead… but they moved on.

After all, the teachers had saved them.

Once everyone was out of the trees, they were on the move.

Wren and Jordan stayed in the middle of the group.

"Hey, can you tell if any beasts are around?" Wren asked.

"No," Jordan replied.

"Isn't it weird? Both us and Team C got low-level beast hordes… but Team A got slammed by high-level ones. I mean, sure, the beasts are strong enough to kill students—but teachers too?" Wren questioned.

"I know. Something doesn't feel right. It feels like… we're caged," Jordan said.

"Like there's a master hand guiding us," another voice joined in. It was Skye.

"Skye? I didn't know you were here. Why couldn't I hear your sound evolution when we were fighting the bulls?" Jordan asked.

Skye scratched her cheek nervously as her twin ponytails were waving in the wind.

"After finding out what happened to Team A, and with everyone splitting up, I decided to stay here. They said I shouldn't use my abilities—might attract more beasts," Skye admitted, sweat dripping down her face.

"Why don't you try putting your hands on the beast and vibrating your power through it?" Wren said calmly.

Skye paused. "Oh wow—that's a great way to use it! How did you come up with that?" she asked, catching Wren off guard.

"Oh, um… I do the same thing with my lightning. It makes a pretty loud sound when I use it," Wren said with a nervous smile.

"Good save," Jordan whispered.

⸻

With Team B

"Okay, we'll be going to this location," the team leader said, bringing up a display. It was the same rendezvous point Team D was heading toward.

Team B set off.

Unnoticed, Leo quietly activated his ability—creating a silent zone around them so no one outside their radius could hear them.

Little did Leo know… this would keep his team alive—at least until the end.

Tessa dropped her ID. Someone picked it up—it was Jude.

"Hey, thanks," Tessa said.

"No problem," Jude replied. "But… why did you bring your ID in the first place?"

"I mean, you can never be too sure," Tessa said with a nervous grin, knowing how silly it sounded.

⸻

Meanwhile, with the six-man—or rather, five-man—group plus one student…

They were running through the large forest after a bit of rest. The five men glanced to the side to see a green-haired boy keeping pace.

They laughed.

"I guess you can back up all that bark after all, kid," one of the men said.

"Who'd have thought awakening would be so easy for the next generation? I didn't awaken until I was in my thirties," another laughed.

"Wait… thirties? But all these guys look like they're in their thirties. I guess awakening affects your outer appearance too," Luka thought, chuckling at the remark.

But something snapped.

The others sensed it too.

A black figure burst from the shadows, claws aiming for one of their heads.

Luckily, they all dodged.

Standing before them… a tall, black, wolf-like creature with red eyes.

"Your use is no longer needed," the wolf announced aloud with a wicked grin

With Team C

Riven was still nervous after the system prompt from last night. And after another scare when he woke up, he felt even worse—he had awoken to find an arm clinging to him.

It was Nico.

She had slept right next to him, her body pressed up against his.

This frightened Riven, who immediately shot up when he saw Nico's body so close to his—especially her medium-sized boo—

"Get it together, Riven," he muttered to himself, trying to calm down.

The team leader then gave the same rundown that every other group had received, but instead of heading to the rendezvous point, Team C would be going toward the six-person squad instead—to try to reach and assist Team A faster.

Riven agreed with this. Out of Team A, Team B, and Team D…

Team A was the group he was most worried about. Harkel and Joey's team seemed to have gone through the worst of the attacks.

Team C was soon on the move.

From a far distance, an orange-eyed, wolf-like beast watched them, giggling softly.

"The hunt has begun."