Chapter 276: [Freedom Dove] - Nerio’s part (28)
Almost immediately after the system’s cold, mechanical announcement echoed, a red light enveloped humanity, as if a massive door had slammed shut before their eyes.
Inside that door, Mr. Smith stared at them, his eyes sunken with heavy dark circles and bloodshot veins crawling across the whites, filled with overwhelming sorrow.
"Bang!"
When they opened their eyes again, they stood outside the teachers’ dormitory. Looking up, Mr. Smith’s room was no longer lit.
"Ugh, urgh, blegh!"
Bella almost instantly collapsed, vomiting violently, fresh blood trickling from her ears. The monster’s sound attack just now seemed to have scrambled her mind.
"Bella."
Luis caught Bella, his face full of worry. Ron arrived at that moment and quickly began treatment. Nearby, Susan stood still as a golden light automatically enveloped her entire body.
Her deep eyes were fixed on Luis. She had questions, but she couldn’t speak in her current state.
Meeting Susan’s gaze—and that of the others—Luis adjusted his glasses and spoke softly:
"I saw a red dress in the room. Coupled with Mr. Smith’s weeping and the identities we’ve been given, I associated it with Scarlet. That’s all."
Of course, his ability also played a role, but there was no need to explain further. It was enough for everyone to know they were on the right track.
The others couldn’t help but give Luis speechless looks. Still, having just narrowly escaped death, none dwelt on it.
Just as Damian was about to speak, Luis said:
"Right now, we should return. Ms. H will come looking for us again soon. Tomorrow morning will be the best time to search for clues."
When he finished speaking, Ms. H’s roar seemed to echo again in the distance. No one voiced any objections.
Damian quickly started walking, but muttered on the side:
"What about Leonard? Aren’t we going to rescue him? What if Lucian is still alive too..."
Bella, her face pale and her wounds healed, but her mind still reeling as if from motion sickness, muttered:
"He won’t die. If he were dead, this dungeon wouldn’t even have a path of survival left for us. Don’t bring him up again."
Damian pressed his lips together and said no more.
[Leonard is still alive, but Lucian... who knows, hahaha.]
[Just now, Luis was way too cool, which is exactly everything I expected from someone so rational like him!]
[Finally, everything’s pieced together. No one has ever made it to the end of this dungeon, usually people only get halfway before being wiped out. I wonder if Luis’s group will unlock the true ending—can’t wait to see!!!]
[Bella was extremely cool too, my god. She looks like a princess, but she was a real hero when she leapt forward to shield Luis.]
[Heroes don’t have to wear a fixed outfit, right? Even a princess can be a hero, ha ha ha.]
[This princess became her own hero.]
[And Bella’s hero is clearly Cocona!]
[You people sure are optimistic. The event that wipes out almost all the previous groups hasn’t even happened yet, ha ha ha. Just wait until Friday, then we’ll see if this party survives.]
[Same, the boss hasn’t even shown its face yet, and you’re already so sure of victory.]
Time inside the dungeon always passed unreasonably fast, like there was some fast-forward button.
Damian’s group had only just returned to the dorms and closed their eyes for a while, when suddenly the sound of the bell echoed across the school grounds, announcing that a new day had begun, and it was time for students to go to class.
Damian yawned loudly. Seeing the group return after the night—battered, wounded, and exhausted—Aria couldn’t help but feel a little worried.
Susan still couldn’t speak at this point; if she could, she might have smiled and patted Aria’s head in comfort, reinforcing her gentle and graceful image.
"If we want to follow the rules while doing missions, then we only have lunch break, the afternoon, and the evening... way too little time..." Bella muttered.
Just then, their group ran into Thomas’s team.
Liora was with them—she hadn’t returned to the dorms last night.
When Bella saw them, she frowned, instantly irritated everywhere she looked: "What were you all doing last night? You’re always preaching about humanity, but you never actually help with anything."
Thomas smirked: "We tried, but Ms. H chased us down. We spent the whole night running."
Bella sneered back: "That weak, huh?"
She was about to say more when Luis pulled her back. Stepping forward, Luis adjusted his glasses with one hand and spoke slowly: "Last night we found a quest that could lead us to more clues."
Thomas, hearing that, put on a face of readiness to listen.
Luis spoke sincerely: "We need to investigate the student named Scarlet. We have to find her legs—those will be the path leading us to clues."
At that, Thomas glanced at Luther, who said, "We should head toward the dance room." His face looked even paler, his body thinner than the day before—though only a single night had passed.
Damian couldn’t help but raise his brows at this. Bella, however, laughed: "We already knew that. Try finding something more useful—like maybe joining us in the dance room tonight."
Thomas nodded. "If we can manage to escape Ms. H’s pursuit."
Bella shrugged. "See? Cooperation is impossible—because you’re all just a bunch of useless people."
With that, she cheerfully strode ahead, leading the way.
Susan cast Thomas’s group a brief look, gesturing for them not to mind, before quickly following along.
Thomas and his subordinates remained standing behind. Liora was seething, clenching her teeth in frustration. Just as she was about to lash out at Bella’s group, Thomas suddenly spoke dejectedly: "It’s true, we really are too useless... we can only try harder to gather some clues."
Liora turned wide, disbelieving eyes on Thomas, almost suspecting he’d been swapped with someone else. But she could only remain silent, unable to say anything. All she could hope was that Thomas’s behavior meant he had a plan in the works.
By the time they entered the classroom, Nerio had yet to reappear.
Damian quietly glanced at the empty seats behind him, an extreme sense of unease gnawing at his heart. He had no idea that something far more dreadful was about to happen.
"Review test."
Damian’s eyes fell on the corpse of student number 20 at the lectern—no, not even a complete corpse. The head was entirely gone, swallowed into Mr. Smith’s stomach. Only the headless body lay sprawled on the floor, blood pooling and spreading before the ground swiftly absorbed it.
And Mr. Smith’s head had already warped once more, like the day before: covered in writhing tentacles, with a single gaping mouth full of fangs, drooling endlessly.
Any student who failed to recite would instantly become food for the teacher!
"Not studying hard is a terrible thing. Students who don’t study hard deserve punishment! Next student..." Mr. Smith’s voice echoed, low and rasping, no longer resembling that of a human at all.
Damian lowered his head, his hands trembling. Yesterday, they had already learned just how terrifyingly powerful Mr. Smith was—this was on an entirely different level than Ms. A!