Raven sent her Crimson Hellhound to search for Luke and Scarlett. The beast had a superior sense of smell, so finding anyone was one of the things it did best.
It sniffed around the collapsed building until it picked up Luke and Scarlett’s scent on the other side of the collapsed building.
After confirming it had found them, it let out a woof that sounded more like a growl before raising its head to howl and alert Raven.
"Isn’t that your sister’s beast?" Scarlett asked as the Crimson Hellhound approached them. With its glowing eyes, coal-black fur, and a body as large as a horse, it was difficult to mistake it for anything else.
"Yes," Luke replied as he pointed into the distance. "And there they are!"
No words could describe the relief he felt after seeing Raven and Vivian alive. If either of them had died inside their Act, he wouldn’t have had a family anymore. The rest of the Kingsleys wanted nothing more than to see him dead.
"Luke! Lady Scarlett!" Vivian shouted as she ran over and threw herself into their arms. She hugged both of them at the same time as tightly as she could while they smiled or chuckled.
Raven was also happy to see Luke and Scarlett. Luke was Vivian’s lifeline, and Scarlett was the heir to the country. If something had gone wrong, things would never be the same again.
But Raven wasn’t the affectionate type, so she didn’t bother hugging either of them.
Luke wasn’t going to let her escape that easily.
He grabbed her by the waist and hugged her as tightly as he could. He was so strong that her feet went four feet into the air!
"Argh! Put me down, you idiot!" Raven demanded, embarrassed as the others laughed at her struggling.
"Tell us, Raven. How did you guys survive a Sigma manifestation? I’m really surprised. I didn’t know you were this strong," Scarlett said.
"Yes, it was Sigma-ranked, but we were in Act 2. There were only a few monsters. Our job was to find our way through the area by following clues and uncovering its secrets."
Raven answered while adjusting her uniform after Luke finally let her go.
On the other hand, Luke was surprised that they didn’t have to face what he and Scarlett faced. He had been worrying about them for no reason.
"Raven’s right! We learnt everything!" Vivian added hastily. "Please, we have to be careful! We have to tell the world the apocalypse is here again! This time humanity won’t stand a chance!"
Luke and Scarlett looked at each other as Vivian’s words fit perfectly with everything they had encountered. They had thought about the same thing, but theirs was only a theory.
But if Raven and Vivian had reached the same conclusion from a different route, then it was no longer just a theory.
If the second apocalypse was really here, then humanity wouldn’t stand a chance, like Vivian said, because it would be even worse than the last one.
Maybe this was why strange incidents had been appearing one after another recently, like the corrupted gate at the airport, the Gamma gate in the mall, and now the mutation of a pentegate.
The world was vast, and there could be even more happening somewhere else. Maybe in another country, something catastrophic was already happening that nobody knew about. Not everything would happen in New Florence City. This city was only a tiny part of what the rest of the world was.
However, no matter how much they understood, students like them couldn’t do much about it. It was the Confederacy and experienced hunters who had the power to investigate something this big.
And only one person in their surroundings fell under that category: Count Lucius.
While they continued discussing the vision, he interrupted them from the darkness where he hovered. The female hunter was beside him with her arms folded as she leaned against her bear.
"The apocalypse hasn’t returned. It has resumed. The signs have existed for years. You’re only just beginning to connect them to something greater."
"Can you tell us what we’re connecting it to?" Luke asked. "You’re very experienced, and you know a lot."
"I’m afraid not. There are some conversations that should take place between people of equal or near-equal standing. You’ll learn what you need to know from your instructors in due time. As for me, I’ll report this to my guild, and we’ll take the necessary measures."
"Necessary measures or selfish measures?" Scarlett asked.
She was politically literate and understood how factions operated. Information this important would never be shared freely.
A guild would first strengthen its own position before allowing others to benefit from it, especially if that information concerned something as important as the apocalypse.
The others understood Scarlett’s implication and looked at the vampire expectantly.
"Excuse you, my lady," Count Lucius replied calmly. "My intentions are none of your concern. I would’ve taken my leave already, but my party seems to be incomplete. Where is my teammate?"
Teammate?
That question froze Luke and Scarlett. Raven and Vivian also looked at the two of them as they remembered that the other hunter had entered Act 1 with them. Somehow, nobody had remembered him until now.
Luke and Scarlett had been so occupied with surviving, levelling up, and everything else that had happened that they had forgotten the weapon guy had died.
Now everyone from Act 2 had returned safely while Act 1 was missing one person, and it made them look like the bad group. Neither Luke nor Scarlett knew how to deliver the news, so they stayed silent.
But the vampire read the room. He wasn’t angry or surprised because he knew how unforgiving a Sigma manifestation was.
Even a Gold-rank hunter was more likely to die than survive in a place like that, let alone a hunter without a summon.
"Very well," he said. "If you didn’t bring back my teammate, then can I at least have the concentrated core?"
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A/N: Thanks for read!
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