A miserable voice rang out inside the student's hall and Nine was jolted awake.
He hissed and clutched one of his knees, it was bleeding.
His eyes were blurry and the only thing he could hear was a male voice crying beside him.
After a minute, when his mind became clear enough to think properly his eyes darkened as he frantically looked around the familiar hall.
Not far away from him were some students lying or sitting while tending to their injuries. A few professors were running here and there trying to calm the panicked students. On his left, a grey-haired boy was crying as he mumbled someone's name again and again.
A crowd of unharmed students was standing at the hall entrance with solemn expressions. They were whispering and looking at the injured students with complicated expressions.
Nine eyes became moist as he remembered what transpired a while ago. With a groan, he moved his painful body and patted the shoulder of the boy crying beside him. It was one of the twins who stood inside the Array with him and the others.
Others?
As the mention of his friends, his mind raced. His knee was severely injured but he gritted his teeth and looked around the crowded hall with a panicked expression, trying to find even a single familiar face.
His gaze lingered on the faces of the students sitting or lying around him, soon he saw a familiar face.
"Lara..?"
He took a deep breath, her eyes were shut and her clothes were covered with blood but after sensing her normal breathing he sighed with relief.
After he saw Lara, he looked around but didn't see any other familiar face. His heart trembled as he counted the injured students present in the hall.
"7....17.."
A total of 18 students were present in the hall. That means from the total 30 students 12 students including the blue-robed professor disappeared within the Array.
Nine slumped down on the floor with a deadpan expression. He could see almost all the students present in the hall were injured. Does not it mean the ones who disappeared would have suffered injuries as well? The Array was broken forcefully, it was almost impossible for the others to escape intact.
'I knew something was going to happen yet I let down my guards...'
He cursed himself inwardly and clenched his fists tightly.
'No..No they will be fine I am sure.'
Nine took a deep breath to regulate his ragged breathing. He looked at his knee, it seemed the Professor gave him a healing potion when he was unconscious because he could see the injuries recovering but the speed was too slow.
With a thought, the mana within his body swirled before it transferred to his knee. The thin veil of mana spread out gently from his skin and enveloped his knee in a warm embrace.
After a minute, the injury around his knee disappeared. He stood up and stopped a nearby Professor.
"Sir, have you seen the Vice Principal?"
He tried to be calm but his voice gave him away because it sounded too impatient.
The Professor gazed at Nine with a frown but then he pointed out the hall.
"They are trying to locate the Array coordinates...."
The Professor's sentence was cut short because Nine dashed out from the hall, he bumped into some students standing at the entrance but he pushed them away roughly and ran straight toward the place where everything happened.
The students looked at him with displeased expressions but then they sighed, thinking maybe he also lost his family member like the grey-haired boy who was crying his heart out in the hall.
Nine ran for a while and after taking a turn he appeared at the square field. The Array circle was broken into many pieces and many pits can be seen in the field.
His eyes darted around when he saw a familiar figure shouting with anger.
"Damn it! Damn it! It's been an hour how can you all not even locate a simple coordinate? Useless!"
Geroge shouted at Elder Elaze and the Professors who were doing their best to locate the coordinates through the broken Array.
Elder Elaze sighed and looked at George, he could see the frustration and anger present in the latter face.
They have been doing their best to locate the coordinates but it seemed that the woman planned everything because the moment the Array was destroyed the coordinates were tangled up into a bundle of mess.
The Elder looked at the sweating Professors who were trembling under George's pressure.
He pinched his nose and approached George with a frown.
"I don't think we can locate the coordinates. We need an Array master."
He said with a solemn expression.
"Have the Principal picked up your call?"
George's expression was blank as he shook his head.
"Not yet."
He clenched his fist. Now where should he find an Array master? Array masters were rare and not easily available.
The other Professors in the Academy had some knowledge regarding the Arrays but just like him they only had very basic knowledge, like how to operate and destroy some intermediate-grade Arrays.
In the end, the people who learned about this profession were always low in numbers. The only Array master in the Academy was Elder Han who had left the Kingdom two months ago.
George knew very well he couldn't contact Han after he entered the Central Continent. The only person who could do it was the Principal but he wasn't picking up his calls.
"I swear if anything happened to the students. No matter who is it as long as the person is involved I will skin them alive."
From a corner, Nine looked at the situation. His pupils trembled slightly when he heard the Vice Principal's words.
He staggered and anxiously took out a communication Crystal from his storage ring. Geroge had noticed his presence but he didn't look at him.
Within a second, the Crystal lit up and Nine talked with someone before walking toward the Vice Principal with a serious expression.
"Sir?"
Geroge finally turned around with a frown.
"Don't walk around this area go back."
Nine fiddled and looked at the broken Array.
"No... I just want to say something. I know someone proficient in Arrays. I hope you can permit the person to enter the Academy because we need to find the coordinates as soon as possible."
"I have already talked to the person he will arrive within an hour!"
Geroge frown deepened. Outsiders were not allowed to enter the Acadmey that's why even when Nine identity was disclosed to him he didn't let the people following behind Nine enter the Acadmey. In the end, they all stayed outside the Academy.
'I need as much as help possible until I can contact the Principal. The more time I waste the more dangerous it would be for the kids.'
He gazed at Nine with a serious expression and nodded.
"Alright, I will let the individual in."
