The hallways of the Demon Academy were dimly lit. Both sides of the walls were covered in flickering light that casted blurry shadows.
Cornelia was carrying Dekan down the hallway.
Dekan was resting with his eyes closed.
Aside from a slight headache, he had mostly recovered.
Suddenly, Cornelia seemed to have noticed something and her brows furrowed slightly.
"Dekan, it seems there's movement," Cornelia suddenly lowered her head and whispered softly in Dekan's ear.
Dekan replied, "Pinpoint the location."
Cornelia activated the spell card Dekan had given her earlier, “Echo Location."
[Echo Location]
[Category: Spell Card]
[Quality: Blue Uncommon]
[Tier: 1]
[Effect: Perceive the location of individuals within a 100-meter radius.]
[Note: Cannot be blocked by visual camouflage skills.]
Since Dekan lacked any close combat abilities, in their two-person team, Cornelia had to take on multiple roles such as the tank, scout, and DPS.
Although her designated role wasn't a scout, her formidable physical abilities, combined with her exceptional perception, made her on par with a scout of the same tier who possessed recon skills.
Plus, she could pick locks and had excellent assassination abilities. With a few utility spell cards with low consumption, she could even double as a scout.
"It’s not the principal; there are two people following us," Cornelia quietly informed Dekan.
"Keep walking as if you haven't noticed anything," Dekan instructed.
After a while, he whispered to Cornelia, "Are they still following us?"
Cornelia checked before replying, "Yes."
At this point, the school had been set to class time so there shouldn't be any other demon students in the hallway besides the principal. Demons wouldn't dare to follow them.
Most likely, the people following them were the final two challengers.
According to Dekan's estimation, they were probably a tier 5 and a tier 3. At the very least, there should be one tier 5 among them.
Regardless of their strength, Dekan wasn't eager to engage them right now. Even if they had some urgent matter to discuss with Dekan and Cornelia, they should have done so during their previous attempts at clearing the missions. For them to suddenly appear at this moment, it was obvious that they came with ill intentions. If they wanted to befriend them or had something important to tell them, they could very well shout at them. There was no need for them to tail like this.
As for how they managed to locate Dekan and Cornelia now, the reason was quite apparent. They must have obtained the location of the boss room long ago but weren't fully prepared to challenge it. When they saw the rapid increase in exploration progress, they hurried to the vicinity of the boss room and used some scouting skills. That naturally led them to Dekan and Cornelia.
Dekan felt a tingling sensation on his scalp. Why did it feel like they were about to work overtime again?
They had just finished a PvE encounter and now they might have to engage in PvP. While Dekan wasn't afraid of PvP, he simply wasn't fond of conflicts.
"Cornelia, if they dare to reveal themselves, regardless of their intentions, give them everything you've got," Dekan said, preparing to summon the Ruined Poet and the Cursed Doll at any moment.
"Understood," Cornelia replied.
...
Dekan and Cornelia disappeared around a corner.
On the other side of the corridor, two figures emerged from the shadows.
They were dressed like demon students but they were, in fact, human challengers.
One of them had a black veil covering their face, concealing their identity. Only their eyes were visible. Marked by dark pupils surrounded by bloodshot veins, that person exuded an eerie and sinister aura.
The other was short, with protruding eyes, chapped lips, and a sinister smile on their face.
They communicated using a unique sign language.
"Have they noticed us?"
"Not at all. We can strike soon."
There were still 5 hours and 3 minutes left on the mission countdown.
In three minutes, the next class break would begin, so even if they made a significant commotion, it wouldn't attract the principal's attention.
"According to the matching rules, they should be at most a tier 4 and a tier 3, possibly even lower. How exactly did they clear Olive so quickly?"
"These two must be decryption experts; you could tell from their performance in the exam room."
"For the sake of our doctrine, for the rebirth of the world, we can't allow these decryption talents to grow. Besides, they probably have some valuable cards on them."
The short man couldn't hide his greedy smile. These young geniuses were often elites cultivated at great expense by various countries. He was certain that they surely carried rare cards.
"Even if their cards are good, they're just two young kids with limited combat experience. After going through such intense exploration, they must have taken a lot of damage. I detected that one of them is already seriously injured and can barely walk."
"Heh, two plump pieces of meat. We've been holding back our strength all along. They won't be able to handle our surprise attack."
However, just as they were about to move forward…
“Do you feel that something is amiss?” The veil-wearing man frowned as he signaled with his hands.
“Is there?”
“I feel that the air seems… different.”
Before they could even determine what was going on, a bright light completely illuminated the hallway. A violent explosion shocked the hallway and flames covered both men.
Emerging from the explosion, the men were completely tattered.
“Cough cough. A tier 3 fire magic?”
As the smoke dispersed, four giant masks with strange appearances were present beside the veil-covered man. They shielded him and his accomplice.
While the explosion damaged their clothes, it did not cause any substantial damage.
However, immediately after, the short man suddenly lost balance and nearly fell.
“Hold your breath!” shouted the veil-covered man.
Following that explosion, a colorless and odorless poisonous gas covered the air. If they were to breathe that in, they would likely lose consciousness.
“Damn it! Those two bastards detected us! We need to move away from this corridor!”
As the hallways were not completely sealed, they would be able to escape the vicinity of the poisonous gas just by changing their location.
However, right when they were changing direction, they discovered that the ground around them became littered with spikes. Even the floor carpet was slowly being corroded by the spikes.
Those spikes were undoubtedly coated with a potent poison.
"These two bastards! Which school taught them to use cards like this?!"
The short man couldn't help but roar with anger. If it weren't for the veil-wearing man protecting him, he would likely have been pierced by these spikes by now.
And now, he was certain of one thing: the young boy and girl were not good people.
