player POV-Chapter 75: After the Test 2

The school trip was the first real event Zyon ever faced, the moment that could truly be called the point where the game actually began. Later on, that trip came to be known as "The Last Night", a name that was by no means given without reason, for it was indeed the final night for many people. It was also remembered as one of the worst nights in the entire history of the Empire of Athena.

On that night, a massive battle erupted between the Atran Organization and the Empire of Athena. The Atran Organization carried out horrifying rituals that surpassed all limits of madness, sacrificing half of the population of the city of Harten in an attempt to summon the Tenth Pillar, one of the most powerful demons in the world.

Within the demonic hierarchy, the Demon King sits at the very top as the strongest entity of all, followed by the Ten Pillars, who are the most dangerous and powerful demons directly beneath him.

The Empire was aware of what the Atran Organization was planning, yet it did not evacuate the residents of Harten. Even more shocking was the fact that the school trip, during which the academy’s students were dispatched... was headed to the city of Harten itself.

Some might wonder:

How could an academy send its students to their deaths with its own hands?

That was because no one knew the truth of what was happening there, except for the academy’s headmaster alone. This information was extremely confidential, known only to a very limited number of individuals. The reason for this was that spies from the Atran Organization were spread throughout the Empire of Athena, making any leak—even a minor one—a catastrophic risk.

The Empire believed that its plan would succeed perfectly. It had been meticulously prepared over a long period of time, and they thought they would finally be able to deliver a decisive blow to the Atran Organization, a blow that would end its existence forever and erase it from history.

What the Empire failed to realize, however, was that the Atran Organization was aware that they had been exposed. In fact, it knew that the Empire was aware of the plan to summon one of the Pillars.

Because of this, the organization devised a counterplan far more cunning and brutal. That night turned into one of the worst nights history had ever witnessed, and the city of Harten was never habitable again afterward.

Amidst that hell, there was only one small mercy...

The Tenth Pillar was not summoned.

The summoning process failed at the very last moment, and that was the only blessing to emerge from that pitch-black night.

My thoughts were spinning wildly as I replayed in my mind what had happened on that fateful night. Before I could organize my thoughts, I heard Rina’s voice as she continued speaking in a calm tone.

"We will be heading to the city of Harten, where you will study toxicology. You will be divided into random teams, and you will explore the city on your own. You may also visit the museum, where you will see what the world was like before the catastrophe."

Rina paused for a brief moment, then continued:

"Harten is also considered one of the most famous cities in the field of technology, and you will see the latest inventions in the world there.

Any team that does not submit a report on toxicology will have achievement points deducted, so make sure to prepare your reports before the trip ends. All right, we can depart now. It seems time has already run out."

Rina did not wait to finish her words completely; she had already left the hall. As soon as the sound of her footsteps faded away, a certain level of noise filled the place, and signs of excitement and enthusiasm appeared on the faces of some students.

"Did you hear what she said? We’re really going to Harten, right?"

"I... I’ve dreamed of visiting it ever since I was a little kid. Who would’ve thought I’d actually go there one day?"

"Even I’m happy, but damn that report... it looks like we won’t really have enough time to enjoy ourselves there."

"The report? Don’t worry about it. Just write any nonsense and submit it, and enjoy the trip however you like."

They were talking among themselves with genuine excitement, and it was impossible to blame them. The city of Harten was considered one of the most beautiful cities in the Empire, and one of the most prosperous. It housed an enormous number of factories and research centers specializing in technology and toxicology, which made it the focus of everyone’s attention.

But it didn’t stop there. Harten was a truly unique city—a horizontal city with massive waterfalls at its center, elevated slightly above ground level. Its shape had become what it was due to the geological changes that followed the catastrophe.

This exceptional location, along with its scientific importance, was one of the main reasons the Atran Organization had targeted it to carry out their rituals, in an attempt to deal a crushing blow to the Empire of Athena.

I felt a hint of regret as I looked at the students’ enthusiastic faces. I let out a quiet sigh and thought to myself:

Tch... it seems there’s no avoiding it. I have to do that now; time is no longer on my side.

I stood up from my seat, before I heard Darwin’s voice beside me saying excitedly:

"What do you think about exploring the holiday together? Isn’t that a great idea?"

I looked , ’You despicable... do you think I’ll tremble in front of you now? That will never happen. And by the way, I still don’t know if what happened in the test was probably because of you. You made most of the students take a Bartle pill before entering the test, didn’t you? To control them and make each team eliminate all of its members except one, so you could take advantage of the system for the test which releases every monster of a higher rank if five minutes pass without someone being eliminated, then the monster from rank C will come, and it will be over for us and we’ll all die, right?’

I raised my head and looked at Silfar, ’And I know that Silfar helped you... you alone couldn’t have done all of this, even the Atran Organization itself can’t do that without revealing their plan. But why did he help him?’

I scratched my head a little as I tried to organize my thoughts, then whispered to myself:

It doesn’t matter... I’ll think about it later.

I looked at Darwin, then said calmly:

"All right... I’ll think about it."

I finished my words and headed toward the door with measured steps. There, two figures were standing and talking quietly: a young man with black hair and a girl with purple hair. They were Zyon and Gina.

I stopped in front of them and noticed how they became aware of my presence, abruptly stopping their conversation. A short silence followed before I raised my gaze to Zyon and said:

"May I speak with you for a moment?"

Zyon looked at me with a surprised expression; it was clear that we had never spoken before. Even yesterday, when he thanked me, we exchanged only a few words.

As for Gina, she furrowed her brows and looked at me with displeasure, then glanced at Zyon with a meaningful look, as if asking him to refuse. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Zyon lightly scratched the back of his head and said hesitantly:

"Hmm... Gina, I’m sorry. I’ll be back soon, just after I finish talking with Rion for a bit."

Gina looked annoyed, and she did not completely hide her anger, but she merely nodded reluctantly without saying anything.

I moved forward with Zyon, and we walked side by side in a heavy silence, neither of us uttering a single word. The walk to the cafeteria was longer than I had expected; the students were pouring through the hallways in large numbers, which made walking quickly a bit difficult. Minutes passed before we finally arrived.

We entered the cafeteria, but we stood for a moment. There were almost no empty tables, as most of the students had reached the seating before us. We spent some time scanning the tables with our eyes before I heard Zyon’s voice near me say quietly:

"There’s an empty table... we can sit there if you want."

I looked at the table he was pointing to. There was some trash and leftover cups on it. I raised my eyes to him and noticed certainty in his gaze that I would refuse to sit there.

Why? Because I was noble—but only in spirit; I was poor, so I didn’t mind sitting there. I said to him in a calm voice:

"Let’s go sit there before someone else gets to it."

He looked at me with obvious surprise, then nodded in agreement, and we headed toward the table. And although it wasn’t clean, it was much better than the tables I was used to eating at in my old world.

A short silence fell between us. Then, I stepped forward and ordered two cups of coffee—one for me and another for Zyon. I knew he liked coffee, so I chose it without hesitation. A slight smile appeared on his face, but it didn’t last long before he returned to his usual calm expression.

We sat and waited, and as soon as the cups were placed in front of us, Zyon took a big sip, then looked straight at me and said:

"What do you want to talk about?"