Chapter 53 Chaos
Daphne, who was staying way back in the outer area of the Twilight Zone, was about to enter the forest and go in search of a beast for herself to hunt when she noticed a professor rushing out of the forest.
She was curious as to why she was hastily rushing out, so she couldn't help but follow her and inquire as to what was going on.
"Professor!" she yelled as she approached her in the distance.
Startled by someone suddenly calling her, the professor turned her head and saw Daphne, then stopped for a second, saying, "Get out of the forest right now! Something unexpected happened!" After saying that, she continued to rush towards the station.
After hearing what the professor had to say, she frowned and began to think about her two friends and that something might happen to them.
"Should I enter the inner area then find Celestia and Fiona?" Daphne contemplated.
Daphne was in a dilemma about wether she should go look for them, but seeing that the Tritonic device on her wrist was working again, she reasoned that they might already have received that emergency retreat signal. And that they should be coming back soon.
"Forget it, I'll just wait outside for them. In the event that something actually happened inside, they should be capable of handling themselves and escaping safely."
As soon as she finished contemplating, she glanced at the inner area's direction before leaving the Twilight Zone.
The suppression of the Tritonics device was lifted for all the students, and everyone was made aware of the current circumstances.
Twenty minutes passed…
Students have already retreated, but it can be seen that half of them seem to have not come back yet.
Fiona also received the message of retreat. She stopped hunting for beasts and directly left the forest without stopping. She didn't look for Celestia either since she should also have received the instructions to retreat.
The three friends, Celestia, Fiona, and Daphne, really trust each other's skills, so they were not really that worried about each other..
She had already speculated back then that something was weird when they encountered that Wayvern, but because of Celestia's assurance that it was nothing out of the ordinary, so she just let it be and forgot about it.
She walked out of the Twilight Zone and saw Daphne frantically waiting for her and Celestia.
Daphne saw her figure emerge out of the forest and ran to her and hugged her, but then she noticed that Celestia was nowhere to be seen, so she asked, "Fiona! Your back, what about Celestia? Where is she?"
"First of all, stop hugging me for now, you're suffocating me. But is she really not back yet?"
"Not yet"
"She'll probably be back soon, By the way, does the retreat signal have anything to do with a Wayvern appearing?"
"Wayvern? No? Why? Did you encounter that Tier 2 beast?!" exclaimed Daphne.
"Yes, I was barely able to escape, luckily, Celestia came across me and was able to get me out of there."
"The hell? What is that thing doing in the inner area. It should be in the center area."
"Let's stop talking about this for now. Since you said that you guys are not yet aware of what is happening, let's ask around, and see if the students know something."
Similar to Goren, Chloe, and Zoh, who emerged out of the forest, many people who had arrived outside were perplexed about what was happening.
The three professors were searching for the students inside the Twilight Zone who hadn't yet returned.
The commotion in the station was very loud, and they were all discussing the situation.
Fiona broke up the commotion by moving toward the front, jumping up onto a high stand, and shouting "HEY SHUT UP!"
The area suddenly fell into silence as she yelled, and all their gazes turned towards Fiona to hear what she had to say.
She currently holds the title of being one of the strongest of the first year students. So they quite down to listen to what she had to say.
"Since you all seem to be confused also. I'll tell you about my experience inside the inner area. I encountered a Tier 2 beast, but that's all I know for now. Let's gather all the knowledge we have and figure it out. Does anyone else know anything about the current situation?"
Even though they were surprised that she was able to escape from a Tier 2 beast, they let it go for now and did not ask her how.
They were all lost in thought when a male student from class B stepped forward and said, "I know something about it, I heard from a professor that they saw a two mile radius area of the forest destroyed."
"Me too! I've heard that many students have died inside!"
As the students continued to speak out their thoughts. Fiona gathered every piece of information and ruminated on everything that was said.
Fiona seems to have figured something out and informed everyone that there might be a Beast breakout.
"A breakout?" Chloe spoke with knitted eyebrows. "What is that?" she asked Fiona about it.
Goren and Zoh also had the same question, as they were not originally from this continent and did not know anything about it.
Fiona carefully explained it to those who were not from the Astre continent.
After that, all of the students present were dumbfounded because the beast breakout hadn't occurred for so long. This was where every beast suddenly goes out of the Twilight Zone and start wreaking havoc across the continent.
There would usually be a Tier 1 beast leading this beast breakout.
"A beast breakout?!" A student from B class exclaimed "That is impossible, right? Hasn't it been about twenty years since one of those occurred? Why now?"
"Right! Hasn't the Hunter Guild Association been maintaining the order of the Twilight Zone?"
Fiona couldn't help but frown because what they said was true. After gathering information about the current circumstances, she stepped out of the high stand and went to Daphne's side.
"Is Celestia not back yet?" Fiona asked Daphne.
"Not yet. I'm starting to worry that something might have happened to her since you said there should be a beast breakout." Daphne said while biting her nails that she was worried about where Celestia was.
"Don't worry, the professors have gone looking for students inside. They should be able to find her since she is a Doomthorne, they would prioritize her safety more than those other students."
Daphne calmed down after hearing Fiona's words. She had also started to change her mindset during this time.
[Im too a weak...I can't really do anything at this moment. I should start taking training seriously.] Daphne thought with a mocking smile while she thought about her past actions, such as neglecting her training and such.
She never thought something like this would happen, as the world seemed so peaceful when she was just in her room playing games and having fun. That is why she never took things seriously.
Now she realizes that the world isn't as peaceful as it seems.
All the students patiently waited for the professors to come back and wait for their instructions.