...
The end of the special exam was getting near as dusk approached. And during this span of time, news after news spread in the Prison Island like a wildfire.
The first news was about Lennon, one of the top experts of the Prison Island. This guy suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of a young Mentalist. And even if he managed to escape alongside his group, they still suffered heavy losses during the battle and the time of their retreat.
Next was about a major prisoner settlement; it was taken down by a group of youngsters and even razed the place to the ground.
The combined battle prowess of Jean and Dylan's group was quite a force to reckon with. They didn't slow down their advance even the slightest and left a trail of complete destruction behind. And since there were very few numbers of top experts on this particular settlement, no one could contend against the combined forces of those two groups.
Due to that, the surviving members of that settlement had no other choice but to retreat and abandon that place.
On the other hand, Diel and Falcon managed to kill the Overlord Monster Beast at the center of the Prison Island. Even if it was a 7-star monster beast and way beyond the strength that they currently have, they still emerged victorious after suffering a long struggle.
Because of this, their team immediately overtook the other teams and seized first place on the exam in terms of accumulated points that they got. And the teams who followed them were Jean and Dylan's who took second and third place respectively.
Even if those two managed to arrive at the ravenous point of the academy, the merit that they got from it was still a little behind compared to the achievement that Diel's team had achieved.
Shin and the others fell a little behind in terms of accumulated points which was why they fell from the rankings and got fourth place. But they didn't mind it too much since they were already expecting it to happen. They already knew that they were going to fall in the rankings after deciding to stay a little low.
But that was not only for the accumulated points. Aside from this system, the teachers that were watching from the conference room were still discussing the performance that the four teams had displayed.
After accessing everything, they allocated the designated bonus points that each team was going to receive at the end of the special exam. These points included the decision-making and strategic maneuvers that they had performed. There were also some survival abilities that the teams had. And with all of these, the rankings took another shift once again and put Shin's at the very top once again.
The other three teams did nothing but continue pushing forward to accumulate the greatest number of points. And because of this, there were some decisions that were made quite recklessly just like attacking the major settlements and hunting down an overlord monster beast.
Even if they still managed to win in the end, coming up with such decisions was quite unnecessary when it came to certain conditions. And what made the teachers give them low points in this was the fact that the teams didn't conduct a proper investigation before attacking.
They might have done it that way due to the pressure provided by the short amount of time that they had. But not undergoing a proper step during an operation was a grave mistake, so their decisions gave the teachers negative thoughts since it could lead to some accidents if something went wrong.
With all of that, the special exam finally came to an end. But before they could close the curtain of the day, another news suddenly shook the entire Prison Island.
Daniel Sky, the leader of the Sky Gang was found dead inside his quarters!
Lennon was planning to give their leader a visit so that he could give his report. But after knocking at the door for quite a long time, he still didn't receive any reply which he found suspicious.
Normally, Daniel was a light sleeper which was why he immediately woke up whenever someone was knocking on his door.
Suspicious, Lennon tried to open the door and suddenly discovered that it was actually left unlocked. And when the door was completely opened, he immediately saw Daniel's corpse hanging on the ceiling.
The news immediately arrived at Nathan's ears which was why he quickly headed to the scene as soon as he could right after sending the school examinees to a safe place.
When he arrived, Elias and Eugene were already investigating the place and looking for any clue that they could use to track down the assassin.
"Did you find anything?" asked Nathan the moment he arrived.
Hearing that, the two immediately shook their heads which indicated that they couldn't find any traces left in the scene.
"Even you Elias?" asked Nathan once again alongside a deep frown. He knew how skilled Elias was as a Mentalist which was why he currently had a heavy expression on his face after hearing that the guy couldn't find anything.
"I don't know. Whoever killed Daniel, that person is definitely a highly skilled expert," said Elias with a heavy tone. He was also having a hard time believing it since he was quite confident with his own skills.
But since he couldn't find any traces left behind the crime scene, he had no other choice but to admit that the assassin who infiltrated the Prison Island really had some ability.
"Not only skilled, but this person should also have a lot of confidence that this assassination is going to be a success despite knowing that the three of us are here," said Eugene White while wearing a deep frown.
No matter how hard he denied it, Eugene felt that the assassin seemed to be mocking their abilities for killing such an important prisoner under their presence.
"We are planning to transfer Daniel to the highest security prison after knowing that he still has some information about the inner circle of the Black Serpent Mafia. But from the looks of it, we are still a step too late," said Nathan with a heavy tone while surveying the surroundings.
Heating that, both Elias and Eugene immediately understood what he was implying before one of them asked. "So, are you saying that this is planned?"
"What else it can be?" said Nathan as he walked towards Daniel's corpse before examining it. And after a brief moment of silence, he suddenly added. "Luring us away from each other and making us focus on different matters, it is pretty obvious that we are being played by someone."
"That is quite a risky move; with the three of us being here, aren't they risking their plans in failure," said Eugene as he became even more sure that the opposing side was really looking down at them.
"That is where their confidence is coming from," said Nathan in an instant. He then looked at the two before continuing. "Since the three of us are present at the same time, we become a little overconfident that no one is going to infiltrate the place under our presence."
After that, Elias felt that Nathan was giving him a meaningful look as if he was trying to say something. And not liking the look that he was getting, he suddenly raised his eyebrows and asked threateningly. "Are you telling me that I'm the one to blame?"
"Your words, not mine," said Nathan while shrugging his shoulders.
Elias wanted to say something to defend himself but he couldn't find the right words for it since he also knew that the defensive formation that he placed in the whole island seemed to be breached without him knowing.
On the other hand, Eugene looked at Nathan before asking. "It looks like you are not surprised about this. Tell us honestly, do you already know that this is going to happen?"
Nathan slightly shook his head when he heard that before replying. "Even though it is true that I am expecting that something is going to happen, I still didn't expect that the real target is actually one of the prisoners."
Then Elias suddenly clicked his tongue before criticizing Nathan. "Is your heart turned into a stone after becoming the Commander of the Military Force? Even if this guy is a traitor, he is still a good friend from the past."
Hearing that, Nathan suddenly smiled bitterly before replying. "Is not about having a heart of stone but about steeling your heart to carry the burden that you will get from your decisions."
"There is no point in mourning for your dead comrades since it will not do anything. All you can do is move forward and find the target of that vengeance to avenge them," he added before looking at Daniel once again.
He then turned silent for a few moments before looking at the two while saying. "So, for now, our main task is to find the person who dared to use us for this plot."
"No one knew that we were going to be the administrators of this particular exam aside from the higher-ups of the academy. Don't tell me one of them is a spy of our enemies," said Elias after studying all of the information that they currently had.
Nathan also agreed with that conclusion since he also knew that there was a spy among the ranks of the most important figures of the Soaring Continent. And now that this event had happened, he was not sure about this piece of information that he got from David.
'Looks like Evangeline's disciple is right, our real enemies are way too close to us,' thought to himself before looking at the two before saying. "Let's wrap this up for now and report what we currently have."
...…
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