Chapter 77: Strange Occurrences In The Dungeon, Rising Popularity

Previously, he had learnt that Ezekiel had incapacitated himself to defeat Ivory, ending up in a state worse than hers.

Then, he observed as Ezekiel effortlessly defeated Jaran without sustaining a single injury.

Now he saw him perform a similar feat, against not one, but four descendants of the Windcrest Clan.

Even if only one of them was in the top twenty, they still descended from a prestigious clan with a long history of producing powerful Magical Swordsmen.

They had received training before even joining the academy.

To be defeated by the scorn of the Zahara Clan, the Worst One... was shameful.

"I guessed he noticed me."

Milas smiled broadly.

"Interesting... He’s even more interesting than Ivory. Why haven’t I noticed you previously, Ezekiel? Would you have continued hiding your true strength if Ivory hadn’t challenged you?" He said, his hand tightly gripping the handle of his sheathed sword.

He looked at the unconscious bodies once more and sighed.

"Since that’s the case, then I need to report this matter to the Services nurses so they can get treated immediately. But I need to complete my task first before returning."

Milas leapt onto one of the trees and vanished into the distance.

***

An hour later

Three figures landed within the area where the battle between Ezekiel and the Windcrest Clan’s Descendants had occurred.

They were Lawrence, Tiana and James - the Magical Swordsman Department Class Three Dungeon Service Nurses.

Seeing the unconscious Windcrest Clan’s Descendants placed beside one another on the ground, Tiana whistled loudly.

"What a sight!"

James gently placed the bandaged Windcrest Clan’s Descendants, whom he had carried on his way here on his shoulder, on the ground, beside a tree.

He walked towards the unconscious student to check on their condition.

"They are still breathing. Apart from the blood loss from the severe lacerations and a concussion, they don’t seem to have suffered any other injuries," James said.

"There aren’t any magical beasts nearby. It seems that the battle that took place here had scared them all off," Lawrence said, after surveying the environment.

"Let’s treat them quickly and take them to the hospital for proper treatment."

He placed his greatsword beside him and opened his large briefcase.

Within it were bandages, assortments of treatment ointments, pills and medications, for detoxifying toxins, poisons, venoms and more.

Tiana and James nodded.

They also opened their suitcases and started treating them.

Lawrence grabbed a body and turned it over.

Seeing the mangled scar of flesh and fibre, he couldn’t help but frown.

Still, he continued his treatment, applying the necessary ointments on the bandages and the wounds to disinfect and stabilise their injuries.

They were done within ten minutes.

"Fortunately, we managed to find one of the Windcrest Clan’s Descendants on our way here, or else it would be a pain in the ass to search around for them," James said.

He hooked his briefcase to the side of his waist. Then, with Lawrence’s help, he picked up the two unconscious students one after the other and placed them over his two shoulders.

"Could they have truly faced Ezekiel Zahara? I mean.. It’s a little difficult to believe that he had defeated all four of them singlehandedly and had inflicted such injuries in the process," Tiana asked, staring at the bandaged bodies of the Windcrest Clan’s Descendants, who looked much better than they previously were.

"It’s as though they didn’t even have the opportunity to fight back."

"The individual who reported this matter to us was Milas Segrum, the second-ranked Magical Swordsman of the Class Three Magical Swordsman Ranking. And he’s known to be very trustworthy, so I don’t think that he would lie to us on matters like this," Lawrence responded.

"Besides, he also mentioned that Ezekiel had defeated Jaran in an official duel and had become the new third-ranked Magical Swordsman of Class Three. After we’re done with this, then we’ll make our own investigation.

In truth, even Lawrence doubted that Ezekiel had caused all these. But he wasn’t willing to admit it as openly as Tiana had done.

"Well, as long as I’m able to get some free time on my hands from on, I’m okay with whatever we manage to uncover after the investigation," Tiana replied, her face brimming with happiness.

Although Ezekiel’s strength had shocked her, she didn’t care about how or why he had become so powerful or why he chose to reveal his strength at this moment.

James nodded in agreement.

Things like this were of no concern to them.

All that mattered was rescuing and treating injured students and taking them to the hospital for proper treatment on time.

Their jobs won’t be affected even if the hundredth student suddenly ascended to Rank Two awakener before the top ten.

"You are right," Lawrence nodded, "But I don’t think that big break would be coming anytime soon. I heard that yesterday, a group of students from Class One were attacked by a powerful magical beast. One of them had died, and the rest of them are currently undergoing treatment in the hospital"

"The Captain of Class One Service Nurses was injured during the beasts’ subjugation. This is the second time a student has been injured on the same task. The last time, no deaths were recorded, so it was thought that the students had underestimated their opponent. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case now."

Tiana and James frowned deeply.

It wasn’t unusual for students to die within the dungeon. After the entrance ceremony, students who had managed to enter Class One or Two were known to overestimate their abilities far more than the other classes, and recklessly challenged the dungeons alone, ignoring the warning, unaware of the danger that awaited them.

So most of the deaths at the early stages came from there.

As the students progressed, the deaths were evenly spread out across all departments.

Sometimes they even banded together across classes to handle issues that the service nurses in another class could not handle themselves.

To ensure the lives of the students within the dungeon were their tasks.

Each student was an asset to their fortress’s future. So even a single death would attract the Academy’s attention.

They couldn’t help but worry they would also be summoned to aid the Class One Services Nurses if they couldn’t handle the situation themselves.

"I hope this doesn’t have anything to do with the current crisis going on within the dungeon; otherwise, I don’t think that my current salary is enough can cover for this," James sighed.

"If it weren’t for the benefits of being a Grand Avalon Academy staff member, I would have quit a long time ago."

They knew of the constant magical interference from the dungeon, hampering the Academy’s systems across departments.

If there was a slight chance that it was connected to this, then their job would become more tiresome in the future.

"I’m not sure either. But even if this turns out to be a simple case of a magical beast being more powerful than usual, we can only hope for the best results," Lawrence responded.

He glanced at Tiana, who appeared to be lost in her own thoughts.

"Let’s go," he said.

Tiana snapped out of her thoughts and nodded.

She hooked her briefcase to the side of her waist and her whip on the other side, then carried the last unconscious student over her shoulder.

Their weight was insignificant for awakeners like themselves.

They lunged forward onto the branches to avoid being spotted and attracting predators.

They leap from tree to tree, disappearing into the distance.

***

Meanwhile, on the other side of the forest

It took eight and a half hours before I transformed the 17 Sabre-tooth Rabbits to Cybernetic Sabre-tooth Rabbits.

The sky was already dark. The moon served as the only beacon of light within the darkness.

I looked at the 24 Cybernetic Sabre-tooth Rabbits, as they excitedly hugged and spoke to one another. Others were getting accustomed to their new abilities as Cybernetic Beasts.

Although I didn’t find a Sabre Tooth Rabbit with a special innate talent or skill that the Cybernetic enhancement could further enhance, I discovered that one of the rabbits was a Rank One mid-stage Lesser Beast.

I didn’t notice before since Felix had captured all of them, and they had immediately fled after awakening.

After its cybernetic enhancements, its strength improved to the Rank One Late Stage Lesser Beast.

My current force without Felix was enough to subdue a Rank One Late-stage Beastmaster.

Despite this, they were cannon fodder until I could find a more suitable magical beast with powerful innate talent.

"I’m going to store you all away in my storage bag. You all must listen to CR1. Anyone who doesn’t do what he says will be severely punished by me," I said.

"Regardless of what happens, do not touch anything within my storage bag other than the things I have allowed you to touch, or else I’ll take you out and immediately remove your cybernetic enhancements."

"Do I make myself clear?"