Chapter 113: 113 Announcement.

When the holiday was over, students had to return to their mundane activities, which had slowly and cruelly sapped their lives.

Jin sat in his usual seat, behind the three girls who kept chirping quietly in front. The classroom was quiet, with only the rustling of pens scribbling on papers.

As usual, his neighbor was silent with thousands of lies. Occasionally, he could catch Kael with narrowed eyes, glancing at the girls and him.

When their eyes met, the boy averted his gaze by clicking his tongue, disbelief plastered across Jin’s face, but it was for the better.

He didn’t want to be associated with that kind of person—the same with that senior who received a small brunt of Mind Sword from him.

Sereth sat in the corner calmly, keeping his gaze low, scribbling something in his notebooks.

For the past few days, Jin has attended the class. He saw Sereth only participate in one event, and that was the practical one.

The boy didn’t socialize and kept his attitude firm, building a wall surrounding his heart.

Allen and Lily somehow manage to knock on Tania’s stone door. As he could see, Tania often glanced at Allen’s side.

’Everything seems to be going well’. Jin shifted his attention toward the book in hand and flipped the page.

’It was all the same’. Jin’s brows furrowed.

Ever since he visited the library, he has tried to find as much information as he could about the myth.

All of them were just an exact copy of the heroic tales of Ares, who overthrew his father’s reign.

He closed the book with a subtle thud. Jin accidentally watched the absent-minded Lucya staring at the faraway window.

This was a rare sight; Lucya, who usually immersed herself with the other two, seemed detached from the world.

Her blue pupils stare vacantly at the blue sky, watching the floating cloud slowly drift away to the horizon.

Jin couldn’t grasp what was playing in her mind. He looked to the side only to watch the two, Silvia and Iris, exchange confused looks.

“Lucya, are you alright?”. Silvia asked, and she tapped Lucya’s shoulder, making the golden-haired girl flinch.

“W-What?”. Lucya’s voice stammered as she twisted her position to face Silvia and Iris.

“Are you sure you are okay?”.

Silvia said, and Iris’ green eyes swept over Lucya’s body like a predator that locked onto its prey.

“You’re awfully quiet today, what happened?”. Iris rested her elbow on the table to support her chin.

“Nothing, I just still couldn’t move one from that book story”.

Lucya brushed their worries off by telling them the cause of her sudden change in demeanor.

Silvia and Iris raised their brows, still unconvinced.

But, when they were about to press the matter further, the silence in the room was broken by the sudden sound of a slammed door.

“Good morning, everyone. I hope you enjoy your first holiday”.

Dannan walked inside. He didn’t bring anything in his hands, only his annoying spirit and his laid-back composure.

The man stood on the podium, sweeping his gaze toward his students. “I have important news to announce”.

Jin, who knew his characters, straightened his spine. Unknowingly, his fingers curled tightly as they dug into his own palm.

Not only Jin, but also the other students stared intently at the podium.

Silence hung between the places. A strong breeze shook the glass on the window, carrying the smell of tension that slightly rose, while Dannan’s smile grew wide.

“Today, our class will be joined with another class to explore the Dungeon”.

“A dungeon, where?”.

Jin lifted his brows. His words resonated with the others, who still couldn’t process the situation well.

“You will find out soon”. Dannan winked at him.

The man’s usual antics, who suddenly gives his students out-of-the-blue news, put them on edge. A vein popped on Jin’s temple, twitching uncontrollably.

“You should’ve told us beforehand if we were to have this kind of event”.

“No, this was decided just yesterday”.

“Then change it to next week!”.

“No way, next week we will have a quiz incoming”.

As the banter between Jin and Dannan escalated, the man accidentally leaked the following week’s schedule.

It made everyone in the class gasp at how simple their teacher was.

Dannan, who realized his slip, faked a cough and glanced at his students.

“Okay, enough with the talk. You guys follow me”.

***

After following teacher Dannan for more than an hour, they finally arrived in the part of the academy’s vast area far away in the corner.

The students had changed into their gym clothes. They wore a simple blue jacket with a white T-shirt inside and short blue pants reaching their knees.

At first, they grumbled because of the distance they had to take, but all of that dimmed down as they arrived at the site, witnessing something akin to world heritage.

In front of them, a majestic temple of black stones stood on top of the hill. It was surrounded by towering pillars that cast ominous shadows on land.

The place was veiled in eerie silence, like a God’s tomb. Forgotten by the cruel passage of time, yet still exude an overwhelming presence.

“Let’s go”.

Dannan led the students as he ascended the stairs that guided them toward the maw of darkness.

Jin sniffed the unusual stench that wafted through the air. It was thin but thick with malice, turning his expression grave as he approached the entrance.

His Jade Eyes skill flared. He witnessed a slithering darkness crawling on the ground, coiling around his and others’ feet like tentacles that would snatch them into the depths of the abyss.

Several guards stood guard within the temple perimeters. They wore leather armor with various steel plates covering their important parts.

Swords hung on their waists, spears in hand, and daggers on their backs, showing that these people were veterans in their fields.

After reaching the hill, the group entered the temple. It had a long and spacious hall with high ceilings, supported by thick pillars arranged in a row.

Twelve statues of the Divine Olympian stood between those pillars. Their presence invoked awe in other students’ expressions, but not from Jin.

Jin gazed over to the innermost part where a lone statue stood. The statue held a bastard sword in his left hand and mighty thunderbolts in his right hand.

Thunderbolts were a weapon of the former God King Zeus. It said in the book Jin read that one thrust from the weapon manifested a thousand lightning bolts that leveled a mountain.

The weapon now lands in Ares’ hand as a rightful heir of the Olympian highest throne.

’Ares’. Jin unconsciously clenched his hands into tight fists. Deep inside him, something primal stirred awake after staring at Ares’ face for long.

It was not awe but a reminder to himself that the being before him was still beyond his reach.

’I see. It was fear, huh?’. Jin reached out to his chest, and he could feel it on his skin. It pounded so hard that it could stop at any time.

Cold sweat drenched his back, and he shook his head to dismiss his reckless plan and focused on the matter at hand. ’No, take your time, Jin. It wasn’t the time yet’.

Lucya, who walked beside him, noticed a subtle change in Jin’s demeanor for a second. She touched the boy’s back to find it was wet.

“Jin, are you okay?”.

She grabbed the boy’s left arm, afraid that the boy was in bad condition.

“Um, I’m fine. What’s the matter?”.

The girl noticed his bright emerald gem in his eyes, staring intently at her. Lucya exhaled and shifted her hand to grab the boy’s sleeves.

“Nothing”.

“?”. The boy tilted his head, but a sound from teacher Dannan brought everyone’s attention toward him.

“We are here.” Dannan’s calm voice bounced over the vast hall like an echo. “We arrived before the entrance to the Dungeon.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep