Surprise flashed through Selene’s eyes briefly, but it was quickly replaced by the usual coldness. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"Yes. Since you’re also heading there, we shouldn’t waste time chatting. Let’s move together."

Leon nodded curtly, ending the exchange there. He liked someone who was as straightforward as her.

Feeling left out, Reymond smiled bitterly. In the past, his handshake had never been rejected so he felt a bit awkward facing Leon.

In the end, he just sighed, glad that they had found an ally.

The two groups joined together, and they moved straight towards the Field House.

The building was located at the center of the campus, so it was easily accessible for all students. In less than ten minutes, they could already see the building in the distance.

Suddenly, Leon’s pace slowed, and he looked around with a frown.

Selene and Reymond looked at him, alert.

"What is it?"

The girl asked coldly, her voice showing no warmth at all. This wasn’t her being harsh, but just her usual tone. Even their lecturers hadn’t been able to make her soften her tone.

Leon replied curtly. "Danger."

His intuition was sharp, and he could feel that something was lurking in the shadows.

Looking to their left, Reymond saw nothing but trees and a cultivated field of grasses. His eyes widened at the sight of dark green scales within the grass.

"Look!"

He shouted immediately, unsheathing his sword and pointing it at the lurking creature. Just like Leon’s spear, it was a weapon he had gotten from killing a high-level mutated beast.

Sensing that it had been caught, the green mutated Viper that was as big as a python hissed and shot out from the grass at startling speed.

Reymond was shocked, barely able to react as the tail slammed into his raised sword.

He was knocked back by ten steps, his hand trembling as he almost lost his grip on the sword.

"Strong!"

While he was shocked, Leon and Selene were already moving. The silver-haired girl shot icicles at the mutated snake, only for it to block them with its hard scales.

Even then, the icicles shattered and covered it with frost.

Leon appeared next to it, mercilessly slashing his spear at its head.

The snake recoiled, narrowly escaping his attack. However, it wasn’t entirely spared.

Leon’s blade sliced a portion of its scales, drawing its dark red blood.

The mutated snake hissed in pain and irritation, then lunged at the one who had injured it the most.

Leon remained calm, or at least he tried to. Seeing a large snake hurtling at him was so terrifying that he was tempted to freeze in terror.

However, that meant death, and he couldn’t afford to die yet.

So, he moved. Pivoting to the side, he let the snake brush past him while he stabbed the spear into the wound he had created before.

This time, his spear went deeper, and the mutated snake hissed loudly.

Reymond rushed at it with a sharp expression, slashing at its neck with his lightning sword. Selene also shot several icicles, freezing several parts of its long body.

Hissing, the mutated snake turned around and tried to bite Leon. He immediately removed his spear, raising it vertically.

Instantly, it hooked the snake’s mouth, leaving it wide open.

Selene didn’t miss the opportunity and shot several icicles into its throat, dealing grievous injuries to it.

The snake tried to pull back, but Leon kept his legs firm and didn’t let it escape.

Reymond appeared next to him, then ran along the snake with his sword.

Starting from the soft flesh of its mouth, he sliced open a gruesome wound on the snake, almost slicing it open entirely.

The snake struggled, almost pushing Leon off his feet. However, he remained firm, holding tightly onto the spear embedded in its mouth. Although he felt uncomfortable receiving the hot breath of the snake, he had no choice but to keep it in place while Reymond and Selene finished it off.

[You have slain a Level 16 Mutated Viper! +4 Strength points gained!]

The same message flashed before the retinas of the three youths, confirming that the creature was dead.

Leon was a little surprised when he received the message, since he wasn’t the one who had dealt the final blow.

"The Star Stream is just and rewards everyone’s efforts. You clearly contributed to this creature’s demise so you gained a little from it too."

Thyra explained, earning a grateful nod from him. She simply smiled and remained silent again.

Reymond went to the beast’s corpse, picking up a red cube similar to the one Leon had gotten his spear from.

The brown-haired boy looked at the cube for a while, then handed it to Selene.

"You dealt the final blow. It should be yours."

Leon raised a brow in surprise. Clearly, Reymond had dealt the most damage, yet he conceded the reward to her.

It seemed they were quite close for him to make such a sacrifice.

Selene glanced at Leon as if asking for his consent, but he merely shrugged and looked at the students standing some distance away.

None if them dared to move, as they would only be exposing themselves to other dangerous creatures or zombies in the area.

"Let’s move quickly. Zombies would definitely be attracted by the sound of our fight here."

The two fighters agreed with him, and they immediately resumed their journey. After a few minutes of cutting down stray zombies, they finally arrived at the locked doors of the field house.

Leon paused. "People are inside."

He could see the visible hand prints on the doors, he raised a hand and banged on the door.

Careful not to raise his voice too high, he said. "Whoever’s inside, open up before we force our way through. There are students outside."

Selene and Reymond were surprised, not expecting him to be that threatening. However, none of them disagreed with him.

The campus was still dangerous and they could see some zombies still walking around in the distance.

Leon waited for half a minute, but receiving no response, his gaze darkened.

"If you don’t open the door I might just tear it down in five seconds."

His voice was loud and clear, making even the students behind him tremble. Tear down the door? They didn’t doubt that he had the power to do so.

However, tearing down the door meant dooming those who were inside since the doors would be irreparable.

"Five..."

"Four..."

He raised his spear, ready to bring it down the moment he counted down to zero.

Reymond’s eyes narrowed but seeing that Selene wasn’t reacting, he also didn’t say anything.

"Three..."

Followed by a metallic groan, the heavy doors were opened by two students with terrified expressions.