The Rebirth of Evelyn Knox

After making some more small talk with Eula, Evelyn and her friends finally returned to their own compartment for rest.

It had to be said, if the green-haired prefect was anything to go by, the Aquans were excellent hosts and knew how to entertain their guests well. Eula even gave them an extra bag of cookies as they left, and told them to come back anytime! 

No wonder they were so successful as traders, and Aquavahn was considered the leading commercial giant among the five major powers of the continent.

As the night fell, the mission that had ended up alerting Evelyn of the danger last night finally reached completion.

— Completed [ Green Mission: Protect Your Puppy! ]

— Prevent injury or death to 'Bree Devaughn' for the next 24 hours. [Fulfilled!]

- Rewards:

— Experience: +220 points.

— Evelyn Knox: Level 22 [Exp: 200 / 700] -> [Exp: 420 / 700]

— Soul Value +1 points permanently.

— Soul Value: [1303] -> [1304]

— Ruru gains +110 experience through Lotus Throne's Shackles!

— Lotus Moon Spirit Fox (Ruru): Level 21 [Exp: 100 / 600] -> [210 / 600]

Surprisingly enough, the next few days passed by quite peacefully.

Eula came by from time to time to chat and make sure nothing was wrong, but never stayed for long. Through their frequent contact, Evelyn managed further her understanding of the Academy's inner workings as well as her empire. At the same time, she also managed to deepen their mutual trust and friendship, earning another valuable ally.

And thankfully, the dreaded day of Prince Craig's arrival in their compartment never came, though Evelyn still found it a little hard to believe even as the chained carriage came to a halt.

As all the children exited their compartments under the prefects' instructions, they found themselves facing a long, narrow canyon running through an incredibly tall and jagged mountain range.

Evelyn had once seen the map of this area, and she had to admit that just the 'natural' defenses of the Ancient Academy were incredible. It was almost impossible to invade even with the combined might of all five great powers in the continent.

The first line of defense was, of course, the perilous forest called the 'Wonderland of Doom'. Even ignoring the ridiculously dangerous flora and fauna, it also had its own mysterious, illusory dangers. Even though it was only a stretch of two thousand miles, to actually pass through the forest required them to cover almost twenty thousand miles.

It was ridiculous, especially considering that at no point in their journey did they feel like they were going through the same place again. Nor did it feel like they were crawling through at a slower pace. It was as if even though it appeared to be smaller, it was genuinely that large.

Otherwise there's no way a creature as strong as that centipede would still be trapped in some illusion, right?

And at the very center of this so-called 'Wonderland of Doom', there was this circular range of jagged, terrifying black mountains. Aside from the single canyon protected by the sentinels, there was no other convenient point of entry. If anyone wanted to avoid the sentinels, they would have to climb the mountains.

Then there was the constant roaring of thunder and flashes of lightning as it struck at the mountain peaks mercilessly, over and over. It was no wonder that all these mountains lay bare with not a single tree or beast inhabiting them. 

But even as the students jumped in terror, the blue-robed rangers seemed to treat it as an everyday thing.

The canyon itself was guarded by two tall, towering statues made of red and green stone. The red statue had the figure of what appeared to be a female warrior wielding a halberd, while the green statue appeared to be a male with a long staff.

Shockingly enough, their weapons weren't made of stone, but appeared to be actual weapons. To forge a halberd with its tip to base length being almost twenty meters… Evelyn couldn't imagine just what kind of talent the creator must have had. 

Moreover, if the stories she had heard were to be believed, these shiny weapons had withstood the test of time for thousands of years as well.

As almost all the students finished alighting from their compartments, the blue-robed rangers led them towards the canyon while Craig stayed behind to revert the carriage into its miniature form. At least that's what Cecilia told her. 

Supposedly, it would take him at least two hours, so they would already be at the academy by the time he was done.

"We'll walk the rest of the way?"

Cecilia nodded. "Well, yeah. With the sentinels blocking the way, anything above a certain power level will need to defeat them to cross this point, so the centipede can't take the carriage any further. But the southern ancient city is not far, don't worry."

Eula was not far from their group, and Evelyn rolled her eyes as she could hear her answering almost all the questions that the curious students had, unlike the other prefects who just ignored them.

"Why is there so much lightning raining down over there?"

"This mountain range is actually called the 'Thunder Array' in the academy. Anyone who tries to get past it needs to endure the repeated strikes of lightning while climbing the mountain. It actually doubles as a tempering ground, but you need to be really careful…"

"Are those statues real?"

"Be more respectful! They are the ancient protectors of our academy. The Scarlet Valkyrie and the Emerald Auramancer."

Of course, although Eula said so, Evelyn knew that the ancient sentinels did not really care if they were referred to with respect. In fact, the common consensus seemed to be that they weren't living beings to begin with, but constructs.

Those who believed they were living beings but just remained aloof referred to them with those names, while many simplified them into the Scarlet and Emerald Sentinels, or even the Red and Green Sentinels.

Regardless of what they were called, however, it was their function and reliability that Evelyn found to be of great use.

Once they were a few meters away from the chained carriage and the centipede, the pink-haired girl saw from the corner of her eyes that the Centipede had already unbound itself from the carriage.

'We're closer to the sentinels now than the centipede… if I'm gonna do this, now is the best time…'

Although the risk was certainly there, Evelyn had carefully considered it for a long time, and there should be only a minimal chance of something going wrong. 

The might of these sentinels was already proven with time. Their only weakness seemed to be the fact that they would forever only defend this canyon, never venturing too far from it, not even to chase an attacker. So, she chose to believe in their strength.

No one knew what happened. for one moment they were peacefully heading for the canyon, and the next moment there was an unholy screech from the direction of their carriage.

Even the blue-robed rangers felt their blood run cold.