"!!!"

Van stared at the countless harpies that were flying towards them. Going by the speed they are going, the rest won't be able to run away or dodge.

​​

He was sure that Harvey could handle it, and Gemma seemed to already be in the midst of transforming as a carpet of fur was already appearing on the sides of her face. Now that just leaves Beatrice and Victoria.

Van carefully stretched his hand towards Beatrice, but as it was only a foot away from her, he felt a slight tinge in his hand as it slowly swayed to the side.

'This…' It was an odd feeling, like a sedated force, but still strong enough to slightly sting his hand. It would seem that Beatrice summoned a wind barrier around her as soon as they heard the noise. If they weren't currently in a predicament, Van would have surely expressed his awe.

He then moved towards Victoria, and as soon as he touched her, it felt as if everything around him trembled, no… it was flashing. He felt his stomach instantly tighten as his eyes moved uncontrollably.

"!!!"

Van quickly turned off all of his skills and pushed Victoria down to the ground, covering her with his small body.

"D… damn!" Harvey quickly waved his hands in the air as a torrent of talons moved above him, trying to claw the flesh on his arms.

Meanwhile, Beatrice was a rock in a river, pushing away all the harpies to the side with her skills.

Gemma seemed to have the same thought as Van, as she quickly stepped in front of Victoria, cleaving through the harpies that were unfortunate enough to choose her as their path.

"You okay?" Van asked as he lightly lifted himself up, looking at Victoria's face from above.

Victoria quickly nodded before slightly looking to the side.

"Alright," Van quickly stood up and was about to turn on his skills, but before he could do so, he noticed that all the harpies were already gone.

"W… what was that!?" Harvey quickly checked on his arms to see if he was wounded, but it would seem that the harpies only left scratches on his VIT-filled skin.

"Did… did they just pass through us!?" Beatrice coughed as she waved her hands in the air, trying to push the feathers that were falling on top of her.

Van offered his hand to help Victoria up, who quickly accepted it. The group then fell into silence as they all looked towards Gemma. Since she was still their supervisor, she should be the one to decide what to do next.

"Nothing changed, we should still regroup with the rest." She said.

"Something is not right," Van voiced out his concern as he looked at some of the countless tufts of feathers mixing with the foliage, "They were running away from something."

"Maybe," Gemma shrugged as she started to walk, "Even more reason not to go to the direction where they came from."

"No, they really are running from something. I heard them."

It was brief and was almost drowned by their desperate shrieks, but Van was sure that the harpies were all saying something.

Escape. Big bird. Run.

Those were the words that Van was able to pick up from all the chaos.

"What? Harpies don't talk. Why are you always lying?" Gemma could not help but chuckle as she continued to walk out of the forest.

"..."

Harvey and the rest, who were aware that Van was capable of talking to animals and creatures alike, exchanged glances.

What… exactly is happening in this Portal? They all thought.

Half an hour later, their group was back at the meeting point. And it would seem that the others had the same idea, as all of them were here now. No one seemed to be missing or gravely injured, so that was good.

Well, except for Gerald's group, who looked completely terrified as they stared at Gerald, who was completely covered in blood. They weren't able to hunt anything, as Gerald smashes the first harpy he sees, or pulling their wings apart while letting out the most menacing laughter.

Gemma quickly reported what happened to Mr. Jacobs, of how the harpies seemed to be running away from something.

"Hm…" Mr. Jacobs squinted, placing his hands on his chiseled chin while still managing to flex his hard muscles. And after a few seconds, he nodded.

"Alright fishes! I am afraid we will have to cut our lesson short today!"

"Aww, but we're just getting started!"

"I haven't even seen a monster up close yet!"

"What about the Portal Boss!?"

The students quickly voiced their discontent. They were here to experience what it was like to be an Explorer, and yet when they haven't even started yet, they were already going home.

"Don't worry!" Mr. Jacobs clapped his hand, "I will be sure to ask the Headmaster to reschedule your excursion. Let's go!"

Mr. Jacobs gestured for the students to exit the Portal one by one, of course, not forgetting the chance to flex his muscles, also showing the tattoos he had on his arms.

The students then walked towards the Portal, but as the first student was about to pass through the Portal, he felt his nose being squashed.

"O...ouch!"

The student could not help but scream in pain as he touched his nose.

"What's the delay!?"

"M...Mr. Jacobs, I couldn't pass through the Portal!" The student muffled as his nose started to bleed.

"...What?"

Hearing the student's words, Mr. Jacobs quickly ran in front of the Portal. And then ever so slowly, tried to stretch his hand through it. But alas, his fingers were met with much resistance.

"Oh… f*ck," Mr. Jacobs blurted out. And as soon as he said that, the Portal shook, instantly changing its White Crystal color into a Blue hue.

Rank C Portal.

"This Portal… it leveled up."

"...What!?"

Portals leveling up were quite rare, and thus barely mentioned. But it happens.

If the Portal Boss somewhat, for whatever reason, leveled up while the Portal is active… or if another monster comes along to replace it, usually by killing it. But… this was the first time that Mr. Jacobs has ever experienced a Portal not letting anyone out.

"!!!"

It was then that a high pitched and deafening roar crowed into their ears, coming from deep inside the forest, but getting louder by the second.

"This…"

All of the students covered their ears, turning their heads upwards as a new window simultaneously popped out above them.

[New Objective: Defeat the Cockatrice]

"Out of all… why this?" Mr. Jacobs could not help but let out a nervous chuckle as he stared at the texts in front of him.

"A cock... a Cockatrice!?"

"Oh… oh no!"

"Just… just don't breathe in its breaths… and also… don't let it see you!"

"How!?"

The screams of panic of the students almost drowned the roar of the monster that was about to approach them.

Van, on the other hand, remained staring at the window above him. Because once again, his window seemed to be different from the rest of the people.

[You can not leave without first receiving the Message]

Could it be they were trapped here…

...because of him?