Overpowered Awakening: I Became Invincible With A Broken Talent-Chapter 138: Deadlight District (29)
"Ahhh! It is morning again!"
With a disgruntled look on his face, Ashton stared out the window, his eyes meeting the bright light of a new morning. The mere sight of it made his expression darken even further as the rays filtered into the room.
He had spent the entire night sparring with other students at the gym, pushing himself from one match to another.
Even after his sparring partners finally left to get some sleep, he stayed behind, refusing to stop. He continued to train and exercise relentlessly, forcing his already strained body to move until he was completely worn out and drenched in sweat.
He had expected the night to be long. Long enough for his sore and aching muscles to recover, long enough for the exhaustion weighing on him to fade away.
Unfortunately, it was not.
The amount of sleep he got was so little that it felt as though the night had instantly turned into morning the very moment he closed his eyes.
Grunting once more, Ashton dragged his tired body off the bed and into the bathroom.
He washed himself sluggishly, splashing water over his face in an attempt to wake up before getting dressed in his neat uniform.
After that, he put on his glasses, adjusting them slightly as he looked at his reflection.
Today was Monday, and the day after tomorrow would make it a full week since Marlon had left.
Although they knew he was fine, with no contact from him, Ashton, Logan, and Lyra could not help but worry. The silence made things worse, leaving too much room for speculation.
Speaking of Lyra.
As Ashton strolled out of his room, he found her standing there alongside Logan, waiting for him.
Lyra had a friendly smile on her face, something that would have been unusual not too long ago. However, over the past week, they had grown accustomed to the positive changes she had been showing.
"Good morning," she greeted first, her tone calm.
Ashton nodded in response before shaking hands with Logan.
"You look like shit," Logan said bluntly, looking him over from head to toe.
"You look like fart," Ashton responded without hesitation.
Logan fixed his glasses and replied with a cheeky smile "Fart is a gas. You cannot see it, so how did you know what it looks like?"
Ashton did not bother responding. With a chuckle from the other two, the three of them strolled toward class together.
They passed through the walkway, which was already filled with other students heading in the same direction.
Some whispered among themselves the moment they noticed the trio. However, Ashton, Logan, and Lyra remained unbothered. They had already gotten used to the gossip surrounding their group that had spread over the past few days.
"I wish Marlon was here," Ashton said with a sigh. "These talkative people are usually quiet, or they start acting like fans whenever he is around."
"Speaking of Marlon, has no one really heard from him?" Logan asked, glancing between the two.
Both Ashton and Lyra shook their heads.
Ashton added that he had tried contacting Marlon several times, but his number was completely unreachable.
Lyra waited for him to finish before sharing what she had learned from her parents.
"He was sent on a mission?"
Ashton turned to her, and she nodded in confirmation.
"The hunter organisation did not divulge what type of mission it is, but it is pretty easy to guess, judging by how we cannot reach him. Nonetheless, we still do not know where he is."
"Ahhh! Marlon is lucky," Ashton complained. "He gets to explore danger zones while we are tormented with boring lectures and crowded sparring sessions."
"You should not be the one complaining, I heard from one of the janitors that you were still at the gym past midnight. You clearly love it." Logan replied, turning to him with a blank expression.
"I have no choice, dude, I have to get in shape before our next raid. I am close to a breakthrough, I don’t want it to exceed this week."
Lyra and Logan did not respond immediately.
They took a few more steps forward in silence before Lyra finally spoke, voicing her displeasure about how the academy only allowed them to leave during weekends.
All three of them could not help but feel envious of how Marlon had been allowed to leave for such a long time.
They continued discussing among themselves as they strolled forward, eventually stepping out of the dormitory area and into the beautiful academy compound, where the morning buzz of students and activity surrounded them.
The morning sun shone over them.
It was bright and refreshing.
And then all of a sudden, it turned dark.
"Huh.."
There were different reactions from the crowd of students outside who experienced the abrupt changes first hand.
They all turned to look at the sky with confused expressions. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮
And what they saw completely blew their mind.
Gasps echoed.
Cries followed.
And noise erupted.
Lyra, Logan and Ashton were no different.
"Is that..."
=====
Four clones dying at once meant several things, but judging by the current situation, only one possibility was prevalent.
A strong opponent.
Probably a boss.
And with the bosses he had faced so far, he had already deduced what type of boss he was up against.
"What is happening?"
Sandra noticed the change in his expression first and asked in a worried tone.
Marlon pointed toward the field-type danger zone.
"They are in trouble."
The others immediately grew concerned after hearing his words, and they all turned in the direction he pointed.
None of them bothered to question his instinct, as they had all experienced it firsthand, especially Sandra and her group.
"What can we do? It is almost impossible to enter a danger zone once it has already been occupied, of course, unless the hunters inside are dead," Sandra said with clear worry in her voice.
"I have a way to get inside. That is why I left my clones with them in the first place."
Sandra nodded in response.
"Does anyone have healing or aether potions with them?" Marlon asked hurriedly.
"I have two mid-grade healing potions."
Joshua responded as he equipped the two healing potions at once and hurriedly handed them to Marlon. There was a somewhat desperate look on his face that Marlon did not miss.
Marlon grabbed them and, without wasting any time, activated swap with the last clone that was still injured.
But he was unfortunate.
[ Clone 14 has been killed ]
The exact moment he activated the skill, the clone was killed, making it impossible to swap.
"This is bad."
He muttered in an uncertain tone.
He explained what had happened to the others, and their worry immediately deepened.
"What should we do now?"
Joshua asked with visible anxiety.
"Nothing."
With a solemn expression, Marlon shook his head.
"We can only wait for the inevitable to happen before we can enter."
"No!!"
Hearing that, Joshua cried out loudly.
He dropped to his knees on the ground in defeat.
Marlon observed him for a few seconds with a hint of confusion, wondering why he was reacting so dramatically.
"His girlfriend is amongst the hunters in trouble," Caleb whispered into his ear.
"Oh."
Now he understood why Joshua had been so desperate earlier.
But there was nothing he could do at this point.
If his clones were being killed so easily, then there was a fifty percent chance the others had already met the same fate, or would soon meet it if they were attempting to flee or hide while the clones were engaged in combat.
"Noo..."
Joshua began to cry profusely.
The others watched with sad and helpless expressions. They could tell what he was going through, and honestly, there were no words they could say to someone in that state that would be able to calm them down.
Marlon stared at Joshua for several moments and slowly gritted his teeth.
"I hate being helpless."
He whispered to himself, and while everyone gathered around the grieving hunter, he quietly strolled toward the danger zone.
He summoned a mirror clone unit, and together they attempted to enter, but the barrier instantly pushed them back as a blaring red notification appeared.
[ YOU CANNOT ENTER ]
Marlon stood there, staring at the red magical barrier with a deep frown on his face.
After a few minutes passed, he attempted once more, only for the result to remain the same.
He waited for quite some time, and when he tried again, they were finally allowed inside.
