High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 2054: Chapter 275: Rankings

”It was like a nightmare!”

Zheng Qing snapped back to reality from the darkness. As he opened his eyes, he happened to hear Xin Fat Man’s complaint, and couldn’t help but mutter, ”...take out the words ’like a’, it was a nightmare!”

Perhaps because the projection retained a trace of Old Yao’s mischievousness, his reminder came just a tad too late as the scented duck helped everyone enter the dream.

Then, with eyes closed, Zheng Qing felt as if he had fallen off a thousand-foot cliff.

The endless void beneath, the surroundings pitch-black, a fierce wind roared past his ears. At first, he thought it was merely the sound of the wind, but soon, brightly shimmering spheres of varying brightness appeared beside him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw winged creatures laughing wildly as they swooped past, and most of the wind was mingled with the laughter and flapping of those creatures’ wings.

Indescribable darkness lurked amidst the bizarre surroundings, giving him a strong sense that at any moment, he would fall into the mouth of some dark beast.

Until the shining spheres around him were pulled by the darkness, slowly elongating and melting into a glowing fissure.

He fell into that fissure.

Opening his eyes, he found himself in the dreamland.

The young student couldn’t wait to share his ’nightmare’ with his companions, hoping to find some resonance. Unfortunately, not everyone experienced that terrifying fall.

”Didn’t you see that duck?” Zhang Ji Xin looked curiously at Zheng Qing and Xin Fat Man.

”What duck?” The Fat Wizard scratched his head, ”The one on the podium?”

”Didn’t see it,” Zheng Qing shook his head.

Xiao Xiao interrupted their discussion, ”If you resist with magic power when entering the dreamland, this world will perceive such an ’invasion’... Although due to the lack of a world barrier, you’ll still reach the dreamland, but inevitably you’ll experience what ’the world’s malice’ means in the process.”

”What about those who didn’t use magic power to resist?” Zheng Qing was a bit curious.

”You’ll see that scented duck swaying its hips in front of you,” the red-faced male wizard replied with a grin, ”Then you just follow it downstairs... You’d walk about one or two hundred steps, push open a door, and you’ll be here.”

He gestured around.

A few young wizards were situated in an oval-shaped lounge. In front of them was a huge floor-to-ceiling window, through which they could see the dusty hunting ground outside, with layered rising stands in the distance and a colorful crowd upon them. Even without sound, the vibrant colors seemed to convey the lively atmosphere.

”The more finely you control your magic power, the more adept your magic skills, the fewer stairs you have to walk.” Xiao Xiao adjusted his glasses and added, ”I just counted, and I walked ninety-six steps...”

Creak.

The sound of a door being pushed came from behind.

Before Zheng Qing could turn around, he heard Li Meng’s babbling, ”Where’s the duck? Where’s that duck? It was just running in front of me... Why did it disappear when I pushed the door open?”

The warlock looked back, ignoring the little witch searching everywhere for the duck, and instead looked at Jiang Yu, ”How many steps did you walk when coming downstairs just now?”

The witch pondered briefly, ”Seventy shallow sleep steps, seventeen deep sleep steps.”

”Eighty-seven,” Zheng Qing grinned, looking at Xiao Xiao and Zhang Ji Xin with a somewhat regretful expression, ”If I walked the steps, it would probably be about the same...”

Although he didn’t understand what ’shallow sleep steps’ and ’deep sleep steps’ were, it didn’t affect his ability to make that simple numerical comparison.

”What does the class monitor’s step count have to do with you!” The red-faced male wizard rolled his eyes in annoyance.

The Doctor also sneered, ”Someone who didn’t even see stairs is bold enough to mock others?”

Bam!

The lounge door was abruptly opened, and a short witch with braids poked her head in clumsily, ”Absolution? Is everyone here for the Absolution team? You’re up in three minutes...”

”We’re here, we’re here!” Mister Blood Werewolf’s voice sounded behind the puppet, and immediately, two blue figures squeezed into the lounge one after another.

It was Dylan and Blue Bird.

”Sorry,” Mister Blood Werewolf quickly explained, ”The magic cube got stuck while spinning today, so we got a bit lost...”

Blue Bird remained as quiet as ever.

Zheng Qing’s gaze went over their shoulders. He didn’t see winding stairs or an endless void; instead, he saw a deep corridor.

”Good to have everyone here.”

Before pulling her head back, the braided witch reminded once again, ”You’re about to go on stage, so stick to the rules when entering, don’t do anything flashy or disorderly...”

”How did you get here?”

Zheng Qing glanced at the puppet’s departing figure and paid no more attention, turning instead to Dylan’s earlier comment, ”What do you mean by ’a bit lost’? How can you get lost when following the duck?”

”Duck? What duck?” Mister Blood Werewolf looked bewildered.

”Each school enters the dreamland differently.”

The Atonement Diviner explained briefly while adjusting his belt, ”The Starry Magic Cube inherently has the capability to connect with other dimensions... They simply need to input the dreamland’s coordinates into the dimensional matrix while the magic cube rotates to find the right ’door’... Usually, taking a few rounds inside the cube will do it... I guess Dylan used the wrong coordinates in his calculation, hence the lateness.”

”Why couldn’t it be that the cube malfunctioned?” Mister Blood Werewolf teasingly retorted.

The Doctor glanced at him, remaining calm, ”If the cube malfunctioned, what we’d see now would be two incomplete corpses.”

”Not necessarily corpses,” Jiang Yu added with interest, ”After all, this is the dreamland, most likely two bodies would be incomplete yet still able to converse with us normally...”

Just as the topic seemed to veer towards a bizarre horror story, the lounge door was once again forcefully opened, allowing the young student to breathe a sigh of relief.

”It’s time, you’re up!” The braided witch poked her head out again, her tone urgent, ”Line up in order, follow me... Just form a line!”

As the captain of the Absolution team, there was no doubt that Zheng Qing needed to go first.

Before leaving, he heard Jiang Yu warning Li Meng, ”Stay in the lounge obediently, don’t wander! Once Lin Guo arrives, you two can go to the stands... if you get bored.”

Outside the door was a deep hallway, but after a few steps, the braided witch led the hunting team through a small door. Pushing the door open, they were met with a rush of wind, dust, bright sun, and the enthusiastic noise that drowned out the young hunters’ ears.

From the podium, the piercing voice of the puppet stood out amidst the boisterous atmosphere:

”Next, welcome the 2009 Campus Cup Seventh-Place Absolution Hunting Team — entering now! Let’s give them a warm welcome!!”