High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 2063: Chapter 184: The Finals Begin

Everyone has their own definition of happiness.

Outside, the wind howled and the rain poured down. I had a little house, with raindrops pattering on the windows, and the warmth of the fire inside. The aroma of the meat soup filled the air; this was one kind of happiness.

To give someone a rose and leave the lingering fragrance, that’s another kind of happiness.

Until Friday afternoon, before the final began, Zheng Qing still vaguely felt the lingering fragrance from Wednesday night at the tip of his nose. The smiling face holding the flowers flashed in his mind hundreds of times, without fading at all, but becoming clearer each time.

So much so that when the Absolution Hunting Team gathered and saw the True Person again, the young public cost student was somewhat dazed, unable to distinguish between the pictures in his mind and reality.

”Hey! Snap out of it!”

The Red-faced Male Wizard snapped his fingers hard in front of Zheng Qing: ”Don’t show weakness in front of the other teams! You are our captain, you must show more confidence than us!”

”I feel like our captain has been sleepwalking these past two days.” Xin Fat Man hugged his arms, with a thoughtful expression on his face: ”... He almost put his chopsticks into my bowl at noon.”

”That’s because the food in your bowl was delicious.” Zheng Qing gave a dry laugh, his peripheral vision quickly sweeping over the Witch beside him—she was counting the amulets in her hand, head lowered, and a strand of hair fell from her ear, making her skin appear even fairer.

”I wonder how much longer we’ll be stuck here.” Zhang Ji Xin tugged at the gloves on his hands, his tone somewhat anxious as he looked around.

It was now two-thirty in the afternoon.

This is the First Hall.

Overhead was a gigantic, vast trihedral school emblem, slowly floating and rotating in the Void, surrounded by spots of starlight, exuding a mysterious and solemn aura.

Behind the columns around the hall, it was crowded with onlookers. As always, first-year students were on the first floor, second-years on the second floor, third-years on the third floor, and fourth-year veterans on the fourth floor, with old school workers, teaching assistants, and lecturers standing in the semi-enclosed corridors higher up. Professors gathered on the highest terrace.

The nine hunting teams participating in the final were located in the center of the hall.

Looking up from the center of the hall, it was all shadows, nothing could be seen clearly. But the enthusiasm and excitement were transmitted to everyone present genuinely and unfathomably.

Clip-clop, clip-clop!

The familiar footsteps of the Puppet echoed through the entire hall.

The light suddenly dimmed, and together with it, the enthusiastic conversations of young wizards in the surrounding corridors went silent. Everyone was tensely staring at the nine hunting teams in the center of the hall, not knowing how they would embark on today’s journey.

”Ladies and gentlemen!”

”The little brats enjoying the show and the old geezers joining in!”

”Good afternoon!”

As always, in a beam of light descending from the sky, the Puppet appeared in front of all the spectators, tap dancing and delivering its terrible opening speech. Immediately, it pointed forward with the slender wooden staff in its hand, and the light expanded, revealing the silent figures of the nine Hunting Team Leaders.

”Look!”

Its head spun like a top on its slender neck, and its voice quavered like waves: ”Standing before you are the nine brave hunting teams that won their tickets to the finals after defeating countless terrifying monsters! They are filled with fighting spirit and enthusiasm, seemingly able to puncture the sky with their gaze!”

Zheng Qing glanced at Nicholas beside him.

If the gazes of others could puncture a hole in the sky, at the same power, Nicholas’s gaze could puncture the sky into a beehive.

This cold joke made the young public cost student stifle a laugh, drawing side glances from several hunters around him. Jiang Yu, behind him, quietly pinched him, causing Zheng Qing to gasp in pain.

When he came back to his senses, the Puppet had already begun repeating the rules of the finals: ”... The hunting teams will start from the First Hall, traverse the Silent Forest, overcome numerous difficult obstacles, and by relying on the ’clues’ in your hand and your magic, find the true finals hunting ground... Only the first two teams to reach the final hunting ground will have the right to compete in the final showdown!”

The young hunters of Absolution had painstakingly and repeatedly pondered these contents many times, but even so, everyone, including Zheng Qing, listened very seriously, trying to catch any possible new content.

”Before departure!”

Accompanied by the Puppet’s high-pitched voice, it grabbed its high top hat and tossed it upward, promptly following the sound of fluttering paper sheets:

”... Given that the final competition has returned to reality and is not like before, playing house in the Dreamland, every hunter participating in the finals must sign this contract to ensure that if you die in the Silent Forest, your families won’t sue the First University into bankruptcy... Of course, this possibility is very small... I mean the First University going bankrupt.”

Perhaps thinking its quip was full of wit, the Puppet let out a raucous, odd laugh.

The pale yellow Parchment descended like a miniature magic carpet, smoothly landing in front of Zheng Qing, with a white Feather Pen already dipped in ink lying on the paper.

The golden seal of the First University at the end of the Parchment stood out in the dim light. Every clause and every word of the contract seemed to be eager to bold themselves, ensuring the signatory could see them.

Zheng Qing picked up the Feather Pen.

”...The personnel from the Danhag Notary Office will witness this moment!” With a jab of its slender staff, a spotlight fell upon a low stone platform floating in mid-air. Two wizards, dressed in Danhag’s black robes and wearing peculiar high hats, stood on it, their faces stern, as if attending a funeral.

Amidst the rustling sound all around, Zheng Qing quickly averted his gaze, scanning the contents of the Parchment briefly before hastily signing his name. Even so, by the time he returned the contract, the Puppet’s arms were already filled with a thick stack of Parchments.

Zheng Qing dared to bet with the Little Green Snake in his ear, at the scene, whether one counts or not, almost no one seriously read what was actually written on the contract.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A succession of dull sounds arose around them, accompanied by exclamations from the first-year freshmen crowd on the first floor, with nine luminous doors dazzling behind them.

”As everyone knows!”

The Puppet enthusiastically swayed its hips, tap dancing on the narrow stage: ”The nine gates on the first floor of the First Hall lead to the First Square, four colleges, and four institutes respectively... But today, through the joint efforts of the professors and the school, these nine gates will temporarily point to nine unknown places in the Silent Forest!”

”Each hunting team will choose one gate as your starting point!”

”It can be confirmed that the distance between the starting points and the final destinations of all hunting teams are equal... In the name of the principal, fairness and justice, without a doubt!”