The Rebirth of Evelyn Knox

As soon as the commotion had started, many had crouched down on the ground, and Evelyn had done the same along with everyone in her group. It was an instinctual response for the others, but the pink haired girl firmly pressed her palms into the ground as she formed her spirit power into thin threads and sent them digging deep.

Compared to the single point consumed in the spirit probe, she started losing two to three almost every second, and her spirit power pool drained at an alarming rate.

At the same time as the centipede screeched in rage, a glorious aura burst forth from the canyon's entrance, as the two previously immobile statues seemingly disappeared from their spots.

A thunderous boom echoed throughout the area as both Craig and the chained carriage were sent flying when the sentinels slammed down on the centipede.

"NO! Prince Craig!"

"Kyaa!"

"They killed him!"

But even as everyone else seemed to cry out in shock and horror, Evelyn was a little disappointed in her heart. Although she hoped that the annoying toad really died, she had noticed a golden shield had spawned to protect Craig at the last moment. Assuming that it had absorbed most of the impact before shattering, he might just have survived.

Still, this should teach him a lesson. Not to mention it also took care of one of his trump cards.

'To think that bastard had something to block even this level of attack, huh. As expected of Terrazyme's Crown Prince, I guess.'

However, he wasn't important right now, so she focused her attention back on the clash.

As the two sentinels tried to suppress the beast, the suffocation felt from just their aura was so strong that not to mention the students or the prefects, even the rangers couldn't lift a finger. 

Thankfully, it was only their own fear freezing their bodies, and not an actual impact of the sentinels or the centipede's aura. Otherwise almost everyone here might have become no more than a smear on the ground.

Even Evelyn found it difficult to continue drilling into the ground with her spirit power threads, but she barely managed to persevere. However, this was the first time she was losing so much of her spirit power so quickly, and she couldn't help but feel lightheaded.

'I can't give up, I can't! This might be my only chance to save Bree. I can't rely on some unexpected outcome!'

She could only bite her tongue and continue spreading her spirit power threads deep under the ground, watching with bated breath as the two sentinels seemingly poured more and more spirit power down their weapons in an effort to suppress the beast. 

But although it was being pressed down by the humongous staff and halberd powered by such a ridiculous amount of spirit power, the terrifying creature didn't look deterred at all.

A hiss that sent shivers down her spine echoed through her ears, and Evelyn felt as if the centipede was considering its next course of action.

As its tentacles stretched out to dig into the ground, however, there was a faint shattering sound as the two sentinels started giving off a luminous glow. Evelyn could tell that their aura had skyrocketed in an instant, and even the centipede seemed shocked, hurriedly retrieving its tentacles.

But perhaps the sentinels were intent on delivering punishment, as a green light enveloped the centipede, slowing it down just enough for a faint flickering red flash to pass through some of its tentacles that had failed to retreat inside its carapace in time.

The screech that the creature let out this time was so grating and unbearable that many weaker students fainted directly. Bree was no better off, and even Vivian was bleeding from her ears. 

Evelyn could also feel her eardrums rupturing, but she couldn't care less about it at this moment, because the moment the severed tentacles touched the ground, she had to make sure her spirit power threads would be right below it so she could take it into her inventory.

The centipede had already escaped. Without the need to drag the chained carriage, its speed was shockingly fast as it disappeared in the blink of an eye. How could it risk taking more damage and losing decades of progress just to retrieve a few out of thousands of its tentacles?

As for the sentinels, they too had started retreating to their positions at the canyon's entrance, though at an almost laughably slow pace. 

It appeared as if each of their movements would cost energy, and perhaps faster movements required exponentially large amounts of energy. Assuming they used the same spirit power they fought with as their energy source, it was obvious why they would be thrifty.

Evelyn believed them to be somewhat similar to intelligent robots. They could do everything except form their own thoughts, probably. Of course, there was no way to be sure. In any case, they clearly didn't care about the disappearing tentacles either.

As for the rangers and the students, they can come up with whatever explanation they like for themselves. They can just assume that the tentacles would disappear once cut off from the beast, or perhaps it had some way to retrieve its lost parts. Who knew what really happened?

'Well, I guess there must be some people at the academy who can figure it out once they hear about it, but so what? Even if they think it's strange that the centipede attacked out of nowhere, or that the tentacles vanished, how would they know it was me?'

Not to mention they wouldn't know about the absurd existence of her inventory, the tremors caused by the statues moving back had already erased the faint traces from her 'drilling'.

Even if someone detected something later, there was no way to know who the real culprit was among so many students. Even if the commoner students could be ruled out, that still left dozens of possible suspects.

Everyone seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief as they realized they had somehow, miraculously survived witnessing a fight between the peak existences of the continent.

"E-Evelyn, are you okay?"

"You're not hurt, are you?"

Evelyn gave the two older girls a reassuring smile, making them sigh in relief as they continued fussing over Vivian next.

The pink haired girl wondered what their reaction would be if they knew she was the one who had triggered the fight. Perhaps only Ruru would ever know, and Ruru can't talk. 

So her secret is safe.