Chapter 239 Friendship
"Haaa…"
"Tch."
"This one took long."
Adia, Kamia, as well as Angela all, let out sighs of frustration as the Blue Portal behind them closed. This was the 5th Portal they have cleared already, and yet there was still no sign of the Portal that used to be the Pit. They have already spent almost the whole day-- At this rate, it would be weeks before they reached the Pit.
Their only saving grace was that they had a map, pinpointing where the Pit is. If they didn't, considering that the Darkzone consisted of 30% of the current Africa's landmass, they would spend weeks here and not be able to find it from all the numerous Portals it held. No one was even talking anymore, even the viewers were starting to get bored as it was the same thing over and over again, as if they were reading a novel that repeated the same scenarios with just different characters.
Van, however, still held a bit of excitement inside him due to the Portal they just cleared. Van had always heard that there were different types of Portals, the most common one being eliminating the target objective-- which until that previous Portal, had only been the type of Portal that Van had been in.
The Portal they closed just now, though, was different. It was what the Explorers call a Survival Portal. And just as the name suggests, one had to survive through the Portal until the given time passes.
6 hours. Van and the others had to spend 6 hours trying to survive the almost endless onslaught of different monsters that bombarded them. There really wasn't any critical danger as it was only a Rank-C Portal, but still, having no time to rest was their biggest enemy. The one that was the most exhausted of all was Kamia, as her Skills heavily relied on consuming her SP.
Kamia didn't even say a word as she continued to groan straight towards the truck, quickly laying her back and stuffing her whole head with White Crystals. "Wake me up when…
...you know what, never mind. Please don't wake me up. Just let me die."
Adia could only awkwardly chuckle as she got onto the truck. She would lie if she said she wasn't feeling the same as her. She had been to many Portals before this, but never 4 on the same day. If it wasn't for the help of Angela Elton and Van, then she was sure that it wouldn't even be possible.
It would seem that the people surrounding the White Imvubu truly were special. Although the fact that Van had killed one of the few Gold-rank Explorers their country had should have already been an indication that neither 3 of them were normal.
Adia could only hope that Van won't face any charges once they were back inside the safe zone.
It was already selfish of her country to set up this kind of deal with the White Imvubu in the first place. She and Van only wanted access to the Darkzone to find the Pit, but her country tasked them with something this taxing in return and even asked them to come with another team they barely know about.
Of course, she wasn't innocent of this as well. She was one of the people that pushed this scenario to happen because she wanted to confirm whether or not her parents really were dead… and now that they came to the intelligence that the monsters were docile, her hopes were slightly revived that they might be alive.
But then again, since the first Portal they have seen, Charlotte hasn't taken any action and was just relaxing and sipping her cold beverage. Perhaps it was better this way, Adia thought. At least this way, the people wouldn't say they were exploiting her… too much.
Adia could only let out a sigh as she smiled towards Charlotte. Charlotte, on the other hand, was slightly weirded out that Adia was smiling at her for no reason.
"Let's go!" With everyone back in their vehicles, the group once again made their way to their destination.
"Ms. Angela, are you… alright?"
Van has been noticing that something was amiss with Angela. With each passing hour, the expression on her face grew even more restless. She was now even biting her nails, making her look even more of a child than she already does.
"I'm fine, Mr. Evans," Angela only glanced at Van for a few seconds before returning back to biting her nails. Van, however, instead of leaning back on his seat, stood up and sat beside Angela.
"Is… something happening back in America?" Van asked.
"..." Angela quickly stopped biting her nails as her mouth was left open as she felt Van scooching beside her, "...Nothing you should worry about, boy. Everything is alright."
"You do not seem alright, Ms. Angela," Van persisted as his eyes did not leave Angela for even a second, "Even when the Academy almost found your collection of illegal creatures below our class' house, you didn't even flinch."
"It is nothing," Angela insisted, gesturing to Van to return to his side of the bench, "Why do you even still remember that anyway."
"Of course," Van let out a slight breath as he slightly looked down, his face carrying a little smile as the memory resurfaced in his mind. If Angela did not want to tell him anything, then that was that.
"Even if we only met once a week, each of your teachings was… very entertaining, Ms. Angela."
"...It's not supposed to be entertaining," Angela furrowed her eyebrows from Van's words, "Whose fault do you think it is that our lessons are a bit atypical? If only I could copy your Skills, I wouldn't have to put an effort to try to think of different scenarios. I don't think I even taught you anything well except with your language Skill."
"I miss it."
"Hm?" Angela quickly stopped babbling as she heard Van's words.
"Even if it was for a very short time… I missed the days of me and Harvey just fooling around the Academy. I even miss having a hard time trying to understand what the other instructors are teaching."
"..." Angela could only keep quiet. She felt a slight guilt in her heart as Van's words entered her ears because she, by herself, destroyed the Academy. She destroyed the very place that had Van's most cheerful memories. If truly, there was ever a chance to do everything again, then she would definitely do her best to allow Van to live the life he wanted.
"...I miss having you as my teacher, Ms. Elton."
"!!!"
Angela almost choked on her own saliva as soon as Van finished his sentence. She then looked at his face, only to see a slight smile on his face. "Uh…" Angela didn't know what to say to that, only letting out a single utter before looking to the floor of the truck. But after a few seconds, she let out a long and deep breath as she lightly punched Van's chest.
"D… don't mess around, brat," she then said, "...Even without the Academy, you're still my student."
"Hm," Van nodded before finally standing up to return to his seat. But before he could even take a single step, he noticed something. Charlotte was holding what seemed to be a small camera, and it was, without a doubt, pointed towards him and Angela.
As soon as Charlotte noticed Van was looking at her, she quickly turned the camera away; a single drop of sweat slowly started trailing across her cheek.
"Ah!" Angela quickly stood up from her seat, "Were you recording us just now!?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about, you midget," Charlotte's tone was almost monotonous.
"Erase that right now!"
"Stop bothering me, go away! Even if I erase this I still have the video of the two of you on the same bed."
"W… wait, what did you say!?"
"Nothing," once again, Charlotte turned her head even further to the side, as if trying to capture the lush nature that was around them with her new camera.
Adia, who was watching as the scene unfolds could not believe her eyes. To think that the White Imvubu had a side to her like this; she always saw her as this calm and benevolent god. It would seem that with her friends, she could let out a warm smile. She also learned another thing about her-- the White Imvubu sucks at lying.
Adia could not help but chuckle as she continued to watch the two bicker with each other. Van, on the other hand, could only let out a sigh. He could probably take the camera from Charlotte's hand and destroy it, but then there was also the chance that his hand might get crushed by her.
And then there was Kamia, who only glanced at the commotion before drowning herself with Crystals once more. Even after seconds had passed, Charlotte was still feigning ignorance, her camera stretched and pointed towards the moving scenery outside.
Angela tried to reach for it, of course, but she could not as Charlotte's other hand was blocking her whole face, preventing her from moving even further.
"W… wait, stop!" And then, all of a sudden, Charlotte shouted.
"What do you mean stop? Remove whatever it is that you have captured in that infernal invention!"
"No, stop the truck!"
As soon as Charlotte's words reached the driver's ears, he instantly stepped on the brakes, causing everyone to almost stumble, with Kamia completely sliding and rolling on the floor of the truck along with her Crystals.
"W… what now?" She muttered.
"...What is the matter, White Imvubu?" Adia quickly recovered herself as she approached Charlotte. Even Angela, whose face was currently being grabbed by Charlotte backed away as she saw the look on Charlotte's face. She was about to ask her the same question, but before she could do so, Charlotte jumped out of the truck.
She looked at the camera one last time before finally hiding it. "Something is shining there," Charlotte said as she pointed towards the collection of huge trees that were oddly clumped together.
"What?" Angela squinted her eyes as she was the 2nd one to jump off the truck.
Charlotte didn't wait for everyone to get out as she approached the giant trees, quickly pulling them from the roots and throwing them to the side.
"What… what are you doing, White Imvubu!?" Every tree that grew and is growing in Africa is protected by its government, and so Adia could not help but feel a little conflicted as she saw Charlotte casually pulling them out.
However, Charlotte did not need to answer her question, as the answer revealed itself to them. Hidden from the lush trees that seemed to be hugging each other, was a Rank F Portal.
A White Portal.