God of Souls: Attaining the Strongest System in an Apocalyptic World
Chapter 30: Black Portal

Chapter 30: Black Portal

Now that the issue of the portal was resolved, Class B had been left under Dorothy’s supervision since she had chosen a much stronger class according to the school statistics and believed she could protect them singlehandedly.

Meanwhile, Leonard and Alistair had taken up the mantle of being the guides for Class A.

Kael watched from the midst of the Class A students as Alistair and Leonard came to address them.

Alistair was the one to speak, guessing Leonard was a man of fewer words when it came to situations like this:

"I am Alistair, or you might know me as your school nurse. Leonard and I will be your guides during this test, and we would like to brief you on some final details before we enter the portal."

The students nodded, though some began to murmur. Alistair, however, did not seem to care and continued at her own pace.

"While entering the portal, you should all hold hands tightly because if there is a break in the connection between the group, there is a very high probability we will get separated. While some might appear at the exact location specified by the academy, others could end up in beasts’ territory and die. To avoid a mass disaster, please adhere to these rules."

With that done and out of the way, Alistair proceeded to instruct the students to line up in a straight line while holding hands firmly.

"Make sure you have a good grip on each other!"

Meanwhile:

Kael, not knowing how to react to lining up, had been pushed to the back of the line and away from Jeremy. Mainly because he was a Grade One student, and the higher Grades simply stepped in front of him, forcing him to retreat. Kael decided not to start any fights during class.

At least as he was being pushed back, he met Cole, who stood in front of him now, holding his hand firmly. Behind them were three other boys he did not recognize—two Grade Twos and a Grade Three.

"Sorry you got pushed back in the line. It happens to those who are weaker," Cole said with a saddened tone. But when he looked into Kael’s face, he was shocked by his expression.

Kael was smiling.

"Why—what are you so excited for?"

"I... I think this is a great time to get stronger. And come to think of it, this is the partnership you wanted yesterday, so we should just assume things are on your side."

The smile was intoxicating, but Cole was instantly pulled back to reality as the line began to move forward.

At the front of the line, Leonard stood just before the portal.

"Hold yourself for ten seconds inside the portal for it to send you to the exact location," Leonard said, leaving them with his final words before entering the portal.

The line followed right after, trying to avoid a rush while also trying to keep up.

Kael was puzzled by how the portal could accommodate everyone entering it. It looked too small for their numbers, yet it managed to take them all in.

When it was Kael’s turn, he followed right behind Cole into the portal. Once inside, he was shocked by what he saw—his surroundings looked like a star-filled void, and the air felt cold yet refreshing. The mesmerizing sight captivated Kael, but little did he know...

Cole was already losing his grip on the person ahead of him, though this proved difficult as the student he held had a near-iron grip on him.

At first, Cole gave gentle jerks, which the boy holding him did not find unusual. However, the jerks soon became harder and more frantic.

The boy turned his head, an infuriated look on his face. "Are you—"

The student did not have time to finish his sentence as the desperate Cole lunged forward and headbutted him across the forehead.

This caused the student to release Cole, who also lost hold of the person he had been holding. As the boy instinctively grabbed his head in pain, he faded from the starry world—not just him, but Cole, Kael, and the higher Grade student connected to them as well.

Kael barely noticed what was happening until it was too late. He and the others had already vanished from the starry dimension.

Meanwhile:

The portal slowly closed as all the other students and Dorothy exited into a new vicinity resembling an uncharted world.

The trees around them were crooked, dark, and lifeless. The ground looked as though it hadn’t seen rain for decades, cracked and dry under an unbearable heat that made everyone sweat profusely.

The heat made Dorothy regret the excessive Soul Gear she had packed. She preferred being overprepared, but now she was beginning to reconsider.

"Okay, we’ll set camp here," Dorothy yelled out, loud enough for the entire class to hear. The students began gathering around her.

"The first thing we do is take up a Soul Watch and turn it on," she instructed, demonstrating by pulling a shiny metallic watch from her backpack, which she had handed to a student earlier to carry. She strapped the watch to her wrist and typed a few codes to activate it.

Once set up, the watch displayed a green light.

"This is a field watch that can sense Soul Beasts within a fifty-meter radius. While it cannot tell the abilities of the beasts, it can indicate their rank: Advanced, Intermediate, Minor—"

Ding!

The watch beeped red, cutting Dorothy off mid-sentence. Her expression froze.

"What was that? Did I just hear something?"

Ding!

The sound came again, several consecutive times.

The students barely understood what was happening and merely stared as Dorothy’s face grew pale with terror.

Every red beep on the scanner indicated an Advanced-tier Soul Beast approaching. But this wasn’t just one or two. The beeping had gone off more than eight times.

It could only mean one thing—a horde of Advanced-tier Soul Beasts was headed straight for them.

The ground began to tremble beneath their feet as if thunder was roaring closer with each passing second.

A realization struck Dorothy like lightning.

This wasn’t just a red portal, though it had appeared that way.

This was a Dark Portal.

And those who entered Dark Portals were rumored to never return alive.