The Rebirth of Evelyn Knox

Although she had already seen Riley's stats and didn't consider him a real threat, Evelyn still wouldn't allow him to just slam into her. Moreover, he seemed to be concealing something behind his back, and she didn't dare to be careless.     

With a speed that made Riley's mind boggle for a moment, the pink-haired girl leaped out of the way right as he was about to smash into her, causing his 'attack' to land on Mirah instead.     

The girl cried out in pain and shock, though Riley's charge did manage to push her out of the way of the beast, who then went on to gore the ranger he had been originally aiming for, tearing right through the hastily made golden tortoise shield that appeared in the way.     

Of course, if Mirah had been its original target, she would never have survived. After all, though the ranger had tried to move out of the beast's way, the beast adjusted its direction accordingly, leading to the unavoidable tragic outcome.     

"Keep attacking!"     

The loss of one more lower-level ranger wouldn't change much, and with the way the battle was going, the beast had already been injured considerably, and their victory was halfway through. But the moment Riley had smashed into Mirah, something seemed to suddenly change.     

Evelyn had already used her probe skill on what was apparently a broken egg that Riley had ended up slamming on Mirah, and the results were as expected.     

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[ Stone Rhino Albumen ]      

—A substance found inside stone rhino's eggs.     

—Consumption can lead to slight petrification of certain organs if vitality is less than 100 points.     

—Restores 5 spirit power when fully consumed raw.     

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It was an unremarkable little thing on its own, but when combined with the rampaging rhino, Evelyn could more or less guess what was going on.     

'Assuming that beast is the stone rhino, and this was its eggs… they planned to smear me with its juice so the rhino focuses on me, right?'     

It wasn't exactly a bad plan, and she had to admit that Riley executed it almost flawlessly if not for underestimating her reflexes and speed. He didn't even take the egg out of his storage treasure until the last moment, even though he had no idea she could use the probe skill to detect it.     

Unfortunately, although they had failed to put the blame for killing the beast's unborn child on her, that didn't mean the stone rhino would just leave.     

As if it had finally sensed what it was looking for, the beast completely ignored the ranger's attacks as it turned its furious gaze towards Mirah, not caring about the damage at all. But the moment its eyes landed on what remained of its egg…      

A beastly roar of rage and fury shook the group as even Noah stumbled back in shock. "N-No, don't tell me…"     

Unlike humans, who could smoothly progress through milestones and increase their strength, some beasts had to undergo a process called 'evolution' to be able to move past certain levels.     

For example… a stone rhino could only get to level 69, and to break through into level 70, it first had to evolve into a mountain rhino.     

Generally, such evolutions happened when the beast stumbled into a treasure that could pump them with tremendous amounts of energy… or when they entered an enraged or desperate state.     

This was… a ranger's worst nightmare.     

To take down a stone rhino that was at the peak of level sixty-nine… Noah's team could definitely do it after enduring several casualties.     

But if it evolved into a mountain rhino over level seventy…     

They could all die.     

Ranger Noah lost composture for the first time since the fight started. "KILL IT BEFORE IT EVOLVES! KILL IT!"      

Of course, the rangers had already been pelting the beast down with all their might, since they hadn't been eager to lose comrades even before, and their desperation now only marginally increased the attack's intensity.     

Needless to say, they failed to kill it before its stony skin thickened by another layer, and it expanded in size to almost three times what it was before, now truly towering over them with a height of almost six meters.     

Not to mention the rangers, Mirah, or Riley, even Evelyn felt some dread while looking at the beast. 'S-Should I call her over now?'     

Since the plot had already been revealed, and Evelyn didn't want to risk being gored to death by the rampaging beast, she decided to send the signal to Aurora right away.      

Although the beast's eyes now seemed locked onto Mirah, Evelyn didn't think it would just walk away peacefully after killing that girl.     

"RETREAT! STUDENTS FOLLOW THE RANGERS! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"     

But even as Noah gave his order, the mountain rhino had already charged at Mirah, who screamed desperately and tried to run away.     

"RILEY HELP M—"     

Her plea was cut short as she was crushed to death under the mountain rhino's foot, but the beast still seemed dissatisfied, and continued to stomp on the remains multiple times before turning its eyes to the boy who had the remaining scent of its egg.     

Evelyn couldn't help but sigh in regret. She knew that Aurora must have been slightly late, or she wouldn't have let it happen. Mirah might have been annoying, but she didn't deserve to die here. 'Well, that's assuming she wasn't in on the plot…'     

Meanwhile, Riley had already begun running away the moment he realized he might be facing certain death, but unfortunately, it was still too late to escape the mountain rhino with his speed.     

At this moment, a transparent shield formed in front of the boy, causing the mountain rhino to painfully slam into it with an enraged roar.     

Riley collapsed on the ground, looking at his savior blankly before a grin lit up his face. "P-Professor Donna!"     

The dark-haired lady sighed. 'Although I knew they might fuck something up despite all our preparations, and I had to come in person… it's still disgusting to see it happen.'     

The difference between the mountain rhino and professor Donna might not be wide enough for her to instantly crush it, but it was easy enough for her to form a cage of spirit power around the beast, effectively rendering it immobile for as long as she wished.     

Since the mountain rhino's greatest attribute was its defense, killing it would be a tedious and taxing task for someone like her, but… that's not what she was here to do anyway.     

"Get up, boy. Tell me, what happened here?"     

The rangers and other students had also stopped escaping when they saw someone higher level had come to their rescue, and Noah stepped forward at this moment, thinking that the boy may be too traumatized to speak properly.     

"Professor, thank you for the rescue. Actually, we—"     

"SHUT UP! Did I ask you? Go stand in a corner."     

Ranger Noah was stunned, and could only step back in silence.     

The dark haired lady nodded. "Now, boy, tell me what happened here?"     

Riley shakily got up, knowing exactly what he had to do now. "P-Professor, we were all exploring the forest to gain experience, but that beast suddenly attacked us, and just when we were about to secure a victory, it evolved! At first, I thought it was just our bad luck, but—"     

Donna raised a brow in surprise. "Hoh, you mean this is no coincidence?"     

Riley shivered, as if just recalling the previous scene horrified him. "N-No, professor, I-I saw that girl smash an egg on Mirah right before the beast went into a rage! I'm sure it was the beast's egg!"     

"Hoh?"     

"Yes, professor, I saw how it went into a rage right after the egg was smashed, and then the first person it targeted was Mirah, because she covered in the remains of its egg!"     

Evelyn, who had been pointed out by Riley, remained cold-faced in front of his accusations, and let them play out the 'show'.     

Donna smirked, knowing that the girl was too used to getting her way, and wondered what her expression would look like when she realized what true despair really was. "Hey, girl, you're also from my academy, are you not? To dare plot against a fellow student and cause her death… No, she was not the only one who died, was she? What do you have to say for yourself?"     

Evelyn knew that talking to her was useless. In any case, she had already called Aurora over, and she was sure that the platinum blonde must be watching the show as well.     

It was fine to let the monkeys jump around a little, she could also enjoy a good show.     

Seeing her remain silent, Donna frowned, and several students started murmuring among themselves as the rangers looked at each other in confusion.     

"P-Professor, I also saw them having an argument, m-maybe they didn't like each other, so…"     

Once these words were put forth, several other students supported the idea, admitting to having heard Mirah taunt Evelyn in their discord regarding Riley.     

Riley looked devastated. "Oh, my poor Mirah…"     

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~ To be continued ~     

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