My SSS-Rank Class Is Blood Monarch!

A voice penetrated through the silence, catching everyone's attention. They looked up only to see Elise's energetic expression as she stopped in front of the table. She looked rather perturbed for some reason but she was hiding it all behind her usual smile.

"Hi," Emmy replied out of courtesy.

"Mm, I'm sorry for disturbing your lunch, I was looking for Arthur around and they told me that he didn't attend school today either. Is he ok?" She asked curiously. This was the second day she learned that Arthur didn't attend and that raised several alarms in her head.

At first, she assumed he was sick or perhaps had some kind of matter to deal with, but two days was far from normal especially knowing how important it is to attend class. They were not that far away from their next test and not being present would cause a huge gap.

So, Elise didn't hesitate to immediately find Isla and the others to ask them since they were the closest people to Arthur out of everyone in the academy.

"..."

Immediately, the same gloomy atmosphere took over the table upon hearing Arthur's name. Nobody could really reply to Elise.

"Huh?" The girl didn't take long to realize the weird shift. "Is everything ok?"

"..."

A rather uncomfortable feeling started welling up in her heart. All the signs told her that something bad must've happened. It was clear in their faces and she could read it.

"Can I plea-"

"He is stuck," Isla spoke coldly. "He has been in the game for the past two and a half days and didn't log out yet."

"... What? S-Stuck? How could he be stuck? He can just log out." Elise's heart started beating fast, feeling a very cold sensation run through her spine.

"Certain areas of the game stop that function," Isla replied coldly. That entire time, she didn't look at Elise as she kept staring at her own food, just moving her spoon gently. "He is still stuck in one of those areas."

"Oh my god…" Putting her hand on her mouth. "W-Will he be fine? C-Can he find a way out of there?"

"I don't know. There are too many variables to determine where he is or if he can leave or not."

"... Can I help in any way? I mean, if I can…"

"There is nothing you can do, Elise," Emmy replied in a gentle tone, trying to calm the girl down. "We are all very worried about Arthur but we also trust that he will be fine and come out safely."

"We have already tried asking the academy to open the door for us so we can talk to him but they refuse without his consent and without a certain time limit passing beforehand."

"That is such a dumb rule! What if he was suffering from a health problem?!"

"..."

"Nothing we can do about it…"

The dangers of such a rule were clear to any person and it raised several questions on why it even existed in the first place. However, nobody could truly make the academy change their mind.

"..." Elise looked down as she closed her eyes. Her heart was racing and her mind was filled with chaotic thoughts. A thousand possibilities rose in her head and she didn't know what to do about it.

'Arthur could be in serious danger… What can I do?' She asked herself. 'Think… Think, Elise…'

A few seconds passed before her eyes suddenly opened wide as if she had remembered something really important.

"Miss Isla… Can I talk to you for a moment in private?"

"Hm?" The girl looked up.

"It's urgent."

Isla looked into the girl's eyes for a good few seconds as if she was trying to read her and then nodded faintly and stood up.

"Wait here, I will be back in a moment."

The two then walked a good distance away from the group where nobody could hear them and stopped.

"So, what do you need?"

"Do you want to check on Arthur?" She asked in a whisper.

"What?"

"Please don't speak too loudly, they could be listening to us. I'm saying, if you want, I think I know a way to infiltrate the Boys' Dormitory and get into his room."

"..." Isla blinked a few times. "How?"

"I heard some of my friends talk about a loophole in security. We can use that to get into the Boys Dormitory at night and then… I don't know how we will access Arthur's roo-"

As Elise was speaking, Isla's mind started thinking immediately, creating a plan in her head.

"Wait, are you saying that you can get me to his room without anyone realizing?"

"I-I think so. But, we need to someho-"

"Through the windows… I can get inside through one of the windows." Isla replied. "What are the chances of us getting caught?"

"Well, from what I heard, the girls used that loophole to sneak into their… Boyfriends' rooms so I assume it's pretty safe. So, what do you think?" She asked. "However, I don't know if the entire group can sneak in. At most… It's two people."

"Only two?" Isla muttered. 'Then that means I can only go. I can see why, the more people there, the riskier it becomes.'

Isla knew that if they were to get caught they would be penalized and punished but she didn't really care. As long as she can see Arthur then nothing else mattered to her.

"I'm in." She replied. "If you can lead me to Arthur then I will be very grateful."

"Ok… Ok, then we will meet tonight at 9 pm near the gates. I need to confirm where we're supposed to go first. So, I'm going to excuse myself. Oh, can I get your contact information?"

Putting her device forward, Isla stared at it for a moment before she nodded and pulled hers. Quickly, the two exchanged contacts and separated.

'That girl…' Isla frowned. 'She had found a way to get to Arthur when I couldn't…' She clenched her fists slightly as the idea left a very bitter taste in her mouth that she couldn't get rid of no matter how much she tried.

Being handed this idea made her realize that she perhaps didn't try hard enough. Perhaps if she had focused on trying to find a loophole, she could've figured out that there was a way to access the Boys' Dormitory for her.

'There is no time to think about that now. I need to get to Arthur.' She thought to herself. 'If I remember correctly, there is a way to forcefully make someone log out of the game wired into the capsule itself. I need to look into the manual again to make sure.'

"Wait for me, Arthur. I will get you out of there." Isla muttered as she walked back to her friends. A glimpse of hope had appeared in the dark tunnel she was moving through and it gave her a new desire to try. Just imagining the thought of seeing Arthur again gave her a strong sense of excitement she hadn't experienced in a while.

It was all… Very good.

A//N: Thank you all for the gifts, golden tickets, and PS. Let's keep it up!