No static. No follow-up.
Hannick didn't ask who said it. He didn't send anyone to check. He didn't need to.
He just nodded, slow, almost like he'd expected it, almost like he'd been waiting.
No one else spoke.
Above them, the main map flickered once. Briefly, the mana lines across the forest shifted slightly. They bent into new shapes. Calmer ones. Less erratic.
But not peaceful.
It wasn't the calm after a fight.
It was the stillness after something wakes up and decides not to move.
For now.
And inside the control tent, for the first time since the beast riot began… nobody gave orders. No new instructions. No calls for support.
Because they all knew what had changed.
The system flagged the blackout. It logged the fallen cultists. It tagged the beasts still wandering near the outer zones.
The students still needed help.
But nobody was really looking at the map anymore.
They were looking at the silence.
And deep in the middle of it… they waited.
Not for answers.
