Suri slowly reached for the hilt of his broadsword. He looked at Aeon as he would an enemy. After seeing Aeon wake up as if nothing happened, he had no more reason to believe that he was a normal person. Much less, a normal human being. "Tell me, do you know about greater demonic beasts?"
Seeing Suri's actions, the smile on Aeon's face disappeared. He immediately understood what Suri was implying. "Greater demonic beasts. They are creatures who, like mages, practice magic and could assume human forms."
The broadsword Suri held started to glow bright red. He had started casting his magic earlier while Aeon was speaking. He moved between Aeon and Korona before responding, "Right. And they have extremely tough bodies and excellent recovery, unlike us, humans."
"I know where you're going with this. But I am absolutely, one-hundred percent, made of human meat," Aeon said while flexing his left biceps. He was back to his usual self. He knew that Suri's theory was plausible, but he knew his origin better. He never recalled roaming around a forest consuming other magical beasts to evolve and get stronger.
"Besides," Aeon shrugged and continued, "if I really were one, what would I get from mingling with humans? Shouldn't you all be food for me? Let me tell you something, demonic beasts who could turn into humans are very strong. It shouldn't have any problems eating everybody in this forest."
Aeon started stretching. He was still puzzled by the fact that his injuries had all disappeared. But for him who escaped death, he couldn't care less. As long as he was still alive, that was fine by him. He should not worry about all those unnecessary details. He dropped to the ground and started doing push-ups.
Seeing this, Suri's jaw dropped. His tensed shoulders eased up.
What is this musclehead doing? Is he seriously doing push-ups at this moment?
Suri fumed with anger, "Can't you see the situation you're in?"
Aeon stopped and looked up, "Dude, demonic beast or not, you're no threat to me. No offense though. I know you're really strong."
He resumed working out.
Looking at Aeon doing push-ups, Suri started to believe that his idea really was incredulous. How could this guy possibly be a demonic beast? It does make sense that if Aeon really were a demonic beast, Suri wouldn't be breathing or thinking right now. Aeon may be a lunatic, but he shouldn't be a demonic beast. However, that still doesn't explain how Aeon was able to survive such a high fall without taking any damage.
"I'll be reporting this to the administrators," Suri said. He looked at Aeon expecting him to make any reactions.
Aeon was about to respond when he and Suri heard someone moan. The two immediately looked over at Korona. She was starting to wake up. Then, the two's gaze met once more and they shot each other knowing looks. They would drop the matter and talk about it after they finished the test.
Korona woke up. Just like Aeon, she surveyed the surroundings like a madman before sighing with relief. When her gaze fell on Suri, she quickly got up and patted her clothes to rid them of dust.
"You're awake," Suri said softly. He did not know why but he was really happy. Ultimately, he blamed it on their team being fully functional now after Korona woke up.
Hearing the relief in Suri's voice, Korona smiled. It's nice having someone who worries about her, she thought. "Yep! Strangely, I don't feel tired at all. How long have I been asleep?"
Suri thought for a while before responding, "About sixteen hours."
Korona was shocked.
"That long? What about the flag? Did we get it?" She sounded really happy. It was rare for her to contribute to something grand.
"Yes, we did."
"That's great!" Korona exclaimed, "where is it now? Can I see it?"
"About that…"
A voice came from the ground on Korona's left side. It was Aeon, and he was still doing push-ups, "I kind of...lost it. My bad."
Aeon laughed, but after realizing that it wasn't a good time to be laughing. He stopped and made a sad look. It looked very stupid, and anyone could tell that it was fake.
Korona looked at Aeon for a good five seconds. Just starting at him while he did a couple of push-ups. Then, she shot a "what is he doing?" look at Suri. Suri shrugged in response.
With this outcome, basically, the hard work Korona put in was lost. She even placed herself in a risk of her magic backfiring. However, she wasn't depressed. She now held a new found confidence in her. She was dependable now. What she was wondering about now was the lack of pressure and sense of urgency that her two other teammates displayed. It seemed like the other two had no plans on passing the test.
"Uh…" Korona broke the silence, "shouldn't we be looking for another flag?"
Hearing this, Suri finally remembered that they were still taking the test. He was thinking too much about high demonic beasts and about Aeon's supernatural body of steel that he completely forgot about the time limit. They only had a little more than three hours now.
"You're right. But you should get something to eat first," Suri rummaged through his backpack to take some dry rations and handed them over to Korona.
After seeing the food, Korona had realized that she was famished. She gladly took the food Suri handed over and started eating.
Also being reminded about their urgent situation, Aeon stopped doing his push-ups. While patting his pants, he said, "Let's plan while Korona eats."
The test still wasn't over.
Suri nodded and grabbed the map out of his pocket. He silently took it from Aeon's pocket earlier while he was unconscious to see if he could find someplace safe. Although Suri was still wary about Aeon, he still walked towards him and asked him for his opinion on where teams would be camping while waiting for the test to be over based on the map's terrain. Having seen the map earlier, he already had plans. He was now confirming if his thoughts were correct.
Suri pointed a spot in the map that indicated where they were, currently, that was just slightly above the lower-left corner of the map.
The two discussed for a good 20 minutes before agreeing on something. It was not enough time to formulate an elaborate plan so they could only come up with a direction. Having no other choice, they decided they would brute force their way through the exam. It seems like the traditional way is the only solution.
After discussing, the three-headed deeper south, towards the corner of the map. It was the best choice for them because, along the way, there were three potentially good camping spots. If there are no teams in these three spots, they would continue east towards three more potential camping spots. They had just enough time to survey all six spots in less than three hours if they ran.
They rushed at a controlled speed in order to conserve energy and stamina. Of course, the best scenario was to meet the enemies sooner. With this, they could save as much energy as they could, and spend as much energy as they could for the battle.
The first spot was quite close to them so they arrived in a short amount of time. Unfortunately, there were no teams in sight. Without dallying, the team pressed south. Judging by their expressions, none of them were discouraged.
The second spot was also clear. However, it did give them some hope. There were signs of people fighting. Some parts of the ground were sticking out, and some parts were wet, despite the lack of nearby lakes or rivers, and some were scorched black.
Based on the surroundings, the team on the run was probably not fighting back. They must have been greatly weakened and were just camping at the second spot. Unfortunately, someone got to them first. They rushed faster, following the tracks of the two other teams. Luckily, it still followed their original route.
When they finally arrived at the third spot, they were finally able to see some people. However, they were all lying on the ground.
It must have been the team that was being pursued.
Aeon kept track of time. There were only an hour and a half left. They had to find the team that got the flag. It was their biggest shot to pass the exam. The three rushed out once more, following the other team's tracks.
From a distance, Aeon could make out a few people running. They were running straight and were not taking precautionary measures against pursuers, so they probably have not noticed that another team was right behind them.
Aeon looked back towards the two people running behind him. They showed no signs of being tired and were extremely focused.
Judging from the path they were heading, there would be a small hill up ahead. If the enemy team got there, it would be the end of them. They would surely lose from the terrain advantage. Getting bombarded by spells while climbing the hill and defending is definitely not a good scenario.
While running, the three decided to gamble on something.
They had to close the distance between their team and the enemies. But how?
Aeon!
They decided that Aeon would break through the enemy ranks using his top speed, and slow them down. Through this, Suri and Korona would be able to catch up after some time. But there was one problem. Aeon had to survive and not get subdued while the two were still catching up.
Despite this problem, Aeon did not disagree at all! He was up for the challenge!
He rubbed his hands before swerving to the left. He was confident that he was able to catch up even when he used a roundabout path. He also had to do that to avoid immediately alerting the enemies.
The pursuit had only just begun.
….