The adventurers spent one day in the forest and now had two more days to go. They had no sense of time because of the lack of day and night time in the artificial space. All they could rely on were their watches.
Aline waved the boys off as they made their way to get food ingredients. "I'll be counting on you guys."
"Please don't get any more lizards," Luna shouted.
They just waved, moving deep into the forest.
Aline turned to Luna. "I need to pee, can you watch over the flag?"
Luna beat her chest, a large grin on her lips. "Don't worry, I'll protect it with my very being."
Aline smiled, waving as she left. Luna exhaled, holding their five flags to her chest. But what poor Luna didn't know was that people in the darkness had been given a chance to strike.
...
Paolo and Shinzo dragged their feet with a basket of small fish, Octavius marching forward with his huge fish, grinning.
"I won," he sang.
"How is he so short and strong," Shinzo mumbled. "This isn't fair at all."
Octavius laughed. "I'm just that amazing."
"Captain!"
The three stopped, Aline running into Paolo. Paolo frowned at the way her shoulders heaved fast.
"Aline what's-?"
She clutched his shirt, water falling from her eyes. "Luna is badly hurt…I-I don't know what happened. I left to pee and came back and she was…"
Paolo grabbed Aline's shoulder, looking her straight in the eyes. "Don't panic, just take me to her."
She gulped, nodding slowly as she cleaned the tears in her eyes. She led them back to the cave, the sight in front of them one of great discomfort.
Luna lay on the ground, blood pooling from her hair and stomach. Her eyes were bloodshot and blood spurt from her lips as she coughed. The four flags they retrieved along with their own flag was nowhere to be seen and part of the cave had been destroyed.
Paolo knelt in front of Luna, cradling her in his arms. "Who did this?"
She coughed, blood bubbling from her lips. "T-they said they were the Sandstorm Adventurers…" she coughed again, her vision blurring. "I tried to protect the flag…but they were too much."
"Where did they go?"
She pointed to the left side of the forest, coughing. "I-I sent my broom to pinpoint their location."
Paolo lay her back carefully, rising to his feet. "Aline take care of Luna."
Aline grabbed his sleeve as he took a step to move. "Let me get revenge on those bastards." Her gray eyes threatened destruction. "I won't forgive them for this."
Paolo shook his head. "We need you to take care of Luna." He turned to her, his eyes burning with rage. "I'll take on both our anger."
She let go of his sleeve. "Thank you, captain."
He played with the cross round his neck his back facing the two girls. "Just you wait…Luna, your captain will avenge you."
Tears streamed down her face, mixing with the blood. "I'm sorry…captain."
"Octavius, Shinzo."
At the sound of their captain's voice, Octavius pulled out a lollipop from his pocket, removing the wrapper and popping it in his mouth while Shinzo tied his hair into a pony tail.
Paolo flexed his fingers, heading in the direction of the Sandstorm Adventurers. "We're going to kill them all."
...
The members of the Sandstorm Adventurers celebrated their victory in a large open space, laughing and drinking alcohol.
"Who knew our targets would be the rookies, that was so easy," one of them said, laughing.
"Those kids didn't see it coming, did they?"
Unbeknownst to the happy adventurers, Paolo, Shinzo and Octavius drew near their spot, footsteps heavy with vengeance. One of the members stood up laughing, but came face to face with the three of them.
"You guys are the Sandstorm Adventurers…right?" Paolo asked, not looking him in the eyes.
He frowned. "Yes, so-"
Paolo's fists connected with his face, the eyes of other members widening as their mate crashed to the ground.
"It's them, the rookies," one of them mumbled.
Another stood up from where he sat on the ground laughing. "They must have come for their flags, look how many of us you're up against. There is no way you can defeat us."
Another one laughed. "Since he is that girl's captain, he must be really weak. You should have seen the way she struggled to get back the map, trying and trying to take it away. Of course we couldn't let her take it." He grinned crudely. "Our master landed the final blow, leaving you dear friend to die. How does it feel knowing you are too weak to protect a member of your crew?"
They all joined him to laugh, the noise clawing away at Paolo's ears.
The one that taunted Paolo moved up to him. "Try and hit me if you can, tiny."
Paolo relaxed the muscles in his neck by pressing them in with his fingers then crossed his arms,
"There's no way he can beat him, he's our strongest fighter after the captain," one commented.
Paolo clenched his fists then punched him in the stomach. Paolo punched so hard, his fists went through the adventurer's body and poked out of his back. All mouths dropped as Paolo pulled out his bloody hand, blood splashing on his face. His blank eyes watched the adventurer slump to the ground, eyes rolling to the back of his head.
"H-he killed out strongest member with just a punch," one person mumbled.
One of them gritted their teeth. "Don't be afraid of them, they're just rookies."
Ten of them charged towards Paolo, but Shinzo ended up behind them, using his fingers to puncture their necks. They fell to the ground, Shinzo standing in the middle.
He rolled his shoulder to the back, yellow glowing eyes glaring down at them. "Who's next?"
"T-these guys are in another league of their own. We have to get out of here."
They screamed, trying to run away, but Octavius jumped in the air and slicing at their necks. The others still alive watched in horror as the heads of their fellow members dropped to the ground, one of the heads rolling in front of one of the members. His body froze, unable to accept the gory sight in front of him.
Octavius' now glowing blue eyes, stared deep into his soul. "There's no use running. You are already dead."
"P-please wait, if it's the flags you want you can have it back. Our master isn't here but she'll understand if we hand it over to you. So you can stop-"
Paolo grabbed his neck, crushing his bones instantly. The body dropped to the ground and the members let out strangled cries.
"That's not what this is about," Octavius said, throwing the stick of his lollipop to the ground.
Shinzo cracked his knuckles. "That's right…it's too late for apologies."
Paolo flexed his fingers, glaring at them. "Just be prepared to die."
The three charged towards the Sandstorm Adventurers and through a series of punches and slices, they had completely annihilated the whole crew. Paolo sat on one of the bodies he had defeated. "Hey you, I have a message for you to pass on before you die."
Octavius and Shinzo waited for him to pass on the message then he moved towards them.
"Should we head back?" Octavius asked.
Paolo shook his head, cleaning the blood on his cheeks. "I think we've been too nice…I think it's time we left a mark and showed these people that it's not right to mess with us."
...
A woman with light brown hair in a bun stared at the defeated Sandstorm Adventurers. She couldn't move, lips thinned at the sight displayed to her.
"M-master Ariel."
She looked to the ground at one of her members. "Who did this?"
"T-the rookies who we took the flags from came back and took all the flags. H-he left a message."
She frowned. "What is it?"
He coughed before speaking, the air tensing. "N-no matter where you are and how long, he w-will find you and murder you…"
After finishing his role, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he went into a peaceful slumber.
She gritted her teeth, her skin turning red. "Damn you, Paolo G. Rigards."
....
It was the morning of the third day, the Sloth Adventurers, Blue Dawn Adventurers, Harris Adventurers and Ariel the only adventurers out of the forest.
Lamia frowned at the scarcity of people, this is less than half of the people that came here.
"That idiot isn't out," Luca mumbled.
"Do you think something happened?" Hyder asked.
Alston laughed. "Maybe he got killed."
Lamia sighed. "Since you guys are the only ones. I'll…" she trailed off as Aline came out, holding up an injured Luna. "Where are the rest of your teammates? I'll have to fail you if you don't come with your flags."
"They'll be here, just wait a few minutes," Aline mumbled.
"But we have to-"
Aline glared at her. "I said…they'll be here."
Cold air rushed into the room and Lamia sighed. "Fine, we'll wait five minutes tops."
"I wonder what happened." William mumbled. "They don't look as lively as they usually do."
Luna's eyes met Ariel who glared at her.
"Is that her?" Aline whispered.
Luna nodded. "Let's not engage her and wait for Paolo and the rest to come."
Aline gritted her teeth, those morons have been gone since last night. They better make it out okay.
The sound of footsteps had everyone looking towards the door, Shinzo and Octavius standing in front of the door, lips set in a firm line.
Eyes widened as Paolo stepped out dropping more than thirty flags to the ground.
Luca couldn't move,
…he took out the remaining examinees, Hyder thought.
"At the beginning of this exam there were fifty adventuring groups and out of those fifty I took down thirty five teams last night."
Paolo stared Lamia dead in the eyes his next words making the three rookie captains smile. "Tell anyone who needs to know that the Cross Heart Adventurers are here to stay and if they mess with us…they're dead."