When Haze woke up the next morning, he washed his face and got dressed. He had hardly gotten dressed when Gatti knocked on his door and entered in.
His eyes swept over Haze and seeing that he was dressed, he nodded satisfactorily.
"Good morning Haze, the third quest will begin soon", He said. "You're closer more than ever".
I'm lucky to have survived this far, Haze thought. Don't put your hopes on me.
He stepped out after Gatti.
They got to the arena where the three contestants were waiting. Haze joined them in standing and soon, Hades stepped into the arena. His hair was longer than ever now and he had packed it into a ponytail, the breeze made his earrings dangle as he smirked and sat on his throne.
"Okay, ladies and gentlemen!", The referee shouted. "Now that the lord of the underworld is here, let the games begin!".
The crowds cheered loudly.
"This is the third and probably most dangerous quest", The ref continued.
"Two people will not make it back from this quest, in fact, everybody might now make it back from this quest".
The crowd were as silent as a graveyard as they listened eagerly to him.
"For this stage, the four contestants are mandated to split into two groups of two", He looked at the contestants.
"You heard me, pick one teammate each".
Haze looked between the muscular guy and the guy with half green hair, wondering which of them would make a better ally when the wide eyed girl stepped forward and stood by his side.
"Looks like we have our first team!", The ref announced. He looked at the other two guys. "That means you're together".
Haze looked at the girl furious. "Why'd you choose me!"
"I know it doesn't seem like it but I'm a very valuable teammate", The girl replied.
Haze scoffed.
"For this quest, the two teams will be taken to the edge of the Phytanic Forest, where they have to look for the emerald of Raito, The ref said. "The first team to bring it back, wins".
"See, I told you I'd be useful!", The girl said excitedly. "I'm good at treasure hunts".
Hades whispered something to Gatti who rushed down the stairs to meet the ref.
The two of them discussed intensely and eventually broke apart.
"I've just received news that there will be a slight change in proceedings", The ref announced.
"Instead of just one heir winning this entire tournament, we will now have two winners. This means whichever team wins this quest wins the entire tournament and will both be heirs".
There was collective murmuring among the crowd and contestants.
Haze looked at his new teammates, now that he didn't have to kill her eventually, he didn't mind having her, she had saved his life after all.
"What's your name?", He asked her.
"Qimona" she replied.
"Okay, Qimona", I'm Haze. He said.
The referee's voice cut their conversation off.
"Now that all has been settled, let the quest begin!".
Immediately the four contestants were transported to the edge of the forest.
[You have a new mission]
[Mission: Kill the spider-king]
[Reward: +10 Exp]
Haze looked at the screen in front of him, he immediately grabbed Qimona and ran into the forest.
They kept running till they put some distance between them and the other team, then Haze slowed to a stop.
"What was that for?", She asked, panting.
"Think about it, if they kill us now, then they won't have to worry about time expiring, they'll have all the time they want to find the emerald", Haze explained.
"Why didn't you kill them then since you thought about it first?", She asked him.
"Are you crazy?", Haze exclaimed. "Even if I could take one of them, which I probably can't, there's two of them. It would be a suicide mission".
"Oh, that's true", She agreed.
Haze paced around in a circle. "So how do we find this emerald? They gave us no instructions".
Qimona thought deeply for a second. "Usually in a treasure hunt, there's a bunch of clues leading to the treasure".
"So?"
"So we need to find those clues", She replied.
"How do we do that?", Haze wondered aloud.
"Well, since we weren't given any instructions, we can just start from the center of the forest", Qimona said.
"How are we going to find the center of this huge forest without a map?", Haze complained.
"Do you not know anything about exploring?", Qimona asked impatiently. "What's the time?"
"Uhm, I don't know, somewhere around noon", Haze replied.
"Exactly, so the sun is still starting out from the east. She pointed up the sun. We're facing the north right now, so if we keep walking in a straight line, we'll arrive roughly in the northeast direction".
"Why northeast?", Haze asked.
"Because the Phytanic Forest is oriented to the northeast, don't you read geography?", Qimona replied in a harsh voice.
"Not really", Haze admitted. "Let's start walking though, I'll trust your hunch".
They walked for over twenty minutes before they saw a scattering of light up ahead.
"We're almost there!", Qimona exclaimed and dragged Haze forward.
Soon they burst into an open clearing in the middle of the forest. Haze looked around the open space.
"I guess we're here", He said.
"Yes", she replied and started looking at the tree roots.
"What are you doing?", Haze asked.
"Looking for clues", She replied. She soon found a piece of paper that she held up for Haze.
He took it and read it out.
"Where the darkness is deepest and cold,
Seek out the glow, that never grows old.
A beacon in the black, a light in the night,
Follow its radiance, to claim your delight."
Haze wondered what the riddle meant, Qimona took the paper from him and read it again.
"Where darkness is deepest and cold, where could that be?", Haze muttered to himself, then it dawned on him.
"A cave!", He exclaimed. "The emerald is in a cave. But where is the cave?".
"At the other end of the forest", Qimona replied.
"Come let's go quickly!", Haze said and started running towards the cave, Qimona ran behind him.
By the time they reached the cave, Haze was out of breath and he felt a little dizzy. A look behind him told him Quimona felt the same way.
He started to enter the cave when he heard voices coming from within the cave, he froze. It had to be the other guys, they were the only humans in the forest.
How did they get here so fast? He thought. We figured out the clue so fast and we ran.
Haze looked at Qimona and whispered to her to follow him quietly.
They crept slowly till they reached the mouth of the cave, Haze peeped in and saw the two of them holding a chest, trying to pry it open.
He motioned for Qimona to stay where she was and slowly unsheathed his sword.
Their backs are turned to us, if I can creep up behind them quietly, I can stab the muscular guy first, then stab the other one too if I'm fast.
He paused. If im not fast enough and the green haired guy has time to fight me, Qimona can join in and it would be two versus one.
Haze felt slightly confident in those odds. He tiptoed to where the two guys stood unaware of him, they had managed to open the chest and wanted to touch the emerald.
Haze suddenly rushed forward and stabbed the muscular guy in the back, he plunged the sword deep till it came out the other end.
The green haired guy turned around very quickly but Haze pulled out the sword and stabbed him in the side too, he pushed it in deep till he felt the organs squish, then he pulled out his sword.
[1 Kill made]
[Reward: +2 status points]
[1 kill made]
[+2 status points]
So when I kill someone, I get 2 status points. Haze mused.
Qimona entered behind him and picked up the open chest, she held the chest while Haze pulled out the emerald.
As soon as Haze pulled out the emerald, the cave began to shake violently, the entrance of the cave collapsed, trapping them inside.
Qimona moved close to Haze for protection.
"What's going on?", She asked fearfully.
"I don't know", Haze replied, looking around frantically.
Then they heard a loud screeching noise and giant legs clattering on the cave floor.