The lecturers and the other students continued to walk up the pathway with their eyes on alert, observing. There was a noticeable look of exhaustion on the faces of most of the students, but no one dared to protest.
They had to find the missing students because they knew that their mission test would be ruined if it turned out that they were dead. When the waves of exhaustion came, the fear of Seven and Rolanda being abducted or killed gave them some strength. Strengths that they couldn't describe, but it kept pushing them forward.
Ah, no one wanted their first mission test to be a nightmare.
After a while, they got to a point where the pathway was split in two. The one way was now two, just about a kilometer before the colossal mountain.
"Stop!" The middle-aged man ordered the group to stop the moment they approached the junction.
"Blood," he sniffed and added.
"Blood?"
"Huh?"
"The heck is that?"
Murmurs vibrated from behind.
"Drops of blood in the left pathway. I guess something is wrong. They might have been attacked by some enemy races," the middle-aged man spoke with a hint of both fear and frustration on his face.
For the first time, the students actually noticed Alister Edin being so nervous.
"What do we do now? I'm at the risk of losing my job if we don't find them. We have to act fast," Miss Brie's worry had leveled up.
"We should go through this path; I believe we will find them through this way," Alister, the middle-aged man, said with a slight look of disbelief.
Although he understood that the drops of blood that progressed through the path at the left must be suspicious, that doesn't guarantee the possibility of finding Seven and Rolanda.
But the probability of finding them through this way was higher than the right wayside, he believed.
Although the group was short of an idea, they decided to agree with the leader's option and follow the path that went west. The students had come to discover how dangerous Sagemount could be...
The fact that Sagemount was ranked as the smallest and least dangerous Vessel territory made them even more astonished. They only wondered how dangerous other Vessel territories could be in fear... No one hoped to visit such a place one day... Or even if they have to, then not soon.
.....
Derek was patient as he watched the students follow the lecturers through the left pathway. He had been waiting for the right time to make a move, and it appears that this was just the very right time.
Thanks to the fact that he was the last person in the walking queue...
He was going to escape as well!
Derek believed that Seven and Rolanda had evaded the camp to enter the inner territories of Sagemount. Now this was the truth:
When Lecturer Alister asked everyone to go into their tent, Derek decided to pee before going to have a good time with his girlfriend, who would be spending the night in the same tent as him (you know?).
Seven and Rolanda's tent accidentally appeared to be close to a small bush at the side, and surprisingly, he overheard their conversation while he was on his way back to his tent.
The lecturers and his course-mates had refused to believe him, so he had planned to fix this himself. Literally, Derek was also an ambitious youngster and had also been deeply interested in getting that Kong.
Now that Seven was gradually getting away with his mission, he wouldn't stay back and watch. If it should happen that way, then he would have to vanquish the Kong, not Seven doing it.
Although having to confront a Kong and defeating it was almost like a death mission, Derek was ready to face his fears. After all, being a Vanquisher is all about sacrifices.
When the group headed west, Derek quickly sneaked through the opposing path and vanished.
No one could even notice his disappearance, as they were deeply lost in thoughts of fear and worry.
It was only going to be unfortunate when they discovered that Derek Skyshard was missing, too.
...
Seven and his friend had been ascending the colossal mountain for almost an hour, and they hadn't taken a slight moment to rest.
At this point, they had almost reached the peak of the mountain... No, they just ascended past half of the phase, and the peak wasn't quite distant anymore.
"Seven, aren't you tired of climbing? I need to rest," Rolanda had to raise an alarm.
"No, we have to reach the peak of the mountain before resting," Seven declined.
Rolanda's face turned dark.
"If you are too exhausted, let Zara out and ride on her," Seven added with a tease.
"Tsk! I would only smash her to death. She is still too small to be a carrier. But I believe she could do stuff like this when she grows. I hope," Rolanda said.
"Surely," Seven smiled. "I'm also rooting for Whisky to be able to fly someday, even though he wouldn't grow wings... Hehe," Seven said.
"Tsk. Tsk. How could you hope for such a thing? Ahh, the least I know is that Whisky would become a Golden-horned Silver Lion one day. A flying cat? No way," Rolanda expressed her disbelief.
With a smirk, Seven decided not to say much and only let out a few words.
"We'll see."
Rolanda shrugged and continued climbing.
Little did they know that their conversation could fuel their strength to climb fast, and pass time. Before they could know it, they had reached the peak of the mountain within an hour and a half.
"Sigh... We should rest now," Seven suggested.
"You wouldn't dare to give excuses, would you?" Rolanda glared at Seven.
Seven only smiled and sat on the sandy-rocky surface of the mountain peak.
That's due to the fact that the surface of the peak was flat and wide enough to contain them, so having to pass the rest of the night here would be great.
"I have some clothes with me; I'll lie them," Seven said.
Seven suddenly pulled his shirt and laid it on the floor. What was left on his upper torso was his singlet.
Rolanda's eyes rolled with a hint of perplexity.
"Why... Why would you do that?" She had to question him.
"Is there a problem with it?" Seven furrowed his brows.
At that time, Rolanda couldn't give a reply and just shook her head. In the next moment, Seven pulled out another cloth from his pocket, then another.
These clothes appeared to be wider than his shirt. They were like blankets but were too small to be called one.
At least, it was able to fit in the both of them, as Seven decided not to lie fully on them. After spreading the clothes — Rolanda just couldn't resist the desire to sleep — she laid on the clothes and smiled.
"Thank you, Seven."
Those words came out of her mouth through her heart.
"Ah... Anytime," Seven replied simply.
"I hope the lecturers don't find us until your plan is achieved. I will make sure to help you when my eyes stop being blurry," Rolanda yawned and said.
Seven giggled.
"Don't worry. They might have gone the wrong way by now. We are good."
The smile on his face came with confidence because he actually knew what he had done.
Yes...
The traces of blood on the left pathway?
He did that.
And that was to make the group go the wrong way...
Little did he know that not all of them had fallen for his trick.
.
.
.
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[A/N: Thanks to those who are supporting. Let's keep it up... Powers Stones are needed. Thanks for reading.]