"There are still 20 students remaining," Erin muttered, her gaze fixed on the pendant. Despite their thrilling experience, they still hadn't managed to pass.
Tiera broke the silence that had engulfed the dark cave. "Can we just sit still like this, my lord?" The group sat in a circle around the fire, the only source of light. Darcy and Cian were engrossed in a hushed conversation, while Erin's eyes wandered aimlessly. The brunette boy slept soundly, oblivious to the uncomfortable surroundings.
Darcy and Cian paused their conversation as Tiera spoke up. "If we go now, we'll be at a disadvantage," Darcy replied. "Most groups would have hidden by now, and with fewer students, it will be challenging to find them. Plus, we can't rule out the traps they might have set for us."
Erin chimed in, "But if we stay like this, we'll go hungry." Cian was taken aback by her sudden interest in the conversation.
"Well, remember that our rivals are human too," Cian said with a hint of surprise. Erin's eyes widened as she grasped his point. It was now a game of patience. With fewer students, it would be harder to spot them, but the scarcity of food would eventually force the reckless ones to emerge.
Tiera countered, "But, my lord, this won't give us much of an advantage. With fewer participants, more will try to stay sheltered. You can only find stronger participants roaming outside."
Darcy nodded thoughtfully. "Tiera, for now, we should focus on rehabilitation. Although His Highness has healed us, we're still not in top condition to fight, right, Erin?" Erin nodded, still reeling from the previous battle.
Cian turned to Darcy. "Don't you think we should focus on finding the secret item?" Darcy raised an eyebrow. "That will be tough, given our group's condition."
Cian revealed the pendant he had obtained from defeating the beast. "How did you...?" Darcy trailed off, stunned.
Erin whispered to Cian, "Who is that person?" referring to Darcy. Cian's cheeks flushed as he explained, "He's from the Eastern Duchy."
Erin's curiosity was piqued. "You really don't know?" Cian asked, surprised. "Our empire has four dukedoms: North, South, West, and East. You're from the Southern Duchy, and Darcy is from the Eastern Duchy."
Cian continued, "They have Ivory eyes, which grant them wind element powers and exceptional eyesight. They can see faraway objects and even send signals."
Erin listened intently as Cian explained the unique abilities of each dukedom.
'What's your relation with him?'
She wanted to ask, but paused. She remembered she had no right to ask him this type of questions.
"I have no clues."
Darcy grumbled.
"Knew it." Cian replied with a sigh, grabbing that pendant. He kept it in his pockets.
"Fireball, are your doubts satisfied?"
He gazed at her direction with a grin. Erin was taken aback for a moment, nodded.
She was lying of course, she had so many doubts not only about Darcy, about Cian and herself too. She thought,
'I don't even know what I want..'
Is she supposed to train herself to fulfill her promise? But learning herself is slow and has a lot of limitations. I can't do that…
Then what?
Find a teacher?From where?
But importantly do I need revenge?
"What the fuck!"
Erin was startled by that sudden voice, Darcy had shouted it so loud, he was bewildered.
"This is out of calculations" he continued
"Why are the numbers rapidly going down?"
Cian was also surprised. Erin looked at her own pendant, showing 90 students now. Darcy had said elimination rate will decrease but suddenly it had come to a strange turn.
"No your highness… something is fishy.,"
Darcy murmured looking at the pendant. He was angry and frustrated for the first time in his life; he failed to guess something.
Erin was taken aback by that sudden commotion. She closed her eyes, Mabel's words were ringing in her ears.
"Something big"
"You can't stop it."
"Da… My Lord did you checked any suspicious things!"
She asked Darcy in a hurried tone.
"Yes, I can see smoke."
Darcy had closed his eyes inspecting the area with his power.
"Smoke…. Something… big.."
They all unsheathed their weapon, to prepare for the future. Suddenly,
"STOP"
Their movements halted. Looking at Erin's direction, she continued.
"If you accidentally step on it, it will blast."
"What.?"
"It's a landmine. A thing made up of
witchcraft."
"What?"
Cian, Darcy and Tiera were alarmed by her words. Pausing their movements.
"I won't go into details, it's something which will blast when you keep your feet on it."
She paused, it was fine now. If they stay like this until more than 10 participants are eliminated they can pass.
"This is done by those witches."
Cian and Darcy were listening to everything, surprised at how a person like her knows about witchcraft. Enough to bring numerous questions in their minds. Can she perform it? Who told her this?
But they stopped themselves since it wasn't time for this. Cian looked around but to his surprise 3 of them were standing.
"Ok we all three are standing."
"Wait what.."
"We're four..."
Erin and Darcy noticed it too, suddenly remembering that the brunette guy was still asleep. Turning their gazes towards him, he was sleeping soundly without a worry.
But just at that moment he turned around moving his body to another comfortable position.
'Click.'
"Please no…."
As his body touched something, everyone's eyes popped out. Darcy regretted his decision of letting him stay here.
"Please tell me it won't blast …."
Cian murmured..
"It will.." Erin replied with a slight trembling and..
"BOOOM"
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