Chapter 10: Final Trial (4)
--- Chapter 9 ---
After ten minutes of nap, I breathed sharply and exhaled dirty air out of my body. I don't know how to explain the science behind my dad's breathing technique, but it is what it is.
Nothing fancy happened like those fantasy cultivation novels, but I felt much better after resting.
I raised my injured thigh and arm, feeling numbness in those areas.
"The blood probably has clotted and formed a scab." As I stretched on the ground, I checked on Simon and saw the foolish giant had fallen asleep like a log.
This guy never stopped making me shake my head.
Well, anyone our age will get physically and mentally exhausted after going through all we faced earlier.
Thankfully, this big guy is doing fine.
I reviewed my encounter with the 1st Ascension Mutated Beast and did some yoga poses, warming up my sleeping cells again.
My mom has taught me these neat poses, which eliminated all soreness in my body and maximized blood flow. She did pretty often after hunting outside and inside the house with my dad.
"The 1st Ascension Mutated Beast can transform into a human, a blue-haired girl."
"A Werewolf? No, it should be a werebeast because she had wolf and ape traits."
"Even though I stabbed her neck and chest, I don't think those will fatally injure her."
"What about the poison? I laced my daggers with poison, but I didn't see the aftereffect because I was too busy running."
"What should I do, what should I do..."
"Think me, think."
"Ah, that's it!" I had a brilliant idea in my head.
Smirks grew on my lips.
However, I couldn't do it alone.
I need a group of strong kids, preferably physically capable like Simon, that could trap and immobilize the 1st Ascension Mutated Beast.
As I made several layers of the plan, I rubbed my chin and heard three footsteps from three different people.
I was about to awaken Simon from his princess sleep, but my eyes met with those familiar golden eyes. Yes, the eyes of Alice Romanov.
She's walking out of the darkness with a muscular-looking girl and a tall kid with a hair buzz cut.
Well, these kids had quite a presence on them.
However, what surprised me was Alice Romanov herself.
After cleaning mud, she legit looks more like a princess.
She's a couple of centimeters taller than me, with pixie-cut silver hair that shines with very little light. Her face was flawless, like a rare porcelain doll with a small nose and pink lips.
"Hello, Adam." She smiled at me.
"How was the rest?"
I put on a fake smile and replied, "Better than ever, I guess."
"Though, can you give Simon a spare combat suit?"
"Sure." Alice Romanov agreed without hesitation, which makes me more suspicious.
Her teammates also had been staring at my chest for some reason.
What's with these two?
"What about you, Adam?" Alice Romanov asked in return.
"Yours seems damaged."
I shrugged, "I don't want to change gears for now. I've gotten used to this combat suit."
"Also, my dad said this was custom-made."
Alice Romanov and her teammates' mouths twitched at my remark.
What's so funny, huh?
Don't look down on poor people.
We can still afford combat suits!
Meanwhile, Alice Romanov and her teammates thought otherwise, 'He didn't know his dad scammed him.'
I stood up and asked, "How many people you had under your control, Alice?"
"Do you need something from us?" Alice retorted.
"Well..." I simplified my plan to capture the 1st Ascension Mutated Beast and made Alice and her teammates frown.
Alice's golden eyes glimmered in a dim cave as she mumbled, "Feasible, but we lack manpower."
"At the moment, I only have one thousand and sixty-nine contestants under my lead."
"We can look for other contestants, however..."
"However?"
"However, I figured that half of ten thousand would get eliminated tonight."
My eyes narrowed slightly, "How did you know?"
Alice Romanov signaled her teammates, "Let me introduce you to my core teammates."
"The tall boy is Andrew Lee."
"And the girl is Olivia Cooper."
"Nice to meet you, Adam." Andrew and Olivia greeted me, to which I responded with a nod.
"At noon, I have ordered Andrew, Olivia, and one more teammate to do a reconnaissance mission, and we rescued over eight hundred before the sunset." Alice Romanov continued.
"Then, we discovered that everything changed at night."
"No matter what area we walked on at night, the beast would find and attack us."
"The beast's hunting speed is too fast. Even though we are an elite ten thousand, we can't run forever."
"She also likes to toy with her prey," I commented casually.
"She?" Alice Romanov tilted her head in confusion.
I added to her confusion, "You guys didn't know that the beast could transform into a human girl? She's around your size with blue hair."
Alice Romanov's golden eyes widened in horror.
"Oh, no. Zwei."
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
All of a sudden, an explosion shook the cave.
I leaned on the cave wall and looked up warily, "It's her."
"Andrew, evacuate other contestants!" Alice Romanov ordered amidst this chaos. "Olivia, secure our ration and supply!"
"Leave it to us!" Andrew and Olivia did a military salute and ran through the tunnels.
I glanced at Simon and saw him snoring well.
"Wake up, sleepy head. We are under attack!" I kicked Simon's butt and forced him to face reality.
"Huh? Where am I? Who am I?" Simon stood up awkwardly and had a drool flowing from the corner of his mouth.
Alice Romanov gauged Simon's body size and said, "Follow me."
As we followed Alice, she asked what our preferred weapons were.
I answered honestly, and Simon said he'd prefer an ax or brass knuckle.
We arrived at the quiet part of the cave, and she handed us a duffle bag each.
Opening my duffle bug, I saw daggers, an ancient-looking katana, steel wires, and several vials of healing potions.
"Holy, how did you get these?" Before I could ask, Simon already did his job.
Alice Romanov placed her finger on the lips, "It's Romanov's secret."
I rolled my eyes at this girl, trying to be mysterious.
Behind Alice Romanov, I can see more duffle bags.
She either had his teammates bring them or had space storage items.
Alice Romanov giggled at our reaction and said, "Adam, we can follow your plan, but can you tell me the chance of success?"
"How sure are you about it?"
"Fifty, fifty," I answered straightforwardly.
Alice Romanov furrowed her brows, "That's not a very appealing chance for our current situation, isn't it?"
I shrugged at her, "Unless you have ways to test the beast's strength and resistance, 50% is the chance of our winning."
I watched Alice Romanov consider the pros and cons. Unfortunately, she didn't have much choice.
Her base got attacked, and contestants under her banner would get eliminated soon.
"Don't overthink it. It's not good for a kid like you." I couldn't help but tease her slightly. "Remember, what is the third trial's objection?"
"Survive..." She seemed to realize something.
"As long as possible."
Alice Romanov looked at me and smiled, "Adam, you're smart!"
"I really want to make you mine now."
Oh, no. A loli wants me!
Sorry, girl.
I'm only interested in legal, busty women!
"Let's ignore that for now," I responded aloofly.
Alice Romanov pouted and escorted us to another tunnel. We squeezed our way out and arrived at the edge of a cliff.
'F-Fuck!' I looked at the abyss before me with shock.
Alice Romanov hugged the wall and said, "We are on the other side of the mountain. And the path we used earlier is only known by me and my teammates."
"We built several routes for it to run from the beast."
"I didn't expect to use it this soon." She sighed helplessly.
"Who would have thought the beast could transform..."
I chuckled, "At least you're better than us."
"She comes to your base."
"In our case, this clown brings her in."
"Hey, that was an accident, okay!" Simon put on an ashamed look.
"I saw an injured girl and brought her back to safety."
"Use your head next time." I was merciless to Simon. He needs to learn something from this.
As we moved sideways like crabs, we arrived at the cliffside with many vines. Alice whistled at this weird frequency and caused the surrounding wall to tremble slightly, sending a signal to her teammates.
We waited and heard a reply.
I didn't know what it meant, but Alice Romanov looks relieved.
She sighed in relief, "My core teammates are fine, but we did lose thirty contestants in this night raid."
"Zwei will come to the next base and explain what happened." She started climbing down the vines and entered the abyss of the cliff.
Simon and I glanced at each other before sighing and following her down.
After two minutes or two, we arrived at another cave entrance and landed inside. Alice Romanov pulled a portable heater shaped like a small lantern.
The cave soon lit up.
"This is the safest point we had." Alice Romanov hugged her knees.
"Let's wait for Zwei here."
After a while, a short boy in a horrible condition arrived at the cave.
Thud!
He crashed onto the ground and made Alice Romanov panic.
"Zwei, are you okay?"
"I'm okay, just tired." The short boy responded.
"I was patrolling after we separated and met this blue-haired girl on the way out. She wore an oversized combat suit, and I thought it was weird."
"Still, I bring her into the cave."
"W-Who would have thought she would be the mutated beast..."
"She transformed into the beast before my eyes and eliminated over thirty people."
"DAMN IT!" Zwei gritted his teeth angrily. He was naive.
I shook my head, 'Another case like Simon. These kids fooled too easily.'
'Have they not encountered the mutated Venus Flytrap in the second trial?'
Alice Romanov patted Zwei's shoulder and said, "Calm down. Let's plan things out until the sun is out."
"Adam, I will fully support your plan from now on." She suddenly glanced at me.
"Let's do this."
I couldn't help but grin at her, "Well, let's get this done once and for all."
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