Raviel moved slowly through the forest to conserve his stamina.

The rain had stopped hours ago, but now the place felt worse than it was earlier. The air was hot, and the humidity present in it made it even more sticky.

The last time, he had checked the one time use map.

He had only managed to eliminate three more participants after his encounter with Henry.

Most of the red dots were scattered, while some were — very far away. Just a few remained in the region. Thinking about the points made Raviel frown again.

'Fuu~...it's damn hot in here'.

Raviel kept on walking silently, grabbing the hem of his shirt, he flapped it time-to-time, to cool his body down.

Spotting a big tree, he walked towards it.

That's when he heard a faint noise.

Raviel slowed down, crouched and moved towards the sound without making a noise. He pushed aside some bushes and peeked through the small gap.

Three people.

Raviel spotted, three people present in the vicinity.

One boy was on the ground, his pochmarked skin on the face bore various bruise marks. He looked exhausted — barely clinging as one of his eyes was shut and swollen slightly.

The other two boys were standing over him.

Their combined shadows fell on the boy's kneeling frame.

"Come on!, man, just join our group," one of them said, half laughing.

"Yeah, stop acting tough," the other added. "It'll be easier for you. You're face is just hard to watch at this point."

Seeing this, something felt off.

At first, Raviel thought it might be a trap. But then he noticed the way they were smiling.

Their tone and body language, were way too relaxed for this to be a trap.

'Is someone hiding here?'

Raviel tried to look around, but found nothing.

'Either the person is skilled...or I am just being paranoid'.

Raviel's fingers twitched near his ring, he considered adding thirty more points to his score.

But stopped himself at the last second.

'Let's see how this turns out.'

He purposefully shook a bunch of leaves to make noise as he stepped out.

He stepped out of the bushes.

The sudden movement startled three of them.

"Hey," Raviel said calmly, adding a slight panic to his voice. "C-can I join your group, too?"

Both boys spun around. Alarmed by the sudden intrusion.

"Don't move!" one of them shouted instantly.

"Stay right there!," the other snapped. "Drop your weapon if you have one."

Raviel slowly raised his hands. "R-relax guys. I'm just taking it out."

He reached behind his arm quickly.

Both boys reacted at once, stepping back and raising their weapons.

"Hey —!" one of them barked.

"Easy...easy", Raviel said. "I S-said I'm taking it out."

His katana shimmered into existence from his storage ring.

One of the boys pointed at him. "Throw it here. Then we'll decide what to do with you."

Seeing Raviel take out his weapon, the boy leaned slightly near his partner's ear and whispered something.

They smirked.

On the ground, the bruised boy's eyes widened. He tried to speak, forcing out a weak sound, shaking his head slightly— trying to warn Raviel.

Raviel tip-toed on his feet and tried to peer on the boy's crouched frame.

Up close, it was worse than he thought.

His eyes widened from a sudden realization — and then Raviel moved desperately.

He suddenly ran straight at the two boys.

"What the—!" one of them shouted, instantly alarmed, the other boy reacted and just as he could move.

Raviel swerved mid-run, turned toward the boy on the ground, and yelled loudly, his voice sharp and laced with panic.

"W-WHO DID THIS TO YOU?!"

His voice sounded shriller than earlier.

Raviel slid to his knees beside the fallen boy and deliberately dropped his katana a few steps away, letting it clatter against the wet ground.

"Damn it....damn it all!" he shouted. "Did you take your medication?! You know your asthma's getting worse!"

The two boys froze, before they could move, confused by the sudden events.

'Hey—what the hell are you—!"

Raviel ignored them completely. He grabbed the bruised boy and hugged him tightly, pulling him closer.

"Don't speak," Raviel whispered fast, almost soundless.

Then louder, panicked again, "Please say you took it. You need it, you hear me?!"

The boy stiffened.

Raviel leaned in again, his mouth near the boy's ear.

"Are there more?" he whispered. "Are they strong?".

The boy froze for half a second —

Then hugged Raviel back suddenly and yelled, voice shaking, raw.

"Where the hell did you go, you fucker. I didn't even notice you, my eyes are blurring again and again?!"

And then, barely audible, the boy pressed into Raviel's shoulder once again.

"Only two people. S-strong". He manage to utter in few seconds.

He grabbed the katana off the ground, holding it like a walking stick, then hauled the boy up, draping him over his shoulder.

"STAY STILL DICKHEAD" Raviel said loudly.

Then he whispered, "few seconds. Cough"

The boy understood instantly.

He started making ragged, suffocating noises, gasping and whimpering a few times as he tried to walk.

Raviel turned toward the two stunned boys.

"Please," Raviel begged, his voice cracking with emergency. "Just let him take his medicine."

He took a step closer. Then another.

"If you took his storage ring… or whatever he had," Raviel said, eyes desperate, "please give it back. It has his medicine in it".

The two boys frowned, backing up slightly.

"What the fuck is this?"

"How the fuck—"

Raviel kept walking.

The choking sounds got worse.

The moment one of them started to lift his weapon.

Raviel used gravity on his hand which was on the back of the bruised boy.

And threw the boy towards their direction.

The bruised boy slammed into both of them, knocking them off balance in a messy crash.

Raviel unsheathed his katana in one smooth motion and slid past them.

The blade flashed a reflective light.

One boy screamed as a deep cut tore across his chest, blood spilling instantly as he collapsed backward.

The other tried to scramble up.

He turned the katana in his hand, poured gravity into the handle, and slammed it down.

Thud—!!.

The boy dropped unconscious instantly.

The boy with the cut across his chest, staggered, like he didn't get what had just happened. He tried to get back on his feet.

He didn't get the chance.

The bruised kid seeing him, exploded into motion.

He slammed his forehead straight into the guy's face with a sick crack, then followed it up with a brutal kick to the ribs that sent the guy flying back into the half dried mud. The sound that came out of him was more air than scream. He twitched once… then twice.

A second later, both of their bodies started breaking apart, turning into glowing pixels before vanishing completely.

Raviel stood there, watching the boy fight back with an amused expression.

A glowing orb rolled across the dried mud and stopped near his foot.

Raviel blinked.

'So you can also get the orbs after killing the participants.... probability it seems'.

Raviel thought again.

'What if they had gained this orb, and this orb wasn't just one time use, so eliminating them dropped the orb they were holding again.'

He felt that this explanation was appropriate for this current situation.

He picked it up.

Immediately the information screen opened up.

[ Checkpoint orb acquired.....]

[ Generating mission....]

[ Find the flower of colorless.....]

[ preparing map....]

[ Group mission: 3 participants required to participate....]

[ Mission points: 300...]

Just when Raviel thought that the screeen had stopped, a new map uploaded on the screen with a red mark.

[ Map prepared..... ]

[ YES/ NO...]

Raviel looked at the bruised boy and spoke.

"You, in for a mission".

The boy hesitated, then nodded.

"Y-yess!".

"Fantastic".

Raviel tapped — yes.

The screen disappeared.

Raviel stood for there some time looking at the half dried mud.

"Umm...so what's your name?".

The boy contemplated before answering and spoke awkwardly.

"H-harry P.Ness—" he added. "Rank five hundred and forty".

Hearing his name, Raviel controlled the laughter swelling near his lips.

"Good name".

"...Thanks!".

'I know why you were beaten up now'.

Raviel kept the thought to himself. Then spoke again. "Lets get going Harry"

Together both of them made their way to a foggy mountain.

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