Kapitel 137: Chapter 2: The Wrinkle
Like most of the other participants that woke up alive on the second day, their maps have been updated, as new supply crates has been drops onto the island, and a brand new list of tasks and objectives have been updated. There is a new mini-game in town, and Rydel found Alrith holding his head with a big smile on her face as he opened his eyes. It was way past his shift to stand guard, but the light artifact usage on the first day has left at least some semblance of fatigue that forced him to sleep for a little while more than he expected.
However, Alrith didn't mind it as he apologizes to her, and they quickly packed up everything that could have taken from the supply crate, finishing the last of the food packets and continued on the rest of their journey.
'There are pins on the new supply crates dropped today, and to proceed onto the third day, you must have pins before the start of tomorrow. You may obtain the pins however you wish.'
All of the newly dropped crates are located in a part of the forest area, and it looked like that's where most of the actions will be taking place today. Making sure they are absolute ready, Rydel and Alrith busted their excavation wide open and started heading towards the forest area.
They are mostly alone in the region simply due to the shear number of participants in relation to the size of the island, but that won't be the case for today, as a total of twenty crates are dropped in the forest region ever since the update of the map this morning, and there is sure to be lots of competition and bloodshed there.
'Rydel, are you afraid to kill?' As the two are jogging towards the forest while keeping a look out for anyone else in their close proximity, Alrith suddenly asked.
'I am not going to pretend I haven't,' Rydel said without looking back, 'but if I don't have to, I would rather not do it.'
'If it comes down to getting a kill or not getting a pin, will you do it?' Alrith asked, the two questions feeling a little sudden, though it could just be because of the nature of today's objective, when everyone's primary goal is to hunt for these pins rather than to avoid others and survive.
'I will find another way.' Rydel said with a determined look on his face, clenching his fist, 'there are many ways that I can subdue someone, I am sure we can figure something out.'
Alrith nodded and didn't say anything more. The terrain they are currently moving across is the same mushy terrain with mud and grass that they were on yesterday. There are patches of woods and tall grass about a few hundred meters in each way, but they are mostly in the clear and alone. Occasionally, Rydel will spot some moving figured from far out in the horizon, but those beings all quickly disappeared from his line of sight. As long as they can stay clear of anyone that's close to them, they will be safe.
Cellica would be excellent in this game with the eyes, Rydel thought, and he wondered how everyone is doing back on the base while settling into their enhancements.
'Rydel.....!' Alrith suddenly said with a low voice and warned after an hour of quiet running for the pair, 'I hear something.'
Rydel nodded as he also slowed down. He couldn't tell when exactly it started, but there are some noise coming from upwind, and yet they have entered into a more rocky and drier terrain that gigantic rocks and small cliffs are now obstructing more of the visions, and the distant and occasional echos from other participants do sometime creep into Rydel's ears, though he could never quite pin down where those sounds are coming from.
Tapping Alrith on the arm as the sounds and echos become louder and louder for their enhanced hearing, Rydel gestured for Alrith to go up to a high point. The troughs of cliffs are easier to move across, but a higher vantage point would be tactically preferable.
Then, as they worked their way up the tight slopes, Rydel quickly spotted two groups of participants facing off against one another on the other side of the giant rock the pair is on where there is a small opening. One appeared to be an incredibly deformed Aquarian that looked more like a monster from the seas than an elegant Aquarian being, while the other is the biggest Rocky he has ever seen. Both of them are alone, and two other motionless bodies laid by the rocks, one with a rock spike puncturing through its body and the overflowing blood completely obscures the poor thing's race and gender. The other was simply out for the count, but there are no visible signs of injury.
When Rydel spotted the two, he immediately crawled back to a point where he cannot be seen as he gestured the sighting of two beings towards Alrith.
'What?' Alrith know what Rydel means when he pointed his fingers up, but she has no idea what a sequencing of fingers flaring up down and to the side means. She asked quietly, but Rydel immediately puts a finger near her lips.
'Looks like we aren't alone here buddy.'
The monstrous Aquarian said to the Rocky in front of him, his arms flaring up and down as the claws on each of his six arms continued its crawling and ripping motion towards the Rocky, attempting to intimidate him, however, the big Rocky is truly still as a rock, and he appeared completely unfazed despite him first landing a surprise attack on his group and killing his teammate by tackling and dunking her onto the spikes below. And still, he was able to react to the ambush from the Aquarian's very own teammate and killed him with a punch to the neck.
Now, the two formidable fighters with different combat strategies and yet a similar level of aggression faced each other in a stand off as they waited for the other to make a move so they can retaliate with an unrelenting barrage of counter attacks, and yet neither made a move, knowing and respecting the other's strength.
That's when they both heard the sounds of someone else approaching, and as the sound changes its origins and becomes silent, they know they aren't alone any more.
'You brought more?' The Rocky spoke, his voice cold and dry.
'Me? No no no...I wouldn't have teamed up in this game if I didn't have to, and I have to thank you for culling the weakling.' The Aquarian laughed in his high pitch voice as his tongue dangled out through the sharp fangs as he pretended to look away and appear distracted while still locking his full attention on the opponent in front of him, 'I thought you are calling your Rocky brothers and sisters here to aid you...noble quest.'
'This isn't noble, but it has to be done.' The Rocky replied firmly, as he stood still still with full attention towards, 'I cannot fail here.'
'Well, neither can I,' The Aquarian said, putting two arms on the floor, and suddenly he looked like the hounds from hell despite the Aquarian body and his heavy rusty armor, 'but before we both go down to business, let's make sure we don't have someone interrupt the party, shall we?' Then, picking up a stone from the ground, the Aquarian turned and launched it towards the direction where Rydel's is hiding from and almost chipped his head off.
'You are not fooling anyone! Human!' The Aquarian yelled.
Rydel and Alrith shared a look, and both decided it's time to run. Then, Alrith's eyes widened, and she pointed a shaking finger towards Rydel. He was confused at first, but he realized that the finger wasn't for him. It was for whatever thing that obscured the sun directly over head for him.
He turned, and the giant Rocky is there looking down on him.
'Come for a fair fight, or die here.' The Rocky's instructions were clear and he looked down at the two scrawny humans. He has learned over the years not to underestimate the most physically weak, and yet the most generally powerful race in the galaxy, so he is still not going to make the first move despite their visual appearances being a lot less threatening than the Aquarian monster.
'You want a fair fight?' Rydel said, getting up to his feet, 'don't you know this is a game?'
'This may be a game, but it will be won by me the right way.' The Rocky said, as the shadowy figure of the Aquarian monster leapt from the levels beneath and appeared behind the Rocky for a surprise ambush. The Aquarian's face is distorted, but Rydel can tell from that disfigured face that it was a fanatic laugh, as the claws are sharpened and ready to take out the Rocky's head while he is unsuspecting.
The Aquarian monster is out for blood while the Rocky is seemingly distracted, but as he cut his arms downwards and tried to rip the Rocky apart, he spun around and parried the attack with his giant furry arms. The sharp fangs that can cut rocks like butter stuck into the thick fur and was trapped in place. All of the Aquarian's use of momentum from the jump was halted in that instant, and his body is open for a simple counter attack strike to the abdomen by the Rocky giant.
In this scenario, you either give up your attack, or you die in the counter attack. There are no other options, and yet the monster found another way. The initial attack used two hands initially and it only made half way through the thick fur. With the four other arms, the monster hammered them into the two arms that's digging into the Rocky's fur, causing them to move in deeper and deeper like a frantic hammer at work. The Rocky prepared a counter attack, as he ignored the mad attacks from the monster and coiled a punch back before preparing to rip a whole through the Aquarian's armor and body.
That's when the Rock they are standing on cracks before it split open and sent all four people on there tumbling back down to the opening.
Rydel was keeping track of everything, but he wasn't expecting the two combatants they just randomly met to be this ridiculously powerful. A simple exchange between them cracked a rock wide open as a side effect? What planet is this?
As they rolled down into a three way deadlock with the Aquarian monster hopping away to recreate some distance between the Rocky and Rydel and Alrith, he looked a little startled by the strength and resilience of the Rocky, which was quite a bit more than what he estimated them to be.
Meanwhile, his efforts did leave a mark on the Rocky's arms as some blood began dripping through, but he doesn't seemed to be bothered in the slightest.
'See, this is the kind of monsters you are competing with, and these are the results of Life Springer's experiments.' Alrith whispered quietly into Rydel's year, 'I am only capable of more conventional types of enhancements, but Life Springer is good enough to create monsters...'
'I am not an abomination created by the witch.' The Rocky exclaimed, 'I am me, Andere the Rocky Giant..'
'Oh, we are abominations?' The Aquarian mocked, 'says the Rocky that's bigger than most Aquarians.'
Rydel and Alrith simply looked at the two fighters as they continued to bicker and stare down, but both of them soon turned their attention towards the pair once they have attempted to walk away. Initially, they simply don't want to let their own fight be interrupted or taken advantage of by a third party, but after seeing the two harmless humans, now they are just mere nuisances.
Perhaps it would be the best if they had gotten rid of the humans first. Neither of the Rocky or the Aquarian here are particularly fond of humans to begin with anyway. Seeing the aggression coming towards them, Alrith instead took a step forward.
'You know what? Why don't we team up? With the strengths of you two combined and the wits of us two, we will be able to steamroll the rest.' Alrith suggested, and the Aquarian immediately scoffed at the idea.
'You? What wit can you offer?' The Aquarian laughed and slammed a fist into the ground, the claw slicing the rocks beneath him in half.
'Simple strategies, with more people in the search, we can secure more crates in a wider area in a quicker fashion. If we found anything, we holler at you, if you found anything, you can keep, or give it to us.' Alrith said, 'either way, it's advantageous to you.'
'And what are you getting from this?' The Rocky turned, and his feet accidentally turning a rock into dust as he stepped on it.
'We get moments of safety from you.' Alrith said, 'you will be able to draw attention from others, but you are already massive attractions, so you might as well get to your tasks quicker.'
Andere turned towards the Aquarian, and pondered the logistics of this team up.
'Oh, and if we are in partnership now, we waste less time staring at each other, and more time getting to work!' Alrith reminded, as her slim body stood between the one who held two reality bending artifacts. Rydel looked at her bobbing pony tail from behind and smiled slightly. How impressive.
'urgh....urgh urghhhhh! Fine! Only for today! Then I will rip all of you apart and win!' The Aquarian scratches his head intensely and his claws screetches along the armor, making Rydel and Alrith cringe at the noise. But finally, he has decided to postpone his aggression for now, 'if your wit is shit, you die, human.'
'My name is Alrith, and he is Rydel. Who are you?'
'Claws.' The Aquarian retracted claws back into his Aquarian armor and said proudly, 'Rydel? What kind of stupid name is that?'
Rydel chuckled and didn't say a word.
Then, the quad all went up to speed and started sprinting towards the forest. Despite Andere's giant size, he is moving just as fast as the two humans who are fully enhanced. Claws are actually running like a cheetah on the ground with his claws, which is also incredibly fast.
Soon, the edges of the forest became visible as they made it out of the dryer lands, which doesn't really make sense that it exists in this island due to the strange tidal cycles. Perhaps the sand is really good for draining the water away. The forest's trees look nothing like the human plantation both Alrith and Rydel is familiar with, but rather it looked like seaweeds made out of cast iron which raises up into the sky strong and proud.
They can already see multiple groups of people which are all grouped up entering into the forest from all of the other sides, and it appeared that the change in the second day also altered the strategies of most people. The crate's approximate location is marked out on the map, but if it's anything like those marked on the first day, it will only be somewhat close but not close enough. Having a bigger search party will ultimately make the entire process more efficient.
'Start with the closer ones.' Alrith said, plotting out a route for the four to go. Alrith will stick with Rydel, Claws will start with a trail of two crates towards the east while Andere will start with the ones towards the north. The pari will head west first. Then, they can meet up together after.
'I don't guarantee my return if I have found one.' Claws said as he sprinted away, 'but if you don't show up at the meeting point, I will kill you.'
'Good luck you two.' Andere said and marched onwards away, and finally Rydel and Alrith is together again.
'Really, this nice little family won't be useful if we can find the right ones right away.' Rydel said as both him and Alrith entered into the forest, 'but the outer ones are most likely already taken by this point.'
'That's what I thought too.' Alrith said as she scanned the map quickly and pulled out the retractable spear. The spear in its long form may not be the best for combat in such tight areas, so she kept it in its original form, which is still about an arm's length with a sharp tip.
Following the trail towards the first crate, there have been no footprints that they could see, but still it could just mean no one has gone this way.
'There!' Alrith suddenly said and tapped Rydel on his right shoulder. He turned and saw a crate wedged in between two high rising seaweed 'trees'.
'I got it.' Rydel said, reaching out with his left hand and prepared to warp the crate away from up in the air. That's when he suddenly heard three quick footsteps coming from his right. Manifesting the Lightning Blade in his right as he turned, he saw a pair of Aquarian blades slicing towards his head with enough force to crack it in half like a watermelon!
He was able to move the blade fast enough to parry the first barrage of attacks, but the attacking Aquarian who's dressed in white armor punched him in the torso and sent him flying backwards. Then, he followed up with a barrage of attacks as Rydel was rolling back and trying his best just to avoid getting hit. Then, as he was about to find an opening and send a blade deep into Rydel's abdomen, the sound of the spear extending came from behind and Alrith hit the Aquarian with a big sweeping blow which knocked him way from Rydel.
'Are you okay?' Alrith said, giving Rydel a quick glance before returning her gaze back to the Aquarian that looked vaguely familiar.
'Yep.' Rydel said, wincing at some of the dull areas in his body, but nothing is bad as he got up and stretches slightly, 'that Aquarian look awfully familiar though.'
'Yep, it's the one that you took out.' Alrith said, 'that you knocked out, and now he is here.'
'Well, this is a small forest.' Rydel said, facing forward and prepared for a battle.
There was only one Aquarian, and there are two of them.
Then, the one Aquarian split into two, and then into four, and then into eight.
What the fuck?
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein