บท 75: C75: Ship Of The Special…
Bets patted my shoulder and nudged his head toward Agon's team.
To say that they were injured was an understatement.
Agon's clothes were dripping in red, and Sei had a large gash in his midsection and breathed heavily. He held onto the wound, but blood spilled between his fingers. The pale look on his face showed he had lost a lot of blood.
Anika was the only one who didn't seem injured. She had a stern look in her eyes, and bloodlust seeped out of her whole being. Everyone kept a distance from her, despite her injured teammates and her being an easy target for any psycho.
They were in better shape than they would have been originally. But they were still more injured than I expected them to be.
They had passed this part of the exam. At least it wasn't the worst possible situation yet.
Another team caught my attention; they had ripped clothes dripping with blood. But there were no injuries on them.
Was it because of their unique bodies? They had some dangerous abilities.
Fuck, they're going to be troublesome opponents. Even if we had fought on the train, it wasn't a guarantee that I would've been able to come out on top.
"Okay everyone! Attention here!" Suddenly a muscular man with a long horse-like face called us out. He stood atop the train and looked down at us. "Seems like we have some bloodthirsty folks in this exam. Anyways, the next part of the exam will be a resting period."
He pointed toward the sea; in the distance, a cruise ship was closing in on us. "That will be your mode of transport. From now on, murder will be forbidden and punishable."
"What will be the punishment?" Asked Mino, tugging the coffin on his back.
A bead of sweat rolled down the exam proctor's cheek, and the smile slipped off his face. "Trust me; you don't want to find out."
By now, the Sun Country had caught on to what was happening. But they couldn't officially stop the exam. Hopefully, there won't be a war among humans anytime soon.
"Everyone get on boats and row to the ship!" The proctor pointed at some dodgy-looking wooden boats on the shore. "The faster you get there, the better your accommodations will be!"
Almost everyone started running toward the boats. I followed along and ensured my team stayed in the middle of the crowd, not in the front or back.
Once we arrived at the boats, most people had already set off.
"Damn it! We're gonna be on the latter-"
Whatever dumb shit Gem was about to say, I stopped him by covering his mouth. Bets, on the other hand, only smiled, and we got on a boat. Then I threw the water barrel I had been carrying overboard.
Immediately, Carpy used the water to slice through the barrel. Waves formed around the boat, pushing us forward. We bolted into first place before anyone had the chance to attack.
It was so fast that we had to hold onto the boat so we didn't get flung overboard.
On land, I had to carry water for Carpy to control. But at sea, Carpy truly shined. Water-type demons rarely got tamed since they were challenging to use on land. That's why very few exorcists had them.
That rarity worked in my favor as no other participant had a demon or ability that would help them here.
"Woohooo!" Gem yelled out in joy; he had a massive smile.
I also breathed a sigh of relief. Being surrounded by exorcists with special abilities, I had to be on the lookout for anything suspicious. Doing it the whole day was mentally draining, and I could finally take a breather.
We arrived at the ship safely, and there were ladders we quickly climbed up. Once we were on board, butlers and maids brought massive food trays. They put down tables, and the trays of food kept coming like an endless wave at a buffet.
Carpy floated next to me in a ball of water.
"Grab what you want. After this, we will go to our room," I told my teammates and called over one of the butlers. "Excuse me, can you give us our room key?"
There might be a rule that forbids participants from killing each other. But that didn't say anything about sabotaging. Losing an arm and leg, or being poisoned to where they would be paralyzed or die later, technically wasn't against the rules.
"Yes, sir," an old butler with gray hair and a clean-shaved face came forward. He took out a key with the number one carved into it. "Since you're the first here, you can get personal room service. Just make sure to ring the bell by the side of your luxurious room."
When the man finished speaking, he glanced at the rest of my team, and a bead of sweat rolled down the butler's face.
Bets and Gem had filled two big trays full of food.
"Uhhh, sirs, the food will be served three times a day. There's no need to grab such big portions," the butler said with a humble and polite voice.
I smiled at the man and put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry sir, they're just big eaters. We will be going to our room, if you don't mind."
We should get out of here before the rest of the teams come. The last thing I wanted was to fight with some guy with a stick up his ass about always wanting to be first.
"Of course, I will lead you there," the butler turned his back toward us and sneered as soon as he thought we couldn't see him.
Luckily for him, I wasn't some petty guy who would kill someone just because they didn't like me.
He led us down the ship's hallways, which had a red carpet and a lot of expensive-looking paintings and accessories. Some vases and paintings cost more than the average person could earn in a lifetime.
I leaned closer to my teammates and whispered. "If we're short on cash, remind me to steal some of this."
"Aren't you from a rich clan?" Bets looked at me, confused.
"You can always be richer," I said just loud enough for the butler to hear us.
The butler didn't respond to my words, which was a bit disappointing.
"Here it is, your room," he led us to what looked like a vault door and used a key the size of his hand to open it.
The door swung open and screeched, and the room inside had three plain beds and a TV connected to cameras all around the ship.
"You call this luxury?" Gem turned toward the butler, who only shrugged and handed me the key.
"I wish you good luck," the butler walked out and closed the door behind him.
"Well, he sure is one polite gentleman," I jested while looking around the room, under the beds, and behind the TV.
"In what world is this luxury? It seems more like a cheap room," Gem was flabbergasted.
"By luxury, it means that this room is the safest. It even has cameras connected to it," that last part even I didn't know would be here. It was an unexpected advantage and a welcome one.
"Also, we have enough food here to last us days," Bets pointed at the trays they had brought back.
"That's why you told me to grab as much food as we could?!" Gem exclaimed. He appeared a bit annoyed, but not enough to throw a punch.
This was surprising. Gem's annoyance levels only had levels of 0 or 100; he either was calm and chill or was punching someone in the face.
"Check, check," suddenly, a voice came from the ship's intercom. The man on the other side coughed and cleared his voice. "Due to some circumstances during this exam. We have decided to bring a Special Rank Exorcist on board. Just in case anyone decides to do something dumb."
They didn't say which Special Rank Exorcist it was. Probably because their abilities were public, but anyone with half a brain would be able to know that only two exorcists in that rank had abilities qualified to handle a situation like this.
"Anyways, during this journey, we will spend our time holed up in this room. We have everything we need, and while killing might not be allowed, others will still aim to maim." I told them of my plan.
..
We spent the rest of the day talking shit between friends and sometimes planning things between the banter.
When night came, Gem and Bets went to go to sleep.
I was a bit paranoid, so we still took turns being on the lookout.
.
It was past midnight, and I went to wake up Bets. He was going to be the next lookout.
But a creak came from our locked door before I nudged him.
Immediately every vein in my body pumped adrenaline, and my heart started beating like crazy.
Ord pooled under my skin in less than a second, and I drew my sword.
***
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