Chương 27: Hide and Seek - 3
After the 30 minutes was up, the ranker was on the move.
Shibisu moved about the darkness, a spare lighthouse lighting up the way before him. Sweat poured out from his temples his never before, for the situation was stressful enough.
They had successfully managed to anger the ranker through their shenanigans at wanting to tag the seeker. However, they had vastly underestimated the movement speed of the ranker, a crucial overstep that might cost them their victory.
"Where is Anaak?!" Shibisu yelled as he ran towards the elevator to the second circle.
"She's going up the second circle through the elevator! The ranker is on the move so there isn't much time! I'm already up there!" Khun's voice came promptly from his ear piece.
Shibisu breathed a sigh of partial relief, then he shook his head.
He continued running along the darkened floor, the lighthouse in the air lighting up his way.
~~~
A dark staircase led to an unknown upper floor, its narrow area and steep steps making it the easiest places to lay for an ambush.
The darkened halls made way for little light and everything was increasingly harder to see. However, perched atop the stairs were multiple spear bearers wave controller and a scout, Amon.
They all looked on towards the bottom of the stairs, their lighthouse casting light onto the entire structure. Sweat trickled down from some of their faces because of the tense atmosphere.
Amon stood at the back, a bag at his side. His eyes looked on in nervousness as notions about a potential loss filled his mind.
Suddenly, he shook his head.
No, I can't lose hope! Mr. Winston and Zarhan took a lot of time in training me! He exclaimed in his mind.
Within the month of their stay in Evankhell's mothership, Winston and Zarhan had taken it upon themselves to train Amon to the bone, resulting in a rapid increase of his strength. Amon as talented, yet failed to make his talent shine through in the earlier stages of his life. As of right now, Amon was one of the highest ranking Scouts in his class, just behind Hatz and tying with Shibisu.
His eyes held a resolute look as an announcement echoed in the surroundings. One of the lighthearers with them yelled out.
"He's here! At the bottom of the stairs!"
Every regular that was present felt their hearts tighten.
They all looked down at the bottom, where a certain red haired ranker was walking about leisurely.
"Well well, what an interesting place to lay an ambush." He smirked. "How about we have a little lesson?" He said, beginning to walk up the stairs with deliberate wait.
"As you know I only have one baang with 10 myun and 10 soo, which isn't a lot really. It's not even enough to kill a regular man." He shrugged his shoulders. "However, to escape from the likes of you..." He droned.
Then, the darkness around him seemed to come alive as it writhed and slithered atop his own body.
The shadows beneath his feet cast by the lighthouse travelled up his legs and merged him into the darkness. Nay, it was not the darkness he was merging into, it was simply the environment itself!
The regulars' eyes widened in alarm.
"He went invisible! Attack anywhere!" One of the wave controllers yelled firing a baang from a staff they held.
The spear bearers needed no further starting signal.
The red spear they held in their hands were thrown down with speed, going down and embedding themselves into the stairs.
A fisherman jumped down with his needle, only for Quant to reveal himself and backhand him into the wall with sheer strength.
Then, one of the spear bearers, a hulking man with wings atop his back jumped down and tried to engage in hand to hand combat.
"A spear bearer leaving his post? Why would you sacrifice your advantage of range and choose to fight in a way that you're clearly not adept in?" Quant asked quizically as he toyed with the regular with his speed. Needless to say, the regular didn't last very long.
Quant travelled up the stairs dodging every other spear that was thrown at him effortlessly.
As he reached the top, he laughed.
"I assume you were going to keep me here for at least 5 minutes. C'mon! Where's your motivation!?" He yelled.
"H-how much time has it been?" One of the regulars stammered.
"...1 minute." A regular spoke.
In the team room, Winston felt as if the combat was happening all too quickly. The regulars didn't stand a sliver or a chance against someone that had climbed to the top of the tower. There was simply no way for them to win, at least not with so little strength.
Perhaps if it was Anaak and Endorsi working together they could pose a certain challenge... he mused.
Back in the test, Quant took little time to take care of the other regulars, eventually leaving only Amon and the lightbearer that was with him.
Amon looked at him in nervousness.
"So what will you do?" Quant asked with a smile.
"You should be decisive in your action. Nervousness will get you nowhere in a place like the tower." He advised with a sincere tone.
Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Amon took a combat stance, ready to face the ranker and stall for as much time as possible.
Quant raised a brow at his display.
"Brave aren't you? Are you sure you can face me on your own?" He asked, a light chuckle following his comment.
Amon shook his head and smiled.
"I don't need to defeat you." He said. "I don't need to do anything to you. Truthfully, I don't think I can even lay a finger on a ranker like your." He smiled.
Hearing his words, Quant felt his confidence taking a slight boost.
He nodded with his eyes closed. "That's right!"
Amon smiled seeing his reaction.
In his mind, the objective was clear. Stall for as much time as possible! Whether it be through talking or fighting! Anything that can stall the seeker will provide them with more chances to pass the test.
Amon raised his hands in front of him.
"But." He said, making Quant focus on him again.
"All I need to do is keep you here for as long as I can. And I will be sure to do that." He said.
Quant nodded in satisfaction.
"As expected of my student! You have learned well!" Quant exclaimed.
Then, his eyes took on a glare.
"Then let's start!" With that said, his figure dashed out, rapidly approaching the figure of Amon.
Amon's muscles tightened as he punched out in front. His observer, a floating ball with a camera and a mini light house installed in it illuminated the area so he could fight.
Quant stopped just before him, narrowly avoiding the fist he had thrown. Amon hurriedly switched to a drop kick and jumped straight at Quant.
"I'll give you some tips as well." Quant spoke, side stepping from the kick and punching Amon who was in mid air into the ground.
"When in front of a stronger opponent, never leave your ground. Doing so makes you open to attacks from a skilled opponent." He said. "Only do so if you are adept at utilizing the shinsu around you to alter your position mid air, something that your aren't capable of just yet."
Amon quickly got to his feet and dashed at him again.
The ranker disappeared in a burst of speed, appearing behind Amon.
Amon turned quickly, throwing a spinning back kick at the opponent. However, Quant blocked his kick with his hand and kicked his other leg, making his fall face first into the ground.
"Damn!" He cursed and got up again.
"I would love to play with you more but I have places to be." Quant smiled. And then, his fist embedded itself into his abdomen with a howl of the wind.
Bam!
Shaaaa!
The air was blown out of Amon's lungs as saliva flew out of it. His eyes momentarily clouded over as he lost consciousness for a second.
Then, he crouched down holding his stomach in pain. Heat rushed through his spine as his abdomen felt as if it had been set on fire from the inside out.
Huff! Huff!
He struggled to breathe for a second before he looked up to see Quant looking down at him with a smile.
"You're quite sturdy. A blow like that has knocked out every other regular so far." He nodded in acknowledgement.
Amon smiled and got up from his seating position.
Then, a crooked grin made it's way onto his face.
"I've done a lot of durability training with my friends..." He said and put a hand into the bag he had at his side.
His hands rummaged through the bag for a fre seconds, and then, he pulled something out.
It was a large knife, just shorter than a shirt sword.
He held it out in front of him and adopted a combat stance again.
Quant chuckled seeing him ready to fight.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" He asked.
Amon smiled as he said, "My job is to keep you here as long as I can."
Quant looked at him for a moment.
There was silence in the darkened expanse for a moment. Nobody moved.
Then, both moved towards each other at the same time.
Bang!
Whoosh!
~~~
In the team room, Winston watched on as Amon faced the ranker. He nodded to himself, quite pleased with Amon's progress. He and Zarhan had personally worked on his combat training as well as durability exercises, in order to better equip him with the strength to stand strong blows. It seemed that the training had actually paid off.
However, even then, it was hardly a match for the ranker. Quant made quick work of him as well, taking care of everyone gathered at the stairs in a measly 3 minutes and 27 seconds; with the bulk of the time spent dealing with Amon.
After that, Team B erupted into cheers as the ranker made his way across all the remaining team members, crushing them like a truck hitting a bicycle at Mach speeds. Eventually, the ranker came face to face with Shibisu, who held onto his legs for a good while to give Anaak a chance to escape.
After that, the ranker ran ahead and eventually, he reached the bridge.
"It seems that they will fail." Winston said suddenly, turning his eyes to look at Bam.
Bam was startled by his voice but then his eyes turned droopy and melancholic.
"It... it seems so..." He droned.
"Are you not relieved?" Winston asked.
Bam looked at him in puzzlement.
"The failure of the opposing team means higher chances for us to win. And that means.." Winston smiled at him. "That there will be more chances that you might find the girl you're looking for." His face morphed into a toothy grin as he chuckled.
Bam's eyes seemed to turn abjt brighter at the mention of Rachel, however, he turned to look at the screen again, not replying to Winston's remark.
Winston shook his head.
Choices are hard to make... especially choices like these... he thought in his heart. Inwardly, he pitied the boy to some extent. Left in darkness all his life, with the only human interaction ever being a young girl with blonde hair. However, the girl left him behind to chase after the stars, and the boy was left without a goal to aspire towards, without the shining light that had guided his world thus far.
And in such a place as the Tower, there was no saying how and when a friend may turn into an enemy and an enemy turn ally.
Winston looked towards 'Rachel' who still adorned the dark brown cloak atop her head.
Eventually, I suppose you might need to make such a choice... He shook his head imperceptibly, feeling even more pitiful. Them, a smile blossomed on his face.
But even still, the only thing you'll ever be able to do is to smile through it.
~~~
A/N: Throw me dem stonez.
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