55 Out

Despite Leira being new, Andres being cursed, and Logan being drained from single-handedly leading them out of the cave, Dani still couldn't keep up with their speed.

Reaching the outside, she laid out flat calling quits while Andres guided Leira on proper breathing techniques. Logan sat against a tree asking for the next course of action.

Andres laid flat with Dani, "We give up. Logan is exhausted. Dani is tired. I am cursed and tired. Let's go home. We made it far this month".

Dani kicked his leg, "No! We will not give up! We need to win! Everybody else is most likely dead. But not us. We can still win! And it's that kind of attitude that Logan was talking about earlier"!

Leira looked over at Dani, "But don't we need Mina too"?

"It will reduce our rewards, but we can still win with just you," said Logan.

"You guys really want to win, don't you?" asked Leira.

"It's not about wanting to win," said Logan in an agitated tone, "It's about making it to pro and living our dream life".

Andres rolled facing Logan, "Look man, stop stressin it. Alright? We're gonna make it to pro".

Logan lashed out, "Not at this rate"!

"Easy," yelled Dani, "We got this. We need to just take this one step at a time. Okay? We will rest and continue our journey. Next month we will do better. Me and Logan have some plans by the way. And... it's all gonna work perfectly fine. Okay? Okay".

Logan ignored her to sense out the forest. Andres leaned up simply to toss a snowball at him. 5-10 minutes later, Logan reported life as well as possibly a castle. But it wasn't abandoned.

He was already getting to move out when Andres asked, "Do you think any of those medicines we got can cure this curse"?

"What medicines?" asked Dani.

"We took some medicines from the old lady," said Logan, "Unfortunately they only cure terror. Not curse".

"Fine," exhaled Andres, "Just kill me. Slam a bolt of Lightning right into me. Or better yet burn me alive so a can be 10 shades blacker than what I already am".

Dani kicked him good in the stomach, causing him to roll to his feet. She chased him to plant her foot in his ass.

"I thought we were going to rest?" asked Andres.

Dani shrugged, "Yeah, well we're in the endgame and we need to beat this month's theme".

"Wait," said Leira, "Are we really in the endgame"?

Full of energy, Dani answered, "Yup. So don't slow down now because we have a lot to do".

"Don't worry," said Logan in an overly confident tone, "I have a trick up my leave that's bound to get us to the end".

Everybody smiled. Dani further noted that it meant they will surely beat the game.

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Leira kicked through the snow following Logan. The team reached a small area in the forest that they decided to make a hidden base. Leira was impressed by how well the three worked together. They may not have been in the healthiest state, but the commands between them were fluent.

They gathered supplies quickly unnoticed and managed to free some gingerbread men. Dani leveled them up in communication and stealth so they can speak and camouflage in the forest. Pretty cool given they could only learn skills the team had. Bickering was minimal. Mostly for giggles. Leira had to admit, this is how a team should function.

At their hidden camp, Logan carved out a map in the snow. Andres planned out with Dani a way to infiltrate the castle. It was already a team of four going in, so they couldn't bring the gingerbread men.

Despite defending him in the cave, Andres doubted Leira could hang. Dani rejected his doubt and placed Logan to train her while they invaded the castle. In disbelief that they were really attempting to beat the game, Andres agreed to their plan.

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Logan crept through the forest while training Leira. She was a natural talent like himself. Pretty easy to work with. He taught her some explosive magic as well as stealth skills.

Dani and Andres were in the far back loving the extremely slow pace which allowed them to sit in the bushes for probably 20 minutes at a time. They would bicker on who's turn it was to nap. It worked well given Logan's stealth-like nature and the other two being downright lazy.

Somewhere in their hours of patrolling, the curse wore off Andres. He walked up to Leira who was kneeling at the castle gates. Logan was absorbing the life and energy from a dying yeti. The technique was ineffective in combat. But could allow the user to battle for ages.

Dani walked up, "So, what do we got"?

Logan scratched his head very hard, "The castle is literally right in front of you".

Full animation of white eyes along with horizontal black lines with purple shades fell behind her head.

Leira stopped herself from jumping up, "Y'all know what she meant. What about the enemies and the traps".

"How about your voice," said Logan.

Dani then placed her hand on Leira's shoulder, "Don't stress yourself Leira, they just want to be stupid".

"Yes Dani Sensei," said Leira as she relaxed.

"Eh," said Logan, "Since when is Dani sensei? I'm the one who just trained you for hours".

Leira giggled, "You're more like senpai".

Logan threw a fit, "Nooo. Look. Tou are Mina's peer. I am sensei. Dani is leader. Andres is goof".

Dani laughed, "Ight, let's focus".

"We just need oppai," said Andres.

Dani began beating on him, "Why must you try my patience"?

"What happened to his curse?" asked Leira.

Logan answered, "It could be many things. His body could've defeated it since we're out of the cave. Could be the lapse of time. Or maybe the source was destroyed. It's hard to tell".