The First Shift, Unlucky
Tick, tock, tick, tock...
The second hand of the clock kept ticking. It was like calm before the storm, a ticking prelude to the inevitable.
The clock hand slowly rotated. A few seconds passed in a blink of an eye, and the clock hand finally came to a stop with one last, resounding tick.
Tick!
The whole forest suddenly shook.
[15:00 minutes have passed.]
'It's time!'
Natasha immediately took out the general map, one of the common utility artifacts their team chose.
It was in the form of a small device.
Click!
Clicking the button of the device, a hologram sprouted out of it and displayed a map to them. There were several blue dots scattered across the map.
The blue dots moved continuously without taking a break.
"The closest one to us..."
Natasha watched the blue dots carefully. In a few seconds, she had already found which team was closest to their position.
"It's this! To the north of the forest, do we chase?"
Pointing at a specific dot, she looked at her teammates and asked for their opinion. Noah and Penguin nodded, taking out their weapons as they stood behind her.
"Finally... I can be of use to the team."
"Alright, I'm ready!"
Hearing that, Natasha turned her gaze to Bruce with slight hesitation. But when the man sensed her staring at him, he gave a brief nod, indicating his agreement.
She turned around and sighed in relief.
"Let's go then."
Without anymore doubts clouding her mind, she took out her Black Scythe and gracefully ran to the north of the Murky Forest.
***
Leader of Team 4, Mikhail Allison, held a strange lamp as he and his team ran through the northern part of the forest.
The strange lamp was as big as a man's head, forged by an unknown material, and brightly burned with a strange blue fire. It emitted a translucent and ethereal glow.
"Direct us to the place where we can save ourselves."
As though complying with Mikhail's demands, the blue lamp swung slightly, letting out a blue ghostly light that formed a direction.
The light directed them towards the south.
'This is..'
Mikhail looked at their back, filled with doubt. It didn't seem like a good direction. He hesitated for a moment before coming to a decision.
"Let's go! We'll trust the lamp... It can't be wrong!"
The three of his teammates nodded solemnly.
Without wasting anymore time, Mikhail and the rest of his team followed the light to the southern part of the Murky Forest.
It wasn't hard for them to travel fast thanks to the lamp.
Due to the lamp's characteristics, they can never get lost as long as they follow the direction it gave them.
They didn't doubt the lamp's powers either. Its powers already worked once for them, the second time was surely to be no different.
'Hm? Wait...'
Soon, Mikhail and the rest of his team reached the end of the light. They couldn't help but be surprised since the light had directed them to an open spot.
Their idea of a safe place was a well hidden spot that no one knew... more specifically a secret cave or man hole.
An ominous premonition erupted in Mikhail's heart.
"Leader, this is bad!"
One of Mikhail's teammates suddenly shouted, flustered. She pointed at the top of one of the trees surrounding them.
'Hm?!'
Mikhail immediately looked above them. A figure stood on the branch of a tree, the murky shadows covering their appearance.
"Is it mere bad luck or unintentional stupidity? I didn't expect for all of you to personally deliver yourselves to our doorsteps."
After the figure spoke, another silhouette stepped out from a different tree.
"Intriguing, isn't it? Like a moth to a flame."
Then as if in cue, two more figures stepped out from their hiding spots on two different trees.
"Exactly."
"Exactly."
When the first one appeared, Mikhail immediately realized they were surrounded. He knew that they walked right into the enemy camp.
'This is bad! Why did the lamp lead us here?!'
Mikhail gritted his teeth, staring at the blue lamp in his hands. It worked the last time they used it... but why did it suddenly stop working now?
"Leader, what are we going to do?! We're surrounded!"
Hearing his teammates shout, Mikhail snapped out his daze. He took a deep breath and gazed at the figures nonchalantly standing above them.
'I have to calm down... What's done is done, I'll check later why the lamp suddenly malfunctioned, but we need to survive this predicament first.'
Mikhail thought, taking out his weapon. His teammates saw his actions and followed suit, similarly bringing out their respective weapons.
Their team was nothing spectacular, but that didn't mean they were weak.
"Hm? That lamp..."
One of the figures spoke, intrigued. They jumped out of the tree and landed in front of Mikhail and his team, gazing at the lamp strongly.
Now that the murky shadows were no longer covering the figure's appearance, Mikhail finally saw the person hidden behind the shadows.
"You...! Maximilian Frost!"
The person was a tall, white haired man with deep blue eyes. His handsome face was angular and chiseled, while a snowflake tattoo was engraved near his snow white brows.
Maximilian Frost, one of the 10 strongest students in their class.
"That's the Lantern of Souls...! so you're Team 4." Maximilian said in awe, looking at Mikhail and his teammates. He couldn't help but smirk and clap his hands. "How incredibly lucky!"
The「Lantern of Souls」was a special Utility-type artifact that allowed the user to go wherever they wanted without getting lost.
"The map indicated this place right here!"
While both Maximilian and Mikhail were thinking, a feminine voice suddenly resounded near them. It was gentle as the spring's wind, music to the ears.
Both of them immediately turned their gaze to where the voice came from
Coming from the south was a beautiful woman with long, purple hair and eyes. She was especially graceful and charming.
Behind him, there were three figures: Noah, Penguin and Bruce respectively.
But compared to her... Maximilian's eyes burned with intense desires. They were like fireflies clinging to the brilliance of the sun.
"Natasha Raven!"
It looked as if the Queen and Her Royal Guards had entered the battle.