The Tournament Begins
Dennis took a deep breath as he looked at the crowd. " The tournament will begin as soon as the door opens." He couldn't help but be proud of the event that he had organized. " Good Luck to everyone one of you!" Just as Dennis finished speaking, the gigantic doors behind him opened.
The crowd rushed out to the desert like a pack of mad bulls, showing no care for what or who was in front of them. Some of the weaker students were even caught in the stampede, causing the first few disqualifications of the tournament.
-" Are you going to wait?" Isabella watched the crowd rush with excitement.
-" Yeah..." Makayla clutched the ring she had just received and stared at the desert not far from her. " After the path opens, we can go."
-" A lot more people than I thought decided to wait." Isabella was confused as she saw the number of people that decided to wait just like Makayla.
-" Isabella... Don't forget that this is a survival test." Makayla couldn't take the words of the tournament organizer from her mind.
-" But you still have to hunt monsters if you want a spot in the Royal Tournament." Isabella was confused, Makayla hadn't shut up about qualifying for the Royal Tournament, but, now she didn't even seem interested in going to hunt the monsters.
-"They wouldn't call this a survival test without a reason." Makayla retrieved the dagger that Henry had given her. " Let's go..." Makayla's eyes were full of resolve, she was already interested in the Royal Tournament spot, and now that she knew that Henry was watching she was even more deadset on qualifying.
Makayla and Isabella were very attentive to their surroundings as they moved through the desert. They weren't just warry of monsters, but, of the other participants too.
-" Do you know anything about this place?" Makayla asked as she gazed at a group of black dots in the distance.
-" Iron Talon Vultures and Sand Worms!" Isabella promptly answered her question with the two of the most well-known beast of this region. " Oh Yeah! Oasis too!"
-" Sand Worms..." Makayla looked at the dunes and sighed, this type of monster was famous for swallowing entire merchants' caravans whole. " We should first set up a resting place."
-" Isn't this impossible?" Isabella looked around, and she could only see sand. " My sister came here one time, and she said that the oasis is the most dangerous part of the entire desert."
-" There was to somewhere safe here...." The Magyar Desert was enormous, and many people travel through it. "
Makayla was in the mid-thought when she saw three large cactus not far away, at first only their abnormal size caught her attention, but, as she grew closer to them she began to notice that they were moving in a strange pattern.
-" Are they... dancing?" Isabella had also noticed the strange cactus and stopped to observe them.
-" Isabella, let's go, we don't have time to wa———" Makayla was about to tell Isabella to not waste time when she felt droplets of water falling down.
She looked over to the sky and grew puzzled as she could swear that the sky was completely open the moment before. -" Rain?" Makayla stared at the large black cloud covering them in confusion.
-" Makayla! Watch out!" Isabella hurriedly shouted as she saw one of the cacti jumping towards her companion.
Makayla somersaulted as she heard Isabella's warning and began to cast a small fireball. She didn't even give a look to her attacker and threw the fireball toward him, however, the heavy rain made her spell fizzle out even before hitting the cacti.
-" What monster is this?" Isabella froze in fear as she saw the cactus bodies growing ever larger as they absorbed the rainwater.
-" It doesn't matter! Run." Makayla bit her lips, she was only confident in her fire spells, and fighting under such heavy rain made her basically useless.
-" Run to where?" Isabella's face grew pale as she looked back and saw the cacti approaching them.
Makayla searched around for somewhere to hide when she saw a large group of students not far away from her. " There! Let them handle this." Makayla picked up her speed and ran straight to the unaware group.
Isabella grinned as she realized what Makayla was planning. " Great Plan!" She was impressed by Makayla's devious plan, not only this would make the monster's cactus stop following them, they could even get rid of a few participants.
The group had just finished dealing with a Sand Worm, and they were too busy dismembering the monster to notice the approaching danger.
-" A Core! This monster got a core!" A boy with blonde hair smiled as he snatched the core from inside the Sand Worm. " All this trouble was worth it." Many people in his group were wounded in the fight against the monster, but, at least it wasn't for nothing.
-" What are we doing now? Julius is too wounded to stay in the tournament." One of the girls from the group was finishing the first aid on an injured member when she noticed the ground trembling. "Another Sand Worm?" She quickly turned around and almost fainted as she saw the large cactus just behind them.
-" Thank you for dealing with this!" Isabella shouted as she and Makayla passed through the group.
The unfortunate group was so shocked that they didn't even react, and could only stare at the back of the two girls.
-" Fuck! Run!" The blonde boy that held the core cursed as the cactus monsters started to focus on his group.
-" Gary! What about everyone else?" The girl who was taking care of the injured members was in disbelief that the boy had forsaken the group so easily.
-" Who cares?! This is a tournament is everyone for themselves!" The boy didn't even look back as he ran away.
-" Scoundrel!" The girl cursed the boy, he was the one who had the idea to fight against the Sand Worm, and now he was the first one to escape.
The girl crushed her bracelet and closed her eyes as she saw the group of monsters approaching, most of her group was injured and they had no chance against the monsters.
-" Disqualified..." A voice rang out of nowhere, startling the girl, who quickly opened her eyes, only to see a man on top of a red eagle hovering above her.