Fourth Match

"Jack, it's time for the match." Dustin was the one who woke Jack up this time as he put his mask back on. He nodded without saying anything. He was more quiet than before. But no one talked to him, giving him some space unless he chose to open up about it himself. No one except…

"Are you okay, dude?" Toki asked him as Jack sighed and nodded before walking towards the center. He looked at the button that had appeared. He still had to press it, and as he did, the screen started showing multiple games and cycling between them like normal. Until it finally stopped on

[Congratulations! The scavenger hunt has been selected.]

[You have 10 minutes to prepare for the game.]

"I see, that's not that hard," he said as he thought about the best way to increase efficiency for this match. While Toki explained to Hana what a scavenger hunt was. Surprisingly, she was the one who didn't know about it this time. And more surprising was that Toki did know, but he seemed like the kind of guy who'd know about this. 

He sighed as he stretched a bit and warmed up for the next ten minutes, as his teacher during the dungeon had taught him to. After making sure he wouldn't be rusty due to having just woken up, he looked at his team and thought about it. Was he getting attached to them? Nah, there was no way they were just like colleagues. People he had to work with. 

Ten minutes passed before he even realized it, and they were all teleported with a bright flash again. They found themselves on a platform on the edge of a forest.

[The scavenger hunt will begin.]

[There are 10 sun stones inside the forest. The team that collects more will win. Killing or stealing is allowed.]

"Ah damn, that messes things up a bit, but we can manage," Dustin said as they discussed the plan once again. Toki and Dustin will be team 1, and Hana and Jack will be team 2. Both will go in different directions and try to find the stones. 

It was a simple enough plan, as both teams left on their respective paths. Jack kept waiting for something to happen. He was waiting for something particular while walking with Hana. Ultimately, he stopped and looked at Hana. 

"Hana, we are in a forest." Hana looked a bit nervous and kept walking without looking at him. 

"So what?" She asked without looking back as he sighed.

"I can read people's skill trees." Hana was frozen in her place as she looked back at him and sighed, seeming more annoyed than anything.

"So much for privacy, huh?" she said, admitting defeat.

"Yeah, do it; it'll make life easier," Jack said in a more cold and distant tone, almost treating her like a stranger rather than a friend. That's what she was—a stranger. 

"Fine," she said as she closed her eyes and activated her class skill. Her green hair started floating as all the trees and vines around her responded to her call as if she were talking to the entire forest at once, because that was exactly what was happening. 

She was in a druid class, but she never told anyone about it. Nonetheless, Jack knew. After a bit, some vines came carrying some stones, four of them. That was so much simpler, for fucks sake. But as she touched the stones, Hana made a horrified face, worrying Jack.

"The fuck happened," Jack asked her as she looked at him with the same face. She was having a hard time trying to find the right words to express what she had just witnessed through the vines right now. The message that had been delivered to her was that she could only sigh. "Well, for starters, I think we won."

"what.." Jack was taken by surprise by her words as she sighed, knowing that her reaction was more normal than anything. But before he could ask any more questions, a screen popped up in front of him.

[Congratulations, the scavenger hunt has ended.]

[Team S499 has won the scavenger hunt.]

Jack didn't even get the chance to properly question anything from Hana. Something probably happened with Toki's group; maybe they just found the other group and took all the stones from them, but even then, it shouldn't instantly end like that unless... he realized what happened, which was honestly surprising.

On the other side of the forest stood a man surrounded by corpses, holding the dead body of his teammate. His fists were covered in the blood of his opponents, and his eyes were full of tears as he looked at the corpse in his hands.