Chương 11: Red Compass

Evel's hands dug into the turf, gripping tightly onto the green blades. What the hell was that? Weakly, he managed to push up to his feet, the world spinning around him. Soon, his vision stabilized. Tall, spaced-out darkwood trees spanned into the horizon in every direction. In his close proximity, the vegetation was light. Far ahead of him, a footpath led to what looked to be a man-made campfire that hadn't been used recently.

There was a quiet waterfall noise to his right, and deeper vegetation composed of ferns, and what appeared to be berry bushes to his left. The soft touch of the sun gently lit the surroundings, casting a warm blanket glow. Evel looked up at the brilliant sun. That blurry figure… Instinctively, he tried to recall what it looked like.

"ARGHHHHHH!" A searing needle drilled into his brain, and Evel collapsed to the ground, clutching his head. Rolling on the ground, he desperately tried to think of anything else. The Yosten Phantasmagoria, his mentor, his newfound friends, just anything else but that unnatural being. A few seconds of rolling in the dirt later, he pushed himself up to his feet again. He grabbed onto his shaky hands, stabilizing them the best he could. Whatever that thing was, I can't try to remember it.

He focused on the present instead. He was in a strange new location, and still didn't know what sort of challenges lay ahead of him. Before he finished that thought, Evel realized he actually already knew the objective. It was as if the knowledge had been directly placed into his brain. An intrusive process, but the overwhelming urgency of the situation dominated any sort of discomfort. He organized this new information. The objective was simple. Survive.

He just had to survive until one of three completion criteria was met. All 50 dormant beasts are awakened and killed. Or at least 76 recruits are killed. Or at least 25 dormant beasts are awakened and killed, and at least 46 recruits are killed. With great rewards for each beast and human you killed. So they want us to try and kill the beasts... Or we turn on each other; if 76 recruits die, then only 60 would remain. Executing over half the recruits just like that? He tightened his fist.

Gathering his scattered belongings, a splash of colour hit his eye. There was exactly one item that wasn't his on the ground, a crimson red compass that looked almost exactly like the black compass pointing towards Elena. Speaking of, I should mark down the current location. He put the black compass down on the ground and made a notch where it was currently pointing. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Then, he focused back on the red compass.

Evel grit his teeth. He knew what this compass did. Like the knowledge about the challenge, this information had also been inserted into his mind, and its function was quite troublesome. Every six hours, the compass pointed to the exact spot where the nearest person 'not in your group' had started. How exactly that was decided, Evel had no clue. Right now, it was pointing in almost the opposite direction from where Elena was. Should he try to meet up with this stranger first?

If they came to some sort of understanding, they'd be far safer as two, but it was difficult to trust a random stranger. There were rewards for killing each other, so even if the initial interaction went well, he'd live in constant paranoia of being backstabbed. The problem was that now he couldn't stay in one location as he figured out the proper meeting spot. He needed to change locations immediately in case an enemy was after him.

When running, it wouldn't be feasible to run in an exactly straight line due to the uneven terrain, which was a huge problem for finding Brenton's location. He wouldn't have a reliable initial direction to compare the new direction with. His eyes drifted back to the red compass as an idea formed in his mind. The red compass is practically fixed, only changing every once in a while… Maybe I could use the red compass to normalize the black one?

Evel picked up the compass off the ground and studied the positions they were in. For the intervals to be six hours, the challenge must last multiple days... He wanted to immediately sprint to Elena, but if he got ambushed while exhausted, he'd stand no chance. Not when he was already so weak, regardless of his exhaustion. The long trek began. Elsewhere… Huff, huff, huff Leo jogged onward, eyes darting between the two devices.

In his right hand, the black compass pointed straight ahead; in his left, the red needle mirrored it perfectly. He frowned but didn't slow his pace. The forest rushed past his vision as he remained vigilant of what he may find ahead. Elsewhere… The beast loomed over Fern. A gargantuan Clawbear, on all fours and with its mouth open in anger. Its thick fur matched the darkwood trees, and its ferocious maw could eat her in one bite. It would likely reach up to 6 meters in height if it stood on its hind legs.

A shiver travelled up Fern's spine. It's… sealed. Surrounding this creature was a thin translucent white membrane. The Clawbear was frozen in place mid-attack, as if somebody had encased it in a block of ice years ago. The knowledge of how to release this beast was stored forcefully inside her, so she could free it at a moment's notice. But she knew. Should she free this beast, she would be the first to die. Elsewhere… Juniper reached for the next branch as she continued climbing the tree.

She had left her porcupine hiding among bushes under her; the creature had grown to a much bigger size since she'd started training it. Just a few minutes after waking up, she heard the sounds of weapons clashing. Somebody was close, and at least one of them was hostile enough to start a fight. Unwilling to risk getting found unprepared, she ran and lay in ambush. Ideally, nobody would come, but if they did, then at least she would be ready.

After reaching a comfortable height, she positioned herself to be hidden behind the leaves and slowly took out an arrow from her quiver. She took a few deep breaths and focused on her surroundings, closely observing for the enemy's arrival. The sounds of battle had died out, replaced by the howl of the wind and the constant river flow. She was anything but impatient. Elsewhere… Elena ran hard. Her short red hair danced in the air as she sprinted, her feet churning like a whirlwind.

The trees blurred past her, with the sounds of a distant river getting louder and louder. The moment her thoughts returned to her, she had hastily put all her scattered items in her pouch and begun her sprint towards Brenton. She hadn't noticed the red compass, which remained in her pouch. One thought dominated her mind. Don't you dare fucking die. Elsewhere… Aw, man, already?

In an open grass field, Brenton looked ahead, focused, gripping his ferrum sword by its black handle in his right hand, a buckler resting at his left side. Ahead of him, a brown-haired man of similar age was wearing an expensive high-collared tunic. In his hands, he held a longsword, pointing back at Brenton. He'd hardly travelled for a few kilometres before being approached.

"You wouldn't want to work together, would you?" Brenton asked, an awkward smile on his face. The man across from him returned a soft smile and posed a rhetorical question.

"Would we be able to trust each other?" Brenton lightly shook his head in disappointment, just steady enough to never let the man leave his gaze.

"50 beasts seems pretty doable." The man took a step forward with his right foot.

"Would someone like you even be able to contribute?" Brenton gripped his sword tighter. The other party was insistent on a battle. He better be as inexperienced as me… Elsewhere… Bremin ran forward expressionlessly, following the head of the needle closely. He took a quick glance down to make sure he hadn't gotten off track. The grass shook at his ridiculous pace as he rapidly approached his target. In his right hand was the crimson-red compass.