Chapter 09

After receiving the announcement, the pair immediately realized that things were moving slower than expected. Although it is 5 kilometers long, it should not be difficult for the participants to find each other.

'No person in charge of the exam has given us any food, so the longer this test takes, the hungrier we are. So why are things still quiet? 'Wait?! Is it really?!' - Takeru.

"Alex-san, let's go to one of the other grounds with vegetation or lakes. There's something I want to confirm!" - Takeru.

"Does that have something to do with the progress of the exam?" - Alex.

"Maybe..." - Takeru.

"Then let's go. There's not much to do around here anyway." - Alex.

The two young men started off towards the jungle territory. However they did not realize that they were being followed from the moment they entered these plains.

"Kekeke, that's right! Head straight for our trap!"

After about 40 minutes of pure walking, the teenagers finally reached the forest where all its trees were tall and very close to each other. The woods are dense and it probably wouldn't be too complicated to set up an ambush in this place.

'It's pretty obvious that some group must have already set a trap around here...*sigh* why is all this so tiring?'- Alex.

"'I hope it's worth it we walked all that way to come to this dense, stuffy woods' - Alex.

"If what I think is right, then it will be quite worth it!" - Takeru as he kept his smile on his face and a little drool dripping down the corners of his mouth.

'That fat...' - Alex

"Okay, but keep your guard up at all times" - Alex.

As they entered the woods, they spent only a few minutes wandering around until they finally came to a large pond and several fish living in it. Takeru's eyes shone like a star at the sight of this scene.

"My suspicions were right Alex-san! The candidates are not in a hurry because there is food in the seats!!!" - Takeru.

"Right, but I wouldn't be so optimistic if I were you..." - Alex.

"Why?" - Takeru.

At that very instant the black haired boy bit his thumb and made blood drip down his finger, then he extended his hand towards the lake, leaving it right on top of the water. Suddenly a small fish, seemingly harmless, appears jumping under the water towards the young man's bloody finger.

However, this is no sea of flowers. The little fish mouth opens with absurd speed and grows large enough to devour the fat teenager's arm in a single bite. However, before he could lose a hand, Alex quickly dodged the monster.

"See, they're pixies. They'll attack us as soon as we touch the water." - Alex.

"And to think they managed to bring in such a large amount of that species..." - Takeru.

"It's Neox we're talking about. They could even declare war against the entire planet with no guarantee of defeat..." - Alex.

A few seconds after Alex Walker uttered that sentence, several arrows of different colors were launched from all directions with their destination set for the pair near the lake.

"Shit!" - Alex.

Both managed to react, the fat young man erected an ice cocoon to protect himself and his companion and the boy with dark powers tried to cover the most important parts with the cloak of shadows, but he was not so lucky and ended up having his right arm hit by a purple arrow.

Almost all of the arrows were blocked, however, the one that got through caused Alex's entire limb to turn an entirely purple coloration threatening to extend into his body...

"Crap! I can't feel my arm!!!" - Alex.

"They must have someone capable of producing poisons or arrows! Alex-san, I will freeze your arm before it spreads to your body!" - Takeru as he quickly completely froze his companion's arm.

"Thank you...wait! This ice won't break and shatter my arm like in the movies will it?"- Alex despaired.

"My ice is harder than it looks Alex-san, you can trust it...probably" - Takeru while thrusting his thumb upwards with closed fists.

A slight hint of fear arose in young Alex's heart upon hearing the end of the sentence. A few seconds later, the ice cocoon melted and a hoarse voice was heard.

"Kekeke, you fell like ducks."

They both looked in the direction and saw a teenager, a little older than them, but his size is quite small compared to the average person of his age. His teeth were pointy like a shark's and his eyes were a bit bigger and had a bit of dark circles under his eyes from lack of sleep.

"If you were bald I would mistake you for a certain character who treats his ring like a precious one" - Alex.

"*Rsrs*" - Takeru laughing low.

"Yeah, yeah, keep playing. I'll just press a button and you'll be shot once again!" - Dwarf boy.

Suddenly, five more people appeared in the trees around the teenage duo.

"Really you need so many people to take care of 2 teenagers?" - Alex.

'This is getting more and more problematic...' - Alex.

"It takes when you two are the favorites to get by!" - Dwarf teenager

'If we beat them, we might have a better chance of passing out of the other 9 slots!' - Small candidate.

"What do you guys want?!" - Takeru

"Pass your bracelets!" - Midget.

'*sigh* Why do I only face retards?'- Alex as he ran his right hand over his face.

"What if we don't want to?" - Alex.

"You will suffer one of the worst pains you will ever experience!" - Midget.

"I know..." - Alex.

"We're not handing anything over!!!" - Takeru.

"Then try to defend yourselves against it!" - Midget.

All 5 members subordinate to the shark-toothed teenager jumped out of the trees and hid somewhere among the undergrowth. After confirming that his helpers were already safe, the dwarf boy swung his arm forward and what happened next surprised both Alex and Takeru.

In the candidate's hand were several steel wires attached in rings. In the next instant he pulled his arm back with all the strength he had, and several small bombs were dropped into the large lake of small sea monsters.

The explosives fell into the water and immediately caused several chain explosions. There were so many mini bombs exploding at the same time that there were pixels being thrown out of their habitat.

The duo still had no idea what this was all about, since pixels are not problematic out of water, but they soon noticed several bubbles rising to the surface of the water. These bubbles turn into ripples which then form large waves and by the end the ground was vibrating.

"How did I not remember that! For so many pixels to be gathered in order in one place could only mean that!" - Takeru.

"Looks like their boss is coming, and apparently not in search of peace." - Alex.

A large monster with legs instead of fins came out of the bottom of the lake and reached the surface. And as the boy had noticed, he was not at all happy to have been awakened in the midst of attacks.

"It's Takeru...I think it fucked up." - Alex said quietly.

"Yes, Alex-san..." - Takeru.

The big sea beast locked his enraged gaze on the pair of candidates at the lakeside and was preparing to viciously attack his supposed enemies.

"Enjoy, suckers!!!" - Dwarf

"That fucking dwarf!" - Alex.

"WHO'S THE DWARF HERE?!"

The dwarf roared fiercely, but when he felt the beast turn its head toward him he quickly fled the scene.

Meanwhile, in the observation booth for the overseers...

"What bad luck, they provoked the pixei king right away."

"Yes, and to think that there was someone among the civilians who is so good at setting traps like that..."

"If they can't escape, they will probably be killed. Be prepared to intervene should the worst happen!!!" - Midday.

At the back of the room, sitting in a chair facing a table while drinking tea, Agent Black-White was watching his candidates intently.

'This will be a good time to look at his other cards and understand why that person recommended this boy...' - Black White looking intently at the screen.

And so the battle against the beast begins.