The Source of the Silence

There was no sign of life in sight other than that burning campfire in the dead center of the circle of tents. The fire was still blazing hot. The wood wasn't fully carbonized, meaning it was freshly added to the pile. Ray wished he could scan his surroundings, but the heat from the fire was not exactly helping with the flow of mana.

"Just to be sure." Ray put out the fire and waited for the heat to dissipate. It took several minutes for Ray to detect the mana flow properly, which didn't help much. thinking hard about how he can find anyone in the forest this wide, Ray reached an unorthodox conclusion. "Excuse me, Goddess Arcana." he called out, "Can you clear all nearby deceptions in return for some of my mana?"

Nothing happened. Ray laughed at his ridiculous attempt to woo a god with a little amount of mana. But then he started losing strength, losing more than half of remaining mana from his body. Maybe the goddess found his little appeal interesting, or she liked that someone actually asked her to do something instead of borrowing the authority, but she did listen to Ray. every type of illusion present in the entire forest was cleared. The silence ended with a loud roar that shook the atmosphere. "Thank you." Ray politely thanked the goddess and started scanning the surroundings for any signs of life.

"You don't have to do that." Tom appeared out of the bushes like a ghost, "They all are with Evan. Someone cleared the Deception that Team 12 had cast all over the forest, I am trying to find the source of that. lend me a hand."

"No need for that. I negated the spells."

"I see. Wait- what?"

"I'll explain later. what happened here?" Ray started running to the southeast with Tom catching up in seconds.

"Team 12 wiped most teams out during the first two days. Then they started wiping out the rest of the teams along the coast. They specialize in healing and illusions. The full firepower of the team is their team leader, Christina. She is trying to gain some kind of favor from every team leader, I don't know what it is. We wiped the entire Team 2 out and found the remains of Team 7 in the swamps. No signs of team 13 yet." Tom summarized.

"So you didn't find team 13 either huh," Ray muttered. "Let's just hope we don't have to fight team 12 alone."

They just covered the forest in silence and reached the swamp in mere minutes to meet the team. Everyone looked pretty banged up, but their smiling faces were teeming with energy. Eve welcomed Ray, "I hoped to meet Luke, but you'll have to make do for now. Where is your girlfriend?"

"Safe and probably heading to the Nest. the second roar came from there as well, right? let's head there." Ray said.

There was no further talking. It was time for the whole team to be reunited, near the place where the most dangerous carnivores of the country famously breed.

Now that we have seen the team get together, let's see what became of their leader in the last few days. Where was Lucian? Why didn't he appear in any fights before this? we don't have to go back too long to get our answers.

It had been four days since he was dropped into the nest of dragons, but Lucian was still to make contact with another human. He woke up from a two-hour nap, which was his first proper sleep in the last two days. As per common knowledge, every dragon leaves the country during winter and comes back after the snow melts to lay eggs. What Lucian was fighting for three days was anything but common.

Team 13 was scattered everywhere, in bits and pieces. Lucian could have tried to save them if he got here in time, but he was late. in front of him, the very reason for their death was trampling over their remains. It was a horrible sight, with blood and organs covering the trees and the smell of burning flesh filling the air. Lucian could have abandoned the nest and left long ago, but then there would be more victims to this monstrosity if he left it as it is.

"Fauna managed to injure it, maybe I can take it out," said Lucian, his eyes focused on the huge reptile that was roaming the forest floor. his left arm had stopped bleeding, but that didn't mean that he was ready to fight.

The beast was at least seven meters in length, and that is not including its tail, as it was ripped off. its wing membranes were ripped out, forcing it to keep on land. his bloodshot eyes were trying to search for the next thing he could eat. The dark green scales on its back were chipped away at random spots, revealing its muscles and bones. The dragon was in a bad state, but that only made it more dangerous. When at this level of injury, any other animal will go into hiding to rest and to prevent further damage. this wasn't something that was ever documented before, maybe because those who witnessed this did not survive to put it on record it ever.

The bleeding dragon was hunting down every animal in its sight, it didn't matter if it was a small rodent or an armed human. that's what became of team 13, they all became nourishment for that dragon. The only person who could do any damage to that dragon was their team leader, Fauna. That didn't matter, now that she was in the dragon's mouth, quenching its thirst.

Lucian had two choices, either escape and wait for backup or risk everything he had to take this animal down. he could have taken the beast down if he was at his full strength. he decided to retreat and head south before sunrise, light was not going to help him hide from a dragon. he climbed over the trees to rise above the canopy and keep out of sight of the dragon.

That's when he saw a beautiful arc of light moving over the river. it was bright enough to light up the area it landed at and give away the location from where it was shot. revealing the location to enemies didn't make any sense unless the reveal was for the companions. Lucian smiled when he saw three people taking off to cross the river. He immediately knew who these people were, as their mana signatures were from his team. "So we are getting together earlier than expected. I think I can take some rest."

He headed west, reaching the edge of the island in mere seconds. That's where he decided to rest until someone could find him. There was only one other team remaining, and they too were hiding from that hungry dragon. their lack of combat power was not going to help them slay the dragon. The northwest side of the island was the hiding place of team 12, Lucian decided to rest on the northeastern side. The last half of the island was the resting place of team 13, their final resting place.

The sun rose, slowly engulfing the forest in gentle light. Lucian started basking in the heat, as little as it was. He looked across the river, his entire team was standing in front of him, all of them focused in his direction. He raised his hand, casting a circle in the air to release a giant spark of electricity toward the sky. As if waiting for that signal, the entire team started to move towards the nest, getting to their leader in seconds. all of them had scratches and dirt all over their clothes and were still full of energy.

"We have two options here." Lucian wasted no time in explaining. "Either Scepter gets rid of the Dragon, or we ignore it and battle the last team. Either way, we have to face the dragon and Christina both. Which do you think we should go to first?"

"We don't have to fight both," Eve said, signaling Tom to explain further.

"The dragon has started healing already, I think he just needed some food," Tom almost gagged before saying the next line, "and he had plenty of food recently."

"I know. I saw that happen. He is in a sorry state, but I think Divina has blessed that animal. The way he keeps on living even in that state is not normal, but it makes him more dangerous." Lucian scanned through everyone's eyes, "What do you propose we do?"

"We make team 12 fight the dragon, with that many healers they should make it out alive. if they don't seem to make it out, we save them and make them submit. Then we take out the dragon together." Eve explained the plan.

"Before anything happens, let's heal ourselves." Lucian pulled his hands out, "Goddess Divina, let me Alleviate my team, Bestow them with energy through your authority."

Effects were immediate, the entire team was back to fighting shape. Even though Lucian didn't ask for it, even he was healed. they all left at once, covering the northern end of the island. The next step was a simple, attack.

Cornering the opponents was easier than planned. they all started escaping deeper into the forest as soon as Scepter started attacking. they didn't try to hide or fight back at all. even their leader, Christina was running without break. Ray sensed something from his right and stopped in his tracks. He wasn't the only one to sense this, even people who were bad at sensing presence stopped. this was not something that he had sensed before, a new sensation enveloped Ray's brain.

Everyone stopped moving as if frozen in time. a low growl emerged from below the trees like an announcement of an upcoming massacre. All of a sudden, the entire forest floor was covered in flames that rose slowly consuming all that was present.

In the middle of the flames was standing the Dragon, now just scarred instead of wounded, and ready to eat again. His eyes darted around the trees, staring down each human one by one. He was wide open, weak, and unable to fly but no one dared to attack him. Everyone was frozen, some not even breathing, all because of the aura the dragon was emitting. It was bloodlust, very clearly targeted at the humans looming over him, and it scared everyone.

Instinct, the tool that all animals have to help them survive. It tells us who is the predator and prey, who hunts who, and who needs to fear the other. and now, for the first time in their lives, they felt the instinct of prey. It was a frightening experience, forcing everyone to hide their presence. If something was not clear, it had to be their chance of survival, which alternated between 100 to 0 as the dragon changed his focus.

A cry emerged amidst the sound of burning trees and cracking wood. Christina had started to dive towards the dragon, screaming at top of her lungs as she charged with plasma covering her hands. The scream snapped everyone out of fear and the whole team 12 went into action.