Release him

Lina then said, "Then we'll be the first. Of course, if Gen cooperates."

And Gen said, "Hey, it's not like I already know how to get the golden orb. I'll do my best to get it, but don't expect it to be fast."

"No problem. If there's one thing no one expected, it's that you'd be quick."

Raja then said, "That's true."

And Gen said, "Hey, I didn't take that long. For the kind of challenge it was, I was pretty fast."

Lina then said, "Wow, that was fast? I don't even want to think about how much time it would take if it were slow."

Briny and Raja then started laughing, and Gen said, "You're laughing because you don't know how hard it is to understand the feeling I talked about, but that's okay. When I get the golden orb, I want to see you laugh like that."

Lina then said, "Well, first, you have to get the golden orb."

And Gen said, "That's easy. If the golden orb follows the same pattern as the last two, this is going to be too easy."

"I'll believe it when I see it."

"You're damn right you will see it.", and right after Gen finished saying that, they arrived in another room.

The room was full of people, unlike the other rooms they passed through, and Raja said, "Wow, this room is so crowded."

Gen then said, "That's right. Why are there so many people here?"

And Briny said, "That's normal. The golden orb room always gets crowded because it is the last room of this part of the event."

Raja then said, "This is the last room?"

And Briny said, "Yes. After that, the only thing missing is the door where we are going to put the orbs."

Gen then said, "But didn't you say that no one can get the golden orb? Why are there so many people in the orb room?"

And Raja said, "That's right. Why didn't they go to the door at the end of the temple?"

Briny then said, "They didn't go because the way to the end of the temple is not easy to pass."

And Gen said, "What do you mean easy to pass?"

"It is a path full of traps. One wrong step, and you are carried back to the beginning. Sometimes, you lose all your orbs and get thrown back to the beginning of the temple or even the beginning of the first phase of the event."

"What? Are you serious?"

"Yes. That's why there are so many people here. Most of them usually wait for someone to try to get through and follow them to the door, and if the group in front misses, the group that was following them goes back and waits for the next group to try to get through, or one of them takes the lead and continues from the point where the other group failed."

"I see."

Lina then said, "Enough talk. Let's go to the golden orb."

And Briny said, "Okay. It should be around here.", and then they started walking around the room.

The groups then realized that a new group had arrived, so they looked at them quickly, but soon after, they went back to talking among themselves.

They kept walking until a point when they heard a loud noise in one direction, and Gen asked, "What was that?"

Raja then said, "It must be someone fighting."

And Briny said, "It's very likely that it is. It's quite common for some groups to fight at this part of the event."

Lina then said, "Let's go there. Maybe they're near the golden orb."

And Gen said, "You just want to see the fight."

"That's true, but they could really be near the golden orb."

"You have a point."

Briny then said, "Let's go check it out.", and then they walked toward the noise.

On the way, they noticed that the people in the groups around them were whispering about something. Some of them seemed surprised, and others seemed frightened. The closer they got to the noise, the more groups there were, and all of them looked the same as the other groups they passed by.

They then came to the site of the noise and saw that two people were fighting.

Raja then said, "It really is a fight."

And Briny said, "I told you so. It's pretty common for that to happen in this room."

Gen was about to say something, but Lina said, "Wait a minute. Is that Alex's group fighting another group?"

Gen then looked carefully and said, "It really is Alex's group. The one that's fighting is Fir."

Raja then said, "I wonder what's going on? Why are they fighting?"

And Briny said, "Usually, people fight in this room to determine the weakest group that will take the lead in figuring out the way to the door at the end of the temple."

Lina then said, "I see, but it doesn't make sense to be that. Their group is pretty strong."

...

Fir punched the man in front of him, and the man returned his punch. The two punches met, and they then walked back a bit.

Fir then looked at the man and said, "Stop this before we reach the point of no return."

And the man said, "Hahaha. It's you who are coming at me, Fir. You just need to stop, and I'll stop, too."

"Then release Nass."

The man then looked back and saw a huge man with brown hair lying face down on the ground and three people sitting on top of him.

He then turned back around and said, "As you can see, the rest of my group is using him as a seat. So there's no way I can give him back to you now. When someone figures out the way to the door, I'll give him back to you."

"So it looks like my only option is to take him back by force."

"That's what I'm talking about, hahaha. If you want something, you have to use your strength to get it. Now come on!"

Fir then turned to Kimi and Alex, who were behind him and said, "Kimi, protect Alex. I'm going to have to go with all my strength, or I might not be able to handle him."

And Kimi said, "You got it. I won't let anything happen to him."

Fir then said, "Good."

And Alex said, "Fir, why don't you and Kimi attack together? I can take care of myself."

"No."

"Fir, you have to trust me."

"I do trust you, Alex. The problem is that it makes no difference if Kimi helps me fight him."

"Why do you say that? Kimi is on the natural level like you."

"I know, but you have to look at their side. Aside from who I'm fighting, they still have four more people standing around. So we are at a big disadvantage."

"But you two are on the natural level. Maybe this man who is fighting you is the strongest of them. If Kimi and I help you, we can beat them."

"Alex. Have you forgotten who defeated Nass? It was one of those who is sitting on him. Nass is also at the natural level, and yet he was defeated by him. So in this, we can see that he is also on the natural level."

"Still. If Kimi holds him, maybe I can take care of the rest."

"No, Alex. You're still on the material level. The other three are also on the natural level. You are no match for them."

"If that's the case, there's no way we can win."

"I know that, but there's no way I can let Nass continue to be used as a seat."

"..."

Fir then said, "Here I go. If I lose, get Alex out of here, Kimi."

And Kimi said, "You got it, and you won't lose."

"Thanks."

The man then said, "Are you guys done talking? I'm getting a little tired of waiting."

And Fir said, "Yes. We are done. Now it's time for me to finish you off."

The man then said, "Hahaha, we'll see about that.", and then got into a combat stance.

Fir then leaned down and put his arms in front of his face, forming the letter X. He then bent his fingers so that they looked like the claws of some animal. A grey mist began to come out of him and then began to cover his own body. His body changed little by little, his nails and teeth grew, especially the canine that no longer fit in his mouth, and hair began to grow all over his body.

He then pressed his foot against the ground and was about to walk towards the man when suddenly he heard, "Fir. What's going on here? Why are you guys fighting?"

Fir, the man who was fighting him, and everyone else present, then looked in the direction of the voice, and Alex, seeing who it was, said, "Gen! I'm glad you're here!"