The difference

****Steve P.O.V.

"Wow" It looked so real. I looked around me to find myself in a massive rainforest. No matter where I look, plants, shrubs, and massive trees have covered the area.

A transparent screen suddenly appeared in front of me that attracted my focus. It showed the names and pictures of my teammates on the trial.

The team consisted of 3 boys and 2 girls including me. Surprisingly, I was the only one from my class. I was familiar with one of the girls on the team.

The screen updated itself to display the rules of the trail.

1) You can locate your team members every 10 minutes but by doing so you also make your location public for a minute.

2) Your teammates were deployed in a 500m radius around you.

3) Survive the trial to get into the rankings.

"Hmm." Now I was convinced that it was allowed to hunt other people.

I quickly looked around myself to make sure no one was near me at the moment. Once I was sure, I hid inside a shrub that was beside a tree trunk.

I'm very clear with my capabilities and it was pretty clear that I would not survive for long if I encounter someone outside of my team.

Presently the whole area would be full of people and there was bound to be a conflict between them since everyone was so close to each other due to sheer numbers.

It would be in my best interest that I stay low until things calm down a bit

I was not unarmed when I appeared in this terrain. I got my weapon of choice with me.

I pull the sword in front of my chest and waited for a few minutes. My eyes were focused on the map displayed on the screen. And soon it started.

Others started to search for their teammates and ended up displaying their location. One by one, dots started to blink on the screen.

Around 300 m on my left, a dot appeared.

Keeping the 2nd rule in mind, it could mean two things. Either that dot was someone from my team or it was someone else.

Since I didn't search for my teammates, my location was not public so if that dot was hostile, they couldn't possibly move in my direction.

The dot quickly started to move toward me. The probability of it being one of my teammates increased by a lot.

Now the question was since their location was public on the map, they would likely be attacked, should I move to assist them or not?

I didn't debate for long and quickly started to move toward them. I was still careful to be as hidden as possible by moving with my body lowered.

There were enough bushes in the area that someone couldn't detect me unless they were standing in the right position.

*boom~*

It looked like the clash had already started. I could see the flames from my position. The bot was still on the map, meaning that my teammate was still safe.

"Quick, cover her." I heard a male voice screaming orders before sounds of metal clashing started.

*boom* *boom*

More explosions happen as I reached the clash area.

"You are late".

***Narrative P.O.V.

Scarlet remarked after she finished dealing with her opponents. She carried a tiny scythe with a chain attached to it.

Steve looked at the recent battlefield that was still in flames. He wondered if he was really needed?

It once again made him realize that psychics and magicians shouldn't be messed with.

"I would rather say im right on time." Steve walked up to her.

"Could you elaborate?" Scarlet couldn't understand the logic behind his statement so she ended up asking about it while they make their way toward the closest team member.

"You seemed fairly good fighter looking at the massacre that happened here just moments ago. Plus, I'm still learning the basics of swordsmanship. I would have only served as a burden if I reached here before the battle ended."

"Hmm, not much of an asset, huh? I respect honesty at least. So, what's the point of me taking care of you from now on if you only be a burden?" Scarlet asked back.

"You know that im a burden but others don't. As long as they don't know it, I can still be used when intimidating someone with numbers." They hid behind a tree when they found two female students walking toward them.

Since they were not their teammates, they were most likely the rest of the members of the team Scarlet just finished on her own.

Scarlet signaled Steve to go from the left while she moved to the right. He nodded before creeping to the left to divert their attention.

He picked a stone on the way and throw it behind them when they were not looking his way, As soon as they turned to look behind, Steve acted by running toward them.

One of them was an archer while the other carried a spear on her. The archer unknowingly walked toward Scarlet to get some distance between us while the spear-wielding girl rushed at me.

She had the advantage in terms of striking the range of our weapons. She clearly was aware of it since her first attacks were all focused on trying to maintain sufficient distance between us.

If my goal was to gain an advantage over her, I needed to get closer to her so her spear loses its mobility but that was not my goal from the beginning. I only needed to stall enough time until Scarlet dealt with the archer who unknowingly walked into the trap.

"Kyaaa~" The girl couldn't help but look behind in surprise when she heard her partner's scream. That was the opening that I didn't miss and quickly closed the gap while inserting my sword into her heart.

I didn't let her scream as I quickly twisted my blade inside her heart leading her avatar to disappear instantly.

"You seem quite ruthless just now," Scarlet commented while calculating his battle strength.

"It was also considered as mercy. The longer she stayed on the trail, the longer she had to suffer the pain." Steve leaned against the tree to calm down a bit.

"Are you okay?" Scarlet noticed that his hands were shivering while his face was completely pale. It appeared that he was having a panic attack.

"I'm fine, just....just give me a minute to calm down", I somehow didn't hesitate during the battle with all the tension but as soon as it was over, the reality of the situation hit me.

Even though I knew this was just a trial, it felt so real. There was no difference between killing someone in here and killing someone in real life except that in here the body disappears.