Evel wasn’t certain how long he'd been on the ground, trying to recover from what he'd just seen

  What the hell was that?

  He weakly got up onto his feet and took in his surroundings.

  He was surrounded by tall, spaced out darkwood trees. They had branching extending from just a few meters high, allowing them to be easily climbed. In his close proximity, the vegetation was light, suited for traveling.

  Far ahead of him, it was 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.

  It was warm, and bright.

  Evel looked to the sky at the brilliantly shining sun.

  Seeing the sun reminded him of the blurry figure, so he instinctively tried to recall what it looked like.

  “ARGHHHHHH”

  Evel stumbled once more to the ground clutching his head. It was as if a searing needle had been drilled into his brain.

  After a few seconds of recovery, he got up again, more cautious.

  Whatever that thing was, I mustn’t try and remember it.

  Instead, Evel tried to focus on his current circumstances.

  This is probably the location of the challenge, but nobody ever explained the objective.

  Thinking about the details, 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 pushed aside all discomfort he felt.

  He organized this new information.

  The objective was simple.

  Survive.

  He just had to survive until one of the following completion criteria was solved.

  All 50 dormant beasts are awakened and killed.

  At least 76 recruits are killed.

  At least 25 dormant beasts are awakened and killed, and at least 46 recruits are killed.

  With rewards for each beast and human you killed.

  So they want us to try and kill the beasts, and if people fail and die in the process, then the survivors will pass.

  Or we turn on each other; if 76 recruits die, then only 60 would remain.

  Executing half the recruits just like that?

  What a cruel game.

  Evel tightened his fist in determination.

  His items had been scattered all across the ground. It seems he had been rolling about a lot while trying to come to his senses.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Gathering his belongings, a splash of colour hit his eye.

  There was exactly one item that wasn’t his on the ground, a crimson red compass which 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 I wait a bit, depending on the movement of where it’s pointing, I’ll have a very vague approximation of the direction that Brenton is as well.

  Then, he focused back onto 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

  However, Evel didn’t have much to go off, so left it in the back of his mind.

  Then, he considered the red compass again.

  Right now, it was pointing in almost the opposite direction of 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.

  However, Evel found it difficult to trust a stranger. There were rewards for killing each other, so even if the initial interaction went well, Evel would always fear getting backstabbed.

  I wanted to stay here for a while so I could get an accurate picture of where Brenton was as well, but it seems I have no choice.

  I need to immediately run towards Elena, I can’t stay in this location for long.

  Evel was concerned that 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.

  I can use the red compass to normalize the black one.

  Evel had been ready to delay his original plan of using his knowledge of Elena’s speed to find Brenton’s location, but was extremely glad he didn’t need to.

  Evel picked up the compass off the ground and studied the positions they were in.

  Six hours is a long period, looks like I’ll be here longer than I planned.

  He wanted to run, but then he’d be left helpless if he encountered somebody.

  I need to preserve my stamina and consider food and water as well.

  Evel started his trek.

  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, mouth open in anger, its thick fur matching with the darkwood trees. 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 but she knew instinctively that should she let the Clawbear roam free, she would be the first dead.

  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 now much bigger than before.

  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.

  She hoped nobody would come, but if they did 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, observing closely for the arrival of an enemy.

  The sounds of battle had died out, replaced by the howl of the wind and the constant river flow.

  Juniper was anything but impatient.

  Elsewhere…

  Elena ran hard.

  Her untied red hair fluttered in the air behind her as she put one foot ahead of the other with full determination. The trees blurred past her and the sounds of a distant river got 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, was a man of similar age, he had brown hair and eyes to match. He was wearing an expensive high-collared tunic and in his hands, was a longsword pointing back at Brenton.

  Brenton had hardly traveled for a few kilometers before this encounter.

  “You wouldn’t want to work together would you?”

  Brenton asked with an awkward smile.

  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, his eyes never leaving the man.

  “We can all live if we just take out the 50 beasts. We don’t have to turn on each other.”

  The man took a step forward with his right foot.

  “Would you even be helpful?”

  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.