Five days left... That was all they had to complete this trial, and they had no idea how the third scenario was going to be.
Their first scenarios, Vernox was offered as a sacrifice to a snake while bound, while Harley was in a village on the verge of destruction.
Their second scenarios were considerably harder than the first, Vernox being bound and trafficked and Harley being taken prisoner on a ship with no way to survive.
To increase their chances of survival to the max, they had to grow stronger in a short amount of time. Five days was all they had.
Yet, despite this harrowing future they had coming for them, Harley's lips twitched as the sound of a small harp resounded.
They all sat outside a cave, and one of the men they were with was playing a strange stringed instrument while the females were humming a weird tune. There was even a bonfire in their middle; it was as if they were about to relax.
Harley looked at Vernox to see that the young man was putting a stone against the plain silver sword he had been using ever since.
"Okay, enough!" Harley stood up, blurting out, making the music makers stop.
"I don't know about you guys, but we have to finish this dungeon today," Harley spoke with a frown, holding the sword artifact in his hand.
"Are you crazy? It takes at least three days to clear a dungeon. You are not even wearing decent equipment," Lesley, the man among the adventurer group, said with raised brows.
"As quick as possible. Five hours," Vernox suddenly spoke up, shocking the group even more.
Harley only gave a nod of approval.
"That's more like it." He walked forward, looking into the dark cave, and he looked back at the bonfire.
He took a single stick to use as a torch and went into the cave.
"Fine, I'll let you guys lead," Lesley said with a smile, and the girl with a staff looked at him with a raised brow.
Lesley only nodded to her, and with a wave of her hand, a few orbs of light flew ahead of the group.
Harley looked at his hand. He switched the sword to his left hand, and he saw that his palm was all red and hurt, although mildly.
"It's normal for your hand to be bruised. You're new to using a sword, after all," Vernox commented, and Harley couldn't help but frown at the orb of light over Vernox's head, highlighting his looks.
"The report says that it's populated with lizard creatures. We should encounter some later," Vernox explained, raising his sword.
Unsurprisingly enough, they didn't have to walk long before light poured through the ceiling. There were holes at the top that let light in, but small dark areas still remained.
"They're coming!" The woman with the staff raised it, spreading light over the dark areas.
Harley looked at what he was wearing: torn clothes that the pirates wore inside and nothing but a sword in his hands. The adventurers were well equipped with metallic guards on parts of their bodies.
"Why are you guys staying back?" Harley asked, looking at the three adventurers with a frown.
"Hey! We didn't even want to raid this place 'cause it was dangerous. We'll just support from behind," the man scratched the back of his head, and Harley looked forward, just in time to see movements from within the cave.
They were lizard creatures with long claws moving on the walls of the cave. Seeing their mouths salivating, letting out aggressive hisses, Harley took a deep breath and raised his sword.
He was already strong enough to push a truck, and he had attained speed humans dream of, but there was an unsettling feeling in his bones.
Vernox moved forward before Harley, intercepting a clawed hand stretched towards him. With a calm slide he dodged and sliced in a wide arc, cleaving the head off of the first creature.
Seeing this, Harley smiled and nodded.
'That's right, it may be a tough trial but they're killable.' He took a step back, cleaving the arm of one of the creatures in the air.
*Grak!*
It crashed against the ground, hissing loudly at where Harley stood before. That was when its head rolled to the ground.
{You have killed a scheme 4 creature; Green tunnel lizard. You have acquired a story fragment.}
"Oh?" Harley smiled as getting these fragments were the goal all along.
He was already at scheme 7, so these creatures were no threat to him currently as he was stronger, faster, and he also... had the will to kill them.
Feeling the fatigue building in, Harley deactivated invisibility, making him visible to three of these green lizard things.
He raised the sword in his hand, feeling that his palms were in pain from holding onto the weapon for so long.
"Argh." He dropped the sword, charging forward at the creatures.
He ducked, dodging a horizontal swipe of a claw. Grabbing the tail, he raised the creature, throwing it at another that lunged at him.
The third closed in that instant, and Harley already saw it; a punch cracked its skull. With that, it slumped on the ground, and Harley looked at his fists, smiling and looking at the other two.
{You have killed a scheme 4 creature; Green tunnel lizard. You have acquired a story fragment.}
{You have killed a scheme 4 creature; Green tunnel lizard. You have acquired a story fragment.}
Harley finished with the two he faced, and he looked at Vernox who was advancing deeper into the tunnels, and his smile instantly dropped.
Vernox was moving between the creatures as if he was a killing machine. He was able to see all of his movements, but it looked like a dance.
The lizards weren't able to get close; any hand that reached into his range was cut down by the movements of the blade.
'It looks like... swordplay,' Harley thought, remembering what Eman demonstrated back on the ship.
While Eman's swordplay was straightforward and unyielding, Vernox seemed like he just wanted to kill as many enemies as possible.
Harley tore a piece of his shirt, glancing back at the three adventurers staring at the two of them with grim expressions, and he tied his palms before going back into battle.