Chapter 5：Team

The preparation time was almost over. In the last hour, Stanis had managed to find some strips of leather, from the arsenal, that he bandaged his arms with to the best of his ability. After this, he had sat down and rested, each trial had only gotten harder which meant that the next one would not be any simpler.

It was also during this extended break that he began to think back on what he had done in the past few hours. He had been brought up as a strong Christian household and had only ever once bloodied his hands in real life when he had visited his grandparents in Siberia.

They hadbred reindeers and protected them from the wilderness in Siberia. It was a fairly lucrative business as long as you knew the right buyer for the reindeer products.

It was there that Stanis had killed and skinned a Reindeer. His parents had gone to the state school there and had managed to move to Sweden just before he was born.

Finally, they had moved to England, where Stanis had been brought up. Such an upbringing meant that he was brought up in a safe, protected environment compared to what he could have faced in Siberia. And thus it had come as a shock when he had been told to kill the reindeer, and even more of a shock when he had to skin his own kill. It was fair to say that he had been sick more than once during that time.

Such memories brought back feelings of longing for the past. His family were now all dead, his mother had been the last and she had died 2 years back. This had made his life far more difficult, and had eventually led to him hanging out with the wrong crowd.

It was only a few months back that Stanis had an epiphany and thus had decided to turn his life back around.

Maybe he had lost all his friends where he had been, but he was going to make new, better ones as he went to University. Or at least he would have, was it not for this Tutorial shit ruining the life that he had just salvaged back together. Slowly but steadily, the tears began to stream out.

[Time is up. Prepare for your next trial.]

Stanis only had enough time to wipe the wet tears from his face before once again feeling the sting across his body; he had been transported.

[Welcome to the first group trial. Your opponent shall be much stronger than what you have faced so far, and so teamwork is heavily recommended. However any path is viable, all you have to do is survive!]

The first thing Stanis saw was the ground: it was the same as last time, dry and solid. He then proceeded to look at his "teammates" who were similarly bringing their heads up to look around. There were three of them, four in total if you included Stanis.

One of them was a tanned European boy who looked like he was in his early 20's. He had short, dirty blonde hair with dark green eyes, as well as a strong jawline.

He was wearing a casual t-shirt with the leather cuirass over, normal jeans and a pair of sneakers. With the muscles bulging out of his t-shirt, it was quite obvious that this guy was quite strong. Over his left arm were leather strips tied tightly, creating a bandage. However, this couldn't staunch the blood flow which continued to slowly drip out.

The next one was the only girl there. She was a young Asian who shared the yellowish-tint to her skin with Stanis. She had the normal Asian features of slanted eyes, smallish face with long black hair set loose behind her head.

She was wearing a loose jumper and a pair of skinny jeans which had a long vertical rip down them. This wasn't for fashion, but rather because she had been slashed as you could see the bloody wound underneath the jeans. It wasn't deep but it was quite long as it went down most her left leg, which is why it hadn't been bandaged up as there hadn't been close to enough bandages in last trial's arsenal.

The last one was an aged, bulky Indian man. He was the largest of everyone there, being a head taller than Stanis who was around 5'10. He was also the bulkiest by quite far as he seemed a big mix of muscle and fat. He had dark brown skin, a large nose and a bushy moustache which had begun greying.

On top of his head was shaggy hair, which too had begun greying. The man had sullen, slanted eyes which were severely fatigued as they were practically red. He was wearing a bloody, striped shirt, alongside a Sarong, which was a long tube of cloth wrapped around his legs, and a pair of sandals.

Neither he nor the Asian girl had the leather Cuirass armour on. Stanis didn't know why the girl didn't have it on, but he was sure the reasoning for the Indian man was because he was too big for it.

Stanis felt that each of them were very weird, even more so considering the fact that you wouldn't ever see such a varied collection of people in the same room.

It was unbeknownst to him that the other three felt he was the weirdest there: a young Mongolian man who was wearing several layers of coating, with a Cuirass over the top. He hadn't even taken his coat off, despite it being drenched in gore by now…

Now that everyone had judged each other, they should have begun talking. However, this wasn't the case as all four stood still, not knowing what to say. In fact, even if they did say something, would the other three even understand them?

Stanis looked at each of them: the Indian man seemed tired, the Asian girl seemed nervous and apprehensive, whereas the young European seemed half stoic, half nervous. It would seem it was up to him to start up the conversation.

It was as he was wondering what to say that he was beaten to the punch by the European boy.

"Hellooo, can you understand me? My name is Lucas, what are your names?"

He then followed that with exaggerated sign motions in case they didn't understand. But they all did, which was even more confusing.

Stanis knew what he was hearing wasn't English nor Russian, and yet he understood what Lucas said without a flaw. Although this was definitely down the list of bizarre things that had happened today.

"Yes I can understand you. My name is Stanis."

The Asian girl followed course, "Hi. I can understand you as well, my name is Xiu."

Finally, the Indian man spoke in a very deep, rough voice, "Hello friends. I am Jayesh Kumar."

Introductions done with, the atmosphere seemed to improve as the tension went down. Everyone was friendly so far and not crazy, which seemed to be a worry on everyone's head, although that was quite a normal worry considering the ordeal they had just been through.

Once again Lucas won the race of what to say next.

"Do you thin—"

[The battle will begin in 30 minutes. You have an arsenal of weapons to pick from. Prepare well in order to lower casualties.]

He quickly shut up as everyone, including him, turned to face the wooden shelves filled with weapons form out of nothing. Within it were several weapons and leather armour, all of it a higher quality than last trial's.

Apparently self-conscious of each other, no one rushed as all of them walked over. It was quite apparent that all of them got more nervous and tense as they closed in.

As they were glancing over the weapons, Lucas perked up as he asked: "Oh did you guys also fight the bear last time?"

Stanis and Xiu became quite confused, whereas Jayesh understood. "Yes, I also fought the mountain bear. Nasty foe if I'm truthful. Nearly managed to maul my head off several times, and tattered up my shirt."

Stanis joined in, "What bear? I fought a Chimpanzee last time…"

Xiu became even more confused as she also joined in, "I fought another calf like I did for the first two trials, although this one had much longer, sharper horns." She then pointed towards the long cut on her left leg.

"Ah. I think it could be due to what the entity said during the trial. It said I was placed in the hardest trial or something due to my past performance" replied Lucas with more than a bit of pride in his voice.

This dampened both Stanis's and more so Xiu's spirits as they realised both Jayesh and Lucas were skilled fighters compared to them. This was good in the case that they were going to fight together, but it would turn into a double-edged sword in case either or both wanted something from them.

Jayesh noted the change in atmosphere very quickly as he countered it. "Yes, it said that I had fought well during the previous rounds against those mutant calves. Although I'll have to disagree, it was more a battle of morality and viciousness than one of physical prowess."

Jayesh was definitely underplaying his skill significantly, but as the oldest, he also knew the importance and significance of teamwork. Even the smallest rifts between members could cause trouble down the line, especially when the stakes were your lives in life or death battles.

His reassurance brought back confidence into Xiu and Stanis, but also caused overconfidence in Lucas, who had felt his social position challenged moments back when Jayesh had replied to him.

He had known from the start that he had been placed against the most dangerous opponent, he had just wanted to subliminally create a social hierarchy among the people here.

They continued on small talk, mostly engaged by Jayesh about the situation they were in, as they picked out weapons and armour.

Lucas replaced his jeans with military-style trousers from the arsenal and his tattered cuirass for another, nicer one. He chose a sharp, one-handed, straight sword alongside a circular, leather shield that covered half his forearm.

Xiu and Jayesh finally equipped themselves with cuirasses as there was a greater variety of them here. They also used this chance to bandage their wounds as both of them had the worst injuries here, injuries that could be massively detrimental in a fight, as well as equipping themselves with the military-style trousers Lucas had on...

Xiu then picked out a long knife and a smaller shield, whereas Jayesh picked himself a menacing, thick club with sharp nails sticking out the end, alongside a large, heavy, wooden shield which was quite a lot bigger than Lucas's.

Out of all of them, Stanis changed his attire the least. He already had quite a bit of protection due to the three layers over his chest, and so he only swapped the tattered Cuirass for a nicer one.

He would have swapped his thermal trousers for the military-style ones, was it not for the fact that he already felt comfortable in his ones. However, he did pick out new weapons, a light but sharp axe alongside the same shield Lucas had.

They had equipped themselves quite quickly and so Jayesh offered to give some fighting advice. "Whenever fighting, keep your body closed and small but take a wide stance. This means they have less chance to hit you in the first place, and even if they do, you have more stability than otherwise.

Both Stanis and Xiu were engrossed in the advice, whereas Lucas stood at the side with a knowing expression plastered over his face. He had practised a few martial arts and had recently begun boxing, and so he knew the basics to fighting.

That had been the main reason why the trials had been plain sailing for him. Well that and his narcissism, he didn't have nearly as many moral issues to think about as he had stabbed the animals.

Jayesh carried on, despite Lucas's contemptuous look. "Both of you have shields. Lower your heads and tilt your spine inwards as you hold your shield. This way you can cover more of your vitals than having an open posture.

That should protect your vitals, but don't do that and just stand there.

I don't know what we are going to face next, but standing stationary basically makes your legs a vital point. One good strike to them, and all your stability and balance is gone. You will be lying on the floor, and most likely dead in a few seconds."

It was quite clear to Stanis that Jayesh must have had a managerial position in the real world, as he was very talented in teaching. So far Stanis felt the greatest goodwill towards Jayesh, for his advice and help, and to Xiu, due to their shared vulnerability. Her also being a girl of smallish stature helped as well when compared to the other two who were large, muscular men.

As for Lucas… Stanis was pretty sure that he and Lucas were around the same age, and yet they were so different. It was almost like Lucas lived in his own world…

[The time to prepare is over. Know that if you pass this trial, you only have one more remaining. Focus on killing and you will survive.]

All four of them felt a sting across their body before they reopened their eyes. They were in the same place as they had been before, with two differences. One would be the fact that the blood on the ground and the arsenal of weaponry had disappeared.

In its place stood a pack of 6 wolves. The wolves were hip height and had long, messy strands of hair over their slender body. More importantly, they had vicious jaws which they revealed as they began howling at the Humans.

Behind the Wolves formed another being, although not a wolf. It was hip height as well but had a humanoid shape. Green skin, long ears, big nose, bald head and nasty claws which held onto a tribal stave…

*****

A few hours ago the Human species had disappeared from Earth. Now one by one, each of the other species also began to disappear. The apocalypse was now fully underway…