Chapter 171 – Narrowing Down

Yuki and Yuna went off into the opposite direction Caitlyn had gone in. The bracelet that was given to Yuki during the trip to the location of the final round vibrated as he jogged. He stopped, Yuna stopping a little ahead of him, and looked at the bracelet curiously.

‘I didn’t think they would use these for communication with us,’ he thought. 

He tapped the metal band and watched as a holographic screen appeared. A large five was displayed on the screen.

“There are five teams left in the round,” the voice of the announcer said. “And a whole lot of forest to go through. So we’re going to make this a bit more fun. I’m sure it’ll be self explanatory when you see it. Good luck.”

The screen disappeared and the announcer fell silent. On Yuki’s bracelet, there was a single red needle that pointed at nothing in particular. It only pointed straight, not moving or shaking.

‘A tracker?’ he thought. ‘It can’t be a compass. And if it’s not moving, that means there’s no one around.’

He looked up and saw Yuna staring at her own bracelet. It too had a red needle on it, and just like his, it was frozen in place.

“It’s a tracker, I believe,” Yuki said. She looked up at him. “There’s no one around us is seems. I don’t know the range though.”

“I see,” she said. “Should we use this to find people?”

“We can use both. I’ll find locations that might have people there and once we’re in range for the tracker to lock on them, then we’ll switch over to that. It’ll help me conserve mana.”

“Understood.”

Yuki looked around his surroundings, checking with his eyes if there was anyone or anything nearby. When he determined that there was nothing to see, he pushed mana into the ground, the mana spreading out rapidly as he gained vision on everything that touched the ground within a radius of him. 

‘Nothing in a mile,’ he thought. ‘Hmm.’

“Yuna. We’ll go find a place to camp,” he said. “It’ll be easier if we let people come within range of us rather than we walk to them. Especially with Caitlyn going around.”

“Do you want to go back to our first place?”

“No.” He shook his head. “We’ll find someplace new. Caitlyn should flush out anyone that is also camping. Anyone that is moving should come within range of where we’re staying.”

“I see.”

“Our old camp is also still defended with the barrier. So if someone goes through there, I can tell as well.”

“Oh. So we have two locations under watch then,” Yuna said.

“Mhm. Let’s find a place to stay.”

He began to walk at a leisurely pace toward a location he had found during his scan for potential teams. Yuna followed him, turning her head here and there at various noises. They reached a cave hidden amongst the trees and brush of the forest. 

“We’ll stay here,” Yuki said.

“You like caves, don’t you,” Yuna replied, looking at the dark entrance.

“They’re relatively safe,” he shrugged. “And this one is well hidden. It might be a bit cold, but that’s not something a little fire couldn’t solve.”

“I see. I don’t mind anyway.”

He pushed a few branches away from the mouth of the cave, taking care not to snap or break them. With a snap of his fingers, he formed a small dull red fireball in his palm that he tossed into the cave. The inside was illuminated with a soft light, revealing the rocky walls.

‘This thing goes quite deep,’ he thought, staring at the darkness that extended farther than he could see. He conjured another ball of fire and sent it flying ahead before snapping his fingers to distinguish it before he lost sight of it. ‘This connects to a larger system. Hmm.’

“This is a deep cave,” Yuna commented. 

“It is. I think it’s an entrance to a system of caves.”

“Oh.”

“Let’s not explore it further,” he suggested.

“Agreed,” she said.

They laid out the parachute they had stored in their bags and sat down on the cold ground. The fire that floated gently between them gradually warmed the air as they waited for the time to come where they could strike.

“Team,” Yuki said softly but sharply.

Yuna nodded and pushed herself up. She gestured toward the fabric on the ground with a questioning look. Yuki shook his head. They wouldn’t need it anymore.

“Just shove it in. No need to pack it nicely,” he said. “I would leave it, but I don’t want to litter.”

She nodded and bundled up the old parachute, Yuki helping her. They put it in a bag and quietly slipped out of the cave, Yuki snapping his fingers to extinguish the floating ball of fire. Yuki released a pulse of mana and rechecked the location of the moving group of people he had detected. Glancing at the bracelet on his wrist, he saw that the needle was still. They weren’t in range yet.

He set off to intercept the team, Yuna right behind him. Every couple seconds or so, he would check his bracelet to see if the needle would lock on to the team. After a few minutes, the needle began to shake, moving ever so slightly from side to side as the team Yuki was following moved.

‘Perfect. We won’t really have the element of surprise since the tracker works on us as well, but that shouldn’t be a problem.’

Pointing to his bracelet and then to the side, he split up from Yuna, the two running in opposite directions as they circled the team. During the time they sat in the cave, they created a small plan to try and maintain at least a small bit of surprise. The idea was to simple attack from two sides. If the tracker could only lock onto one person, then the other person would be able to ambush. If it tracked both, then the opposing team would think there were more people than there actually were.

‘Let’s go.’

Moving rapidly, he slipped through the forest, careful not to disturb anything on his way by. His feet made almost no noise and his outline looked more like a shadow than a person. Within a minute, he was within range of the team that he could see was composed of two people.

He stopped behind a tree, hiding himself from view. He knelt down and dug his fingers into the ground as he sent out tendrils of mana that snaked out until they pooled underneath the team of two. 

‘One. Two.’

He counted the seconds, waiting to make sure Yuna was in position. Once he hit five, he clenched his fingers and called upon the earth.

Ahead of him, chains erupted from the ground and lashed out at the pair. One of them was wrapped up, a girl from her outline. Her friend who also seemed to be girl managed to react in time and dodged the earthen chains. Yuki flicked his finger to the side and sent the remaining chains flying towards her. 

While the friend fought to keep the chains away from her, Yuna bursted out from the trees, her wooden sword drawn, as she charged the distracted pair. The restrained girl called out to her friend. Yuna struck out at her, smashing the flat of her wooden blade into the head of the restrained girl. She slumped over without a sound, the familiar golden barrier enveloping her. Her friend cried out. Yuki took the opportunity to wrap the friend up with the chains, Yuna quieting her soon after.

‘Perfect.’

He walked out from his hiding place and went to Yuna. The chains on the ground crumbled as they returned to the earth.

“Going a bit soft,” he said to her as he approached.

“It was enough,” Yuna replied.

“Mmm. It didn’t make a difference here, but in the future it might,” he said. “You never know.”

“I know. It’s something I need to work on.”

“Just know when it’s safer it do so.”

“Understood.”

“So three teams left,” he commented, glancing down at the spot the pair they just eliminated were.

“Yes. One was eliminated while we were coming here,” Yuna nodded. “Who do you think did it?”

“I don’t know, but I’ll say Caitlyn. There doesn’t seem to be anyone around here that would be able to deal with her except for us.”

“I was thinking that.”

Yuki glanced down at his bracelet and raised an eyebrow. The needle was still moving, gradually turning.

“It seems we still have some work to do,” he said quietly.

“It seems so,” Yuna replied looking at his bracelet. “Shall we go?”

He nodded. With a pulse of mana, he looked around the area until he locked onto the team. Then they ran off, heading toward their next target.

FriendlyDragon

The arc is almost done. Just a few more chapters. I don't like to drag these things out. c: