I looked around but saw only Fourth, Aeith and Sixth.
"'There they are," Sixth pointed out what she was referring to.
I turned to the front and saw that Third and Seventh were also fighting another stingray as Fifth and Ninth had done earlier. The second stingray also turned into the sand after they pulled its tail. My eyes widened when I immediately saw First. He fights the biggest stingray alone.
I'm worried for First. As he curled twice the length of its tail than the previous two on his left arm, he bound its wings so that it could not move and with force pulled its clinging tail. In a moment, it turned to sand as well. We immediately approached them, and I saw the bleeding hands of Ninth, Seventh, and First.
"How did you know that stingrays would die that way?" Sixth asked.
"As far as I know, a stingray's tail has spines. And that tail is poisonous which can harm others." Fifth replied.
"I accidentally pulled its tail and we saw that it couldn't move easily while torturing it. So, we thought their tail would be their weakness," Ninth explained while squeezing his injured right hand.
"B-But it's sad to kill them," Fourth muttered sadly.
"Hmp! They're not real stingrays. That's why they turned into dust when they died and didn't even have blood when we cut off their tails. That's why we found out that they were looking-realistic-robot-stingrays because of their eyes, despite having realistic skin and flesh." Seventh defended.
If so, are all the sea creatures here just robots?
"Why are your hands bleeding?" Aeith asked Seventh.
"We didn't think the tails of those stingray robots sting," Seventh answered.
I looked at First's left hand. He had been silent for a while.
I am the one who will ask. "Why was the First's bleeding so bad??"
First's wound looks like he was cut with a knife several times, theirs looks like they were cut once.
"That's because that's the biggest one. He forcefully took it down on his own." Third replied somewhat agitated. Only now did I notice that he was still wearing his glasses even though we were in the water, thanks to our glass bubble.
"Hmm... I was just thinking, why are we being attacked?" Seventh suddenly asked. A question that also formed in my mind.
"We took the wrong turn." First spoke as well. "Seventh's answer is wrong. It should be the 'bird', the middle flag."
"Huh? Isn't it about the stingray? Why birds?" Fourth wondered. Since we are underwater, the most reliable answers would be related to sea creatures.
"Stingray swims under the sea but flies like a bird." First ended his statement. It makes sense now.
Thanks to Third's photographic memory, he remembered how we could go back to the three flags to make the right turn. While we were swimming and getting close, I stopped for a moment. I tore the end of my garment and wrapped a cloth around First's bloody left hand.
"To control the bleeding," I said.
"Thanks," he said, and we continued to swim. Wrapping his hand would at least prevent the excessive bleeding of his hand.
We took the right turn and encountered octopuses. They look harmless so we proceed. Another surprise was when we saw that the surroundings were getting dark. Maybe we swam too deep that the sun cannot penetrate the depths of the water. We were about to ignore it at first because maybe it was getting late without us being aware, or maybe our swimming was getting deeper.
"Guys, there's something wrong," Seventh pondered while scratching his neck.
"Yeah, my eyesight is blurry," Sixth agrees.
We might be too tired or we're just really hungry. Swimming can be the most exhausting thing.
"Look, it's because of those creatures."
We turned our backs on what Ninth had said and saw octopuses approaching us. They were spewing something!
"It's ink! I don't think it's bad, is it?" And Seventh approached the octopuses.
"What are you doing, idiot!" Aeith scoffed madly.
In a flash, the glass bubble of Seventh burst like soap bubbles. He panicked as he couldn't breathe underwater freely anymore without that equipment on his head. He immediately swam upwards to catch his breath. Fifth was about to go with Seventh when Third stopped him.
"Stay away, Fifth! Its ink explodes the bubble!" Third warned.
It took me a second to get what Third was talking about. The octopus' ink can damage our glass bubble when got contaminated by it. We all swam away from the octopuses. Did I think someone would just attack us if we took the wrong turn? Just like what happened to the stingray.
When the octopuses were gone, we stopped and hid in a boulder with coral reefs while we waited for Third and Fifth to find Seventh. They would tell Seventh to just swim above the surface of the water while the others were in the middle to signal him the direction. Seventh is nowhere to be seen right now after he swam upwards.
"It's not like that," I gazed at First. "Our answer is correct, 'bird' not 'dog'. This time, this game is challenging us by making the game levels harder."
So even if we turned right, something would still attack?
"Yes," I was shocked by First's answer. He answered it without saying my question. He could read my mind.
Eventually, the two arrived.
"Ninth, you will guide and bring back Seventh. You will swim above like what he did and tool for him. Just swim slightly above so he can see your reflection. That hologram didn't mention finishing this game as a team so we can scatter. We don't have much time to waste, and Seventh's bubble exploded so he couldn't do much for our team. Go with Seventh and just go back." Third's authoritative command. Annoyance and concern were evident in his tone. He was annoyed maybe because Seventh's curiosity turned into a disaster. Ninth followed his order.
"Let's proceed," Third instructed that we swim again. As we swam without Seventh and Ninth, we saw three silver flags.
Left silver flag: 3
Middle silver flag: 12
Right silver flag: 8
And since the octopus had attacked us earlier, we turned right. Octopus with 8 tentacles. While swimming, we also get tired. Everyone thought of resting for a while and then swimming again. When we rested, we were surprised and even more scared by what we saw...
A hammerhead shark gaping slightly with an overlooking small but sharp tooth. Dangerous...very dangerous!
"Uh-oh hehe, what are we going to do?" - Aeith.
"M-Mama!" Fourth's weak cry.
Because of that shout, the hammerhead shark closed its mouth and...
"Swim!" Third alerted us.
I noticed a while ago that the eyes of that shark were also made of steel, just like the stingrays. We need to trace its weak part. I was stunned when I realized that First was not with us.
I stopped swimming. Then I saw First confronted the shark. Using his left thumb, he scratched its neck with his long nails. The shark wandered for a moment and continued to chase us.
"Hurry! The flags are here!"
Turning to the front, I saw four silver flags, four now.
1st silver flag: J
2nd silver flag: T
3rd silver flag: K
4th silver flag: R
I no longer hesitated to answer. "Second!" Letter T because that's the shape of the hammerhead shark's head. We were about to swim to where the answer was when I remembered First. I saw a shark bite his left arm. He got out of it even though it was so painful to feel his skin tear.
"Go, ahead. I-I can take care of this," he told us and then forced a smile while squirming. I could see his blood spreading in the water.
"Leader, what's up?" Aeith asked confusedly as Fourth hugged her right arm in terror.
Third thought for a moment and then spoke. "Seventh and Ninth will swim back to where we started since they didn't know the route that we've taken after answering the riddles we recently encountered. First and I will finish the business with the shark. The three of you go with Fifth and Sixth, go and get those flags then win the game. Is that clear? " He replied seriously.
We were still hesitant because we had to split up. This is a hard decision to make but Third is commanding us to comply.
"This is the only way, so get a hold of yourselves if you don't want our sacrifices to be in vain... Now, go!"
We did nothing because this is the necessary thing to do even, we were scared and nervous of what might happen. And... We want their sacrifices to result in something.