Kaito, Akira, and Surume reached at the destination. They were camping outside the castle.
Surume was busy sorting their supplies, Akira was gathering wood and items to start a fire, and Kaito had gone off to catch some fish.
Their total team points were now 38.
An hour had already passed.
Kaito waded waist-deep into the water, holding a spear in his hand.
He tried to catch fish… but failed miserably.
After several attempts, just when he was about to finally land one — his foot slipped, and he fell straight into the water, soaking himself completely.
Meanwhile, Rin and Naoki arrived at their camping spot.
Rin: "Yo, everyone. Is everything alright here?"
Surume: "Oh, hello. Yeah, everything's fine."
Naoki: "I'll go patrol around the area. But… where's Kaito?"
Akira (rolling her eyes): "That idiot went fishing."
Rin (unpacking his bag): "We can't rely on him for food anyway. Here, I found ten pieces of fresh meat in a chest on my way here. Fresh as hell."
Rin handed the meat to Akira while Naoki went off to patrol.
Akira gathered all the wood in one place and started a fire. Rin helped by hanging the meat on a stick to roast.
After fifteen minutes, Kaito came running back — completely drenched from head to toe.
Kaito: "Guys! I caught a fish!"
But when he arrived, he saw everyone already eating the roasted meat happily.
Rin looked at him, then extended a hand holding a grilled piece toward him.
Rin: "Here, Kaito. Take this."
Kaito: "Huh? How did you get this?"
Rin: "From the chest of course."
Kaito took the grilled meat and started eating.
Kaito (munching): "I didn't really need this, you know. I would've eaten the fish I caught myself… but since you're insisting so much, fine."
Everyone laughed.
After they ate and rested, 1 hour and 45 minutes had passed.
Rin: "Everyone ready?"
Everyone: "Yep…"
Rin: "Then let's enter the castle."
Naoki: "I can already sense some A-tier hordes nearby."
Rin: "Some!?"
Kaito: "That'll be awesome."
Naoki: "Awesome? Look at yourself. We won't be able to protect you, alright?"
Kaito (chuckling): "Okay."
Surume: "Naoki, don't be fooled."
Naoki: "Huh!?"
Rin (shushing Surume): "Shh! Don't give him spoilers!"
Naoki (startled): "What the hell is wrong with you guys!?"
Everyone burst into laughter.
They reached the gate, only to see it already open.
Rin: "Stay alert! Another team might already be inside."
They entered cautiously — but what they saw was shocking.
Broken swords and scattered items lay across the floor.
No hordes. No people. Just silence… and a lot of bloodstains splattered here and there.
Naoki: "This much blood…?"
Surume: "Don't worry. They're safe inside the Flower Chamber."
Rin: "Or maybe the whole team got wiped out. But there's no horde left either…"
Rin suddenly remembered the moment earlier — when someone passed by them at incredible speed.
Rin: "Naoki, remember that fast person from before?"
Naoki: "You mean that blur who zipped past us?"
Rin: "Yeah. Maybe that person has already cleared this castle. But can someone really take down so many hordes… alone? Not to mention the A-tier hordes."
They noticed that around them, multiple eliminated signs of candidates were scattered, around twelve in total. There were also destroyed signs of the artificial hordes.
Rin: "Twelve people got eliminated. These signs remain for thirty minutes, so it hasn't been that long."
Kaito: "Maybe some team entered first and got wiped out… and then that person came in and finished the rest."
Naoki (laughing): "We already figured that out, genius. Your brain's lagging."
Kaito (twitching an eyebrow): "…"
Surume: "If that person were solo, then he or she might be the strongest among all candidates. There should've been at least ten A-tier hordes here. Let's not waste time."
Rin: "Yeah. Let's pick up anything useful and get away. Hurry to the next location."
They started collecting items — but Naoki suddenly froze.
Naoki (terrified whisper): "Everyone… an A-tier… incoming…"
Rin: "…!?"
Suddenly, an A-tier horde appeared right behind Kaito and swung a massive punch.
Kaito barely managed to backflip out of the way.
The horde attacked again, forcing Kaito to cross his arms and block. The impact launched him through the wall, sending him crashing into another room.
The creature followed him inside — a towering golem-like being made entirely of stone.
Rin (yelling): "KAITOO!! ARE YOU OKAY!? BE CAREFUL!"
Surume (shocked): "That's… an A-tier!"
Then, another horde broke through the roof and entered the castle. It swooped down, flying from above — a massive bird-type creature.
It attacked Akira from the top. Akira blocked it with her sword, but the creature flapped its wings, creating a powerful wind blast that hurled her through the castle gate and outside.
Surume: "That's another A-tier!"
Naoki: "But... How?"
Surume ran toward Akira's direction — but Rin suddenly fell to his knees.
He tried to move, but his body wouldn't respond.
Rin (gritting his teeth): "I… c-can't… m-move…"
Surume turned back in horror.
From Rin's shadow, a third horde emerged — a dark, creeping shape slithering upward.
Naoki, who was standing nearby, shoved Rin out of the way.
The shadow leapt — and possessed Naoki instead. Naoki is screaming.
After a while, Naoki dropped to all fours like an animal.
Rin (shocked): "N-Naoki!?"
Surume: "These three… they're all A-tiers. Are these the leftovers!?"
Rin: "No way. Naoki couldn't sense them earlier. They came here just now."
Naoki suddenly lunged at Rin with beast-like ferocity.
Rin dodged and blocked repeatedly, panic flashing in his eyes.
Rin: "Naoki! Snap out of it! Damn it… he can't hear me!"
Rin noticed Naoki's health dropping rapidly on his Celerist.
[Teammate — Naoki's Health: 83%]
Surume raised her shield to help Rin.
Surume: "We have to wake him up first!"
Rin (clenching his teeth, sweating): "Yeah… his health's falling fast. At this rate, he'll be eliminated!"
He glanced at his Celerist again.
[Teammate — Naoki's Health: 78%]
Meanwhile —
Kaito was locked in a brutal fight with the stone golem,
and Akira was clashing with the giant bird horde outside the castle.
The scene then shifted —
Far away, in Astrallis, Sector 0, outside the Vanguard Station,
there wasn't a single house or settlement nearby.
At the edge of a cliff, ten cloaked figures stood silently.
Their cloaks — black and red — swayed with the wind, covering them from head to toe.
Ravel (serious): "Ready, Bachi?"
Bachi (grinning): "Yeah, ready, my lord."
Suguha (smiling creepily): "Hehehahahaha… finally, I'll get my Mystica Orb. I'm… so… thrilled!"
Ravel (calmly): "Bachi. Use it."
Bachi: "Yes, my lord."
Bachi raised his hand and summoned a cylinder-like device, slamming it into the ground.
A huge energy dome expanded around the entire Vanguard Station.
The scene shifted back to Kaito's team.
Naoki, still possessed, suddenly stopped fighting.
Rin: "Naoki!?"
Naoki lifted his hand and summoned the same cylinder-like gadget —
then slammed it into the ground.
A dome identical to the one at the Vanguard Station spread over their area.
Akira looked up, shocked.
Akira: "What in the world is happening!?"
Those two A-tier hordes, fighting Kaito and Akira, began screaming,
steam rising violently from their bodies. Everyone's Celerist has started to fade away.
Kaito: What's going on? My Celerist?
Everyone's Celerists are glitching. We can see the reaction of everyone in the jungle. Some are panicking, some are sweating. The hordes have become stronger.
The scene changed — to the Supreme King and Supreme Ruler.
Suddenly, the broadcast connection was lost.
Tetsuo: "What's happening?"
Hachi: "Sir, the connection has been lost. We're trying to reconnect."
Tetsuo (tension rising): "Just do it fast!"
Kaien (Sweating): "But I didn't make any hordes who can possess another person. And what was that child plant in the ground?"
Tetsuo: "Something's wrong."
Kaien: "The worst thing is the seal I put in those hordes, most of the power will be unsealed, and the celerist must have lost its connection. We can't teleport the candidates to the flower chamber. They will die."
Supreme Ruler: "Supreme King, this isn't normal. Do something."
Tetsuo: "Yes, your majesty. Takeshi, come with me. The rest of the commanders, please stay here and wait for the instructions."
Every commander: "Roger that!"
The scene changed again — to Team 55.
The hordes stopped screaming and stood completely still. The scene shifted to Kaito. The stone golem had become stronger. It charged toward Kaito faster and punched him hard in the face.
Kaito (painfully): "Damn it…"
The scene shifted to Akira.
The bird horde became so fast that Akira could barely dodge its attacks — its beak slicing through the air like a blade. Akira was bleeding from several places on her body.
The scene changed to Naoki.
Naoki (deep voice): "Bye, have fun." (laughing)
Then the shadow ran away from Naoki's body. Naoki collapsed to the floor. Rin picked Naoki up and carefully laid him in a corner.
Rin: "What? It spoke? Can an A-tier speak? That's not a horde."
Surume: "I'll stay here until he wakes up. You go help them!"
The scene changed again — inside the Vanguard Station's control room.
Man 1: "We've lost the connection signal!"
Man 2: "What's happening!?"
Every monitor displayed the same message:
[Connection Lost.]
Woman 1: "Check the CCTV outside!"
They pulled up the camera feed — and froze. Ten cloaked figures stood right outside the station gates. All the guards were lying on the ground, unconscious — maybe dead.
Ryuma: "What!? We're under attack! Notify the Supreme King immediately! Ring the alarm, fast!"
The alarm started ringing throughout the entire station.
Man 1 (Through the emergency broadcast): "Attention Please! The Black Dragons have invaded our Sector 0 Vanguard Station. I repeat, the Black Dragons have invaded our Sector 0 Vanguard Station."
Man 2: "Signal transmission is impossible, sir!"
Ryuma: "Tsk… Get the soldiers ready!"
The scene shifted back to the outside of the vanguard station.
That shadow from Naoki came back to on of them, he is Raizen.
Raizen (kneeling): "My lord, the domes around the UAA Exam site and Vanguard Station have been successfully deployed. We're safe now. Shall we proceed?"
Ravel (calmly): "Everyone… charge in."
All ten cloaked figures chuckled darkly and slowly advanced toward the station gates.
To be continued…