Chapter 705 - 649: Doors and Numbers (2/2)
Just as he finished explaining the rules, Gutcha activated a device in his hand, causing the twelve teams to be enveloped in a white light then vanishing, each randomly teleported to an area of the stage.
…
Rosea and co appeared near a very small swamp, they were surrounded by strangely bent trees. They could hear the croaking of several frogs and barely audible roars of faraway monsters.
”What's our number?”
Cristina frowned and looked at her teammates. At first, they were confused but, soon enough, a giant silver card that was thrice their size descended from above and kept hovering a couple of meters away from their heads.
The card had the number 9 engraved on it.
”It's 9… which means we can either enter door 14 or 16.” Shu Ru gazed at the silver card and commented.
”So, what's the plan? Do we separate and look for the team that has number 7 or 5?”
The spear-wielding black-haired girl was pumped, holding her weapon in hand. In response, her friend, Bora, shook his head and, while carefully choosing his words, said,
”It's better to stay together. This is a team competition and if one of us gets caught alone, it'll only decrease our chances of winning.”
”Wait, if we separate, the card follows who?”
All curious about this, they distanced themselves from each other and noticed that the silver card was drifting slowly to Bora's direction.
”It must be because he got the best score in the last stage.” remarked Shu Ru.
”Alright, it's decided that we'll stay together, right?”-Bora
The other five nodded their heads in agreement. They chose one random direction and started walking, their guards-up.
They did not know how big this swampy area is but, considering that they soon started hearing explosions and fighting noises, it shouldn't be that big.
In this stage, it's definitely advantageous to have a team composed of many members, and it was done by purpose. Just like there are stages that favor numerical advantage, there others which the smaller your team is, the better.
…
After ten minutes of walking, the MoonStar team stumbled upon their first enemies. A group of five bald youth wearing brown and yellow long robes were circling a swamp and carefully tapping the water.
Above them, there was also a silver card with the number 1 on it, which means that Cristina and the rest need not waste time or energy battling with the Buddha Team.
”Let's make a detour.” Proposed Ardor as he retracted his gaze from the group of bald youths. They took the opposite direction and were about to leave but one of them raised his hand.
”Wait.”
Ho Qing, who rarely talks, motioned them to stop before pointing at an area on the other side of the swamp, right in-between the cl.u.s.ter of strange trees.
There, he spotted short silhouettes peeking from the trees. It was hard to hear what they were whispering to each other but, it was clear that they were dwarves.