687 The selected five (1/2)

On the floor lay a rock beast with a strange red energy glowing through its body that slowly started to fade.

'That one was a bit harder than I thought.' Quinn tipped the sweat from his forehead and pulled out the flask to take a small sip. It was a must.

He had been pushing himself too much, going from one emperor tier beast to the next, and he had made the fatal mistake of overestimating himself. He thought he still had enough in the tank to go on fighting another one.

However, this emperor tier beast was more powerful than the last ones, making the fight difficult. Still, even though he was tired, he couldn't be upset. For finally, he had gathered the three fire element crystals needed to create a new weapon.

'Now I just need the other crystals.'

Before Quinn's backside was scalded by the hot steam, he rushed to find a nice place to rest and climbed a small hill of rocks that overlooked the place he had just fought in. Looking around, he no longer recognised the area he was in.

He was naturally just going to the place where he thought the fire elemental beasts would be. It worked, and he finally got the most important crystals, but he had been travelling for days, and now he was lost.

As long as he had his map with him, he would be able to tell where he was and just head in the right direction. Pulling it out, he started to shake it a few times. The small shakes started to become frantic as panic settled in.

'This thing, why won't it turn on?'

When he first started his hunt a couple of days ago, he checked that the map and all of his equipment was working fine. Yet, for some reason, now the map did nothing.

He was a little concerned, he had made no reference, no marking to know which way he had headed. He simply was relying on modern technology to help him. It had never let him down before, so what a time for it to do just that.

Quinn wasn't too worried, it just meant that it might take him a little longer to get back than he originally thought, but he thought he should also make the others aware of this. So that if they needed him for anything, they would know where to pick him up.

Lifting his hand, he noticed the light on his watch wasn't activating either.

'Don't tell me.'

The watch now wasn't working.

'Is this a coincidence? How could both of them not work?' Quinn thought.

He was either one of the unluckiest people in the world, or someone was behind this.

*****

However, these duels did have certain rules; there were two styles of duels. One on one bouts, or a group duel. In this instance, they had asked for a group style duel. A five on five. In cases like these, each faction would have to contact a third party to step in and keep the peace. This was to make sure that the other party would follow through with the deal whatever the results were.

”A third party, but we don't know any other factions?” Nate said.

”Well, I know one, but they are unlikely to be able to help,” Dennis replied. ”They are aligned with one of the big families. I can still try, but their answer might be no.”

It was hard in the current times to set up a proper duel. Most factions have already chosen to side with one of the big four. It was worrisome if they even had a different motive.

Banging his head on the table and grinding his teeth, Blip had a suggestion.

”There is someone I know who might be happy- maybe not happy, but at least willing to help us out in this.”

Leaving the meeting room, Blip reluctantly lifted his feet and went to his old office to get in contact with the third party. A short while later, he returned and gave everyone the thumbs up. With a third party secured, they could move on to the next step.

”Who would be the best choice for our team?” Sam said, as he had a list of names up on a digital screen and next to it five slots.

”I have to be on the team!” Dennis said, shooting up like a school child from his seat. He startled Megan, who was sitting next to him. ”This whole thing is my mess in the first place, so I have to fix it.”

”Dennis is a strong fighter and a Rank A traveller, one of our best. I see no problems in that one.” Sam replied.

”If we are going by rank, then shouldn't Blip be involved as well?” Megan suggested. ”Both Dennis and Blip have good chemistry together as well.”

Based on the suggestions, Sam moved both of their names into the slots leaving three.