Teron's gaze never wavered from Zelk, who was now pale, his body shaking uncontrollably.
Jack watched Teron without saying a word, his gaze was fixed on him and his every move. A strange look of curiosity was on his face.
Zelk's sobs were bitter words of begging for mercy, ringing hollow and haunting in the stale air.
"Please!"
Zelk pleaded, his terrified eyes glanced towards the face of the man in front of him.
Zelk expected to see some sort of guilt, but all he saw was indifference. His plea seemed to fall on deaf ears.
Suddenly, Teron's hand moved. It was quick and precise, like the final stroke of a painter on a canvas.
Sliing*
A metallic glint shone under the harsh artificial light of the room as the blade in his fingers danced its lethal dance. And then, as quick as it had come, it disappeared, back into the sheath it was in before.
“NO!”
Plop!*
The man's headless body crumples to the ground with a thud, his limbs twitching in a final desperate attempt to survive. A round object rolls away from his lifeless form.
A round object feel on the ground as the man slowly fell down, headless onto the ground.
The forest in which they were in was suddenly silent, save for the morbid echoes of Zelk's final pleas reverberating throughout the area. Jack's eyes met Teron's, a silent exchange that conveyed.
It was clear. The next step was to discuss their future plans.
"I don’t know about you, but I need more crates." Teron stated plainly as he surveyed the debris-filled area. The clash between two dead men had left the surroundings in ruins.
Jack nodded in agreement, pulling his rucksack over his broad shoulders. "To the eastern quadrant then?"
Teron thought for a moment before giving a curt nod of approval.
Their watch provided a map, but it only showed a small portion of the planet, as that bit was being used for the test.
Despite the fact that the organizers could terraform the entire planet, it wasn't worth the expense. So they only terraformed a part of it, using only that part for the test. , Although the star was bigger than the average planet, the actual test is only around the size of one continent.
According to the map, there were four quadrants: North, South, East, and West. They could also see the population of each quadrant and the total number of people on it.
Teron and his group of approximately 3000 found themselves in a dark alley situated in the western quadrant, which was heavily wooded and crowded with competitors vying for resources. Fortunately, their current location was adjacent to the eastern quadrant. They could easily venture there to find more treasure crates. After all, the map displayed the population in the eastern area as only half of that in the other three quadrants. It was evident that the eastern quadrant was the least contested, making it a more advantageous location for gathering supplies.
"Let’s move," Teron responded.
———————————————-
The two of them set off into the dark valley, their footsteps crunching on the leaves that covered the ground. As they began left the western quadrant and slowly entered the eastern one, the air became less dense and the trees began to thin out.
The eastern quadrant was a strange place, almost hauntingly quiet in comparison to the slightly bustling activity of the western quadrant.
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The terrain began to change as well, becoming more rocky and barren. It was as if they had stepped into a completely different world.
They kept to the shadows as much as possible, avoiding the light so as not to risk being spotted by any lurking figures.
On their journey, they stumbled upon a few crates but didn’t bother to check them out too carefully, after looting them, knowing they needed to stay vigilant in their unfamiliar surroundings.
Their first scuffle came suddenly, thanks to a team of mid-ranking opponents who’d been hiding behind one such crate. Teron quickly blocked their initial attack while Jack went behind them. They disposed of them swiftly and moved forward without looking back.
They continued through the border eastern quadrant in this manner, looting treasures and facing trainees when necessary. As they traveled, the cold moon rose in the sky.
As the moon continued to rise, casting an eerie light on the barren landscape, Jack and Teron pressed on.
Their goal was to reach further into the eastern quadrant, where there was truly a lack of life.
The quadrant seemed to go on forever, a desolate expanse of rocks and scorched earth. It was hard to believe that this land had once been teeming with life, now reduced to a wasteland due to the death of the star.
Despite the harsh conditions, Jack and Teron remained focused, always on the lookout for any sign of life. Teron moved cautiously, taking cover behind rocks and using the terrain to their advantage. Jack, on the other hand, was less careful and remained in the open.
"Come on, man. Don't be such a wimp.” Jack snapped at him impatiently.
"We're the predators here, not the prey."
“Easy for you to say, you have the Zodiac [Taurus: Might]. Even if you run out of mana, you could rely on close combat. The rest of us normies don't have that. For us, there isn't much difference between a middle and high rank’s physique," Teron said, his tone tinged with annoyance and frustration.
“Eh? how’d you know?” Jack asked, surprised.
Teron replied, "It's just something I picked up from observing how you threw that sword a few days ago. There was no magic in that throw. Plus, as a non-scorpio, you don't have the ability to control wind with magic. It flew way too fast and accurate for someone who didn’t use magic and is in shard rank.”
A sly grin spread across Jack's face.
‘Well, it seems I've chosen quite the smart teammate,’ he thought.
. "Quite clever, aren't you?" he laughed, his tone laced with amusement.
—————————————————-
[Taurus : Might] was a unique form of earth manipulation, a rare technique that enhanced physique passively. Although uncommon, such abilities were not the most rare among Star Hunters. Zelk, who was defeated by Teron, possessed a form of earth manipulation that allowed him to hear things very far. Besides advanced elemental abilities being acquired through mastery. There is some inherited within certain families.
After all, These cosmic marks were unique and unpredictable, Zodiacs were bestowed upon individuals at birth with no known method to obtain them later in life, and predictions about them beforehand were impossible. However, they were inherited from parents to children, heavily influenced by the parents' own Zodiacs. For instance, if both parents had Aries (fire), it was highly likely their child would inherit the same Zodiac. That included weird mutations such as [Taurus: Might].
—————————————-
As the night sky began to darken even further, casting long, ominous shadows across the barren landscape, Teron and Jack found themselves in dire need of rest. They wandered through the desolate wasteland, their eyes scanning the horizon for a suitable place to stop for the night. Finally, they came across a small clearing, surrounded by ancient, twisted trees that seemed to groan in protest at their approach.
The earth was hard beneath their shoes, the remnants of a once thriving forest now reduced to ruins. They found a relatively flat spot, sheltered from the wind by the gnarled trunks of the trees.
They quickly gathered a pile of dry branches and leaves, lighting a fire to ward off the chill. As the flames danced and crackled, the men sat huddled around it.
Teron broke the silence first, his voice barely more than a whisper. “Where you from, Jack”
Jack didn't reply immediately, lost in thought as he stared into the flames. He finally spoke in a low, gravelly voice.
“I'm from the Ischyros clan,” he answered, his eyes never leaving the fire. “A once powerful family, now just in the middle of the ranks.”
Jack turned to Teron, as if waiting for a response.
Teron nodded thoughtfully, his gaze shifting to the crackling fire. “The Wildesmit,” he said.
Jack's eyes, which had been fixated on the fire for what felt like hours, finally shifted towards Teron. Before returning his gaze back to the flickering flames.
“ Now that I think about it, you do look like Marin. you’re like what? Her brother?”
“…” Teron's silence hung heavily in the air..
Jack, noting the lack of response, spoke.
“If you don’t want to tell me, it’s fin-”
“I’m her step-brother. Except, I'm basically from a branch family." His words trailed off, leaving an awkward pause between them.
Tssh*
The crackling sound of the fire was the only noise in the otherwise silent clearing.
“Did you ever meet your clan's leader?” Teron asked, breaking the stillness.
Jack shook his head.
“No, he dropped dead way before I was born.”
““…””
“You know, you’re pretty chill when you aren’t fighting.” Teron replied.
Jack merely grunted in response.
Teron chuckled.
Soon their short conversation came to an end. With that, they emerged from their little huddle.
After assigning watch duties, they settled in for the night.
The fire crackled and cast warm, dancing shadows across their faces as they sat in a circle around it. Gradually, the flames dwindled and the embers glowed brightly, lulling them into a peaceful slumber under the dark sky void of stars.