Alnea Oathkeeper opened his eyes and glanced around the forest. It was still eerie as ever. Maybe even a little more than what it had been in the beginning, back when he had first come to the Final World. Mostly because of the changes in the fog. It was not apparent at first, but as the days passed, and the Trial progressed towards its end, the fog became more and more restless. Especially after the eerie Ritual of the Heterodox Wanderers.

  Although the Ritual was cut short by the Star Seekers destroying the statues, forcing it to be activated in advance, its effects were still enough to change a part of the forest, even if for a short while. Defeating those Heterodox Wanderers did return the forest back to its original state, but the damage had already been done. The fog… it kept moving, squirming, driving away the foreign forces, but it could never reach its equilibrium.

  Though the fog was not alone in making the forest eerie. It also had the help of the trees, who seemed to be becoming more and more restless recently. Even the swamps and lakes they met were no exceptions. The only thing that did not feel eerie about the forest were the Oren Beasts. And the Wanderers they met on their way. Yet, the things that gave most trouble to the Star Seekers were exactly those Oren Beasts and Wanderers.

  It was not as if the Star Seekers were averse to fighting, but facing thirty to forty battles every day was beginning to become a little exhausting. Sometimes, when the Oren Beasts were stubborn, they even had to fight as many as fifty battles, all in a span of less than twenty five hours. It was no wonder that as they progressed in the Final Trial, some of them had begun making mistakes. Losing one of their teammates just when they needed him most only made matters worse for the Star Seekers.

  The loss of morale aside, just the need to readjust their teamwork, and find a way to fill Fran’s role by themselves, all while trying to limit their mistakes, was exhausting them to their limits. Fortunately, other than temporarily draining their strength, the thousands of battles also served to further sharpen their will and hone their instincts. Though it was mostly because of the Star Seekers forcing themselves to do their best, and not give their Captain another chance to ‘sacrifice’ himself.

  Regardless, the end result was the same. The Star Seekers, rather than letting themselves be exhausted by the endless battles, used it as a chance to readjust to working as team of only nine Wanderers, decreasing the number of mistakes they made, soon reaching the level they had when Fran was still with them, before surpassing themselves, and becoming a whole new team altogether. Just, with the same names and goals.

  Glancing at his teammates, still mediating, Alnea could not help himself from smiling. There was still some time before Zain’s watch would end though, so he did not wake them up. Instead, he reached into his robe to take out his Blood Card, and unfurl his Spirit to look at the progress of their Trial.

  “Challengers defeated: 1367.”

  “Area explored: 95.91%.”

  “Time left: 3 days, 5 hours, 23 minutes, 47 seconds.”

  Almost fifteen hundred. A little less than what he had expected, but that could be explained partly by the casualties of the Spatial Storm, and partly by the infighting amongst his competitors. Though his team had already taken care of the greatest source of infighting a few days ago. That was also the reason why the number of challengers his team had defeated had jumped from somewhere around nine hundred all the way to over thirteen hundred in just a few days.

  Given that they still had over three days left in the Trial, Alnea reckoned that the number in the first row of his Assistant Panel should touch the fifteen hundred mark before the end of the Trial. Not that it would make much difference. Defeating challengers was only a side mission. It would only help his team secure more points in the Trial. Their main mission was still to explore the forest. And that, they had almost completed. Just a couple of more days, and the Trial would be over.

  Yet, the closer that the Star Seekers came to completing their Trial, the more Alnea did not dare to lower his guard. Especially since he had yet to face the Lotus clan or any of their allies. But that did not make any sense. Although the area marked for their Final Trial was large, it was not endless. Those bastards had to be in the same thirty thousand square kilometres that the Final World had designated for the Trial. But there was only a couple thousand square kilometres left to explore…

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  The Lost City could not have sent all the Wanderers of the Lotus clan and their allies in those last two thousand square kilometres, could it? No, that was impossible. Even on coincidence. The numbers just would not match. And he did not think that the Spatial Storm was enough to take out even half of their numbers. At best, it would only have left a few of the injured… Where exactly were those bastards? They could not have just waltzed out of the forest, right? Or did those bastards just give up on the Trial?

  No, given how persistent those bastards had been in the past few months, it did not seem likely for them to just give up on him. Not when he was so close to entering the inner city, and foiling all their plans. Besides, they were the ones who had orchestrated his farce of a Final Trial in the first place. And they had gone through so much trouble to find the weakness of his robe, even sacrificing one of their promising Wanderers in the process. Why would they back out when so close to reaching their goal, and waste all their efforts?

  No, he was sure that those bastards were still in the Final World. So, there was only one logical explanation left. The Lotus clan and their allies had somehow found a way to track his movements in the Final World, and were deliberately avoiding meeting him head on. At least not while they were still scattered. After all, they knew what his team was capable of. Why would they knowingly throw themselves to their deaths?

  So, while the Star Seekers were roaming around, exploring the forest, fighting Oren Beasts and other Wanderers, trying to complete their Final Trial, those bastards were probably gathering together, discarding their Final Trial altogether, choosing to preserve their strength instead. And with the Final Trial coming to an end, it was finally time for them to come out in the open. Or maybe lay some traps.

  In any case, he could not let his guard down, Alnea thought, as he left his Spirit State, and put his Blood Card away, before glancing at his teammates once again. Thankfully, he did not have to put much effort into convincing them to be just as vigilant. No, he did not even have to ask them to be vigilant. Their experience in the past few days, coupled with their ever rising enthusiasm to correct their mistakes was enough to keep them wary of the forest.

  “Are you awake already?” Zain said, after he noticed his Captain’s movements. “Cannot meditate, or have you recovered to your peak?”

  “…Even if I recovered to my peak, I would not mind indulging myself in my Clarity for a while,” Alnea said, chuckling along with his words. “I was thinking about something else.”

  “Oh?” Vestia said, opening her eyes, and glancing at him with raised brows. “Would you care to share your thoughts with us, Captain?”

  “…I was wondering what kind of plans the Lotus clan will come up with this time.”

  “…Sometimes, I feel a little jealous of how much you think about the Lotus clan.”

  “Now, you are just exaggerating things,” Alnea said, trying not to blush. With just his will, of course. He was not going to use his Aspects to hide his emotions from the people he trusted. Not after he could see his Heart Clearly. But that did not stop him from trying to not let himself be embarrassed in front of everyone.

  “I admit that I have thinking about the Lotus clan a little more in the past few days, but only when I am meditating. Rest of the time, I always keep my focus on my tasks.”

  “That is still more than how much you think about me.”

  “That’s not true. I think about you all the time.”

  “That’s because your head is filled with Dust Eating Rat’s dung, pervert,” Cecilia said, pinching his thighs, making him wince in pain. “Don’t you know that you should not talk so loudly when there are people meditating near you?”

  “…I don’t think anyone is meditating anymore.”

  “Because you woke them up, you doofus,” Cecilia said, rolling her eyes and sticking out her tongue, before pushing herself off the ground. “Come, let me help you stretch out your limbs.”

  “…No, thank you,” Alnea said, quickly jumping to his feet and back away from Cecilia. “My limbs are perfectly fine as they are.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “…Tsk.”

  “…Anyways, it looks like everyone has finished their meditation,” Alnea said to the rest of his teammates, ignoring the look of disappointment on Cecilia’s face. He had already experienced her help once before, the day after he had kissed Yuri. He did not wish to experience it again.

  “If no one has anything to say, then let’s resume our exploration as we had planned.”