Johnson didn’t dare to retort as he truly started to believe that his mouth was cursed. The last time in the camping mock practice, he also ended up jinxing them.
Thus, he merely scratched the back of his head with an abashed expression.
“How are we going to play this?” The stoic Lena saved him by saying with her eyebrows knitted, “Based on the current distance and speed of the package, it will touch the ground or a tree near us in the next 5 minutes to ten minutes. If we act now, we still have a chance to relocate before everyone collapses on us.”
However, Felix had a different take than hers.
“Take only the tents and leave the rest untouched.” Felix clapped both of his hands and informed, “We are not going anywhere. We need to reduce the size of teams in the area. Otherwise, no matter where we locate, they will always be near us. And if we managed to get the tracker, they won’t stop from hunting us down for it.”
Before they could ask how were they supposed to achieve so, Felix cracked his knuckles and said with a hidden glint, “We will use synergy TFD.”
Everyone’s eyes brighten up as they began to notice the feasibility of the synergy in their current state.
However, soon Nathan shook his head and said, “It won’t work. No one is dumb enough to enter by their own will.”
Felix chuckled and pointed at Walton, “Then we just have to give them no choice but to enter.”
Walton scratched his red-beard in bewilderment, as he had no idea what Felix was trying to imply.
However, the quick-witted ones instantly saw through Felix’s intentions, and all of their doubts about the plan succeeding went up to smoke.
Not to waste time, Felix ordered everyone to take care of their tent and for Johnson to split from the team and start puffing fog.
While doing those two tasks, they were discussing the plan and their roles in it telepathically.
Although they had only five minutes tops, it was more than enough to understand their roles.
The preparation camp wasn’t utterly useless as everyone was already familiar with each other’s abilities just like their own.
…
“It seems like our national team has an ace up their sleeves! However…”
Janna’s excited tone soon died down after being shown by Micheal that there were at least 10 teams aiming for the package that was about to land 20 meters north from the US team’s camp.
Worst of all, the England team was also rushing swiftly towards the camp. This team wasn’t like any other as it was being led personally by the 4th ranker in the Ten Elites list.
William Bently, The Meastro of England!
After a short while…
“The hell? Is that smoke or fog?” A stout man, wearing a white and red uniform with an England flag in its chest, exclaimed in bewilderment as he pointed his finger at a humongous cloud of fog.
He ought to be feel startled as the cloud was encasing at least a 200-meter radius and still spreading like a plague!
They could see that the package fell right into the center of this cloud and disappeared out of sight.
He wasn’t the only one surprised by the sudden rise of the fog, as all of the approaching teams had stopped at once and began revisiting their plans after the emergence of this variable.
There was no f*cking way for anyone to step forth into the fog without making sure to scout first.
“Sandra, please tell me the names of the fog elementalists participating in the competition.” A slender man with a pretty face and long ash-grey hair voiced his request with a gentle tone.
“On it.” A delicate girl with a small mole next to her upper lip, closed her eyes shut while leaning against a tree.
A few moments later, she started murmuring, “There are only three users, one belongs to the Cuban team, another to the Mozambique team, and lastly one in the American team.”
She opened her eyes and asked, “Captain William, should I dive deeper and find more information?”
Willian waved his hand and said, “No need, you will be just harming your mind and we still need your mental abilities in the next battle.”
Obedient, Sanda deactivated her active ability *Panmensia*, which allows her to enhance her memory for a limited time and gain access to the memories that were stored deep within her mind.
In normal cases, she wouldn’t have been able to recall them unless there was a stimulus.
This ability had no relation to the element as she had unlocked it from the Memory Eater Octopus, a water elemental beast known for consuming the memories of its prey.
Since the bloodliners were able to unlock both the elemental abilities gotten from the primogenitors and the evolutionary traits, she lucked out on this ability.
“The American team..Uhmm, this is going to be troublesome.”
Thoughtful, William rested his chin on his hand as he recalled the videos of the American team’s battles. Especially the finals.
He might not know much about the other two teams as it was impossible to know every bloodliner participating in this competition, but for Felix and his teammates? His memory was still vivid about them.
Thus, he knew if the fog had any relation to the American team, they needed to be at their tiptoes in every step they take.
Especially when they know that Felix could erupt those red pillars under their feet without even seeing him due to the fog.
“What’s the plan captain?” The stout man asked, “Should we wait until the fog clears out? I doubt it will last for more than ten minutes.”
His meaning was clear, Johnson’s energy wouldn’t be able to sustain such a large amount of fog released.
If they played it slow, they wouldn’t need to think of anything as the fog would disappear by itself in the next five minutes to ten minutes, depending on Johnson’s energy tank.
Alas, those thoughts were removed from his mind after hearing thrilled shouts and furious ones being emitted from within the fog!!
“I GOT THE TRACKER SPLIT UP AND RUN!”
“F*ck!! He stabbed me in the thigh and stole the tracker! Chase him down!”
“It’s in the hand of the Cuban team’s captain!”
“I can’t see shit! Someone block him!”
Boom!! BOOOM! Rumble!!…
The moment the noises of explosions were added to the voices of bloodliners fighting, a scene of complete Chaos was painted vaguely in the minds of the bloodliners standing outside of the fog.
Some of them clearly heard the noises like they were just next to them while some only heard far-off echoes. However, all of them shared expressions of agitation of anxiety.
They were planning before on staying outside until the fog clears out just like the Burly man thought, but now?
They weren’t so sure anyone.
Especially when it was clear as crystal that some teams had already entered the fog before them and started battling with each other.
If the unique voices hadn’t exceeded already ten, they would have assumed that a team was trying to bait them into entering the fog!
However, the voices were so distinct from each other, even a layman would know that it was impossible to fake them.
“STOP HIM!! HE IS TRYING TO DIG A TUNNEL AND ESCAPE!”
Alas, the teams weren’t given that much time to consider all options as the moment they heard the term ‘tunnel’, the captains immediately ordered for their team to rush inside the fog and secure the tracker!
They were hoping before for the holder of the tracker to exit the fog and pin him down without the need to endanger themselves.
But digging a tunnel?
They understood that allowing it to happen was the same as giving up no the tracker!
God knows when the next airdrop would land in this area again.
Boom, boom, Rumble!…
“Captain, should we make a move as well?”
Feverish and stirred by the sounds of the battles, the stout man covered himself in a suit made of clay, making him resemble a brown golem.
“Give me a second Roger.”
Focused, Willian extended a finger in Roger’s direction while having his eyes closed shut.
Upon seeing so, everyone went as quiet as mouse.
They knew that Willian was using one of his abilities, and as Sound Elementalist, absolute silence was needed on those occasions. Otherwise, his abilities wouldn’t reach their full potential.
A couple of seconds later, Willian started chuckling while covering his mouth with the side of his fist.
He looked at the fog that was getting affected by the chaos and mused, “To actually possess an ability that allows the user to change his voice as he pleased, what a lucky individual.”
His teammates got shocked at hearing him say so. They didn’t think that in the end, a f*cking team was still trying to bait them!
They didn’t doubt their captain’s insight since they knew that he must have used his passive ability *Sound Recognition* that let him study the sounds that he heard and notice the tiniest differentiation in them.
Therefore, everyone could be fooled but William Bentley!
“Hide yourselves deeply.” Willian ordered while climbing a tree, “We will wait until that team exposes themselves and ambush them.”
Dutiful, the stout man deactivated his golem morphing ability and hid in a tree just like the rest of his teammates.
Although they knew that the fog was a trap, they had absolutely no intentions of informing the rest of the teams.
In their eyes, the Fog was doing them a favor as well by reducing the number of contestants without lifting even a finger.
They hoped that by the time the chaos inside of it ends, only a team or two get left behind.
At that point, the tracker would be theirs to grasp!
