”What’s wrong?” Issi ran towards him after hearing the little sound and explosion.

Ning immediately turned to look in the direction of where the attack had come from. However, he couldn’t see much through the thicket of the forest.

So, he immediately used his heat vision and saw a warm, orange-yellow silhouette slowly backing off from the forest.

Without hesitation, he pulled back his spear as far as he could and immediately launched it in the direction of the fleeing person.

However, just when it was about to hit the person, Ning saw them suddenly speed up and sprint away from where the spear landed.

”Tsk!” Ning clicked his tongue with annoyance.

”What was that?” Issi asked.

”Someone tried to kill me,” Ning said as he let go of his ear to show that it had been perfectly healed.

”There was someone in the trees?” Issi asked him seriously.

”Yes,” Ning said.

”Who was it?” Issi asked.

”I don’t know. Let me check,” He said and opened the screen to see the various different groups all doing their own thing.

The first screen had all of its participants, and so did the second one. And the third. And the fourth.

The fifth one however was missing a person. He quickly looked through the rest of the group and saw that no one else had people missing except for the fifth and their own.

”Here,” Ning said. “There is a—”

Before he could speak completely, he heard a shout come from behind him.

”YOU IDIOTS!”

The voice stopped Ning’s thought process, prompting him to turn around and see what was happening.𝗈𝚟𝐿xt.𝗇𝓔t

Just as he did, he saw something bright fly past him to the front and land on something.

Ning’s head which was turning towards Derel stopped mid-way through and turned to look at where she had thrown the fireball at.

When he looked at the location, he could only see a small smoldering fire on the ground, and two words floating on top of it.

2 Points.

”You Idiots!” she said again. “What are you doing getting distracted? Aren’t you supposed to be attacking the monster that comes to your side?”

”Shit!” Ning cried out. “Sorry, my mind was elsewhere.”

”I can see that,” Derel said as she walked toward them. “What even happened? I heard some sort of noise.”

”I was attacked by someone,” Ning replied. “From the 5th group from what I can see.”

”And? Did you kill them?” she asked.

Ning shook his head. “Escaped before I could follow. I guess I was subconsciously staying back for the monster,” he said.

”And yet you didn’t attack it,” Derel said. “Don’t lose focus, little worm.”

Ning gave a guilty look and then anger flared in his eyes as he remembered the person who ran away.

He opened a portal and put his hands through it before pulling out his spear from the distance.

”Were you attacked, leader?” Drake came asking too.

”Yes, by a bastard from the 5th group,” Ning said.

”5th group… what group are we?” Issi asked.

”Well, from the screens we are 10th,” Ning said as he looked back into the 5 horizontal and 2 vertical screens visible on his panel.

”Isn’t the 5th group supposed to be far then? Why are they attacking us?” Issi asked. “I would assume the 10 groups to be in a circle, and if we are the 10th group, your adjacent groups would be the 9th and the first.”

”How did the 5th group manage to come all the way here?” Issi asked.

”Flight? Teleportation? There are many ways little worm,” Derel said.

”No,” Ning said after some thought. “The groups have no number. That’s something I gave them based on their position on the screen in front of me.”

”Then?” Drake asked.

”Then, if we are in fact in a circle, then this 5 by 2 grid is representing the circle. Like someone pinched two opposite ends of a circle and pulled it apart until the lines were parallel.”

”If that was the case then… the 5th group would be our adjacent, along with the 9th. The 1st would be the exact opposite from us,” Ning said.

”So they came from next to us to kill you, what of it?” Derel asked.

Ning thought for a moment and asked, “What would happen if I were to die there?”

”Hmm… well if what Genesis said is true, then you dying won’t affect us at all,” Issi said. “Your crown would still be usable, but I guess that’s not really important as your crown already has a gem.”

”Where would the crown be if I died?” he asked solemnly.

”Right where you died?” Derel questioned.

Ning nodded. “Most likely. And what if that person had gotten the crown before any of you noticed it?”

The group’s eyes went serious as well. “We would have been in big trouble,” Derel said as fury flared in her yellow eyes. “That little worm…”

Ning thought he saw smoke coming out of her mouth.

”Worst case scenario for them, they manage to get us to miss the monster’s spawn timing,” Ning said. “Best case scenario… our group might have just lost right there.”

”Worst case scenario for them is that they would have died,” Derel said.

Ning didn’t argue.

Drake gave a thoughtful look and said, “I had this thought before too,” he said. “So let me ask you the same question again, leader.”

”Where is there such a large gap between each of the monsters spawning?” Drake asked. “In fact, why are the monsters so weak to begin with?”

Ning sighed. “You’re saying this is just a group battle disguised as a monster defense competition,” Ning said.

Drake nodded. “So I would like to request you of something, leader,” he said as he stared at the evening sky.

”What?” Ning asked.

”Let me go in retaliation.”