In the forest.
“Stop!”
Seeing the scout at the very front suddenly halt, the people behind him stopped as well.
“What is it?”
The person walking in the middle immediately asked.
“Someone's ahead.”
Just as the scout finished answering, the bushes ahead rustled, and a boy carelessly burst into their line of sight.
“Ah—”
The boy's reaction seemed a bit slow. Seeing so many people appear before him, he looked extremely “surprised.”
Only after quite a while did he finally “react,” letting out an exaggerated shout: “Oh no! Run!”
With that, he turned on his heels and bolted.
“That's Klein from Ander's team! Their camp must be nearby! Everyone, after him!”
The group of over ten people instantly reacted, giving chase to Klein.
“Remember our strategy! Once we find their camp, don't try to fight them head-on. Everyone, charge together and grab the flag! No matter how strong they are, there's no way they can block all of us at once. As long as one person pulls out the flag, we win!”
As they gave chase, the team's temporary leader re-emphasized the plan.
To ensure the plan's success, their group couldn't afford to split up too much. However, because some of them lacked stamina, keeping up with Klein proved to be quite difficult.
But they didn't end up losing him in the end, because...
“Help—!”
“Cheaters! You guys are cheating! I'm reporting you—!”
“Wait, I was wrong! Don't chase me—!”
Klein screamed and shouted hysterically as he ran.
With a voice that loud, losing track of him was practically impossible...
Listening to Klein's overly dramatic voice, the temporary leader of the allied team frowned, feeling that something was off.
But before he could ponder what was wrong, Klein's voice ahead shifted.
“Help! Ander, save me! The enemy is attacking!”
Hearing this, the team of over ten people instantly grew energized and picked up their pace.
...
Watching Klein's excessively flamboyant acting, Ander's expression became quite complicated.
He should probably not let Klein do this kind of thing in the future...
Inner complaints aside, Ander quickly fell into character.
“What?! Where is the enemy?”
“R-Right behind me!”
Klein ran up to Ander's side, gasping out of breath.
Flamboyant acting or not, he was genuinely exhausted from running.
“Behi—”
Just as Ander raised his head to look behind Klein, a large crowd of people came charging out.
“What?! You—did you guys team up?!”
Ander said, sounding exceptionally “shocked.”
“Hahaha, it really is their camp!”
Seeing that it truly was Ander himself, the temporary leader's lingering doubts vanished completely.
“Everyone, according to the plan, charge—!”
The moment the command left his mouth, more than a dozen people swarmed forward together.
“Come at me! I won't let you defeat me!”
Ander charged forward with an angry look, but the group had absolutely no intention of fighting him and simply ran right past him.
“Haha! Who wants to fight you? Our target is the flag!”
“What?!”
Ander gasped in “shock.” “Don't you dare! Klein, quick! Protect the flag!”
“Huh? Ah—right, right, right! Don't even think about touching our flag!”
Klein lunged onto the flag, attempting to shield it with his body. However, this act only made his opponents even more desperate to pull it out.
Several people tugged and ripped at Klein's clothes, but he kept the flag firmly protected beneath him.
“Unless you step over my dead body, you won't touch this flag!”
“Great job, Klein! Hold them there, I'll take care of them right away!”
Ander was already rushing toward the flag.
“Don't worry, I will absolutely never let them—”
Just as Klein started to boast, he suddenly noticed his body rising off the ground.
“Eh?”
Klein spun his head around, only to find that several opponents had lifted him into the air...
Then, with a beaming smile, one of them pulled the flag out of the ground right in front of Klein's face.
“No—!”
Ander cried out, looking utterly dejected.
However, this cry of defeat became the greatest trophy of their victory.
“Sorry about that, Ander! You guys are just too strong, so we had to resort to this. If you want to blame someone, blame your own carelessness!”
Ander stood up and cast a heavy look at them.
“...We lost.”
“Klein, let's go!”
“Oh, alright.”
Klein followed after him rather awkwardly. Even though they were tricking their opponents, that scene just now had been way too embarrassing.
Seeing them admit defeat so readily, the allied team of over ten people found it a bit hard to believe at first, but they soon began to cheer.
“We won! We defeated Ander's team!”
“Let's go! Let's keep moving and sweep everyone else out. The top spots will all be ours!”
“Let's go!”
The dozen or so people swept forward in high spirits. Compared to their previous cautious behavior, they were like completely different people.
After all, as far as they were concerned, the biggest threat had been neutralized. Now, it was time to sweep the field.
...
The moment they were out of those people's sight, Klein couldn't hold back his laughter any longer.
“Hahaha! Those guys fell for it hook, line, and sinker! They're probably dreaming about winning the whole thing right now.”
Ander smiled and said, “Let's go. Our task is complete. I wonder if things went smoothly on Shulim's side. Depending on how things look, we can go and help her.”
The two quickly arrived at their designated rendezvous point.
“Ah... Ander, y-you're here!”
Niya was already waiting there.
Klein was a bit surprised. He hadn't expected the timid Niya to be the first one back.
“Oh, you're back fast, Niya. Is your task already done?”
“Yes...”
Niya nodded slightly, speaking in a small voice, “I've already lured several teams to that area. By now, they should have run into each other.”
Ander thought for a moment and said, “In that case, we can safely go and launch our surprise attack. Let's move once Shulim gets back—”
“I'm already back.”
Whoosh!
The three of them felt a sudden gust of wind descend from the trees, and a familiar figure appeared before them.
“Cool! You're like a ghost, Shulim!”
Ander asked, “Shulim, did you deal with their camp already?”
“Yes, it's done.”
Shulim nodded, and with a loud clatter, she tossed a pile of flags onto the ground. “They're all here.”
“Incredible, you pulled out so many fla—gs? Uh... Shulim, isn't the number of flags a bit off...?”
Shulim tilted her head.
“No, it's correct. They really are all here.”
Whoosh!
A burst of fire suddenly shot into the sky and exploded above the forest.
Those who were still searching the forest or actively fighting all stopped, looking up at the sky in disbelief.
The newly emboldened allied team, in particular, was completely dumbfounded. “It's... it's over? But...”
They looked at the multiple teams they had inexplicably run into. They hadn't even captured the flags of those teams yet...
“Uh... Shulim, when you say they're all here, do you mean... every single flag?”
“Yes.”
Upon receiving her confirmation, the others instantly gasped.
“?”
Shulim couldn't understand why the three of them still looked so disbelieving when they could clearly see the pile of flags, especially since the signal marking the end of the assessment had already been fired.
Could it be because she had felt there was still plenty of time, so she had just gone ahead and pulled the flags of all the other teams along the way?
...
...
Rate on N.U.
