"Now, fully enlightened. You have seven days from now to reach the portal, but be warned, challenges will be everywhere."
Clap!
With a cheerful clap and a disturbingly happy smile, everything began.
Beep!
[167:59:58]
The notification sounded, and a countdown appeared on Oliver's forearm. Judging by the way everyone stared at their own skin, the same happened to them.
"Is it just me, or were weird letters being tattooed on that freak angel?"
"The challenge will be everywhere..." she repeated, this time with a wicked voice.
The angel shot a glance at a boy with glasses standing a few meters from Oliver. The kid stepped back, confused, but it was already too late.
Sssssssssss!
A viper slithered out of nowhere and coiled around the boy's leg. Before he could even use his bronze sword, it bit him. His scream echoed through the clearing.
"We're down to 21..." Oliver's mind made the calculation instantly, without realizing how messed up that was.
"Move if you're not gonna do anything!!"
Nikki ran past him and dove to grab the fallen sword lying next to Oliver. It didn't take long before Samuel, armed with a spear, and two other boys flanked the damn snake.
"Of all things… why the hell did it have to be a freaking SNAKE?!"
Then the horror show started. The viper was quick and nastier than any snake back on Earth. And these high school seniors? They'd never held a real weapon in their lives. They kept hitting the ground more than they hit the snake's oddly tough scales.
"Why is Nikki just standing there holding the sword?" Oliver's thoughts were answered like she read his mind. In a nearly perfect opening, the redhead. Now with her hair loose, her hairpin probably lost somewhere. Swung the sword in a clean arc and decapitated the bastard snake. Blood sprayed across the rocks.
"Holy shit! That's not something an amateur would do."
As the tension slowly faded, everyone looked up at the big rock. The angel was gone.
"Guys... Nicolas has no pulse," said a skinny, short Black boy kneeling beside the bitten student, checking his wrist.
"That one's name was David. We used to do class projects together... though I never really helped." Oliver remembered and felt a little proud for finally recalling one of his classmates' names.
To be fair, he had barely gone to class this year. He was lucky not to fail from absences alone, mostly because the principal felt sorry for him.
"Nikki!! You were the closest to him! Why the hell didn't you choose a weapon?!" Samuel shouted, and everyone turned to Nikki.
"Me? What the hell are you talking about, you bastard? I was counting on the bare minimum cooperation from the class! Anyone with a brain could've seen that choosing Guides would let us learn how to make and use stuff. With just a little coordination, we could've made dozens of weapons and armor for everyone!" Nikki was breathing hard by the end, pure rage written all over her face. The way she glared at Samuel made it clear she despised him.
"This won't end well..." Oliver's instincts screamed inside him.
"Nikki's right. Besides, Oliver was closer to Nicolas than anyone," David added, pointing straight at him with a very judgmental look.
"Me... ME?!"
"Yeah... I..."
"Oliver has diagnosed ophidiophobia. Can't you guys see the panic in his eyes?" Luísa's voice came from behind him like an angel saving the day. Even if, apparently, the definition of angel had just changed drastically.
The group's tension eased a bit. Some looked at him with pity, others with scorn, and a few still with the same judgmental stare.
"I don't think this blame game is helping anyone. How about this?" Luísa stepped in.
"There are... 6... 12... 18... 21! Perfect. Seven stay here at base, seven go with Nikki, and seven with Samuel. We scout the forest and regroup here at sundown to plan for the next day. Sound good?"
Her words echoed across the hill. Murmurs spread, and eventually, all 20 students agreed with nods and started grouping around their 'leaders.'
"And... who's gonna stay in charge of the HQ?" Oliver mumbled. Using a gamer term probably didn't help.
"I'll stay. I chose the Medical Guide, so I can treat the wounded if anything happens," David raised his hand quickly and smiled at Oliver.
"What does he think I am? A lab rat?"
"Great! Let's go hunt these filthy vipers and find a way home. Let's move, team!" Samuel turned and headed down the hill.
"Before you go, just one thing. I started analyzing the venom's effects. If you're bitten by the same type of viper, and you've got a weak constitution, you'll have between two and three minutes to live. Best case? Five minutes. Since we have no real medicine, all I can do is try to extract and weaken the venom and hope your body does the rest," David said seriously and calmly.
"You heard him, team! Full alert in the forest!" Nikki added, heading off in the opposite direction of Samuel.
"When those team captains use game terms it's cool and badass, but when I use RPG ones i get LASER-EYED!"
Pushing aside his internal rant, Oliver watched as the hill slowly emptied, revealing who had stayed behind.
Three girls still sat on the ground, completely out of it. David was already exploring the area, and two guys were chatting off to the side.
If he wanted any chance of surviving this mess, he had to at least learn someone else's name.
"Uh... Hey." His voice cracked again.
"Shit... why is this so hard..."
"Hey, Oliver!"
"You feeling better, man?"
"Huh?" The friendliness confused him.
Both boys were a bit taller than him, maybe 1.80m tops. They smiled as best they could, given the situation. They were white, one blond, one redhead.
"Yeah, I'm alright... thanks." There was still tension in his voice.
"Don't worry, man. So, what did you pick? Guide or Scanner? Lucas picked a Guide, and I grabbed a Mineral Scanner," the blond said.
"Forging Guide, though it seems pretty useless now," the redhead added, looking bummed. It seemed like they'd tried to coordinate their picks during those few seconds the angel gave them. Meanwhile, the rest of the class went full selfish mode.
"Scanner. Herbalism Scanner."
"No way! Then why didn't you join Nikki's or Samuel's groups to map out herbs?" the blond asked, surprised.
"Shut up, bleach-brain! Did you forget he has a phobia? You want him strolling through a viper-infested forest?!" the redhead snapped.
"Alright, alright, sorry, sorry!" The redhead started smacking the blond on the head and yelling in his ear like he was a total idiot.
"Hehehe... they're good friends. Kinda reminds me of me and Samuel..."
"So what's your plan now?" Oliver asked. The two looked at each other and sighed.
"Tools. Gael used the Scanner on the hill and found a small vein where we could extract bronze. The problem? Nobody picked a damn pickaxe as a 'weapon'. So we can't dig, and trying to start forging with just the two of us is nearly impossible."
"And the girls?" Oliver nodded toward the three still on the ground. David was near them, seemingly making some diagnosis. Noticing the stares, David shook his head and walked over.
"The news isn't great. Aline's still mentally there, just in deep shock. She managed to say she picked an Energy Scanner. The other two? Full-on catatonic. Best guess? Either Scanners or Guides. They're unarmed and holding nothing. Of course, it's possible they didn't choose anything at all."
"Damn."
"What made them snap like that? I mean, yeah, this is bad, but..." Gael asked, glancing at the girls.
"I'm not sure, but according to Aline, they watched the entire 3rd Year B classroom collapse... with all the students still inside."
"Holy shit!" the two friends said in unison.
"Oliver, are you okay? You've got a weird look on your face," David asked, looking a little concerned.
"David, just tell me this... You're saying none of those three girls are armed? And neither are you?"
"Of course. I picked the Medical Guide. I said so earlier."
"Then are you seriously telling me those wannabe team captains left our HQ unguarded, with nobody holding a goddamn weapon?!"
The three boys' eyes widened at his outburst, and for once, no one judged him for using a gamer term.