"Why are you three acting like you've committed some crime?" Luke asked in surprised.

"We acted disrespectful towards you young master. Forgive us since we didn't know it was you." The wizard said in a shaky voice, fear visible in his speech.

"The fourth young master punished us with hundred beating when he forgot to kneel in his presence. We were unaware of the etiquettes that time young master. We ask for your forgiveness." The sword mage said.

"That bastard!" Luke gritted his teeth in anger upon hearing Leo tormenting the commoners to satisfy his ego.

"There are no such things as kneeling in my presence. Even the duke himself doesn't promote or ask for things like that. It's just Leo bossing around to satisfy his ego." Luke said with a deep sigh.

"Stand up. You know I've been banished right? so technically, I'm no longer a noble, but a commoner like you."

The three of them looked towards each other, hesitating to get up. The fear Leo had ingrained in them was quite large.

"Get up right now! or do you want me to hit all of you?" Luke said sternly.

The three of immediately stood up, but the fear still not gone from their faces. Luke laughed seeing their reactions.

"What is your group number?" Luke asked.

"We are team number 12." The spear mage said.

"Oh! You had entered quite early then. How many points have you collected till now?"

"We…we have none young master." The spear mage said with a disappointed expression.

"What!? But didn't you enter early? I can understand about the nightmare beast, but didn't you hunt any killer or deadly beasts?" Luke asked in shock.

"T-This was the first beast we encountered after entering the realm." The wizard said.

Luke was speechless. He clearly remembered the prime minister saying the nightmare beats were the top of the chain in this realm. He was even not that far inside the realm. There shouldn't be any nightmare beasts present so near to the portal.

"We believe something is wrong in this realm. The air is heavy compared to the outside. There is an ominous scent present here. I sensed it the moment I entered here." The wizard said in a grave tone.

Luke went into thought. He couldn't feel the heavy pressure not the ominous scent himself, but he definitely had a vague feeling about this place that he himself was not able to explain.

Also, he didn't dismiss the wizard's words as wizards are far more sensitive to mana and their words shouldn't be taken lightly.

"What about the lilies, you found any?" Luke asked.

"Not a single one. the whole landscape seems similar here, no matter where we look. The sense of direction is kind of impaired here." The sword mage said.

"Take that star glowing in the distance as the sun and move according to it then." Luke said.

"We tried, but it only gives a general direction. The landscape is what makes it confusing to move."

Luke nodded as what they said is not completely wrong. Even he felt that way, even after flying for so long, he felt like he's getting nowhere.

"I think you're all right. there is something definitely weird in this place. Still, we are in a competition, so try to collect points as much as you can, but give priority to your safety and use the talisman when you feel you are in danger." Luke said.

"Yes young master."

"It's Luke, don't call me young master." Luke said with a smile as the three of them nodded.

"Alright! Take care then." Luke started getting off from the ground as he was about to fly off.

"B-But…you didn't take the mana stone. Let me take it out for you." The spear mage hurried to take the mana stone out form the beast but then Luke stopped him.

"There's no need for that. Since we're both from the same city, think of it as a gift. It won't seem good if the young men representing our duchy leave empty handed from the realm." Luke smiled at them as he zoomed away, not letting them reject it.

"He's completely different than the rumors." The sword mage said with surprise.

"I can't believe that bastard Leo and him are brothers." The wizard said.

"They have different mothers though, that may be the reason." The spear mage said. "Since it's a gift, let's accept it with grace." He said with a grin.

Luke pulled the compass out of his pocket and looked at it. The needle was pointing in the opposite direction from him. A sense of worry started building up inside him for Noah and the others.

He released a deep sigh and continued ahead, flying at a continuous speed through the air.

*****

A group of three mages were moving ahead in the realm cautiously. Keeping an eye out for any beast or lilies.

They were one of the first groups to arrive inside the realm. And fortunately, or rather unfortunately, they haven't met a single beast till now.

Just then light fell on the sides of their eyes as they lifted their arms up blocking the light blinding them. They turned towards the source of the light and were shocked to see a pond at the distance which was reflecting the light falling on its surface.

A wide grin spread on their faces when they saw the glowing blue cryo lilies floating along with their leaves on the surface of the pond. What surprised them more was that there was not just a single flower, but almost the whole pond was filled with it.

"Guys! We've hit the jackpot. There was almost a hundred of them."

The three of them rushed forward in excitement. When they reached near, they realized that the leaves were huge in size, almost three meters in radius.

"Hey! Hey! Wait! Don't rush." One of them shouted as one among them jumped on the leaf and was about to cut the stem and collect the flower.

The two of them jumped up on the leaf and moved near him trying to get a clear look at the flower.

"Why are you taking so long. We have more to collect."

Even after calling for him, the one collecting the flower stood frozen, without moving a muscle.

They got skeptical at his reaction and moved near him.

"What are you do…" he held his shoulder to call but then his body fell sideways.

The other two were shocked and scared stiff as the one collecting the flower was lying lifeless on the leaf, he had a large hole, with his eye missing and blood soaking his whole face.

HISSS!!!

They immediately turned to the side upon the sound of hissing. But their reactions were not fast enough as a snake with its mouth wide open and the long fangs out jumped on one of them, bit through his eye and passed through the other side of the head, killing him on the spot.

The last one ducked when the snake flew through where his head was. he slipped on the leaf but collected himself as he started running out of the pond, screaming in fear.

But it was too late now, the snake bit on the back of his head and passed out through his eye socket, taking the eye along with him and splashed in the water, vanishing inside, and his lifeless body fell on the leaf, never moving again.

Water moved over the leaf and slowly the three bodies drowned under water and the leaf took back it's position again with not a single speck of blood in it, as if nothing had happened a few moments ago.

there were two young men in black coats behind a huge rock at the distance. Their lips curved up as a wide grin spread on their faces.

"The plan is working out perfectly." one of them said.

"I hope the two of them are baiting the other contestants perfectly. we will need more sacrifices for the beast to grow." the other one said.

"Have patience. we have one month and enough sacrifices roaming around." the first one said with a smile.

"But won't it be a big issue if so many of them dies during a tournament?" the second one asked.

"What does it matter to us. even if all of them die, i wont worry even a bit. this is all necessary for the greater goal."

"Also, Lord Jekyll said that we'd need at least fifty sacrifices for the beast to mature."

"What's the use though? we won't be able to take the beast out with us or control it anyway." asked the second one.

"I don't know about that. only leader was instructed by lord Jekyll himself."

Just when they were chatting, another group of four arrived near the pond. When they saw the lilies, they were blinded by greed and rushed towards the pond immediately.

When the four of them were on the leaves of the lilies, hissing and screaming noises started coming again. the snake beast jumped out of the water and started another killing spree as four bodies fell one by one and slowly drowned in the water.

"It's quite satisfying to look at." the first one said.

"Haha! it is though. But did you notice? The snake seems to have gotten bigger."

"Really? I didn't notice much difference though."

"Another one is here. Haha! let's watch the show."

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