Princess Fighter: Search for the Throne

Chapter 78: Day Two (Part 3)

Although they had reached halfway, no one dared to play them even though Mriga was worried about him.

What he did not know was that while his eyes were fixed on what rock to tread next, Abhirath was busy glaring at everyone around them, either in the swamp or on the surrounding rocks.

His aura was so terrifying that no one dared to approach them. Unaware of his hard work, he secretly heaved a sigh of relief from almost completing his task.

Right at that moment, Mriga felt a ferocious sting in his hand. Despite the cold weather, everyone was sweating now due to exertion, nervousness and running around.

Mriga is no different and he realizes that a layer of algae has slipped from his hand and the wounds he received in the open tunnel attract the attention of 'small buzzers'.

Without wasting a second, he held Abhirath's forearm and asked him to stand still on the rock they had just reached. They stand with their legs apart for balance as the bees begin to surround them.

Abhirath glared at them viciously but unfortunately his deadly gaze was ineffective on this organism.

Meanwhile, Mriga quickly untied the torn kurta ties from her waist and then from her waist as well.

He looked at Abhirath,

"Bring it on my hand quickly, cover my whole hand properly."

"But I have to take off." he started talking, looking at the greedy sucker group that was already stuck in his palm.

"Don't waste time. The more wounds I open, the more will come. And the layer of algae in your body is also not enough to last long. Whatever sticks to my hand, let them squash under the cloth" he said in a savage tone, urging.

His face was pale but both of them had seen quite a number of contestants in the past ten minutes who had already swollen immeasurably and shouted in pain. Hardening his heart, Abhirath clad his hands tightly.

Amazingly, all Mriga did was hiss sharply and close his eyes for a moment.

By the time he finished with both hands, he was back in control and said,

"Now, let's run for our lives."

He was busy enduring his pain and did not notice Abhirath's grim face.

He had just secretly sworn to himself that before the competition ended, he would find the person who caused the wound on his hand and take revenge!

There was no way this was the result of crawling in the tunnel. Someone has been evil and stepped on parts of people's bodies on purpose.

They looked at each other and performed mental calculations with perfect synchronization.

Over the past two weeks, in order to improve his stamina, Abhirath has been doing exercises with him, where they start with the same pace, going from his step to his step.

Feet in perfect coordination at this moment, their bodies jumped lightly from one stone to another until they made it to the other side.

AND FINALLY!

They managed to survive in the first stage. As soon as the two came out of the cage, there was absolute silence on the other side. None of them looked back at the cage which was covered with a thick cover.

The scene in front of them completely changed. They were standing on a flat land that was about 200 meters away from the dense forest. Mriga and Abhirath looked at each other and smiled.

Motherland?!!

A guard at the exit gate of the cage asked them to show their identical badges. As they handed their band over for inspection, they scanned their surroundings.

Surprisingly, there was no one around. They did not know how many people had already entered the forest by now.

Busy defending, they lost the number of contestants and inside there was chaos so estimating the number of people was very low in priority.

"Go to the right. You will meet the person who will explain the rules at the next level," the expressionless man said to them.

Mriga moves in the direction he points but Abhirath stops him.

"Let's get the wrapper out of your hand first" he said in a slightly trembling voice.

Today is a day of revelation for him. The girl he believed to be childish, immature, and gentle had fascinated him with her intelligence, determination, and perseverance. After falling in love with her for a long time, she felt the same feeling again, this time for a very different reason.

"Let's do it while listening to the man's instructions. We're not gonna waste time like that. The pain is tolerable now. I think they all died after drinking my blood that had a tinge of algae in it," he said with a malicious grin.

Shaking her head at the false bravery of her little extremist, she followed him and reached the small cubicle where a man stood guarding the place.

"Congratulations. You guys have successfully completed the first round. Please listen carefully to the rules for the next stage.

1) Between the two of you, you can choose a total of two weapons from the ones stored here.

2) In the middle of the labyrinth, there was a large tree with some objects hanging there. All you need to do is find a tree and pick one item and find a way out.

3) If you reach the tree and there are no more items there, you lose the round.

4) Both of you must exit the labyrinth along with the item. Only then will the round be considered completed by the two of you.

5) You are not allowed to combine forces with other partners, otherwise both contestants will be considered disqualified.

Good luck," he told them without any change in his voice.

.

As Mriga and Abhirath thought that the guards had finished speaking, they heard him speak further.

"Total participants have been divided into three groups for this stage. You are the last couple to make it to the first group of people who have entered stage one. Including you there are thirty contestants and their partners inside this place right now. Please note that there will be fifteen resources hanging on the tree. Keep in mind that whenever a resource is removed from a tree, the gong will sound inside, informing participants about the number of objects left in the tree with it," the man stepped aside and let them see the weapon displayed on the long table behind him.

Still trying to figure out the information overload, the two of them looked at each other and then to the place.

There was an impressive display of weaponry there, including various types of swords, bows and arrows, not to mention the various types of blades along with bags full of stones and more.

Mriga slowly opened her hands and grimaced as her palms were finally free of the bandage. Due to the tight bandage, the pain was temporarily numb, but now the pain is back sharp.

His hands were not too swollen but changed color and soft.

"My brave girl," whispered softly in her ear, Abhirath moved towards the end of the long table.

In a tacit arrangement, Mriga remains on this side and considers her options carefully. He was not in a condition to draw arrows and carrying bows could be troublesome.

Instead, he chose a small knife called khukri*. It was a versatile weapon and could double function.

One of them as a smaller knife by using a narrower knife blade, or, closest to the handle while the blade edge is heavier and wider towards the tip can be used as an axe or a small shovel.

On the other hand, Abhirath's choice was a blade that was a combination of a knuckleduster and a dagger. It was an extremely rare battle sword and hence many people were not trained to use it to its full potential. But it was Abhirath's father's favorite weapon to carry on a spy mission.

Both of her parents are currently stationed in various countries under diplomatic attache attire and she has not seen them for a long time. But he had seen the blade and had also trained enough with it, using it to compete with his father before.

The blade was about 9 inches long and the knuckle section measured up to 4 inches at its widest point. It fits perfectly in one's hands and is considered one of the deadliest in close combat.

When Abhirath reached Mriga and saw the khukri in his hand, his mouth formed a smile. This is why they are perfect together.

He had chosen a versatile weaponry while he chose an aggressive one, covering all unknown possibilities.

"Is your hand okay? Do you want me to tie it up again?" he asked with concern.

Shaking his head, he told him that they should not delay any further. They had no idea that in a hurry in the previous round, they had actually worsened their chances.

Had they come after one pair, they would have been the first participants into the labyrinth in group two. It feels very unfair. Why don't they tell all the rules correctly at once so that participants can plan better?

Taking a deep breath, Mriga stepped into the group of tall trees and a cloudy pale light that illuminated the surroundings, disappearing behind him.

It's like going back to rehearsal night with Ramanujam.

"How amazing would it be if I found a bird right now to take me to the middle of the forest," he thought with a strange grin.

"Be careful. Although it feels the same as our training ground, we should not be careless and complacent," Abhirath's reprimand fell to his right ear.

Although she could not see it, she rolled her eyes at her disturbing words but subconsciously, her senses sharpened and she began to pay more attention to the voices around them.

As they advanced further, the vegetation became thicker.

It was hard to know the direction they were walking in and apart from the rustling of the leaves and some sort of faint sound, they could not hear anything.

"Is it just me or does it feel unpleasant here?" Mriga asked Abhirath as he raised the khukri to cut off the branch in front of them to make way.

Before he could hear his answer, something crept past his feet, making him jump and then stumble in fear.

"Are you also ..." Abhirath had bowed to help him stand up but his words came to a halt halfway through as his hand fell on something protruding from the ground.

Mriga felt her tense beside him and asked,

"What's going on? What's up?"

It had only been a while but he was already frustrated with the total blindness enveloping them. He regretted not taking the stone pouch, not the khukri.

Nowadays, a small light would be of great help.

"There's a trap here," Abhirath's voice became extremely cold, showing his sharp focus on the situation at hand.

"Ten meters from where you are sitting, there is a net and no ground beneath it. If you don't slip now, my next move will lead me into that hole" he said grimly.

.

Mriga sat on his knees instead of crouching down and moved his hands carefully on the ground to touch the place Abhirath was talking about.

After a few seconds, he asked quietly,

"How good are your tree climbing skills?"

Abhirath stood up straight and replied,

"I'm not a monkey like you, but I think I can move my body from one tree to another in a reasonable amount of time."

He was referring to an activity where he and Chiranjeev had left everyone far behind and were very impressed with their skills in the training forest in East Zilla.

"Huh! Who do you call a monkey? You monkey, your wife monkey, your children." - Grunts.

"I'm not sure about those kids yet but considering the girl that made me crazy, there's a high chance they'll be.." she started mischievously and let those naughty words out.

Surprised by the unexpected seduction, Mriga was completely confused and spun at his feet, walking towards a nearby tree. With a grin, he followed her up close.

Mriga climbed the tree nimbly and waited for his companion to climb quietly.

"From anything I can tell, these trees are not the same as Eastern zilla trees. They do not have shoots hanging from them like you used to cross. I guess I can use sturdy branches to go from one to the other but it's impossible for you. But, guess what, I just found out the existence of a competing couple. Shit, we should have picked up a bag of lighting stones as well," saying so, he pointed to the dim light seen from the treetops.

Abhirath who would give him malicious comments for underestimating his competence, gave him a thumbs-up for seeing the other couple but he was completely left behind because of the darkness. After all, he was busy thinking about alternative strategies.

"I think we should split up. This way, we'll be able to reach more territory and eliminate dead ends faster" he began.

Before he answered, he continued to whisper,

"Do you remember the sound of the bird Chiranjeev taught us at the end of that night's training in the woods?"

Abhirath said,

"I remember it but not too well. I never had a chance to train him after that night."

"You don't have to remember everything. Just listen to the three I'm going to tell you about right now. Let's use that as code to track each other. I'm going to move from tree to tree, and try to follow the light. You go hunting on the ground in the other direction. We will use our core competencies to try and find the center where the trees with resources are located. Ok?" she asked.

"It seems that all the training in the past has not completely wasted you. I think the idea could work. But even if you go into the air, you still have to go down at some point. Also, given that this plan has been devised by Prithvi guruji, you cannot be complacent even while using the trees. So be careful when you cross. Pay attention to the other competitors as well" he reminded her.

In fact, he was worried they would split up at this point but the idea was deserved and that was why he did not dispute it.

For the next two minutes, they practiced the three bird calls used for – 'harmful here', 'misguided' and 'help me'.

The reply call for each of them was simply a chirp to make his partner know that the message had been received and also to reveal the general direction they were heading.

"You should consider the possibility that others might also use this technique here or maybe know our technique and try to sabotage it. To prevent this, we need to have a special signature after the call to authenticate that you and I are communicating" he said.

"But if we say anything other than bird calls, people will know it too" he frowned and replied.

"Umm, how about using the sound of monkey babbling a few seconds before the message and the reply can be followed with a cry of pain to drive them away?" For raising the monkey again, Mriga landed a wound on his jaw, but then snorted in agreement.

Abhirath descended from the tree silently after deciding which direction they would start, at first.

Their plan was to move in a path perpendicular to each other instead of walking in opposite directions that might make them go too far to be able to hear or reach each other in time, if needed.

After ten minutes of moving straight, Mriga landed beside a small lake. There were no more trees in that direction and he could not see much behind the calm body of water, so he went down.

Suddenly, there was a sharp rustling sound beside him and a group of four people appeared there.

"Little girl, are you thirsty? Where you from? Did your partner run away? Did you fall from the sky?" the whispers of ridicule from them made Mriga become a little wary.

Whatisthis? Why are these people waiting here instead of finding their way to the middle of the forest? Mriga could see two women and two men with their voices.

He suddenly raised his voice and shouted,

"Are the four of you trying to ambush people by conspiring next to the lake? I'll file a complaint.ahhhh. Help me someone!"

The four stunned people looked around and then at the noisy girl. They try to identify the chit standing in front of them.

They had not even touched a single hair on his body and he had already shouted out with all his might.

......................

*Khukri - Machete, originally found in Nepal