The tunnel was blocked by something; it looked like forcing a way through would be difficult.
"I don't think we can do anything about this," Rico said.
"Alright, we can take a detour for a while," Zappardi said.
"Bzzt bzzt."
The radio hissed.
"This is going to be serious," Rico said.
"Let's get out of here."
The three of them ran in a hurry; a loud hiss was heard from the radio, "Condition fulfilled."
The Bounty Game is about to begin.
Merthyl clicked her tongue, looking back. "Leave this to me."
She rotated her hand counter-clockwise.
"Famoncauli, Senses."
A purple light covered their presence before they completely disappeared.
The radio noise then vanished.
Rico thought it was too dangerous to stay there. If his guess was right, a Bounty Royale would occur—a condition where one team is disadvantaged. "We should go back there," Rico proposed. Merthyl strongly disagreed with this suggestion; she frowned, looking down, showing her annoyance. "That's too dangerous, Rico!"
Zappardi and Rico then went back to exchanging ideas, ignoring Merthyl. "We should join that game; I'm sure we can win it," Zappardi suggested.
"We can't conclude anything before we know the root of the problem. It will be very serious if they have troublesome abilities!" Rico countered.
Merthyl tried to calm them, saying she would go along to the previous city. They all agreed.
The atmosphere was different from before; many red flags were set up along the road. Soon after, the clang of swords was heard.
"I think I've seen those eyes before," Zappardi murmured.
A mysterious man was seen fighting an enemy.
"That man seems to be having a little trouble," Merthyl said.
"That's right," Rico replied.
"He's fighting an enemy with lethal power."
"Bang!"
The man's hood was slightly opened by the gunshot; his black hair shimmered in the center of the fight. He then jumped and slashed with incredible speed. A pool of blood was created.
After seeing this, they retreated without further ado. They were forced to spend the night in a garbage dump area, but this wasn't the first time. Merthyl seemed very restless, having to endure all the garbage smells. The next morning, suspicious footsteps were heard.
A voice was heard from a distance: *"It seems to be here."* *"Are you sure they're in a place like this?"* *"Yes, I'm sure."* *"From their movements, those three are strong people."*
Rico woke up Zappardi and Merthyl.
After the meeting, they conversed. The strangers introduced themselves as Team Regret. Team Regret was, to some extent, looking for an alliance to form a giant group. Rico did not agree. Preparing for the possibility of a fight, Rico predicted it.
With a disappointed look, Argelus, the captain of Team Regret, left the tent.
However, he returned and offered help. By taking a special commission, the three of them could get a non-alliance collaboration from Team Regret.
Although highly suspicious, Rico accepted it with several conditions: they could not use special rights without the permission of Team Zapper, unless one of their members betrayed them, and the last condition was that if one of the teams had a conflict, members of the other team could not interfere.
Argelus smiled and agreed to these conditions.
Not long after, a machine sound was heard from underground. Argelus explained that this was the subway train belonging to Team Regret, one of the team's special privileges. The three of them then entered and resumed their journey.
*Inside the train*
Rico muttered that they must immediately head to the next city; standing still was not an option. Meanwhile, Zappardi slept soundly, while Merthyl was busy cooking. The aroma of instant noodles woke Zappardi.
"It would be great if we could have a private train like this."
After the journey, they stopped at the nearest restaurant. For some reason, Merthyl felt nauseous again; she seemed to smell a pungent odor from somewhere. Rico became more convinced that they were being watched.
After filling their stomachs, Rico explained that their goal was not to complete Team Regret's commission but to find team members and survive. They would pretend to go to the requested location, but by using Merthyl's skill, they could trick Team Regret. After 20 minutes of discussion, they agreed.
Merthyl came with Zappardi and Rico to the location and handed Argelus's letter to the Team Regret's allies. They briefly discussed Team Regret. The allies kept complaining about why they had to ally with the easily fooled Argelus. He then bluffed to Merthyl.
"You guys are actually deceiving him too, aren't you?"
"This place is a confined space. Merthyl couldn't fight at all." The leader of Team Blackened punched Merthyl against the wall.
"See, Argelus, you were even tricked by a weak group like them."
"You want to play a game with us, don't you?"
"You can't invoke the Game rights on us!" Merthyl shouted.
"Let it go, Merthyl," Rico said.
"Yes, that's right. We accept your game offer."
Notification:
Team Game
"Team Zapper vs. Blackened."