As we walked, I listened to the avian shifter chatter on, explaining the situation.
"There are no signs of spiders ahead. We're on the right track," he said with a hint of arrogance.
"How far to the third outpost?" asked one of the participants who seemed to be leading the group.
"I don't know. But about three miles from here, near the forest's peak, the trees are almost completely covered in spider webs."
"Can't you see more clearly from above? Your vision is better than ours."
"Excuse me?" The avian shifter sounded annoyed. "Are you ordering me around? I need to conserve my energy, too. We haven't had any food since yesterday morning."
The leader didn't reply, only snorted in irritation. With a hand signal, he ordered everyone to stop and rest for a while. I sat beside Ash, blending in among the other participants.
My gaze kept drifting toward him. He still seemed to have far more energy than the rest. Suddenly, he looked straight at me. At first, I thought he was staring at someone else, or maybe at Ash.
But no. He was looking at me.
I immediately lowered my head, flustered.
Without warning, he walked over, stopped beside me, then crouched down and inspected me openly. He hadn't said a word yet, but it already made me uncomfortable. There was something about his presence, his aura, that felt strong. Not as oppressive as Kael's, but still intense.
"You're that defective Strains, right?" he said bluntly. "What's your name? Maisie? Marny?"
"Maddie," I answered shortly.
"Right." He nodded. "Well, it's time you showed your ability, Maddie. You were brought in after being rescued by our great Aqua Channeler."
He gave Ash a polite nod. "At least be useful to Team Radon. So what's your power?"
I swallowed and shook my head. "I don't know."
"Oh, so we're burdened with another useless Strains?" he sneered. "No wonder that wolf ditched you. And now you're just going to be dead weight for all of us."
A bubble of water suddenly formed beside me. I saw Ash's palm open, the bubble hovering above it.
"Back off," Ash hissed. "If you want trouble, go fight the spiders yourself."
"I'm just saying. Every Strains with an ability increases our chances of survival."
"Back off," Ash warned, his voice colder.
The blond man smirked and stood up. With confident strides, he walked away from the group. Then he spread his arms wide and transformed into a large hawk. As he shot up into the sky, goosebumps rose on my skin. I was awed by the creature's beauty.
"Don't think about what he said, Maddie," Ash said, pulling me out of my daze.
I shrugged. "Well, it's true. I'll have to get used to it, right?"
"He treats everyone like that. Kael's the only one he doesn't dare mess with."
"What's his name? The bird guy?" I pointed up at the sky.
"Maggot."
I held back a laugh and looked at Ash. "Seriously?"
"Damian." Ash smiled faintly. "The point is, don't take his words to heart. We're a team here. No matter what powers we have, we all have limits. And once those limits are reached, we're useless."
Unlike humans, maybe. Humans had weapons and organized plans. No wonder so many Strains died in Legendary Trinity. Even Ash's brother, who once won this survival game, couldn't survive the pressure afterward.
To this day, I still don't understand why Legendary Trinity existed. What were the Naturals really looking for?
If they wanted to set Strains aside, separating us into different districts should have been enough. Not slowly wiping us out. Especially when humans themselves were also nearing extinction, with only those living in large, habitable cities left.
After resting for a few minutes, we resumed our march. I studied the participants individually. Most of them were shifters or channelers. I didn't even know what a psyon looked like.
"Ash, do we have any psyon on our team?" I whispered carefully.
"I don't think so," Ash said, shaking his head. "As far as I know, psyons are placed in their own teams. They're never mixed with shifters or channelers."
"Why? Aren't we all Strains?"
That seemed strange. Could psyons really survive phase one with hundreds or thousands of giant spiders? They were surely weaker than channelers or shifters, weren't they?
"I don't know," Ash shrugged.
By late afternoon, we finally reached the third outpost. Everyone was restless. We didn't have much time left to reach the finish line. But continuing the journey at night wasn't a good idea, especially since Damian said the trees ahead were already covered in spider nests.
Somewhere else in the forest, there might be other participants who survived and had already moved closer to the finish. I still hadn't seen Kael. It was as if he had vanished completely.
"We have to keep moving, or we all fail here," the team leader said firmly.
I knew he was an Earth channeler, someone who could shift massive boulders, flatten terrain, or trigger tremors. With his large build and fierce face, he looked like a natural leader.
"I don't mind," Damian said casually from where he perched on a cedar branch.
The others began to protest. They were exhausted, starving, and dehydrated. At night, the Fire channelers would have to work even harder just to provide light. I felt utterly useless, so I stayed silent and listened as the others argued.
"If we fail, Team Radon fails with us! There are twenty people here, and who knows where the rest are. If our team loses, the consequences will be far worse!" the leader insisted.
"So?" Damian replied mockingly. "What kind of consequences are worse than dying here first, dude?"
I scanned the small cedar grove around us. There had to be something we could do besides sitting around arguing while time slipped away.
"We can make spears from the cedar trees," I muttered to myself. "Cut the branches and use the leaves to cover our bodies. There are about twenty of us. We can spread the strong cedar scent to repel the spiders. And the sap…"
Ash stared at me. So did everyone else. Only then did I realize I had spoken louder than I meant to.
"What are you going to do with the sap?" Damian asked.
I swallowed. "Store it. Use it as an essential oil, in case someone gets bitten by a spider."
Damian smiled. "Oh? So this is your ability as a Strains? Knowledge?"