Fate Online: Shadow

"Just how…big is this…island?!"

"But most of all, how…can that guy…still run?!"

Even with their superior physique compared to the average joe, Chad's friends were still forced to stop in their tracks as they panted hard on their knees as their bodies tried to replenish their lacking oxygen as quickly as possible.

On the other hand, Chad still has a lot of energy in him and is running alongside Michael while performing a rhythmic breathing, the most basic thing to do if you want to achieve your most optimum state while performing a long distance run..

"How are…you still running…dude?"

When Chad said those words, Michael suddenly stopped in his tracks and replied with a very flat…

"Nope"

"Urghh"

Due to Michael's sudden actions, Brandon couldn't help but utter a groan of pain as he was suddenly thrown on the ground and landed on his butt, and he had this look of astonishment on his face as he stared at Michael's face.

Including Chad, even the instructor who had been running just a little behind them was also startled by what he saw as he wasn't expecting for Michael to suddenly drop Brandon like he was some kind of toy that you could just toss around.

"I've already carried you over half of the journey. If you still fail here after I helped you this far…then you better prepare yourself or else.." Michael didn't continue, he just grinned maliciously at the end of his words.

Brandon shivered as he suddenly had flashbacks to when he had first encountered Michael, and remembering the punishment he had received back then…he shuddered. So he quickly stood up from the ground and immediately started running with a face full of determination!

I don't want to experience it again!

Never again!

On the other hand, Chad was once again reminded of something and suffering from flashbacks during his childhood, causing him to sweat bullets in addition to him heaving for breath like he was being lightly being choked.

"You good?"

The sound of Michael's voice suddenly rang above him, which forced Chad to look up and saw Michael staring right back at him with a slight frown on his face.

"I'm…fine," Chad replied.

Michael slightly smiled and said, "If you can't run any longer, just tell me and I'll carry you, or you can just tell that uncle over there that you can't run anymore"

Seeing that Michael was pointing at him, the instructor was about to give Chad a nod of acknowledgement when the latter looked over, but when he heard Michael's following words, the expression on his face quickly turned rigid after hearing Michael addressing him as an uncle, especially when their age isn't even that far apart!

Uncle your head!

I'm not even that old! I'm just turning thirty years old next month!

While Chad on the other hand had this solemn expression on his face when he heard him, and he just weakly replied while shooing him with his hand, "I'm fine...just go"

Seeing that Chad doesn't seem to appreciate his good intentions, Michael just shrugged his shoulders and said, "Suit yourself, and by the way, just in case you don't know, this island roughly measures around two square kilometers, though it would have been easy if we were running on a flat ground, and last words of advice, don't even think of taking a shortcut through that forest over there"

Michael wasn't scaring Chad with that last piece of advice, he had long noticed that there were traces of abundant wildlife on the island when they were gathering around earlier.

Besides, it's not one of his expertise, he just knows that there are large animals living on the island, and he's not sure what kind they are.

He just hopes that there aren't any large snakes around, or saltwater crocodiles that got wind up on the island, or else it would spell trouble especially if there are students like Chad and his friends with them.

After saying his piece, Michael then left under the complicated gazes of the two men.

After Michael had run a distance from them, the instructor finally approached Chad and said, "Hey kid, are you okay?"

Chad was feeling fine now, but he didn't immediately answer because he noticed that his friends and a few students were catching up to him and so he quickly replied, "I'm good now, sir. I was just tired from earlier"

The instructor snickered and said, "Heh" before walking away from Chad and to the side as he once again returned to his work of keeping an eye on the kids.

"Hooo~! Chad…why did you stop, man?"

Two of his friends were first to arrive while out of breath as they leaned on their knees.

"Goddamn, just how big is this island?!"

Chad was looking at them when he subconsciously replied, "More or less two square kilometers"

"What?! This island that big?!"

Chad looked at the student who had just ran past them before turning his attention back to his friends and said, "Let's go or we'll have to sleep outside tonight!"

"What about the rest?"

""Leave them, we'll wait for them for once we're near the finish line"

After a short rest, the three of them quickly continued on the road, and not even a minute later, one of them suddenly had an idea that had been bugging him for a while and he couldn't help but raise it to the two while running and said in between breaths, "How about we take a shortcut through that forest?"

"No!"

His friend had just brought it up when Chad had quickly rejected the idea.

His two friends were quickly confused as they thought that he would actually agree to it. After all, it's not like it's their first time doing thrilling and troublesome things before!

It's not like Chad didn't think about it, his opinions just changed because of Michael's warning from earlier, and until he finds out what kind of person Michael is, he'd rather listen to him for now, and besides, he's not stupid to think that there's no predators living on an island that only receives guests once in a blue moon.

He'd rather play it safe than get themselves into trouble, especially when they're so far away from civilization.