The Spider Queen

(Hydra Star System- Planet Eleron)

(Training Field No.12- Special Arena)

"Come on… go a bit faster…" Cleo muttered softly as she glanced back and saw the four other boats maintain their pursuit.

The island in front of her was getting closer and closer and its white sandy beach looked quite inviting.

Most of the island was covered in a dense tropical forest and there was a large volcano in the center of the island that appeared to be dormant.

The boat stopped around two hundred meters from the shore so without hesitation Cleo jumped into the water.

The ocean was quite warm, so the princess actually enjoyed her brief swim since it had been a long time since she had gone to the beach.

She reached the shore quickly and took a cautious look at her immediate surroundings for anything suspicious.

The difficulty rating of the island that she had chosen was 'Medium' but who knows what could be lurking inside the dense jungle terrain.

"Excuse me," a soft voice called out.

The bushes in front of her shifted slightly and a large android man walked out from behind the shrubbery.

He wore a casual white shirt and a pair of boxer shorts with a pair of black sunglasses on his forehead.

The android waved at Cleo cheerfully and headed towards her.

"Can you please help me? My daughter has been kidnapped by the fearsome N'grean tribe and I need your assistance," the android pleaded desperately.

Buzz! Buzz!

Cleo's wrist communicator buzzed twice, and a few messages appeared in her inbox.

[Hidden Objective Found!]

[Rescue The Missing Girl Or Defeat The N'grean Tribe]

[Difficulty: Medium]

This was quite different to the previous second stage rounds, but Cleo enjoyed the prospect of a challenge.

Clearly the professor in charge of the island biome stage was fond of videogames because this seemed exactly like a quest.

"Sure… but what can you tell me about the N'grean tribe?" Cleo asked curiously as she tried to probe for more information.

"They are terrible!" the android cried out as he used his metallic hands to cover his face.

The sounds of hoarse human-like crying came from the voice box attached to the bottom of his neck.

"My poor daughter… she was taken away by those bastards! I will never forgive them for deceiving her!" the android man yelled furiously.

He continued to rant for several minutes about the longstanding blood feud between himself and the N'grean tribe.

What made Cleo feel a bit frustrated was the fact that despite rambling on for so long…

The android did not provide even a hint of useful information.

Whenever she brought up questions about the N'grean tribe's physical characteristics or combat abilities, the android man would completely ignore them.

Cleo rubbed her temples and took in a few deep breaths in order to calm herself down. At least she had some idea about the clear condition.

She had the choice to either defeat the tribe or rescue the missing girl. Cleo heard footsteps and turned around to see four other students walking towards her location.

Three of them were Mendolesa warriors while the fourth was a human girl who was holding a golden pocket watch.

Cleo had never seen that girl before but there was something about her watch that made her feel a bit uneasy.

She quickly left the scene and the android man stopped talking and turned his attention to the incoming students.

"Can you please help me? My daughter has been kidnapped by the fearsome N'grean tribe and I need your assistance," the android spoke the familiar request.

Cleo wandered into the jungle and decided to use her mental force to scan the surrounding area for any clues.

She closed her eyes and concentrated. Mental threads left her mind and spread out in all different directions.

These mental threads stretched outwards and covered a distance of around five hundred meters.

It was not much but Cleo did not want to overexert herself and waste her mental force.

She could see an image of the island in her mind that was almost as clear as if she saw it with her own eyes.

Strange thoughts that did not belong to her flowed into her mind. Cleo furrowed her brows as she heard the thoughts of the other students.

(Where did she go? Fuck… why is this stupid machine not saying anything useful!)

(She clearly got a head start… I'm going to try to follow her)

(This request… should I team up and betray them later?)

Cleo ignored their voices and focused on sweeping the area ahead for any members of the N'grean tribe.

She waited patiently for over two minutes but not a single thought could be found. There were only two explanations for this.

The first was that there was no tribe, and the robot was lying but that made no sense.

The second and more reasonable assumption was that the tribe and the android's daughter were machines so Cleo's mental force could not affect them.

The princess opened her eyes and reached inside her storage bag for a plasma rifle. Her marksmanship skills were decent, and a rifle would be enough to protect her from most threats.

With no clue about where to go next, Cleo decided to pick a random direction and head deeper inside the island.

She left one of her mental threads in the minds of the other students in order to eavesdrop on their thoughts.

If they found the tribe first, then she would know.

It was a bit underhanded, but this was a competition and one needed to use all the skills that they possessed.

Cleo wandered through the jungle and had to constantly clear the thick vines that blocked her path.

The forest was a natural environment that did not appear to have ever been disturbed before, so it was quite difficult to traverse.

Cleo wiped some sweat off her brow with a handkerchief as the temperature suddenly rose to an unbearable level.

She had gotten a bit closer to the massive volcano in the center of the island and now the soil beneath her feet was an ashy black colour.

Wisps of steam could be seen gently floating upwards from the mouth of the volcano and the temperature continued to rise.

Cleo leaned against a nearby tree and took a small sip of water. She looked at the floating holographic screen and saw that the leaderboard was still empty.

No one had completed a hidden objective yet… not even the students who had chosen the easier islands.

The princess was about to continue her search when a sudden noise attracted her attention. She quickly hid behind the tree and stared in the direction of the noise.

A large hole opened up in the ground near the side of the volcano and two small figures left the entrance.

They were around two feet in height and wore oversized brown cloaks that concealed most of their physical features.

Short swords were attached to their hips and beneath their cloaks were suits of armour that resembled what medieval knights on ancient Earth used to wear.

The hole instantly closed as soon as they left as the entrance and once again completely blended in with the scenery.

Cleo's eyes widened in shock as she saw the strange sight. She adjusted the aim of her plasma rifle and pointed it at the figure on the left.

Bang!

A shot from her rifle instantly penetrated its left leg and caused the creature to fall to the ground with a heavy thud.