The six of them looked at each other, frowning their expressions.
'There will be a battle after this?' Theo muttered inwardly, 'Doesn't this mean going there as soon as possible gives us a lot of advantage? There's no saying we're going to fight our own teammates…'
'But to reach the next destination at the fastest speed possible will require us to abandon someone.' Ignazio thought while looking at the others, wondering who needed to be sacrificed.
'If I can meet Master, it will be an easy fight.' Velio squinted his eyes.
'In that case, we need to finish this as soon as possible.' Felice took a deep breath to see the problem more clearly.
"Awa…" Alice panicked and looked at them while her body was shaking. "What should we do?"
"We should create a castle! Peace is good." Riccardo laughed as if betraying one of them was not an option. "Isn't that the right thing to do?"
"…" They fell silent because the moment Riccardo uttered those words, they knew a castle needed to be built. After all, their images would be destroyed if they chose to sacrifice someone in this situation.
"Right!" Ignazio was the first to say. "We should build a castle! Isn't it easy to make one? Like playing on the beach."
Theo's expression turned grim. 'If we build the castle first, another group will arrive before us and place some traps around the area. We will be at a great disadvantage… And it doesn't state a group battle, making it even more dangerous.
'There is also the fact that these people can get together with their friends… At the very least, it's the most likely situation with Felice and Velio. It will become even more dangerous because they are the top three… Ignazio is also the same, but unlike him, I don't know them.'
He took another look at the mission.
[Objective: Kick one of your teammates from the group and force them to leave the competition or build a sand or dirt castle together. After that, move to another destination for a battle. There's no time limit and the castle needs to be perfect if you want to participate in the second round.]
A wild idea came to his mind as Theo smiled. "That's right. We should build the castle. I have never done it, but I will do my best to help everyone."
"No worries. I also never made one." Riccardo patted Theo's shoulders and laughed nonchalantly.
"How about you two?" Ignazio asked Felice and Velio with a smirk as if challenging them.
"Of course, I will be helping you," Velio answered without hesitation. He pointed down at the ground, "We're going to build it here, right? I don't think I want to move far away from here…"
Looking at the soil, Felice harrumphed. "You need me to build this castle. I can use my Ice Skill to wet the ground, making it more solid."
"Hoho, the princess doesn't seem to like it when dirt smears her hands." Ignazio smirked, teasing her.
"The version of me in your mind is not my responsibility." Felice shook her head, denying Ignazio's claim and striking back.
"As expected of the famous cold woman, your words certainly feel like dry ice." Ignazio snorted.
"My point still stands." Felice shrugged and looked away.
"D-don't fight!" Alice panicked and waved her hands, asking them to stop. Her face was pale, as if she was afraid of conflict.
Theo observed everyone's expression until Riccardo intervened by saying, "Alright. Since everyone has agreed to make the castle, let's proceed right now. We can't really let anyone beat us."
Having no other option, Felice raised her hand and formed a chunk of ice on her palm, tossing it to Riccardo. "Burn it."
Riccardo caught the ice and summoned a fire on his other palm. He then surrounded the ice with fire except for the bottom part, allowing the water from the melted ice to fall to the ground.
Their plan succeeded as the dirt gained enough moisture to stand upright but had yet to become liquid mud. After that, Ignazio pulled his sword and stabbed the ground multiple times, creating a circle.
Theo knew it was his time to perform, so he lifted the dirt with his Telekinesis. This chunk would become the dirt they would use to build a castle.
Suddenly, the castle's blueprint appeared in their vision, projected by the sunglasses.
"It seems we need to work now. "Riccardo snapped his fingers to get ready.
Felice's hands became extremely cold as she bent her knees, touching the dirt. Even then, the dirt became cold and didn't stick to her hand.
Seeing Felice had started, as the second female in their group, Alice followed her and started building the castle.
The four boys also proceeded at their own pace.
This was the first time Theo made a castle from dirt and recalled how fun it was to create a sandcastle on the beach. Unfortunately, this was a competition; he couldn't really have some fun.
Luckily, it wasn't that hard because they only needed to shape the mud according to the blueprint and stacked them on top of each other.
"Well, this is not fun…" Ignazio muttered while glancing at Felice. "I thought doing this together would make me happy, but I can only feel the chilling wind brushing my skin…"
"Are you trying to pick a fight with me?" Felice glared at him.
"Instead of building a castle, you should become our cooler." Ignazio shrugged and looked away. "It's a hot summer after all."
Despite the constant insults between Felice and Ignazio, the group managed to create a dirt castle within ten minutes.
They found another red mark on their map.
"We have found it!" Riccardo immediately rose and started walking without even looking at his teammates. "I am going there first."
"…" Theo and the others realized they needed to be there to know the next mission while making sure he couldn't place any traps, so they followed him without hesitation.
However, not everything went according to the plan.
When the group was heading to their next destination, a huge explosion resounded across the area.
Boom.
"!!!" The group halted and turned around, feeling the shock wave brushing their skin. They also knew the place where it exploded since it wasn't that far away.
"Isn't the explosion coming from where we built our castle?" Riccardo asked with a dumbfounded expression.
His doubt was answered by the notification that appeared in their vision.
[Someone destroyed the castle. Please go back to rebuild it or sacrifice a person to proceed.]
"…" They all shared the same thought, suspecting each other.. 'Who destroyed the castle? Everyone around me… is suspicious.'