176 The Art of Teamwork Part 2

Braiden, Colin, and Tatyana were unaware of this plan and walked around feeling fairly confident of their chances of succeeding. It took until the end of the first day when they realized they still had only found and killed one Jeger that they began to feel a bit more panicked.

"Aren't Jegers fairly common? How have we not even spotted a second one? It's not like we made a mistake and missed one. There really have just been no Jegers around us. This is not right." Braiden started feeling suspicious. Was this truly just bad luck?

"Are you guys just getting lazy? Did you drop your vigilance since we killed one so quickly in the beginning?" Tatyana frowned and questioned them.

"Hey, we want to pass just as badly as you do! Who wouldn't want to finish as early as possible? Why would I get lazy and force us to stay in the godforsaken forest for any longer than necessary?" Colin snapped angrily. 

"There is no need to get so defensive. I just can't help but suspect whether you are making sincere efforts. I travel and train through the forest all the time. I often spot several Jegers in just an hour once I am in the right area. If you all are at least half competent with directions, then we should be in the correct zone of the forest. So, reason dictates that we would have at least gotten half our quota by tonight." Tatyana just curled her lip in disdain towards his responses. She clearly did not trust Colin or Braiden. She was thinking that these two were getting arrogant and did not look hard enough.

"I don't know about Colin, but do you really think I am that type of person?" Braiden just shook her head towards the speculation.

"...Then, do you have any idea what's going on right now?" She silently agreed with him. 

"Hey, what are you trying to say? Why do you believe in him and not me? And you, Braiden, what are you insinuating? You can see just fine! Did you not see me putting in the effort?" Colin had only just caught on to their words that were clearly looking down on him. 

"I did say my uncle was not such a simple person who would let our group pass so easily. He must have put some plan in action to make sure that this was still a challenge. We have to double our efforts or we could really fail." Ignoring Colin, Braiden only answered Tatyana's question. 

"You both!" Colin huffed angrily feeling indignant. 

"Alright, alright, we don't have any time for fighting. Just keep looking. Even if you were putting an effort in before, we need to try even harder." Braiden finally looked towards Colin and dismissed him before telling him to work harder. Colin did not quite catch the undertone and just snorted before continue to look around for a Jeger. He would definitely find the next one and show the two of them then!

Though she could not see, Tatyana could still picture the scene happening next to her. She just rolled her eyes feeling that the idiot Colin would count the money as Braiden sells him off.

...

Eris and Efren were also struggling to work together. The ever confident Eris had an awkward look on her face, feeling apologetic towards her stoic teammate. They had already had the luck to see three Jegers but each time Eris would miss and startle them or her spell was too weak. Even someone with her confidence was feeling humiliated by her constant mess-ups. However, Efren would never say anything about her missing. He would just silently pull her along and continue to look for a new one. Eris had yet to even hear him sigh with some grievance. 

"Hey, we can't keep going like this. My long distance spells are too bad and my aim is also bad. Should we practice a little right now on my aim? We could get used to certain signals so I know exactly where to aim." She finally broke the silence and mentioned her suggestion. 

"Do you know how to throw your spear at all?" Efren answered her with a question instead. 

"Throw my spear? Are you suggesting I try to hit the Jegers with my spear? Hey, as much as my large presence may have impressed you, I'm not actually so large that I could throw something so heavy such a long distance." Eris almost couldn't resist laughing at his naivety. 

"No, I have a spell that creates ice javelins. I have trained with throwing javelins along with sword-fighting when I was in the military. I was just wondering if you could learn some of the basics right now. Honestly, since you wield your spear so well during a fight. I don't doubt that you have the necessary strength." Efren continued seemingly unaffected by Eris sarcasm and teasing. 

"Javelin? Well, I am know for my talent with weapons. What's learning one more? I believe I can perform decently as long as my teacher knows what he is doing."

"Alright. Let's give it a try." He immediately whispered a spell. The temperature seemed to dropped as the ice elemental spirits gathered around. 10 pristine ice javelins soon appeared in front of Efren. Eris shivered at the even colder temperature.

"Hey, no wonder your face always looks stuck in that frown all the time. Maybe your skin is permanently frozen and unresponsive to your emotions after spending so long in temperatures like this. The Snow Country is already cold all the time even without magic and you just have to go and be talented at using ice magic." Eris complained. Efren just glanced at her before handing her the javelin. He knew after so long that Eris's mouth seemed to complain and never stop, but she would always do everything that she needed to do.

Like he expected, once she felt the cold near her hand, she reached out and grabbed it without any more words.

"So how are we going to do this?" She asked.

"I'm going to give you simple instructions of where to throw in four separate directions. Then, we are going to practice until you can hit where I want with accuracy in those four spots. Once you get the feel for them, we will start hunting again. I will try to position your body so that one of those four directions will be where the Jeger is. You may have to adjust a little, but that will be easier once we have a set baseline."

"Then let's start! I'm already sick of missing all the time. It's really breaking my image." Gripping the javelin tighter, Eris began to already get herself into a ready stance.

"Your form's wrong, though..." Efren's voice broke her concentration.

"Hey, come closer for a second. I promise I won't drive this thing through you..." Eris smiled and threatened. This man was truly an atmosphere killer.

"...I will teach you the form first." 

...

Greyson and Cherell finally managed to arrive at the area, as well. Once Greyson picked up the speed, he was able to last until they arrived with tons of energy to spare. Even Cherell was not too heavy so at least she was not dragging him down. She also gave the correct directions once her safety was placed in his hands. 

"Alright, you can stop, we are already in the right place." Cherell almost pleaded.

Greyson came to a quick stop and pretty much dropped her out of his arms right away. Tripping over her feet and wobbly legs, Cherell quickly fell to the ground.

"You! Can't you put me down nicely?" She snapped.

"I did not want to hold you in the first place if it was not necessary. Now that we are here, I can finally drop the dead weight." Greyson just shrugged. If he was honest, her perfume was suffocating him the entire run here. It was as if she just dumped the whole bottle on herself. He wanted to drop her more than once. Now that they were here, he was so happy to push her away from him.

Not knowing what to say, Cherell just sat on ground trying to get her senses back to her. Moving so quickly really made her feel a little sick. She had to keep looking at their surrounding as they passed by quickly and still concentrate so she could give him directions to avoid things. Her head was already pounding from the overwork. 

"When will you be ready to start? I need your eyes." Greyson already pulled out his bow and arrows getting ready to start hunting.

"When?! I will definitely need at least the whole night to recover enough to want to look at things." Cherell seemed shocked that he had even asked the question.

"So you want to spend the entire first day doing nothing? Do you really want to pass? I'm starting to feel like you just want to fail and drag me down with you." 

"We will have all day tomorrow and the next day! We are already where we need to be, I don't see why I would need to push myself right now. I will perform better once I am well-rested. It's already getting darker and I won't be able to see much once it's night. It's better to take this chance to rest, right? I would not be able to spot much for you in this lighting." Cherell actually took the time to explain herself. However, Greyson was less than impressed.

"I understand you would not be able to see much later, but I'm well aware around what time it is currently. We still have at least 2 hours before the sun completely sets. There is a lot we can do in that time, including getting used to each other. Do you really think it would be so easy that you just need to tell me where the Jeger is and I will be able to hit it? There is a lot of information I will need to hit accurately. We have to practice to get used to eat other. It doesn't even have to be with Jegers, just any magic beast you spot in the forest. We need to practice! Otherwise, we will waste more time tomorrow adapting to each other. Once it is actually dark outside, we can stop and set up camp. Before then, we should keep working."

"My head hurts..." Cherell just continued to complain while tearing up.

"Where? Come closer." Sighing, Greyson just held in his impatience and gestured for her to come closer. 

"Why? What you going to do?" Cherell had already learned her lesson the first time.

"Just come over would you?" 

Surprisingly obedient, Cherell walked over in front of him. Greyson's hand waved in the air for a second before coming in contact with her hair. He traced up until he found the top of her head. Afterwards, he used an easy light element healing spell. Cherell felt a warm current fun through her head down to her toes. It felt like all the little aches and pains were gone and she felt very refreshed. Glancing up at Greyson, she only realized how good-looking he was after looking at him so closely. A slight blush creeped up on her face.

"You're fine now, right? Let's get going then." However, the blind Greyson did not feel the pink air around him and quickly separated from her and indicated her to lead the way.

The warmth gone and feelings disappeared, Cherell just pouted for a second before deciding to keep working. She was already all out of excuses since she did not feel tired anymore.

Just as Greyson suspected, they were off to a bumpy start.

"There's one over there."

"So... over where exactly is that?"

"Your left."

"Okay, where to my left?"

"I don't know, it's high up on a tree."

"How high up is the tree?"

"How am I supposed to know? It's high."

"...like look at my height. How many of me would fit beneath?"

"Maybe 3-4?"

"Okay, just point my chest in the direction the Jeger is at."

Cherell turned his body without looking at the ground and allowed him to step on a bunch of thin twigs. Greyson flinched almost immediately and sighed.

"Okay... oh no! It ran away!"

Was it too late to just kill his partner and finish on his own?