They dove inside tube and immediately felt the strong current inside. It was difficult to move around freely inside the large tubes, they had to keep their foot on the water but at the same time fight against the current.
"This is really frustrating," Elliot chuckled.
Minos started distributing the gems they used to give part their mana to Aquarius as the latter kneeled and placed his palm on the tube. "Surface Tension Recovery."
There was a pale blue light that lit up from Aquarius and the light spread into a circle around him. The water with the light became calm and they were now able to step on it without losing their balance.
"I can't keep this for long, so we have to hurry," Aquarius said. "Let's go."
They dashed through the tube and looked for the flag. Aquarius knew the way so it was easy for them to maneuver around the tube.
"Is it still far?" Elliot asked. "Our mana isn't depleting, but it's still going down. Little by little."
"I know. They placed ridiculously large amounts of destabilizing magic in the tubes," Aquarius said. "I need everyone's mana to keep up with my spell or else it'll take us a whole night to find the flag."
They ran inside the tube and encountered four beasts. It was a group of Freshwater Merknights, carrying their spears with them.
"This should be easy," Connor said. "But I'm at a disadvantage right now."
"Let's fight them in melee," Aquarius said. "Those who can combat close ranged, let's go."
Their main fighters were Elliot, Ed, Ethan, and Minos. Among them, they inflict the highest physical damage without using large amounts of mana.
While they charged towards the beasts, the others had to come with them. They can't let Aquarius get far with his field of magic because they'll lose balance if they do. The others can't leave the field because they might get swept away by the current, making it even harder for them to go on.
"We can't split up, remember that," Aquarius said. "We will lose each other in this complicated maze of tubes if we do, and we need everyone to touch the flag to win."
"Okay," the fighters chorused and dashed towards the Merknights.
These beasts weren't in the same caliber as the ones Elliot saw in the Gray Lake. These beasts were in Legendary tier, and the Freshwater Merknights he saw before were still in the Rare tier. That's two tiers below these beasts.
"Hasty Aspire!" Elliot yelled and flashed right in front of the beast. He was still inside Aquarius's field while he hacked his sword forward. The beast tried blocked his attack but ended up falling down.
There was a grin on Elliot's face, expecting the Merknight to fall and get blown away by the current. His smile was wiped off from his face when he saw that there was a similar light below the Knight's feet.
"They use their their own spell," Aquarius yelled. "We need to make them lose their spell"
He was cut off when a spear went right past beside him. His teammates were frozen in place, seing a group of strands from Aquarius's long bluish black hair fall. A cut appeared right on his cheek, blood slowly oozing from it.
"What the hell?!" Aquarius yelled.
"These knights aren't so friendly," Irv announced to the crowd. While everyone was so busy inside, he was narrating the highlights of the event. "Do you think they're friendly, Zia?"
"I do not think so," Zia chuckled. "They look feisty. And considering they're already in high levels, you cannot just play with them."
"Yeah," Irv chuckled and suddenly froze. "I think I forgot something. Do you?"
"Something we should've mentioned?" Zia smirked, holding back her laugh. "I think I do."
"How many flags are there in the arena again?" Irv asked, Zia shrugging. "About 75?"
"Everyone!" Aquarius yelled after hearing the hosts. "This is the Top 75! Let's hurry the f*ck up!"
"Oh, I see that they are rushing now," Irv chuckled. "It seemed like all they needed was a little push."
"Although that wasn't a little, I have to agree," Zia said. "They needed a bit of a motivation to do even harder."
Hearing this, the fighters from the Azure Scorch guild ended their enemies without a minute more. Their swords slashed through the scaled flesh of the humanoid beasts, their dark blue blood spewing from their wounds, tainting the ever flowing waters.
"May your souls live peacefully in the Afterlife," Elliot whipered. When he turned around, Aquarius was already running towards them.
"We don't have much time in our hands. Let's go!" Aquarius yelled and dipped his hand on the tube to feel the flag. "I see it. Come on."
They were running inside the water tube, crossing the paths of the other teams who had a hard time maneuvering. They were just starting to gain their momentum yet they were already in the brink of losing their stamina.
"Just one more" Aquarius trailed off and paused. In front of them was another team. And in the middle was the flag. "This is ours."
"No!" The leader of the other team yelled and ran for it. They had also another way of not losing their balance inside the tube. They used air magic to float around the tube, just an inch from the water so it wouldn't consume heavy amounts of mana.
Seeing this, Elliot tried to talk to Irus but failed once again. The Manual really limits how the voice could talk to Elliot. And it thinks that this isn't worthy of their communication.
"Hasty Aspire!" Elliot yelled, blasting himself from their spot and into the flag.
"Everyone get near me!" Aquarius yelled. Their teammates did as was told and walked closer to him. The man kneeled and placed both his hands on the tube. "Let's go, Elliot!"
It looked as though Elliot was floating in the air. His Hasty Aspire made him blast off and dash from the ground and dart himself straight to the flag.
The other team also had a boy floating to the flag. It seemed like he was the wind user, and he released the others from his spell, focusing on himself and rushed to the flag.
Two of his teammates were swept away by the current, the others running after them while their teammate stretched his hand to reach the flag.
Elliot's foot was about to reach the tube's surface. He gulped and trusted Aquarius with this, stepping on it just in time for the light to reach him.
The current around his foot stopped, making it easy for him to activate his skill once more. "Hasty Aspire!"