Rebirth of the Prime Dragon Master
Chapter 130 You Are The Boss (Part Two)

They could not celebrate just yet because when they thought they could finally have a breather, the leaves on the trees around them started shaking intensely.

Rocky observed what was happening in their surroundings very keenly as worry started to show on his face. The other spirit manipulators that followed him looked frightened and terrified. The thought of the spirit-manipulated beast catching up with them haunted everyone in their group. Luckily enough, it was not the spirit-manipulated beast. A number of people emerged from the thick foliage in front of them.

"They're spirit manipulators as well! They're from the third team!" they said, almost celebratory. When the other spirit manipulators realized they were not in danger, they went around and checked up on each other. Instinct told them they should team up. They knew that being with a larger group of spirit manipulators made them a whole lot safer. Having the third team with them raised their chances of surviving.

However, the third team's hopefulness vanished when they found out that Rocky was leading the sixth team. They said with sullen in their voice, "It's so unfortunate of us to run into such a sorry excuse of a team, a failure of a team," they said with hostility in their voice. "The situation would have been so much better had we come across with the fifth team.”

"Hey! What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Zander angrily asked. He was fuming when he stepped forward to meet eye to eye with whoever said that.

"Do we really have to re-state what we have just said? Point-blank, you guys suck. Do you really not see it? Your talents and abilities are subpar, maybe average on good days. No one in your team is noteworthy. You guys ought to realize that," the spirit manipulators of the third team said haughtily. "Isn't your group supposed to have eight members? Why can I only count six? Oh, maybe we just suck so much we also do not know how to count. Let me count again. One, two, three, four, five, and six," Zander counted off as he pointed at each member. "No, I'm right. There are only six of you left.”

"The other two are just slow and are left behind. They will catch up soon enough.” The spirit manipulator tried hard not to be flustered, but failed. He sounded so defensive trying to clear that up.

"Stop lying! We just saw a corpse, and we knew it was one of your team members," Zander said sternly, exposing the third team’s lie.

"Why do you care? Whether who lives or who dies from our team does not concern you! You sorry bunch won't make it out alive anyway. We're just going to head back and see if we can find reinforcements along the way.” The members of the third team were furious. Their faces were red with anger as they scrambled away, leaving the sixth team behind.

"Damn, they sure look like a bunch of blind dogs in a meat market,” Zander spat with disgust.

After witnessing the heated exchange between Zander and the third team, the morale of spirit manipulators from the sixth team plummeted. "We are so dead,” they muttered hopelessly. "They really left us here. We are never ever going to get out of here alive. It's impossible to survive on our own!"

"Don't stop your yapping and we might just die in here!” Zander pointed everyone in the team a look and his eyes finally landed on Rocky. "Weren't you just peacocking your skills a while ago? Get us out of here. If you can bring everyone out alive to safety, you can be my boss, Rocky."

Rocky looked at Zander, searching his face for a hint of sarcasm. Rocky scoffed and gestured everyone to move forward. With Rocky still in leadership, the sixth team continued once again in their journey to survival.

It didn't take long before Rocky's team faced another hitch in their journey. The sound of breathing that did not belong to any of them kept following the group, and by the looks of it, it was coming from not so far behind. The sixth team was too weak to get rid of it. Moreover, the owner of the said breathing sounded like it had made up its mind to finish them off once and for all.

Despite the sound of breathing that was following them, Rocky's team persevered and kept moving. They successfully escaped the center of the Maze Forest and reached its edge safely. Things were shaping out to be fine except for one thing: the sun was almost setting. It would be dark soon and with darkness came more danger. The Maze Forest grew more menacing in nighttime.

Throughout their journey, Rocky was the only one from the team who could still proceed. The other spirit manipulators were worn out and were no longer capable to keep going forward.

"I am exhausted! At this rate, we're all going to pass out. We need to take a break." Even Zander was out of breath, and that's saying something. He lay down on the ground, trying to catch his breaths. Rocky looked around to observe their environment. His face grew worried as he heard the strong breathing that was still creeping behind them. He knew that the source of the breathing was just waiting for a good chance to ambush them. But he was also aware of how taxing the journey was for everyone. They had been walking nonstop the whole day. He understood how continuing might be detrimental for all of them. He could not force them to walk anymore. After having an internal debate on whether or not they should continue, Rocky reached a decision to give everyone a break. He said, "Start a fire here. Let's camp here for an hour and proceed after.”

After hearing Rocky's announcement, everyone from the sixth team let out a sigh of relief and slumped themselves to the ground and started resting up. They got a fire started, and the spirit manipulators huddled around it. They tried to savor every second of peace they currently had as they took a good breather for they knew they still had a long way to go.