Chapter 698 - Something dumb

The first few hours of my first Beyond event are fun. I mean, really fun. I couldn't imagine them being more fun. They are full of talking, dealing with a few members of Primordial Lunatics, standing nearby in expectation of people attacking us, and things like that.

Also, around fifty people die.

Fifty. That is five and zero. Four dozen and two more. B and A ranks. Beyond attendees, each in the top 100 out of 37,500 from their tutorial.

Sure, the idea of them being the strongest out of 37,500 might not fully apply. Maybe stronger people from their tutorial decided not to enter Beyond, but my point still stands.

What we found ourselves in is a sort of welcoming room built long ago, likely by companions of early Rulers who cleared the First Dungeon, possibly even before connecting it to the tutorial and building Beyond over it.

That is still only a suspicion and unconfirmed, but it would make a lot of sense. As far as I and many others know, the 4th floor only became livable after the Pathfinder Thane created the Megacity and defended it, since there are no safe zones.

But Christoph came up with a counter to that. What if on the 4th floor, there had once been a city like the current Megacity? Built by previous generations, then destroyed and erased. What if Thane was not the second to attempt it, but just one of many? It could have repeated multiple times.

After all, the leaderboards reset every thousand years. Who is to say that some especially powerful attendee did not reach the 7th floor, while everyone today is amazed that hundreds of years ago, some jerk reached the 6th floor as the only person until now?

It is a fascinating thing to think about.

Anyway, fifty people dead.

Even though this Beyond event is about stopping whatever is awakening here from wiping out attendees and locals on the 4th floor, these now dead people did not seem to take it too seriously. I mean, they did in a sense. You do not get this far if you are stupid or weak. It is just that they may have relied a little too much on the fact that S ranks have their own event, dealing with dangers we cannot handle. That likely gave them just enough of a sense of safety to wander into one of the hallways connected to the chamber we are in.

After all, this is an Ancient Armory, a place where pristine items were found, enticing even the top five guilds.

So now, while I ignore Malika, who unfortunately has found me to her eternal happiness and likely the happiness of all her descendants, I listen to the others speaking over each other in panicked bursts.

“I think you should give us all the information you have,” one of the more powerful A ranks says, facing the guild master of Everyday Clowns.

“Where is that skittish girl? She did not die, right? I survived, so she probably did too. What did you do after we got split? Did you break the base?” Malika pokes me from the side.

“Bael, you do not believe I will tell you everything and reduce my value. No, you will all have to make sure to keep me alive and very healthy if you want any information at all,” the guild master of Empiric Clowns shouts, looking around at the people surrounding him and his guild mates.

He is ragged, with huge circles under his eyes. A tall, selari man with the same pink skin, pink hair, and white freckles as his race usually has.

“Did you see? Io is here as well. I did not attack him yet because I think you might want to kill him first. You should appreciate me for waiting and reward me for it.” Malika lowers her voice, and for some reason, goosebumps run across my skin.

“Maybe we should just torture you for the information. A dickhead like you will try to use us as fodder the same way you use your guild,” some demon calls out, with it being a 90% chance he is from Primordial Knights. Looking at his blue and white clothes, that chance goes to 99,99%.

“Just try it, you goddamn lunatic. I want to see whose side everyone here will take if you attack me.” The guild master smirks, almost hoping for it.

“You think we care?!” the demon shouts proudly. “We can take on all of you weaklings easily!”

“We cannot. Most of us would die.” Weslin steps in.

The demon tilts his head in visible confusion. “And?”

Not even bothering to answer, Weslin gestures for him to go away like a child and turns to face the selari guild master. I think his name was Peanut.

“Beanut,” Weslin calls towards the selari. “I can hold off my guild for now. But Rulers be my witnesses that we have every right to kill all of you dickheads. But for now, let’s not fight. Let’s find out what our role is during this Beyond event and only then kill each other.”

“The Null King himself,” Peanut snorts. Io stands not far from him, along with a few other powerful-looking A ranks, likely hired help. I really wonder how many items they have gathered to hire all of them.

Peanut then continues to shout insults at Weslin, while Weslin throws some insults back. I noticed, but this bald man is really good at shit talking. After a while, they seem to vent it out of their systems and move on to threats.

Peanut threatens to have others wipe out Primordial Knights, while Weslin says that even if they do, Peanut, the dickhead, will die first, along with most of the people here.

Malika at my side keeps shouting excitedly. She is not even on any side yet would excitedly join any fight to the death, likely fighting both sides. Her group paid a large amount of shards for information that pointed to the estimated location of the Ancient Armory. Getting there, they nearly fell into it by sheer luck after days of searching.

Her entire party is already dead, included in the fifty that went into the hallways. Their bodies are still there, or at least what remains of them, pierced by the insects that poured out of one of the walls after a trap was triggered.

Well, more than insects, they are tiny metal constructs. Shiny, with mana cores, extremely durable, and generating an oscillating field that allowed them to pierce through the unfortunate attendees.

I can still remember the screams of people as they were being burrowed through alive.

Some people here like to look at it from the better side, and two words go through their heads: More loot. They are already trying to figure out a way to fish out the undamaged items without triggering yet another trap.

Maybe it is too much of me to make fun of them, since I thought the same. The difference is that right now my priority is Io, and trying to come up with a way to catch up to him before he teleports. There is a chance I could do it now. A small chance, but it would be worth it.

The problem lies in the consequences that would follow, not that I’d care, and the fact that Io is very, very skittish right now. He keeps looking around, sweat beading on his blue forehead, as if a certain emoticon-loving scrawly girl might appear behind him at any moment. I think he believes she is here because I am, so just for the fun of it, I pretend to talk to her a few times and draw a few glowing emotions into the air.

For some reason, that innocent joke makes him panic even more.

It must have been fun for him back then on the asteroid base, after I had to leave, all because the pettiest of all elves broke the base just to spite me.

But there is also a reason I have not acted until now. Simple curiosity. I want to see how Christoph deals with this entire situation. He and Victoria are already planning something, bringing Weslin into it as well. From what I can tell, we will not be staying with the main group.

There are likely advantages to relying on the information the Emerald Clowns have gathered, but there is also a huge chance of some fuckery. And anyway, everyone in our group seems to believe we can do better than them can when it comes to exploring the Ancient Armory.

Of course, the question remains, how capable are we of dealing with the danger that has to be stopped, or at least helping our S ranks keep it from awakening?

I would say we are in a pretty good position. Weslin is very close to reaching S rank, and Christoph is certainly one already in every way other than it being official. I still wonder how he managed to level so fast. He either killed massive groups of weaker monsters or a few really strong ones. The only places where he could have done it are the five Beyond floors, the Beyond surface, and Beyond quests.

That also brings me to the question of who his Handler is. From what I know about how it works, I am almost sure it must be a Ruler. I doubt any Absolute or Champion acting as a Handler could outbid a Ruler.

“Which hallway would you use if you had to decide?” Christoph suddenly stops by my side, asking in a calm voice.

Malika opens her mouth to protest the interruption, but he waves his hand, and a shimmering field around us blocks out all the sound coming from her. At that moment, the mana resting on his shoulders awakens, rising behind him as a transparent upper body that places its hands on Malika. She freezes, her eyes wide open.

While keeping my gaze on the mana construct restraining Malika, visible to me only through my trait, I point toward one of the hallways.

I have been observing all hallways almost since we arrived here, and I point to my choice. Not because it is the safest. Quite the opposite. It is by far the most dangerous, and like a cold, eerie wind, a mana chill flows from it.

“Good pick. Let’s go there then,” he nods, heading back to Victoria and the others.

Did he see the same thing I did? Was that a test? Did he want me to help with my eyes?

I look away from him and turn to Malika, who is still just standing there. There are bruises on her neck, shoulders, and arms from where the huge half-figure held her like she was nothing more than a toy. I also know she tried to attack Christoph dozens of times during all this, with no success.

“That guy seems to be stronger than me. Why don’t you go annoy him instead?” I throw the line out.

She finally shakes it off and only smiles. The bruises on her body begin healing at a visible speed. “Seems to be stronger?”

“Seems to be,” I nod. “I have not fought him so far, so I cannot tell for sure.”

“Want me to join you? We can ambush him and kill him, together.”

“Nah. No fun business like challenging him. I want some peace to think. I know you do not care for your life, but you would probably die if you challenged him.”

“What do you mean? I do care for my life. That is why I live it the way I want.”

“But would it not be nicer to live a few decades longer? Imagine how many people you could challenge, all the fights you could have.” I tempt her like a mechanic who swears duct tape is a premium upgrade.

Her red eyes narrow and her voice softens. “The person living in that future is not me. The decisions I make are for the one living in the present.”

“Well, that is the dumbest thing I have heard today.”

“Want to hear something dumber?”

“Go on.”

“You, acting like you are above the chaos while drooling over it.”

“That is really dumb, indeed.”

“You, pretending you do not like my company.”

“Even dumber.”

“You, trying so hard to ignore me while clearly failing.”

“That might be taking it too far.”

“You, pretending that frown of yours does not make you look cute.”

“Huh, okay?”

“You, pretending those pants aren't fighting for their life back there.”

“What do you mean by that?”

She gives no answer. She just turns and walks away while giggling loudly and maniacally.

“What did you mean by that!?” I shout after her, but no answer comes.

***

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