Chapter 566 - Start of the 2nd Event

Coming back from meeting with Jean, all of group 4 gathers in the living room. The two boxes with thermonuclear warheads are piled on top of each other and pushed into the corner. Someone even threw a blanket over them, and they are used as seating, funnily enough.

I sit on the couch near Dennis and Aaron and ask, “Are you still stealing stuff from other rounds and collecting information?”

Dennis lowers his voice, “You bet.”

“You two seem to be doing a good job. Not that many noticed you. During the meeting, they mentioned Myrra and Tacita only.”

“Hehe, did you know Sophie also noticed plenty of spies from other rounds and is pointing them out to Lily, who hunts them down? It's fun to watch sometimes.”

“That does sound fun,” I confirm.

Looking around, I notice that the mood is much better than when the tournament started. Currently, even though they are worried about Tess, they seem to trust me. That makes me wonder how their mood would change if I had stumbled. That feeling of helplessness would suck ass, I'm sure.

“Did you change your mind, or is the plan still the same? We help you locate the boss monsters and then do our own stuff?” Sophie asks, moving closer together with Izzy.

I nod, “Yes, if possible and the setting doesn’t screw us up. You could also keep an eye on the other groups, and if it looks like they will try to hunt the boss monster. I will attach a [Ley Line] to each of you, and we can all watch one of these monsters while hunting the weaker ones so you guys get some points too.”

“And Victoria?”

“To be honest, I don't know. If I asked her, I'm sure she would go around and hunt down everyone who could try to take a 'kill' from me and not mind the placements, but that could annoy Lissandra. So I didn't ask her for anything, and Victoria can decide what to do on her own.”

“Have you seen her as of late?”

“Lissandra? Not really, she just moves around and does her stuff. Myrra said she is busy examining this floor and instance and trying to grasp how it's made. It should help her escape.”

“I think she doesn't like me,” Sophie says.

“Well, no surprise here. For some unknown reason, everyone seems to hate you.”

She looks me in the eyes and, without a smile, says, “Haha.”

“Haha,” I reply.

“Whatever. Do you need help fixing Fracture? It doesn't seem to be in that good a state.”

“Does it ever? And no. I don't think it will survive this tournament, and I probably have one or two uses out of it at most and the patchwork won’t help. Its base is too deteriorated.”

Aaron seems nearly sad, “A damn mid arcane weapon, soon to be gone just like that. You think you can sell it before it happens?”

“I would like to think yes and will try it for sure after I use it and before it fully breaks, but the system is cheap. I don't think it will be so easy to trick that way.”

Dennis also reaches and taps the sword that is still at my waist, “We can make a better one later, right?”

“Yes,” I confirm.

“I already have the names in mind.”

“Why do I have a feeling I know where this is going?” Sophie asks, but like me, she waits.

Dennis smiles and looks at Aaron. I bet these two brainstormed the names together.

“Fracture-er,” he says.

“No,” I refuse right away.

“Re-Fracture.”

“No.”

“Splinter Supreme.”

“What the fuck, and no.”

“Fracture MK 2.”

“No.”

“Throngler.”

“No… wait. Why?”

“I read it somewhere,” Dennis smirks. “Some dude said that you don't want to be on the wrong end of Dark King Grutmore's Edge of Eternal Torment, but you really don't want to be on the wrong end of something called The Throngler. And I really liked it.”

“I mean… it sounds weirdly logical,” I hesitate.

“See!” Dennis seems happy with my agreement. “But in the end, I really like Fracture, and the name was given because of the effect, right? If we do the same again, the name could be the same. Or you can just call it Fracture, the same way you plan to call your war armor Regalia.”

“I liked Ardenyx, Praxion, and Exoria as well,” Aaron says from the side.

“The troubles you three get into a few minutes before the event,” Sophie shakes her head and stands up, turning to me, “Good luck during the event.”

I nod.

Aaron and Dennis continue to talk about items, war armors, and names while I think about Sophie's wish of good luck.

As the time starts ticking down, I clear my mind and use [Focus] once again to stabilize my emotions.

And even in [Focus], I come to the same conclusions as when I was not focused.

Luck has nothing to do with this.

***

As always, we are teleported to the event location.

A few notifications pop up for me, but I only glance over them: the usual warnings and not-too-important information.

I send my senses into the area but detect no presence nearby. No one from group 4 is near me. It seems everyone has been split up.

Continuing to use my senses, I redeploy my [Mana Crown] and start storing the excess mana there as I walk between the trees.

Their bark is similar to that of birch trees, and the leaves seem normal too. The only difference is that these trees are bigger, much bigger. Their crowns nearly fully cover the sky, and beneath them, it is noticeably darker, with only beams of light passing between the leaves in places.

It is also quiet. There are no birds, no wind, no monsters or animals screeching. The air has a weird scent that is hard to describe: a mix of forest with a fresh sweetness of fruit. That smell is strong to the point where I feel like I should be able to touch it in the air.

I try to open my notifications, but there's nothing. No kill updates, no points, nothing.

But at least this time, there are no rules from Lissandra, at least for now.

I boost myself into the air and, through the branches, fly between the leaves and exit the forest, flying high into the air. A vast forest stretches below me, a sea a few miles in the distance, and the humongous floating islands grab my attention first.

The weather is currently sunny, but from over the sea, dark clouds move closer and, within them, constant lightning keeps flashing. That storm stretches miles and miles wide.

For the first time, I also detect signs of mana bursts and fighting in the forest below me, and a few signatures flying toward me. I look in that direction to spot a pterodactyl-like monster with a wingspan of a small airplane, exiting the caves carved into the sides of these floating islands.

Three javelins weave next to me, and I shoot each of them with an added oomph of kinetic energy.

Each of the javelins hits and tears a hole through the head of each of the beasts, causing red blood to splash as the lifeless bodies start falling down toward the forest.

There is no notification, which only worsens my mood. I can't help but wonder if this setting is designed to keep the pressure on the participants.

I boost myself further until I reach the floating island, which is farther than I estimated. Up close, it's even bigger than I expected. The Skyhold Bastion I saw on the fifth floor doesn't even compare in size. Each of these floating islands is large enough to hold a city with hundreds of thousands of people and still have plenty of space left.

The vibrations of mana I sense from its "engine" send shivers through my skin. The sheer amount needed to keep it floating is hard to grasp. There's likely gravitational primordial energy involved, so I hope Min-Jae is taking notes.

Up close, I get a better view of the formations I spotted from a distance. Ancient-looking structures, now crumbling, cling to the bottom of the floating island. The island itself is shaped like a half-sphere, with a flat top. From what I saw, the flat top is covered in forest, not dissimilar to the one below that overgrows the ancient-looking buildings.

As for what keeps it afloat, I can see a single humongous purple crystal protruding from the bottom of the half sphere, along with the remains of these structures and similarly huge roots of some tree or plant.

A few more flying beasts notice me moving closer and fly toward me with the same intent as the previous ones.

I kill them the same way, flying past their falling bodies as I reach one of the larger caves.

From inside comes a series of screeching sounds, and I hear the sound of hard claws scratching the floor of the cave as they rush to get out.

After sending a detection pulse inside to confirm no attendee is there, I throw a thermal orb that I was compressing and seal the exit with a barrier.

In the following seconds, dozens of notifications continue to ring. Yet there is no event kill feed, no placements.

I dislike it. I hate it, and even though I am in [Focus] I feel a wave of frustration trying to wash over me.

Shoving these thoughts away, I fly toward a similar exit and repeat the process a few more times. Only when I still sense life inside one of the caves after bombing it do I enter and seal the exit with a barrier.

I do not use light to guide my way; instead, I use thermal, kinetic, and mana senses to walk through the huge, dark tunnel. The dark does not make me nervous and instead feels calming. Gradually, I pick up speed until I'm running, adjusting as I get used to the feedback my mana provides about the structure and paths.

I sense an attack forming, a primitive but powerful mana structure of a skill activating and reaching a threshold of mana required to activate.

Quicker than the caster, I reach toward that structure, take over, and twist a part of it. Then I add my mana to the mix and activate it.

An explosion shakes the cave as the lightning attack the beast was trying to use explodes in its throat.

A flap of huge wings sounds, and I weave a javelin out of denser threads than the previous ones, making it bigger. Just enough for the monster, whose tattoo-like symbols on its skin start glowing and lighting up the cave. Like a flash, the pale blue javelin pierces the monster's chest and stabs deeply into the wall behind.

The beast takes a few more wobbly steps before the light of the tattoos disappears and the cave turns dark again.

The [Ley Line] tied to the javelin I shot activates, and the javelin teleports back next to me. I shoot it again, but this time it fails to pierce the skin of the beast.

I dodge to the side, and laser-like bursts of lightning continue to track me, crackling and sizzling as they hit the walls and explode chunks of rock around. Right away I can sense the destructive power of the attack, something that would easily cut me in half.

The javelin that fell teleports back to me, and I use [Knitting] as well, making it even denser and fixing the damage the crash on that tough skin caused.

For a second, I release a burst of thermal energy, lighting up the cave in its entirety with a brilliant flash of light.

The beast attacking me screeches, its lightning striking wildly as it jerks its head from the sudden burst of light.

My javelin shoots again, and a blast of kinetic energy pushes even me back as the weapon pierces the chest of the beast and pins it to the wall behind.

The beast thrashes a few times in an attempt to escape or attack once more, but it fails to do either.

With a Wraith Dance, I reach its corpse and examine the skin. Even though I boosted the javelin and made it extremely durable, I notice the weapon is damaged and it didn’t even pierce through the entirety of the beast.

What an incredibly durable skin and body for something capable of flight.

I scan my surroundings again, but sensing no other signature, I turn and head back outside.

***

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