Chapter 366: The day of the Finals

The final day of the Grand Mage's tournament has finally arrived. Unlike the previous days when there were some people that didn't attend, this time around almost every single person in the capital arrived at the arena.

The seats were filled to the brim, many who came late were forced to stand, while the most unfortunate ones had to stand outside the arena. Aside from the area near the arena, there was no other place that had people in it in the capital, well there was one establishment that had people still in it the Tavern known as the Lonely Cat.

Haruto was still waiting for the disturbance to happen so the system would allow him to leave the Lonely Cat. While he waited for whatever was going to happen he needed to practice his bartender skills as well as his cooking skills. He was also teaching the new employee Nero how to become a better waiter.

'I wonder what kind of disturbance is about to happen... Hey system, many people are going to die aren't they?' Haruto's system wasn't like those in the novels he had read where the system has some sort of AI that was helpful and playfully bantering with him, his system was just some text on a screen that only he could see, and a robotic voice that answers some questions.

Still, his system was almost always right it was like it could predict the future. If it said that something will happen that will need Haruto to save people, then something truly bad was about to happen.

'I already understood this was a fantasy world were killing was a normal occurrence but...' Haruto gnashed his teeth at his own weakness. He has been thinking about different ways on how to save the people ever since he received that new task. Yet no matter how hard he thought he couldn't find a way to save everyone from the upcoming disaster.

'In the first place, I don't even know what kind of disaster is coming. Is it going to be a natural disaster like an earthquake or a storm? It's also possible that the nearby monsters will gather into a legion and attack the city. There's also the possibility that the enemies of this kingdom have infiltrated the city and will begin a massacre. There's also the chance it has something to do with the guy that's trying to kill Nero. The last one is the most likely scenario but...'

Haruto remembered asking Nero about the plans of the Primordial Demon Nyarlom, but even he wasn't so sure. All Nero knew was that Nyarlom wanted to spread chaos.

'That could be anything... It's also possible that he would do all of the above at the same time. If that were to happen what can I do? The system has assured me that as long as we're inside the Lonely Cat we won't be in danger but... I know I ain't a Saint but I just can't watch thousands of people just like that. There must be a way to save them all.'

Haruto sat on one of the empty seats in the tavern and started to think. The more he thought about it the more anxious he became. Nero who was watching at the side frowned.

'The owner should be thinking about Nyarlom. Since he was asking about him so much yesterday, the owner must have some clue as to what's to come. I did tell him that we should flee from the city but he reassured me that the safest place was within the tavern. Well, this tavern is pretty mysterious. I can't even leave the place without the owner's permission, I did try to sneak out but the doors wouldn't open. I also tried destroying the walls and the windows but none of my attacks worked. I was so noisy last night but the owner didn't scold me. Surely he should've known what I was doing, but I guess he allowed me to attack so that I can see there's no escape.'

Remembering the event last night where Nero attacked the glass windows with all his might without scratching it made Nero feel reassured.

'If this place is so safe, why is the owner acting this way? Not to mention that the owner is incredibly strong. No matter what Nyarlom has planned as long as we stay in the tavern, what's there to fear?'

Unable to understand what Haruto was thinking about, Nero gave up and continued cleaning the floor while waiting for a customer to enter.

...

Nyarlom who was watching the gathering crowd and chuckled. "All my food gathering in one place. I wonder what kind of fear and malice I can suck out of them once they see the fun I have in store for them? Surely it will be an exquisite meal, one that I haven't had in millennia."

As he was getting excited and started to drool Nyarlom summoned a ball of black energy and played with it. The excitement in his face slowly faded as he started to frown. The black energy he formed made him once again notice his current strength.

"I can't even produce one-fifth of my true power. This will limit the ways I can play with the living beings of this era. Still, with how weak the current races of this era are, a fifth of my power should be enough to cause mayhem... Hmm, now that I think about it there are people in this era I should be wary of. The human heroes for one thing can cause a bit of trouble." Nyarlom remembered the human hero protecting the cave where his brethren were trapped and clicked his tongue.

"No matter the era those guys would always get in our way. The so called chosen ones, they always ruin the fun." Just remembering the numerous times his race has been stopped by the so called heroes made Nyarlom extremely irritated.

"Now that I think about it, I did see one of the human heroes here, what was his name?... Oh right Valdel. He's still a fledgling of a hero but with my weakened power, he would've been a little bit problematic if he didn't use too much mana yesterday. There was also that girl called Lara who was on the same level as him. Well even if they do regain their full power they'll only be a tiny hindrance. The real problem is that one who's been hiding from my senses."

"The one who killed one of my kin. I did hear a tiny bit of their conversation before I lost them. The only thing I know about this person is that he or she is the new protector of the Tree of life. Whoever it is should be near watching me. Still, if he or she is just watching and not attacking that would mean that whoever it is doesn't have enough confidence in dealing with me."

"There's also the guy that saved Nero from the shadow wolves. That guy is pretty mysterious, and he doesn't look like someone that's easy to deal with. I did try to do some scouting, but every time my monsters got near the tavern called the lonely cat they were killed without even getting inside. I could go to the tavern personally but wasting too much of what little malice I have gathered wouldn't be fun. I guess if he doesn't do anything then I shouldn't bother with him for now."

"Then finally there's also the one who's always being talked about, the one called Kretos. I haven't seen him but there are plenty of rumors about him... If that guy is the same as what the rumors make him out to be, if he decides to mess around with my plans it might spell actual trouble."

"Now that I think about it, I remember some fake demon that has a similar name that appeared back then. I haven't seen the demons of that era but it was said that the demon called Kretos was the closest to us. If this guy with a similar name is anything like that demon then we might actually have some real fun."

Nyarlom happily smiled as he remembered that era when that demon called Kretos existed. That era was filled with the malice of the people, which empowered them, the primordial demons.

Due to the massive amounts of malice, the primordial demons received in that era they were able to push their past jailer to a corner, but the b*stard was able to hold out for a few millennia more before dying. If that wasn't enough the next jailer was an even more powerful hero than the last one.

If they didn't exhaust most of their power in killing the previous jailer they could have dealt with the newly appointed jailer then and there. Yet it took a very long time for them to regain enough strength simply to escape, but only a few of them were able to get through.

'Just a little bit more and we can regain our true powers. Once we do that we can destroy the world tree and joyous chaos will be neverending! If anyone of those guys tries to mess around I'll just offer them anything they want, just like what I did to that fool Nero.'