Chapter 294: Your Blood is All Over the Ground

Compared to the dark and oppressive environment of the maze island in the first round, the stage of the second round was much wider and well-lit. There wasn’t anything like a maze that partitioned its space, which fully gave the sense that there was freedom and a sense of release.

“Oh, that’s light! Oh, that’s water!”

By the coast, Marni was exclaiming loudly at the sights before him and the crystalline seas nearby. However, his enthusiasm soon left him as he pursed his lips in disinterest, holding even slight disdain. “What the heck, isn’t this the fishmen island?”

“Fishmen island?” Gerald, who was grouped with Marni for now repeated the term. “You know this place, Mister Marni?”

“Yes, it’s a hunting grounds for us Players.” Marni nodded grimly. “Even if I didn’t visit this place too many times, I remember this landscape well.” “Of course, no one could be more familiar with these lands.” Ivan Narine, a former mercenary leader who escorted Marni’s merchant convoy smiled teasingly, dismantling his former boss without showing mercy towards his reputation. “Since your blood is all over the ground, boss.”

Gerald leveled a troubled look at Marni at that.

Even though he hadn’t officially converted to the Church of Games yet, after experiencing so many things which made a tremendous impact on his world view, his heart had long since began to lean towards the Church of Games.

That was exactly why the yellow name over his head which once showed that he was neutral had turned completely green recently, an ally whom the Players acknowledged.

As such, certain secrets kept amongst Players (such as the Lifestones) were now known to him, a treatment reserved only to the frogmen, believers of the God of Justice, certain wood elves, and the Long Ears tribe who had recently allied with them. It was also why Ivan would joke around in his presence.

It should also be mentioned here that the names of the Players hanging above their heads were in white.

At first, Xi Wei intended to label the Players with green fonts as well since it feels ‘safe’ and ‘natural’, but he decided that it was not a good omen after thinking long and hard about it, hence adjusting it to white.

“No bonus for you this month, Ivan.” Mani slid Ivan a sideways glance and flashed a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes.

“Sorry, Boss!” Ivan promptly apologized earnestly. “Please forgive me, I still need to buy higher-level items this month.”

“Well, since you’ve apologized so sincerely, I shall forgive you in my great compassion… As long as you promise that you would keep me safe in the tourney so that I won’t die for some stupid reason.” Marni nodded in satisfaction at that, suddenly feeling quite important.

Nonetheless, Ivan scowled and considered it for a moment, before shaking his head dejectedly. “Forget it then. I’ll skip on that bonus.”

Marni: ???

“While I don’t wish to interrupt you when you’re teaching your man a lesson, it seems that some things are trying to surrounding

surro

us.”

Ever since he had joined up with Marni, Gerald certainly proved that he deserved his former post as the personal guard of Lancaster’s mayor. While he might still be lacking in ability compared to the first-rate Players, his well-honed wariness and sharp senses were not something many Players had. And thanks to his warning, Ivan, who had been having a laugh with Marni quickly turned serious and pulled out both his swords. He had taken the Ranbu route of the Swordmaster class and complemented it with a few Kengyoku skills, and his dual-wielding was one of Kengyoku’s skills which increases his damage. In truth, the Berserker skill branch has quite a few fine skills as well, but as Ivan had been an armed escort for merchants before he converted to the Church of Games (Being the former escort leader of Marni’s merchant convoy), he needed endurance and ability to fight for extended durations to protect others instead of dealing short bursts of extreme damage. In addition, he could last even longer by buying some time to rest, in turn rapidly recovering combat ability and stamina. As such, the Berserker path that trades HP for damage was naturally ill-fitting for a guardian role.

But despite claiming that he couldn’t stop Marni from dying, Ivan’s still focused his senses and then some when the fighting began to protect his employer.

Marni was clearly aware of that-in spite of their frequent banter, the first person he would think of when he needs an escort would always be Ivan, and he would compromise and request others only if Ivan wasn’t available. “Aside from fishmen, what danger could there be on fishmen island anyway?”

Marni, however, looked most nonchalant of the trio. “Relax. Not even I would be killed so simply by just a few fishmen!”

That much was true—even if Marni seemed to give the impression he had a passive Taunt skill that kills him in the most random ways possible, he was actually strong first-rate Player who could just punch heavily at low-level monsters and win (he wouldn’t be that high-level otherwise), although he would be instakilled by every Boss he encountered.

And just as expected, it was a bunch of normal-looking fishmen that appeared on the coast and were trying to surround them.

“No caster, no priest, no leader or liege!” Ivan promptly made his choice. “Averaging at Level 15… We can take them!”

But Gerald was quicker than him-he had already rushed forward.

While the young knight couldn’t see the text over the fishmen’s heads, an ordinary fighter like him could determine his opponent’s strength through their presence. Such a method always tended to work, although it would be less effective against the crazy bunch called the Players.

Having trained in swordcraft at a young age, Gerald had a firm foundation, while his swings were at once swift and viciously elegant. He would only be defeated soundly only when it came to duels against Kengyoku Players, who preferred their blocking and parrying that wrongfoots his rhythm.

Against the fishmen, however, it was one swing one kill. And as Ivan and Marni joined the fray-with the latter donning his Ironman armor, the fishmen that had come to hunt them down were sent scampering instead.

“Not bad. We could collect enough points if this keeps up.”

Marni nodded in satisfaction as he opened his helmet and turned on his quest page and studied the point counter. “Now we just have to find the Night Tide Dragon and kick it in the balls.”That was when he sensed that things had become rather quiet around him.

Turning of his system page and looking up, he found Ivan and Gerald’s staring at the sea behind him, their eyes widened.

A foreboding sensation arose in his mind just then.

He slowly turned and found himself looking into a pair of golden eyes the size of lanterns.

“Well…”

In the next split second, the Night Tide Dragon stretched its gaping maw and promptly bit down on Marni, snapping him in two and left his lower body on the beach while it turned and slipped beneath the waves.

It was only then that Ivan yelled as if jolted from a dream. “Oh my god, Marni’s dead…

again!”