Chapter 344: A low price to pay

Chapter 344: A low price to pay

Welcome to the 2nd event, the Siege of the Aether Keep. You now have 5 hours for preparations. Cooperation with other participants and natives is preferred, and doing otherwise will lead to a deduction in points.

After 5 hours, the attack will start. The attack itself will last 5 hours with a gradual increase in difficulty.

The longer you defend, the better your rewards will be.

Enjoy the second event!

After a few minutes of just looking around, I look for Tess and move towards her. Unlike me, the blonde started with with people and natives the moment we arrived here. Scary.Fiind updated novels at novelhall.com

“I think you made a mistake,” Tess tells me when she moves closer, reading the text over my head.

I see, the poor blonde is still underestimating the system. But she will learn, she’s a smart girl.

“Don't look at me with that patronizing look in your eyes,” Tess complains.

“How are the natives?” I ask her, changing the subject.

“We’ve already tested a few things. They’re like the natives of the other floors with more restrictions. As if their only purpose is to defend Aether Keep. To their minds, we are reinforcements sent by one of their Champions. We were able to gain their cooperation by telling them their Champion instructed us to take command. Gareth and Samuel are already speaking with them and collecting information.”

“Sounds interesting, so what are we defending?”

“Aether Keep is a bastion carved into an extremely tall mountain as you can see. You can do a fly over later and learn more. As for the reason, there seems to be a deposit of arcanadium and other materials in this area.”

Before I can say anything, she interrupts, “Yes, we already sent people to find out if we can take it out of the event. We’re locked out of the system and tournament shops, same as the 1st event. I did ask a few guys to go and try to craft some stuff with the materials. Maybe that could help us smuggle out some materials, but I don’t think the system is going to let that slide.”

That’s such a shame. “Anything you want me to do?”

"Maybe set up some traps for now. You’ll know what to do." Having said her piece, she leaves to live her busy life as an extrovert.

I, meanwhile, continue to fill the orb inside my body with mana. I could do it with my crown, but I still don't want Savant to see it. Flying a bit up, I locate someone else instead of scouting, and when I land, I find my good friend waiting there.

Bendover (Hell, 4th)

Surrounded by the rest of his 4-man squad from group 2, IDK, he is as charming as always, welcoming me without any fear. He is even smiling. One of the members of his group I know. The man called Bard, he actually managed to survive quite a while in the 1st event.

“You said you would find me after the event, did you change your mind? It won’t be quite so easy now,” BenDover smirks.

Huh?

Oh. I remember now, I told him I'd find him after the event, right? But then I got distracted by my experiments with black mana and crafting, and I forgot. But seeing him up close now quickly reminds me why I wanted to do it.

“I forgot,” I say simply.

“Sure. I will be waiting,” he smirks and waves at me with a dagger in his hand, the same one that Lorven guy had on the 4th floor. I remember it being quite a decent epic item.

I don’t like it. It feels like he is looking down at me because it's impossible to die during the tournament.

His teammate tries to calm him down, but he just pushes him away and fearlessly takes a step closer to me, “You keep looking at me that way like you want to do something. But you won’t do shit. The event...”

Using my much higher mana reserve, I grab and hold him with [Redistribution], preventing him from moving or speaking. Without an active [Restriction], I manage it easily, especially with the amount of mana I can use.

“When I feel like it, I will find you in the common area,” I say simply and then a concentrated blast of kinetic energy hits him, the system turning him into particles and sending him away.

You have killed one of your fellow defenders.

100 points have been deducted from your score as punishment.

The woman pokes the man, “I thought you were a tough guy and you guys are getting scared of them just mentioning some random group?”

“Shut up, Karen! They have that fucking lightning maniac. She would zap your ass off if she heard you or worse throw you to their dog.”

“A fucking dog? How...” their voices weaken as they walk out of my range.

“Noname!” Channeler notices me and comes rushing with a bright smile. “I used your group’s name like Sset told me to, again,” he says, looking somewhat ashamed. “I know it works, but it feels... you know.” He shrugs.

“It’s fine, but what was that all about? What is Sset even doing?”

“Oh, that? She’s butting heads with Gareth. He and Samuel want to play sheriff and keep the strong from bullying the weak. They set up webs in the common area and have been defusing fights.” He looks around and moves closer.

Channeler continues in a quieter voice, “Sset told me she doesn’t like it. She and Soph favor a different approach, something along the lines of: if anyone fucks around they get put down and the others step in line out of fear.” He smiles. “Normally it wouldn’t work, people would get pissed and push back, but Sset is very strong and Soph’s web is already much better than anything Gareth and Samuel’s people could put together.”

How oh, so fun. Infighting and conflicting ideals! Tess seems to be cooking something up and Sophie’s involved too.

“So what’s her plan?” I ask. It’s a bit weird but I did tell Tess to do anything she wants and then point me at anyone who complains. After all, that’s the least I can do.

“Sset has been using your name to scare people into compliance and when anyone does anything too serious she personally beats the shit out of them. No matter what difficulty they are. With Sophie’s web, she gets to the troublemakers quicker than Gareth. She’s also been throwing Group 4’s name around in the process.”

Oh, so she’s been doing some brand building.

That sounds like a lot of annoying work, but if that’s what she wants to do then she’s free to do it. If Gareth and the others complain I will still be by her side. It would be fun to see Group 4 fighting against the opposition. Even though Tess, Lily, and I could probably handle a combined attack from most of Hell difficulty. Probably.

“Well, see you later,” I say, waving to Channeler as I lift off, locating and flying towards Tess and the others.

On the way I spot and stop by Tacita who’s leaning against a tree, watching the arguing group from a distance. She waves shortly and without a word, I plop down on the wall nearby, also observing them from a distance.

Gareth and Adam stand opposite Tess, Maya, and Sophie, discussing something. Behind them stands Samuel. He’s from Hard difficulty, a marine or something. His posture is straight and his clothes are well-kept. A sword as big as he is tall hangs from his back, though its weight doesn’t seem to bother him.

(Food?)

Biscuit moves closer with his wobbly step. He notices Tacita near me and stops. Then he sniffs at her and throws a confused look my way.

(Food!)

I guess he couldn't smell her? What an interesting skill or trait she has.

“It’s fine,” I say as I lift him from the ground and set him in my lap.

Tacita doesn't react and glances at the best doggo of the second event. It's really hard to tell, but I could swear it seemed like she wanted to take a step forward and try to pet him.

I wait for her to gesture at me, but she holds back and returns to observing the others.

Well, it's her loss.

Maya also notices me and moves closer, handing me the damaged arcane ax I left in her care, and just waves at Tacita who ignores her. Rather than attempting further communication, she pokes Biscuit in the rump at which the doggo perks up and woofs at her a few times.

Ignoring his frustration, Maya pokes him a few more times while Biscuit twists in my lap. Thankfully, he’s patient with dumb people and deigns not to punish her for the offense.

Maya then glances at the text over my head, “I wonder who’s right, you with no [Restriction] or Savant with the most severe [Restriction] out of Hell difficulty.”

She pauses and looks at me, “Can you create a barrier around us? So no one can listen.”

I do just that and she continues, “Tess will be busy for the next few hours, dealing with the natives, arranging the defenses, and hammering things out with Gareth. She told me to ask you to make a show during the event.” Maya gives me a serious look, “No holding back. Go all out and make sure that even people from Hell difficulty are scared shitless.”