Chapter 122 (2/2)

2. Cla.s.s Abilities (6)

—Heart and Soul (High-Intermediate)

3. Other Abilities (2)

After checking Oh Rahee's Status Window with the color of observation, he finally understood why she was so confident. Her physical stats and abilities were extraordinary. Seol Jihu was drawn to her Cla.s.s Ability, Heart and Soul, the most.

It seemed like an ability that couldn't be acquired through contribution points.

'Maybe, she is one of the 'true' High Rankers Master Jang mentioned.'

Seol Jihu realized just how great of a monster he worked with in Stage 1. It was then.

“Please stop.”

As Oh Rahee was about to drop the man into the pit, a woman spoke up to stop her. She was a beautiful, blonde-haired woman wearing gla.s.ses that gave her a graceful, intelligent look.

This was the first time Seol Jihu saw her, but his surroundings quickly buzzed with whispers. From what he could pick up, the blonde-haired woman was 'Evangeline Rose', a Grand Pathfinder just like Kazuki. In other words, she was a High Ranker.

“Who the h.e.l.l are you?” Oh Rahee asked with a face that seemed to ask, 'What r.e.t.a.r.d is it now?' Despite Evangeline being a High Ranker, it seemed she had no interest in her.

“Let him go.” Evangeline Rose spoke simply as if to avoid unnecessary fighting, “We will go in first.”

For a moment, Seol Jihu doubted his ears.

“What?” It was the same with Oh Rahee. She tightened her grip on the man, whom she was about to drop.

Evangeline Rose continued, “I'm not saying we will go in for free.”

“The twelve of us will enter and scout the difficulty of the Plaza of Sacrifice. In exchange, we would like these two to enter the Plaza of the Dissonant Wish. Of course, they won't be coming back to Stage 2. They'll be leaving through the red portal.” Hearing her clear, silvery voice, Seol Jihu realized her move was more calculated than altruistic.

Reading her comrades' Status Windows with the color of observation, Seol Jihu found out that most of them were Level 4s, with the two who were left out being Level 2s.

It seemed they were part of the same organization, having brought the weaker members as a way of getting experience. But now that the situation was heading in a bad direction, they seemed to want to send the low-leveled ones home.

“And what if they get sent to Stage 3?”

“Well, they'll have to escape on their own. There's nothing we can do about that.”

“That doesn't sound like something a worried mother would say.”

“We only know that ten people can enter Stage 3. There's nothing that says it's first-come-first-serve. Either there is a condition we don't know about or it's random. Regardless, we can't do anything about luck.”

When Oh Rahee asked in a provocative tone, Evangeline Rose struck back with calm.

“Besides, we're not saying we will use all of the six available slots. Since we're bearing the risk of being the first party to enter the Plaza of Sacrifice, wouldn't it be fair to give four of the six slots to us?” She stealthily increased the slot they would take from two to four.

“…Hnng.” Oh Rahee hummed as though her interest had been piqued. She looked around the field, seemingly to check what the other spectators were thinking about. No one was voicing a word of complaint.

Taking their silence as a sign of agreement, Oh Rahee smirked before looking back at the trembling man.

“This is the correct way of being shameless. Watch and learn.”

She flung her arm, throwing the man away like a piece of trash. The man crashed on the ground and immediately crawled away from the pit in terror.

'She picked a good time,' Seol Jihu admired inwardly as he looked at the hourgla.s.s, which only had 3 or 4 minutes remaining.

Evangeline Rose had used the fact that they were running out of time to offer a deal. It was only possible because the group currently lacked information.

By entering the Plaza of Sacrifice first, thereby stopping the hourgla.s.s and obtaining information, they had succeeded in sending some of their comrades into the Plaza of the Dissonant Wish.

Those left on the field would have to risk their chances of entering Stage 3, but they would gain information about the difficulty of the Plaza of Sacrifice without having to risk danger.

In truth, Evangeline Rose's decision was a gamble and an adventure. Of course, she was a High Ranker, and judging by the equipment her comrades were wearing, they seemed to have ample experience. The team balance wasn't bad either.

'But wouldn't it be too dangerous with just twelve people…?'

“Does anyone want to join us? You can also fit two people into the Plaza of the Dissonant Wish.” Evangeline Rose seemed to agree to Seol Jihu as she raised her voice and asked.

Seol Jihu glanced at Kazuki. He was watching silently, seemingly with no desire to volunteer. Seol Jihu expected as much from Kazuki. He was the type of person who never stepped forward unless he was certain.

After a moment of continued murmuring, ten people volunteered additionally. The condition was the same. Eight of them would join the advance team while the other two would leave through the Plaza of the Dissonant Wish.

Evangeline Rose seemed to think this was enough people as she nodded her head. Filling all six spots for the Plaza of the Dissonant Wish would cause more headaches, and there wasn't enough time remaining anyways.

Thus, the twenty-person advance team disappeared into the left hole. When no one else entered for a few seconds, the Plaza of Sacrifice must have thought that was it.

Koong! The entrance closed shut with a loud thud.

Soon, the closed pit on the right opened up. The four people who were given the opportunity to leave hesitated for a moment before noticing dozens of gazes on them and hurriedly disappearing into the Plaza of the Dissonant Wish.

There were spots left. Two people could still enter the right pit.

However, no one dared to move. The man who was threatened by Oh Rahee was still s.h.i.+vering in fear, showing everyone what would happen if they acted on their own.

Soon, the sand finished trickling down, and the hourgla.s.s flipped over.

After quietly watching the first ten minutes play out, Seol Jihu thought Evangeline Rose's method wasn't so bad. As no one in his temporary alliance was weak to the point of needing to be sent back, that only gave them a greater edge in picking out potential teams to cooperate with.

The problem was finding a trustworthy team. However, this problem caused little to no trouble.

'The Triads… and there was another team, right?'

The other two organizations Kazuki allied with were coming in handy. But in any case, confirming the difficulty of the Plaza of Sacrifice was the top priority.

'Since six was the minimum number of challengers…. Twenty should be more than enough, right?'

Although he thought this, it was nothing more than an a.s.sumption. Just because the monsters in Stage 1 were weak, it didn't mean that monsters in Stage 2 also had to be weak.

'The Golden Rule.'

Seol Jihu stared at the two pits emitting a reddish-golden light and quietly waited for the advance team to emerge.

How much time went by?

It felt like several tens of minutes had already pa.s.sed. Just as the people standing around waiting were beginning to get bored…

Koong! The sound of a door opening finally rang out, followed by a closing sound. The Plaza of the Dissonant Wish had been shut down the moment the Plaza of Sacrifice opened up.

The crowd had been standing away from the pits to avoid being misunderstood. But when they sensed this change, they hurriedly gathered around the left pit.

Seol Jihu followed Kazuki and slowly walked forward. Everyone waited for the advance team to come up. However….

“…What?”

“Why aren't they coming up?”

The door had opened, but the advance team didn't emerge no matter how long they waited.

“Maybe they're severely injured and can't jump up?”

Someone made a suggestion, while another cusped their hands over their mouth and yelled. However, only a vacant echo resounded.

Just as a shadow of apprehension and nervousness was cast over everyone's faces….

“Ahhh!”

Someone's index finger that was pointing at the pit quickly went up.

Something had suddenly shot up from the pit. The thing that looked like a human body drew an arc in the air before cras.h.i.+ng down on the field. That wasn't all. The pit continued to spit things out, almost as if it was coughing out food that was stuck in its throat.

Tk! Roll…!

Something round with fluttering hair rolled on the ground and stopped in front of Seol Jihu's foot. When he subconsciously looked down, he couldn't help but gasp in shock.

After all….

“C-Corpses—!”

What he saw was a severely damaged head.

'Evangeline Rose?'

Just what had happened? Her long, silky hair was cut spa.r.s.ely, and its previously dazzling, blonde color was dyed crimson. Not only that, more than half of her tall nose was shaved off, and her intelligent, sagacious eyes gone as if they had been dug out.

Looking at the tears of blood flowing down from her eye sockets, Seol Jihu groaned inwardly.

'Her neck….'

Her neck was twisted and cut off like a churro. Judging by her distorted expression and crumpled mouth that revealed her uvula, he could tell how much she had struggled in pain before she died.

Ssssss-! Then, when sand began to trickle down from the stopped hourgla.s.s, everyone became stunned.

The advance team had returned as viciously damaged corpses.

The hourgla.s.s's sand had begun to fall once again.

It was very clear what these two phenomena were suggesting.

[Exit automatically opened once all enemies eliminated or no challengers remain.]

All twenty members of the advance team had died in the Plaza of Sacrifice.

In other words….

'But they had a High Ranker…!'

The remaining 142 people had started off with the worst possible move.