Chapter 123 (1/2)

Chapter 123. Timing Game (3)

“Hic…. Hic….” A sorrowful cry rang out.

A white-haired girl wearing a white headband was sitting on the gra.s.sy field. She was Seol Jihu's comrade from Stage 1, and someone who had given him valuable advice to help him arrive at his answer.

“Huang….”

This girl was currently crying in a suppressed voice with her head buried between her knees. Seol Jihu's pity increased as her sorrowful weeps continued to ring out.

He slowly reached out to console her but paused before his hand touched her shoulder.

After retrieving his hand, Seol Jihu bit down on his lower lip and looked around the field. He could see several people standing in their own groups, and as they all had their weapons out, a rather hostile, belligerent air flowed in the area.

Moreover…

'How?'

110 people. That was the number of people currently left in Stage 2.

There were 166 people when Stage 2 began, and the number had dwindled by 56 in just two days. They had either run away or were forced to sacrifice themselves.

'How did this happen?'

He furrowed his brows before slowly closing his eyes. Seol Jihu quietly began to recall the events that happened in the last two days.

First day.

The remaining partic.i.p.ants of the Banquet had sent an advance team into the Plaza of Sacrifice in exchange for allowing four of their comrades to exit.

The result was a total failure. As all twenty members of the advance team perished, those waiting outside were not able to recover any information.

That wasn't all. The advance team had consisted of Evangeline Rose, a High Ranker, and a large number of Level 4s. The fact that they were wiped out was not something that could be ignored.

Almost 12% of the total force, including an elite among elites, had fallen without achieving anything. The situation quickly worsened after that.

The pit continued to spit out one corpse after another, and sand continued to fall from the hourgla.s.s.

It was a confusing situation, but there were people like Seol Jihu who tried to act calm.

Kazuki quickly moved while carefully examining the corpses. He scrutinized several of them and finally, after picking up the decapitated head of Evangeline Rose and inspecting it, he came to a conclusion.

“A Devourer….” He muttered quietly with a troubled voice.

“d.a.m.n it! The condition was a trap.” He murmured like he was talking to himself, but as Seol Jihu was standing next to him, he could clearly hear him.

“A trap?”

Kazuki glanced to the side and nodded gently, “Devourers are one of the most powerful undead monsters. They're especially frightening because of their strange s.e.xual inclination towards the living.”

's.e.xual inclination toward the living?' Seol Jihu didn't understand what this meant, but he didn't ask to find out. He felt like that was the better choice.

“Saying that only six people are needed when something like this comes out…. I can only think of it as a trap.”

“It would have been hard to defeat it even with twenty people?”

“Just one wouldn't have been a problem. I don't know how many of them appeared, but they wouldn't have stood a chance if even ten of them came out.” Kazuki spoke firmly before making a worried expression. “…If only they had a High Ranker specialized for battle….”

Evangeline Rose was a Grand Pathfinder. As she had specialized in scouting abilities, her battle prowess was lacking in comparison.

In other words, this Devourer had to be a monster that even Kazuki couldn't face easily.

“What's the chance it's a Lich?” At that moment, a familiar voice cut in. Oh Rahee was looking at them from a little distance away.

Kazuki shook his head, “Liches also covet the living, but since the organs of the corpses are severely damaged, Devourers should be the most likely enemy.”

“Hnng. Well, I trust you.” Oh Rahee muttered quietly before turning her head at a sudden cheer. Seol Jihu also turned his gaze, only to furrow his brows in the next moment.

A headless, naked body seemingly belonging to Evangeline Rose was rolling around the gra.s.s field. Next to it, Snake Eyes, or rather Audrey Basler, was picking apart her equipment one by one and evaluating it.

“Whoo~! As expected of a High Ranker. All of these are things I couldn't even dream of buying because of their price…. d.a.m.n, her equipment really is as voluptuous as her body! Hm?” Audrey Basler giggled in joy.

Oh Rahee clicked her tongue before staring at the hourgla.s.s with narrowed eyes. More than half of the sand had already fallen.

“There's no guarantee that Devourers will appear again, right?”

“No, but the difficulty should be similar.”

“Will you be going in?”

“…We will have to. All of us.”

“Good. Get ready.” Oh Rahee moved as soon as she heard Kazuki's answer.

“Seol.” Kazuki placed his hand on Seol's shoulder and whispered into his ear, “Listen well. Soon, no matter how it happens, the people remaining on the field will enter the Plaza of Sacrifice.”

“Yes.”

“Don't go in first. Wait for a bit and enter around the middle. And from this moment on, whether you're inside that pit or outside, never stray far from your comrades. Got it?”

Kazuki's deathly serious expression made Seol Jihu nervous.

“Got it.”

“Good. I'm going to look for Hugo and that person. You bring Maria and Chung Chohong here.”

Hearing Kazuki say that the team should first meet up, Seol Jihu nodded his head immediately.

Soon, the Umi Tsubame and Carpe Diem alliance met up. Now that things had turned out like this, everyone had no choice but to enter together.

The ones who realized this entered the pit even while feeling apprehensive, but the problem was with the ones who had no intention of entering Stage 3. They vehemently refused to go in.

The sand in the hourgla.s.s kept trickling down, and there wasn't enough time to persuade them. In the end, the strong ones, who were in the majority, began to take a more forceful approach.

Could threats be considered a method of persuasion? Without giving the others a chance to speak out, they began to intimidate others into going in.

One man trudged into the pit, practically crying. With several Archers threatening to kill him if he didn't enter, what other choice did he have?

The ones who entered from verbal threats had it nice. There were some who refused and stood their ground even when they were threatened by people vastly stronger than them. These people were dragged away by force.

One woman screamed and struggled desperately with all her strength, but Oh Rahee pulled her by her hair and threw her into the Plaza of Sacrifice.

And as more and more people were forcefully thrown into the Plaza of Sacrifice, the screams of protest began to die down.

With two or three minutes remaining, the majority succeeded in suppressing the minority and finally began to enter the pit with breaths of relief.

Meanwhile, Seol Jihu quietly stood on the sidelines. He had no other choice.

The weak, who had no interest in Stage 3, but were forcefully dragged into the left pit where they had a high chance of dying.

The strong, who refused to take the risk and sacrifice themselves.

He agreed with each side's logic.

When the number of people remaining on the field diminished to only about a third, Seol Jihu walked toward the pit with a bitter face.

The inside of the Plaza of Sacrifice was chaos itself.

Since people were thrown in with the plan, 'let's enter first and think afterwards', not a shred of orderliness could be found.

From the inside, The Plaza of Sacrifice wasn't dark, but bright. Unlike how it seemed from the outside, it was s.p.a.cious enough to hold a thousand people.

Around its circular wall were ten doors evenly s.p.a.ced apart. It felt like they had entered an ancient Roman Colosseum.

Not as spectators, but as gladiators.