Chapter 77 - The Duke's Tournament (2)

After a while, all the coins disappeared and were replaced by a message.

[You've gained 1000 points!]

[The points are a special currency that can be used in the tournament! Don't spend them too carelessly!]

Once all the choices ended, a few more coins came out of the air.

It was at that moment that everyone else started murmuring.

All the other users were looking at their feet, just like Hyun had just done.

After looking at them, Hyun confirmed that everyone else was experimenting with the same thing as him.

[You've received 100 points!]

[Current Points: 1100p]

[You can check your current ranking in the status window.]

As the screen changed, just like the hall of fame, the rankings of everyone appeared from the number one.

As countless IDs appeared, many people sighed.

TarrTarr was also surprised.

「I'm... 21...?」

His ID was on the top.

Although it was a joint 21st place.

「The current rankings are pointless.」

「Is that so...?」

「Everyone with 1100 points is probably seeing themself at the 21st position.」

Just like Hyun said, most users had, at the moment, either 100, 1100, or 2100 points.

But in a few moments, the rankings would start changing quickly as if it were the stock market.

There was no point in thinking about the rankings yet.

[ - Then, the 4th Duke's Tournament is going to start! ]

Wham-!

As the tournament began, an entire wall lifted, and a place that had been hidden showed itself.

The new place that appeared was bigger than the waiting room.

Even Hyun, who had experienced and enjoyed many large-scale things while playing Asra, was mesmerized for a moment.

He had never been to that place, but he'd seen it a couple of times in movies.

'A casino? Suddenly?'

That was the first word that came to his mind.

Hyun knew about the Abyss's quests only by rumors he'd heard or from information he'd gotten, but he had never experienced them.

Asrian's detailed production excited him as if he'd come to a real casino.

'I see. This is why they said that the points are the currency.'

It seemed like the coins that fell like a waterfall were chips you could use in the casino.

Hyun, who had understood the concept of the tournament, smiled.

'Yes, I'm finally getting a grasp of things!'

After a while, TarrTarr, who had finally come back to his senses, asked.

「Hmm... What should we do first?」

「Huh? You should prepare to record, obviously.」

「Oh yeah, that's right. Record...」

Hyun slowly walked through the corridor.

Tens of magic circles were next to each other as if they were an arcade attraction.

And just like a real casino, there were also some NPCs working as 'dealers.'

Hyun quickly looked around the entire place.

From what he knew, each magic circle led them to one virtual quest.

Basically, where the tournament took place was a game center where many games were gathered.

Depending on your results, you could either gain or lose points.

You could also get quests as a party or alone.

There were raids where tens of people collaborated.

In some of them, a special rule even allowed PvP!

There were many interesting things to see, but there was no time to waste.

After all, there was a time limit of three hours.

'Is it this way?'

Hyun quickly walked toward the one he'd decided on previously.

Where Hyun stopped was a place where it said 'Virtual Historical Battle.'

The magic circle was decorated as a slot machine. Even Hyun, who had no experience with that kind of thing, quickly learned how to operate it.

A hologram with a simple explanation appeared in front of them.

[ <Virtual Historical Battle (1 person)> ]

Difficulty: [Easy], [Normal], [Hard]

Betting Limits: Depending on difficulty 1 ~ 20p / 10 ~ 100p / 50 ~ 500p

「Woah! Do we have to gamble? It's my first time doing it! I somehow feel we're doing something wrong, making things more exciting!」

TarrTarr was excited since that was the first time he'd experienced coming to a casino.

「But are we going to be okay? My parents always say that you're always going to lose while gambling.」

「It's going to be okay,」Hyun said while smiling.

「What your parents are talking about is about real gambling... But here, we're guaranteed to win.」

Hyun walked toward the magic circle and said something more.

「This is a gamble where skills matter.」

After exchanging 500 points with chips in an exchange center around there, Hyun put them all in a device that looked like a slot machine.

He bet the maximum amount possible on the highest difficulty.

As TarrTarr was surprised by Hyun's confidence, he said while smiling.

「If you're sure you're going to win, wouldn't it be better to bet the maximum possible amount? You just need to think about how to record and edit the footage.」

While Hyun made that affirmation, a message appeared.

[You've chosen the difficulty!]

[Select the 'theme' of the stage!]

Many monsters appeared as small holograms in front of them.

What Hyun picked was a skeleton that was cutely drawn as a caricature.

[You've picked the 'undead invasion'!]

[The stage will soon begin! Three, Two, One…]

At the same time he picked, the count down began.

A virtual fight was about to start in a virtual reality game.

Suddenly, Hyun's, no, TarrTarr's body was standing on top of a fortress that had become ruins.

「This...」

「Yes, it's a game inside a game.」

As he turned his head around, he saw a group of injured soldiers repairing the fortress's walls.

The place was probably a battlefield.

A message began explaining the context of the battle.

<Warning! The necromancer who ruled over these lands was killed! The army of the undead is no longer under control! Defend the fortress until the help sent by the Duke arrives!>

= Depending on the results, the number of points you receive will increase!

[Eliminate All]

[Eliminate Elite Monsters]

[The state of the fortress]

[The number of survivors inside the fortress]

[Additionaly endured time]

Hyun looked around and tried to get a grasp of the situation.

There were currently about 20 soldiers who were engaging in battle.

On the other hand, there was an endless amount of undead monsters coming from the distance.

Not only that, but the number of monsters increased as time passed.

If there wasn't a cliff behind the fortress, it would've probably fallen already at the hands of the undead army.

「Are you recording?」

「Yes!」

「Then should I begin?」

Roll-

The head of a skeleton that had been climbing the fortress walls rolled down next to him.

One undead had climbed up between the soldiers.

The skeleton grabbed his head and then charged toward TarrTarr.

「Did you bring that weapon?」

「Yes, I have it!」

Hyun had asked TarrTarr to prepare to novice's dagger.

From time to time, it was hard to attack opponents with high defenses with just your fists.

To stack combos reliably, a weapon that dealt little damage like that was perfect.

Two combo, three combo, four combo.

As Hyun began stacking combos, a soldier approached him, looking at him pitifully.

"It seems like you're having troubles. I'll help you."

"Don't come near. I don't need your help!"

"What…?"

The soldier thought for a moment that he had misheard.

No, he had definitely misheard.

He was about to approach the kid who was struggling with a weak soldier, when…

"Woah…!"

He backed off at the sight of Hyun, who had swiped off the weapon.

"Just leave this side alone."

Hyun was starting to get angry at the random guy who was bothering him while he was trying to stack combos.

"Attacking an ally, what are you thinking?!"

The soldier who had gotten tired shouted, but the boy just stood still.

Just as if he were a sculptor, he kept hitting the skeleton with an old dagger.

"Is he just someone crazy...?"

The soldier who had concluded that returned to his position while tilting his head.

But as Hyun continued doing his work, the rest of the soldiers began to notice him.

Some of them were starting to get angry at Hyun.

Everyone was fighting while risking their lives, yet he was just playing in the middle of that situation!

But unlike what they thought, Hyun was more serious than anyone else.

「It seems like the people around us are angry...」

「Yeah, they probably are.」

Even if everyone looked at him angrily, Hyun didn't seem to care.

Hyun could ignore the rest and did what he wanted because he was sure of himself.

[For the next 5 minutes, you won't be able to gain combos from Infiltration Skeleton Soldiers!]

"Stop doing useless things and fight properly! Can't you see that everyone is fighting while bleeding?!"

A soldier who was tired walked toward them.

He was approaching TarrTarr while warning him for doing what he wanted, separated from the rest.

Clang-!

The soldier approaching TarrTarr while menacing him collapsed while grabbing his tingling hand.

Hyun had swung his sword while suddenly turning around.

The soldier lost the weapon because of an impact he wasn't expecting.

"I'm going to help you soon, so wait," Hyun said while looking at the soldier on the floor.

As their eyes met, the soldier took a deep breath.

What he saw were incredibly cold eyes.

Not only that, but the speed at which he changed weapons was so fast that he couldn't see it.

"If you're so strong... Why aren't you helping?"

The soldier who had lost his weapon asked him while lifting his head.

Just one confrontation was enough to know.

That person was at least twice as strong as him, no, even more than that!

The strength of the impact was because of the effect of «Trance», which increased the attack as the number of combos increased, but because the soldier's level was low, he didn't know that.

"Tsk, leave that guy alone!"

"The Duke has promised to come to help us. We just have to join our strengths and resist the best we can!"

As time passed, the number of skeletons climbing the wall increased.

One or two became three and four. The soldiers were starting to struggle.

"Ugh... It's hard to resist!"

"We're going to be annihilated before the Duke comes to help!"

In the end, one of the walls ended up collapsing.

Suddenly, skeletons entered the fortress and surrounded some of the soldiers.

"Diorite! Can you sneak out?!"

"Just give up! If you enter there, we're also going to get surrounded!"

About twenty soldiers were left. They gave up on the fortress's wall and were moved to a place where they would be able to defend easily.

The eyes of the surrounded soldier showed despair.

At that moment…

"He can be saved."

Someone suddenly passed through next to them while mumbling.

Everyone's attention got focused on that someone.

It was that guy…

The crazy guy who had been doing nonsensical things was running alone toward the army of the undead to save an ally who was in trouble.

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