Chapter 344 - A low price to pay (Patreon)

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 take 5 hours with gradually increasing 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 talking with people and natives the moment we arrived here. Scary.

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

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

“Don't look at me like you pity me,” Tess complains.

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

“We quickly tested a few things. They are similar to natives of the floors but even more restricted. As if there is only a mission to defend the Aether Keep and nothing else. To them, we are reinforcements sent here by one of their Champions. Just saying that we were given a right to lead by said Champion made them cooperate easily. Gareth and Samuel are already talking 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 fly up when you feel like it and learn more. As for the reason, it's because of arcanadium and some other materials you can mine here.”

Before I can say anything, she interrupts, “Yes, we already sent people there to see if we can take it and get it out of the event. The system and the tournament shop are blocked same as during the 1st event. I did talk with a few guys to go and try to craft some stuff out of the materials. Maybe then they could be bought out, but I don’t think the system would let it pass.”

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

"Maybe set up some traps. You’ll know what to do." After saying that, 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, my good friend waits there.

Bendover (Hell, 4th)

Surrounded by the rest of his 4-man group 2 called 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, someone who survived quite a long during the 1st event.

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

Huh?

Oh. I remember now, I told him I'd find him after the event, right? But then I got busy with dying to 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 he holds, the same one the Lorven guy had on the 4th floor. I remember it being quite a nice 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 to me. But you won’t do shit. The event…”

Using my much higher mana reserve, I grab and hold him with [Redistribution], not allowing him to talk or move at all. With my currently no [Restriction], I can do that 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 taken away from you as punishment.

Current score: -100

A low price to pay to ruin that guy’s day.

“Any problem?” I turn to Bard.

“Would it matter even if I had any?” he sighs. “Just go and do your stuff. We don’t have to fight now that he is gone.”

Poor guy, having to deal with that asshole because he is clearing the Floors with him.

“Later then,” I gesture at him and fly high up.

For a moment, I consider being petty and taking down Savant, but in the end, I decide against it. It would make it seem as if I'm scared of him and trying to slow him down. That would be okay with nearly anyone else, but that guy is going down even without these kinds of tactics. Plus there is no need to be an asshole.

Yet.

Flying high above in circles, I examine the area. It looks like I expected. A mountain that is a lot taller than Mount Everest but with a slanted slope with multiple roads leading to it, making the mountain wide and not too steep.

At least I think it's much taller; I've never seen Mount Everest with my own eyes, so who knows? It just feels tall and imposing.

Near the top, the Aether Keep is a series of three tall walls, a huge area behind each. After the last wall, there are buildings, and more of them are carved into the mountain itself. All of this is strengthened with mana and made out of material that is tougher than anything on Earth.

Architecture is simple and rough, but it feels powerful and impenetrable. I also notice a three-layered barrier. Each layer ends at one of the three walls. It's something akin to what the Bastion on the 5th floor used to have.

Flying a bit further at my top speed, no message pops out and the system doesn't try to stop me, meaning I can probably abandon the event and just fly around. But even flying so far, I don't see any enemies, meaning that the system will spawn them or they will teleport there somehow according to the setup of this event.

Not having to save my mana, I fly back at the same high speed.

I could activate the crown and use it as storage for my mana, but currently, I'm not sure if I want to. The others would see it and try to analyze it the same way I'm analyzing them. Especially Savant with the clinical examining look he gives to everyone.

Then there is that huge screen in the common area. Even if everyone dies and leaves the event, they would be able to watch me from the common area. But how much does it even matter?

When I land, a bunch of other participants quiet up their conversation, everyone careful not to step in my way.

It seems that slowly, the attendees from Normal and Easy difficulties are realizing the difference in powers between themselves and the participants from higher difficulties. I can see it in the way they glance around nervously or tense up when someone stronger approaches.

Unsurprisingly, some stronger guys seem to be enjoying it and there is a bit of bullying going on. Currently nothing too bad, but knowing human nature it will only become worse.

Of course, it's nothing too prevalent; most people just want to compete and enjoy the event with others who are stuck in the same situation. But even a single guy from Hard difficulty could mess up the day for everyone else.

“I'm with Group 4! So stop with this kind of behavior,” someone says calmly.

Recognizing the voice, I head that way and there I find Channeler facing two men and one woman. They feel weak to me, but they should probably be from lower floors of Hard difficulty.

I get ready to step in, but to my surprise, even mentioning Group 4 is enough.

“Fuck, okay, okay, man! We are leaving, it's our bad, okay? Just don’t tell on us.”

“It’s fine! Everyone makes mistakes,” Channeler smiles. “But please, apologize to him.”

With interest, I watch as they do just that, all three of them.

Then standing by the side, I listen to them as they pass by.

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 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 as Sset said, 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 is fighting with Gareth a bit. He and Samuel want to play sheriffs and make sure the stronger people do not bully the weaker. They set the webs in the common area and are defusing the fights.” He looks around and moves closer.

Channeler continues in a quieter voice, “Sset told me she doesn’t like it. She and Sophie are more like: if anyone does shit they get fucked and others won’t repeat it out of fear.” He smiles. “Normally it wouldn’t work, people would get pissed and push against it, but Sset is very strong and Sophie’s web is already much better than what Gareth and Samuel’s people did.”

Oh, so fun. An infighting and difference in ideals! Tess seems to be cooking. Sophie too.

“So what does she plan to do?” I ask him. It’s a bit weird but I didn’t talk with Tess and just told her to do anything she wants to and then point me at people who complain. That much I can do for her.

“Sset is so far using your name to scare some people and when someone does some serious stuff she goes there personally and 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 also throws Group 4’s name around.”

Oh, so she does brand building.

Damn, it sounds like a lot of annoying work, but if it's something she wants to do she can. If Gareth and others complain I will still be by her side. It would be fun to see Group 4 fighting against the opposition. Even though I think just Tess, Lily, and I could be enough to handle a combined attack on most of Hell difficulty. Probably.

“Will see you later,” I say goodbye to Channeler and lift off, flying towards where I sense Tess and others.

Landing a bit earlier I stop by Tacita who leans against the tree, watching the discussing 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 of Tess, Maya, and Sophie, discussing something. Behind them stands Samuel. He is from Hard difficulty, a marine or something. His posture is straight and his clothes are well-kept. On his back, there is a sword as big as him resting, but its weight seems to cause him no trouble.

(Food?)

Biscuit moves closer with his wobbly step.

He notices Tacita near me and stops. Then he sniffs towards her and throws a confused look at me.

(Food!)

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

“It’s fine,” I say as I pick him up from the ground and put him on my legs.

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

I wait for her to gesture something, but she does not and returns to observing others.

Well, it's her loss.

Maya also notices me and moves closer, handing me the damaged arcane axe I left with her for a while, and just waves at Tacita who ignores her.

Instead of trying further, she then pokes Biscuit's butt to which the doggo perks up and woofs at her multiple times. Ignoring that, Maya pokes him a few more times while Biscuit twists on my lap. Thankfully, he is patient with dumb people and does not punish her for such an offense.

Maya then glances at the text over my head, “I wonder who is 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 natives, setting defenses, and even with Gareth. She told me to ask you to make a show during this event.” Maya gives me a serious look, “No holding back. Go all out and make even people from Hell difficulty scared shitless.”

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