Chapter 353 - I want him dead (Patreon)

The living room was too small, so all of us are outside in the garden. It's quite nice. Vibrant green grass, a nice breeze, pretty trees nearby, and around are several tables with snacks.

Even Biscuit floats around, sniffing the people. Some of them seem to be terrified; I guess they saw him during the events. Now that I think about it, didn't Biscuit kill plenty of people from Easy and Normal difficulty during the 1st event?

As for the people around, it's close to twenty men and women from Easy and Normal difficulties. Channeler, Dennis, Aaron, Sophie and Izzy are also here. A bit to the side, on a branch high up on a tree, Tacita sits, nomming on some snack she stole and observing us down here. I don't think anyone other than me and Sophie noticed her.

Channeler, to whom I already explained the situation, starts, “So, the goal is simple. We will make Noname look as weak as possible.”

Someone giggles but quickly gets shut up by two of her friends

“Good fucking luck with that,” I hear before they cover her mouth.

Channeler, unbothered, just smiles at the people, his handsome face letting out a calming aura.

As he continues, even I start believing what he says, “You guys got it all wrong. During the second event, Noname waited while other people from Hell difficulty weakened the monster so he could steal the rewards.”

“No one will believe that!” someone shouts.

“Why not, Eve? We all saw it. Noname used an item, and only thanks to it was he capable of defeating the monsters. It is a powerful item he cowardly stole on one of the floors, and only thanks to it he got so far,” he looks at Sophie, Izzy, and then the twins, “Even the members of his group complain about having to help him constantly.”

That… that sounds reasonable, doesn't it?

“Plus, Noname’s avatar won’t have the axe,” Channeler adds.

Someone else asks, “What about the first event? He didn’t have that axe during it and almost won!”

The handsome man shakes his head, “Once again, Noname was lucky, even getting his hand on the arcane item that allowed him to get so far. It's insane how lucky that guy is. Even then, he lost against Savant.”

“Didn't Savant get the arcane glove?”

Channeler looks confused, “Did someone confirm that? Savant won’t deny it and pretend he did have an arcane item because he is hiding his powers for the duels, right? But it was actually Savant who fought with his skills only.”

This time a small group of people starts mumbling among themselves.

(That guy is good.) Sophie sends to me.

(He is mine.) I send back.

Waiting for people to quiet down, Channeler continues, “Obviously, we will lead by example and challenge Noname. Don’t worry about the shards. Noname promised to reward us accordingly. Each of us will get an uncommon item and we get five rare items. But,” Channeler lifts his finger, “The items are from Tent Cre... from Fuckyouintentbitch, and Noname was able to buy them. He might throw in some extra if we do well.”

A few people giggle and Tent Creep gets called out a few times.

Should I beat them up?

They also become much more excited now. It looks like the performance of these items spread out widely.

Continuing, Channeler explains, “Noname will place a high [Restriction] on his avatar and place some nice rewards. Of course, the first challenger group or two will probably lose. We need to be in these groups to downplay it as much as possible. Then for the third challenge, we will try to get as many people as possible. I will go over with you the expected things people will say and the excuses we came up with.”

Watching it, it's all nice and I almost feel like a villain, having my own minion spreading my evil plan. The group asks plenty of questions and Channeler answers all of them patiently and with a smile. He even knows all their names and watching it I'm sure half of the people are helping because they are into him, no matter if they are men or women.

(Handsome people sure have it easy.) I send through the twins' link.

(I wish women would look at me the way they look at him,) Dennis sighs.

(Maybe we can have Lily use [Plastic Surgery] on our faces to make us look better,) Aaron tries.

(You guys are all dumb, each of you isn't even that bad looking.) Sophie is also looking at the crowd while testing some stuff.

Seeing she made progress, I ask, (So?)

(I could probably influence people from Easy and if I push it, even from Normal difficulty without them noticing. But it wouldn't be that strong, just the tiniest poke towards them deciding to challenge you, nothing stronger. Something akin to a friend telling you something. People from Hard difficulty would notice that and it wouldn't affect them. That would cause more trouble than help.)

(That's true. Let's not do that then. How about you?) I turn to the twins.

(No problem, boss!) Aaron sends with a smile. (We will trash you a lot and have Brainiac to help. It's good you didn't call Kim, he is terrible at lying and Lootenant as well.)

(It will be easy, but you have to teach us coordinates on the 6th floor in exchange, and won't be taking a cut!) Dennis reminds me.

(As I promised.) I agree.

For a while, I watch Channeler and even though some things he says kind of annoy me illogically, I appreciate the effort. The extra bonus is that he is making Savant look much stronger so maybe the guy won't have any rewards from this event as people won't want to challenge him.

I don't think it will help that much. People aren't that dumb, but it's fun to watch.

 ***

I spend a few hours crafting the items I will give as rewards for people who are helping Channeler.  Yet I still think it will be worth it.

To avoid connecting my name with Fuckyouintentbitch, I've also already hinted at buying some before. For the rest, I'll drop a few clues and leave it to their imagination, hoping they'll think I know the guy.

Done with crafting, I walk through the common area, heading towards where WhiteWing is located.

Surprisingly even now I notice some people looking at me. Some even laugh while hiding it and whispering something to the people next to them. It's not that many people, but it already started and once in a while, I notice some of Channeler's helpers going around and talking to people. He really picked good helpers as they all start conversations quite easily.

Is this the true power of people from lower difficulties?

Anyone from higher is much less friendly in comparison as we had to get used to the floors where you can get stabbed in the back at any time.

Reaching the big house Gareth's group is using, I look at it for a while. It has multiple floors, the area around it is bigger than around ours and there is no workshop.

Our house and the view are better. Group 4 wins once again.

“Noname, you are slow as hell. But I guess that's why you are in Hell difficulty,” Brainiac welcomes me with a lame joke.

When I ignore him and just enter the house, he quickly follows with, “And what the hell are these rumors in the common area? Already like five people asked me if it's true that you got an arcane item during the 1st event and that I beat you in a duel.”

“What did you say?” I ask instead of answering.

“It sounded fun so I said I beat you three times in duels and the arcane item was found by someone from Easy difficulty and you still almost died to them while stealing it,” he says with a bright smile.

Nice, free labor.

“Ask the twins if you want to; they will know more. But if you try to ruin the plan, I will find you.”

“Sure, no problem! Gareth and Sset are already waiting, so go upstairs; I will go and find Dennis or Aaron!” Once again, he ditches his responsibilities in pursuit of some fun and leaves the house. I don’t hate it; the guy clearly has his priorities straight.

Walking upstairs, I detect three mana signatures in the room and, after knocking on the door, I enter. There in a smaller room, a man sits tied to a metal chair. Around his neck, a weaker version of a Null collar is placed. Not epic, but maybe rare at most. It doesn't allow him to use his mana.

Even that is enough, as the guy is clearly from Easy difficulty. Even though just a short examination tells me that he is probably the strongest person from Easy difficulty I've met and probably even stronger than most of Normal.

The more I observe him, the more interesting it is. Maybe he is even stronger than some weaker people from Hard difficulty?

Tied to the chair, the man is around thirty years old. He has a short beard and brown hair and a wild expression in his gray eyes. He is of average height but quite muscular. Meanwhile, Tess sits on a chair nearby, and Gareth stands in the corner of the room.

“So that's the guy?” I ask.

“Yes,” Tess nods.

“So what if I am? You can't do anything. After the tournament, I will be free, and you won’t be able to reach me,” the man's voice is calm, even while his expression is wild.

There is something chilling about the way he looks around or talks.

“That would be quite a wasted tournament for you,” I mention.

“I can live with it,” his answer is simple.

“What is the name of your skill?” I ask.

“Noname, you can't be serious!” Gareth talks for the first time, and the usually calm and compassionate man sounds on the edge, “This isn’t the time or place for that.”

“Does it matter?” I step closer and send mana to the man, forcefully overwhelming him and breaking through his natural barrier. Sending my mana through his body, I examine it as well as his mana.

Other than an attempt at the start, he doesn't try to defend himself and watches me with eyes that tell me he would stab me if he could. Or something much worse.

Such an amusing guy.

“So how many?” I ask Gareth.

Tess answers instead, “It's hard to say exactly, but we think he killed all 199 members of his group, sometime during the 1st Floor.”

“How did he do that? It couldn’t have been that easy.”

“We don’t know for sure,” Tess shakes her head, “Maybe he poisoned them. He seems to have a skill like that. We also talked to a few people who got defeated by him during the 1st event, and they confirmed he has some skills like poison smoke, and acid that melts even through less dense mana. Both of these attacks cause a lot of pain too.”

“Maybe he just poisoned their water or something and killed them slowly,” I wonder while examining his body.

Other than being surprisingly high-level, it seems normal. I'm not an expert, but there is nothing remarkable. The guy just seems to be someone willing to murder a lot of people. Maybe he wanted to level up or get their equipment. Or maybe he is just a murderer and twisted person who got into a place without any rules.

I stop using my mana and look at him. The entire time, and now even more so, he watches me with those eyes of his. I've met plenty of psychos but this one seems to be a special case.

“Any idea what floor he is on?” I ask.

“If he went no [Restriction], then he is on the 11th floor, that's what a few guys saw,” Gareth joins.

“Oh? Isn’t that the highest floor out of anyone here?” I ask.

“Yes, and before you ask, yes, we tried to get info, but he refuses to cooperate and as always, the system censors everything else,” Tess leans back on her chair.

Such an interesting situation. So, how do you deal with a murderer like that? Do you even want to? He can't be killed during the tournament. Sure, he can be fakely killed, even tortured, but after a few more days, he will be back to doing whatever he wants.

Even if he goes back to the Floors, anything he does will be to the fakes created by the system and not to actual people. The question is if Gareth and Tess want to punish the guy for what he has done. More interestingly, do they even have the right to decide that?

Curious about what they’ll do, I turn to them.

Gareth is silent and indecisive, still not willing to show his evil side, which I'm certain he has. There is no way the guy looking like a hero, with shiny armor, healing skills, and talking about protecting others isn’t evil.

Tess, on the other hand, returns my gaze easily, her eyes unwavering as she declares simply, “I want him dead.”

That's why I like her.

***

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