Chapter 295 - Tournament Chapter (7)

[Lee Yeon-hee]

The man died much faster than I thought he would. Candidates who entered the Tutorial and had all kinds of bizarre abilities were no different than normal humans. And I was not impressed by that fact.

“Stop it!” the Chinese man shouted, and the shield unfolded. Unfortunately for him, the shield shattered before my attack.

“Deploy.”

The seven thorns that floated around me flew in all directions. With a loud whizz, the thorns flew ahead at high speed. Some bypassed the shield, while others pierced through the body of the enemy. Everything in its route became destroyed; nothing was able to stop those incoming attacks.

People died; some screamed till their throats became hoarse, rolling on the floor with small bloody punctures dotting their body. Due to excessive bleeding and shock, some died slowly, suffering from intense pain or ruptured internal organs, and others died instantly, without even realizing it.

I couldn’t feel any excitement at the scene. It was a scene that I had seen so many times that it even felt natural. The difference between what I had seen before and now was that the victims were different.

Who I killed before were members of the Tutorial, and those who died now were human beings on Earth.

It could be interpreted as a big difference. Killing beings in the Tutorial, who were destined to die, was different from killing the living. But perhaps because of the familiarity of killing, I could not feel any difference.

When I was young, my parents had always told me not to commit a crime. In modern society, committing murder was a big moral and legal issue, but in the Tournament stage of the Tutorial, all that morality and law became nonexistent.

Morality and law are built upon the belief of universal equality, and of course, those people and I were not of the same level.

“Ahhhhh…”

“Cough. Ke-ahek. Hek.” There were groans everywhere. Some survivors rolled on the floor. They vomited blood, and it seemed inevitable that they were going to die sooner or later.

“Retrieve.”

The seven thorns flying in the air came back into my hand, moving according to the user’s will. One thorn was as long as a man’s palm and as thin as his little finger, but it was enough to pierce a hole in the human body. The thorns were capable of flying around quickly, making a squeaky noise, and penetrating the enemy’s weaknesses one by one. The enemies, distracted by the sound and the thorns’ blurry images, would become incapacitated as an increasing amount of holes appeared on their bodies. It was a very efficient weapon to kill people.

Now, there was no one blocking my way. Oh, of course, many half-dead bodies were falling and dying, but no one would stop me. I was careful not to step on the corpses and the blood, weaving my way through them.

The portal shone brightly, but before I stepped into it, a man appeared on the brightly lit portal.

“It’s not too late,” the man said. It was a man whom I had met not long ago.

“Isad.”

“Yes. You… What was your name again? Well, it doesn’t matter. I’m here to pick you up.”

The reason he couldn’t remember my name was simple. It was because I had never told him. As he said, it didn’t matter.

Isad was a man whom I had met on the 56th floor. When the Dragon, who was replacing the manager, asked me what stage I wanted, I replied that I wanted the stage that Lee Ho-jae had cleared. Fortunately, the Dragon sent me to the same place.

In that stage, where the main goal was to establish a sect and gather people’s faith, it had several other Hell Difficulty’s Challengers besides me. I met Isad there.

“Who the hell are these scumbags?” Isad murmured, cursing out loud. With a snap of his fingers, the bodies on the floor began to disintegrate. In an instant, the skin and muscles turned into blood and even evaporated. When the iron scent of blood had disappeared, the bodies that had fallen around them left without a trace. There had still been some survivors, but Isad had wiped them all out cleanly.

“Now, you’re a little cleaner, tch.”

Before entering the Tutorial, Isad once boasted that he was already one of the strongest superhumans in his world. Perhaps because of that, he was not pleased with the people of ability who gained strength from the Tutorial. To be exact, he hated those who were incompetent before entering the Tutorial but gained strength by coming in here. Perhaps he didn’t like that they got to go into the Tutorial and quickly learn abilities, but on the contrary, I didn’t like it when he boasted without thinking. It was safe to say that I didn’t get along with him.

“Why did you have to come?”

Izad snorted rather than answering my words straightaway. Pointing to the portal, he said, “I’ve set the coordinates, so go quickly. I’m waiting.”

“What about you?”

“I have something to do here.”

(Note from Imagine: Damn Yeon-Hee is Unhinged Jesus)

* * * * * *

[Hochi]

Since the first round, the number of challengers had soared. People who had been interested in me but hesitated because of Lee Ho-jae’s name started to challenge me one by one. Of course, not many people duelled properly. More people wanted to talk to me than those who wanted to fight me.

I answered one question after another about the success or growth of the Tutorial, or questions to satisfy their curiosity. The audience, who didn’t get to see any fights, listened to the conversations between the challengers and me as if it was interesting.

I had already met 15 challengers and was on the way to the 15th round. The more challengers I met, the more people challenged me over time. People not only wanted to ask questions, but some wanted to learn a lesson through a confrontation with me. I didn’t like it, but I dealt with it to a certain level. Contrary to my initial concerns, I was able to deal with it efficiently, and through that, I was able to point out what the other party needed to improve in. Most of the challengers seemed satisfied.

“My brother said he wants to try, but I don’t know if he can,” said the 15th challenger, who finished his duel with me.

“Oh, tell your brother to finish the rounds quickly.” It would be nice if I got to meet him too.

Even if we can’t interact this time, if another tournament was held, we could meet in the future.

The challenger nodded. His brother was three years younger than him. He said that he was in the Tutorial and introduced his name.

“Tell him to level up quickly and fight me.”

“Hahaha. I hope so, too, but it’s easier said than done,” said the challenger with a smile.

Well, I had already made it to the 15th round. To meet me, one must now advance to at least 16 rounds, and to do so, they must win against the previous fifteen challengers. Achieving 15 consecutive wins against the same Tutorial challengers wasn’t easy.

[What do you mean? It’s too easy.]

Let’s ignore that bastard Ho-jae’s opinion.

“Anyways, he’ll be trying hard to catch up before the 20th round.” The challenger remarked.

If he wanted to meet me, he had to do so before the 20th round.

The feature of this stage was that it would only run within the Earth’s server until the 19th round, and after that, it could also mix with other planet’s challengers. Unlike previous rounds held only in the Earth Zone, from the 20th round onwards, you would challengers that had advanced to the 20th round in another planet’s duel stage.

It was interesting—a duel with another species. I heard that there were several challengers on Earth who participated in the duel stage to experience this.

I was looking forward to it, too. I was going to watch the duel between the earthlings and the alien challengers. I didn’t particularly want to participate and fight. In the first place, I didn’t like to fight anyone, nor did I want to face an alien challenger on a duel stage, who wouldn’t even want to talk to me. I promised to participate in the duel stage until the 19th round. I also told Park Jung-ah that. Park Jung-ah said that was more than enough.

Before leaving, the 15th challenger said, “I hope we can have a chance to talk and not duel, next time,” adding, “See you later.” It was a warm remark.

Before coming to the Tournament, I was worried that I might get yelled at by the people, but fortunately, their reactions were generally favourable. I got told that I was unexpectedly pleasant.

“Hey, don’t you think people like me more than you?” I tried talking to Ho-jae.

[No.]

[What do you mean no? They like it because I’m much kinder than you. I thought the audience would be scared, but they said I was a better person than they had thought.]

[Yes, yes. People must be ecstatic to have met you.] Ho-jae said sarcastically.

Was he offended?

“Are you upset?”

[Shut up. Why would I be upset?] Ho-jae roared all of a sudden.

He was definitely mad.

“You’re mad,” I teased.

[No.]

“Aye. Is this that upsetting?”

[No.]

* * * * * *

╔═══════════════╗

[Round 18 starts.]

[Isad has asked Lee Ho-jae to fight a duel.]

[Will you accept?]

╚═══════════════╝

“Yes.”

As soon as I finished the 17th round, I accepted the incoming duel request. It was already the 18th round, but the request came right away, so I wondered if more people had advanced farther than I thought.

╔═══════════════╗

[In 100 seconds, the duel will begin. Both participants are asked to get ready for the duel, and please stand by.]

[Tournament – Duel Stage, Round 18 will begin shortly]

╚═══════════════╝

As soon as I got a notification, two messages came from Park Jung-ah.

[Park Jung-ah, 90th floor: Be careful.]

[Park Jung-ah, 90th floor: Isad is a challenger who’s not from Earth.]

I could already notice before Park Jung-ah told me. I could tell that the other party was not from the Earth just by looking. People from Earth couldn’t possibly have silver skin. The audience also was calling him a challenger from another planet. I had heard that challengers from other worlds are usually only encountered after the 20th round, so I didn’t expect to get one so soon.

[Park Jung-ah, 90th floor: Looks like he crossed into the Earth’s server and took part.]

Park Jung-ah quickly solved my doubt and added another warning.

[Park Jung-ah, 90th floor: Stay safe. It’s said that he killed all the challengers he met up to the 18th round.]

Park Jung-ah had said to be careful because he was a homicidal maniac, but it wasn’t very helpful. That silver-skinned lunatic’s face smiled as soon as he faced me. I knew I was inviting death.

“Hey, what do I do?”

[Take care of it.]

I asked Ho-jae, who was still sulking, but he only answered in a monotonous manner.