Player Reached the Top. LitRPG Series. Book V

  PLAYER REACHED

  THE TOP

  BOOK V

  by Rick Scar

  Text Copyright © 2021 Dmitry Mikhalek

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book can be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the author.

  Introduced by Valeria Kornosenko.

  Translated by Ingrid Wolf

  Edited by Sanja Gajin

  Hello all!

  My name is Rick Scar and you are reading my adventure LitRPG wuxia saga.

  The whole story is planned out and will have 1000 chapters. Now the story in Russian has almost 450 chapters spanning 8 books. 5 books are translated!

  The beginning of the story is here (click the link):

  Player reached the top chapters 1-88

  Chapter 243. The Tournament. Stage Two

  “O h yeeeeah! The second round of the tournament kicks off in half an hour! I’m glad to welcome ya’ll to this spectacle!”

  The Monday night saw the long-awaited opening of the Roller Coaster. Millions of people around the globe were connecting hastily in fear of missing the show.

  Kurt, as cheerful as ever, was flying a dragon in the company of two Skydome founders. The comfy seats fixed on the winged beast’s back provided a great and easily adjustable view of the racing track.

  “Here comes the moment we’ve all been waiting for! The map of the course! However, none of the participants will be able to see it. I wouldn’t want to be in their skin!”

  Backing his words, a holographic 3D map of the race track unfolded in the air in front of each spectator seated on the back of a gargoyle-like creature. The scale was truly impressive: jungle, city ruins, complicated cave systems, volcanoes, lakes, and even deserts contributed to a near-impassable obstacle course inhabited by all sorts of mobs and laden with well-hidden traps.

  Next to the map, the participants’ names and HP bars appeared.

  The excited spectators looked around, examining the enclosed area right beneath them. Their monstrous mounts – a kind of event pets encapsulated in an invisible barrier like that protecting the Round One arena – obeyed mental commands, flying promptly where the rider would send them.

  When the tension culminated – ten minutes before the start – the contestants started to arrive, immediately attracting all eyes. One hundred best, or, at least, the luckiest players. The meeting point was enclosed in red energy shields, impenetrable until the start.

  No alliances were made there – except for duos of old friends, and for the Brotherhood whose members stood aside from everyone else, nor was there space for making plans or strategies. What lay ahead was a completely unknown map; time was their ultimate enemy.

  “Five minutes, ladies and gents! Jacob Reed would like to say a few words. Give it up for Jacob Reed!”

  Clearing his throat as he accepted the mike, Jacob took in the great swarm of gargoyles. “We’ve saved some info for this moment in order to surprise those players who believed this round would be their last. This location – just like the arena – is Emperor-generated, and it has several hidden chests that contain…”

  Everyone strained their ears as Jacob paused. What? What could those chests have?

  “…epic gear and weapons. And some unique skills.”

  Hearing this announcement, the crowd buzzed like a beehive.

  “What?”

  “That’s unfair!”

  “Wow!”

  “Cool!”

  “Why can’t we come down?”

  “Ah, I wanna get those! Down, you stupid gargoyle! Down!”

  “Yes,” Jacob said. “You’ve heard it right. But don’t think that this’ll be an easy reward to get. You may want to make a beeline for the finish line rather than plan your way to it. Ultimately, it’s your choice. Good luck!”

  Taking his seat, Jacob returned the mike to Kurt who continued to rally up the crowd. “A minute before our heroes will race! To the peak of glory or to the bottom of the chasm? I can’t wait! Oh, I just can’t wait! Can you, dear audience?”

  ***

  30 seconds before the beginning

  “Guys and gals, let the best one win.” Wishing good luck to her clanmates, Perdition waved at Raven with a smile on her face.

  “Ah.” Behind her, Koshie shouldered his ax. “Try not to die first.”

  “I’m too lucky for that.” She tapped a simple rhythm with all the weapons clutched in her spider limbs.

  A cult member laughed nearby. “Ahahaha! We’ll see.”

  “We can settle it here and now if you’d like,” Perdition snapped back with a grin, but the familiar sound of drums extinguished the quarrel, entrancing everyone who heard it.

  Gripping his short sword and dagger, Will braced himself.

  Boom! Boom, boom, boom! Boom! Boom! Boom, boom, boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! the drums echoed.

  Take a slow breath.

  Hold it.

  Exhale.

  Take another slow breath.

  Calming his mind like that, Raven bowed lower and lower, ready to dash off and run for his life once the barrier disappeared.

  Everyone around him prepared for the race. Some summoned their pets and mounted. Others activated spells that could give them a head start.

  For this round, Will was alone. Shimiraz was useless as a mount; he was only there to kill everyone who would try to get in his way at the beginning. Not that he’d have to do that; having seen the Ogre in action in Round One, everyone was staying clear of him. Khalapheer was a better runner, but Raven would rather not summon it right now.

  And Hade… She was unconscious since the day before, her mind still digesting the new development branch imposed on her.

  25… 10… 3… 2…

  The shields blinked with green light at one, and disappeared, opening the way. A screaming wave descending from the audience deafened everyone, pumping adrenaline through their blood. The contestants could feel millions of eyes drilling into them, but lingering for a split second could mean losing so everyone dashed off, starting on the track they deemed right.

  The Race for Life began.

  Will ran straight, deviating to the left slightly. He wasn’t the only one that chose to go this way. A female hunter nicknamed Bloody Mary, an air elemental, and another rogue dashed for the wide river showing through a thin line of black trees. Hiding the Ogre into the crystal, Raven took the Golden Dragon form for a split second, just enough to use the Greedy Stare on the rogue, but this TOP player had buffed himself in advance with an immunity potion: he was a TOP, after all, and had done his research. Smirking at Will’s attempt, he drew a weird-looking crossbow to shoot six bolts at him.

  The other two had already won six feet due to Will and his opponent being delayed by the skirmish.

  The other rogue belonged to the Dark Hound race. In appearance, they resembled Anubis, with a human torso and a dog’s head and limbs, and many search- and tracking-oriented skills that made this race a perfect match for the Hunter and similar classes.

  As his attempt at stunning his opponent failed, Raven slid through the air over the bolts, making a mental note to settle this score later. He couldn’t fall behind the rest. Only forty, out of hundred, would make it into the next round. No one would care how many other players you had destroyed if you came forty-first.

  After Leap-ing at full speed and getting carried on by inertia, Will used Wings. These weren’t an out-of-the-ordinary sight in Ascension as many summoned demons and some demonologists (although theirs were purely cosm
etic) had them. But a rogue-class character wasn’t supposed to fly at all, which was why this immediately attracted Kurt’s attention.

  “Look at that! Raven has actual wings! Now he’s true to his name! An omen of grief!”

  With a breeze cooling his face, Will looked down at the next location. The thin, tall trees lining the river had no crowns, as if those had been consumed by a raging fire. No mobs within sight – that probably meant traps. Avoiding them, he flapped his wings twice, flying over the treetops.

  What happened next proved him true. Slowing down as she approached the forest edge, Mary looked around, not caring that she might get overtaken by Datalas, a rogue, summoning his pet, or by the air elemental using his powerful magic and race-specific buffs. With the strange eerie feeling coming from this forest that had no mobs, she preferred to let them ahead of her – and into the traps.

  Mary bent down, searching the ground, but none of her skills revealed any. She was ready to move on when Datalas attacked her from behind. Defending herself, she showered him with arrows from her bow. Laughing and dodging, he pressed on to engage her in close combat where her bow’s supreme shooting speed would no longer matter.

  Her arrows, hitting and missing the rogue, weren’t the cause of his death. Datalas was doing his best to avoid the forest area, but still he got blown in by a gust of wind when he somersaulted, escaping the air elemental’s attack.

  As his body hit the nearest tree trunk hard, he fell to the ground and immediately leaped to his feet to dash when thin vines twined around his feet. Reacting to the new danger instantly, he tried to slash them but more and more sprouted up to take their place, wrapping around his body parts and tearing them off. His legs, his arms, and, finally, his head.

  Quartered by the vines, he died, shrieking in agony. None of his attacks or special skills had any effect on these trees vulnerable to only one particular kind of attack.

  Exchanging glances, the elemental and the hunter decided not to attack each other while in the forest, to increase their chances of surviving it.

  Will, who was already far ahead, only heard a distant scream – and then Kurt graphically describing one death after another, for those members of the audience who rooted for particular players.

  His Wings were expiring. Coming down on the other side of the forest, Raven landed on a nondescript plain.

  Whoosh!

  Once his feet touched the green grass, peeping up from the ground like prairie dogs came a group of small monsters with barrel-like bodies, shooting mud spears from their mouths. Had they been less numerous and slower to duck back in after each shot, Will would’ve easily killed them, but this way the whole thing felt much like a whack-a-mole game. His every step provoked a new volley of spears.

  After enduring a series of attacks that reduced his HP by half, Will waited for Wings to cool down to use this cheat skill again, hoping that it’d take him straight to the finish line. But Emperor wouldn’t let him have it this way.

  Chapter 244. The Treacherous Way

  A s Will looked at the wide river edging the plain and waited for his skill to cool down, he heard the sounds of fighting from the mountains on his right.

  This whole place – a handpicked patchwork of very diverse landscapes, with the variety of monsters dwarfing that of the animals welcomed by Noah into his ark – was a giant box of surprises. He couldn’t trust his own ears as the sounds he was hearing could’ve easily been an auditory hallucination.

  Across the river, the green plain was no more. There was nothing for the next three hundred miles except the dry prairie with a few small trees that gave way to a snowy spot with a small mountain ridge. Checking the cooldown timer that counted the last seconds, Will Double Jump-ed into the air, spreading his Wings.

  In his flight over the river and then over the prairie, he kept his eyes open for any sudden changes. When he landed into the snow, the white matter hissed and sparked as if there were some Bengal lights beneath. Sensing something wrong, Will darted forward. Almost immediately, he heard an explosion behind him. The new patch of snow he had stepped on began to hiss as well, leaving him no choice but to run for his life. More and more explosions shook the ground, sending rapidly broadening cracks across it.

  What he had mistaken for snow was some kind of white-colored gunpowder. His steps produced the sparks that lit the invisible fuse. The faster he ran, the quicker the white matter reacted. Finally, the explosions and subsequent earthquakes became so frequent that the ground started to collapse under his feet.

  Shit. Shit. Shit. This place is a fucking minefield.

  Leap-ing, Will checked the cooldown timer, and looked at the gaping holes on both sides. Falling in before the Wings were usable would mean either a serious injury or death.

  “Oh, look! One wrong step and Raven will be on a journey to the center of the earth! Where are your wings, Raven? Will you fly or die?” Kurt commented, but soon shifted to another player. “Oh! The brave Termilda ran into a rather nasty enemy! Too bad she lost her pet in Round One! A dozen enemies were too much for a lone wizard. Hold on, dear! And what’s that over there? Looks like Mystical Darkness and Koshie are faring no better. Who would’ve thought that a mountain could present such a formidable obstacle! The cave dwellers really, really hate their guests…”

  He shifted between players, commenting on everyone. His voice and eyes blazing with delight showed his genuine passion for his job. As a fan of Ascension, Kurt had probably been on cloud nine when he learned that he’d be hosting the biggest tournament of the year.

  Realizing that he wasn’t fast enough to leave the minefield before a fall, Will hastily considered other escape options. Double Jump and Leap were on cooldown. He still had Not Me, but no monster or large stone to use it on; the hills were bare save for the “snow”.

  The ground was kicked from beneath him. Falling to his back, Will reached out in hope of finding something to hold on to, but found only a gaping void. The situation was spiraling out of control but he did his best not to panic. Instead, he counted the remaining seconds.

  Plummeting into the chasm, he looked for anything that could slow down his fall, but the rocky walls were smooth like mirrors.

  Sixty feet below the ground level. Ninety feet. Panicking, Raven finally saw a crack in the wall and, summoning a clone, gave himself the momentum to reach it and grip the edge.

  “Phew!” He breathed out in relief. “I knew that it’d be hard, but I didn’t think that it’d be that hard.” Smirking, he heard a crunching sound approaching from below, growing louder and louder until he could single out the sound of… footsteps? No. Rather, it was the sound of fingers scraping the stone… or claws?

  Hanging on one hand, Will looked down and cursed his luck. A swarm of tiny, red spots was climbing up from the dark. And he was in its way. He activated Without Barriers to escape but, before he could take another step, a sharp pain came to his leg making him feel as if he had stepped into a bear trap.

  -300 HP

  Raven kicked the biting spider off, but the monster spat cobwebs at him, pulling him down into the chasm, leaving him almost no time to cling to the hole in the wall.

  The spider that climbed its web was still a threat. In order to get rid of it, Raven took out the scroll he was saving for the Swarm.

  DAZZLING SUN

  Rank: Expendable

  Active skill

  A dazzling flash of light will blind your enemies.

  Effects: Blindness, Shock, Disorientation

  Activation: Break the scroll

  Range: 90 feet

  Duration: 3 seconds

  Spending: 400 mana

  Activating it, Will gasped at what he saw in the newly created flash of light.

  The sight made his blood run cold. A whole army of spiders was climbing the wall to reach him, spreading as far down as he could see. Those affected by the Dazzling Sun closed their eyes and stopped, squealing. Creatures of the dark, they were vulnerable to such bright light.<
br />
  Slashing at the web, he sent the spider down into the chasm and Leap-ed, spreading his Wings.

  The surface approached rapidly. Darting out to escape the trap, he made a mistake – he had forgotten about the dangers waiting for him on the surface.

  Flying up from the chasm, he instantly got hit by a gust of wind from the side. Plummeting to the ground, Will barely had time to see the elemental who looked like a Tasmanian devil hovering over the chasm.

  How did he know I was down there?

  And although his weak spot had been hit, Will had an ace up his sleeve. Squinting and grinning at the opponent who was about to fly on, he applied Not Me, exchanging places with him, followed by Lightning Copy.

  Time stopped. Teleporting up, Will saw astonishment in his opponent’s eyes. Unfortunately, he couldn’t steal any of the enemy’s mana before feeding him to the climbing spiders. Instead, he repeatedly sank his daggers into the elemental’s eyes to keep him behind as long as possible. Healing potions for such wounds were slow to take effect, even those purchased for real money.

  When the skill expired, Will was back to his position, using the last seconds of Wings for a smooth landing. Rolling over, he ran on, never stopping until he left the dangerous area behind. None of the cracks continued into the next biome. Looking closer, he saw an invisible line keeping them at bay.

  “Like always, Raven came up with an interesting solution!” The familiar voice reached him. Looking up, he saw a swarm of gargoyles with players on their backs.

  So that’s how he knew where I was...

  Taking a look around, he dashed in the direction that felt right to him. With no way to see the leaders, each contestant could only rush as fast as they could and hope that they had made the right choice.

  Woods. Mountains. More woods. Swamps. Monsters. Natural traps. Caves filled with poisonous gases and traps with paralyzing darts and tremendous debuffs. Each step taken by the players was observed by the massive audience. When the contestants were out of sight, Emperor took care to show them on the screens.