Player Reached the Top. LitRPG Series. Book IV Read online

As strange as it might sound, everything was quiet. Will wasn’t distracted from his grind by the need to complete some urgent quest, or rescue someone. No enemy was threatening Adamarona. According to Emin’s reports, his spies had great fun telling all those tales about the crystal, and the runaway queen. Some of them would make real performances in the Holy Empire’s squares, pretending to be subdued by the crystal and disappearing before the city guard could capture them. The rumors were spreading.

  When only two weeks remained before the tournament, the devs, just as they had promised, published the rules on the official website. One noteworthy clause was that only the TOP-300 in the general ratings would be allowed into the tournament. Any changes occurring after 12:00 a. m. on April 1 would be null and void. The dedicated arena would open 24 hours before the start.

  As he read the description of the tournament’s first stage (out of five), Will realized it would be great fun.

  The rules also mentioned a recovery period of 24 to 48 hours between the stages, which meant that the participants would have to plan carefully what skills and gear to use in each round.

  With the sweepstakes for this large-scale PvP event already live, Pak bet $50,000 on Will’s victory. The current betting coefficient was 3.26:1.

  Two days before the tunnel was meant to collapse, he was still many, many lives short of his goal. Over 5,200,000, to be more exact. Almost a half. Sitting down on the ground, not far from the spot where his monsters were being delivered by the other players, Will realized he needed at least as much time again to complete this task. In the eye of the storm. That’s where I am.

  He opened the chat. Each time he took a brief rest, he would check it and message those he knew. Ronald. Evelia. Mollie. The RD players, including Nick. And even Night. He would talk to them either about business or for pleasure. When some of them happened to pass by his grinding spot, he could rest for a while longer.

  Twenty-four hours remained before the third floor would be lost to him. Three days before the tournament. Remembering this, Will decided to visit the prison again to try and get another pair or two of the handcuffs. He had wasted so much time wasted…

  Glancing around, he spotted Hade, in her human form, plodding up to him, the excitement of the past hunt written all over her face, her eyes half-closed and her lips dripping saliva as she smiled a stupid smile.

  ***

  Raven spent the next day trying to get the handcuffs, but the prison seemed to have changed the location of its storage space and hired more guards and guard dogs after the past penetration. He wasted one attempt and eventually had to visit another country’s prison to collect the items from there.

  Sneaking along the dark hallway and avoiding the guards, he suddenly had a funny thought: If I’m in jail when the tunnel collapses, what will happen? Fortunately, he didn’t get the chance to find out. Having collected one pair of handcuffs (it was still better than nothing), he got out.

  The next thing on his to-do list was to transport the witches.

  ***

  “Amatelia? Why are you here?” Will stared at the group of witches coming up to meet him inside a top-class establishment. The Conclave’s head stood a step ahead, while the rest formed a silent wall behind her.

  “Oh, Raven. I was afraid you had changed your mind. Rako told me everything.”

  “Ah, Rako.” Putting a smile on, Will looked Rako, who was scowling at him in her regular fashion.

  The system was being weird – again. Thanks to his completion of the Bloody Harvest quest, his relationship with the Conclave was up to Friendly, but this stubborn witch seemed to be unaffected: just as some nobles in his palace were unaffected by his leveled relationship with Adamarona’s people.

  Upon reaching the location at which he had planned to meet the alchemy queens, he was surprised to see them accompanied by six more witches, including Rako, Amatelia, and another witch from the top twelve.

  “I’m here to give you my personal thanks – and those on behalf of all my sisters. And to make sure they will be able to leave for your floor safely.”

  “Oh. So, you’re here to see them off? Let’s go then. No, wait.” He wheeled around abruptly. “We have one matter to settle first. Since we have one, and only one chance to make it through the tunnel, everyone coming with me will have to be subdued. It will be temporary. Only for the time of our journey.”

  “I knew it!” Rako sounded like someone who had finally been given their moment in the spotlight. The word “subdued” had triggered her insult-screaming-self.

  “Shut her up, please. It’s temporary. Half an hour will be enough, I think.” He shifted his gaze between Amatelia and Rako, before bringing his eyes to rest on the Conclave’s head.

  Returning a stare which sparkled with laughter, the senior witch shook her head. “We are very, very meticulous about any contracts.”

  “Thirty minutes, and that’s all. Do you have so little trust in me?”

  This brazen appeal to their relationship level seemed to work. After sealing the contract with blood, according to the witches’ way, he said, “Shall we go?”

  “You lead the way.” Amatelia’s face became strict as she gave a stiff nod. Taking this as a sign to hurry, Raven set off.

  Several teleports and twenty minutes later, their large company approached the space tunnel, paying no heed to the gawking players all around them.

  “I hope this works.” Will decided to try his pet first. Being, in some sense, a subdued creature, Hades could move freely through the passage and back. To maximize the chance of success, he had all witches cuddle the dog, forming a large ball around it.

  Slowly, the whole crowd vanished into the tunnel, leaving it open.

  “Damn you!” Will laughed happily at his crazy idea working out so well. But I’ve spent IPs on the vampire. This thought saddened him, but also reminded him that he needed to release the vampire, who was still subdued by the crystal. He set him free.

  Following his new allies through the tunnel, Will said, “Welcome to my kingdom.”

  Chapter 237. The Tournament. Stage One

  T he main thing Will tasked the witches with was producing Deflection Powder: a cheap version of the Latian True Light, or the Dissolver of Lies (he still had an untouched vial of it in his inventory).

  He placed his new alchemists in a building not far from the palace, which had a laboratory that was dedicated for their use only. The whole house was declared to be a forbidden area. The soldiers patrolling it never walked alone. After each day off, they had to complete an anti-spy test every half hour, during which the powder produced by the witches would be applied to them.

  In the meantime, Ulfmar had started working in one of the local churches, engaging in his family trade. The fear of the upcoming hard times that was possessing many parishioners supplied the vampire with just the sort of energy he thrived on, while the people were consoled by listening to him.

  Raven was concerned that Adamarona might be attacked while he was fighting in the tournament, but he couldn’t do anything about it.

  As he was adding the final details to his plan, he received a message from Crimson Berserker offering him a temporary alliance. Will knew that the players styling themselves as Enlighteners would surely fight as a group, wiping out any chance of him destroying them. Having received no XP for all those low-level mobs he had killed, he was now only number eighteen in the rankings.

  Without overthinking Ronald’s offer, Will gave his consent and suggested bringing a few more people into their alliance.

  ***

  “Welcome to the tournament, players! The long-awaited day has come!” Will could see three figures in a small box right across the arena barrier. One of them was talking loud enough for the whole stadium to hear, his voice full of genuine delight and excitement. Apparently, this guy was a real fan of Ascension.

  “My name is Kurt. I have the honor of commenting on the first round of this tournament. As you already know, the players will b
e fighting against a special raid boss picked by The Emperor! Everyone already knows the rules, but I must say them again. Only the one hundred players who land the most damage to the enemy will make it into the next round. That means two out of every three will be eliminated! And there’s more! Of course, you already know, but I will say it again: even though the players have a common goal, this should not prevent them from killing each other. This will only add to the excitement! Oh, I hear you screaming in delight, ladies and gentlemen! I totally understand that as I feel the same. And now, while we are waiting for our heroes, I’d like to point out…”

  The crowd didn’t actually need Kurt’s warm-up routine. Millions of people all around the world were craving this bloody performance. Everyone had taken their seats three hours before the show had even begun. The timing was perfect: late Saturday night, absolute prime time. Many wanted to see the players from other floors in action. And zero information about the raid boss had been made available, which added to the crowd’s excitement.

  “Here, above us, you can see the participant list,” Kurt went on. “This scoreboard will be show the total damage to the boss. It will be updated every five seconds. It will also show the clock. Let me remind you that the whole battle should take just one hour. Now, let me introduce the two men who have worked a real miracle by creating the wonderful world of Ascension for us to enjoy! Give it up for Glen Turner and Jacob Reed, the founders of Skydome!”

  A wave of applause and whistles rolled over the stadium. When the noise subsided, a countdown showing 30 minutes appeared over the player list.

  The fighters started to arrive one by one. The vast arena was about 1,000 yards in diameter and covered with fine yellow sand.

  Those who called themselves the Brotherhood of Enlighteners had formed a separate group, as though declaring that it was them who would dominate the first round. However, their group only had 34 people; they were missing three players.

  Many of the players from the low-floors had also formed groups. Raven’s squad had 30 people, only seven of whom he knew personally: Ronald the Berserker, Mystical Darkness, Pak (who ranked 293rd and was barely holding onto his place in the TOP-300), Malissar (the goblin whom he had met three months ago, now ranking 169th), and the RD trio he used to practice with: the spider, the giant, and the inconspicuous Koshie.

  When the countdown reached the final minutes, the square was covered with a strong magic barrier which protected the spectators from random attacks. Unlike the Ifrit battle, the stadium had the onlookers’ real characters sitting in the honeycomb-like stalls that enclosed the arena tightly to create a feeling of presence.

  “Thirty seconds!” the anchor screamed, his words echoing through the stadium until they were drowned out by a drum roll. The battle rhythm lifted everyone’s fighting spirit.

  It grew louder and louder, tapping at their hearts, and put the fighters into battle trance. Raven felt like he was ready to charge, unthinking, at any enemy that dared to appear before him. The crowd picked up the drumming rhythm, amplifying it.

  Buffed up to the teeth, everyone waited, clutching their weapons.

  …until a monstrous figure of melted metal appeared in the middle of the arena. The drums stopped all at once and the countdown reached zero, before displaying one hour: time for the battle.

  “Let the best players win!” Kurt screamed, seizing the right moment: a bullet-sized ball shot right out of the monster’s body, whizzed through the air and crashed into the barrier. “Wow! What a fast and strong attack!”

  Over the boss’s head, everyone could read its name:

  Name: The Melted Knight

  Rank: Marquis

  Level: 130

  Health: 1,200,000

  Time stopped. A split second – and a ragged screech came from the boss and called the players to attack, but no one rushed ahead blindly (none of them would have made it half as high up in the rankings if they did that). Every group was expecting a treacherous attack from the others.

  The tanks started to provoke the boss into attacking, while the archers tried out its defenses from a distance. But the melted monster was anything but stupid. Never falling for tricks, it attacked completely different targets, sometimes more than one at a time.

  As the knight was showered with arrows and spells, the first digits flashed on the damage scoreboard.

  “Hey! It’s fully fireproof!”

  “And poison-proof!”

  “Gravitation and lightning def.”

  “Water.”

  “Light.”

  “Stop!” one player from Raven’s squad screamed at the reporting wizards. “We see it takes only physical damage. Control it if you can.”

  “If you can’t, stay on the defensive. No healers here, you know,” Berserker said, bending slightly in preparation for attack. All close combatants dispersed in order to intercept the attacking enemy and seize at any opportunity to land damage.

  None of the opponents noticed that the sun was being blocked by the clouds and that the rogue was vanishing into the shadow they were casting. It was Cronus, the 93-level wizard on his squad, who worked this magic, who had initially created a rain-casting spell but was now using it in an unconventional way, as a smart move.

  Another wizard shot branching bolts of lightning all around. Their damage was increased by the water, killing a dozen players who were too slow to protect themselves. Considering that all the opponents were pros and high-level players, taking out a dozen of them was great.

  “Shit! Now it has full physical def!” Siren, a female archer who was shooting at the boss, screamed when its body turned to liquid.

  A short time later, everyone came to realize it was The Emperor’s way of leveling the playing field, enabling everyone to do their share of damage to the boss. By changing its body from solid to liquid and back again, this monster acquired one type of resistance, but completely lost another.

  The melted knight’s body changed so rapidly it seemed to be teleporting around, landing magical (while liquid) or physical (while solid) damage to every group in its way, making the battle an absolute mess… and keeping the groups too busy to do much damage to one another. However, the strategy of Will’s squad for the next five to ten minutes was: kill as many other players as possible.

  Chapter 238. One Against All, All Against One

  One minute after the first round began

  T he enemy’s transformations were a real pain in the ass, but the TOPs and pros quickly figured out the pattern and the damage figure on the scoreboard started to increase.

  “It’s still too early to tell for sure, but I guess that ten-person team will have the hardest time!” Kurt’s voice managed to reach everyone in the stadium, amplified by The Emperor, just like the battle sounds. All the spectators could hear the group leaders shouting their orders. They could feel their concentration and desire for victory.

  The group that had been mentioned by the anchor was actually the smallest of the twelve teams that the players had formed.

  A week before the tournament, someone had suggested not to buy the devs’ ploy but attack the boss as one. Will had agreed with that, but most of the other players had objected, including the cult, so now… now they had to fight PvE and PvP at the same time.

  The largest group was made up of forty players. Raven selected them as the first target, and he wasn’t the only one to make this decision.

  A few players (Scarab, Level 87, and China Doll) were already on the offensive, but there were more running from the enlightener group alone or in twos to attack the lower-level groups. This is exactly what Will had expected. Still in the shade, he considered it for a few seconds before changing his direction to approach his strongest opponents in this tournament.

  The more of them I kill, the better. He wasn’t concerned about scoring enough damage to the boss to pass into the next round; he had a great skill designed exactly for this purpose that he could use right at the very last moment.

  Whe
n Will was thirty feet from his first target, a player nicknamed Amatar, the shadow world, which was habitually gray, was suddenly turned inside out. This unusual skill literally pulled Will out of the shade.

  Having been cast to the ground by the sudden impact, the rogue rolled aside, escaping a fiery bolt of lightning as he did. A message flashed in the corner of his eye – no time to read it during the battle. Drawing his weapon, Will sprung up to his feet and jumped to the left. He was hit by a hail of arrows shot by a female archer. His enemies were incredibly fast.

  Just as he was trying to minimize the damage, a snake bit his ankle, dotting him with poison and slow-down effects. Cursing this agile creature and retreating from the enemies who were still pressing on, Raven took out his crystal and summoned Shimiraz, unleashing it on the attackers.

  “Oh, look! What is THAT?!” the anchor screamed upon seeing the Ogre, which immediately sent one enlightener, a priest, to respawn. As he was dodging the raid boss’s missile, the player was oblivious of this other dangerous enemy that had appeared by his side. Hitting the priest’s skull twice, the Ogre’s club reduced it to a bloody mess and the weapon’s red-hot aura grew even brighter.

  Even Raven had no idea what kind of weapon his servant was using. He was happy enough with the fact that the Ogre was a formidable fighter.

  “Is that a count?”

  “He has a count?!”

  “A count pet?”

  “No, it’s not a pet…”

  “What kind of IMBA is that?!”

  The spectators’ screams resounded throughout the arena as they tried guessing where and how Raven could have obtained such a strong subordinate. No one had ever developed their pet to that stage!

  In the meantime, the battle continued. Magic mixed with skills created a variety of explosions, flashes of color, and other visual effects. Some players unleashed their pets, while others saved them for the next stages of the tournament, hoping they would make it into the happy hundred.