Weapons of Mass Destruction

Chapter 344: A low price to pay

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 last 5 hours with a gradual increase in 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 with 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 is still underestimating the system. But she will learn, she’s a smart girl.

“Don't look at me with that patronizing look in your eyes,” Tess complains.

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

“We’ve already tested a few things. They’re like the natives of the other floors with more restrictions. As if their only purpose is to defend Aether Keep. To their minds, we are reinforcements sent by one of their Champions. We were able to gain their cooperation by telling them their Champion instructed us to take command. Gareth and Samuel are already speaking 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 do a fly over later and learn more. As for the reason, there seems to be a deposit of arcanadium and other materials in this area.”

Before I can say anything, she interrupts, “Yes, we already sent people to find out if we can take it out of the event. We’re locked out of the system and tournament shops, same as the 1st event. I did ask a few guys to go and try to craft some stuff with the materials. Maybe that could help us smuggle out some materials, but I don’t think the system is going to let that slide.”

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

"Maybe set up some traps for now. You’ll know what to do." Having said her piece, 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, I find my good friend waiting there.

Bendover (Hell, 4th)

Surrounded by the rest of his 4-man squad from group 2, 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, he actually managed to survive quite a while in the 1st event.

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

Huh?

Oh. I remember now, I told him I'd find him after the event, right? But then I got distracted by my experiments with 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 in his hand, the same one that Lorven guy had on the 4th floor. I remember it being quite a decent 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. But you won’t do shit. The event…”

Using my much higher mana reserve, I grab and hold him with [Redistribution], preventing him from moving or speaking. Without an active [Restriction], I manage it 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 deducted from your score as punishment.

Current score: -100

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

“Any problems?” 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’s gone.”

Poor guy, having to deal with that asshole because he’s stuck clearing Floors with him.

“Later then,” I say, waving to him before flying off.

For a moment, I consider being petty and taking down Savant, but in the end, I decide against it. That would give the impression that I'm scared of him and need to slow him down. That would be okay with nearly anyone else, but that guy is going down even without resorting to that. Plus there is no need to be an asshole.

Yet.

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Flying high above in circles, I examine the area. It looks pretty much like I expected. The mountain in question is a lot taller than Mount Everest though the slope isn’t all that steep and there are multiple roads winding up the face, and framing the mountain’s wide base.

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

The Aether Keep stands at the top, surrounded by a series of three tall walls, with a huge empty plane behind each. After the last wall, there are buildings and structures carved into the mountain itself. All of this has been strengthened with mana and made out of materials tougher than anything known on Earth.

The architecture is simple and rough, but it gives off an impression of power and impenetrability. I also take notice of a three-layered barrier. Each layer encompassed by a wall. Reminding me of the Bastion on the 5th floor.

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 fly around. But even flying so far, I don't see any enemies, meaning, either the system is going to spawn them at the beginning of the attack or that they have some means of teleportation.

Now that I don’t have to conserve mana, I fly back at the same high speed.

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

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

When I land, the surrounding participants cut their conversations short, as everyone takes care to avoid getting in my way.

It seems that slowly, the attendees from Normal and Easy difficulties are realizing the difference in power between themselves and the participants from higher difficulties. I can see it in the way they glance around and 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 knock it off,” someone says calmly.

Recognizing the voice, I head that way and find Channeler facing down two other men and a woman. They feel weak to me, but they’re probably from the lower floors of Hard difficulty.

I get ready to step in, but to my surprise, even the mention of group 4’s involvement is enough to defuse things.

“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 worse 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 like Sset told me to, 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’s butting heads with Gareth. He and Samuel want to play sheriff and keep the strong from bullying the weak. They set up webs in the common area and have been defusing fights.” He looks around and moves closer.

Channeler continues in a quieter voice, “Sset told me she doesn’t like it. She and Soph favor a different approach, something along the lines of: if anyone fucks around they get put down and the others step in line out of fear.” He smiles. “Normally it wouldn’t work, people would get pissed and push back, but Sset is very strong and Soph’s web is already much better than anything Gareth and Samuel’s people could put together.”

How oh, so fun. Infighting and conflicting ideals! Tess seems to be cooking something up and Sophie’s involved too.

“So what’s her plan?” I ask. It’s a bit weird but I did tell Tess to do anything she wants and then point me at anyone who complains. After all, that’s the least I can do.

“Sset has been using your name to scare people into compliance and when anyone does anything too serious she personally 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’s also been throwing Group 4’s name around in the process.”

Oh, so she’s been doing some brand building.

That sounds like a lot of annoying work, but if that’s what she wants to do then she’s free to do it. If Gareth and the others complain I will still be by her side. It would be fun to see Group 4 fighting against the opposition. Even though Tess, Lily, and I could probably handle a combined attack from most of Hell difficulty. Probably.

“Well, see you later,” I say, waving to Channeler as I lift off, locating and flying towards Tess and the others.

On the way I spot and stop by Tacita who’s leaning against a tree, watching the arguing 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 Tess, Maya, and Sophie, discussing something. Behind them stands Samuel. He’s from Hard difficulty, a marine or something. His posture is straight and his clothes are well-kept. A sword as big as he is tall hangs from his back, though its weight doesn’t seem to bother him.

(Food?)

Biscuit moves closer with his wobbly step. He notices Tacita near me and stops. Then he sniffs at her and throws a confused look my way.

(Food!)

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

“It’s fine,” I say as I lift him from the ground and set him in my lap.

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

I wait for her to gesture at me, but she holds back and returns to observing the others.

Well, it's her loss.

Maya also notices me and moves closer, handing me the damaged arcane ax I left in her care, and just waves at Tacita who ignores her. Rather than attempting further communication, she pokes Biscuit in the rump at which the doggo perks up and woofs at her a few times.

Ignoring his frustration, Maya pokes him a few more times while Biscuit twists in my lap. Thankfully, he’s patient with dumb people and deigns not to punish her for the offense.

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