Weapons of Mass Destruction

Chapter 566: Start of the 2nd Event

Coming back from a meeting with Jean, all of group 4 gathers in the living room. The two boxes with thermonuclear warheads are piled on top of each other and pushed into the corner. Someone even threw a blanket over them so that they could be used as seating, funnily enough.

I sit on the couch beside Dennis and Aaron and ask, “Are you still stealing stuff from the other rounds and collecting information?”

Dennis lowers his voice, “You bet.”

“You two seem to be doing a good job. Not many people seem to have noticed you. The only people they mentioned in the meeting were Myrra and Tacita.”

“Hehe, did you know Sophie’s been finding a number of spies from the other rounds, then pointing them out to Lily, so that she can hunt them down? Itʼs fun to watch.”

“That does sound fun,” I confirm.

Looking around, I notice that the mood seems to have improved since the start of the tournament. For the moment at least, even though they’re still worried about Tess, they seem to trust me. That makes me wonder how their mood would’ve changed if I had stumbled. That feeling of helplessness would suck ass, Iʼm sure.

“Did you change your mind, or are we sticking to the plan? We help you locate the boss monsters and then do our own thing?” Sophie asks, moving closer together with Izzy.

I nod, “Yes, as much as possible assuming the setting doesn’t screw us up. You could also keep an eye on the other groups, just in case they decide to go after one of the boss monsters. I will attach a [Ley Line] to each of you, and we can all watch one of these monsters while hunting the weaker ones so you guys get some points too.”

“And Victoria?”

“To be honest, I donʼt know. If I asked her, Iʼm sure she would go around and hunt down everyone who could try to take a ʼkillʼ from me and not mind the placements, but that could annoy Lissandra. So I didnʼt ask her for anything, and Victoria can decide what to do on her own.”

“Speaking of, have you seen her lately?”

“Lissandra? Not really, she just moves around and does her stuff. Myrra said she is busy examining this floor and instance, and trying to grasp how itʼs made. It should help her escape. I also think she uses inability to die here to level up her skills.”

“I don’t think she likes me,” Sophie says.

“Well, no surprise there. For some unknown reason, everyone seems to hate you.”

She looks me in the eyes and, without a smile, says, “Haha.”

“Haha,” I reply.

“Whatever. Do you need help fixing Fracture? It doesnʼt seem to be in a very good state.”

“Does it ever? And no. I donʼt think it will survive this tournament, and chances are, I only get one or two uses out of it at most, and another patch job won’t help. Its base is too deteriorated.”

Aaron seems a bit dejected when he hears that, “A damn mid arcane weapon, soon to be gone just like that. You think you can sell it before it happens?”

“I would like to think yes and will try it for sure after I use it and before it fully breaks, but the system is cheap. I donʼt think it will be so easy to trick.”

Dennis also reaches and taps the sword still hanging at my waist, “We can make a better one later, right?”

“Yes,” I confirm.

“I already have a name in mind.”

“Why do I have a feeling I know where this is going?” Sophie asks, but despite her grousing, she waits.

Dennis smiles and looks at Aaron. I bet these two brainstormed the names together.

“Fracture-er,” he says.

“No,” I refuse right away.

“Re-Fracture.”

“Hell no.”

“Splinter Supreme.”

“What the fuck. No.”

“Fracture MK 2.”

“No.”

“The Throngler.”

“No… wait. Why?”

“I read it somewhere,” Dennis smirks. “Some dude said that you donʼt want to be on the wrong end of Dark King Grutmoreʼs Edge of Eternal Torment, but you really donʼt want to be on the wrong end of something called The Throngler. And I really liked it.”

“I mean… it sounds weirdly logical,” I hesitate.

“See!” Dennis seems happy with my agreement. “But in the end, I really like Fracture, and the name was given because of the effect, right? If we do the same again, the name could be the same. Or you can just call it Fracture, the same way you plan to call your war armor Regalia.”

“I liked Ardenyx, Praxion, and Exoria as well,” Aaron says from the side.

“The troubles you three get into a few minutes before the event,” Sophie shakes her head and stands up, turning to me, “Good luck during the event.”

I nod.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Aaron and Dennis continue to talk about items, war armors, and names while I think about Sophieʼs wish of good luck.

As the timer starts ticking down, I clear my mind and [Focus] once again to stabilize my emotions.

And even in [Focus], I come to the same conclusion I did before using [Focus].

Luck has nothing to do with this.

As always, we find ourselves being teleported to the event location.

A few notifications pop up in my view, but I only glance over them: the usual warnings and flood of unimportant information.

I send my senses into the area but fail to detect any presence nearby. No one from group 4 is anywhere near me. It seems everyone has been split up.

Continuing to use my senses, I redeploy my [Mana Crown] and start storing my excess mana as I walk through the trees.

Their bark is similar to that of birch trees, and the leaves seem normal, too. The only difference is that these trees are bigger, much bigger. Their crowns thoroughly obscuring the sky from view, leaving the space beneath them noticeably darker than their surroundings, only allowing the odd beam of light to pass through the gaps.

It’s also quiet. There are no birds, no wind, no monsters or animals screeching. The air has a weird scent that I find hard to describe: a mix of the usual forest smells combined with the fresh sweetness of fruit. The scent hangs so thick in the air that it feels almost tangible.

I try to open my notifications, but thereʼs nothing to see. No kill updates, no points, nothing.

But at least this time, there are no rules from Lissandra, at least for now.

I boost myself into the air and, through the branches, fly between the leaves and exit the forest, flying high into the air. A vast forest stretches below me, a sea a few miles in the distance, and the humongous floating islands grab my attention first.

The weather is currently sunny, but there seems to be a mass of dark clouds rolling in over the sea and, within them, constant lightning keeps flashing. That storm stretches miles and miles wide.

For the first time, I also detect signs of mana use and fighting in the forest below me, and I notice a few of the signatures flying toward me. I look in that direction to spot a pterodactyl-like monster with the wingspan of a small airplane, exiting the caves carved into the sides of these floating islands.

Three javelins weave next to me, and I shoot each of them with an added oomph of kinetic energy.

Each of the javelins hits and tears a hole through the head of a beast, causing their red blood to spurt into the air as the lifeless bodies start falling back into the forest.

There is no notification, which only worsens my mood.

I canʼt help but wonder if this setting is designed to put pressure on the participants.

I boost myself further until I reach one of the floating islands, which turns out to be farther than I estimated. Up close, itʼs even bigger than I expected. The Skyhold Bastion I saw on the fifth floor doesnʼt even compare in size. Each of these floating islands is large enough to host a city with populations in the hundreds of thousands and still have plenty of space left.

The vibrations of mana I sense from its ”engine” send shivers down my skin. The sheer amount of energy needed just to keep it floating is hard to grasp. Thereʼs likely gravitational primordial energy involved, so I hope Min-Jae is taking notes.

Up close, I get a better view of the formations I spotted from a distance. Ancient-looking structures, now crumbling, cling to the bottom of the floating island. The island itself is shaped like a half-sphere, with a flat top. From what I saw, the flat top is covered in forest, not dissimilar to the one below that overgrows the ancient-looking buildings.

As for what keeps it afloat, I can see a single humongous purple crystal protruding from the bottom of the half sphere, along with the remains of these structures and similarly huge roots of some tree or plant.

A few more flying beasts notice me moving closer and fly toward me with the same murderous intent as their predecessors.

I kill them the same way, flying past their falling bodies as I reach one of the larger caves.

Something inside emits a series of screeching sounds, and I hear the sound of hard claws scraping the floor of the cave as they rush to get out.

After sending out a pulse of energy to scan for the presence of other attendees, I throw a compressed thermal orb inside and seal the exit with a barrier.

In the following seconds, dozens of notifications continue to ring. Yet there is no event kill feed, no placements.

I dislike it. I hate it, and even though I am in [Focus], I feel a wave of frustration trying to wash over me.

Shoving these thoughts away, I fly toward a similar opening and repeat the process a few more times. Only when I still sense life inside one of the caves after bombing it do I enter and reseal the exit with a barrier.

I do not use light to guide my way; instead, I use thermal, kinetic, and mana senses to navigate the huge, dark tunnel. The dark, oddly enough, doesn’t make me nervous, rather, it feels calming. Gradually, I pick up speed until Iʼm running, adjusting as I grow accustomed to the feedback my mana provides, telling me about the structure and paths around me.

I sense an attack forming, a primitive but powerful mana structure of a skill activating and reaching a threshold of mana required to activate.

Quicker than the caster can process, I reach toward that structure, take over, and twist a part of it. Then I add my mana to the mix and activate it.

An explosion shakes the cave as the lightning attack the beast was trying to use, explodes in its throat.

The flapping of a huge set of wings fills the cavern, and I weave a javelin out of denser threads than before, making it bigger. Just big enough to handle the monster, whose tattoo-like symbols start glowing across the surface of its skin and lighting up the cave. In a flash, the pale blue javelin pierces the monsterʼs chest and embeds itself deep in the wall behind it.

The beast takes a few more wobbly steps before the light of the tattoos begins to fade and the cave turns dark again.

The [Ley Line] tied to the javelin activates, and the javelin teleports itself back to my side. I shoot it again, but this time it fails to pierce the skin of the beast.

I dodge to the side, and laser-like bursts of lightning continue to track me, crackling and sizzling as they hit the walls and explode, sending chunks of rocky shrapnel flying through the air. I immediately sense the destructive power of the attack and know that it could easily cut me in half.

The javelin teleports back to me, and I use [Knitting] as well, making it even denser as I repair any damage the beast’s tough skin may have caused.

For a second, I release a burst of thermal energy, lighting up the cave in its entirety with a brilliant flash of light.

The beast attacking me screeches, its lightning striking wildly as it jerks its head away from the sudden burst of light.

My javelin erupts into the air again, and a blast of kinetic energy pushes me back as the weapon pierces the beast through the chest and pins it to the wall behind it.

The beast thrashes a few times in an attempt to escape or launch a new attack, but it fails to do either.

With a Wraith Dance, I reach its corpse and examine the creature’s skin. Even though I boosted the javelin and made it extremely durable, I notice the weapon has taken damage and still failed to completely skewer the beast.

What an incredibly durable skin and body for something that could fly.

I scan my surroundings again, but sensing no new signatures, I turn and head back outside.