Weapons of Mass Destruction

Chapter 575: Uselessly handsome man

Staring intently at the young lynthari disciple, I lift my hand high with my palm open. Above my hand, a golden thermal orb forms from flames of thermal energy blazing across its surface.

Energy floods into it until it expands with an audible thump. It grows from the size of a golden ball to that of a baseball, a football, and finally, a beach ball.

Then it continues to grow even bigger.

It floats above me, scorching the air with its presence as it emits a faint cracking noise and enough heat to make the air shimmer.

In my most ominous voice, I say, ”Iʼm sorry, little one.”

I step forward.

The lynthari screams.

I declare, ”I forfeit.”

Before I disappear, I pull all the heat back into my body in case it lingers and ruins the event for the little one. Ignoring the commotion in the common area and the questions being thrown my way, I send out a pulse of mana to scan the area and succeed in locating her only because she allows it.

Finding her to still be in the common area, a bit further away, under the trees, I teleport over to Lissandra.

”You must be thinking that was so damn funny,” I say as I stand beside her and turn back to watch the screen.

”Was it not?” she asks from the side.

I decide not to answer and focus instead on watching my minion’s battle with one of the few other demon disciples. Itʼs almost as if she did it on purpose; out of all the signatures near her, she chose to fight the other demons first. And damn if my little half-demon isn’t kicking the poor guyʼs ass.

”Which one is yours?” Lissandra asks.

”Half-demon girl, red eyes, light brown hair. Primarily a user of kinetic energy and mana.”

”Found her,” she answers as she continues to watch with me.

After my minion defeats the guy and he dissolves into pale blue particles, appearing in the common area next to his master, I ask, ”How did you get all my points during the event?”

”You really donʼt have any idea, or is it just that you donʼt want to believe it, little pup?”

”The latter? I mean, at first, I thought you tampered with my notifications because I didnʼt see any, but then I thought about it and dismissed that idea.”

”What conclusion did you come to?”

”You can’t tamper with the system directly. I don’t even think the Rulers could. Besides, you are still considered partially fake and inside of the tutorial, which should make it even more impossible for you to pull something like that off. Any tiny nudges applied to the system around you are done by the Rulers. Some might be doing it for the sake of messing around, others may want to help, while some do it to hurt you.”

”Correct.”

”So the only option left is that, somehow, from that little island in the sea, you were able to kill-steal all the monsters before I killed them. All the special grade, all the small ones, and all those killed when the island fell. You killed thousands of monsters in a single millisecond before my attacks could reach them, without me even noticing the movement of your mana.”

”Correct,” she repeats.

I look at her to see if she has anything else to say, but the distant smile on her lips tells me she will not elaborate on the subject.

Turning away from her, I can only think about what a monster this woman is, achieving that even in her diminished state.

Actually, at this point, is she really that weak? Isnʼt it possible she is using inability to die here for some kind of extreme training? Maybe she has already died thousands of times.

”How far away from Champion rank was that beast at the end?” I ask instead.

”Very far.”

Hearing excited shouts from the common area, I look at the screen again, just in time to see Vega boost herself into the air and crash into a feylith floating above her. The feylith girlʼs hair and eyes turn blue as she struggles to stay aloft with Vega hanging on to her; both find themselves being pulled to the ground.

After landing, the feylith lets out a painful groan. My minion absorbs part of the impact and lands with a somersault to cushion the rest. But she doesn’t stop there. The moment she comes to a stop, she charges the feylith.

Getting to her feet, the feylith raises her arms and fires a blast of flames at Vega. Instead of dodging, Vega steps into the fireball and stomps. A shockwave of kinetic energy ripples out from the epicenter and erupts, blasting away the weak, unfocused flames. Before her opponent can regain her footing, Vega rushes in, slams her fist into her face, and immediately drives a dagger into her chest, piercing through her defenses.

She shows no hesitation, and part of me wonders if she ever considered that she might be killing these disciples for real.

But I donʼt really want an answer to that.

”Little pup.”

”What?”

”Soon after this tournament ends, little kitten and I will be leaving.”

”What do you mean?”

”We will prepare and depart for Beyond, where I will have my only chance to leave the tutorial. There, I will either succeed or fail. So tell me, which outcome do you wish for?”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

”Isnʼt that obvious? I want you to succeed so that Myrra gets out, and so I can find you later to deal with you for all the things you’ve done. But why leave so early? Donʼt you want to get stronger? Use the system shop to regain some of the power you lost?”

”As frustrating as it is to accelerate my plans, I have no choice this time. Each time the little kitten and I pass through an instance of the tutorial, we risk being erased. I have also been warned that more Rulers are watching this instance than would be normal. At most, we have a few weeks.”

”How poetic. Youʼre being screwed over in the similar way you’ve been screwing me over.”

”Amusing, isnʼt it?”

”Indeed,” I agree.

As she looks at the screen, I glance at her profile, and thoughts race through my mind. Part of me wonders if she isn’t pushing me so hard so that I can be her legacy in case she fails.

Shaking off that silly thought, I turn away from her and focus on the screens. In the end, it doesnʼt matter. Her reasons donʼt change the way I see her. She chose to be the villain standing in my path, and she succeeded.

I donʼt ask if she truly believes she can accomplish what the other versions of her in prior tutorials, likely numbering in the dozens, could not. Iʼm fairly certain those other versions had much the same thoughts she does now.

Lissandra carries herself with such certainty that failure is not even a concept she would acknowledge.

POV Miwa

Channeler, despite being weaker than me, is respected by everyone in Easy and Normal difficulty. Even those in Hard and some in Hell difficulty show him some degree of respect. The reason for that is simple.

What Channeler says often represents the words of Group 4.

What we once thought to be one of the strongest groups in our 5th round now seems to be one of the strongest groups in the entirety of Earthʼs tutorial. Group 4, sometimes also called Angry Kittens.

It wasn’t long ago that I even heard someone whispering with respect, ”He’s one of the kittens.” It was a guy from Hard difficulty talking about NotAaron. Or maybe it was NotDennis?

After my last question, Channeler sits quietly and continues to stare at the screen, sitting on the bench next to me. I take the moment to reflect further.

Group 4 has Grumpy, the strongest healer Earth currently has, as rumored after people visited zones from other rounds. She is someone I saw regrow the arm of a Hell difficulty man from the 2nd round in a few seconds. The arm belonged to someone specialized in physical stats, which should make healing much more difficult, and he lost it back on Earth, so the tournament´s healing aura didnʼt restore it.

There is also a rumor that she can cure illnesses once considered impossible to treat on Earth or destroy a crippled leg to regrow a perfect one before the healing aura of the tournament activates.

I have spoken to a healer from my group, and even she said such feats should be impossible at our current level, at least without risking harm to the patient or killing them outright.

That single person makes Group 4 extremely influential, and I can’t help but wonder how many people on Earth would do anything to receive Grumpy’s services, offering their entire fortunes just to cure their ailments or extend their lives.

But it doesn’t stop with her. There’s also StrongestOne; even with his silly name, he is someone who can fly, a feat that only a low percentage of even Hell difficulty can accomplish. Not to mention his [Telekinesis], with which he is able to lift entire buildings.

They’ve got Knight too, known for her speed and huge suit of mana based armor. There are even rumors that she’s been recognized by Baek, the tournament winner of the 10th round. Soph, though she hasnʼt used her ability much lately, can manipulate people, an ability that easily earns its place among the most terrifying, it possibly even qualifies as the most terrifying. Then there’s Izzy, with her flames that melt through mana and everything else in their path, and her frankly enormous snake.

The Twins can do something many people from the lower difficulties have generally considered to be impossible, namely, taking over your skill and using it against you while creating lifelike illusions that even those in Hell difficulty have trouble distinguishing them from reality. And of course, Sset, with her primordial lightning and the ability to kill people from miles away without you even realizing it. I spoke with her a few times during the first tournament and found her truly deserving of admiration.

So the question is: Should I accept Nonameʼs offer and work with them? They are clearly one of the strongest groups, but they do not hesitate to use force against others, as Noname clearly demonstrated during the last event. In response to his actions, the other rounds will likely band together to oppose him.

Channeler finally answers as I remain lost in thought.

”I think you should join,” he says.

”Can you give me a reason?”

”I can. As you said, Group 4 has a lot of conflicts, but who doesn’t? Many groups keep their intentions hidden and wait for an opportunity, but Group 4 is, for the most part, transparent and fair.”

Channeler lowers his voice, ”And for the record, Miwa, I don’t think that Noname even realizes how his actions affect other people most of the time, not to mention the way he tends to scare them.”

He glances around before leaning in. ”I talk to many people from all difficulties, and even those from Hell often do not understand some of the things he does. Barely anyone can fly, yet he does so with such ease and speed. I have heard of groups forming that try to devise ways to counter his mana disruption; they just cannot understand how he can pierce through natural barriers so easily and disrupt their skills. He can also teleport in a way that barely anyone can track or interfere with. And he combines it all with such powerful attacks.”

I hesitate, carefully considering his words. ”Shouldn’t the other Hell attendees figure out how to do that as well, even if it does take them a while? Plus, he has a lot of mana, so it makes sense that heʼs powerful.”

Channeler smiles, and for a moment, I wonder if he is laughing at me. But instead of feeling insulted, I remind myself that his amusement is more likely to be directed at the absurdity of the situation than at me.

”A lot of mana?” He asks, looking at me with a big smile. ”Everyone knows that Noname is an Amplificator, but saying that he has a lot of mana doesn’t even begin to cover it. The most talented people here that I have met usually go for one point of Constitution for every three or four points of Mana, even with the bonus they get from the Amplification upgrade. And no one knows how many stats Noname has pumped into mana.”

”Please explain it to me. I rarely talk to Hell difficulty attendees, so I don’t quite understand just how impressive that is.”

”Sure. Simply put, he should be dead several times over. For your body to hold that much mana, you’d need to have a specialized trait, which the others already suspect Noname does have, but that alone would not be enough. You need the Constitution to support it; otherwise, you disrupt the balance, and the mana will constantly tear away at your body. The amount of mana Noname holds, according to most estimates, would only be possible above level 350, probably higher with the ʼproperʼ stat allocations. There is no way he’s even close to that level.”

I pause, weighing his words carefully. ”What are you? President of his fan club?” I ask, shaking my head. ”I understand that he’s powerful, and so is his group, but what worries me are his tendencies. As I said, I need to think about it a bit more.”

”Iʼm glad to hear that,” Channeler straightens up again and smiles.

”I would have thought you’d be happier if I agreed right away.”

”Thatʼs a reasonable thought, but to be honest, Miwa, your careful consideration makes it clear that this decision is important to you and that you don’t want to find yourself changing your mind in the future. Don’t you think a person like that would be better to work with?”

For a moment, I look at him, and he remains unshaken, smiling.

I find myself recalling Noname’s words that day when I observed his work. As he said, Channeler is, indeed, a uselessly handsome man.