ALL NOVEL Chapter 44: The Scorpion king awaits the challenger
“Did you give the reward to them?”
“Naturally,”
“Tch… it looks like you trust them more than us,”
“Never thought you were the type who’d be jealous of goblins, Ria.”
“Who’s jealous? And what do you mean by type?”
“You guys sure get along, huh,” Shi kun smirked as watched Ria and Lauren who were having a catfight in the middle of a battlefield.
Well, at the remains of a battlefield.
“Alright everyone, gather around,” Zyrus commanded as he overlooked the entire cavern with his eye of annihilation.
The mummies were all dead. Once again to be exact. Jacob had shown his potential as an arsonist as he had burned each and every one of them to cinders.
‘This cave is completely different, just like the others,’ Zyrus observed as he walked in front of the team leaders.
The halls had nothing in common except for the motes of light. Their structure, material, and even the scenes they depicted were different. Just as the underground chamber had statues and murals of various creatures, this one was carved with patterns of flowers and beautiful scenes.
A chariot flying in the sky, a garden of roses, a lake surrounded by verdant forest…. One mesmerizing scene after another passed by him as he observed the walls on their sides.
“The architecture has a feminine charm to it,”
“Indeed. I didn’t notice this because of the monsters, but this is really well-built.” Kyle replied to Shi kun as he looked at the front. There, at the opposite end of the entrance was a coffin that was placed upon a bed of roses.
Fresh roses at that.
“It looks too sophisticated for a dungeon,” Zyrus muttered to himself as he made his way towards the elegantly crafted coffin.
No matter what origin it had, there was only one thing Zyrus wanted from this place.
Rewards.
As if the coffin had heard his wishes, the system message rang out in the next instance.
[Congratulations! You have defeated the corrupted mummies]
[The queen of ##### shows her gratitude]
Zyrus was reading the messages with anticipation when a change took place all of a sudden.
“Huh? My blessings!”
“I lost half of my blessings,”
“Y-you too?”
He didn’t have the time to address the clamor behind him as further messages started popping up
[The blessings have been converted into the rewards]
[All players will receive a weapon suitable for them!]
“Noooo my Exp potions!” Lauren grieved as if her fortune was lost in a call center scam, while the rest checked the new weapons in their inventory.
‘This is slightly better than trash,’ Zyrus grumbled as he checked the pair of daggers he had gotten. Although they were rare, they were nowhere close to his unique bloodspine spear. Not to mention it was on the verge of evolving as well.
“This is a scam,”
“Not really, look at them.” Zyrus closed his inventory and pointed toward the hundreds of players. Although it wasn’t much for the likes of them, rare equipment was life-changing for the average players.
“Hey look! Pouka got one too,”
“She’s quick to recover.”
“The rats got one as well,”
In a way, the rewards were even better than the previous chamber. The bears got a pair of knuckles on their paws while the rats had a tiny whip attached to their tails.
‘And these guys got stronger once again,’ Zyrus looked at the goblin riders who had gotten new arrows. Although the wolves didn’t get any equipment, their claws had become noticeably sharper as well.
“Are we going to continue? It feels like we’re moving too fast.” Ria asked in a worried tone as she observed the players.
“I agree. We haven’t faced any real challenge so far after entering the pyramid. It’s almost like we’re being spoon-fed.”
“You think something’s fishy?” Kyle joined in the conversation with a frown.
“How do I put it… hmm, let’s say there are two parties. One is significantly stronger than the other, but in order to improve themself, they have to consume the weaker party. That’s the only chance they have in their life. Alas, the other party is too weak to be of a worthy ‘meal’, so what do you think they’ll do?”
“Wait till they become strong enough?”
“That’s too passive Jacob. I think the normal thing would be to fatten them up like cattle.”
“But what if they become too strong?”
“Well if we’re going with ‘ifs’, then what if they die prematurely? Wouldn’t that be a waste?”
Zyrus let the others argue for a while as he leisurely ate his meal.
“What do you think?”
“There’s no right answer, Lauren.”
“What? Why did you ask the question then?”
“You know what’s the best thing you can do when you come across a question that has no right answer?”
“Think outside of the box?”
“Nope.”
“Then what?”
“Hahaha.. Seeing is better than hearing,”
Zyrus snickered as he recalled the events he had gone through so far. There was no way Aurora would design such a simple Pyramid.
So, he’ll show them the best way to deal with unexpected situations.
‘And it’ll probably be tonight….’
…
After taking a break to recover their stamina, Zyrus once again led the troops to the upper layer. There weren’t any forks in their path this time around. All that awaited the 900 players were the endless stairs with no end in sight.
After what seemed like a mountain climb, Zyrus reached the last step of the stairs. In front of him was a gate similar to the one they saw at the front of the pyramid.
As soon as he set foot on that step, the stairs behind him disappeared like a mirage. Neither Zyrus nor his troops flinched as the stairs collapsed behind him.
“Are you guys ready?” Zyrus asked his subordinates as he looked behind him. They were no longer a riffraff of players. Under his and Ria's joint drills, they were able to get into formation at any time.
“Yes sir,” Shi kun was the first to reply. He wore yellow robes as usual and on his hands were a pair of green bracers. Behind him were 50 shield warriors and 50 spearmen.
Zyrus had once again re-arranged the division of the crown holders. Since they had received the new shields, Zyrus ordered the old players to give their Vonasos armor to the spearmen.
Although it made their explosive power lackluster, it was better to focus on one aspect rather than use the armor as the only offensive skill.
“I’m ready as well,” Kyle replied with a resolute expression as his green eyes met Zyrus’s gaze.
Kyle’s division was the most organized as they were all swordsmen. With his reddish-black armor and dual silver swords, he stood out among the crowd. The 100 players behind him wore the Vonasos armor along with the newly obtained “Khopesh,” the swords that were shaped like sickles.
“All set,” Ria shouted from the back. Besides her and Lauren, the remaining 100 players were a mix of archers, dagger users, and last but not the least, mages. All of them were placed in the rear of the formation.
Although they had the highest firepower amongst the human divisions, their command structure was the worst among them.
Neither Ria nor Lauren had what it took to lead others on a battlefield. One was a strategist while the other was a mix of an assassin and a warrior., Thus, Zyrus had assigned the former field boos “Pouka,” to protect them against unforeseen circumstances.
Compared to humans, leading the monsters was much less troublesome for Zyrus. All he needed was a glance to convey his thoughts to them. Part of the reason was due to their direct relationship and the rest was because of his race.
900 pairs of eyes looked at him as Zyrus touched the golden doors.
This was the end of the road for this event.
Be it the humans or the monsters, each and every one of them had improved their strength by a tier.
“The event has fed you very well, so…”
[You have discovered an event area!]
“Now’s the time to digest that power,”
[The final event will now begin]
‘Or be consumed by it’
Zyrus didn't say the last part as he smirked while looking at the chamber, no, coliseum in front of him.
“That’s a weird combination,” Jacob looked at the arena with wide eyes.
“Yeah, weird enough to make you speak up first,”
[The Scorpion king awaits the challenger]
*Boom*
The moment he stepped a foot in the coliseum, all of his subordinates were transported to this space alongside him.
“A challenge huh,”
[Do you, Zyrus Wymar, accept the challenge?]
“Of course”
‘Not like I have a choice’ Zyrus thought as he observed his opponent. On the other side of the coliseum stood a man wearing black armor. He could only see the blue eyes from the scorpion king's visor, but it was enough to send a chill down his spine.
Behind him was the 1000-strong army of terracotta warriors.
[Ding! The war will start in 00:05:00]
[Reward: None]
[Penalty: Death]
In front of them was the army led by a great king who aimed to conquer the world.
“What the fuck,” Lauren’s curses reverberated all the way from the back.
“This is unfair,”
“I told you, didn’t I?” Zyrus glanced at Ria who was giving him a dumbfounded look.
Not only her, but all of the players were flabbergasted by the unexpected turn as well. So far, the themes of the event were similar in nature. They completed a task to obtain the blessings, and then they would use those blessings to get rewards to complete more difficult tasks.
Something like this was completely out of their expectation.
Zyrus had no intention to explain the situation either. He wanted to know how his subordinates would respond to a sudden crisis.
From the moment he realized that this wasn’t a non-combat event, he knew that things would turn out this way. The balance of the sanctuary could never be broken.
The whole point of the event was to ensure that.
Then how could these players get an advantage over other players so easily? Prohibiting his earth movement until the finale was nowhere near enough to balance the scales.
Since they had obtained so many advantages so far, it was time for them to endure this hardship and prove their qualification.
“What would happen if we fail?”
“We die, duh,”
“What about them?” Shi kun asked again as he looked at the army that awaited them on the battlefield.
“I’m not sure, but if I were to guess, they would take your place.”
“What!”
“Is it that surprising? I think it’s pretty fair. They failed to achieve their goal, and thus, they were sealed. Now that we have obtained the fragments of their power, don’t you think we should prove ourselves against them?”
Zyrus wasn’t just saying this for the sake of it. He acknowledged the king in front of him as a worthy opponent. Both of them aimed to conquer the world, and both had failed.
[The war will start in 00:00:01]
*Klang*
*Shatter*
The scorpion king and the Void Emperor, two beings who barely had a fragment of their once glorious power clashed their weapons.
It was a battle between the past and the future of humanity.