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> [Info] Woodstein - Ancient Woodwork Sky Maze
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Everyone cheered in their limited edition Woodwork goblin custom avatars. Some jeered and even tried to punt each other, but they only softly bopped, like two balloons bouncing off each other.
Below the audience section was the Woodwork Skymaze itself. Woodwork skyships ridden by the contestants of the earlier Pet Parade, along with goblin woodwork musicians and dancers, all ran wild, hyping up the crowd. The new shoutcaster, the goblin enthusiast Piker, proudly wore his custom woodwork goblin avatar on what looked to be a Skysprinter (just a fancy name for a faster skyship), making it obvious that he would be shoutcasting the scenes live.
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In the VIP audience section, Hide groaned at Maze upon seeing Piker solo all the glory in what looked to be a fully user-controlled skyship. Both of them had initially been tasked to host three full events: [The Trial of Champions], [Pet Parade in Fantasy Land], and [Pet Marathon in the Ancient Woodwork Sky Maze]. Unfortunately, Maze rejected the third event, saying that signing up as hosts dressed in goblin avatars would outright sign them up for the "Ugly Couples" section of social media.
Hide, being a loving husband, could only complain and suck it up. One of these days, he would definitely have his say.
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[SHOUTCASTER: Piker] "Everyone, let's gear up for our contestants in the very first Pet Marathon of Avalesk!"
The crowd roared as the starting line was revealed, showing the contestants one by one: The Fire Salamander, The Baby Crystal Hoof Gemmy, The Clear Slime, The Chef-like Hidewing Bear, The Drakeling Rizmore, The Chaos Sprite Glint...
One by one, Piker and the camera crew introduced each contestant with professional ease. Some of the contestants from the Pet Parade earlier were now in battle form. The Baby Crystal Hoof Gemmy was now slightly bigger than a normal horse. The Clear Slime carried what looked to be heavy spiked balls. The Chef-like Hidewing Bear that made delicious dishes earlier... well, he actually looked the same.
There were also new additions like the gigantic dragon descendant, The Drakeling Rizmore, and the mysterious Chaos Sprite named Glint.
Each contestant was introduced, professionally highlighting their prowess without actually revealing their abilities. Some people in the chat even called out, saying that Piker was more deserving to host actual fighting tournaments, unlike the couple who simply held the mic to the pro players during the Trial of Champions.
This, of course, made the couple fight even more, which coincidentally was shown on the screen since they were also in the audience section. But the screen cut off after that, switching to an odd darkness behind all other contestants...
From behind stood a very tall Skeletal, holding a sword even longer than himself, along with five swords circling around him. As he walked towards the stage, four shorter Skeletals materialized around him, each holding dual-wielded sickles connected by chains made of dark painted bones.
The tall Skeletal wore a mask with a long circular horn, hinting at which corpse this skeletal had been revived from. Even if everyone expected it, they still got goosebumps as Piker mentioned the name of the summon along with its master's name.
[SHOUTCASTER: Piker] "Tagged by the system as the Skeletal Creator’s Reaper and current Skeletal King of the Kingdom of Bones. The very first boss-level Skeletal created by Levi. Let’s give it up for Crea!!!"
Everything went to hell after that.
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To be continued.
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