Chapter 100
this is a fictional story by realTensai
Alvis, Chao, Nero, and Hibea met near the dorms and were now on the way to their quest.
“The quest we will target is called Crown Game,” Alvis started his explanation for Nero and Hibea. Before they could even ask how he knew about it, he told them about his skill game master and, to his surprise, they believed him without further questioning.
“What will this quest be about?” Nero asked, her voice low but not timid.
“It’s very simple. A crown will appear on the playground and the player or the team who has it at the end of the ten minutes wins the quest.”
“That’s it?”
“Yes.”
“Wouldn’t Dane’s team fit better for this quest?”
“I thought so too at first, but there is a quest that suits them even better, so I assigned them to it.”
“Where will our quest take part?”
“The battlefield will be the entire school ground behind the main building. However, it will grow smaller over time.”
“How many people can take part?” Chao asked, hearing about the sheer size of the battlefield.
“There is no limit,” Alvis responded, not sugarcoating his words. “Everyone who is within the field once the games start is a participant.”
Upon hearing this answer, both Chao and Nero gulped nervously. Yet it was Hibea who just smiled.
“This will be fun~” she said, both her red and blue eyes shining in joy.
A shiver ran down Alvis’ spine as he saw that sight.
I don’t know her enough to know what she is thinking.
Hibea was one of the few people in his class Alvis just couldn’t grasp. He didn’t even know why she wanted to join his team. As half demon and half human, she had a unique mix, the only person with the same mix Alvis knew of being Jasmine. Yet both of them had an eerie, mystic air around them, as if they lived in a different world.
But suddenly the world around them changed, the school ground turning into a majestic forest that could even compete with the Mana Forest.
Their game systems opened, and a quest appeared.
Quest Title: “The Crown Game”
----------------------------------------
QUEST GIVER: THE ARBITER OF GAMES
Location: Shifting Arena—Fields of Dominion
----------------------------------------
Dialogue:
“Welcome, challengers, to the Crown Game! The rules are simple—hold the crown when the timer ends, and victory is yours. But beware—this battlefield is alive, and so are your enemies. Use every ounce of wit, strength, and strategy to endure the chaos. May the worthy rise, and the rest fall!”
----------------------------------------
OBJECTIVES:
1. Claim the Crown
* Retrieve the golden crown from the center of the arena when the timer begins.
2. Defend or Steal the Crown
* Hold the crown for 10 minutes or steal it from other players and teams.
3. Survive the Arena Shifts
* Adapt to sudden environmental changes as the terrain shifts every 3 minutes.
4. Escape the Final Surge (Last Minute)
* Survive the final field collapse where the safe zone shrinks rapidly, forcing all participants into close combat.
----------------------------------------
MECHANICS:
* The Crown’s Curse: The player or team holding the crown emits a glowing aura, revealing their location to all others.
* Timed Shifts: Every 3 minutes, the arena undergoes changes, creating obstacles and hazards.
* Sudden Debuffs: The crown slows down the wearer’s speed by 10% but boosts defense by 20% to balance offense and defense.
* Team Transfers: The crown can be passed between teammates but cannot be destroyed.
----------------------------------------
REWARDS:
* Crown of Dominance (Rare Item): Grants +10% defense and attack boost with each successful defense while worn. The effect stacks during combat.
* 500 Coins
* Team Member Limit Increase: +3
* Ability Points: 3
Alvis read through the rules and rewards once again, but this only strengthened his resolve even more.
We have to complete this quest.
If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
Not only would he get three ability points and a team member increase by three, the 500 coins were what had him flamed up. Given their situation with food and the tribute they had to pay, coins were the most important thing right now.
He clenched his fist and looked up at the sky, only to see a two-minute timer ticking down.
“I guess this is for those who still want to join before it starts,” Chao said, addressing the timer.
“Or for those who still want to leave,” Hibea added, her voice filled with amusement.
“I don’t think anyone will leave,” Alvis said, already having analyzed the situation. “Most students don’t have enough coins to survive this day. A quest like this, where everyone can take part, is an offer too good to reject. This quest will undoubtedly be the most fought over.”
And this is why I have to be here and not Dane, Sekki, or Lia.
“Do you already have a certain strategy in mind, Alvis?” Nero asked. “Are we going straight for the crown?”
“No, we will wait and observe first.”
She nodded and prepared mentally. So did Chao as he took out his Ashen Cloak, that granted him fire immunity and passive healing. Hibea leaned lazily against a tree, one hand casually brushing through her wavy hair. Her mismatched eyes stayed fixed on the glowing timer, the faint smile on her lips suggesting she already knew how the game would unfold.
“Let’s find a good place to hide in.”
They navigated through the deep forest, not seeing anyone else as they walked around. However, Alvis could feel that many people hid in the dark, all waiting for the timer to hit zero. His team found a big bush right behind an even bigger tree and agreed to stay there. If Alvis hadn’t been mistaken, they should be near the center of the battlefield so they could see what would happen.
Now all they had to do was wait as the timer ticked down.
5
4
3
2
1
Game start!
A golden crown accompanied by a pillar of light dropped approximately one hundred meters west from them. And as soon as it landed, the bushes hushed, the trees shook, and the forest trembled as people sprinted out of their hiding spots.
A group of beast men rushed out of a bush, the one leading them at an incredible pace, being a jaguar beast-man.
Wait, isn’t this Morgo?
He leaped on all fours just like a jaguar would, his form so swift it seemed to bend the air around him. His speed probably even surpassed Dane’s as he spent more time in the air than on the ground.
Now I understand why they call him Speed.
However, what had the very earth shaking were a group of giants also going right for the crown. They were about three to five meters tall, still their body fat percentages could never be in two digits. Those freaks of natures carried axes at least as big as Alvis and with his updated Assassin’s Eye their threat levels varied from B to C but some even were in A. Alvis remembered how Dane had told him how the real giant warriors in their home island could even reach up to ten meters and how he bragged about how his father had also been this tall. Seeing them in action, he understood how they had once ruled over the entire central continent.
Who will reach the crown first? The beast men or the giants?
Alvis held his breath, awaiting the result, as they were only a few meters away. But suddenly, every fiber of his trembled, the alarm bells in his head ringing like crazy. His hairs stood up as his Assassin’s Eye showed him something that couldn’t be.
A SS-ranked threat has appeared!
A black blur flew past his vision, its speed being so overwhelming Alvis couldn’t even understand what or who it was.
However, it could only be one person.
He reached the crown before anyone else and just put in on his head as if it was his. The golden pillar of light enveloped his entire body, making everyone in the forest see his devilish smile.
“It’s been long since I last wore a crown.”
Alvis could only grit his teeth in frustration as he saw his entire plan crumbling down in front of his eyes. The worst possible person to take part in this game entered. The SS ranked calamity.
“Gilsymbato.”
Chao, Nero, and even Hibea couldn’t trust their eyes, their shock written on their faces. However, they weren’t the only ones. The beast men led by Morgo stopped in their tracks and even the giants didn’t know what happened. Yet Gilsymbato stared them all down with a smug smile.
“Come on, are you giving up already? At least try your luck,” he said, pointing at the crown on his head.
“Don’t underestimate us!” the giants shouted.
Giants double or triple his size swung their axes at him at full speed, the power of their attacks probably enough to split a boulder. However, Gilsymbato didn’t move. All he did was raise his bare hands and, upon impact, their weapons broke into tiny pieces.
“Wha—”
They couldn’t even wonder about what happened as Gilsymbato punched each of them in their stomach, creating a hole so big a human could fit through. They stumbled to the ground, dying in mere seconds.
Alvis couldn’t even catch his breath upon seeing this sight, yet Morgo immediately used his speed and reached for the crown while Gilsymbato was still distracted staring down the giants. In under one second he reached it, and with his hands on the crown he ran away, not looking back once.
He did it!
So Alvis thought, yet even after gaining some distance from Gilsymbato, Morgo stopped. His eyes darted down, widening in horror at the jagged stump where his forearm should have been.
“AHHHHH!”
He fell to the ground, screaming as blood gushed out of his arm in violent arcs. Alvis’ eyes stared back at Gilsymbato and he saw how Morgo’s hand and underarm still clung to the crown. Gilsymbato had cut off his arm so fast, he didn’t even realize it happened.
Gilsymbato just threw the arm on the ground next to Morgo, as the surrounding leaves had already turned red.
“I will free you from your pain,” Gilsymbato said as he approached Morgo.
However, three massive beast man type rhino, hippopotamus, and elephant rushed at Gilsymbato and shoved him away. At the same time, more beast men appeared and ran to Morgo. They gave him a healing potion and tried their best to stop his bleeding.
“You will need a few more potions,” Gilsymbato said, pointing at the three beast men that had just attacked him. All of them lay on the ground with deadly injuries.
“Earth prison!”
Multiple voices echoed throughout the forest as they all muttered the same incantation. The earth beneath Gilsymbato changed, morphing into shackles that gripped his feet. He just stared at it with his usual smile and it didn’t even seem like as if he wanted to escape.
Several beam shots flew right at him, but instead of dodging, he remained at his place. He spread his black wings and then stopped every shot by using them as his guard.
The group of dwarves who organized this attack stepped out of their hiding spots and the one leading them was no other than Feng.
Did he step out to save his classmate, Morgo?
However, even more dwarves came out, all of them armed. At the same time, more giants, beast men, and even some elves appeared.
“At first, I planned to only go for the crown at the end,” Feng said, readjusting his glasses. “But I will have to change my strategy. Everyone listen to me,” he shouted, addressing those who still hid. “Only if we all work together, do we have a chance to take down this monster. We can’t wait until the end, because everyone will be dead by then. If you want to have the slightest chance of winning this quest, you have to fight now.”
His words reached everyone and, as fate would want it, the arena shifted and their environment changed. The forest dissolved around them, trees twisting and crumbling into shards of ice. The ground hardened beneath their feet, the lush greenery replaced by an endless expanse of snow.
However, now that the trees and bushes that everyone hid in had vanished, every participant of the quest came into view.
Alvis’ eyes widened as he was surrounded by approximately two hundred people. He could even see quite a few teachers, but thinking about how they also had to pay the tribute, it made sense that they also wanted to earn some coins.
“What will we do, Alvis?” Chao asked, as they were also exposed.
For a brief moment, Alvis hesitated. When he had created his plan, he had pushed the worst-case scenario back, trying to stay optimistic, yet life wouldn’t let him have his way. However, this wasn’t the time to give up yet.
“We will fight,” he said, looking at Gilsymbato, who stood amidst everyone. The gears in his brain turned, as he wanted to do the impossible. “We will take him down.”
However, even in this situation, Gilsymbato just laughed. He tilted his head, his eyes scanning the sea of faces, as if calculating how long it would take to crush each of them.
“Two hundred against one,” he said, tapping the crown on his head. “Try your best to entertain me.”