He took off in a dash without bothering to monitor what the other two were doing beforehand. They would do whatever it was they needed to do without him micromanaging, so it was much more pertinent for him to focus on himself. The enemy teams had to have been relatively powerful to make it this far, right? It was likely that a sizable amount of them were within the top ten. Nykal might’ve even been out there.

Scaling the hill wasn’t too physically taxing. After learning how to traverse the forest he initially spawned in, his ability to assess his surroundings and adapt accordingly increased exponentially. The ease of mobility filled him with a sense of confidence. He was competent enough to not only participate but experience relative success in this magical game. Everything had more or less gone his way so far, which made him feel safer than he had any right to. He hadn’t run into any real danger yet after all.

Before he realized it, he was halfway up the hill, his journey so far unimpeded. Once he took note of the fact that he had already passed the halfway point, he soon stopped at the summit, finding a sight before him that he couldn’t have anticipated.

Two individual piles of corpses sat on either side of the temple, and beside each of them stood the admittedly menacing figures of the two girls in competition with one another. A brief once over of each pile told him that they were neck and neck, meaning their wager had yet to be properly concluded.

He wanted no parts in it, so he quietly walked down the middle of the space between them with his eyes focused forward so he didn’t accidentally make eye contact with either of them. The intensity of their stare down could be felt by him, even though they were both staring through him and not at him when he crossed their line of sight. He didn’t want to worry about it and feel obliged to fix it, so he told himself it was just the healthy spirit of friendly competition. They were both pushing one another to reach new heights they never would on their own.

Yeah, that’s exactly what it is.

He deposited the crystal on the altar and returned them all to the waiting room. They must’ve been the first team to conquer their zone because he didn’t see anyone else there. Maybe they got sorted into a zone filled with smaller teams, to make the competition fair, and that’s why they finished so quickly.

A remake of the scene he’d just departed from flashed through his mind and he sighed softly. They might have been an overpowered team. Could they get in trouble for breaking the balance of the game? He didn’t exactly have any overpowered cheat skills that he could use to completely trivialize every challenge he found himself against. Sure, he was lucky, but he wasn’t broken.

His worries might have been baseless. A team appeared in front of them, filled with about fifteen people. Standing at the front of the team was a tall man, probably six five, staring daggers at Amon. When he noticed, the man quickly masked his emotions and offered him a soft smile. It was creepy how his entire disposition shifted so instantaneously. If he hadn’t noticed the prior look of disdain, he’d have no clue this man might feel anything negative toward him.

The tall man with long, white hair flowing over his shoulders and down his back walked over to him. His knightly looking crimson armor provided the perfect contrast for his snow white tresses and even managed to match his piercing red gaze. Was he supposed to be a vampire of some kind? Why did he look familiar?

What if he’s Dracula? He mused to himself. Anything seemed possible here.

Once the man was upon him, he extended a hand out to Amon and exchanged a greeting. “I am Nykal, are you Lady Rea’s new summon?”

This was the number one! So many flags were being raised. Was Nykal employed by Rea?

No, they probably would have worked together if that were the case. He’s well equipped, so he probably has money and power. He’s either a rival noble or a marriage candidate for Rea.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Regardless of who he was, what he was wasn’t up for debate, and that was rude. Seru stepped between the two of them before he could get any closer to Amon, staring up at what may as well have been a giant to her without so much as flinching. He was just noticing it, but Seru was mighty for a goblin. He knew she was strong from her stats, but the more he observed her mannerisms the more he realized just how bold and fierce she was.

“Disrespect my Lord once again and I will have your tongue,” she said sternly, looking as though her smoldering might superheat the atmosphere around her and create crackling sparks through sheer intensity.

Nykal’s entire body trembled, starting from his core and traveling outwards until he erupted in a fit of laughter. He tried to get out something about the absurdity of a feeble goblin attempting to step to him, but his laughs overcame him and stopped him from saying much. Even the players behind him joined in on it with a few halfhearted chuckles here and there, as well as one over exaggerated laugh from some woman in the crowd.

He wasn’t sure who was angrier between himself and Seru. Seru clenched her fists, but she bit her tongue. Outside of that single display of her emotions, he had no idea what she was actually feeling on the inside. All he knew was that he wasn’t mad because he was in character. He was genuinely upset, as the person who not only took pride in Seru being his very first summon but also the person that had witnessed how much effort she put into her training firsthand.

He was about to step forward and attack but Rea stepped up, pulling both him and Seru back. “Nykal, this is Lord Amon and his summon, Seru.”

There was another sudden shift. The laughs were replaced with a chilling silence, accompanied by the straightening of his posture “Lord Amon?” he repeated back.

He could tell from the way he emphasized the word that there was some sort of implication behind Rea’s choice of words. He’d never heard her call him this before, so was she doing it just to bother Nykal? If that was her intention, it worked.

“My apologies, Lord Amon. I didn’t realize that nobility would go so far as to show up without a suitable summons. Is it that your family is lacking i–”

Whatever he was going to say was lost forever when Amon interrupted him with a blow to the chin, causing the man’s face to twist and contort under the impact before being sent flying back into the crowd that was steadily forming as more and more players arrived. Mumbles, whispers, and a few scarce cheers simultaneously erupted from the crowd.

Rea looked at him with astonishment in her eyes while Seru gave him a look similar to the one she had when he had rescued her initially. He didn’t pay either of them any mind as he returned to his relaxed posture though. His eyes were focused on Nykal, who was already in the process of rising back to his feet.

He wasn’t planning to start a fight here, but he wasn’t exactly a fan of the whole let disrespect simmer trope. There was a chance that this man could impede his future plans, whether it was done because of some petty reason or something more sinister didn’t matter. What mattered was the fact that, if left alone, there was a strong chance of this man becoming a problem.

Amon was someone that did not let problems fester. Plus, he didn’t like that Seru was being disrespected. That was disrespect to him, and how could he create a persona feared by all of his enemies if he let disrespect slide? He had to show zero tolerance.

He would deal with the repercussions later. He could probably find a way to make Rea take most of the responsibility, if not all, seeing as they had some kind of relationship that sparked this whole ordeal. Nyakl definitely had similar intentions, because he pulled a dazzlingly bright blade from its sheath.

Amon didn’t squint. He wasn’t going to show even a shred of weakness. When enough silence was exchanged between the two of them, they both took off at the same time. They would have clashed mid air, with Amon using his Fyn to intercept the attack, but they both suddenly stopped halfway to each other. A red screen flashed before Amon.

‘Combat is not allowed in the Waiting Room! Your permission to participate in the third round has been revoked, so your current score is your final.’

The screens had been blank since scores were still being calculated, but once he was alerted of this news he saw both his face and Nykal’s on the screens. They both held the first and second place spots, respectively. Nykal had gone from 754 to 1180, and his own score had risen from 160 to 1932.

He was honestly just as surprised as Nykal was to see the name Amon currently holding first place.

How the hell did that happen?