Oh, I should probably tell you that the last guy wanted for murder was dead. I knew that, but none of the participants did.

It’s not really important but since I’m catching up with events, that was an event. He got slaughtered in the Trial of the Rapture, so don’t expect Dan to chase after or capture him.

Okay, now we’re going back to Ace and Leena. It may seem like Leena was some hot shit. Sure, but how much was that bargain Trait responsible for?

Getting SS on the Soul Trial with a 1-Star Soul isn’t in the same league as doing it with a 0-Star Soul. People get stuck at peak Foundation for a long time waiting to raise their Soul to 1-Star.

I won’t diminish her real accomplishments such as her impressive performances on the Agility and Speed Trials. Her most impressive accomplishment by far was the speed at which she cleared her channels and learned a basic mana technique.

The Trait and the self-cultivation book could account for a great deal of that, but not all of it. I have no choice but to admit it was an impressive feat.

Even with a natural grasp of mana techniques, shooting rocks over such distance with such force should’ve taken weeks of practice minimum.

Was it an advanced mana technique? Of course not. It was as basic as it gets, but still impressive. It would’ve been more impressive if she had been able to repeat the feat in her first real combat.

Leena was stealthing as the party entered Luke’s tutorial. You know which Luke I mean. The one that’s about to die. It looked like about 30 or so people had taken over the area.

Luke had said there were only 20 and most of them spent all their time inside the Class Trial. He also said they all slept in the Class Trial, and that they always slept until about midday. That’s why they went there so early in the morning.

Maybe that had all been true at one point. Now, those 30 or so people had a camp set up right near the exit. I assume to prevent more people from escaping. Only about half of them were sleeping too.

Every plan the party had discussed involved making their way to the leaders while rallying the enslaved participants to fight alongside them.

All those leaders being right there when they entered had never even been imagined or discussed.

They all had hobgoblin or bugbear weapons from the Combat Trial. I doubt any of these participants were worth a shit.

Still, 30 or so versus six makes for a very lopsided battle, especially with every combatant being at such low tiers.

When the party entered, there was a silent standoff for about a minute. A very tense minute.

The soon-to-be-dead Luke started to say something. I never got the chance to find out what he was going to say due to an ax entering his face and a spear entering his chest.

In case you’re wondering, that was the exact moment soon-to-be-dead Luke died.

Then it was five versus 30-something. From the leaders’ perspective, it was four versus 30-something. Great odds. War cries were cried out, waking up those sleeping. More axes and spears were thrown.

Ace charged with his shield up, letting out his own war cry. Of course, that was enough to count for Healing Song. He’d just have to keep it up.

And, of course, if Ace thought that would be any help to dead Luke, that would make him the stupidest Ace ever and we should petition to have his name stricken from among our lofty ranks.

Just FYI, even though my glorious name has a new bit added to it, I still count myself as an Ace, and we’re an elite group.

Dotty and Andrew followed closely behind Ace, using him as a human shield as he used his shield as a shield. Hector just batted aside the few spears and axes thrown at him.

Hector didn’t use a weapon. Dotty had a spear and Andrew had a rapier. Andrew was decent with that rapier too, so he must’ve had some previous training.

Just so you don’t think I’m incompetent, I had asked Dotty and Andrew’s techs for information on them. I only get what they tell me, so if they tell me Andrew sings ‘Against All Odds’ when he’s alone and not that he had rapier training, I can’t be held at fault.

Leena had already been sneaking around the leaders, but when the fight kicked off, she got behind the closest enemy. She tried blasting the guy with her mana technique, but she was too scared and nervous.

If it wasn’t for Shade Sense, she would’ve flubbed it. She almost managed too anyway. She was shaking so badly I thought she had Parkinson’s disease. She…

[What is this disease?]

Ah, I’m not sure about the details besides that it makes people all shaky. As I said when we first started, the sicks rate even lower on the selection order than mothers with young children, so I’m not all that familiar with the specifics of why the sicks are sicks or their sicknesses.

I only know of this specific disease due to an Earth show I enjoyed tremendously called ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm.’ Later seasons had a famous sick with this…

[Enough. Continue.]

Okay, Boss, but I’d like to point out that you’re the one that asked. Acesso LaBlacky was just answering as ordered.

Leena got the mortal she first targeted, but that was it. She was lucky to have survived this battle. Since she killed that one mortal almost silently and was behind the rest of them, no one really saw her or noticed her. Or else she’d be dead.

She fought one other participant the whole fight. Let me tell you – it did not go well. It did not go well at all. She was terrible at fighting.

Hector ended up saving her. That guy was a monster at the time. I still haven’t seen any of his specifics, but I could tell he was holding himself back. Even so, he was kicking ass and taking names.

Dotty and Andrew did pretty great too. Dotty was setting fools on fire with her ash mana-type like a freaking champ. She clocked this one broad in the face so hard, it looked like the face cracked open. It was just the nose that cracked open though. What a punch! Especially considering it was delivered by an old, fat ugly.

Andrew only used his Legendary Orbment once, and only caught three opponents in the area of effect. He was lithe and danced around the shitheads he fought. Very handy with that rapier. He got two enemies with it, and neither knew they were dead until well after the fact.

Ace was the real superstar of the battle, but only for a solid handful of seconds, and only because Hector was holding back. He kicked some ass for having a 1-Star shit Class with a shit Orbment.

It was like a scene from a movie where the hero charges forward into a huge group of enemies and somehow destroys them all. He did that, but only for like 15 seconds.

Ace ran forward while screaming, rammed into a couple of guys with his shield, chopped a guy’s arm off with his sword, almost took another guy’s head clean off, hid behind his shield at the last second to defend against a million things coming at him, stabbed a guy through the neck, rolled, hid back behind his shield to block some more stuff, took a guy’s leg off below the knee, yelled, and charged again.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

He did great for a few more seconds, then he got knocked on his ass and beaten on and stabbed by three guys. Hector saved him too. Except Ace was all messed up by the time he was saved. I gave him even odds of surviving.

But Ace had put the fear of Astaroth in these fools and completely turned the tide. After he was taken out, it was basically just slaughtering panicked sheep for Dotty, Andrew, and Hector.

Once everyone was dead, Dotty asked Hector to run Ace back to Sanctuary Town so he could get some healing.

Hector, with worry and determination showing on his face, grabbed Ace in a fireman’s carry and started booking it back to the camp. It was definitely more of a camp than a town. It should’ve been called Sanctuary Camp.

The four guards on spawn duty waved Hector past and took care of his spawn for him.

Thanks to Hector, Ace made it in time. And also thanks to the heals of Austin, the now only living Luke, and some other lady I never learned the name of. Most people are greedy with their mana, so helping like that was pretty nice of her.

Becky had started to cry with worry once she saw the shape Ace was in. She cried with relief once it became clear Ace would live and be fine. Hector held her through both phases of her crying.

Nick had a new huge scar on his face and probably felt like an ugly and scrawny little girl next to Hector. Judging by Nick’s mentals, he was not a fan of seeing Hector hold and comfort Becky. He watched the two from the prison-tent he promised to stay in, though there were no guards to stop him from leaving.

[Where did the tents come from?]

They weren’t real tents. They were made of the same big blankets Dan had bought everyone on the first day.

A lot of participants end up using those as clothes too. At least before they tackle the Mausoleum of Bak'ung. Those blankets are used for just about everything since they’re the only sort of large material purchasable through the readers.

Besides furniture. Rocks, tree stumps, and fallen trees are used for all those purposes.

Chet was in the same tent as Nick. It was Dotty’s tent. She had made a really big one. Austin and Bonnie were in there along with the two prisoners.

Chet was still messed up from killing that guy. His mentals looked strange. Instead of how they usually looked when someone felt guilt-induced anxiety, where a couple things would move up into the red and stay there for a while, his lines were more like oscillating or making waves.

One would go up as another went down, and then another would go up as that one went down. And unrelated mentals were involved. It was strange. But at least he wasn’t crying.

We tried using the ghost of the mortal he killed on Chet, but that seemed to help his mentals somehow. He’s such a weird kid. I told you we weren’t using Trauma on Chet, right? Because he seemed to enjoy it, and it seemed to help him?

[Yes.]

I don’t understand that. We still weren’t bothering to use Trauma on Nick. We had other plans for him. We had stopped using it on everyone besides Dan, including Ace. We needed to conserve Veil.

I only used a ghost on Becky once. That dumb bitch took it as a sign that her dead husband really was hanging around and protecting her. She couldn’t even hear what the ghost was scripted to say since she was screeching in excitement and wailing so much, so I just ended it to save on Veil.

We weren’t worried at all about Becky. My ultimate goal with that ghost was to get at Bonnie anyway.

I hoped if Becky became upset enough, she’d murder her child. Instead, we only confirmed Becky’s crazy beliefs. Becky told Bonnie her father was there with them and protecting them with such certainty and passion that mother and daughter seemed to grow closer together.

Oh well. They all can’t be brilliant ideas.

When Leena returned, she was still shaken up. She had always avoided Chet as much as possible. I don’t think she liked him much. Actually, I’m certain she didn’t. But when she found out what happened, she entered the tent and asked him, “You had to kill someone too?”

“I did,” said Chet.

Leena started sobbing and held Chet as she did so. Chet closed his eyes and caressed her back as she held him and cried. Do I have to tell you which of his mentals shot up?

[No.]

The kid was on cloud nine. I thought he’d make a move, but much to Bob, Az’ga, and my own disappointment, he never did.

Dotty had remained to help the participants of the dead Luke’s tutorial area. Leena or Hector was supposed to run back down there and tell her if Ace was okay. Since Leena was being a wussy, Hector took on the task. What a sweet and helpful guy.

Andrew wasn’t happy about his rules being broken. I could see the wheels turning in his head as he weighed and balanced his desire to have his rules enforced without prejudice against possible blowback from Dan.

What he landed on was a pretty good idea. Fines. Instead of people being executed or exiled for breaking the rules, they were fined instead. That took care of the tax issue too. Now he could pay someone to guard the crazy girl, Ida Mae.

All my team members pooled their fragments together to buy Nick and Chet’s freedom. Since Dan had given them the Orbments they had slotted, and I assumed his stash was filled with ones he planned on giving them later, along with fragments to upgrade them, they really didn’t need their own wealth anyways.

I’m just surprised Dan let them keep the frags they had gotten from the Trials. What a kind sugar-daddy, except he didn’t demand full access to their many holes in return.

Hey, speaking of sugar-daddies – since I’ve decided to ask Bob to gay-marry me, I’ve been batting an idea around inside my head. Don’t answer right away. Just listen and think about it. Please.

Imagine coming home from a rough day of doing whatever it is you do and being greeted by not just me, but Bob too. Not only would you have complete and full access to every molecule of us in any way you desire, but we’d massage you and stick bits of ourselves in you too.

Really, you could think of us more as slaves than lovers if that does it for you and helps get your juices flowing.

And all we ask for in return is access to your vast fortunes and your help ascending to great power and status. What a bargain!

[I don….]

No! Don’t answer. Not yet. Really think it over. Chew on it for a long while. Come at it from different angles. Get familiar with what a great and beneficial idea this is.

Still don’t answer! I can feel how much you want to. Just let me quickly move on now that the idea has been so firmly planted within your head.

Okay, now back to Dan.

Originally, all the remaining participants working for our side were going to ambush him on his return to the Court area. They were all told to stand down and stay away.

I didn’t know this, so I’m figuring you don’t either, but there’s a limit to the number of participants any one patron can have swear to them per Game. There’s a total limit too, and our side was at it. The limit is 50. Or at least that’s what Mystozagan stated in that special forum.

Adding more wouldn’t be much help either. From the ones I saw or heard about, most of these fools were pathetic. We turned the best this world had to offer to our side, and most of them were pure shit.

Mystozagan decided to save those guys for the Boss area where Sortileges would have a much better chance of killing Dan, especially if he entered that area well below the recommended level. We were certain he would, since he had done so for every other area.

Listen to this nonsense – for some stupid reason we were still told to go ahead with the Sortilege part of the ambush.

When Dan arrived in the Court, every tech that could was ordered to activate our Sortilege, then prepare to do so again in the Castle. That’s the fourth and third area in case you’ve forgotten.

Since Dan was still low tier, I guess the plan was to kill him by a thousand cuts. Maybe? Great plan if he didn’t have his cheating portal bullshit.

I thought this was a terrible idea and a huge waste of Veil and our Sortileges. But no one asked me, and I wasn’t calling the shots.

I think the bigwigs thought it was a bad idea too or else they would’ve kept the ambush in place and not made future plans for all the living participants working for our side.

Anyway, all our participants hid and as soon as Dan entered the Court, every tech there hit their Sortilege.

I won’t go into the frustrating details and the obvious outcome. Dan didn’t even have to use his cheating portal bullshit. He easily won.

Adding that blink ability to his repertoire really upped his game. All those creatures just made him a lot wealthier.

At least another Legendary Orbment didn’t drop. A trigger did though. That’s a super-ultra-rare drop. Orbments can be connected to it and used to create an explosion, but its destructive capacity is dependent on the amount, rank, and quality level of Orbment attached.

Fully loaded, a trigger can cause a huge explosion. They can even cause enough damage to Trials that whole instances of areas must be closed for repair.

And it wasn’t all bad. We managed to kill a few of the stronger stupids that had made it to that area. And participants making it to the Court by day 11 were decently strong. Comparatively, at least.

While Dan was fighting, our guys that shared the same Castle instance with him slinked off there. The same thing happened in that area except a lot more stupids were caught up in it since there were a lot more participants there than in the Court.

By this point, it was clear to everyone, even the filthy and stupid Nisrochites and Furcites that had somehow managed to become techs, that we were just helping Dan become richer.

Except we were all too scared to say it in the special forum. None of us wanted to piss Mystozagan off and let him know that we all knew his plan was stupid.

Please don’t tell him I said that.

[No worries.]

And we didn’t know it until later, but he was testing out an idea. An idea that led to a great plan. A really great one. Almost Acesso LaBlacky-level great.

Dan tried protecting as many people as he could. His mentals moved when he’d see a corpse he couldn’t save in time.

If we couldn’t kill Dan, we’d kill everyone else, especially those he seemed to care most for. And we’d do so in one fell swoop.

I wish I could laugh evilly on command. If I could, this would be the perfect time. Please use your imagination to pretend I’m cackling maniacally.