Wolf

Soon enough the hail grows large enough that it starts to crush the other contestants, leaving me just flowing here while waiting for them all to decrease in number until only fifty thousand remain of the hundred thousand. Which doesn’t actually take as long as I would’ve expected. Mostly because I’m not the only one attacking the other contestants this time around.

And when the number of contestants are decreased, that same commentator begins talking again, “And we have our winners of the First Centurion Quinzel’s battle royale! It’s time to start the next part!”

On cue with his announcement, the arena begins to shift, separating us all into different platforms each with a mere fifty contestants standing on them.

The last thing I hear before everything goes dark is the commentator’s voice, “A scavenger hunt!”

Then I find myself suddenly appearing on what looks like a barren world covered in sand with a Beta Administrator Dungeon Notification appearing in my vision.

Beta Administrator Dungeon Notification

Welcome to the second fifth of the First Centurion Quinzel!

This part is a scavenger hunt where you must scavenge the world you have been placed on and collect each of the following five items:

Horn of the Sand Wyrm

Crown of the Lich King

Ring of the Demon Summoner

World Ore

Sun Alcot

However, all fifty members of each scavenger hunt will be searching for the same items, and there are only ten of each. Meanwhile each set of items can only count for a group of five each.

If you choose to group up with other contestants, each of the contestants must hold at least one of the scavenger hunt items to be considered a part of the group.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Be warned, for contestants will attack you for your items if you refuse to group up with them.

Interesting, but it shouldn’t really be much of an issue. Although I’m not a fan of this desert.

Sand aside, it looks like the contest is set up so that people either have to work together or ditch others for them to win. Which makes sense considering how the dungeon usually is.

I’m actually a little surprised that it’s letting us team up.

Then again, this is based on a real world competition. So I guess that’s probably why.

They don’t want to run out of contestants in just the First Centurion Quinzel. Because that would just make the later quinzels awkward.

I look around for a few seconds before glancing at Sapphire and nodding my head. She immediately nods back, and I immediately fly up into the air and then off in one direction while she runs off in another direction while in her enormous spider form.

Might as well take advantage of the fact that we both count as one contestant to split up for this hunt.

While flying, I open the System Forums and begin researching each of the items for the scavenger hunt.

Most of them end up being rather self-explanatory in terms of how to find them. Or what they’re from at least.

The Horn of the Sand Wyrm comes from a monster called a greater sand wyrm that is basically just an enormous worm that lives in the sand. Which could really be anywhere, but thanks to life sense it shouldn’t be too hard to find.

Meanwhile the Crown of the Lich King is obviously from a lich king.

But the Ring of the Demon Summoner is harder to figure out. Since it’s not really a publicly known item.

Might even be something made up just for this contest.

Guess I’ll be searching for demons.

World Ore is a type of metal ore. One that has the attribute of whatever world the ore is found on and is filled to the brim with elemental energy.

If it’s on a world it’s supposedly rather easy to find. Just need to search for an area of the world practically dripping in that elemental energy.

Which probably won’t be very enjoyable for me since it’s bound to be a fire or sand or something element.

I pause at that thought.

Wait, never mind. Just remembered that I no longer have that weakness to fire that I used to have.

Nice.

I smile at that thought before moving on to the last item of the scavenger hunt.

The Sun Alcot. It’s a plant.

Or, rather, a plant monster.

It’s a giant plant monster that pulls in other monsters, buried mostly underneath the surface of the sand. The thing makes a large part of the sand around it fall where the sand all goes downwards into its mouth before being expelled out its sides to refill the sand around it while anything living that it eats is digested.

So I guess I’m gonna have to go find a large mouth filled with razor sharp teeth sticking out of the sand somewhere for this plant.

Wasn’t really expecting that at hearing the name of the creature, if I’m being honest.

But looking over the various items of the scavenger hunt, none of them seem particularly difficult to get. Mostly just annoying to have to find them all.

I frown as I fly across the sky, leaving a trail of glittering pale blue light and ice behind me in the process. But my frown quickly vanishes when I find a large pyramid just standing in the middle of the sands.

A pyramid covered in red horned creatures.

Are those demons?

I identify them.

They’re definitely demons.

Hmm. This is kind of surprising.

The very first one I find is actually the one I didn’t know how to really look for. Other than the demons thing.

I stop moving to just float hundreds of meters above the pyramid as I look at it, checking the levels of the demons. Only to find that the levels of the monsters in this part of the quinzel have increased by a rather large margin compared to the last part.

Guess this floor theme has sudden rises in the level of the monsters instead of gradual rises.

That could be annoying in the later floors.

I watch over the pyramid for a few more seconds before flying downwards.

Time to hunt some demons I guess.