Lizzy didn’t take part in this event since she wanted to keep a few more of her cards hidden for the PvP finals. It wasn’t wise to reveal everything she had since her opponents could analyze her and prepare countermeasures.
In the booth, everyone was closely watching the proceedings of the Free-for-All as the MC began announcing the participants for the first FFA round. Maria and her friends were discussing why Lizzy didn’t participate in the FFA since she previously did say to them she would be participating in all of the individual PvP-type events.
“So you’re keeping a few of your skills a secret for the finals, huh?” Emily asked.
“Yup, I gotta play smart,” Lizzy replied. “It’s Arthur, Caedes, and Eos I’m up against. I can’t show them everything I have or else they’d play me like a fiddle! It was already hard for me to get where I am since I was holding back so much. I don’t plan on losing against those idiots!”
“One of those idiots also happens to be our ally. Pray that you don’t meet with him in the semi-finals.”
“Even if I did, I’d still do my best to trounce on the guy. He thinks he’s all that in the game. He tried asking me for Maria’s contact which I immediately declined. Bastard thinks that just because Mary isn’t in our guild anymore he can try recruiting her into his? Dream on, pal!”
“Oh, he did something like that?” Maria asked.
“Yeah. Stupid, right?”
Maria shrugged in response since she didn’t care. The only reason she wasn’t in the Fallen Angels was due to her alignment restriction which forced her out of the guild in the first place.
“Well, I don’t want to be tied down by anyone or anything right now. I rather enjoy my freedom though I don’t get much of it since I’m busy trying to manage my Dire.”
“Oh yeah, your faction. About that, how are things going for you? You’re on Gaia right now but is everything going to be alright with you leaving your faction?”
Maria nodded and replied, “Of course. I have many capable subordinates managing my faction.”
“Okay.”
“Once I’m done with my business on Gaia, I’m going to return right away. I have a continent to conquer when I get back.”
“Wait a sec, you’re really going to go through with that?” Amanda interjected and asked.
“Yeah, of course. Why wouldn’t I? I want that entire continent for myself.”
“Jeez...talk about ambition!”
“That’s only the first step. I want the entire planet if I can get it.”
“...”
“...”
“This is the first time you’re telling us this. When were you planning on telling us if we didn’t ask you? After you’ve taken over the planet?”
“...I dunno. Probably?”
“Sheesh…”
“Ohh, look! The first round of the FFA is starting!”
There were a lot of new faces participating in this event. A few of the guild masters who had lost in the previous PvP event had participated in this one while no one in the top 4 of the PvP event was present. They all had the same idea as Lizzy and wanted to keep to themselves for now. From what can be seen, Lizzy and the other 3 guild masters won’t be participating in any more PvP-related events so the other 3 events they’d take part in would likely be the Team events.
At least, that was Lizzy’s plan, and judging by the behaviors of the other 3, they were likely to do the same thing as well. The Free-for-All event started off with a literal bang as the players on the map began throwing skills and spells at each other the moment they encountered one another.
“Man, this holographic screen is so useful. I can’t believe Universal Games had already developed their holographic technology up to this point!” Lizzy said as she began tapping around on the touchpad she was holding and changing the view in the VIP booth for everyone.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Unlike the normal audience, those in the VIP booths could choose which battle to watch that was going on in the FFA map. The normal audience had to watch the battles that the casters were currently viewing and commentating on but those in the VIP booths had a screen that projected the battles holographically so they had a different type of immersion as the entire room filled with a hologram of the battle they were watching.
Down at the center of the stadium, there was a large stage projecting the battles holographically, similar to the ones in the VIP booths. The audience could watch the events through the hologram on the stage or through the large screens hanging above it.
It was quite a scene to watch as what was happening inside the game was being brought to life in the real world. Such a thing was truly amazing and magical that Lizzy felt a little regretful for not being in the audience during the PvP matches.
“Why didn’t you guys say anything?”
“This feature was listed in the brochure the committee sent to us along with the VIP tickets. Didn’t you read it?” Amanda explained before she asked.
“Uhhh...no?”
“Typical.”
“I-It’s amazing though, right?”
“It certainly is. Esports events used to do something like this but the holograms had limited motions and couldn’t quite portray the battles unlike the holograms now,” Amanda then pointed down on the stage at the center of the stadium and said, “See those camera-like things surrounding the stage? That’s the device Universal Games developed which can project those moving holograms.”
“Cool!”
Maria was silently watching the battles and noticed that there were some powerful players in the first round that were visibly decimating the players around them using their unique abilities and spells.
“Hadez, the fighting has started and everything...everything is so chaotic! How will we even keep up?!” One of the casters shouted as he was quite helpless in choosing which battle to spectate.
Hadez, the same one who streamed the battle in Unitale’s Colosseum Arena and was part of the Angel faction’s Testament Guild, replied to his friend, “We’ll just have to watch everything then! Eventually, the numbers will dwindle to only a few but for now, the entire map is simply in a state of chaos! Look, one of the players is trying to cast a [Hell Fire] spell but wait! What’s this?”
“Hahaha, another player sneaked up from behind and interrupted the spell’s channeling! This is simply...simply atrocious! For now, the players shouldn’t try to cast such big skills and spells. Others won’t just sit around and wait!”
“Yes, yes! They’ll definitely take the opportunity to attack!” Another caster jumped in and said.
It was quite the show to watch as there was a battle going on at every inch of the FFA map. Maria happily clapped and exclaimed whenever she saw something on the battlefield that greatly intrigued her or when someone did something amazing that Maria never thought of before when they used their skills and spells.
There was actually a mage down below that was using a sword and using his spells to move around and attack his enemies. Maria immediately knew that this person was likely a hidden ranker because he was going around the entire map and just killing everyone he encountered.
The battles were so chaotic as people would suddenly crash into other people’s battles and either help one side take down the other before eventually attacking the side they helped or just start attacking each side indiscriminately. People weren’t expecting the event to be so chaotic that it was just impossible to watch a single battle so the casters began viewing the entire battlefield instead and followed the perspective of the few players that still had 10 or more lives.
These players were those that had the higher chance of making it to the top 5 but there were around 10 or 12 of them. Half of these powerful and skillful players would be eliminated so many couldn’t wait until only these players were the ones left on the battlefield.
Around half an hour had passed already and finally, only these players were left. There were actually 13 in all because one of them was actually a rogue-class player that had been going around the battlefield and assassinating players stealthily without anyone, even the casters and audience, knowing.
This person really went under the radar throughout the first half of the battle but now that the second half was starting, he could no longer maintain his stealthy actions since there were only a few players left. Now, they had to duke it out until only 5 of them remained. No one among these 13 players even thought of forming an alliance with another because their pride didn’t allow it. It would make them look weak though it was actually a pretty logical thing to do considering the circumstances and the win conditions of this Free-for-All round.
The 13 players stopped fighting for a moment as they eyed their competitions warily. Maria had been keeping an eye on the close-combat mage player that had survived up to this point and that assassin player who actually had the most lives among the players present. She couldn’t determine how powerful this assassin player was since he had completely eluded Maria throughout the entire first half of the FFA but he was a player named Bob. It was quite a simple and funny name for an assassin that even the casters couldn’t help but be amused by the player’s name choice.
The mage that Maria had kept her eye on was someone named Zhuizhu Tian, a Chinese player. He had an awesome-sounding name and from his in-game face and IRL face, that he didn’t have any qualms in showing the world, he was quite the looker.
The few other players still standing were guild leaders or faction leaders in the game. Maria didn’t care too much about these players since she cared more about those players who were the dark horses of this event. The other player that was suspected to be a hidden ranker was a pugilist named King who had been fighting with his fists and feet throughout the entire match, displaying very skillful martial arts and movements.
Maria secretly wanted these 3 players to make it to the top 5 and there was a high chance that they would. No one knew who started it, but the sudden lull on the battlefield was broken as people suddenly started choosing their opponents and attacking them with their fists, weapons, and spells. The action restarted and the audience were all on their feet as the casters began shouting and trying to keep up with everything on the chaotic battlefield. Even Maria was on the edge of her seat as she watched the battles.
After another half hour of fighting, only 5 people remained and 3 out of the 5 were the people that Maria had wanted to win this Free-for-All round. Bob the Assassin, Zhuzhui Tian the Melee Mage, and King the Fighter, as the casters had dubbed to be their nicknames, made it past this FFA round.
“Man, 3 of these people are definitely hidden rankers. I guess they couldn’t help themselves anymore, huh?” Lizzy said.
“Yeah...I see that the pugilist, King, is a demon. Maybe we can try recruiting him in the game?” Emily suggested.
Lizzy nodded and replied, “I’ll try and get in contact with him. Hopefully, he’s not affiliated with anyone just yet.”
“Yeah, it’ll be hard to recruit him.”
“I think I’ve seen that Zhuzhui guy before,” Amanda spoke up and suddenly said.
“Really? Where?” Emily asked.
“He was part of those Freedom people that harassed us on the first planet.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, there aren’t many successful close combat mages and the way he moved around using his basic spells is hard to forget.”
“...” Lizzy had an angry frown on her face as she said, “Then he’s an enemy. I’ll never forgive those self-righteous pricks! We still have a bounty on them, right? Try to confirm this guy’s identity and place a large one on his head. Hidden ranker or not, let’s see him try to escape!”
“...I’m a little interested in those 3 guys down there,” Maria spoke up and suddenly said.
“What’s that Mary?” Lizzy turned to her and asked.
“I’m interested in them… I wonder how I’d do if I fought them.”
Maria had a slightly excited and wicked smile on her face as she said this. She had her eyes on these 3 people not because she admired them or anything. Instead, she had silently placed them on a list of people she wanted to fight and test her abilities on. It was especially so for the mage and pugilist players because one had a magic battle style similar to hers while the other had great martial arts.
“Ahh, too bad I’m not in the IGC or else it would have been so much fun~”