The event continued on for quite a while as the entire sports event was allocated quite a bit of time that was practically the same as a normal football match with two halves and a half-time break. The IGC’s organizers had invited a few of the virtual sport’s enthusiasts from the game and a few professional yet close to retired athletes to participate in the event. It was quite hyped up as the casters had been changed to professional sportscasters that had been given information to study regarding the sport so it felt like an actual basketball-slash-football game was being played right now.
Thanks to the shoutcasters, the unknown game was a big hit to the sports enthusiasts who were watching in the stadium or tuning in from home and inside the game. The crowd was so loud even though they didn’t know much of what was going on. They only followed the ball being kicked, thrown, and headbutted around the field by the players using their bodies and magical abilities while listening to the casters making a play-by-play of the entire game.
There were no proper teams or coaches on the sidelines as the players just swapped in and out as they pleased and played with no particular strategy while the referees made sure to keep the game clean by disallowing any targeted spells or attacks from a player to another player.
Maria would have definitely enjoyed watching the game since she was quite fond of watching football since her brothers and father liked to watch it on the TV sometimes when they weren’t busy. The game was so popular that the audience called for a second round but this time, it was played by the players that would be participating in the sport’s other stages. The sport itself was called Magic Ball which was pretty self-explanatory.
It was a children’s game in the magic academy but the players found out about it and turned it into a sport that they played inside of the game. It became so popular that the IGC just had to introduce it to the world which thus opened up another branch of possibilities that were to come. With the extension of the games, the Monster Hunting event was pushed back but was still going to happen later that day.
Maria had a very good and long nap while David was watching the sport’s proceedings through the TV inside the lounge where a few other Monster Hunting participants had gathered around and were watching as well. They had to keep quiet because Maria was sleeping and they were being considerate of her but many just wanted to cheer out loud and one of them did which startled Maria awake.
“Hm?”
“O-Oh...My Lady, are you awake?”
“Nn?”
Maria’s hood fell as she rubbed her eyes. She had her mask off because it was uncomfortable to sleep with it on but with her hoodie over her head, no one was able to see her face, anyway. The people in the lounge were too focused on the game so they didn’t see her face when her hoodie fell to her shoulders. She looked around and saw the clock and noticed that it was well past the scheduled time so she turned to David and asked, “David, didn’t I tell you to wake me up when the event started?”
“Yes, my Lady, but the event was pushed back due to the audience wanting an encore of the sports event that’s currently ongoing.”
“Oh?”
“Also, your hoodie, my Lady. And your mask.”
Maria nodded and put her mask back on and pulled her hood up.
“No wonder people were so loud...So is the Monster Hunting Event pushed back to a later date or is it still on today?”
“The event had just ended with the Red team’s win. The organizers are already preparing for the next event as we speak.”
“Good, I just had a good nap and now I’m getting a little restless. I’m itching for a fight!”
“Then you should get prepared, my Lady. They will start calling out the participants in half an hour or so. If you need to go to the ladies' room or anything, please do so now.”
“Got it. I need to wash my face a little.”
When Maria got back from the restroom, she didn’t wait for long until she heard Yun Chi’s familiar voice along with the other casters as they began announcing the start of today’s final event after the previous delay. This should have been the highlight event of the day but the Magic Ball Event had stolen the limelight since it was so popular with the normal folk watching in the stadium and at home.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“How about that, Tyler? Could you believe that the Magic Ball Event was so popular that the audience even asked for an encore? I can’t complain because I enjoyed watching the game even though I had no idea what was happening!”
“It was a great integration of sports and magic. It’s not a wonder why it was so popular in Unitale and now, it’s the same outside of it!”
“The participants of the Monster Hunting Event better step up their game if they want to match the hype of the previous event!”
“Speaking of the Monster Hunting Event, let’s introduce the participants!”
“Yes!”
The casters and the MC began calling out the event’s participants to the stage with the same grandeur as when the participants of the Obstacle Race were announced. Maria was called last but unlike the previous intro video that showcased her strength, a clip of her test run hunt was shown and how she ‘arrogantly’ said that it was too easy.
“Oh?”
Her video and words caught the attention of the people especially with how effortlessly she took down the boss monster she was facing. Yun Chi had already been given a script so when Maria walked onto the stage to line up with the rest of the participants, she immediately went over to her and greeted her, “Hello again, Maria!”
“Hello.”
“That was quite an interesting intro video, yeah?”
“I guess.”
“Haha, don’t take it personally, it’s just the devs playing a prank on you! They heard how you said that it was too easy so they cranked up the difficulty especially for you today!”
“Really? That’s nice.”
“Haha, I’m glad that you’re so enthusiastic! Anyway, you’ll have to wait your turn as you’ll be going in last so give us a good show, okay?”
“Sure.”
“Awesome!”
Yun Chi walked over to the first person who had been called to the stage while the rest were guided over to the side to sit down and wait for their turns. Just like the IGC’s PvP event, the fight against the boss monster would be displayed in the real world through a hologram setup though the scale was going to be much larger so it would show the entire battlefield along with the boss monster and the player.
Unlike the previous side events that had some non-players participating in it, the participants this time were all well-known streamers of Unitale as the IGC’s organizers made a few changes to the challenger roster. Regarding the special difficulty that the IGC’s organizers had given to Maria, she was looking forward to it. Hopefully, the boss monster wasn’t too trashy that it would fall after a few exchanges with her.
During the test run, she hadn’t taken it seriously so if they underestimated her strength, it’d just be a repeat even if they increased the monster’s strength by ten folds. Even then, Maria would still be handicapped later since she couldn’t use her [Nightmare] skill. She was still wanted in the game for ruining the Pantheon and Celestial Order’s quests and she still needed to remain anonymous for her current ongoing quest where she needed to continue sabotaging both sides who were about to go to war with each other.
No one knew her true identity yet while she was in her Nightmare form so things worked to her advantage for now. It’d be a real hassle if people found out and began hounding her even when she was not doing the quest. The first challenger for the Monster Hunting Event entered the playing field after a moment and Maria focused herself on the battle.
When she saw what happened to the player, a grin crept up on her face though it was concealed by her mask. Once the fight started, the monster charged at the player who was caught by surprise, and was immediately put on the back foot as the monster didn’t relent in its charge.
Yun Chi began explaining that the boss monster in this event was unlike the boss monsters inside of the game. The AI behind the event boss monsters were much more complex as they learned and copied the battle styles of the highly ranked players in the game with boss monster attributes to boot. This feature was exclusive only to the bosses in the event as there would be no such bosses in the game. This event was meant to test the strength of a player so it was set to be undefeatable though Maria turned it upside down during the test run so the event’s devs began changing a lot of things as they felt their pride was attacked by Maria’s ‘belittling’ words during her test run.
If her mask was off, people would be able to see her wide smile which seemed to be enjoying the show that displayed the player being tossed around the battlefield like a punching bag. The poor guy wasn’t even able to do anything, which was humiliating enough. He wasn’t a crazily skilled player since, to begin with as people enjoyed his streams due to his mediocrity and relatability with the vast majority of players that couldn’t stand out like Maria and the other skilled players of the game.
They enjoyed his streams for his laid-backness and comfortable streaming sessions so it was a bit sorry to see him being tortured by the boss monster though the streamer actually turned it into a comedic show as he began running around and crying out for help.
“Y-You’ve gotta be kidding me! Time out, time out!!!”
“GROOOARR!!”
“Hey you, hold your damned horses! I’m not even attacking you! What the hell!”
“Stop chasing me dammit!”
This continued until the allocated time to defeat the boss monster was over and he was forced out of the game. After getting out, Yun Chi immediately went over and asked for the streamer’s opinion but was met with a sermon.
“Are you kidding me? How the hell is that a boss monster! It’s a freaking battle god in the form of an AI! I couldn’t even do anything and it hadn’t even used a skill or spell! All it did was chase me around with a freaking stick!”
“Haha, then how would you describe your experience?”
“Horrible, absolutely horrible! This isn’t a monster that regular players can hope to defeat!”
“Really? I heard from the game company’s devs that although normal boss monsters won’t have this AI algorithm implemented, boss-like monsters like leaders of kingdoms and factions would have this crazy algorithm added to their basic AI foundation.”
“If your source is reliable, then I guess it makes sense. No one’s supposed to be able to kill a leader figure like that so easily after all.”
They ranted on for a little while and ‘accidentally’ leaked a few things to the audience and players present. Maria was impatient in her seat as she began tapping her foot on the floor. She wanted to get in on the action already. Watching the boss monster trash the streamer earlier greatly ignited Maria’s fighting spirit. This was the difficulty the devs had prepared for everyone else but Yun Chi had said the devs had prepared something else for her especially.
She was impatient to find out what it was and from what she saw already, Maria was greatly anticipating it.