Chapter 261: The Eighth Day

Two days had passed for us since we started purging this island, and it was also the end of the fourth day of the Game of Kings.

In those two days I pushed these twelve to their limits... at the start we moved slowly through the forest while we killed those hideous monsters, while one of them threw up every ten minutes.

But with time they got kind of used to it, so being the kindest person in the world I answered the archer Sarah’s complaint.

And maybe she wished she’d never opened her mouth... that she’d been just a flower that grows out of the ground and gets stepped on... I’m not joking!

Even Garon who’d changed and become a firm, quiet person looked like he was about to cry.

As for the others they actually cried...

We fought for hours straight, using light and explosions to draw those things across the forest, we didn’t face any shortage of monsters.

By today I’d killed four Rank 4 monsters... the others couldn’t keep up with them in the darkness so I generally handled them on my own.

Killing them wasn’t very hard... they were stupid, and I mean it, because it’s one of the stupidest monsters I’ve faced... at least it takes first place in ugliness.

It wasn’t without damage, my hand broke twice already... but of course I healed it, this made them look at me like I’m a monster in human skin.

The others didn’t take any serious injuries while their wounds were healed and their energy renewed by our blonde healer... and every time she did that they looked at her with teary eyes full of gratitude and envy at the same time.

And now while the night was at its finest and the stars shone in parts of the sky, we sat at the campfire eating our delicious food... which the healer made, it was good, better than anything Ivan made on the first day.

"Good..." I muttered as I put the spoon in my mouth, what’s better than enjoying food after an exhausting day.

But it looks like I’m the only one enjoying it.

I looked at the people sitting around me, they were only seven, holding their plates with empty eyes like they’d seen everything life could throw at them.

Some of them stirred the contents without bringing it near their mouths and some ate very slowly, and with every spoonful their expression twisted like they were trying not to throw up... the only one who looked fine was the healer who cooked dinner... she didn’t have to fight, because she wasn’t good and we needed her energy to heal wounds so I excused her from the battles.

That’s why they envied her.

And since there are only seven here then where are the others?

They were in their beds, asleep... or hugging their pillows and crying.

Sad...

But of course I had reasons for pushing them like that.

[Auerlion] [Points: 100 — Islands: 5]

[Erebus] [Points: 30 — Islands: 2]

[Luminar] [Points: 80 — Islands: 2]

[Solaria] [Points: 0 — Islands: 0]

The problem isn’t that we have zero points, the problem is how close the other groups are to us now.

Luminar controls two islands from the third level, while Erebus stole the islands the Luminarians left behind them.

As for Auerlion they didn’t look interested in any of the other groups so far, keeping on with their careful approach upward... that’s what Kyle said since he’s the only one who can look through the clouds and the vast distances.

And from what he says it looked like they’d start splitting up and spreading across the islands at the third level or even the fourth... in the end none of the four groups showed any interest in the first level... I mean it’s just ten points.

...

Three more days passed, and we entered the eighth day of the Game of Kings.

Purging the dark forest was really hard, whether the monsters that lived in it or the darkness that hides it, both were a challenge.

But in the end we succeeded.

In the middle of the island... and inside the dark forest the sunlight crept in for the first time and fell on me, washing me with the familiar warmth.

Around me dozens of giant trees had fallen on the ground, all that was left was their massive trunk still clinging to its roots deep in the soil, but its upper part had been cut cleanly.

A loud crashing sound boomed behind me, there Garon was moving the trees and throwing them into the forest... damn, how can he carry these.

In front of me was a yellow metal rod a meter tall, sticking out of the ground that carried digging marks, the purging marker of this island.

And finally after a lot of fighting and scouting here and there, we planted the marker in the ground, claiming this land.

[Auerlion] [Points: 180 — Islands: 6]

[Erebus] [Points: 50 — Islands: 3]

[Luminar] [Points: 160 — Islands: 3]

[Solaria] [Points: 300 — Islands: 3]

The first level islands were ten points, and the second twenty.

The third level forty, and the fourth eighty... and finally the fifth a hundred.

Now we were in the lead with three hundred whole points... three islands at the fifth level each one worth a hundred, it was me, Elliot and Emeris who finished first from our side.

Both Auerlion and Luminar were at the fourth level, below us... not right below us of course.

But this means the clash will happen sooner rather than later, and from the latest updates the Erebus group had finally started moving, instead of the constant passiveness.

Oh, and our number shrank to ten, I lost two people from my group, unfortunately during a fight with a Rank 4 monster, they took a direct blow because they crashed into each other by accident, which led to both of them being eliminated and the belt moving them to the fortress.

Are they stupid to trip over each other in the middle of a battle?... well I wouldn’t exactly say that.

The main reason was that they went outside the range of the light, so seeing was almost impossible, for me there wasn’t a big difference, as long as I have that healer and the strongest members then losing a few is fine.

And after two more days we’ll have 700 points if things go as expected, and with that we’d already control eighty percent of the fifth level, because there are only two islands left at this level.

Climbing to the sixth level is a real risk, the presence of Evil monsters there was guaranteed.

Even from this distance I felt their presence sometimes.

Heavy and horrible.

...

In the middle of one of the central islands, a brown metal rod rose from the ground announcing that this island had been purged by Auerlion, and a few meters from it there was a temporary camp.

On a tree trunk a dark-skinned young man sat out of boredom, staring in a certain direction a few meters away where his friend was carving something into the wood out of boredom, humming an unclear tune..

"Hmmm~ ~ hmmm."

That’s when he heard a rustling sound from the forest and a girl coming out of there, her ears twitched hearing the rough tune before she looked at its source, speaking with annoyance. "Can you shut up!"

He sighed as he pulled his knife out of the tree, looking toward the girl, stopping his humming. "So?... how are things."

She shrugged as she moved away the leaves and branches stuck in her hair. "Good, there’s nobody from the other groups near here."

This group of three people was here to guard the island they’d taken over, and to resist and alert the others if any sudden attack happened.

The girl moved toward the tent lazily. "I’m going to rest a little, don’t lose sight of the place."

The two young men nodded to her as she went into the tent, before one of them went back to carving the tree and the other stared at the other side of the forest out of boredom.

It’s not like there’s a monster or anything that would suddenly appear and attack them... right?

Suddenly the young man sitting near the tent raised his head at the sound of a monstrous roar, there near that tree his friend had just been carving a monster appeared out of nowhere.

Its body was a little bigger than a human’s size, standing on two bent legs with its long arms hanging below its knees, fitted with a pair of claws that could cut the strongest rocks.

Without delay he shouted to the girl toward the tent. "Mary, there’s a monster."

And with that he pulled out his axe, for a moment his eyes searched for his friend who’d just been carving the tree, but he didn’t find him.

Without hesitating or thinking he charged at the monster, closing the distance in a moment, using his momentum he jumped with his axe hovering above him, ready to split this thing with one blow...

With a metallic crashing sound, the edge of the axe landed on the monster’s arm raised in an almost human defensive movement...

’Since when do monsters defend like that’ this thought came to him for a moment but it was too late, the monster’s arm twisted and broke under the weight of the sudden blow while its feet sank into the ground, spreading cracks shaped like a spiderweb.

The monster screamed and knelt on the ground holding its shattered arm, at that moment the girl came out of the tent quickly.

Her eyes widened as she saw a different sight.

Her companion who’d been carving the tree was down on the ground with his hand completely broken, above him a monster stood with its claws at his neck. "Damn it."

She cursed as she ran toward them, closing the small distance in a moment, her sword that had already appeared in her hand pierced the monster’s back and almost came out of its stomach.... the monster that was looking at her.

But the next moment it was wrapped in light and disappeared completely. ’What is this.’

At that moment the young man on the ground got up, carrying his sword from his shattered hand to the other, and with eyes red from the pain and saliva running down the corner of his mouth, he raised his sword and stabbed the girl right in her stomach.

When the metal sank into her flesh a sudden realization came to her before it disappeared under the weight of the pain. ’An illusion!’

He didn’t hesitate as he pushed the sword into her stomach with all his strength, until the light wrapped her and she disappeared far away... but he didn’t realize that, all he saw was another monster in front of him, the monster that had just stabbed his friend.

But at that moment the monster faded from in front of him and all that was left was the body on the ground, and his sword.

That’s when the sound of clapping echoed from behind.

He turned his head there to see him... Theo Arlin leaning against the tree with a smile full of enjoyment like he’d seen the most entertaining play of his life.

"Thanks for your hard work."