Chapter 31: Cruel game, sudden change

The battle concluded in a remarkably short span.

“Hmph, are these truly the contestants for this round?” Andrew scoffed. “They’re practically the most worthless group I’ve ever encountered. Wouldn’t you agree, Xi Wei?”

Wiping a streak of blood from his face with a handkerchief, Xi Wei remained silent.

His gaze fell upon the trembling maiden cowering on the ground.

She was a Companion Spirit Weapon (TL Note: A sentient weapon or entity intrinsically linked to its master), orphaned by her master’s demise.

“Truly regrettable,” Xi Wei murmured, his voice devoid of sympathy. “But if you seek someone to blame, direct your ire at your useless master. Despite their own incompetence, they foolishly insisted on entering this competition, ultimately not only meeting their own end but also dragging you down to yours.”

As he spoke, Xi Wei began to advance towards the Companion Spirit Weapon.

“Whew~!” Andrew let out a low whistle, a wicked grin spreading across his face. “Were one not to witness your true nature firsthand, Xi Wei, who would ever believe you to be such a bloodthirsty monster?”

Adorning Xi Wei’s hands were a pair of knuckle dusters. Without a hint of mercy, he brought them down upon the defenseless Spirit Race (TL Note: A race of spiritual beings) maiden.

Her screams, mingling with the spray of blood, echoed far and wide through the silent forest.

A mere minute later, no trace of the maiden remained on the ground, only a gruesome pulp of flesh, slowly dissolving into shimmering motes of light.

The three contestants, along with their respective Companion Spirit Weapons, had all met a gruesome end at the hands of Andrew and Xi Wei.

‘Devils, they are nothing short of devils…’ a thought raced through someone’s mind. ‘No, I must not encounter them!’

Perched on a tree branch, a figure watched the unfolding horror below, their face etched with terror, utterly oblivious to the presence that had materialized silently behind them.

“Tell me, who is it you mustn’t encounter?”

The figure froze, a searing pain lancing through their chest the very next second.

A gleaming dagger point had pierced through their chest, its blood-slicked edge glinting with a chilling, predatory light.

“Little Flame, quickly… quickly flee!”

He had instantly grasped the gravity of the situation, and the grim certainty of his own fate.

Without a moment’s hesitation, he hurled a small, flame-licked pebble he clutched in his hand, flinging it with all his might into the distant forest.

“Return to the Mother Tree!” he roared.

His roar was abruptly cut short as his head was violently twisted from his neck.

“Hah, you won’t escape!”

The assailant, a grotesque smile twisting his features, sprinted off in hot pursuit of the small pebble.

“By the way,” Andrew called out, watching the retreating figure, “shouldn’t we be concerned about that Bandage Guy? It could be quite dangerous if he runs into a full squad, couldn’t it?”

Xi Wei produced a token, glanced at it for confirmation, then dismissed the concern with a casual wave. “Let him go. Given the caliber of this year’s contestants, even if he were to stumble upon a full squad, he alone would be more than capable of handling them.”

Having delivered his assessment, Xi Wei suddenly paused, as if a new thought had just occurred to him.

For in that moment, a particular face had surfaced in his mind.

It belonged to a woman he had encountered before the official commencement of the competition.

Yet, it wasn’t the flamboyant girl who often drew attention, but rather… another individual, quiet and seemingly unremarkable.

He had, however, discerned a faint, unsettling aura of danger emanating from that very maiden.

****

Meanwhile, the Bandage Man pursued the small, flaming pebble relentlessly through the dense layers of the forest. Just as he was on the verge of catching it, the stone was deftly intercepted.

“Oh dear, how curious,” a voice chimed. “It seems we’ve discovered a stray little one.”

A young man, a smile playing on his lips, stood there, flanked by two alluring, gracefully poised mature women.

“Little one,” the young man asked, “where is your master?”

He idly tossed the pebble in his hand, his question seemingly casual.

The pebble’s surface pulsed with a faint red glow, and the young man, as if understanding its silent communication, nodded repeatedly.

“Oh, I see, hmm, yes, that explains it. Oh, I understand now. How truly regrettable. My deepest condolences.”

“What are you babbling about to yourself? You’re courting death!”

The Bandage Man, clutching two daggers, bore a striking resemblance to Wynn’s Shadow Abyss, perhaps seven or eight parts identical.

The young man’s gaze inadvertently fell upon the shadow beneath the Bandage Man’s feet, and an expression of sudden realization crossed his face. “Ah, so it’s a [Gloom] (TL Note: A specific type of Spirit Race or entity with shadow-based abilities),” he mused. “But don’t Glooms only consume their own kind? Why would you be interested in other races?”

The Bandage Man let out a chilling, cackling laugh. “No, no, no, you’re mistaken. It’s not my little one who’s interested, it’s me!”

The latter half of his sentence resonated from directly behind the young man.

Simultaneously, two daggers lunged, aiming for the young man’s back.

Clink—

Clang!

With two sharp, metallic rings, the daggers were deflected.

A look of utter bewilderment contorted the Bandage Man’s mummy-like face, as he stared at the young man in disbelief.

Even as he watched, his own head began to slowly, inexorably, detach from his neck.

In his dying moments, he could only manage a single, terrified question: “You, too, are…”

The final two words, however, remained unspoken.

Yet, the moment the mature woman to the young man’s left reached out and seized the Bandage Man’s Companion Spirit Weapon, everything became blindingly clear.

“Hey, hey, hey, Shadow Heart,” the young man chided gently, “don’t bully them.”

The young man, still smiling, lightly pressed the mature woman’s hand.

Both Spirit Race members were [Glooms], and their encounter could only result in one consuming the other.

Of course, Shadow Heart would never be the one consumed.

It was simply that he was a soft-hearted Kami (TL Note: Japanese for god, often used playfully or ironically in Chinese web novels); how could he possibly stand by idly and watch such a cruel scene as an adorable Moe girl (TL Note: A cute, often innocent, young girl, a common trope in anime/manga) from the Spirit Race be devoured?

“Such a senseless waste of heaven-sent beauty,” he declared, “is something I simply cannot permit!”

The mature woman named Shadow Heart shook her head with a resigned sigh, then released the maiden.

“Heh heh, and twins, no less! Excellent! I like them,” he chuckled, then gestured to the two mature women beside him. “Just as I like these two, who are mother and daughter.”

The young man then extended his hand towards the two black-clad twins. “Hello there, my name is Qi Lin,” he introduced himself. “I am… hmm, would you believe me if I told you I wasn’t from this world?”

After speaking, he seemed to recall something and glanced down at the small stone in his hand. “You, too, are quite extraordinary,” he observed. “It’s truly remarkable how you can maintain your weapon form even without a master.”

Addressing the three little entities, he offered, “What do you say? Come with me. I promise I won’t mistreat any of you.”

The twins eyed Shadow Heart warily, but the young man waved a dismissive hand. “Rest assured, she and I are bound by a Master-s*ave Contract (TL Note: A magical contract that binds a spirit or entity to a master, granting the master absolute control), so she won’t lay a hand on you without my explicit permission. Of course… if you choose to sign with me, it can only be a Master-s*ave Contract. However… I can promise you one thing in return! One promise each. Since you’re twins, how about two promises? Quite a bargain, wouldn’t you agree?”

Following a brief negotiation, the young man, Qi Lin, successfully bound both the small stone and the twins to him with Master-s*ave Contracts.

With a satisfied flourish of his hand through the air, he then stroked his chin, a look of suspicion clouding his features. ‘The mission explicitly stated that the protagonist is also participating in this competition, tsk tsk… surely they don’t expect me to kill them, do they?’

He quickly reconsidered, dismissing the idea as impossible. ‘That can’t be right. None of the people I’ve encountered so far even remotely resemble a protagonist. Ah well, I’m bound to run into them once the safe zone shrinks to its final circle. After all, a protagonist would never be eliminated by someone else, right?’

As he mused, a sudden chill washed over him, and he whirled around, his expression hardening.

Before him, however, a colossal spatial rift had torn open.

“Wh-what is that?”

Within Qi Lin’s mind, the system’s warning blared explosively!

[WARNING! WARNING! WORLDLINE DEVIATION DETECTED. MATCH DATA ANOMALOUS. UNABLE TO CLEAR. UNABLE TO CORRECT. HOST, PROCEED WITH CAUTION.]

Gazing at the colossal figure emerging from the spatial rift, Qi Lin couldn’t help but swallow hard.

He prided himself on his resonance rate of 33%, further bolstered by the presence of his two Companion Spirit Weapons.

As a Transmigrator (TL Note: Someone who has traveled from another world or timeline), his cheat system had bestowed upon him the unique ability to resonate with multiple Companion Spirit Weapons simultaneously.

Even with this advantage, however, he could only combine his multiple Companion Spirit Weapons into a makeshift Spirit Art Battle Armor (TL Note: A form of combat armor created by combining spirit weapons).

Yet, this cobbled-together armor could never truly rival a legitimate [Spirit Art Battle Armor].

He was, after all, still unable to bridge the chasm presented by a 50% resonance rate!

And the colossal entity before him was clearly far beyond his current capabilities.

“Ling Lan, quickly, get us out of here! Flee!”

A powerful gust of wind instantly enveloped Qi Lin and his four other Companion Spirit Weapons. All of the Companion Spirit Weapons transformed, equipping themselves onto Qi Lin’s body as various armaments.

A makeshift armor, nearly identical in appearance to a complete [Spirit Art Battle Armor], now encased his form.

However, a [Spirit Art Battle Armor] was, in itself, merely an incomplete [Spirit Energy Manifestation] (TL Note: A more advanced and powerful form of spirit-based combat armor).

In this fragmented state, his left hand wielded a sword, his right gripped a dagger in reverse, a heavy cannon rested on one shoulder, and his feet had morphed into a pair of slender talons.

It appeared utterly haphazard, a mismatched hodgepodge of parts.

But even so…

He had, at least, assembled something roughly coherent!

ROAR—!!!!

The colossal monster unleashed a furious roar skyward, its thunderous sound reverberating throughout the entire forest.

“System, System, stop the warnings! Give me some *useful* intel!”

“What? A Void Trooper (TL Note: A type of monster, typically considered weak)? That thing is a Void Trooper?”

“Son of a b*tch! Aren’t Void Troopers supposed to be the weakest combat units in the Abyss? *That* thing? The weakest? Damn it!”

Qi Lin continued to run, his curses and incessant chatter filling the air.

While his current cobbled-together armor couldn’t breach the 50% resonance rate, it was, in fact, remarkably close to the state of a fully equipped [Spirit Art Battle Armor].

Yet, even with this formidable setup, he harbored not a shred of confidence in his ability to defeat that Void Trooper.

The makeshift armor itself had transformed him from the size of a normal human into a formidable, heavy-tank-like silhouette.

Even then, compared to the Void Trooper, he still appeared like a mere child.

It was akin to a lynx, considered a large cat in its own right, yet utterly outmatched when facing a tiger.

Let alone the other small fry (TL Note: A colloquial term for minor characters or weak individuals) whose resonance rates typically hovered around 20%.

As the first ten minutes elapsed, every contestant activated their initial full-map scan.

And then… they all witnessed it: a single red dot, moving at a blistering pace, frantically fleeing through the desolate center of the safe zone!

Indeed, it was fleeing! The red dot was not moving in a straight line, but rather, consistently swerving to avoid collision with any other red markers.

Strangely, however, there was nothing visible pursuing the red dot.

Beyond the confines of the arena, Lien watched the live projection of the match, his eyes narrowed in contemplation.

Beside him, Cassiewell’s expression was grim. “A Void Trooper invasion,” she stated firmly. “The competition should be terminated immediately, and an investigation into the Void Trooper’s appearance must commence.”

Her hand rested upon the hilt of her blade, Shimmering Spirit, as if she might charge into the arena at any moment to dispatch the Void Trooper herself.

Lien, however, remained utterly unmoved, countering instead, “Don’t you consider this a trial in its own right?”

Cassiewell froze for a beat, then her anger flared instantly.

“Do you even comprehend what you’re saying?” she demanded, her voice rising. “A trial? You intend to pit a group of greenhorns, with resonance rates barely at 20%, against a Void Trooper?”

Lien, unhurried, fixed his gaze back on the projection. “Observe that peculiar individual,” he remarked. “He’s not dead, is he? Furthermore, this particular competition boasts quite a number of intriguing participants.”

The scene shifted, cutting to the location where Melina and two others were gathered.

The trio was currently huddled together, scrutinizing a map and analyzing various pieces of intelligence.

Lien’s gaze lingered on Melina, specifically on the golden knight’s sword sheathed at her waist, a faint, enigmatic smile playing on his lips.

“If I were to intervene,” Cassiewell stated, her voice tight, “I could eliminate that Void Trooper instantly, without causing any disruption to the competition. Even if you refuse to terminate the match, at the very least… allow it to proceed normally.”

Upon hearing Cassiewell’s words, Lien’s expression momentarily stiffened.

“Officer Cassiewell,” Lien responded, his tone turning sharp, “you would do well to remember your place. I am the referee here. Your sole responsibility was to maintain stability during the pre-match preparations. In fact, you should be reporting back to your post now, not standing here dictating my arrangements.”

“You—!”