MMORPG: Rise of the Primordial Godsmith

“…Not gonna lie, compared to what I did during my fight with Leveina, you were more ruthless with Yarkov.”

Heading back to the tavern he stayed at after confirming his victory over Yarkov, an ironic smile hung on Ataraxia’s face the moment he heard those words being directed at him.

“Well, just like you said, winning the fight that way was definitely more fun than just using pure strength,” said the young man in response to Valyr’s words, letting out a slight chuckle as he took a sip of the latter’s drink.

“In any case, you could also say that you were ruthless while fighting Leveina.”

“The decision to go all-in on magic at the end?” asked Valyr in return, to which Ataraxia faintly nodded in agreement. “I just showed her that I have more than enough strength to break her domain if need be.”

“On the other hand, the way you toyed around with Yarkov with ever-increasing spells is definitely more heartless,” he continued, causing some of those listening in to their conversation to nod in agreement.

“Of course, that would have been fine if you continued to head down that route to the very end…”

“…But you decided to make use of stealth and thoroughly crush his pride then and there.” Valyr looked at Ataraxia with an amused grin. “Now, let me ask you once more.”

“Who’s more ruthless between the two of us?”

“…Fine.” Seeing as he had no way to refute his original identity’s claims, Ataraxia relented and let out a sigh, deciding to busy himself by ordering a large meal for the meantime.

Faintly smiling at the reaction his other identity had towards his words, the young man let out a slight chuckle before shifting his attention towards the magic screens, continuing to note the participants that might potentially become their next opponents.

“…Say, Ataraxia.” Just as the meal Ataraxia had arrived in front of him, Valyr posed a question to the former. “How far do you think we’d get into the top spot?”

Sensing the gazes that focused on them the moment the latter asked that question, the young man decided to take a few bites of his food first as he mulled over it.

“…I’d say there’s no issue with us reaching the top 64,” replied Ataraxia after he was done thinking about it. “There’s a high chance we get into the top 32, as well as a decent chance of us reaching the top 16.”

“So you feel the same way, then,” said Valyr after that, nodding in agreement with the assessment. “It’d be difficult for us to enter the top 8 and above.”

“Definitely difficult, but not impossible.” Ataraxia nodded in return. “After all, we’ve yet to reveal all of the cards we have.”

“But the same goes for all of the participants we have yet to face,” added Valyr soon after, causing the young man to nod once more.

Feeling like their conversation had ended then and there, the two went ahead and focused on their own respective tasks, taking the time to rest their minds even further from the hectic nature of fighting to enter the top 128.

“Say, Ylvar…” Though, once Ataraxia was done with his meal, he broke the silence surrounding them as a question came to his mind.

Of course, with the two sharing thoughts, Valyr already knew what he was about to ask.

“What do you think happened to Erika?”

…

“…How is she doing?”

Reading the message Lunarossa had sent to him, Julian could not help but feel a bit of pressure as he glanced at the dark-robed woman to his side.

After obtaining solid evidence from Valyr and Ataraxia that Erika had become an arbiter to take advantage of the tournament, the director swiftly got to work, assigning a couple of military squads to her in order to make sure her every move could be recorded.

Of course, she also made sure to talk with Erika throughout all that, allowing the two to eventually come to a compromise where both sides could be on somewhat amicable terms.

Naturally, Lunarossa informed the three other arbiters of the tournament after that, asking them to act as her extra eyes and ears for any bizarre action Erika might take during the remainder of the tournament.

Recalling the task given to the three of them just a day before the third round began, Julian inwardly took a calming breath as he focused all of his senses towards Erika’s actions.

“Dai… mos… zul…”

Picking up the near-silent murmurs the woman was uttering to herself, the man listened in for a bit, only to come to the conclusion that she was just spouting gibberish.

Then again, with the two other arbiters being given the same task as him, he also asked the two their thoughts on what Erika was doing, only to arrive at the same conclusion as he did.

“…Sounds like gibberish to me.”

“Feels like she’s chanting something… but she might also be misleading us and she’s just spouting gibberish.”

Receiving this response from Liam and Eliathaea through his messages, Julian inwardly nodded in agreement before sending the conclusion the three of them reached to Lunarossa.

“…She’s talking in gibberish at a somewhat slow pace. Eliathaea mentioned there’s the possibility that she’s actually chanting something, but I don’t know if that’s true at that speed.”

Seeing that the other side had begun to read the message, Julian felt nervous once again, wondering to himself whether the other side would accept the response he gave them.

Fortunately for him, it seemed like Lunarossa understood what he meant by his words.

“…Understood. I’ll ask the military squads to tighten their surveillance on her.”

Inwardly letting out a wide sigh of relief the moment he received the message, Julian relaxed a bit more as he closed the screen he brought up.

Shifting his attention towards the ongoing fights at the amphitheater’s center, a slightly excited smile appeared on his face, especially once he began to think about the fights everyone would see once the battle for top 16 began.

Nevertheless, the man remained wary of Erika’s actions, reminding himself over and over again that the woman beside him had sacrificed close to 200 of the tournament’s participants just for her gain.

Though, at the same time, he thought that it was highly unlikely she was going to hold yet another ritual to sacrifice another batch of participants. After all, she had already caught the attention of the tournament director herself.

‘Surely she wouldn’t do something like that again, right?’

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