Chapter 722: The King’s Crown (V)
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The elimination of a participant was announced to the battlefield via a floating message in the sky.
Like words written using passing clouds, they appear. Informing everybody on the battlefield of what happened. Every now and then, names of participants will be shown up there, and they’re mostly the names of the finalists of the preliminaries.
Everybody assumed that it’d be like this for everybody. But to their surprise, it’s different when a seeded participant is eliminated.
Right now, everybody in the battlefield paused whatever they were doing just to look above.
There, they saw the message written in scarlet. It’s like the heavens that bled just to get this message across.
Seeded Participant: Ragnar Stormcloud was eliminated byDawnbringer!
"No fucking way!"
That’s the general response of the seeded participants upon reading the message. It’s pure disbelief and surprise.
They didn’t want to believe it. Dawnbringer was indeed good, but he shouldn’t have been able to eliminate one of them: the Chosen Ones. This has got to be a mistake.
But was it really? Will the organizers be careless enough? Will they go out of their way to announce the message this way if it turns out to be a mistake?
They even highlighted Dawnbringer’s name in that as if to provoke them. So how could this be a mistake?
But if this wasn’t a mistake, then isn’t this terrifying? Doesn’t this mean that Dawnbringer was an actual threat to everybody?
"How did he eliminate Ragnar!? That petulant kid could command Heavenly Tribulation like it’s his bitch! How did he defeat him?"
The one who said this was the other candidate of the same sect as Ragnar, who participated in this tournament as a seed, the neglected candidate.
He couldn’t believe it. He knows just how overbearing and domineering Ragnar could be. That kid, for all of his arrogance, was excessively strong! If he hadn’t been eliminated, he’d have hopes of entering the top 10!
But a commoner felled him! Which shouldn’t have been possible, yet it happened just like that.
"Shit! The Elders are going to wallop that kid!" He mused to himself, gloating inwardly at the sheer irony of the situation.
"Ha! Serves him well! I’ve long since disliked that kid."
"But damn, this is trouble. With him out, the sect will lose its funding; they placed all of their bets on him, too. This will be a crisis."
"Wait, shit! Doesn’t that mean that it’s on me now? Crap!"
The realization just hit him now. He was the final hope of the sect to salvage the situation.
What he needed to do was obvious right away. He needs to be careful and secure a good ranking to save the sect from possible bankruptcy. Their resources have already run dry because of their unscrupulous bias towards Ragnar, and that little shit blew it all away. He’s the only one left, and the pressure’s on him.
"Okay! Note to self, don’t mess with Dawnbringer. My goal is top 20 in this round. If I could reach that, then most of the burdens of the sect should be removed, and they’d be able to handle the rest."
"Top 15 is possible with luck. Top 10 is impossible, though. But that’s fine. Even if I only end up at top 20, it will be fine with them, I hope. They’re not expecting much from me, anyway."
The pressure is on, and suddenly, the man becomes more alert and wary of his surroundings. The commoners wouldn’t dare to cross him; even if they do, he should be able to take care of them. Not Dawnbringer, though. He’s an exception.
What he’s really worried about isn’t Dawnbringer. Unlike others, he watched the preliminaries and knew that Dawnbringer wasn’t one to provoke others; he’s one of those people who doesn’t start conflicts but ends them.
It’s that little shit, Ragnar, who invited trouble to himself. And even that couldn’t be blamed on the kid because it was indeed a little embarrassing for him to be the only seeded participant who didn’t have a crown.
The ones he’s really worried about are the candidates from the rival sects.
Everybody has seen the announcement and got the message. Because of their rivalry, those people will hunt him down to strike at the sect. As the last hope of his sect, he can’t let himself be eliminated right away.
That’s why he’s moving now. Although it’s a little embarrassing for him to hide, if it meant saving the sect’s hide, then it’s the right thing to do.
Because as much as he was dissatisfied with the sect’s bias towards Ragnar, he still owed them a lot. The sect raised and nurtured him all the same, and he’s willing to die on the same hill as them because the sect was his home.
**
The announcement of the first seeded participant to be eliminated rattled everybody else, too.
This was truly unexpected and very high-profile too.
And as if on cue, the first hour of the second stage has passed, and with it comes a sudden notice.
All the participants have been made aware of the current locations of the crowns and their wearers. Their coordinates were broadcast to every participant left in the field, and that’s somehow not enough; the crowns themselves released a staggering brilliance as if announcing their position to everybody within a hundred-mile radius.
It’s excessive, really. That’s what all of the wearers thought as this happened. The coordinates were more than enough; there wasn’t any real need for the crowns to shine like a goddamn rising sun. But it is what it is, and they can’t stop it.
This went on for five whole minutes. By now, everybody knew who’s where, and trouble already brewed because of it.
That said, even if the current positions of the crowns were revealed, the wearers of the crowns haven’t changed just yet.
Except for Dawnbringer, everybody who had a crown was a seeded participant, an individual that no commoner could take on alone.
What’s funny is that, by logic, the commoners should be targeting Dawnbringer since he’s like them, and they’d have higher chances of getting his crown instead of everyone else’s.
But the commoners aimed for the seeded participants. Why? It may be because they’ve already accepted that they’re no match for Dawnbringer and didn’t want to waste their time and effort with him. It could also be that they’re dissatisfied with the seeded participants for whatever reason.
Actually, some of the previous stage’s finalists have already formed an alliance. There were those who already accepted that this was the furthest they’d go but didn’t want to leave just yet, so they instead took the initiative to offer their help to those with better chances of competing.
If they could have one more ’commoner,’ aside from Dawnbringer, that competes with the seeded participants, everything will be worth it.
And that’s what’s happening now.
The seeded participants now have to deal with groups of commoners aiming to overthrow them.
One-on-one, the commoners didn’t stand a chance against them. In groups, though, their chances were better.
Actually, there were a few seeded participants who are being teamed up by now, and the pressure was starting to get to them.
Nobody wanted to be the second-seeded participant to be eliminated; therefore, they’re doing their best to hold on to their thrones.
As all of this unfolded on the battlefield, Cedric, on the other hand, was bored.
Even after his position was revealed, nobody came to challenge him.
It’s not like he went far from his previous position. Actually, he didn’t move at all. He’s still in the same area he was in before. He’s waiting for a new challenger to come and try to take this crown away from him, but nobody is coming.
Cedric didn’t feel like going anywhere either. So, instead of looking for playmates, he just sat on a boulder with his chin resting on his palms, completely bored out of his mind.
He’d sleep if he could, but he couldn’t. Not in such a charged and electrified battlefield like this.
The only way he’s surviving his boredom is by watching others fight as a spectator from a distance.
He’s envious because the seeded participants are having fun fighting multiple enemies at the same time. He wished that some would come to him too.
It would be even better if another seeded participant came up for a fight. The last one he dealt with was fun to tease and really fierce; alas, he wasn’t enough.
Unfortunately, these seeded participants were cowardly and cared too much about their reputation. Just because he eliminated one of them, the rest had been scared away, not wanting to potentially be the second one he disposes of.
So, Cedric could only sigh and watch as time passed by. At each passing hour that his position was revealed, Cedric remained at the same exact spot like a video game boss who only spawns in this area.
Still, nobody came to him, so he’s still bored.
Fortunately, the forbidden zone was about to appear, and with that, the safe zone will start shrinking. Maybe this will force people to come to him.