Chapter 188: Cheating is what makes the game fun!

Kaelen’s instincts kicked in, and his steed was fired up.

Boom—

He crossed several miles in an instant, and just as the first set of arrows dropped, Kaelen slipped out of their range and skidded to a halt to watch as everything behind him was obliterated.

The snow melted into water, which vaporized. The trees were caught in a wildfire that didn’t discriminate as it burnt down everything in its path.

The numbers on the scoreboard spiked, and in an instant, the Red Team was over 20,000 points while Kaelen was at 7,000.

Before he could breathe, the sky brightened again, and a torrent of arrows was released from a much closer distance as they flew towards him menacingly.

Kaelen gritted his teeth as he pulled on his steed’s reins, and they burst forward from the spot once more, trying to outrun the torrents of arrows that covered a large expanse, making it impossible for Kaelen to fight back.

He calculated the distance and trajectory of the first set of arrows to know where they would land and where he could slow down to figure something out.

That was when he noticed that the arrows didn’t stop flying. The first set he had calculated had already begun making their descent behind him, but there were more overhead, which seemed to overlap the first set and cover more distance, indicating they had been shot from a closer range. But as those began to make their descent, there were still more overlapping them from above, which made Kaelen frown deeply.

He immediately understood that it wasn’t normal, and either the shooter was using a skill to shoot farther or they were shooting while on the move.

Precisely shooting thousands of arrows while moving at an incredible speed sounded impossible. But again, nothing was impossible in this new world that had been opened to Kaelen, and the reason he wanted to believe it was the latter was simply that each candidate was to have a single ability on the first ten floors, and it was simply impossible to fit thousands of arrows on a bow without using a skill to multiply their numbers. That was one skill, and using another to make them travel farther each time would mean two.

The scoreboard was already at over 30,000 points for the opposing team, while Kaelen was still stuck at 7,000 as he was chased down by just one of the nine candidates from the opposing team.

Just when he thought he was winning, they pulled out their trump card, which totally flipped the script back in their favor.

Kaelen clenched his jaw as he suddenly made a U-turn and charged straight into the death zone. If he kept running, then he’d be chased for as long as it took for the timer to run out. So he’d rather take the risk of charging against gravity to outrun the arrows and catch up with the shooter before they could nock another arrow.

Since the first set of arrows had dropped first, if Kaelen was fast enough to stay in the middle while the arrows descended behind him, he could escape death by a hair’s breadth and catch up with the shooter on the other end of the line.

With a single thought, the steed ran at full speed within the canopy of a thousand arrows. A hooded figure suddenly came into view, spamming arrows at a speed that made their hands blur.

When they spotted Kaelen, they didn’t flinch but simply adjusted their range and shooting timing so the arrows would fall in between them.

If Kaelen kept moving forward, he’d definitely be impaled. And if he stopped for even a second, that timeframe would be enough for the shooter to readjust and target him before he could escape.

There was no other choice now.

The steed abruptly screeched to a halt with a back kick, throwing Kaelen off its back and sending him forward. At the same time, Kaelen took out three Excellent-grade Health Elixirs and raised his helmet just enough to pop them into his mouth.

They had barely gone down his throat when the torrent of arrows descended on him midair.

Boom—!!!

A shockwave swept across the plain, raising a cloud of smoke and dust that covered everything and made the hooded figure shield their face.

What followed was an unsettling silence, broken only by the occasional sound of flickering embers, as the scoreboard updated itself to the 50,000-point milestone versus 7,000.

Timer: 00:26:07

The hooded figure stared at the collision site for a moment before tilting their head towards a Golden Treasure Chest sitting by the side, with a dead Earth Troll heavily impaled by arrows.

They calmly moved towards the treasure chest and leaned forward to pick it up when the cloud of smoke and dust was suddenly dispelled as a figure shot forward like a phantom with two blades.

It happened so suddenly that the hooded figure could only twist their body just in time to raise their bow and parry.

Slash—

Kaelen flashed past them, his blades cutting through their bow and into their cloak, which absorbed most of the damage but still left a gash in their abdomen.

The hooded figure swiftly swept their cloak away to reveal a bulging backpack on their back, from which they pulled out another bow and nocked several arrows at once, aiming them towards Kaelen, who calmly straightened his back as his swords fell to his sides.

"You should always watch your back."

As soon as those words left his lips, the woman immediately felt a chill run down her spine and quickly spun around to fire her arrow towards the colossal spectral maw.

The arrowheads phased right through it as it arrived before her in an instant and clamped its jaws around her, decapitating her before she could even let out a scream.

That was half the total damage Kaelen had absorbed under the heat of the arrows.

He had been burned and almost scorched to ash if it weren’t for the armor, but the three Excellent-grade Health Elixirs then kicked into action, healing and regenerating him continuously until he stopped taking passive damage.

It was a suicidal move, but Kaelen was no longer human.

As long as the Slime’s core wasn’t damaged, he could always crawl back from the gates of hell.

The scoreboard updated once more, and he was now at 8,000 points against 60,000 points.

As if things couldn’t get any worse, several figures appeared from all directions, surrounding him in outfits similar to the one worn by the woman he’d just killed.

He couldn’t see their faces because they all wore their hoods over their heads, but he could feel their resentment... not that it mattered.

His head dropped as he stared at the ground. Not out of resignation. He was only staring at the bottle of Fate-Rewriting Pill carelessly lying on the ground—it was empty.

"You made a big mistake coming here alone, kid." One of the figures who stood slightly forward spoke with an authoritative voice. "You might’ve beaten the odds if it were any other deadbeat party, but your luck ran out the moment you were paired with me and my people. I won’t blame you for Sarah’s death; that would make me a hypocrite, because I’ve taken so many innocent lives that I’ve lost count... but that doesn’t mean I won’t make you suffer for taking the life of one of my own. That’s just how Eden works. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Kaelen was silent for a moment before he slowly lifted his head.

"I’ve got only one thing to say..."

His lips slowly curled up.

"You’re all going to die," Kaelen said with a cold smile.

He didn’t need to see the man’s face to know he had a dark expression, but before the man could react, one of the men trembled as he pointed to the sky.

"H-How’s that possible?!"

As he said that, everyone’s eyes snapped towards the scoreboard.

Their team was still sitting at 60,000 points. But the Blue Team now had 50,000 points and was still climbing at a visible rate.

The leader threw his hood back in astonishment.

"No. T-This can’t be. How’s that possible? You... you’re cheating." He said as he pointed at Kaelen, who had an unwavering smile as he spread his arms.

"Of course, I am. That’s what makes the game fun. After all, there’s no rule against inviting some extra friends to the party."

As those words left his lips, the sky suddenly darkened as several shadow dragons appeared in the cloudscape.