Is this really a Game?!

All of the players that had failed the challenge were on the mountain top, they had all heard the sounds of fighting coming from below and went towards the edge to check out what was happening.

From afar they were able to see the party fight against the yeti, even though they couldn’t see them quite well they were still able to hear the powerful impacts of each skill and the strong fighting ability of the yeti. Their shock, however, came when the party managed to get closer and fight against the mountain giant, the top was only about 100 meters away and the players were able to observe everything in great detail.

Seeing how easily the mountain giant could destroy rocks and smash apart trees made them fearful, some of them had fought against some bosses, but those bosses would usually be lower-leveled than them, and even with 20 of them, it wouldn’t be easy to defeat it.

Seeing such a powerful monster fighting against only 7 people was incredible, the most shocking part was that they were actually even winning. The players looked like a couple of fans that had come to cheer for their favorite football team as they held their breaths each time the giant attacked, they cheered for each hit and skill that landed on the giant whilst their mouths were curved upwards thanks to the spectacle that was happening below them.

The battle was tense and full of amazing skills that none of them had, the players on the mountain top were amongst the weakest of all, some of them were even weaker than most players but were simply lucky enough to be in a team that had some strong people in it. Seeing Reign and the others fight broadened their horizons however as they had never seen players as powerful as them before.

For some reason Reign and the others were oblivious to the player’s gazes, there was something that blocked them from even knowing that people were watching them from the mountain top, it was only after they had finally stepped on the top that they were able to see that there were tens of players around them, each of them looking at them with either reverence or fear. 𝒷𝒹ℴ𝓿𝓁.𝓬𝓸𝓂

Clap, clap.

The sound of clapping could be heard as the blonde-haired man walked towards them, with a broad smile and an intoxicated gaze he slowly neared them.

“I really didn’t think someone would be able to climb the mountain before the end of the challenge, not to mention a full 12 hours before the end.” The man speaks with a calm but happy voice as he looks at Reign and the others.

“12 hours, wait, there are 12 hours remaining?” Shadow asks the man as he looks down at the mountain, “Dammit, what if someone gets more points?”

“I wouldn’t worry about that.” The blonde-haired man suddenly says as the party could suddenly see all of the jewels they had gained so far levitating above the mountain top.

“2 589, that’s the number of points you have, I can assure you that you are without a doubt the ones in the first place, not to mention that you have successfully done a hidden task that I created, climbing to the top of the mountain before the end of the challenge, you get 500 more for that.” As the man says that he suddenly snaps his fingers as the jewels disappear and a number was shown in the sky above them.

[ Heaven’s Hooligans – 3 089 points ]

“There’s another thing that you have managed to unlock thanks to getting here, but first rest up, after the challenge is done you will be able to find out what it is.” The man nods his head towards them before turning around and going to the edge, he was observing other teams as there were more of them he was interested in, of course, none of them were close to Reign and the others, but one never knew what could happen in the future.

Reign and the others decided to listen to the man as they lay down on the ground, the battles they had gone through in order to climb the mountain were extremely taxing and each of the bosses gave them trouble. The powerful wind didn’t help either and in the end, they were completely spent.

They knew that the system wouldn’t allow anyone to harm each other here, even if someone tried the blonde-haired man would probably either stop or kill the person. Reign and the others took out a couple of pillows as they laid down to sleep, the players around them looked at each other nervously as they all decided to give them some space and retreated for a couple of meters.

The next 12 hours were spent mostly in silence, some more players were teleported to the mountain top after their death and each was surprised to see that there was a team that was sleeping there, upon seeing that it was the 1st ranked team they were shocked as they thought they had been eliminated. Upon learning the truth however they were even more shocked as they couldn’t understand how or why someone would do something like that.

Reign and the others slept for a full 10 hours, they usually didn’t sleep for that long, 5 was enough for them so they usually slept that much, but the many battles they had during the challenge made them tired and they wanted to rest a bit more than usual.

After waking up they all did their own thing, Laura got a brush out of the inventory and brushed her hair, Beast took out a book to read, Wolf practiced with his sword for a bit while Greenie and Tank sparred for some time. Shadow and Reign however went to the blonde-haired man and stood on the edge with him as they looked down to see if there was anything interesting.

To their surprise there was, the 2nd ranked team, the Ice Angels were actually climbing the mountain, of course, they were only halfway there and it seemed that was their limit, they were currently fighting against a group of monkeys and it seemed that they would collapse at any moment, it was only the fierce and beautiful figure at the front that gave them the courage and strength to continue. The leader of the 2nd tanked team fought with everything she had, pillars of ice, spears, knives… all manner of attacks were sent towards the monkeys as she moved her hands left and right to activate her skills.

She fought differently compared to Reign and the others, she was more like Laura as she fought like a classic mage, the only weapon in her hand was a giant staff and she simply stood in place like an immovable boulder as monkeys tried to attack her from left and right.

Her forehead was drenched in sweat however as it seemed that the poor girl had been fighting for quite some time, still, it was incredible that she was able to do so much as the rest of her team were obviously struggling against the monsters. Only the three players that stood up against the Berserker’s leader were powerful enough to help her out while the others did their best to survive and fight off their enemies.

In the end, they managed to come on top against the monkeys, they were however all visibly tired, and going further was almost impossible. Since there was only less than an hour left before the challenge ends it was impossible to get to the mountain top, of course, the team didn’t know that, but they knew that they didn’t have a lot of time left since it was already morning.

They sat down and rested before they could even get up to try and climb some more, however, the challenge was finished. All of the teams were back on the mountain top, they saw that their dead teammates were safe and sound and some even had some touching moments together.

Upon seeing that Reign and Shadow were with the blonde-haired man however many had a weird expression, especially after seeing how Tank and Greenie were sparring while being drenched in sweat.

Clap!

A loud clap was enough to wake everyone to their stupor, the blonde-haired man nodded at Reign and Shadow as they got back to the center of the mountain top.

“Congratulations to all teams that survived the challenge, there are no rewards for that, but it’s still a feat so don’t be too hard on yourselves.” The blonde-haired man smiles before continuing further, “Now, for the ranking, well you can take a look for yourself.”

A huge hologram was suddenly visible in the sky, upon looking at the hologram the different parties all had different kinds of expressions on their face, some were happy, some had expressions of disbelief while others were simply sad.

[ Challenge Rankings: ]

1. Heaven’s Hooligans – 3 089

2. Ice Angels – 1 856

3. The Gamers – 1 543

4. Berserkers – 1 464

5. Dark Scythe – 1 398

6. Blood Angels – 1 232

…

The biggest surprise was the fact that the Berserkers were ranked 4th in the end while the Blood Angels were actually out of the top 5, of course, the thing that surprised most was the divide between the 1st and 2nd ranked teams, Reign and the others had more than 1 000 points more than the Ice Angels.

“You have to be fucking kidding me!” An angry voice suddenly reverberated through the mountain top.