Chapter 34
Arash’s Battle Royale Role Playing Survival Project.
What a long name.
[Current time dilation is 4.0179x]
After checking the time dilation, I surveyed this world.
Battle Royale etc…
Or, Arash’s world for short, looks as if numerous worlds have been woven together, giving it a quite unique look.
The planet was one huge spiral stretching towards the sky.
The spiral, which seems to ignore common sense, had many different layers of worlds.
At the very bottom is a vast meadow world, then a sequence of worlds including lava, mountains, historical sites, ruined cities, undergrounds, caves, and so on.
And between each world…
There appears to be a mysterious bridge reminiscent of the night sky connecting each world.
< This was originally a game made by the protagonist Arash. >
Game.
Hearing it, this certainly looks like a game.
< However, one day, reality and Arash’s game world overlapped. >
So it was like that.
Arash’s game had become reality.
And the countless challengers that were brought here.
It is said that whoever clears the 50th world first will have one of their wishes granted.
Ever since I saw the hashtag, I’ve been curious about how a game can become reality.
It sounded like something from a novel, but what’s in front of me proves it’s really possible.
“But wasn’t it something that only existed on Earth?”
< There are many worlds similar to Earth. >
“Oh…”
I slowly flew along the sky, looking at the worlds within the spiral.
There were many people running around in some of the worlds.
Although I’m only a temporary Constellation, I was able to see every stage at a glance, while the people inside couldn’t.
Where’s the protagonist?
It was too difficult looking from afar, but then the Client spoke.
< It’ll be faster to you use Channel Search if you want to find a specific human. >
“Come to think of it, I did receive a few skills.”
< That’s right. Although you don’t have the full power of a Constellation, being a temporary Constellation, you’ve received all the channel skills . >
“Great.”
Slowly looking over the skills, I activated Channel Search.
Hundreds, no, hundreds of thousands of channels appeared.
“Hm…?”
Every channel signifies a challenger, so there were at least hundreds of thousands of people in Arash’s world.
Looking at the channels, I touched the one that reads ‘Best Hot Pick 3,’ and saw that there were over a thousand Constellations watching.
[Best of the best!]
[No.1 in channel ranking: Arash]
[Constellations watching: 2076]
Considering that other channels had at most a hundred, this was ridiculous.
Activating my skill, I entered the channel.
Suddenly.
Woosh!
My surroundings suddenly changed, and I felt the sensation of moving.
“Ugh…”
Dizziness, similar to when I travel to other worlds, came over me.
After waking up and opening my eyes, a different world came into view.
Lowering my eyes, I could clearly see a world of lava.
{ The 7th world and stage called Volcano of Despair. }
{ The theme here is ‘competition’. }
{ Which challenger will be the first to reach the final destination? }
I guess the humans competing against each other in this artificial lava world are the challengers.
Hovering above the challengers was an angel shouting loudly at them.
[Now now, everyone! At last, we’ve arrived at the highlight! You’re nearing the end of this stage! Five challengers have survived up to this point!]
The final competition leading to the next stage.
A bloodbath between five people.
It seems like this is the final competition before the next stage.
[The first challenger to pass this stage will receive double the reward! Who will be the one to claim it?!]
{ Losing My Balance Libra: Arash will definitely win. }
{ Laughing Half Moon Bear: Don’t you want to see Arash lose? }
{ White Wolf Crying Victory: Arash must not win! }
Seeing the sudden messages, I frowned.
“Chat window?”
A translucent chat window of Arash’s channel appeared in front of me.
Here, the Constellations were expressing their own opinions.
{ Dragon That Devoured The Sun: Arash, kill them all! }
{ Witch Departing On A Boat: Pull out their heads and offer their spines to me! }
{ Summer Beneath World Wolf: I will give my teeth to the bravest warrior! }
…Every single nickname truly looked childish.
And even the messages weren’t any better.
To put it bluntly, it was like a conversation between elementary school students, or to put it nicely, it’s like watching a Shakespeare comedy.
‘Hm…’
I slowly watched for the outcome.
100 people were among the first to arrive at the 7th stage.
And of the 100, only 5 remained.
Everything was going smoothly.
That is, if they were all working alone.
[Ah, how could this be! Four of them were a team. How will Arash, the lone challenger, overcome this crisis?!]
As soon as the angel finished speaking, a message appeared in my mind.
{ Challengers have ‘level,’ ‘class,’ and ‘skill.’ }
{ Do you wish to view the challengers’ information? }
I nodded my head and their information appeared.
The four challengers teaming up against Arash are a priest, an archer, a warrior, and a mage.
Their average level is 6.
However, Arash is level 9.
He is quite higher level than the rest.
Also…his class looked very unique.
“…Star Cleaving Battle Mage? What class is this?”
{ Hidden class. Only one person per hidden class, and the way to obtain one is extremely difficult. }
However, Arash had one.
Probably because this was his game world.
Really, this is too much.
Thinking about it.
Arash had developed the game.
That means he knows every detail that exists in this world.
Details that I somehow need to get in order to kill him.
But…
< Protagonist Hunter Lv.2 is not high enough to see the information of this world. >
“Why? I was able to see it last time.”
< It was due to that world detecting the effect of ‘regression.’ >
That…sounds plausible.
Every time Fiolen used his knowledge of the future, I was only able to get a glimpse of the change in the target’s future.
In other words, I won’t be able to kill Arash using an information advantage like last time.
The situation is looking increasingly grim.
Amid my deepening worry, Arash, who was in a crisis, suddenly started to do something.
The angel shouted with all its might.
[The challenger Arash! He took something out!]
Four level 6 challengers against one level 9 challenger.
I guess it was a foregone conclusion in everyone else’s eyes that the four would win, but things didn’t go as expected.
[Ah! That’s the claw of the Lactarox! Why the hell did challenger Arash take that out…oh?! Oh my! He combined it with the saliva of a Manticore!]
{ Item manufacturing by challenger Arash! }
{ Successfully created ‘Plutten Paralyzing Poison Ballon!’ }
It was hard concentrating on the announcement and commentary in the channel at the same time.
Was that thing really so great?
Thinking so, the chat window soon became plastered with messages.
[Skyward Sword: Amazing! How clever!]
[Best Necklace Manufacturer: That’s my recipe! I can’t believe it, it’s amazing!]
[Water That Can’t Be Put Back: How did he think to do that!]
[Don’t Let Your Dreams Be Dreams: A challenger at the 7th stage figured out how to make that?]
I still couldn’t understand it.
What’s so great about it?
My question was soon answered.
Arash, holding the claw with both hands, swung it in all directions.
The other four challengers slowly began to lose their strength even though they were not touched by the claw.
[The Plutten Paralyzing Poison Balloon has the effect of paralyzing anyone who breaths in the gasses, and is super effective in hot places! Sure enough, challenger Arash! He predicted everything and had prepared an item in advance!]
Arash, wearing a mask, continued to swing the claw recklessly.
That wasn’t the end.
Grabbing the air, Arash pulled out an item and quickly overpowered the four challengers.
In the end, he defeated them all.
A flawless conclusion.
[Number one on the channel ranking somehow reversed an unfavorable situation because of a brilliant idea again!]
The reactions were explosive.
[As expected of challenger Arash!!]
Along with the angel’s shout came a series of ‘sponsorship’ in Arash’s channel.
[Crackion Noise sponsors 1000 Star Force.]
[Dragon That Devoured The Sun sponsors 1500 Star Force.]
[Sight That Lost The Light Sponsors 1200 Star Force.]
I was in a daze watching the endless sponsorship messages.
Star Force?
{ Challengers can use Star Force to raise their level and stats, or purchase items. }
Do I have that?
[Remaining Star Force: 370]
…That’s all?
This amount of Star Force…the situation is much worse than I thought.
< Star Force correlates to your Mana. Once consumed, with time, your Star Force will recover. >
< Also, Star Force can be gained when your chosen avatar clears a quest, dungeon, or world. >
Hu, so there was a system like this.
It was both amazing and annoying.
In the meantime, Arash, who could not see the Constellations, bowed his head and thanked them.
“Haha, thank you! Constellations! When I clear all 50 worlds and become a Constellation, I’ll make sure to pay you all back!”
Watching him, somehow I felt hopeless.
From now on, I have to find a way to kill Arash who’s being watched by the other Constellations.
I have no information advantage.
And I can’t even touch him physically.
The only way to kill the protagonist is through Channel Interference, but with only 370 Star Force, I will be in a terrible situation if I sponsor someone even once, and it was hardly enough to do anything with this amount.
When such thoughts invaded my mind, I took a deep breath and cleared my head.
Yeah, there has never been an easy hunt.
As a F-Rank hunter, no hunt has been a ‘freebie.’
When I meet an enemy that seems impossible to defeat, I just make use of anything and everything I have.
While thinking about my dilemma, Arash reached the final destination of the 7th stage.
Then, along with the sound of firecrackers, the angel screamed.
[We finally have a winner!]
Now that first place has been decided, the only thing left was for the other four challengers to come.
The four challengers, who were knocked down before reaching the only wooden bridge, rose up with difficulty, and began to cross it.
Then, Arash putting his hands on his legs, spoke.
“Guys, you know what?”
Everyone’s attention was focused on Arash.
He seems to relish in this fact.
“If I give up my first place reward, a ‘bug’ will cause the only way to the next stage to disappear!”
Said Arash with a bright smile.
“I will give up my first place reward. So, remove the bridge.”
As soon as he said that.
The bridge disappeared like it had evaporated, and the four challengers began to descend into the lava.
{ The first challenger to clear the 7th Stage has been determined! }
Immediately, numerous messages and sponsorship flooded the chat window.
[Star Running Horse: What a pleasant surprise! Yes, kill them all!]
[Star Running Horse sponsors 1000 Star Force.]
[Poisonous Plant In Greenhouse: You have to beat them to the point where they can’t stand up again.]
[Poisonous Plant In Greenhouse sponsors 2000 Star Force.]
[Knife Sharpening Leaf…]
Watching their insane behaviors, I turned to look at something else.
The four challengers that hadn’t fallen into the lava, but were dangling onto each other.
Then back at the Constellations going crazy.
A rather plausible and only method came to mind of how to kill the protagonist.