Chapter 271
Was it Seong’s words that acted as the spark?
The ones who had remained hidden, concealing their identities all this time, finally began to move.
It was a survival mission, after all.
They had no reason to draw attention to themselves—but with things as they were now, that changed.
The robe had already been torn.
There was no point staying still anymore.
[Team 133! They’ve begun moving in earnest, completely unlike before!!! It seems they plan to act now, following their defeat of Team 72’s Keron!!!]
At the commentary spirit’s announcement, the audience couldn’t help but get excited.
The long-dormant dark horse was finally on the move.
Naturally, expectations rose.
—Whoa, they’re moving right away.
—The Forbiddenz poked the whiskers of a sleeping tiger.
—LMAO I still can’t believe Keron lost though ;;
—Right? But if his cursed power had been unsealed, wouldn’t it have been more even???
—True tbh ;;;
Viewers speculated about what might’ve happened had Keron fought with his power unsealed.
Now that Team 133 was active, people were eager to see how things would go if they crossed paths with the Featherwing Knights or the Serul Mage Tower.
Of course, those same teams were also listening to the broadcast.
The remaining members of the Forbiddenz, the Featherwing Knights, and the Serul Mage Tower all showed expressions of surprise.
They’d expected the dark horse team to be strong—
But not strong enough for one member to defeat Keron in a one-on-one fight.
“Don’t engage with them. Focus on gathering intel.”
That was the command from the Forbiddenz leader, Jaya.
“Don’t split up. Maximize your alertness.”
The Featherwing Knights also increased their guard.
“Elven swordsman... what a nuisance. We’ll need to revise our numbers upward.”
The mages of the Serul Mage Tower scratched their heads, visibly troubled.
All three teams showed signs of adjusting their strategies in response to Silvanor’s overwhelming strength.
The commentary spirit went on in full swing.
[Ahhh! All three teams are heightening their alert status!!! What direction will this survival take from here?! The anticipation is rising!!!]
With the commentary hyping things up, the viewers, too, were fired up.
—Wow, one of the four front-runners might actually get eliminated, huh?
—The survival map is pretty big, but it could happen.
—Still, Jaya from the Forbiddenz also one-shotted a boss;;;
—So did Gam from the Featherwing Knights...
—And the Serul mages? Their firepower’s nothing to scoff at either;;;
Each team had serious power.
There was no clear frontrunner anymore, and the survival phase was accelerating.
Only 42 teams remained.
And only 10 needed to be left standing to proceed to the next match.
9.
A sharp, pale blue-gray spire.
Inside it, a man watched a magical projection with an unreadable expression.
Team 133—the black-robed team that had been so quiet until now—had begun to move, and the entire game had shifted.
[Team 133 is now fully active! There are no monsters on the field that can stop them!!! And—wait! They’re not engaging other teams yet!?]
Only about 40 teams remained now.
Once eight more were eliminated, the first round would end.
After that, the tournament bracket would begin.
But why?
The man watching from the spire seemed oddly unsatisfied. He clicked his tongue.
“Hm.”
As if he found something about this all... lacking.
He had a guess about their identity.
But they hadn’t revealed anything clearly yet.
He wanted to see how the master of Overpalace would act.
But even when stepping into the spotlight, they remained hidden—tight-lipped and shrouded.
Perhaps that was why.
To shake up the boredom, he decided to apply a little force.
‘Well, it could count as a gift. Not really a loss on my part.’
The self-proclaimed fanatics of the Royal Court in Overpalace would probably enjoy it, too.
And it’d satisfy his curiosity.
With that in mind, he flicked his fingers.
From the spire, energy seeped out and flowed into a space he’d created.
An event that hadn’t been part of the original plan.
Which made it all the more exciting.
He whispered to himself with expectation.
“Now then... go wild.”
—As you command, my lord.
With that cry, something merged with the energy and flowed downward.
A servant, created on the spot, disappeared into his space.
And as the creature vanished into the battlefield—
The master of the pale blue spire smiled faintly.
The elven knight was strong, yes.
But could he handle this new threat alone?
Or would the master of Overpalace finally be forced to reveal themselves?
He smiled again as he saw a rift begin to form in the survival field.
Watching the screen intently, he thought—
May things unfold as I hope.
0.
A sudden tremor swept through the space.
But it wasn’t the kind of shaking that came from an earthquake.
The very space itself trembled—sending a shock that caused every team in the field to stop in place simultaneously.
What the hell was this phenomenon?
None could comprehend it, and all instinctively became alert.
Even the top contenders—the Forbiddenz, the Featherwing Knights, the mages of the Serul Mage Tower—
Even the so-called dark horse, Seong’s team.
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
‘...What is this?’
Only Seong—
No, to be precise—
“Hm? Looks like the master of this space has intervened. That’s the power of a Monarch.”
Only Seong and Helena could clearly read that energy.
That method of manipulating power was something only a Monarch could do.
Which is why Seong immediately understood.
Something was about to happen.
‘The Tower Master just did something.’
If the structure of the survival field was shifting, laying low was the smart move.
Especially since this was clearly the will of the Tower Master.
And that was a will Seong, in his current state, couldn’t possibly oppose.
So he had no choice but to back off for now.
Judging by Helena’s silence, she had realized something too.
She wore a strangely perplexed expression, though she eventually shook her head.
If it was important, she’d say something—so Seong left it be.
And then, the tremor grew stronger.
KUUUUUGGGG—
The vibration reached its peak—
CRACK-KKKK!!!
Space twisted and fractured as the landscape shattered into pieces, and an abyssal black darkness surged upward.
From within that darkness, a bone-white skeletal hand emerged.
It happened just below the counter displaying the number of remaining teams.
Which meant every team in the jungle had a front-row seat to it.
As the skeletal hand gripped the air and emerged from the rift—
A dark navy-blue aura spread out around it, thick with ominous energy.
The presence alone sent a suffocating pressure rolling through the jungle, setting off alarms in every user and NPC with any kind of detection skill.
This thing was dangerous.
Then, a familiar game message appeared before all users.
[A Hidden Raid Boss (Unique) has appeared in the Survival Field: 『Wraith Knight of Darkness, Reiak』.]
[A Hidden Raid Boss (Unique), 『Wraith Knight of Darkness, Reiak』, possesses overwhelming power.]
[Survive by avoiding the Hidden Raid Boss (Unique), 『Wraith Knight of Darkness, Reiak』.]
Panic erupted.
A Hidden Raid Boss was shocking enough.
But a Unique-grade?
That was a whole different story. Most users would panic and flee—and even NPCs weren’t immune to its sheer pressure.
This wasn’t just a warning bell. It was a primal, suffocating fear of death. The surviving teams all quickly came to the same conclusion:
This thing was not to be messed with.
Of course, there were exceptions.
The Forbiddenz were one.
“A boss? Should we release the seal?”
“If we do, I think we could take it. But... without Keron, it’ll be a bit tricky.”
Always aggressive, the Forbiddenz immediately brought the idea to Jaya.
Jaya hesitated.
They could take it down.
But defeating it would only yield raid rewards—there was no strategic advantage beyond that.
And if they unsealed their cursed power, they’d be stuck in a permanent Karma state. If someone attacked them during or after the fight, it would be a huge loss.
“...We wait.”
Perhaps because Keron was gone, Jaya decided they were slightly understrength.
And so, she issued a hold order.
The others clicked their tongues in disappointment.
“Damn. Why’d Keron have to die...”
“Well, he didn’t get to unseal his cursed power. Not much he could’ve done.”
They were disappointed, but Jaya’s orders were absolute.
No one dared to defy them.
The Featherwing Knights reached the same conclusion.
Gam calculated quickly.
There was no real reason to fight it in the first place.
But—
“We’ll patrol the perimeter for ambushers.”
After the survival round, the tournament would begin.
If they could take out the dark horse team, the Mage Tower, or even the Forbiddenz beforehand—
It would bring them that much closer to their mission.
So the knights moved out with ambush in mind.
All for the Kingdom of Rieskan.
With grim resolve, the Featherwing Knights advanced.
The Serul Mage Tower mages also took a moment to deliberate.
They knew full well that this was their Tower Master’s domain—and that the undead boss was also summoned by the Tower Master.
If they wanted to, they could probably take it down.
But—
“Should we bother? Is there any reason?”
To the efficiency-driven mages, the undead held no particular appeal.
It felt more like a theatrical prop than anything else.
So they chose to ignore it.
Lastly, Seong’s team—the frontrunner Team 133—also hesitated.
They had no reason to take it down.
The mission wasn’t to kill that thing, but to survive.
There was no logical reason to engage.
More importantly—
‘There’ll be plenty lying in wait.’
If someone did try to kill it, there’d be no shortage of ambushes set up nearby.
It would be foolish to walk into that.
There wasn’t even much to gain from it.
So Seong was about to write it off.
Efficiency-wise, that was clearly the best choice.
But then—
He saw it.
A turquoise aura rising from the back of the Wraith Knight Reiak.
With his heightened control over undead, Seong could see it clearly.
If he killed that thing now, he wouldn’t just get its corpse—he could turn the knight itself into one of his undead soldiers.
It was like the thing was tempting him, offering itself up as a gift.
Just as that realization struck him—
He noticed something else.
Hovering in the air, Reiak the Wraith Knight loomed, declaring:
—I will take all life.
He looked threatening enough.
But only Seong could see something behind him.
A translucent entity, faintly glowing with turquoise light.
As their eyes met, the being murmured:
—Oho! Another Monarch, I see. This fellow was sent by the Death Monarch. Technically, I’m a ghost, so only someone like you can see me.
Seong blinked, confused.
‘The Death Monarch... is the Tower Master?’