“There are over fifteen hundred contestants participating in the Twin City Cup! We are grateful for your warm reception, but having so many contestants means that we couldn’t present the tourney in the most exciting manner possible. Therefore, we are now commencing the first round: a preliminary stage where eighty percent of contestants would be taken out of the equation! Only the best of the best have a shot at the second round!”
After the citizens became calmer, Mayor Corinth then announced the objective of holding the first round.
The crowd immediately burst into chatter in surprise and the scene was noisy once more in no time at all, although the contestants themselves appeared mostly unaffected.
Even though eliminating eighty percent of contestants on the first round sounded serious, it basically meant cutting their number down from fifteen hundred to around three hundred, which wasn’t beyond what they expected.
In fact, aside from minor churches that came only as cameos, the major churches and the Players who actually came to win couldn’t wait to eliminate every small fry in one go, saving their strength so that they could perform better in the later stages.
What surprised them, however, was that there was no drawing lots or whatnot in the Twin City Cup, which in turn would have decided their slots in knockout round all the way until the next stage.
That doesn’t seem to be the format used right now.
Nonetheless, the noisy chatter soon quieted, and only then did Corinth reveal the rules.
“The first round will be held on maze island, with contestants placed randomly on various locations. See the marked card on your bangles? Each marked card is one point, and each bangle could be embedded with five bangles at most! To claim another contestant’s marked card, injury is allowed but deliberate murder is forbidden. Any rule violation would be punished immediately with disqualification, so don’t think about cheating!”
“We would pick contestants at random and broadcast them live in this square with magic mirrors. The first round of the Twin City Cup would be held for three days, and anyone who is still inside the maze or proved unable to gather five marked cards would be disqualified as well! Any questions?”
Corinth explained the rules and regulations sonorously to the crowd beneath his balcony, and pretended that he didn’t see several contestants who had put their hands up.
Don’t fool around! The rules are made by the God of Games himself-even if there really was something irregular, Corinth wouldn’t dare to adjust it on a whim.
“Since there’re no questions, now prepare
yourself!”
“Three… Two… One… Let the games begin!”
In the split second that Corinth declared that the tourney had begun, bright radiance extended out of the bangles of every contestant’s wrist.
The citizens of Lancaster and members of other churches wouldn’t know this, but the Lifestone in the Lancaster Hideout was also shining in blinding light, as if resonating with the bangles.
And as another instant passed, every contestant disappeared within the light.
Unable to understand what was happening right in front of their eyes, the onlookers erupted in an uproar.
Meanwhile, Corinth returned inside his residence after ensuring that the contestants had left, nodding at the mages whom he hired and were already on standby inside.
Hence, they conjured the magic mirrors they had been preparing over the last few days, projecting the scenes observed with their mage eyes onto the square.
***
Despite being called maze island, the venue of the first round was actually the Living Dead Cellar which had been reworked by Xi Wei himself.
In other words, it was a fragment of Rotten Bones’ divine kingdom, which had been removed from the list of available dungeons two days ago.
After all, Xi Wei wasn’t so powerful that he could simply whip out an island and let over a thousand people run around over it… the truth was that teleporting everyone to the Living Dead Cellar had already left him exhausted, and not because he lacked divine energy but because his output was subpar.
If a comparison would be made, it was like having one person carry over a thousand bottles of mineral water. One was easy, but together it was heavy-it wouldn’t cost you money (divine energy) to move all of them, but your entire being would feel fatigued.
Naturally, Xi Wei could create a path expressly for that function, which would in turn be a figurative trolley which spares much strength. However, given that it wasted money (divine energy) meaninglessly and there was no chance that there would be no repeat of such a grand occasion, Xi Wei abandoned that idea.
Still, the tourney helped Xi Wei clear away every single monster corps and any scrap that had been piling up in Xi Wei’s divine kingdom
-most were used by Xi Wei to build various traps in maze island, along with the special bangles that the contestants were wearing.
It was worth mentioning that maze island didn’t actually have an exit, although the contestants could still leave by using structures similar to the Lifestone, and anyone who uncovered it would be teleported directly back to the square in front of the mayor’s residence.
Of course, the contestant would be disqualified if he was unable to collect enough
Even so, from certain perspectives, finding the exit was the most critical trial of beating the maze island.
Since it had been a long time since Xi Wei had made a dungeon, he had excitedly molded the venue of the competition for a long time.
That was why the contestants—including the Players—were immediately stunned by the scene and atmosphere of maze island when they were teleported there.
The skies were dark and starless, and the walls surrounding the maze that enclosed the entire divine kingdom were black bricks filled with scarlet cracks of flowing magma. The crimson radiance from it was the only source of light across the whole maze, but for some reason, the bricks weren’t actually hot and felt no different from stones to the touch, and couldn’t be used as a heat source.
Moreover, the bricks were not unbreakable. Sufficient strength could break the wall, although a retaliating force would strike back when the wall was hit. Any bricks that cracked would erupt in an immense explosion as well, but it wouldn’t affect anything aside from the contestants…
And with the ground piled visibly with the corpses and bones of various creatures, the air of the venue was unbelievably oppressive.
Still, there were food and water sources in the maze, along with a handful of treasure chests that contained tools.
Unless they could quickly collect 5 cards and leave the maze island as soon as possible, the second most important trial for the Players was therefore to resupply within the venue while saving their strength and energy.
If anyone back on earth transmigrated here, they would probably think that they had arrived in the world of Dark Souls.
Therefore, to help match the atmosphere, Xi Wei had made the trip to the Prime Material Plane, visiting lairs of monsters in the wildlands, uprooting the nest in its entirety and dumping it inside the maze island.
As such, after two days of initial panic, the monsters picked by Xi Wei which were around Level 20 to 30 began exploring their new home, easily running into the contestants who were looking for an exit—hence making up for the third trial of maze island.
With Xi Wei adding some frequently-seen traps in exploration films, along with the rule to gather five marked cards while surviving the attack of the wild monsters, the seemingly simple maze island actually held five trials for the contestants!
Xi Wei, who was therefore satisfied and a little proud nestled within his now-clean and tidy divine kingdom, conjured some snacks and soda for himself, intent on enjoying the performance that the Players and other contestants would put up for him in the maze.
Still, he felt something weird even as he watched the contestants began to carefully explore around the maze.
He only realized what it was after half a day.
“Isn’t this just Reality TV?!”
*
*
*
Naturally, this was not Reality Television since it doesn’t usually involve people dying-aside from cases of sudden death.
On the other hand, the maze island was a place where true dangers lurked.
“Peace? Nonsense. I’ll be a fool if I believed that…” A young believer of Grimund, the God of Travel and Arts was cursing to himself as he sprawled out on the ground, wheezing-he had just barely managed to kill a two-headed
gray dhole.
Being the God of Travel, Grimund didn’t actually have an established church, although his holy statues were often found in most outposts, allowing travelers to pray for safe journeys.
And though Grimund’s believers were not strong, almost all of them were experts when it came to survival in the wild.
Even so, this young believer’s companion who joined the competition with him had died to various accidents.
He stood up and turned towards the corpse of his companion who had his head bitten off. He ought to have been the one eaten, but his companion had pushed him out of harm’s way and got his head chewed off.
His last companion had been a brutish middle-aged man but was easygoing in everything he did. Still, it was in the last instant before the beast’s jaws bore down on him that the macho man showed a tender expression he never shown before, even answering the youth’s anguished question of ‘why would you save me.’
“Because I love you!”
After having a moment of silence and pressing the memory down to the depths of his heart, the young believer of Grimund bowed in farewell at the headless corpse.
“Rest in peace. Everyone’s efforts won’t be in vain, because I’m not stopping here.” He declared solemnly. “I will survive and leave this place, and expose the faked sincerity of Lancaster Mayor!”
With that, he turned to leave, his cape flapping loudly despite the lack of wind. With his staunch, weathered look, a hard man has been born from the flames!
That was when he stepped on a trap brick, and was shot by arrows from the two walls beside him until he looked like a dartboard.
Later, the young believer of the God of Travel found himself standing at the square in front of the mayor’s residence, staring dumbstruck at his companion who should have been dead.
“I-Is everyone alright?” He asked in astonishment.
“Not exactly. It seems that the people who are revived from the stage would miss a few parts of their body.” The iron-blooded macho man showed him the ear where a chunk was missing, after he had his head bitten off by a monster in the maze island.
The youth’s face went pale immediately, and distanced himself while holding his backside.
