“You lost”
Those words sounded very foreign to Sam.
He couldn’t help but chuckle wryly.
“How long do we have for the deadline?”
He asked.
“A few hours. Why? I told you, you already lost. We kind of got a collective win. The only people who didn’t get anything are you and Dayus.”
“All of you worked together? That’s surprising. I thought you will be fighting between yourselves.”
“You wouldn’t like that, wouldn’t you? But too bad that didn’t happen. We came to an understanding. But we should really thank you. This whole thing became easier because of you only.”
“Are you trying to piss me off?”
“I am telling you the truth. It is because of you, Dayus made some really stupid mistakes and that led this whole scenario to become so easy.”
“What happened?”
“The people that Dayus brought along are the core members of the Clan 6. And even the Divine Plane member of the clan, the clan head also participated.
The person that teamed up with Dayus directly and attacked you is actually Brig’s peer. They are rivals in a sense. He should have been fighting with Brig on the front lines.
The clan head fought Kach.
You managed to corner your opponent so much and even landed your gunshots at such close range. The soul of that guy seemed to have been connected with the leader of Clan 6. This made him go crazy and come at you to kill you.
Until then, both of them are holding back.
They didn’t really want to fight you. They were blackmailed by Dayus. So, they tried their best to hold back. In a way, that is the reason you managed to deal with that clan member.
Once the clan leader lost it, he stopped holding back and came at you.
Kach who was holding on his own was so shocked. But he still came to your rescue. He managed to take three hits from that guy before he showed any sign of weakness.
But that was enough. Right before he fainted, the clan leader of the Sura clan already reached this place. It seems like sensed the energy of this person. The clash came to a halt. But within all of this, Brig’s daughter was caught. Since neither you nor kach was not here, she became an easy target for us.
We managed to catch her easily and blackmailed Brig into giving up the technique.
This must have been your first loss, isn’t it?”
Arkiv said with a smile.
Sam didn’t speak. He looked at the sky peacefully. It has indeed been a long time since he lost. He almost forgot that losing was an option because of his constant wins.
He couldn’t help but smile a bit.
“Too bad. I liked Brig. Now he lost his only advantage against the others. He deserves that technique.”
“you don’t have to worry about that. Even though we blackmailed him, we only made him give out a part of the technique. We know that you promised him that you will save his technique from getting stolen.
If not for Dayus’s cunning plan, you would have succeeded too. You helped us a lot previously, so we decided to cut you some slack.”
“Really? So considerate. Thank you so much.”
“I don’t know if you are being sarcastic or not. But I will accept that thanks. Anyway, all of us will get the points and the badges. I don’t know if what we did is right, but this is going to help us in the future.
Sorry for your loss.”
“I didn’t lose some companions or friends. You don’t need to feel that sorry for me. This is just some stupid competition. I am sure I can cover that in the future though. It is just that the circumstances are not in my favor this time.
It is way too much of a handicap for me.”
“Seems like someone is looking for excuses. Didn’t expect that from you buddy?”
“They are not excuses if they are absolutely true. What happened to Dayus by the way?”
“Unfortunately he is alive. The Clan 6’s leader took him away.
The clan leader gave some really expensive elixir to save him from death’s door. We were really disappointed.”
“You guys really left him to die?”
“It is already regretful that we don’t get a chance to kill him ourselves. It would have been okay if he is dead at least. You should have finished off the job man, why would you leave it off in the middle?”
Arkiv appeared really regretful.
“What the hell is wrong with you? I am almost dead here and you are questioning my performance? I thought we were friends.”
Sam smiled and teased him.
As they were bickering and chuckling, the other players joined in. Except for Donner of course. He is still fearful of Sam. He didn’t dare mingle that closely with the rest of the players. But no matter what kind of collective plan they come up with, he is the easiest to convince.
It is almost like he is trying to make amends.
“Since the task is over, can we at least heal ourselves completely?”
“Not possible. We tried. And corruption is running rampant. Everyone is feeling battered. I don’t know how you are feeling, your corruption is the highest among us after all. Are you feeling okay?”
“I don’t know. My bones are hurting, my muscles are sore and my spiritual sense is completely fucked up. Let’s just hope that I am okay.
I never knew that I would be looking forward to going to hell like this. Can you carry me to a room or something? I would like to get some proper sleep before I leave. My head is hurting too much.”
“The great Sam is finally feeling vulnerable. This is a day to remember. Your friends must have been here to witness this.”
“Yeah, and you think you would have been able to win if they were here. Just get me out of here.”
Sam was taken to the clan grounds. Everyone is extremely busy with the war, so there is not much Sam can do at the moment. He cannot even talk to anyone.
And he is not even looking forward to interacting with anyone. He just went into a deep sleep after he hit the bed.
Time passed. Sam is ignorant of all the chaos that occurred outside. The chaos that he was indirectly and partially responsible for.
After a few hours, Sam felt like his whole body is burning. He woke up in a hurry and looked around. He is back in hell. He couldn’t help but sigh.
He could have said goodbye to the people there. Kach, Brig, and the rest of the players. As he was thinking about it, he was suddenly greeted by an announcement.
“You lost the first round. No points, no badges. You are at the last of the current player list. The restrictions are lifted. You can heal yourself and deal with your corruption.”
The voice belonged to Hel. Sam sighed as he took out his wine and started drinking. He has been waiting for this moment for a long time. As he chugged the wine, he felt his body revitalizing. His cells felt like they came to life. The corruption that has been running rampant slowly went down.
He finally managed to get a hold of it as he slowly started suppressing it.
While he was about to start feeling a sense of relief, he also sensed something else. Something powerful is approaching from a different side which made him vigilant.
When he turned to take a look, he saw all the creatures on the second floor of the tower, the place he is currently at all running toward him.
There are humanoid creatures, and beasts and the animals that turned into weird creatures of hell are all charging at him.
Sam cursed under his breath. But he didn’t dwell on it for the moment. He just wanted to escape that place while recovering. He is sure that after he gets his full power, he will be able to tackle anything.
And with the frustration he built up in the past few days, he would be a whole different beast when fighting these creatures.
He just focused on dodging and healing.
Meanwhile, far away across the realms. Hel had a visitor.
Zeus stood in front of her as he looked at the surroundings of her mansion.
“What are you doing here?”
She asked directly.
“I came here to make another deal.”
“I am not making them anymore.”
“My candidate didn’t get the benefits he was promised. I need to make the deal.”
“All I promised is to provide a scenario for your candidate to get a better score. It is not my fault that you picked an idiot who doesn’t even know how to take advantage of the situation. So, don’t ask me about the deal.
You deal with it yourself.”
