Felix zoomed on the players exposed at the edges of the grass field. He couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows in surprise after realizing that only one player was missing.
‘Were all shadowborns taken out besides one?’
Felix was truly surprised by this notion. He knew that only twelve players survived this far.
Right now, all of them were in his line of view besides one.
Even the Sleeper, who was chilling a couple of kilometers underneath him.
Unbeknownst to him, the shadowborns had ended up eliminating each other within the shadow realm.
The last one surviving was Phantom Eye…At this moment, he was hiding in the shadow realm while peeking from time to time.
Since the lake and the grass field were open and leveled surfaces, there weren’t many shadows to assist him.
‘Should I make a move on him and eliminate him early?’ Phantom Eye thought while narrowing his eye at Felix.
He was currently underneath a boulder shadow that was at the lake’s shore.
He knew that he could attempt another assassination at Felix by emerging from his shadow.
‘No, something feels not right about him.’ Phantom Eye rationalized, ‘He looks too carefree even though he was being surrounded by everyone from every direction.’
Phantom Eye had made sure to study Felix thoroughly before the game started…In other words, he had watched all of his games and saw what he was capable of.
A player like him would never let down his guard like this if he didn’t have something to rely on.
‘Maybe, he intends to enter the void realm and hide there until Queen forces him out?’ Phantom Eye guessed.
Phantom Eye knew that Felix could easily avoid the incoming chaotic fight by simply hiding in the void realm.
No one could reach him, and he had enough eliminations to not worry about getting executed.
In fact, this was Phantom Eye’s plan…He had already reached nine eliminations just like Felix and could remain hidden in his shadow realm.
However, he understood that when the fights stop for a long while, all the passive players would be forced out of their dimensions by Queen Ai.
This meant that the strategy to hide in other dimensions was good to save up energy until the numbers get reduced to the limit, but not a viable plan to win the game.
‘Whatever, he is not my biggest problem now.’ Phantom Eye stopped bothering about Felix and peeked at Exodial.
Whether he liked to admit it or not, he understood that his chances to win the game were abysmal due to Exodial.
Exodial could simply wait until the map shrink to a small zone around the lake and then nuke it.
If Phantom Eye get forced out of his shadow realm by the Queen due to his passiveness, he would be left with no choice but giving up to avoid turning into ash.
He couldn’t even attempt to assassinate him when his shadow was cast far from him.
‘Shit, ending up against a dragon in a battle format is really unfair.’ Phantom Eye could only vent his frustration at the dragons’ disgusting strength.
Meanwhile, the rest of the surviving players were all thinking the same as they eyed Exodial.
Before the game started, they all knew that if Exodial reached the last phase, the game could be considered as over for them.
No one would dare remain in such a confined space while knowing that a nuke launcher was flying above them.
They wished that someone might create a miracle and take care of him somehow before the third phase.
Alas…They had to accept their reality.
“It looks like most of the players are getting cold feet from continuing this game.” Cherufe chuckled, “Excuse my champion’s overwhelming deterrence.”
“I guess it’s your win brother Cherufe.” Wendigo laughed, “You deserve to be congratulated early.”
“Didn’t your champions get owned in the game, why are you still here?” Thor scoffed in annoyance at Wendigo and the other two.
“Mind your damn business.” Saurous eyed him coldly.
He was still livid that his heavy investment in Sunny went to waste.
What’s worse, his reputation with the rest of the primogenitors dropped a few points after he went overboard with gearing her up.
‘Don’t interact with him anymore.’ Manananggal spoke telepathically, ‘Just ignore him and wait until his champion get taught a lesson.’
In their eyes, the game could go two ways.
Either Exodial nuke the entire lake and exterminate anyone on it…Or Felix would get turned into ash the instant he gets close to Exodial.
Just like Sunny, Exodial also had a flame domain…Being inside it was the same as being within a five thousand degrees furnace.
All the players knew of its existence…Even Felix.
In fact, it was easily noticeable if one paid attention to Exodial’s location…The heat was strong enough the air appeared wavy from a distance.
This assured Manananggal and the other two that Felix would not be able to blink near Exodial and hit him with his void beam or other void abilities.
If he launched them from outside his flame domain, Exodial would easily avoid them since his domain was even bigger than Sunny’s.
If he decided to stay passive? He would be forced out of his void realm by Queen Ai and then get roasted with the others.
That’s the only reason they were still hanging around after being slapped in the face twice by Felix.
They dearly wanted to see him get eliminated even if it meant relaying on Cherufe’s champions.
They were that desperate for a win…
…
While the viewers were waiting patiently for some action to begin, the other eight players were still indecisive whether it was worth it to continue struggling for such an unwinnable game.
As long as Exodial was flying above their heads, it didn’t matter if they have gotten enough elimination to survive the next rounds.
The outcome would still be the same…Exodial nuking the lake at the final round.
They couldn’t even ally against him since they had mere few minutes before the execution round starts.
All of them required an elimination to avoid it.
They weren’t that cocky to believe that they could take down Exodial in a couple of minutes.
In fact, they weren’t even confident that they could take him down at all.
“F*ck this, dragons should be placed straight in radiant rank…This is just pure bullying.” A pandion cursed with a vexed expression while disintegrating into light particles.
He decided to be smart and get out while he still could.
Just like a chain reaction, the rest of the players began dropping out one by one.
They knew that the only one capable of going against Exodial was the Sleeper due to his indestructible shell.
Alas, by the time he decides to fight Exodial, they would be already dead.
“Unfortunately, it had to be like this.” Sage Marshal sighed in disappointment after seeing that only five players remained.
He expected a couple of exciting fights to weed out crowd…Sadly for him, the players were rational enough to recognize when to give up and when to push.
“The remaining players are Exodial, the Sleeper, Landlord, Phantom Eye, and lastly, Ant Colony Official N118.” Sage Marshal pinpointed the camera at the Ant official as he wondered, “Shouldn’t he be the first to surrender?”
It was known knowledge that the Hive Race were rational beings, who never left their emotions cloud their judgement.
Hence, it was expected that he should be the first to give up when the odds to win this game were stacked against him heavily.
His decision to remain had surprised even Felix and the other three monsters.
Unbeknownst to them, the Ant Official already had a plan in his mind that could grant him a win if all the pieces fell through.
‘Kill Landlord, secure qualification, ally with the Sleeper and hidden the shadowborn…Disable Exodial with a consciousness occupation ability, make the Sleeper throw him into the blue hue to be erased…Break the alliance, kill the shadowborn and fly away from the sleeper until the blue hue kills him.’
Ant Official thought monotonously as he flew towards Felix with an expressionless look.
His strategy was on the border of insanity, but it wasn’t impossible!
Sure, the odds were against him, but he had nothing to lose. If he failed, he could simply surrender and avoid getting killed.
As for being able to mentally disable Exodial? It was doable.
Dragons enjoyed high mental defenses but against a diamond ranked player of the Hive Race?
He would still get affected by them for a split second…Though, that wasn’t enough time for the Sleeper to throw Exodial into the blue hue.
So, the Ant Official must have brought with him a potion or a scroll that would enhance his mental attack to a terrifying level that could impact Exodial for a few seconds!
‘Are you being for real?’
