Conquering The Novel

Beep!

The sound marked the end of the intense Match 3, leaving the audience divided between cheers and shock. The face-off between Iron Fortress Academy and Soreh Academy was immediate and fierce, resulting in Soreh Academy's victory and the early elimination of Iron Fortress Academy.

Next, Cherry Blossom Academy and Royal Knight Academy fought with all their might on equal terms, until Cherry Blossom Academy was ambushed by a pincer attack from Martial Star Academy, resulting in their instant elimination. Meanwhile, Royal Knight Academy put up a struggle against the sudden attack from Glacier Peak Academy but eventually fell due to exhaustion from their previous fight.

Later, Shadow Academy and Blitzreig Academy teamed up against Soreh Academy, joined by Martial Star and Glacier Peak Academy. They finally managed to take down the academy that was sitting on top of the points table.

The entire match was a thrilling roller coaster ride, leaving the audience on the edge of their seats wondering if the Soreh Academy team would be able to hold their ground against the teamed-up opponents. Unfortunately, they fell, but the audience was excited to see how they would respond in the upcoming matches, eagerly anticipating their rivalry with the other teams.

Meanwhile, in the VIP box, the guests had their own opinions on the match.

"Looks like the points table is going to shuffle drastically after this match," Joseph commented.

"Why aren't you talking about the savage attack by that Hercules, Joseph? Weren't you complaining about the way Ares defeated that shield bearer?" Sarah asked, giving Joseph a blank stare.

"What? This much is acceptable. Ares started it, and now his team has paid for it," Joseph scoffed.

Sarah could tell from Joseph's biased opinion that he didn't like Ares, likely due to Jessica's involvement.

In any case, if Ares and Hercules were to face off in the tournament, which seemed inevitable, and Ares managed to defeat the previously unbeatable Hercules, Jessica had promised to apologize to Ares for badmouthing him.

Joseph likely didn't want to see his friend, or potential love interest, apologize to Ares in front of the whole world.

Sarah was lost in thought about Joseph's possible motives when Elaine's voice interrupted her.

"Who cares about that? I just want to watch them fight each other already. By eliminating Ziona in a similar brutal way as Ares, Hercules clearly declared war against him. And I can say for sure that no matter who wins between them, the result will be unsightly and bloodied for the audience to see," Elaine spoke with a grin on her face.

Sarah was about to reply when she remembered Elaine's mission to find Marz. "Didn't you go to look out for that Marz guy? Why did you come back?" she asked Elaine.

Elaine's grin grew wider as she responded, "That Marz is already pulling a disappearing act right in front of your noses, but you're all blind to it!" she said with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

!?

Everyone in the VIP box turned towards Elaine, their eyes widened in surprise. Marshal, the eldest son of the adventurer association president, was about to question Elaine when her reaction stopped him in his tracks.

Pftt, Ahahahahahaha~

"He really is an interesting one," Elaine laughed wickedly, her laughter echoing in the VIP box.

The rest of them stared at her in surprise, curious about what she knew about the demon lord killer, Marz.

"...."

***

Swish—

The match had ended and everyone was instantly teleported back to the real world.

With a flicker, the VR simulation ended, and Lucas began to remove his gear, only to find his teammates staring at him.

pαпdα-ňᴏνê|·сóМ "Lucas, what the hell was that?!" Erina exclaimed, her eyes blazing with anger.

But Lucas immediately turned to Ziona, who had lifeless eyes, as if she was disappointed in herself. "Ziona, I—" Lucas was about to apologize to her, but she cut him off.

"Don't ever talk to me ever again," Ziona said with a distorted expression before storming out of the VR room.

Erina and the rest of the team gave Lucas a pitying look before shaking their heads and following behind Ziona.

"I'm ...such a loser!" Lucas muttered to himself, his head hung low.

'What if the same situation happened in the real world? Would I still hesitate to kill my enemies? What if Ayla was in that position—'

He didn't even want to think of that possibility, and just thinking about it made him shudder.

"...I have to get stronger," Lucas muttered as he exited the VR room and was met with students from all the remaining academies waiting to see the points table. He was the last one to arrive.

Clap—Clap—Clap

As soon as Lucas arrived, Professor Maya began to sarcastically clap her hands.

"Wow, the people like you still exist huh? I guess it's expected from Tania Elizabeth's disciple. She might be proud of your performance today," Maya taunted.

"Well, even if you had fought with all your might to eliminate them, I don't think it would have made any difference. This outcome was bound to happen," she continued, her taunts becoming more direct.

The Martial Star Academy team couldn't help but grin when they heard her, but Maya's next words wiped the smiles off their faces.

"What are you all grinning about? Idiots!" she exclaimed, her expression turning sour.

!?

Confused, the team from Martial Star Academy wondered why the professor was suddenly disrespecting them.

'Huh? But we heard she is the type to respect winners. Why this attitude toward our team then?' they all pondered, confused.

"Although teaming up to take down your strongest competitor is cool and all, why was betrayal not part of your plan? I was expecting you guys to betray the rest of the academies and steal their Crowns in the end," Maya said, clicking her tongue in disappointment.

Tch—

"...."

The Martial Star Academy team was stunned into silence, unsure of how to respond to her.

It wasn't that they didn't want to betray the other teams and steal their crowns, but the risks were too high. If they did, then they would end up like Soreh Academy in the upcoming matches, and they couldn't afford that.

So, they kept their urges to themselves and didn't act funny, trying not to betray each other.

[MATCH 3: THE SIEGE CASTLE HAS NOW OFFICIALLY ENDED!]

[YOU CAN NOW CHECK THE POINTS TABLE!]

Suddenly, the announcement of the end of the match was made, and the points table for the match appeared on the screen in the VR room.

The students looked at the points table curiously, and there was a brief moment of silence as all the teams examined the results.

[MATCH 3: POINTS TABLE!]

#1 MARTIAL STAR ACADEMY — 36 POINTS × 1 Crown

#2 GLACIER PEAK ACADEMY — 30 POINTS × 1 Crown

#3 SHADOW ACADEMY — 26 POINTS × 1 Crown

#4 THE BLITZEIRG ACADEMY — 25 POINTS × 1 Crown

#5 SOREH ACADEMY — 21 POINTS

#6 CHERRY BLOSSOM ACADEMY — 5 POINTS

#7 THE ROYAL KNIGHT ACADEMY — 3 POINTS

#8 THE IRON FORTRESS ACADEMY — 1 POINT

◇

[MOST KILLS!]

#1 TEAM SOREH ACADEMY — 21 KILLS

#2 TEAM MARTIAL STAR ACADEMY — 11 KILLS

#3 TEAM CHERRY BLOSSOM ACADEMY — 5 KILLS

#4 TEAM GLACIER PEAK ACADEMY — 5 KILLS

#5 TEAM ROYAL KNIGHT ACADEMY — 3 KILLS

#6 TEAM SHADOW ACADEMY — 1 KILL

#7 TEAM BLITZEIRG ACADEMY — 1 KILL

#8 TEAM IRON FORTRESS ACADEMY — 1 KILL

◇

[STAR STUDENT OF THE MATCH: 3!]

★ ZIONA MADLOCK — 8 KILLS!

***