Speed Is King

[Congratulations, You have levelled up to level 81!]

His levels continued to shoot up as Red cleaned up the Jagor Tawlon’s followers. However, he remained vastly too weak to take on so many beasts all at once. And that was assuming that the beasts chargint towards him at that moment were all around level one hundred to begin with.

He could probably deal with a level two hundred beast by throwing all his summons at it. But what if there were two, or even three such beasts? Worse, what if there was a level three hundred beast within the incoming crowd of behemoths?

Elliot didn’t dare to chance it. As hungry as he was to power up, he knew the wisest course of action for him at that moment was to strategically reposition himself.

He needed to escape!

SCREEEE!!!!

The nearest powerful beast around him was the giant Mutated Griffon and apparently, its flying speed was nothing to be scoffed at. If Elliot remained flying at his current speed, it would catch up to him within a few seconds!

“Charge!” He shouted and activated his skill. His White Dragon form surged ahead with even higher speed and tore through the skies at almost an incredible 200kph.

“Try and catch me now!” Elliot sneered lightly in his mind.

At that speed, nothing could catch him.

Or so he thought.

“Master! I’m done cleaning up the fighters.” Red reported as his spiky red ball appeared from behind him and kept pace with him easily.

“Good. Keep a close watch on our surroundings. Make sure you take out all the beasts who manage to get close to us.” Elliot ordered.

“Don’t worry. Just leave your safety to me! With me protecting you, you’re as safe as a little baby sleeping in a diamond vault surrounded by high tech automated defense sys-“

GRAGHHHH!!!!

A sharp roar sounded from directly below them!

BAM!!

A thick and long vine/tentacle of some sort slammed into Red’s ball and sent it flying away like a baseball.

BAMM!!

BAMM!!

BAMM!!

Several similar vines smashed onto Elliot’s body at extremely high speed, pierced through his powerful Dragon scales and drew blood!

“ARGH!!” Elliot shouted in pain as he was flung uncontrollably to his right.

“What the heck is that?” Elliot quickly righted his stance and searched for the beast which had launched such a sneaky and powerful attack.

But before he could find it, another fearsome roar sounded near him!

GROWOOOOOOO!!!

And then another!

OWAAAAOOOO!!! OWAAAOOOO!!!

“This is bad.” Elliot thought grimly. “The situation is completely out of control. Are all these beasts infested by the Dark Brainwyrms? That’s just crazy!”

However, an even crazier development suddenly occurred.

[Thirty Kings and two thousand seven hundred forty three Players detected within a Ten Kilometer Radius.]

[Initiating Battle of Kings – Battle Royale Game Mode. Area locked down.]

[The final ten survivors would receive fabulous prizes.]

[Kill or be killed.]

[Begin.]

The wordless psionic message appeared in Elliot’s mind and repeated itself three times.

“Haaa? What the F*** is Battle of Kings? Are they all over level THREE HUNDRED? And BATTLE ROYALE? DAMN IT!” Elliot cursed vehemently at the Game Masters. “This is just the second freaking day!! Ease up abit will you?”

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“I still think it is much too early for a Battle Royale.” Game Master Gerald Justice sighed. “Fairness to Elliot aside, it’s only the second day, the population of Earth is still too high, and our beasts have not levelled up yet. Committing thirty Kings now would weaken the beast horde in California by too much.”

“Irrelevant. Bets on Elliot are spiking unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. Starting a Battle Royale now will generate a betting frenzy atop the current frenzy, and we’ll smash all the daily betting records completely!” Game Master Seraphin Burns replied firmly.

“What if they kill Elliot? There’s a real chance of that happening you know. Elliot is still level 60 something, while the thirty Kings are all over level 300. You’ll be killing our golden goose!” Game Master Gerald Justice argued. “Plus, we’re actually placing Elliot in a worse situation than the one the previous Game Master placed him in!”

“Nonsense. The previous Game Master broke the rules and directed those beasts to specifically hunt Elliot. We are NOT doing that! We’re initiating a very legitimate event, and the beasts within will not target Elliot specifically.

And I’ve seen his skill set and his stats. With his high intellect, he should be smart enough to hide and then sneak in a kill or two. He would definitely clean house the Kings and come out even stronger! This golden goose will grow fat and produce more golden eggs for us! Haha!” Game Master Seraphin Burns laughed happily.

“That’s a very big SHOULD BE. What if he’s not that smart? And also, I find it extremely suspicious that thirty Kings have somehow gathered in such a place. There’s something fishy going on. I will launch an investigation immediately.” Game Master Gerald Justice said. The frown on his face was deepening.

The second iteration of The Game of Earth had many aspects which were extremely out of the ordinary, and they created a hurricane of unease in his heart.

“Yes yes, you go and investigate that. Let me deal with the Game for now. I will make sure our names go up on the Honor Roll as the most successful Game Masters of all time.” Game Master Seraphin Burns nodded and shooed him away.

For Game Master Seraphin Burns, the only thing that mattered was profit. If thirty Kings decided that they would hang out at the same place where a high profile player was for some weird reason, then her job was to take them all and smash them together in a thrilling and lucrative event.

And what more thrilling event was there if not Battle Royale?

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

OWAAAOOOOOOOOO!!!

All the powerful beasts that were initially charging towards Elliot suddenly stopped and began attacking each other in a frenzy.

Infested by Shadow Parasites or not, there are thirty Kings and only ten final survivors were allowed. At least twenty Kings must fall in battle.

And none of the Shadow Parasites wanted to be part of that twenty.

“Huh? They’re fighting among themselves!” Elliot’s eyes gleamed in excitement as the opportunities to kill steals and rapidly increase his strength presented themselves to him.