CHAPTER 688: NO CHAIRS

“Now… I Know! Let’s Make A Circle!”

Without warning, everyone was teleported far away, into a wide circular formation around Er’Gakk, they were suddenly tens of kilometers away from the Kleptra, except for Pareth who was left behind alone.

“Ohoh. Rare Immunity. Fine, You Stay Out Of This One!” the Kleptra announced, an insect leg pointed at Pareth.

[Eternal Lights - Times survived: 5]

Nice, I guess? Sofia looked at her two closest neighbors, which were people she’d never even seen before, they were spaced about fifty meters away from each other.

“Everyone Else, We Play Musical Stairs! It’s Very Simple! Run Around Me Like A Clock, And When The Music Stops, Jump One Step Up The Stairs!”

After he said that, ‘stairs’ appeared in between the contestants and the Kleptra, like a gigantic round pyramid of a staircase with Er’Gakk standing at the top. The concept of ‘Jumping’ one step up was very literal, as each step was a few meters talls.

A joyful music started playing very loudly out of nowhere, and Sofia instantly started to run. The event rules seemed simple enough, she had some questions but clearly there was no time to ask.

The beastman to her left was a bit slow to start running. Sofia noticed a strange magic enveloping the beastman as she ran past him. He exploded, blood and flesh splattering all over Sofia’s back.

Oh fuck.

That wasn’t in the rules!

Sofia could see quite far ahead as she ran, similar events happened everywhere, whenever someone ran past someone else, the slow runner spontaneously exploded like fleshy fireworks.

She throw a glance behind her, the dwarf man who was originally on her right had also exploded, a tall elf having ran past him, now being the one running behind Sofia. Before she could worry about whether the elf could run faster than her, the music suddenly stopped.

Sofia was ready, reflexively jumping up one step on the stairs, she was careful not to overshoot it and quickly landed on the first step, in position and ready to start running again. She suddenly found herself locked in place, unable to move even silghtly. Everyone was stuck, some still mid-air from their jump.

Unable to look around, Sofia looked through Pareth’s eyes, who was the only person still able to move aside from the Kleptra himself. Waiting at the top of the stairs, he was looking at Sofia, but sensing Sofia looking through him, he turned to show her where Kuli and Mornn were.

Atop the stairs, the Kleptra also slowly looked around.

“Were The Rules Not Simple Enough? Lower Races Really Are A Bit Dim.”

Thin antenna-like tentacles sprouted from the Kleptra’s back, shooting out in all drection and grabbing all the stragglers. Anyone still in the air, or generally not on the first step was grabbed and pulled toward Er’Gakk, and they could not event do anything to defend themselves.

The Kleptra’s mandibles opened wide, and the losing contestants were gobbled up like a light snack.

The magic keeping everyone still finally lifted, and some contestants immediately started running.

“You Only Run With The Music!”

The runners exploded, and the music started again.

Like everyone else, Sofia ran, Pestle perched on top of her head like a tiny hat. The elf behind her was slowly closing the gap, he had a warrior class which explained his speed, and Sofia was already calculating how she was going to deal with that. [Runeforged Overlord]’s second level was currently easy to maintain thanks to the bright sunlight, she could use thethird level if she needed but she hoped to converse her mana for later. The later parts of this event would be a lot more dangerous as the size of the circle shrinked.

This time the music lasted for quite a while. Sofia observed the happenings through Pareth’s eyes, and it was certainly a sight to behold. Unlike Sofia who, for the moment, was content with conserving her mana and stamina, some people, like Kuli and Tartaros, were already going at a full sprint, overtaking several contestants and leaving a trail of blood splatters behind.

Is that a good idea? It could help us penalize the other strong people if we can get rid of the weakest in their groups. But at the same time, we probably want to shoot for not just first place but the but for the highest amount of rounds survived if we want the most possible points. It’s probably better to let more people live to extend the duration of the event. They also serve as good fodder to learn the details of the rules.

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There were luckily no strong contestants too close behind Sofia, the nearest one being Sen who was about fifty people away in front of her.

The music stopped as Sofia was lost in her thoughts, but she still made the jump up with time to spare.

There were almost no eliminations this time.

A few more rounds went by, the elf behind Sofia inching closer every time, enough that she was having to start seriously burning into her stamina to go faster, but she was still reluctant to use her mana yet. Attacking the man was of course not an option, as most of her skills did not even function currently, and this was technically not and event were fighting was allowed.

As one round started to last longer than usual, everyone was on the edge, ready to jump, when the music changed instead.

Some people jumped and instantly exploded, while Pestle on Sofia’s head pulled her hair, yelling, “BACK!”

Sofia quickly understood the warning, the music was playing in reverse, so they were supposed to run in the other direction. The timing for this was rather generous, and most people actually survived the unexpected change, mimicking the first few people who had turned around. The true victims were people like the elf behind Sofia. The closer you were to overtaking someone, the closer they were on your tail when the direction changed.

With a quick burst of [Runeforged Overlord]’s third tier, Sofia ran past the elf.

“No!” he screamed in terror as he exploded.

Sofia smirked at finally getting rid of the annoying pest who had been forcing her to dig into her ressources. Then she used her control over bones to snap her own wings and quickly reattach them, forcefully bringing the skill back down to the second tier.

That’s what you get! She thought, switching back to Pareth’s view to monitor her own situation. Now the elf was no longer going to be an issue, but a new one was coming up from behind, Sen. He seemed to know exactly where Sofia was, as his previous almost leisurely pace when he had been running before had turned into an all-out sprint now.

That could be bad. Sofia thought as the music stopped again and she jumped a dozen meters up to the next step of the stairs.

Soon the music started again and everyone started running once more, but Sofia felt something strange happening above her. Looking through Pareth’s vision again, she saw the next step of the stairs warp, with what looked like insect claws and stinger sprouting out of the floor.

An obstacle course?

The music stopped, making this round the fastest so far, and everyone jumped up, with the music starting back up almost instantly. Now everyone had to run while avoiding the unpleasant fate of getting impaled on giant stingers. And Sofia could already see the next step getting worse, with tentacle like things ending with similar stringers swaying around.

At the same time, Sen kept getting closer, only a dozen people now separating him and Sofia.

You really want to do this?

Sofia kept her pace, letting Sen slowly draw close. Whenever they had to jump up a step, the obstacles become more numerous, slowling them down a bit, which helped Sofia maintain some distance.

When there were only five steps left, the music changed again, and Sofia quickly turned around. Only six people separated her from Sen, with [Runeforged Overlord]’s third tier she ran past one of them, before the music reversed again.

Now the music kept changing at random intervals, making all the contestant running back and forth. The number of people between Sofia and Sen dwindled from five to zero, and they were now playing a dangerous game. Trying to overtake someone now was taking a huge risk as the music could reverse anytime, so they constantly had to evaluate whether to get closer or to slow down and take some distance. Clearly, Sen was not entirely confident that he could get Sofia without putting himself in danger.

They went back and forth a few time without either of them taking the final plunge, and eventually, they ended up on the second to last step, a mere two meters apart from each other, Sofia right behind Sen.

The music reversed again, and Sen suddenly accelerated.

Sofia had been somewhat expecting this, like she had done one before, she used her ribs to puncture holes in the shape of Speed’s rune in her torso. Her speed picked up right as Sen got to her level, and they were now exactly matched.

Sofia prayed for the music to reverse again. But instead it stopped.

Everyone jumped up, Sofia and Sen colliding on the last step.

The kleptra said nothing, but the system window in the corner of Sofia’s vision updated itself.

[Eternal Lights - Times survived: 8]

Sofia let out a long sigh. “Ah.. You got me scared for a second there. Not making any concession even for a fellow human, huh?”

“Says you. You were just as aggressive as I was, and don’t think I didn’t notice all those puddles of blood appearing right under my feet. Almost got me impaled on the spikes several time.”

“That was the idea yes. But you’re a bit too good to fall for that, I give you that. Maybe let’s sign a temporary truce in honor of that duel?” Sofia asked extending a hand.

“Sure. The others are sure to take advantage of it if we make this a lasting feud. Let’s say we won’t target each other in this event unless we’re forced into it,” he suggested.

“Deal.”

They shook hands under the narrowed eyes of the other contestants, as the Kleptra was busy thinking of what to do next.