Chapter 15. Crown Game 3, overpowered and outsmarted

"Sure, go ahead," Khun said as he leisurely sat down on the throne next to Bam. After seeing Isaac overpowered the crocodile and block Anak, he had full confidence in him dealing with a single team of weak Regulars.

Isaac faintly smiled back and slowly walked out. He already left the Black March in Bam's hands. At this time he only wielded Clarent.

As he came closer to the group of Regulars, a one-eyed and one-winged swordsman, Deod, pulled out a very long two-handed saber from its sheath.

Deod said, "I can see that you're a swordsman like me. Blonde-haired boy… Did you know that as you go up the Tower, the Shinsoo gets thicker?"

"..."

Deod raised his sword in a high guard and continued, "Meaning there are no swordsmen who use big swords with large surface areas up there. In other words, this might be the last time the both of us use swords to fight."

[What? What crap is that guy spouting?]

Isaac ignored Mordred's comments and expressionlessly looked at the group of Regulars as the one-eyed Regular continued his monologue, "It's sad, but isn't it amazing? I don't really want to ruin this last chance to duel with you, but I'm sorry. I don't think I can play fair with you. What we need is…"

""The crown!""

After speaking out in unison, the two blade-wielding Regulars rushed out at Isaac together.

Isaac slightly narrowed his eyes as he looked at the two with an apathetic expression. He knew that these three were not a threat at all. His only thought was how he could end it without injuring them too badly if he could help it.

The taller swordsman leaped out with the help of his wings and the shorter Regular rushed straight at Isaac.

"Block him, Cloaker!"

"Ok! Deod, you attack!"

The shorter one rushed at Isaac first, but this kind of slow speed only made that attack appear pathetic in Isaac's eyes. It couldn't even be compared to a toddler slowly crawling toward him to attack.

Isaac considered what he should do.

The knife of the Regular called Clocker was short; if he attacked it, he would break it and the follow through would likely cut that man in half.

That's why, as the Regular rushed at him, Isaac simply raised his foot.

Bam!

Before Cloaker realized what happened, the sole of an armored foot hit his chest.

"Guh!" Cloaker let out a gasp as air was forcefully pushed out of his lungs and was sent flying back like a rag doll in one strike, his ribcage probably broken.

Following that, the one-eyed swordsman continued with a downward slash using a long two-handed saber as he descended.

Isaac slashed up with Clarent to deflect that attack.

The long saber broke on impact with and the front half of the blade began to spiral in the air as it broke off.

In that one attack, Isaac only used physical strength, but he didn't hold back one bit.

The one-eyed Regular, Deod, landed on the ground, his arms still slightly shaking from the aftereffect of their weapons colliding. Looking at Isaac, he said, "Wow… You're strong."

In the back, the four-eyed giant man muttered, "What a team… Just this guy is so strong. Even if we all worked together… There'd still be no chance of winning."

Deod glanced to the side at his teammate Cloacker who was clutching his chest and coughing up blood, then looked back at Isaac. He solemnly said, "You easily injured my teammate and broke my sword… It looks like it's our loss here."

"Mm. I hope you guys admit defeat and get off the stage," Isaac said.

The three Regulars were silent.

Isaac added, "I hope you realized that I can easily kill you… Cherish your lives."

Hearing this, the one-eyed man's body straightened as he looked at Isaac's emotionless face.

"Yes. Thank you for going easy on us." Deod solemnly bowed his head.

After that, the four-eyed bald man followed suit, also bowing.

Isaac faintly nodded back. Seeing the Regulars pick themselves up and begin leaving, Isaac turned around and started walking back to the throne.

From the start, his goal was to just defeat these three and make them realize they can't win. As a Magus he didn't hesitate to kill 'ordinary people', but he wasn't a reckless killer; he didn't kill for no reason.

In addition, Mordred herself despised killing civilians and the innocent for petty reasons; so there was also her influence there.

[You were quite cool, Master. I didn't know this side of you, hehe.]

'It's easy to act cool when you're strong,' Isaac replied.

[Ah. I guess you're right… By the way, Master, the strength of people here really varies! Most are nobodies like these guys, but that lizard girl is on another level. That White-Hair guy on your team also has amazing speed, like a weak Servant.]

'Yes, there's a large variance…'

As Isaac was walking back, the various Regulars discussed the short confrontation.

In her room, Endorsi smirked. 'Heh, interesting. He's not bad. He looks to be a direct descendant. I wonder what his relation to Yuri Jahad is. It's too bad he's going to go up. He seems like a nice guy...'

In another room, Shibisu thought, 'Isaac is very strong. A typical team of Regulars is not his match. I'm not surprised now that he was confident earlier. He might not be any weaker than Anak. It wasn't just a bluff.'

Elsewhere, Laure squinted his eyes. "As I thought, that guy is trouble."

Next to him, Serena complained, "Damn it! That guy is just like that lizard! Why are there so many monstrous guys with us?!"

As Isaac reached the throne in the arena, Khun waved and called out toward him with a small smile, "Isaac. These guys weren't much of a challenge, were they?"

"Yes. They were all weak…"

"Sir Isaac is very strong." Bam softly smiled.

Khun smirked, then when Isaac came closer , he curiously asked, "By the way, if you fought that green-skinned girl. Do you think you'd lose?

He knew that Isaac was strong, but he couldn't tell just how strong. That's why he asked.

"Anak?..." Isaac looked at him. "Nah, I'd win."

…

{Three!}

{Four!}

{Five!}

{The third round starts now!}

After a countdown of five, the third round began.

Isaac looked around.

But not a single gate was raised!

"No one came out, huh…" Isaac muttered.

[Master, they all chickened out! Haha!]

Lero Ro announced. {Cough. Because there are no participants in this round, the third round's winner is the team of Bam, Khun and Isaac!}

"What? No one came out?" Bam commented on the throne, surprised.

Isaac looked at Khun. He saw that Khun looked perfectly composed as if he already expected this.

Khun faintly smiled back at Isaac. The remaining teams were all scared after seeing Isaac wipe the floor with the other Regulars by himself, just as he expected.

Khun thought, 'With this, the third round is over. Now there are only two more rounds left. More and more teams will come out, and the fighting will only get more intense. But it doesn't mean it will get harder on us.'

In one of the rooms, Laure got up and said, "Let's go out on the next round."

Serena replied, "What? You just saw how strong that guy in armor is! I don't think we should risk it unless it's the last round!"

"No...The fourth round is our best chance. In this game, the team sitting on the throne is at a disadvantage. But that's only true until the third round," Laure explained.

In the arena, Khun thought, 'As the game progresses, the number of participating teams increases. No matter how much they want to beat the team sitting on the throne…'

Laure continued, "... Other teams will interfere to stop them because in the worst case… it's possible that another team will steal the crown from under their nose and instantly end the game."

Khun thought, 'Rather than stopping other teams while fighting for the crown, at that time it's easier to just sit on the throne.'

Laure said, "That's why we'll come out on this round."

Khun thought, 'That's why I'll take out my trump card during this round.'

…

{I will not start the countdown for the Fourth Round!}

{One!...}

During Lero Ro's countdown, Khun turned to Isaac and called out, "Isaac, stay near the throne and save your strength for the last round."

"Hm? Sure." Isaac faintly nodded. There was a high chance that Laure would come out during this round, so that's why he also wanted to stay near the throne.

Standing near the throne at the otherside, sword in hand, Isaac expressionlessly looked out in the direction of the Regulars' rooms.

Khun looked at him, somewhat surprised. 'He's strangely composed.'

From the beginning, Khun felt as if Isaac was able to see straight through him and his actions, noticing things like the difficulty he had in pulling his bag through the Shinsoo veil or the change in how he handled the bag when he returned from the toilet after letting out the other team, or noticed how he had changed his hairstyle to send out a signal in the arena.

'Did he notice what I did? Is he so observant? He's really exceptional…'

Looking at Isaac made Khun feel as if everything was in his control and they would never lose, no matter the circumstances.

{Five!}

{The countdown has ended. The Fourth Round of the Crown Game begins now!}

Khun was forced to brush away his thoughts as the countdown ended. He looked around the arena.

At another side of the throne, Isaac also scanned the entire arena with his gaze. In an instant, he noticed that four gates opened up.

Khun thought, 'Four teams, which means it's the maximum number of participants. It's more than I thought.'

Isaac thought similarly, then looked around and settled his eyes on a team that he hadn't seen during the previous tests and that had only appeared during the break time. 'These guys should be Khun's secret allies.'

Khun noticed Isaac zone in on his secret allies and was surprised. 'He noticed?'

At the edges of the arena, the Regulars slowly converged.

One of them called out, "Hey! Let's not fight each other yet! Let's first take out the guys with the crown! Then we can fight afterwards! How's that?"

"I agree! We need to work together to beat them!" Serena shouted back.

"That's fine with me!" Leon 3 replied.

It was at that moment when one of the Regulars, a large bird like monster, shot out a tentacle out of its math and swiped across the face of the man that first called out for a truce.

As the man was knocked back, several tentacles grabbed around a skinny black-skinned swordsman, restraining him.

A man with a mohawk rushed in and knocked out the black-skinned swordsman.

In the meantime, a little black-haired girl approached a fat mace-wielding man and muttered a chant to make him collapse.

Watching this, Khun thought, 'Good. But there are more teams here than I thought. I have to help out.'

"Isaac, protect Bam!"

Leaving these words behind, Khun rushed out with a knife and his suitcase.

Isaac silently acknowledged the request didn't move from the spot as he focused on blocking any attacks that might fly at Bam.

He watched as the team of Khun and three of his allies fought against the remaining five Regulars.

It was a four against five, but Khun's side had a clear advantage in strength. One by one, the enemy Regulars were quickly being eliminated.

Among the enemies, Isaac noticed a burly and muscular young man with small wings among the enemy Regulars.

He noted him to be someone quite strong and someone that seemed to tag along with the main cast for a while. However, that man was completely overwhelmed by Khun's speed.

At the same time, one of the Regulars remained sleeping on the ground while wrapped in a blanket, not participating in the fighting at all.

After slashing the red-haired Regular's leg tendon from behind, making him fall to one knee, Khun glanced toward the sleeping man and slightly frowned. 'This guy was just sleeping there from the start of the game. He's one of those that easily passed through the Shinsoo barrier. He bothers me the most.'

Khun then looked toward the throne, where Isaac was, and felt relieved. He smirked. 'Even if he's planning something, it's going to fail.'

"Damn it, Laure!!! Do something!" Serena shouted as she began running away while slashing at the giant bird's tentacles following her.

At her side, Ho also began running away from a guy with a mohawk after the other Regulars were already mostly eliminated. He shouted out in a panic, "Mr. Laure!"

Sigh.

Laure let out a helpless sigh as he opened his eyes and slightly got up from the ground. Looking over, he clearly saw that the strong Regular in armor remained near the throne and didn't move, just as he already felt was the case by reading Shinsoo during his nap.

He frowned.

Before this round he told his teammates: "There are bound to be other teams that come out during this round. Work with them, use whatever methods you can, and drag away the armored guy and the white hair from the throne. I'll take care of the rest."

When that happens, he would blow away the kid from the throne with a Shinsoo attack.

But their plan failed. The armored Regular never left the throne.

Laure thought, 'I didn't think they'd actually have secret allies and make use of them during this round. They are very good. Four teams came out, but it was useless. We lost.'