Chapter 6 : The Crown Game - Part II

"So I am assuming you will be the one sitting on the throne, Lauroe?" 

"Yes. If either of you were to sit on the throne, our team's offensive power would take a major setback. But since I'm a long-range fighter, it wouldn't affect me."

"But I am not sure how helpful I would be tho. That lizard's last attack almost put me down." Ho said rubbing his right arm.

"I can fix that. Here, drink this." Jinwoo offered him a health potion.

"What's this?"

"I told you didn't I? I used to be a hunter. This is a potion that can help heal most injuries." He had already prepared a fitting excuse.

"Oh. In that case, thanks." Ho took the potion.

Jinwoo nodded and prepared himself for the next round. But in his mind, the incident that took place earlier kept replaying.

*Flashback*

As soon as the end of the round was announced, Anak jumped at one of the other team's rooms. On looking closer, Jinwoo realised it was the room of Bam, Khun and Rak. The three regulars he remembered meeting the previous day. 

Apparently, Bam had a special weapon with him and Anak wanted to take it from him. She also revealed her identity as a princess of Jahad, one of the many daughters of the king of the tower, Jahad. According to her, the weapon Bam had was something akin to the sole property of a princess and she wanted to retrieve it. 

Luckily the test administrator Lero Ro managed to contain the situation. But she managed to force Bam into a bet suggesting that if his team won the crown game, she would give him her 'Green April' and that if they lost, he would have to surrender his 'Black March'.

*End of Flashback*

'Princess? That explains the spoiled behaviour.' Jinwoo scoffed.

By this time, the next round had already started. As expected, four new teams of regulars entered the central room.

"Hey! How about a temporary truce?" One of the regulars shouted at another team.

"What do you mean?"

"How about we focus on taking out them first?" He pointed at Jinwoo and his team. "Individually none of the remaining teams have a chance at beating them. So I say we team up to-" 

*POW*

The guy was interrupted by a kick to the face from Jinwoo. He was sent flying and crashed on the wall. 

"Do you think people will wait for you to complete your conversation... In the middle of a fight?" 

"Aaaagh!" One of his teammates came running at Jinwoo and tried to punch him. But Jinwoo caught it and returned a punch to his gut, knocking the wind out of him. 

One regular tried to sneak attack him. But a blast of shinsu from Lauroe took him out of the competition. 

Looking back, Jinwoo saw that Ho was taking on one team that had gotten close to the throne. Suddenly his senses flared up.

*BANG*

He tilted his head right on time to avoid a bullet that barely missed him. But not giving him a chance to breathe, another regular blasted him with a wave of shinsu. Luckily, Jinwoo managed to block it, even though he took some damage. 

The culprit appeared to be a light brown-haired girl, who was wielding some kind of wand. 

'Looks like that girl can control shinsu using that wand, even though it's nowhere near Lauroe's level.' Jinwoo thought to himself. 'I guess it's time to get serious.'

Jinwoo equipped his dagger and activated his movement skill. 

[Skill activated: 'Sprint' ]

Within a second, he reached behind her and hit her head with the dagger's pommel, knocking her out. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw one regular aiming at him with a sniper rifle. The guy was close to the walls, keeping his distance from the chaos in the middle. 

'That must be the guy who shot me earlier.'

Gathering enough strength, he threw his dagger at the guy. The sniper was a bit too late to react as the dagger pierced his shoulder.

"Agh!!"

His dagger 'Night's Edge' had a special effect of ignoring the opponent's defence. It was due to this effect he was able to injure Anak in the round before, and it was due to this reason the dagger effortlessly pierced his opponent's shoulder.

Not giving him time to recover, Jinwoo rushed at him and knocked him out with an uppercut. He took back his knife from the sniper's body.

[You have levelled up. ]

'About time. I guess it makes sense that levelling up gets harder with time.' Jinwoo sighed.

By this time, his teammates had also finished dealing with the rest of the opponent. Once again, Lero Ro announced the results.

"The third round of the crown game is hereby completed. The winner is the defending team of Sung Jinwoo, Phonsekal Lauroe and Ho." 

**********

"So should we enter this round, Mr Khun?"

"In any other case, I would have said yes. But since it is those three, we will enter in the last round."

"But why?"

"Their team may not be as strong as that lizard's team overall, but they are compensating with synergy. Simply put, they are working well together. As a whole, theirs might just be the perfect team in this game."

"Hmph. That makes them all the while worth hunting. So why shouldn't we enter this round, blue turtle?"

"Don't worry gator. You'll get your chance in the last round. The best option we have is to wait for them to tire themselves out."

**********

"Oh? They are not that bad after all. Especially that black-haired guy. What was his name? Sung Jinwoo?"

"What do you think? Should we enter this round?"

"Nope. Let them savour that false taste of victory for now. We will crash the party in the last round."

"Grrrr."

____________________________________________

<Test Director's Office>

'Well, this was certainly an unexpected turn of events. To think that the fake princess of Zahard would be eliminated this soon, and the emergence of a dark horse in a bonus round…' Yu Hansung thought to himself while looking at the screen. 

'There are a lot of interesting ones in this batch of regulars. Particularly that one: The regular wielding the Black March. It looks like the time has come to make my move…' 

'But why do I have this feeling of anxiety about… that one?' He glanced once more at the figure of Jinwoo who was at the moment taking on multiple opponents in the final round. 

'I better keep a close watch on him…' 

____________________________________________

"The fourth round of the crown game is hereby completed. The winner is the defending team of Sung Jinwoo, Phonsekal Lauroe and Ho." The announcement rang once more.

"I'll be honest. I wasn't expecting us to last till the final round while we entered in the second." Ho commented.

"Well, I'd say this is where things will get difficult. Now that there are no more rounds, everyone will get desperate. Get ready." 

*****

"Looks like it's finally our turn. You ready, gator?" 

"Of course I am. It's time to hunt."

*****

"It's finally time to crash the party. Are you both ready?"

"Yes, Ms Endorsi." 

'It looks like Bam too will enter this round.' 

"Grrr."

*****

'So he's the supposed irregular? While he is strong, something feels...different about him. I guess I should take a closer look.'

*****

"The final round of this game will now begin. The teams that wish to enter should press the buzzer within the count of five." 

"One."  *BUZZ* *BUZZ*

"Two." 

"Three." *BUZZ*

"Four."

"Five." *BUZZ* 

The four teams who pressed the buzzer entered the room. 

'There are some familiar faces. What's more, some of them are strong. This might be tougher than the second round.'

One regular who was wearing a hood suddenly leapt into the air and slashed at Jinwoo with a needle. 

(A/N: When it says 'needle', it refers to the type of  weapon used in the tower with a thin-spiked blade.) 

Jinwoo managed to block the attack. But he felt the power behind it. 

'This person... She might be as strong as Anak. Wait, could it be?' 

"You are good." The figure smiled and removed her hood to reveal a girl with short brown hair, a little horn on one side of her head and yellow eyes. 

"My name is Endorsi. Would you mind sparring for a bit?" 

_________________________________________________

[Name: Sung Jinwoo

Level: 8

Class: None

Title: None

HP: 967

MP: 116

Fatigue: 11

<Stats>

Strength: 22

Vitality: 18

Agility: 17

Intelligence: 17

Sense: 17

Available Stat points : 0

<Active Skills>

-Sprint

-Dagger Throw

<Passive Skills>

-Tenacity ]

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