Chapter 168: Endless Beast Siege

You gotta be kidding me.

Hearing those words, Kaelen wasn’t surprised, though. He expected something like this to happen, sooner or later. Even if he had remained silent all through the introduction, once other candidates realized he was Kaelen Cross, inevitable troublemakers would come knocking.

So he chose to ignore the person and pretend like he hadn’t heard them.

And honestly, in cases like this, that was usually the worst idea.

"Hey, I’m talking to you, boy." The rough voice sounded irritated as the person approached. "Don’t pretend you can’t hear me; I know you can. Don’t tell me you’re scared now, because earlier you were talking pretty confidently like the rest of us are all trash." He said as he arrived behind Kaelen and dropped his heavy hand on Kaelen’s shoulder, squeezing firmly to assert dominance. "I don’t think you belong here, human trash." He sneered as the surrounding candidates watched with varying expressions.

Kaelen exhaled softly in exasperation when a blade suddenly flashed before the man’s face, along with a spray of crimson liquid and a severed arm that flew up.

"And I don’t think your hand belongs there." Lysandra said coldly as she shoved the tip of her blade into the man’s open mouth, about to let out a scream of agony as he grabbed the bleeding stump of his arm.

He lost his voice as the tip of the long sword reached the back of his throat, leaving the surrounding candidates shocked, including Kaelen, who hadn’t anticipated Lysandra’s actions.

He didn’t try to stop her, though, and simply watched in amusement and curiosity.

"There’s no rule against killing a fellow candidate, and for all we know, that might be the objective of this floor. A battle royale as a form of population control till the required number of candidates are met. So unless you have the strength to back up that filthy mouth of yours, don’t cause trouble thinking you’ll get away with it. Your background means nothing to me, because in the end, you’re all going to die here." Lysandra preached coldly to the man, whose pupils constricted to the size of a pinhole, before she retracted her sword and slammed the sole of her boot into his face, sending him toppling over in the dirt where his arm had fallen.

Kaelen was nothing short of impressed, but when she turned to face him, she flinched and quickly lowered her head.

"I-I’m sorry for acting on my own, mast—Kaelen. I just couldn’t stand by and let someone disrespect you like that."

Kaelen only smiled as he patted her head, surprising her. "It’s okay. I would’ve done the same. You just beat me to it." He said with a smirk. "Though cutting his arm might’ve been a little too extreme." He mumbled to himself.

That was a death sentence if the man had neither a regenerative potion on him nor a regeneration ability.

The surrounding candidates began whispering loudly, and he turned to see everyone creating distance between themselves and others as fear filled their eyes.

Lysandra’s words had clicked in their heads.

For a fact that Kelsey had just slaughtered a good number of candidates for talking back, there was reason to believe it wasn’t random and was part of the first challenge.

Population control.

That was the one thing Kaelen was certain Lysandra was right about, and the reason why the first floor was an open world for all candidates.

Be it a battle royale to the death or an endless beast wave from all sides till the required number of players were left standing.

For some reason, that floor reminded him of the Strongholds.

He was more inclined to believe the challenge here was not a battle royale, but an endless beast siege.

After observing the wilderness layout, he realized it was designed in a way where high sands at strategic points in the distance blocked the view of what was beyond, and unless a candidate were to move towards those areas might they be able to see beyond their positions.

A few candidates thought that was the smart thing to do and had long broken out of the group to move on their own or in strategic pairs.

They were probably thinking what Kaelen was thinking, except Kaelen wasn’t stupid.

If there truly was a beast siege on its way there, the last place you wanted to be was alone on the frontlines, because the beasts would most likely catch up to you before they got to the groups, who’d have that split second to prepare both physically and mentally and use the crowd as a strategic terrain of meat shields.

That was the exact reason he hadn’t moved from the spot and simply talked with Lysandra to kill time before it began.

"Everyone look!" Someone suddenly yelled from the crowd, and everyone strained their necks towards the speaker to see what was happening ahead.

Kaelen was too far back in the center to see anything, so he quickly crouched and beckoned for Lysandra.

"Hey, sit on my shoulder and tell me what’s happening up ahead." He said as he tapped his shoulder.

Her face slightly turned red, but she didn’t hesitate to climb onto his shoulder from behind, with his head in between her thighs.

Kaelen immediately stood tall and even tiptoed to give her a better view of what was happening beyond.

He couldn’t see her face, but he could feel her body tense up.

"What’s happening?" He hurriedly asked.

"People are running. They’re running back to the group, and they’re waving and screaming. I can’t hear what they’re saying, but I can read their lips from here," she replied with a serious tone.

"What are they saying?"

"Everyone get ready. They’re coming. A beast siege is coming." She repeated.

A collective gasp escaped the crowd, and Kaelen turned to the surrounding candidates paying attention to Lysandra’s scouting as well.

Before they could relax, Lysandra spoke again.

"I can see them. I can see their backs. There’s so many of them charging as one from all directions. Those candidates... they won’t make it."

"I see..." Kaelen mumbled to himself.

It was just like he thought.

An endless beast siege.

The safest place in the formation was not the front or back. It was the center, around where he stood.

When the beasts arrived, they’d tear into those standing at the border of the candidate circle. Those candidates would serve as a meat shield to slow the advance and break the beasts into smaller groups that’ll make it into the circle, and those groups would be further diluted the more they advanced.

By the time they arrived at his position, they’d be easy pickings for him. And until he determined their average strength, that was the plan.

"Kaelen, I think we should start moving." Lysandra suddenly called out with a hurried tone.

"What, why?" He asked in confusion.

There was no better place to move except where they were at the moment.

"There’s something moving underground. I can feel it." She replied with a serious tone.

It was only then Kaelen focused and began to feel the slight tremor.

One might think it was from the stampeding beast siege, but if there was something really moving underground like Lysandra said, its target wouldn’t be the frontlines or backlines.

It would head straight for the center to scatter the formation, right where they stood.

Shit.