Chapter 276 - 274 : Death game of the second round

Chapter 276: Chapter 274 : Death game of the second round

The roar of the demonic crowd grew louder.

It thundered across the unfamiliar stadium until the stone beneath Arthur’s feet trembled.

The sound was nothing like the cheers of human spectators.

It was savage.

Hungry.

Cruel.

Demons screamed from the stands, their horns, claws, fangs, and twisted faces illuminated by blood-red lights. Dark elves watched from shadowed balconies with cold, expressionless eyes. Werewolves snarled and slammed their fists against the railings, while vampires sat in elegant silence, their crimson eyes fixed upon the terrified humans below.

Countless other creatures filled the seats.

Some had enormous wings.

Some were covered in scales.

Some possessed multiple eyes.

And some had no faces at all.

Arthur’s stomach tightened.

Every student from every academy had been transported into this strange stadium.

But unlike before, they were no longer gathered together in meeting rooms.

Each academy had been placed inside a separate enclosed section of the enormous arena. Invisible barriers divided the platforms from one another, leaving each group isolated while the demonic audience surrounded them from every direction.

Celestias Academy’s students stood together.

Layla.

Diana.

Damian.

Aiden.

Isabella.

Evangline.

Jasmine.

Victor.

Rubina.

Arina.

Liana.

Aaron.

The second-year students.

The third-year students.

Everyone.

Their faces were pale.

Their bodies were tense.

No one understood what was happening.

The tournament they had entered only moments ago had become something else entirely.

Something far worse.

A figure suddenly materialized above the central platform.

The white-haired woman.

She hovered effortlessly in the air as though gravity had no meaning to her.

Her snow-white hair drifted gently in the dark wind.

Her black eyes swept across the students below.

Then she smiled.

"Dear contestants, don’t worry."

Her voice echoed throughout the stadium.

"The tournament is still ongoing."

The demonic audience erupted into laughter.

"And it is still being broadcast to your world."

Arthur’s eyes narrowed.

The woman continued.

"Everything will remain the same."

She slowly spread her arms.

"But to make the tournament more interesting, you’ll have to put your lives on the line."

A cold silence settled over the students.

"Don’t worry about the risks."

Her smile widened.

"The rewards will be unimaginable."

Golden letters suddenly appeared above the arena.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

{ SKILLS }

{ ARTIFACTS }

{ WEALTH }

{ BLOODLINES }

{ AUTHORITY }

{ ANYTHING THE WINNER DESIRES }

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The students stared at the floating words.

The white-haired woman continued.

"Any wish the winner has will be rewarded."

Her expression suddenly became colder.

"There’s only one minor change."

The entire stadium fell silent.

"In every match, every participating team except the team that places first..."

She paused.

"...will have one candidate sacrificed."

The students froze.

"As an offering."

A terrified murmur spread through the academy sections.

Some students looked at their teammates.

Others instinctively stepped backward.

Before anyone could ask what she meant, a massive black-and-gold rift suddenly opened above the central platform.

The space itself distorted.

The selected teams for the second match were immediately surrounded by golden light.

Diana.

Liana.

Clarice.

Aegon.

Riley.

Along with the representatives from the other academies.

They disappeared into the rift without warning.

Arthur’s fists clenched.

His eyes immediately turned cold as he looked toward the white-haired woman.

She was already watching him.

And smiling.

Arthur turned toward Aiden.

"Do anything you can."

His voice was low.

"Contact Astarte. Right now."

Aiden immediately closed his eyes and focused.

His expression tightened.

Seconds passed.

Then his face slowly became pale.

"I’m trying."

He opened his eyes.

"It isn’t working."

His voice shook slightly.

"Sister always appeared whenever she sensed that I was in danger."

Aiden looked around the demonic stadium.

"But it feels like my connection with her has been cut off too."

Arthur’s expression darkened.

Then—

A familiar notification appeared before his eyes.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[ ULTIMATE CHOICE SYSTEM ]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[ SPECIAL QUEST GENERATED ]

Quest Name: The Sentinel Pursuit

Difficulty: EX-Rank

Description:

A Sentinel Assassin is after you.

Its sole objective is to hunt you down and end your life.

Make sure you survive.

──────────────────────────────────────

[ CHOICE 1 ]

Survive.

Escape from the Sentinel pursuing you and ensure your own survival by any means necessary.

Reward:

• Magic Sword of Destruction

• Talent Upgrade Card ×2

Failure Penalty:

• DEATH

──────────────────────────────────────

[ CHOICE 2 ]

Ensure that you and all your teammates escape alive.

No teammate may die.

You must personally ensure the survival of everyone accompanying you.

Reward:

• Complete Bloodline Integration

All Bloodlines currently possessed by the user will be integrated into a single unified Bloodline, resulting in explosive growth.

Failure Penalty:

• DEATH

──────────────────────────────────────

[ MAKE YOUR CHOICE ]

1. Survive.

2. Ensure your team survives.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Arthur stared at the quest window.

A Sentinel Assassin.

An EX-Rank quest.

And 2 choices.

One demanded that he survive.

The other demanded that everyone around him survive as well.

His jaw tightened.

"Why am I not surprised?"

His gaze moved away from the System window and toward his teammates.

They were frightened.

Some were visibly trembling.

But despite their fear, their eyes kept turning toward Arthur.

They were waiting for him.

Trusting him.

Waiting for him to come up with a plan.

Arthur took a long breath.

Then he spoke quietly.

"Sorry, guys."

The others turned toward him.

Arthur’s expression remained unreadable.

"My survival comes first."

───────────────

Meanwhile, the participants selected for the Clash of Intellectuals Challenge found themselves inside an enormous enclosed chamber.

Its walls were constructed from dark stone covered in ancient golden runes.

Strange blue light radiated from countless floating crystals embedded in the ceiling, illuminating the massive room with an eerie glow.

At the center stood a gigantic statue.

It wore the robes of an ancient scholar, with a crown resting upon its stone head.

In one hand, it held a glowing golden crystal.

Each academy had been placed upon a separate platform surrounding the statue.

Diana, Liana, Clarice, Aegon, and Riley stood together on Celestias Academy’s platform.

The other academy teams were close enough to see one another.

But invisible barriers separated them.

Liana looked around in panic.

"What the hell is happening?"

Her hands clenched tightly.

"Where are we? What is all this madness?"

The students from the other academies were equally distressed.

Some attempted to strike the invisible barriers.

Others shouted for their headmasters.

Several desperately searched for an exit.

Diana took a deep breath.

Then she stepped forward.

"Everyone, calm down first."

Her voice was firm enough to cut through the panic.

The Celestias Academy team turned toward her.

"Our first priority is to clear this challenge and survive."

Diana’s eyes moved around the unfamiliar chamber.

"Afterward, we’ll reunite with the others and decide what to do."

She looked directly at Liana.

"For now, forget about dying."

Her voice remained steady.

"Treat this like a normal match."

The others remained silent.

Slowly, they nodded.

Diana was right.

Panic wouldn’t save them.

Fear wouldn’t solve the challenge.

They had to win.

Suddenly—

The enormous statue moved.

Stone scraped against stone.

Its head slowly turned toward the students.

Then it spoke.

"Woah."

Its voice echoed throughout the chamber.

"It appears we have some brave contestants here."

The statue’s stone mouth curled into an unnatural smile.

"This will be fun."

It raised the golden crystal in its hand.

"Shall we begin the first round?"

The statue’s voice became louder.

"I am the Guardian of Knowledge."

Its glowing eyes swept across the platforms.

"And I will serve as your host for this challenge."

A red buzzer suddenly appeared in front of every academy team.

The students stared at the devices.

"Before we begin, take a look at the red buzzer positioned in front of you."

The Guardian pointed toward them.

"Whenever you know the answer, press the buzzer first and then provide your response."

It paused.

"The team that answers correctly will advance to the next round."

Several students exchanged confused glances.

"The remaining teams will have to wait until they successfully answer."

A few students frowned.

The Guardian continued.

"There is no time limit for this round."

"But remember..."

Its smile widened.

"Spending too much time here will leave you with less time to complete the challenges that follow."

The students exchanged nervous glances.

"You may discuss each question and consult with your teammates before answering."

The Guardian’s glowing eyes narrowed.

"But be careful."

Its voice became colder.

"One incorrect answer may bring your journey in this challenge to an end."

The atmosphere immediately became heavier.

"And remember..."

The Guardian lifted the golden crystal higher.

"Each successive round will present questions more difficult than the last."

The crystal began to glow.

"With that..."

The chamber trembled faintly.

"...let the first challenge of the Clash of Intellectuals begin."

A soft golden light spread across all the platforms.

When it faded, a large holographic screen appeared before every team.

The first question materialized.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

{ FIRST QUESTION }

Which rare herb is known for treating Frostbane, a deadly magical disease that causes the victim’s body temperature to continuously drop until their mana core freezes?

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The chamber became completely silent.

Then—

Every team immediately began discussing the question.

Students desperately searched their memories.

Magical medicine classes.

Ancient texts.

Herbal theory.

Healing spells.

Anything that might contain the answer.

Clarice’s eyes suddenly widened.

"I-I think I know this one."

Everyone on the Celestias Academy platform turned toward her.

"It is the Crimsonleaf Herb."

Diana studied her expression.

"Are you certain?"

Clarice hesitated.

Her fingers tightened around the edge of her robe.

"I’m not completely sure."

She swallowed.

"But it’s the only answer that comes to mind."

Diana’s expression became serious.

"We can’t afford to guess."

She looked toward Aegon and Riley.

"Does anyone know the answer?"

Silence.

Neither of them responded.

Aegon frowned deeply as he searched his memory.

Riley did the same.

But neither could confirm Clarice’s answer.

Diana sighed.

"Then we skip it."

Clarice looked disappointed.

"But—"

"There’s no point risking everything on a guess."

Diana’s voice remained firm.

"We’ll wait for the next question."

Before anyone could say anything else—

Buzz!

A loud sound echoed through the chamber.

Everyone turned toward the source.

The leader of the Cherry Blossom Academy team had pressed their buzzer.

"We believe the herb used to treat Frostbane is the Crimsonleaf Herb."

Her voice was confident.

The Guardian of Knowledge smiled.

"Correct."

A wave of relief immediately passed through the Cherry Blossom team.

"Well done, Team Cherry Blossom Academy."

The statue raised the golden crystal.

"You have earned the right to proceed to the next round."

Golden light surrounded the Cherry Blossom team.

Then—

Whoosh!

They vanished from their platform.

The Guardian looked toward the remaining teams.

"As for the rest of you..."

Its smile widened.

"Better luck next time."

The remaining students groaned.

Only 7 teams remained.

Clarice lowered her head.

For a moment, she said nothing.

Then she looked toward Diana with a small, almost bitter smile.

"See?"

Her voice was quiet.

"My answer was right."

Diana didn’t respond immediately.

She studied Clarice for a moment before slowly shaking her head.

"You need to have more confidence in yourself, Senior Clarice."

Clarice looked down.

Diana continued.

"If you’re not confident in your own answer, the rest of us will naturally doubt it too."

Clarice clenched her fists.

"I understand."

Her voice became firmer.

"I’ll do better in the next round."

Diana nodded.

This was no longer an ordinary academic competition.

One wrong answer could have consequences far more serious than losing points.

One missed opportunity could leave them behind.

One moment of hesitation could cost them their chance to survive.

They were already behind after the first question.

And the challenge had only just begun.