The sight in front of Raven was everything but ordinary.
If one was told to imagine a mountain peak one would try and picture a rocky summit with steep, sloping sides and sharp ridges. However, this was not the case currently.
Right before Raven, the peak was a flat surface with the ground made out of some kind of black material, perhaps black rock or steel, while on the sides massive black pillars rose toward the sky, their top vanishing among the stars above!
And in the middle of this large, seemingly large ring, a humungous figure clad in heavy black armor and a white crown on its head stood motionlessly, its enormous great swords deeply pierced into the surface.
Its hands were softly resting on the top of the weapon's hilt while the white crown atop its head glowed with a gentle white light akin to a star.
For some reason, Raven felt scared at first, but when he calmed down he had to realize that the humongous figure was, in the end, just a statue.
'Why is there only a statue here? Also, where is the Relic?' after taking a deep breath, Raven looked around.
But weirdly, except for the statue, he found nothing, leaving him with the only option that the Relic was the...
'Crown...' Raven thought and just a second later watched how the first human reached the statue, using his wings to soar toward the sky and grab the crown.
"Fuck yeah! I told you all he will be the first!"
"Who is he? I feel like I have seen his face somewhere, but can't quite recall where."
"His name is Roland Brightfield, part of the Holy Light Guild and also a great talent with 4 Avatar Traits above 50 points!"
"Right, now I remember! Well, now it is no wonder he became the first to reach the top and grab the Relic."
"Yeah, now I am only curious what will happen after he-"
People were talking with admiration and curiosity about Roland when suddenly time seemed to stop for a second as a black flash appeared on the hologram and Roland's body was split into two halves just in a fraction of a second!
'!?'
Humans watching their screens froze with shrunk pupils while the participants within the Realm Game all froze, their faces becoming as pale as ghosts!
Just what the hell happened?
At one moment Roland was in the sky, seconds away to grab the white crown from the statue, then in the next, he was sliced apart, his now two separate body parts falling onto the ground, his blood and guts splattering everywhere!
Without even the slightest shadow of a doubt, the guy who was known as a great talent with a powerful Artifact was killed without any chance to save him!
"W-What happened...?" freezing in their steps, every human who was ready to climb the statue sucked in a mouthful of cold air while sweat rolled down their faces.
There were even a few whose legs began to tremble as they looked left and right to spot the killer, almost ending up falling onto the ground as a result!
Raven, on the other hand, swallowed nervously as his gaze was fixed right on the statue, his face behind his mask becoming paler and paler with each passing second.
The image of how the statue's eyes lit up with crimson light and moved toward Roland's figure before he was sliced apart was still as clear in his mind as day!
Furthermore, what put greater fear into his heart was that even with almost his 40 points of Dexterity he saw nothing but a flash!
Everything happened just way too fast!
'No, wait a second... was it even a weapon that caused the winged guy's death?' suddenly, Raven's brows lowered into a doubtful frown as his eyes fell on the statue's greatsword which was still deeply buried in the ground.
There was no crack, no chunks of stone, nothing. There was no sign at all that the statue would have moved and pulled its weapon out of the ground, using it to shred Roland's figure apart!
'There is just no way that thing was able to pull out his weapon, kill that guy, and put his sword back into the gap without at least leaving behind a small trace.' Raven thought in his heart as he watched how people slowly regained their courage and began to approach the statue.
"They will all die."
"Huh?" hearing a familiar voice beside him, Raven turned his head to the side and watched as an incredibly pale figure with purplish veins running below his skin stood beside him.
'This guy again?!' Raven's eyes widened when he saw Felix's figure, feeling a little shocked as once again he failed to notice his approach despite being several levels stronger than in the past!
If he was suspicious before, now Raven was confident that he was incapable of detecting him not because his attention was drawn elsewhere but because Felix possessed a rather unique Artifact.
'Interesting.' Raven squinted his eyes, wondering just what kind of Artifact was under Felix's possession.
Feeling the gaze on his skin, Felix gave a sideways glance at Raven, and after pondering for a small while he said, "I like your dress. Where did you get it from?"
'...'
Raven remained silent, not answering.
"I see, well, if you don't want to tell me that is okay with me also." Felix shrugged before he pointed at the statue and said, "You have noticed it also, right? That thing, whatever it is, is alive."
"You have seen how he did it?" with a scarcely lowered voice Raven decided to ask.
"Oh? So you can speak?" Felix grinned before he became serious once again and shook his head, "Unfortunately, I did not. However, if I should take a wild guess then I would say that thing used a special ability. One that does not require him to move in order to kill."
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