Chapter 46: Chapter 46: Dominating the Rankings
Meanwhile, out in a distant stretch of sea, Justin was still locked in a brutal fight with the Eldritch Entities.
He stood alone at the bow of the ship.
Whenever an Eldritch Entity climbed onto the deck, he’d punch its head in with one blow and toss the body to the special forces fighters behind him.
The fighters would skillfully drain the blood, strip the hides, and rip out the organs. Once they were done, they’d throw the leftovers back into the ocean to draw in more Eldritch Entities.
Joseph stood on the bridge, swishing red wine in his glass and taking a small sip. "Worth the system reward. This ’82 Lafite tastes perfect."
Setting the glass down slowly, he picked up his radio. "Justin, there aren’t any more Eldritch Entities showing up. You can wrap things up soon.
You’ve taken down nearly three hundred of them tonight. You’ll definitely grab the number one spot by dawn."
Justin crushed the skull of a tentacle Fish Fiend in his grip, wiped the blood off his face, and sneered, "Kevin probably just got lucky and figured out how to use monster corpses to lure them in. That’s how he took the number one spot on day one.
"But it doesn’t matter. Now we know the trick too.
On top of that, Kevin must’ve pushed himself past his limits yesterday by killing so many. He can’t keep up that kind of grind for two days straight."
"From now on, the number one spot on the kill leaderboard belongs to me."
Right then, the special forces fighters around him started dragging in barrels of multi-colored blood and dumping them over Justin’s body.
It took nearly fifteen minutes of constant pouring to dump over two hundred barrels.
As soon as the blood touched Justin’s skin, it sank right in and was absorbed by his body.
The more blood he absorbed, the stronger he felt.
The special forces fighters who had been standing behind him backed away in fear, refusing to get within five meters of him.
Bella stood on the bridge, watching Justin with a hint of obsession.
But she quickly hid her expression and gave Joseph a thumbs-up. "Justin’s [Resonance Amplification] Talent lets him absorb Eldritch Entity blood without limits, boosting his base stats.
Give us enough time, and this nightmare sea will bow down to us."
Joseph smiled and nodded.
He reached out, cupped Bella’s chin, and brought his face close to smell her, his eyes full of fascination. "Of course. This sea will become the playground for our kids."
"And you, my dear Bella, will be the queen of these waters. And everything changes starting with the kill rankings at dawn."
Kevin slept soundly.
Just as the sky began to lighten, Kevin and the others were woken up by a string of system alerts.
Kevin lay in bed, yawning and staring at the ceiling.
Almost instantly, a glowing screen appeared in front of him, with lines of text scrolling by fast.
[Congratulations to all Survivors. You’ve survived another incredibly dangerous night. Don’t worry, after feeling the terror of death, you’ll soon face pure despair.]
[The Survivor Leaderboard is now live. It updates every morning and tallies your total kills from the past two days. Calculating...]
[Leaderboard tally complete. Announcing the top ten rankings now.]
[Kevin, Survivor ID 9527. Total Kills: 1 A-Tier Talent Survivor, 4 B-Tier Talent Survivors, 7 C-Tier Talent Survivors, 1 Elite Eldritch, 329 Regular Eldritch. Rank #1.]
[Keston, Survivor ID 3210. Total Kills: 1 B-Tier Talent Survivor, 3 C-Tier Talent Survivors, 2 Elite Eldritch, 99 Regular Eldritch. Rank #2.]
[Justin, Survivor ID 8725. Total Kills: 216 Regular Eldritch. Rank #3.]
...
[Amelia, Survivor ID 1086. Total Kills: 1 Elite Eldritch, 37 Regular Eldritch. Rank #10.]
[Congratulations to all Survivors on the list. The top ten will each receive 100g of sturgeon caviar, a bottle of Scotch whiskey, and a Cuban cigar...]
Kevin looked at the fresh leaderboard and grinned.
Looks like both Keston and Justin figured out how to lure Eldritch Entities to their ships.
Unfortunately for them, they didn’t realize that one kill on a C-Tier Talent Survivor was worth almost as many ranking points as taking down ten Eldritch Entities.
The system never listed those rules. It was just a pattern that dozens of Survivors figured out over half a year of tracking the rankings. But Kevin knew it all from his past life. On this leaderboard, no one was going to take his number one spot.
Soon, messages flooded the Global Channel like a waterfall.
"The leaderboard changed so fast! Justin actually jumped into the top three. He’s insane."
"Keston’s rank went up too. He’s number two now! Amelia used to be second, now she’s tenth!"
"Wait, Kevin kept his number one spot! Two days in a row at the top, that’s crazy."
"Guys, check this out! Kevin killed Survivors, and twelve of them in one night! Keston did it too!"
"Oh my God, these two must be demons! How could they do that? That’s a crime! They should get the death penalty!"
"Save the saint act. If you’ve got balls, go tell Kevin and Keston that to their faces instead of hiding behind a screen."
"I’m calling it now. Kevin and Keston are my leaders from now on. Anyone who talks trash about them is gonna answer to me!"
Kevin watched the constant stream of messages and jumped out of bed.
He glanced out the window at the ocean, then pulled out that Cuban cigar, lit it, and took a slow drag. After that, he cracked open a tin of sturgeon caviar and poured himself a glass of whiskey.
Truth be told, Kevin saw the real point of this leaderboard. It was just a daily way to hand out luxury goods to Survivors—fine wine, cigarettes, gourmet food, all of it.
Especially now that Kevin’s [Covenant-Bearer] was active, the refund rewards he was getting were going to be insane.
Right now, his system inventory was sitting on twenty-two bottles of ’82 Lafite, eighteen cuts of A5 Wagyu, and eighteen wheels of blue cheese. With Amelia’s twelve-fold refund bonus factored in, Kevin was stocked with thirteen Cuban cigars. He could smoke one every day for nearly two weeks.
"Now this is how you live," Kevin murmured, blowing a smoke ring before turning toward the bathroom.
Meanwhile.
Justin and Joseph stood on the yacht deck, their faces dark with rage.
"Damn Kevin! He used Survivor kills to jump back ahead of me again!" Justin slammed his fist against the nearby railing.
Crack. The railing, welded straight to the hull, snapped clean in half.
He had assumed he would definitely take the number one spot on the leaderboard and be praised by all the Survivors. But in the end, he only got third place, with his stats left far behind by Kevin and Keston.
What pissed him off even more was that both Kevin and Keston had killed people. They came off as the toughest, most ruthless guys, the kind you just had to respect.
Compared to them, Justin felt like a total pushover, like a damn kid who wasn’t manly at all.
At the thought, Justin let out another roar and swung his fist hard at the yacht. The yacht’s solid alloy shell quickly dented under his punch, leaving behind a cluster of deep pits.
Just then, Joseph came down from the bridge, gave Justin’s shoulder a light pat, and said, "Don’t be down. The rewards for this ranking are just luxury goods anyway. We’ve got plenty of cigars and wine on this yacht, so don’t lose your cool over something like this."
But Justin didn’t buy it. He clenched his fists, his face full of resentment. "I barely slept all night just to grind kills! Why does Kevin get to do this? And Keston? He actually jumped ahead of me! I’m not accepting this!"
The special forces fighters standing nearby caught his tone and also wore looks of dissatisfaction. They had been busy all night just hoping to catch a break and get a taste of the rewards. Now, this result meant their work was for nothing, and they wouldn’t get any rewards at all.
Bella stood alone on the bridge, watching the group of men on the deck, her eyelid twitching nonstop. "Kevin killed twelve Survivors in one night, and even an A-Tier Talent Survivor fell to his hand... When did he get so terrifying?"
In Bella’s mind, Kevin was always a friendly and kind guy. She simply couldn’t picture how Kevin could be so cold-blooded enough to kill twelve Survivors in one go.
Driven by intense curiosity and unease, Bella contacted Stephanie right away. "Stephanie, what happened to you last night? How did Kevin manage to kill so many Survivors?"
Stephanie could tell Bella was trying to fish for information, so she flashed a grin. "My silly sister, you think I don’t know what you’re thinking?"
Without another word, Stephanie sent Bella a message right back. "Bella, we ran into another Survivor crew and a firefight broke out..."
Soon, Stephanie had spun a completely fake story that painted the perfect picture.
Bella read Stephanie’s message and hissed in shock. "So it was three crews tearing each other apart, which drew in the Eldritch Entities, and Kevin just stepped in and took the easy win..."
Bella punched the control desk, her face twisted in annoyance. "What a damn fool Kevin is! He actually got that lucky! And Keston, that guy’s stats just shot up way too!"
The more Bella thought about it, the more unfair it felt. She looked up at Joseph and Justin on the deck, her expression torn.
Even though Kevin and Keston’s numbers were miles ahead of Justin and Joseph’s, Bella knew exactly what these two brothers were capable of. Given enough time, they would definitely become the rulers of this nightmare sea.
Especially Joseph, whose Talent was even scarier than Justin’s.
