Jack didn't waste time climbing out of the tunnel. His entire body was smoking. He was as if a living meat climbing out of a cooking pot. He lay on the floor panting while his blistering skin started to heal. His HP also started to recover. Without his skills, his HP recovered very slowly. But that was not a problem, he only lost around thirty percent of his HP. His HP was simply too high.
After a few seconds of gathering himself, then only he heard the voices. Some were cheering. Some sounded urgent.
"… You crazy mother*cker! You truly make it. Unbelievable…"
"Way to go, bro…!!"
"… Hurry! There is not much time…!"
"… The circular saw almost cut him!!"
The last voice jolted Jack to alert. He was reminded of the purpose he went through that tormenting tunnel. If Kramer died, then he would have suffered for nothing.
He turned and saw Kramer still alive. Kramer was mumbling loudly through the gag, trying to get Jack's attention. The circular saw was dangerously close to his head by now.
Jack pushed himself to rise fast but stumbled because his body was still very weak. He propped himself by holding the chair where Kramer was bound. He could see his skin was still in its grotesque burned state.
He threw away the concern about himself and focused on Kramer. He fumbled with the strappings that bound Kramer. It was tied with a complex mechanism. He couldn't untie the boy in a short time!
He then looked at the circular saw which was just a few centimeters from Kramer's forehead. The boy was looking straight at the revolving blade so close to him. Jack could see from Kramer's eyes how terrified he was.
Jack tried gripping the unmoving part of the circular saw, to see if he could stop its descent or try to plug it away. He couldn't do both. The circular saw was very sturdy and it continued to go down at a steady pace.
When Jack ran out of ideas and was about to try breaking the circular saw using a punch filled with mana manipulation, he heard Master's voice, "The red button on the side table, you fool!"
Hearing that, Jack looked over to the side table which was on the other side of Kramer. He saw the red button Master mentioned. He didn't see this button when he looked around Kramer's room when he was still on the other side of the wire wall.
The side table had opened its upper tray and revealed this red button when Jack opened the tunnel's door inside Kramer's room.
Jack hurriedly went over and hit this red button using his fist.
The sound of the circular saw powering down was heard. Its spinning became slower just as it was touching Kramer's head. A few damage numbers popped up as it did.
The circular saw finally stopped and damage numbers stopped appearing above Kramer.
The boy was still in shock. He was numb and unable to react. In his mind, he still saw the circular saw turning.
Aglea materialized next to Jack then.
"Congratulations! You have saved the second sacrifice. You will have one team member more than the other teams who fail," she announced, then added, "Now, rest for tomorrow's matches."
"Wait! How many more of such matches before the end match?" Jack asked.
"Why? Are you not enjoying this game?" Aglea asked.
'Who the f*ck enjoys such a depraved game, you sick f*ck!' Jack wanted to scream in Aglea's face.
When Jack didn't answer, Aglea said, "We are all here to enjoy. The longer the game, the more fun it is. So, there is no need to worry about when it will end. Now, rest."
The room broke apart and rearranged itself. They again found themselves chained in the familiar dungeon. Jack's body had miraculously recovered and his HP bar was full. Kramer was also there beside Jack, safe and sound.
"Your majesty… I owe you my life…," Kramer said. He wanted to kneel but the chains restricted him.
Jack waved him off. "I'm just glad that you are safe," Jack said.
Kramer didn't say anything further, but he bowed his head as low as he could and stayed like that for a long time, even when Jack asked him to stop and rest. The shock from the ordeal just now was not light for the boy.
The others also looked at Jack with different eyes now. Respect and recognition filled their gazes. Some even thought that Jack might truly be the king of Themisphere, after all.
The atmosphere was ruined by a mocking chuckle from Master, "I see this is how you dazzle people into your camp."
"Better than you who frighten and intimidate them into yours," Jack talked back.
"People respect power. As long as I'm strong, I don't need to pathetically save everyone to make them follow me. They will come by themselves. It is natural, it's survival of the fittest."
"Survival of the fittest? You do know the fittest mentioned in that phrase wasn't meant for physical strength, don't you? It was meant for the ability to adapt to the environment. A tiger might be stronger but a cockroach is fitter. A cockroach has a much higher chance of surviving a natural disaster compared to a tiger."
"Interesting analogy using a cockroach as an example. I do see you as one," Master said.
"It's pointless speaking to you. But I will tell you one thing, the saying that good always triumphs over evil is not empty words. Do you know why? Because all evil care about is itself, just like what you demonstrated today. All evil people wanted is becoming a solo ruler over the population. They want everything for themselves and they think they can do everything themselves, and all they achieved by doing so is alienating everyone else. Remember what you said about numbers? That is how good always beat evil, with numbers! Because good will always have more people on its side."
Master sneered. "As I've said before. When I become a God, I will crush this stupid rule."
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