Chapter 471: Qualifier Round – Bomb Tag
No one here was afraid of a fight. However, they were afraid of greater power that couldn't be explained. They disliked being suppressed by the immortals.
The special rules in the battle royal game complicated things. Instead of fighting normally, they had to be wary of red tile traps and the unknown. Even though clearing the red tile challenge would net them a reward, the risks that would come with it were too great.
Yet, Huang Hansheng, Zhou Gongjin, and Brocell smirked. They looked forward to playing around with the special challenges and aimed for the extra rewards that Uriel had promised.
The divine pills or artifacts were too tempting to overlook. None of them was even bothered that Uriel might have tricked them.
On the other hand, Ling Tianlong was the only one who didn't trust Uriel. He turned to Miaomiao, blaming him for using another dirty trick.
He suspected that the qualifier round was tailored to favor Miaomiao and his subordinates. As for the rest, they were merely there to fill the number.
Ling Tianlong ignored Uriel's explanation, but the latter continued explaining the combat rules.
"As you can see, the platform is made of one million one-square-meter cubic blocks, 1000 x 1000 blocks to be exact. Here is the second special rule of this place – One person may stand or step on the same tile. If two or more people step on the same tile for longer than three breaths, they will be teleported to an enclosed space and trapped there."
Uriel demonstrated by tossing two mannequin golems and manipulated them to stand on the same tile. Instantly, they vanished and reappeared west of the platform, being caged in a transparent cube.
10 square-meter cube slowly shrunk.
"The enclosed space will continue to shrink until there is only one person left. Then, the survivor will be teleported back to the tile that they had stood. You catch my drift?"
In short, the people who had stepped on the same tile would be forced to kill each other, and the survivor would return to the platform. If they couldn't finish their opponents in time, the shrinking cube would eventually kill everybody inside.
This qualifier round was complicated. Even Miaomiao swallowed his saliva, gazing at the mysterious platform in caution.
"And lastly, for the sake of fairness, every contestant will be randomly placed on the board! Therefore, a large group that comes with more than a hundred contestants can't abuse their number advantage!"
Uriel addressed Brocell, who had brought more representatives than the required quota. He was the only one that attempted to exploit this Selection Tournament while the others joined unwillingly.
Brocell raised his eyebrows and shrugged. He was still calm after Uriel nerfed him.
"Now, let's not waste any time. I shall randomize you to the chessboard!"
"Chessboard!?"
Miaomiao widened his eyes. Before he was teleported to the platform, he caught a glimpse of the platform, which turned into a checkerboard with white and red tiles.
As Uriel had declared, the platform turned into a gigantic chessboard without chess pieces.
The participants became the chess pieces instead!
Miaomiao found himself standing in the center of the board. Two tiles to the left, Zhao Yun was sent there. As for the two tiles on the right, Ma Moxi crouched on the ground, inspecting this place.
Behind Miaomiao, Dian Wei had a wry smile on her face, finding the one-square-meter tile under her too small for her stature. She reluctantly transformed into a human as she was afraid of stepping on the red tiles around her.
The rest of Miaomiao's teams were sent to the southeast and northeast corner. Their formation was ruined as all team members were separated.
Meanwhile, Brocell and his golem platoons were deployed on the board, too. Half of his golems were positioned near Miaomiao's teammates. As for the rest, they occupied the northwest corner and southwest corner.
Pillars of light shone upon the giant chessboard as more cultivators were forcefully teleported to the platform.
Then
WHOOSH
A person was sent to the white tile, two tiles in front of Miaomiao.
It was Zhou Gongjin!
WHOOM
Another pillar of light landed ten tiles away from Miaomiao's position.
Brocell, who came here in a tuxedo, stood still with his hands crossing behind his back. He looked around and noticed Miaomiao's group.
"Whoopsies. I think I'm fucked."
Ma Moxi, the nearest guy to Brocell, sneered at the self-proclaimed demon lord, "Yeah, you're fucked up now, boy."
"Sir Ma Chao, you can't possibly be working for Cao Cao, right? This is cheating! Cao Cao's forces are too OP! GM, nerf please!"
"Now that I have another reason to kill you."
Ma Moxi believed that he had hidden his previous life's name well as he only told Miaomiao about it. Since Brocell had discovered his secret identity and possessed the knowledge of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Ma Moxi deemed him as a threat.
There was no demon lord in Romance of the Three Kingdoms Story, and those jargons belonged to the modern world.
This person might have the same origins as Miaomiao and him! For the sake of continental domination, Brocell was a dangerous variable that couldn't be left alive!
Ma Moxi made a resolve. He needed to kill Brocell before the latter could harm his lord or his wives!
Without waiting for a signal, Ma Moxi kicked the ground and vanished. He reappeared behind Brocell with Basilisk Dagger.
He stabbed the stone dagger into the back of Brocell's neck.
Brocell took the hit without resisting. Then, his body was instantly turned into a stone and crumbled to dust.
Ma Moxi heaved a sigh of relief, thinking that the kill was easier than he had thought.
But a second later, he sharply turned 180 degrees as he sensed the presence of Brocell elsewhere.
One of the metal golems at the northwest corner suddenly transformed into a human in a tuxedo suit. The face of that golem slowly changed as it grew hairs.
Just like that, the golem turned into Brocell.
"Dear me. What a rude customer. You could have just warned me to back away if you want some spaces."
Brocell laughed. Then, he purposely stepped on a red tile next to him.
"Hehe, oops!"
"…"
The participants hadn't adjusted to the gravity and the environment yet, but this demon lord already invited trouble!
RUMBLE
As soon as Brocell stepped on the red tile, all one million tiles below them turned crimson.
Then, they heard the same archaic voice in their mind.
'Dungeon Demon Lord, Brocell, has stepped on a red tile. The first challenge will be…'
Everybody gulped as they feared for the worst.
'A bomb tag!'
"Bomb Tag?"
Ling Tianlong, Yan Liang, and the others frowned as they found this challenge absurd.
Meanwhile, Miaomiao and Ma Moxi's expressions turned solemn as they had already deduced the game rules.
WHOOM
Suddenly, Brocell's entire body turned red.
'The rules of this game are simple. Brocell will be carrying the bomb. If he or his weapon touches someone, the person he has touched will be forced to carry the bomb. When the time runs out, the person who is still carrying the bomb will be detonated.'
"…"
Everyone turned to Brocell, who burst into laughter.
Then, digital clock numbers appeared in the sky. It showed as…
00.00.05
The time limit was only five seconds!
'The winner of this challenge is the person who tags another person last! The game begins!'
"HAHAHAHAHA!!"
In a split of a second, Brocell vanished and reappeared before Ma Moxi.
"YOU!!"
"Payback time, Dear Customer!"
Brocell ignored all defense and sent a palm to Ma Moxi's face. The latter dodged the strike and instinctively countered it with a cross hook to Brocell's face while he was holding the heaven-grade dagger.
BOOM
The power of Ma Moxi's tyrannical punch shattered Brocell's head like a broken watermelon. However, his entire body turned red.
Although Brocell didn't touch Ma Moxi, his face touched the latter's fist.
'Tagged, Ma Moxi is now carrying the BOMB!'
Four seconds remaining
Ma Moxi gazed at his body and clicked his tongue. He turned around, looking for prey to transfer this red light.
But before Ma Moxi could react, Zhao Yun patted Ma Moxi's shoulder and kicked the ground. She took the bomb tag and rushed toward the formation of golems at the northwest section.
Nobody noticed the trail of holy light and lightning sparks in Zhao Yun's eyes. She instantly reappeared behind Brocell, who was in the process of resurrecting by using his golem's body.
She and her Holy Light Spear became a light bullet, destroying 30 golems in her path like an unstoppable arrow. Even the golem's body that Brocell was using had a hole in its chest. All of them suddenly shone in red light before they crumbled to piles of metal ores.
'Tagged! Brocell is now carrying the bomb!'
Three seconds remaining
Brocell reemerged again. But this time, he used a golem body, located at the other corner.
One of the golems was standing at the southwest corner, where Yan Liang, Ling Tianlong, and Liu Xuande had gathered.
"Dear me. Not only Ma Chao is under Cao Cao, but Zhao Yun, too!? Can somebody nerf Cao Cao, please! He's defo cheating!"
Two seconds remaining
Brocell ignored the timer and strolled toward Liu Xuande as if his life wasn't being threatened.
Seeing how Liu Xuande was being targeted, Zhang Yide, who had been teleported to the same area, bellowed and charged at Brocell.
"HOW DARE YOU!!"
Brocell giggled, "How convenient."
"ZHANG YIDE, BACK AWAY!!"
It was too late. Brocell suddenly pulled out a pistol from his tuxedo and aimed at Zhang Yide's forehead.
The pistol didn't carry a physical bullet or soul stone bullets like the usual. Instead, it consumed Brocell's Soul Qi and DU Element Qi to create ammo.
Brocell's true cultivation base was on par with Zhang Yide!
BANG
The Soul Bullet was unleashed. A laser beam came out of the pistol.
"HNNNNNNN!!"
Zhang Yide mustered all his strength to tilt his head in reflex. The beam grazed his cheek and damaged his soul physique.
Normally, physical injuries to the soul physique would be instantly healed. Yet, the grazed wound continued to leak his soul Qi to the air.
Zhang Yide's soul was slightly damaged!
Moreover, Zhang Yide's entire body turned red!
'Tagged, Zhang Yide is now carrying the bomb.'
One second remained.
Zhang Yide reacted to the warning. Since long-ranged Qi attacks were treated as a touch, he had an idea how he could exploit this rule.
Zhang Yide mustered all his strength to this right arm. He turned around and tossed his soul-bound immortal-grade serpent spear at the center of the arena.
He aimed at a random cultivator from Ling Cao's side, who stood at the edge of the board!
"DIEEEEEE!!"
WHOOOM!!
The spear created a sonic boom, and it punctured through two cultivators and three golems, who had been standing in the trajectory path. All their bodies turned red in the process, but the heaven-grade spear flew into the void.
Then, the time was over.
BOOM
BOOM
BOOM
All golems and cultivators with the tag were detonated as the mysterious voice had said. Then, the voice announced the result of the game.
'The winner of this game is Zhang Yide. He may request a reward from the Continent Host!'
"…"
Everybody hadn't adjusted to the strange battle royal yet. They stared at Zhang Yide with a complicated expression.
Meanwhile, the lucky winner was frozen for a while. He, too, didn't know what to speak as everything happened so fast.
His brain couldn't keep up with the changes. It was overheating.
Still, he spoke by reflex.
"I just lost my weapon. Can I have a weapon?"
Uriel snickered and waved his hand. The immortal-grade serpent spear that Zhang Yide had thrown flew back him.
Zhang Yide caught it and laughed. But a second later, he smacked his forehead.
"Fuck! I forgot! My weapon is soul-bound. I can't possibly lose it! I could have summoned it back myself!"
He turned to Uriel, begging for a new reward, "Can I ask for another reward, please? That wasn't my wish!"
Uriel shook his head, "You asked for a weapon, and I gave it to you. The transaction is completed."
"Nooooo! That's not fair!"
"Instead of pestering me, how about you pay attention to your surroundings?"
"Hmm?"
BANG
BANG
BANG
Zhang Yide came back to his senses, and he found Brocell, who had turned into a gunslinger, shooting everybody randomly.
One of the bullets also came for him.
"FUCK!!"
Zhang Yide leaped away from the bullet's trajectory. Yet, the barrage didn't stop.
…
"Yare, Yare. They're having fun without me."
Miaomiao smirked as he observed how Zhao Yun destroyed the golems at the northwest corner of the platform. She turned into a war god, decimating everything nearby.
Ma Moxi was still crouching on the same tile, irritated by Brocell's unpredictable movements.
For the first time, he found a target that could slip through his grasp.
His assassin pride was hurt!
Ma Moxi's body faded as he entered stealth mode. He sneaked closer to the southwest area, planning to maim Brocell and others while they were busy.
While Miaomiao was paying attention to his woman and Ma Moxi went for his target, Dian Wei shifted her position and stood at Miaomiao's left side.
CLANK
She blocked an arrow with a war ax, after which she glared at the archer.
Huang Hansheng had been standing at the west side of the board. He aimed his arrows at Miaomiao.
"Geezer!!" Dian Wei bellowed.
The archer clicked his tongue, "Damn demon wench!"
As everyone was about to go at it, the red and white tiles reappeared.
Because of the lack of preparation, more than one fighter accidentally stepped on the red tiles.
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