Max drank blood as his body recovered from its fatigue and wounds under the moonlight.
It had already been 26 hours since the tournament had started and the physical and mental fatigue finally started to be felt by players all across the board.
" So, Ravan, how long can you control these undead? " Asked Sebastian, curiously
" I have no idea, I'm figuring things out myself ". Max replied in a hoarse and tired voice.
Although he was putting up a brave front infront of his friends, the reality of the situation was that his vision was blurry at the moment and every inch of his body was screaming at him to lay down and get some rest.
For the current Max even sitting straight was a big challenge as his instincts urged him to find a rock and put his head down on it.
" I counted a total of 1260 dots on the map, which means we are very close to the elimination limit and nearly 50% of teams have already been eliminated.
I think it's only a matter of 4-6 more hours before round one officially ends". Asiva informed the group
The group had faced many battles in the past 26 hours and for them passing another 6 was not a big deal, but having given a clear goal in sight they felt much better knowing that the end of the tunnel was near.
With all four of them still alive, their chances of clearing round one were pretty high.
" ENEMY SPOTTED, APPROACHING FROM THE HILL ". Shouted Anna from the hilltop as the other members immediately became alert.
This time around trouble had taken the hillside route and were approaching from where Anna was posted.
" Asiva we need to go up quickly. Ravan will hold down the fort from under here ". Sebastian said with urgency as Asiva nodded and the two started to climb the hill at a frantic pace.
" Agh damnit ". Max cursed as he struggled to his feet, gulping the remaining blood in his blood pack down as he restored his Satiety to a 100%.
Max wanted to climb the hill too, however, he was stopped by Grandpa Drax.
' It's okay boy, stay down and protect the vial from stray shots, leave the rest to your teammates. You alone cannot shoulder the weight of the sky, it's a team battle '.
Drax suggested that Max not overexert himself and stay within his limits, this was wise advice since the state Max was in was not at all suitable for combat.
Max accepted grandpa Drax's advice and although his heart rate spiked when he heard sounds of metal clang, he did not try to go up, but rather trusted his group to hold the fort.
' They are good warriors, there is nothing much to worry ', Max consoled himself
And a few minutes later the sound of fighting also died down as Max expected his group to make a triumphant return.
Max felt a little better with his stamina bar recovering above 30% as his vision stopped doubling, looking up he smiled under his mask as he expected Asiva to make a return.
However, his heart dropped 100 feet when instead of his group standing tall over the hill, he saw Roy and Keane Kingsman alongside 10 of their henchmen.
It only took one glance for Max to understand that these bastards had cheated in round one of the tournament, and teamed up to have an unfair advantage against other groups.
**************
( Meanwhile the others )
Asiva lost her temper once she was teleported outside the war-zone as she completely flipped out for being killed by the despicable Kingsmen clan.
The smug expressions on their faces when they restrained and slapped her before slitting her throat burnt into her memory as her rage went beyond the realm of reason at the moment.
Even Sebastian looked completely lost as he had not even blinked once since being teleported outside, as he figured out how 8 chumps jumped and killed him at once.
" It's over …. Everything is over …. ". Said Anna as the princess bit her lower lip so as to not start crying, however, anyone casting a single glance over her could see that she was borderline depressed.
The group expected Max to be teleported out any second now, however, because logically there was no chance of him surviving against the 12 of them when the three of them were defeated so swiftly.
And even if he could survive the scuffle for a few minutes, it would have to be at his peak because in his current state where he was struggling to even stand, he was no different than a sitting duck for the cowardly Kingsman to kill.
Things looked even more gloomy than the group facing the durahals, this time it would take more than a miracle for them to survive this mess.
***********
( Meanwhile Master Of Chaos, In a Red Hand group secret operation)
" No- please- spare me ". A demon bleeding profusely from its wings being chopped up said to masterofchaos who had no trace of mercy in his eyes.
" Tell me everything about the dragon's paradise dungeon and what you despicable dark faction players are planning or else I'll skin you alive before dumping you in a pot of hot oil to kill you". He said with cold aggression
" I can't tell you… the master has bound me, if I betray him, my soul oath will kill me… ". The demon begged
" If you don't tell me, then my sword will kill you, so CHOOSE ". Masterofchaos insisted
" I'll tell you other information, like where the money is being stored or where on light faction lands we have built secret whorehouses where we keep succubi to brainwash dumb men.
Or-or I'll tell you where our underground market is located, it's a place where we sell everything we loot under tier4. It'll easily be a few hundred billion gold raid if you guys manage to loot every last item there.
PLEASE, just tell me what you want, money, women, power, I'll give you anything, just not the plans for dragon's paradise, I can betray the whole demonkind but not my master ". The demon begged but it was to no avail.
" I'll give you one last chance demon, WHY are your kind planning to enter a light faction dungeon where death rate is over 90%
Since you guys won't even revive if you die, it's a suicide mission.
Your kind has paid 200 billion gold coins to secure 50 spots, and the sell-out Thor Odinson doesn't give a fuck as to who enters his dungeon if the price is right.
But the red-hand group cares, we won't tolerate dark faction filth on our lands.
Paying such a top dollar for entry, there is bound to be some treasure you are sure of finding inside, or some crucial technology that you wish to seek inside the dungeon. TELL ME WHAT IT IS, and I'll let you go.
If anything but the answer comes out of your mouth now, I'll give you a horrible death".
The demon cried tears of agony over the choice but eventually he decided that the death from breaking his soul bond would be less painful than being skinned alive and then deep fried in oil like a nugget.
" A tier 8 dragon empress has laid a single egg of a blackxgolden divine dragon, it has the potential to become an overlord in the future, it- ugh, kek " the demon choked on his words as his soul oath kicked in and began devouring his life.
A few seconds later only a shrivelled corpse of the demon remained as he died from breaking his soul oath, however, this piece of news completely shook master of chaos up as he understood the demonkind's endgame.
If such a powerful beast ended up as a mount or a pet of a demon, only chaos would await the universe.
This ploy of the demons needed to be stopped by hook or by crook, as having a potential overlord entering in their ranks would be devastating for the light faction.
At the uppermost echelons of dragon hierarchy were the black dragon race and the golden dragon race.
Historically the two races being the most powerful and knowledgeable amongst all dragon races were always embroiled in a constant scuffle and fight with each other for supremacy with the blood of the two clans never mixing at the upper echelons because of the prejudice.
However, the dragon's born from this cross at the lower levels of around tier4 all proved to be far superior to their parents, going on to become unstoppable war machines in the later stages of their life.
Now that a tier 8 empress had actually laid an egg which was a cross of these two clans, the value of this egg was incalculable.
It was not a stretch to say that the dragon kid born would be destined to become the next dragon emperor.
It was exactly for this reason that the dark faction must be stopped from getting their hands over this precious egg, as having control over the coming dragon emperor would sway the neutral dragon race towards the dark faction side.
