The land of snow and ice.
A ranker was seen waiting for somebody under a large juniper tree covered in heavy snowfall. He seemed a bit stressed, as if afraid of what was bound to happen next.
This ranker looked old and way past his heyday. He was wearing a simple white tunic paired with white pants, which made him almost invisible against an all-white background all around him.
Most LA participants would have recognized this old man if they met him inside Sansara World. This ranker's name was Nicholas Scott. He had served as the receptionist for the Novice's Treasury in LA. He was the same old man who had sold Eren his various Novice spells in the first year.
Nicholas didn't have to wait long. Soon, a ranker appeared beside him and looked around before asking.
"Nicholas, this is the place where you sensed elven magic, right?"
Rufus asked while feeling uneasy in his heart for some reason. Being a Grandmaster ranker, his attainments in various fields were nothing to scoff at.
It was as if his subconscious mind could talk to the world around him and tell him about what was happening around him in a non-verbal fashion. All he needed to do was listen and interpret. And at this point, his senses were telling him to get away from this place. They sensed trouble heading his way.
However, he was selected as the head of the moderators inside Sansara World by Hansen Lehan. He couldn't just shirk his responsibilities and wait for the competition to end. Although one could argue that he had done just that until this point since nobody prompted him about anything except Nicholas.
Nicholas reported to Rufus that there was some unusual activity being conducted in the unmapped region of the Sansara World. Upon arrival, the receptionist reported to Rufus that he had picked up traces of intent-based magic that was especially linked with the elves.
Rufus immediately made the connection with the kingdom of Layos in his head after he heard about elven magic. Any activity related to an enemy kingdom was a serious issue. Therefore, Rufus was forced to take action and come to the site as soon as he could.
Grandmaster Rufus knew Master Nicholas because they had both worked for the same organization for so many years. Therefore, Rufus came to take action on Nicholas' report as soon as he could.
"Yes, Grandmaster Rufus. Follow me."
Nicholas started leading Rufus into the deeper part of the unmapped region. It was a while before the former stopped in his tracks and showed the latter something by pointing toward it.
A stone pillar stood in the middle of nowhere in the land of ice and snow. It had various faces of various beasts and monsters carved all over it along with some profound runes. Runes engraved on the stone surface would occasionally shine, indicating the stone pillar was engaged in its mysterious operation.
Rufus started walking towards the pillar while Nicholas stayed behind. The Master ranker let the Grandmaster entity take the lead from this point onwards.
"Hm? You are right, Nicholas. It is indeed elven magic. But I don't understand what it is supposed to do. And what is it doing…"
Nicholas flashed a cunning smile when Rufus approached a certain distance from the pillar. He stomped his right foot and activated the array that had been kept hidden masterfully up till now.
Rufus immediately understood there was something wrong. Being the head of the moderators, he shouldn't have felt suppressed by the Sansara World's laws. However, the ground cracked beneath Rufus and his ranking status was suddenly suppressed by the Sansara World's laws.
Rufus turned around with a mix of puzzle and surprise written on his face. What awaited him was the sight of a calm-looking Nicholas smiling cunningly at him.
"You…. Nicholas, you motherfucking traitor…"
Swoosh.
Lako appeared beside Nicholas before Rufus could charge at Nicholas and engage in battle with him. Rufus stopped himself from charging carelessly after Lako's appearance.
The Grandmaster ranker started observing his surroundings and found out that the restrictions were not just meant to affect him. Nicholas and Lako were also restricted by the Sansara laws, turning all of them into Novice rankers.
Rufus immediately came to the conclusion that the runic stone pillar acted like an amplifier for the Sansara World's restrictions. The amplification of restrictions overrode his authority as the moderator and turned everyone in the room into Novice rankers, irrespective of their ranking statuses and affiliations.
As a result, anyone who enters within a certain range of the pillar will be demoted to the same level as the participants on their first day at the event. Rufus assumed that he too would need to start earning Karma points and level up to lift the restrictions placed on him if he stayed near the pillar.
This was a form of debuff array made using the restrictions of the Sansara World. It was the work of a genius array master who used elven magic as the power source for the array.
Rufus was no genius at array creation and its operations. But he was sure that escaping the debuff array's range would solve the problem for him. Things were still not as grim for Rufus.
Or so he thought.
Rufus found out that the Sansara interface was not accessible to anyone in the debuff array's range. To add to that, he also started getting surrounded by a bunch of elf rankers from the kingdom of Layos who had infiltrated the event.
"The fuck… when did so many of them get in here?"
Rufus was shocked beyond belief when he saw that an unbelievable amount of enemy elves had infiltrated the event. It only pointed to one possibility. Nicholas was not the only traitor in the kingdom of Edinburgh. There have to be many like him. A huge number of Layos' deep assets who held significant positions in Edinburgh had to have been activated all at once.
There was a certain ranker who was watching the scene of Rufus' ambush while maintaining a safe distance from ground zero. Lako had called him Payir– a royal scion from Layos who had been tasked with killing future troubles.
Little did Lako or his associates know that Payir was long dead. His killer had assumed his identity and inherited some of his crucial memories. And he didn't even need an elven mask to pull off such a feat.
For this fake Payir, everyone participating in the ambush was prey irrespective of their roles.
AN: Nicholas Scott was first mentioned in chapter 74. His name was mentioned for the first time in chapter 98.
