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Chapter 562 - A payment for a simple request
🕑 Added 2025-02-24 09:37:43 +0000 UTCVictoria (Beyond, King) ⟶ Spacewolf (Beyond) +100 pts
Victoria (Beyond, King) ⟶ Maple (Hell) +20 pts
Victoria (Beyond, King) ⟶ CarrotCake (Beyond, King) +5,000 pts
These are some of the notifications in the feed I have. These ones are probably from a few minutes ago. As reliable as always, Victoria dealt with them and then went on to do her things.
Flying high into the air, I observe the battlefield. Now, without the Kings, it should be easy to clean up the rest.
The biggest fight takes place between most of our round, the forces of Derick's round that have left, and the forces of the fortress that my round is attacking.
Down there in our fortress, I can see constant flashes of orange light from Savant's [Dawn]. Our sole defender seems to be fighting someone. The skill, powerful enough at its higher levels to wipe out all of Lissandra's Eladore, continues to obliterate a massive number of enemies, as confirmed by the notifications in the kill feed.
On the other side of the battlefield, the strongest ones are hunted down by Tacita. Even now, barely anyone detects her, and even if they do, hardly anyone is able to react in time. Not caring about efficiency or collecting points, Tacita just hunts the strongest enemies she can find, swiftly switching between the multiple daggers she has, each with a different effect.
I even notice Noodle, as thick as a small tree trunk and longer than a swimming pool, slithering around the walls, devouring the barriers, his scales burning with the green, blue, and purple flame of the Fragment of Eternal Fire. Sometimes, there is also Izzy shooting the same flame from her palms.
Maya, the twins, Lily, Sophie, and everyone else are doing well, but knowing them, I can see that they are holding back.
It appears they kept an eye on the notifications and know the event is likely won, and I did my part to fulfill Lissandra's requirements. Instead of going all out and collecting a few more points, they decided to hide some of their abilities. It's something we talked about previously, and they take it seriously.
Passing over that battlefield, I reach the fortress that belongs to Jean's round. Unlike Jean, who seemingly agreed to help with the plan to take me down, they are sitting inside. Even now, they are stacking up their defenses and preparing nasty traps; something to throw at anyone who survives the clashes and charges against them.
And by nasty, I mean really nasty, something powerful enough to wipe out even Beyond attendees.
Their barrier is also two-sided, with the front purposely weaker. Rather than being an integral part of the whole, it serves as a secondary barrier meant to be broken, allowing people to enter before the rest of the barrier reactivates to trap them. With certain poisons and collected energies activating, this could get interesting.
Floating over it, I expand the Ley Lines in the area and twist them, creating a huge circle that I begin filling with more Ley Lines. When I can no longer create more, I weave in dense mana lines instead. Slowly, I start building up a giant inscription, using all the testing I did previously and the experience I gained with that Bloodroot Devourer on the 6th floor.
I separate part of my mind and, floating over the inscription, form an orb as big as a basketball before slightly opening a seal on the Sealed Ignition Heart. With each heartbeat of my second heart, a small stream of that incredibly concentrated thermal energy flows into the orb, swirling inside it. When the orb looks ready to crack and break, I start spinning the thermal energy. It forms a whirlpool of golden flames inside, drawing in the flames I send to it at increasing speed.
All that mana within me, the thermal energy I now have to control, all with no passive protecting my mind. I push myself to the absolute limit, knowing exactly where it is from all the deaths during the tournament. I walk the edge, fully aware that a single mistake would trigger a backlash powerful enough to kill me instantly.
And that would make me break the requirement Lissandra asked for.
But I do not fail.
I will not fail.
A high-pitched sound fills my head as my mana seeps out of me, passing through the Ley Lines and mana threads. It lights up and powers the inscription floating in the air over the fortress.
Then, silence falls, and the pressure vanishes.
At that moment, I look down and see our round and Victoria's round slowly making their way toward the fortress. They wait below like beasts ready to fight, while only small remnants of battle persist within our fortress, with a few smaller fights still going on against what's left of the other two rounds.
The moment passes, and my inscription flares to life for an instant before vanishing. It crumbles away, its threads unraveling into fine particles that drift into the air.
With it, the barrier surrounding the fortress shatters instantly. The disrupting wave from the inscription tears through, completely obliterating the barrier along with any trap or activated skill below.
My thermal orb falls like a meteor, its surface glowing in golden flames as all that energy tries to escape. It crashes in the middle of the fortress and bursts open like a bubble. From it, a massive wave of golden flames surges forward, crashing against the buildings and sweeping through the passages.
Over half of the remaining people from Round 1 die from that single attack.
Then I reach down and pull all the remaining heat from the air back to my body, and, like another wave, Rounds 4 and 5 rush inside to deal with the rest. Turning away from it all, I fly to the side and reach the top of Derick's fortress. There I sit upon the broken roof that sways as if it is about to fall apart.
While waiting for it all to end, I allow myself to slip out of [Focus] and use it solely to keep my body alive and manage my mana.
I shudder as I feel as though I have returned to reality, and then I read the notifications.
[Mana Manipulation - lvl 63 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 64]
[Focus - lvl 63 > Focus - lvl 64]
[Perception - lvl 59 > Perception - lvl 60]
[Eclipse - lvl 26 > Eclipse - lvl 27]
[Eclipse - lvl 27 > Eclipse - lvl 28]
[Empyrean Lance - lvl 17 > Empyrean Lance - lvl 18]
[Ley Line - lvl 49 > Ley Line - lvl 50]
[Knitting - lvl 29 > Knitting - lvl 30]
I thought I would get more, and while this is good, it's not enough to fully satisfy me. As of late, it is confirmed that the leveling is slowing down. It's harder and harder to show the system that you have enough mastery for it to register another level up. And I have no reason to think it will be different in the future.
The rumors that it is impossible to become a Champion within the tutorial, which I estimate to start around level 450, are likely true. Maybe at least a decade is needed for it? Maybe two? Probably even longer if you want to become a "proper" Champion, as Sandra The Cockroach would say.
Ten minutes later, I see the strongest flash of orange light yet and turn toward our fortress to see what's happening, only to witness it explode and disappear completely, leaving nothing behind.
What the hell?
I quickly open the notifications and scroll up a little, finding what I was looking for.
Hadwin (Beyond) ⟶ Savant (Beyond)
Savi, my unhealthily patient and cowardly not-a-friend, what have you done to piss off the Cockroach?
***
POV Kang Jiwon
As we agreed previously, both Master Baek and I enter the mountain of the 8th round. Expecting us, the guards let us pass, and one of them leads us toward the big house, a short distance away from the central area and near the edge of the forest.
We enter the same room as before, and while Master Baek sits in the chair, I remain standing. Mister Kelley and his wife are already there, sitting next to each other on the sofa.
We spend the time in silence, waiting for Mister CarrotCake to join us, along with Mister Lucien.
"Greetings, my evil collaborators!" he exclaims with a big smile as he crashes into the biggest armchair, which even then groans under his weight.
"Jean," Mister Kelley greets him softly, "I didn’t expect you to be so happy after getting defeated."
"It's fine, it's fine," he says with the same smile, waving it off. "It's all about the process. Just like in the gym, you need to damage your muscles for them to grow. It doesn't matter if I lose once or multiple times. You know what? I think that's what makes it more fun."
"That's an attitude I didn't expect from you, especially with your subclass. So, how was she? Were the rumors true?" Mister Kelley asks, his curiosity clear.
With his smile growing even bigger, Mister CarrotCake says, "Oh, they were. Like brother, like sister. Or maybe like sister, like brother? You bunch also got the shit beaten out of you, from what I have heard."
"That's too harsh, Jean, even if it is true. But did you know Noname was holding back?"
Miss Kelley chimes in for the first time, "He didn't even heal his body, and we saw his incredible healing during the Beyond expedition. Some of his passives also seemed deactivated, and he appeared to be handicapping himself and not using most of his mana."
The room quiets, and I look at Miss Kelley, who meets my gaze with a calm, gentle smile. Master has already warned me that she has exceptionally keen eyes.
Meanwhile, Mister Lucien looks disinterested, as if he only came because he was dragged along.
Mister CarrotCake slams his hand on the armrest of his chair, "Isn't that obvious? He was clearly sending a message, the same way we heard he did during the first part of the 1st event. It's a shame I didn't fight him one-on-one, but his sister was also fun."
"Did she live up to the rumors?" Miss Kelley asks.
"She could create clones, duplicates, or avatars of herself. Her physical stats are incredible, and I have no idea how you would even go about killing her. As long as she has a piece of her flesh, she can regrow from it, and I couldn't tell which one was the original. But for now, it seems like the longer these 'clones' stay alive, the weaker they become, as if they degrade. That might change with more levels. She also likely has some physique-related trait and probably an upgraded constitution attribute."
I decide to join the conversation, "It's highly likely she possesses a concentration-type skill too, like her brother."
Master Baek reacts for the first time and tilts his head to look at me.
I return his gaze, and he sighs, clearly annoyed.
Mister CarrotCake, unfazed, says, "So, the sister is an immortal, emotionless maniac who’ll rip your arm off and beat you to death with it, while the brother’s zipping around like some glitched-out ghost, spewing mana and wrecking everything in sight. Got it. And Derrick, where's that silver-haired chick? What else did she tell you?"
Mentioning her pulls my thoughts back to that woman, the one with all-seeing eyes that never missed a thing, as if she could see through everything. Even the way she moved left an impression.
Not long ago, she contacted Derrick and offered techniques if he could reel in the other rounds and get them to cooperate.
The samples of techniques for each of the Kings that she had left with Mister Kelley and that he had shown us were so incredible that even Master showed interest.
"I would recommend that you never speak to her that way, Jean," Mister Kelley warns. "And as promised, she has left a mana stone with techniques for each of you."
He carefully takes them from his wife and hands them to Mister CarrotCake and my master. Both accept them with care, immediately diving into the stone with impatience.
A payment for a simple request from that woman. For us to join forces against those siblings.
***
Comments
Daniel Francis
Same lol
JJB4345_80_815
Tournament has me hooked. I bumped up my tier twice, all within the time it took to read 11 chapters. Good product. I'm scared of hitting the final chapter and having to actually wait most of another day for the next hit...erm... chapter.
LawBear2005
Well, let’s remember that she did declare ruby an absolute canidate because “her talent rivaled my own”. Ruby was only 2 question marks which means she was actually lower leveled than Nat currently is. I think Liss’s requirements are a bit more arbitrary that only raw power, although that is almost certainly a factor
Sir Supports Alot
Oh yes it's certainly a possibility!
Hardworking Guy
Yeah, I realized how unrealistic my expectations are after writing the comment. No way Liss will consider the tournament like a big deal. Killing Champions, like legit Champions, might be "the bare minimum" for an Absolute candidate to her standards.
Johnny
Hmm just occurred to me maybe Cockroachssandra is also pissed Nat has a built in ally in Victoria. She’s gotta re level the playing field
Johnny
Hope you’re right, just saying the deck can only be stacked so much. Theres gotta be suspense and defeats at some point too, but maybe that’ll just be the fallout of whatever wild lengths he has to go to win. Just idle speculation tho I’d be stoked if he kept mowing people down. Or maybe after she powers everyone else up she takes off all his restrictions that’d be sick
Madje Tobi Marc'Avent Tchona
I believe Lily and Nat theorized that he couldn’t store attacks higher leveled than his skill, which… it’s Liss, so I don’t think that would be a reason
Madje Tobi Marc'Avent Tchona
He’s not gonna lose. She’s going to push him harder and harder, because honestly this event is already too easy for him ( plus, the restrictions help with skill level ups). Remember, this is the guy who went back to face the floor level boss back in floor 1, instead of escaping with the rest when he had almost zero resources and was super weak and had no reasons to do so. This is the guy who outsmarted and poisoned the level 100 dude who was going to murder him back on floor 2 when he was like a level 20 something. I think “He’s not Nat because he’s strong, he’s strong because he’s Nat” applies here.
Madje Tobi Marc'Avent Tchona
I feel like with her insane standards, he’d have to kill a bunch of. Champions at the same time to qualify.
Josh Cothran
She destroyed her world with Singularity
Im the smallest peach
Triggering how? On the 2nd floor she clearly knew what was about to happen since she moved group 4 to another continent and definitely could stop tristan if she cared to
Hardworking Guy
Lissandra might even declare Nat an absolute candidate by the end of the tournament. It would be badass if after Nat wiped the floor with everyone in the tournament, before they are all send back, Lissandra attracts everyone attention with her presence and makes a declaration, THE DECLARATION. I still want to see everyone reactions to the round, or the reaction when they learn who the silver haired chick really is.
TheOne320
The cockroach probably wanted Savant to also go against Noname and he refused.
Johnny
As usual, not nearly enough to get my fix. Side note at some point just how insurmountable are these Cockroachssandra conditions? Perhaps she wants him to fail, a more pissed off Nat is an even more motivated Nat. Or something to do with Pride maybe and how he’d deal with an L
Kelto
I think next tournament will include other tutorials, like rounds from other planets, and will keep exploring and explaining pairings as this tournament is clearly doing.
arnumart
I wonder if Savant pissed Liss off on purpose in order to try to copy her powers.
jax rammus
Lissandra you cockroach!
Sir Supports Alot
If not the third tournament might be boring, or maybe some rulers might mess with it or something to make it interesting
Sir Supports Alot
I genuinely reckon she's legitimately making them stronger so they can continue to pressure nat in future tournaments
Mark Bullock
I caught that too
Delenda23
I think that too. I think she’s trying to make him powerful enough that the other Deadly Sins will be too wary to go after him outright. She might have been taken down by them, but the same thing will not happen to Nat.
Josh Cothran
Hell of a flex for Lissandra. She’s all like look my apprentice can fuck you all up at the same time WHILE HANDICAPPING HIMSELF.
Wojciech Waleśkiewicz
Shouldn’t CarrotCake be tagged as (Beyond, King) as well at the beginning of the chapter? 🤔
Jimmy Wright
Agreed, I’m sure her intention is to make the environment around Nat more difficult/dangerous. The harder things are, the more opportunities there are for growth, we can see that from the difference between tutorial difficulties and the fact that Liss keeps putting handicaps on him to make him grow. I think she’s trying to make him into a champions candidate before the end of tutorial
Broseph
good call
Meowgrr
I mean, he's using the power that destroyed her entire world. Seeing it is probably kinda triggering...
Kirin
Thank you for the chappie! I KNEW LISSANDRA WAS THE CAUSE.
Jughead
@Nictis, You’re absolutely correct. And even if she did care, I just remembered that Savant is too smart to try challenging her especially since people can’t die during the event
Delenda23
Liss doesn’t care about Earth. Only Nathaniel and maybe the people he has decided to protect by extension. Earth and other worlds mean nothing to her.
Daniel is ŁØNE
Nat takes after his sister not the other way round so it would make almost no sense for her to not be his equal, if she has had similar level of opportunity. It is very much implied that Nat is only the way he is because of his sister so expecting her to not be a power house at his level considering their similar personalities.
Nictis
She wouldn't care about that, and Nat would get it. Just one more thing to accept until he is strong enough to do something about it.
Hypnotical
She doesnt need to be weak but literally top 5 on the planet ?
Rocotrap
I actually think he asked for guidance and she just showed him how far behind he is, or she told him to kill everyone before nat killed the rest of the kings and he failed
A ST
Yeah I agree with the other commentor, Nats had Liss teaching him a decent portion of the trial now/helped build the base of his system, if he couldn't beat them and make it look easy it would be embarrassing. Now they all had a small amount of help from Liss which is helpful for Earth and means they'll be stronger opponents. Also his sister being weak would make 0 sense with the way she's been built up prior to meeting her.
blimko
Love the other POVs. Jean was great as usual. The korean girl was an interesting take, she was very respectful to everyone older. Love this chapter
Nimble (Hell, NoGroup)
It is not a real challenge if all you gotta do is defeat something weaker than a court lady’s pet. So Sandra gave Them some help 😂
Tsorov
I think you meant beyond unforgivable? If you did, I don't agree with you. There is no intrinsic group against group conpetition. Her strengthening them is strengthening earth. And all of earth needs to work together to contend with their paired world.
Tsorov
I also don't believe that they held back. Nat has had the teachings of an absolute for over a year now. It makes sense that he is strong. What Sandra is doing now is strengthening his opposition to make it a real challange. They already got this far without her guiadance, It only makes sense that they will gain tremendous benefits from being instructed by her.
Nimble (Hell, NoGroup)
Liss found out that savi has a stolen skill from her world (and Also a stolen broken sword). Poor savi, he will now be the subject of lissandra’s test of worh.
Jughead
Or maybe Savant caught her collaborating with the enemy and she silenced him
Jonathan Nading
Why do we think they held back? Just because they got clapped by Nat? See, I thought these past few sections served to show just how far ahead of them he is. Assuming that they were holding back only because they were bribed and Nat went 3 for 3 against other Kings because of it...I don't know if I buy that yet. **unless I'm missing something from the text?
Delenda23
I love Liss, but working with the other teams against Group Four is beyond forgivable…unless she’s using those bribes to sabotage them in some way long term. In that case, nothing says love from your Absolute like some kind of back door into the minds of all your future rivals.
Borbino the great
That would be so damn cool especially since I could see her making some sorta hive mind and then Nat having to compare her to the flood or something
RingoSeto
she may have taken him out to make nat defend
Funny guy
Danks fur da chappie!
Mads jæger
Redistribution didn't level up after all that?
Max Vidal
That is devious, I didn't think of that.
Val the mysterious Jedi
Savant be savant in front of big L.
I Is Patron
I think she asked him to join in on the "Lets mess with Nat" party and then he said no. She then took over Dawn and made it explode to be petty.
Dan
She technically stole mana hearts. I don't think that's necessarily the reason. Probably disappointed in his use of dawn.
Andrew
Thank you!
Zaim İpek
Brilliant. The more she replicates, the better chance one of her gets out. She should infect the entire tutorial like a plague. She can be Agent Smith from The Matrix.
Zaim İpek
I highly doubt she cares. I think he just did or said something annoying and arrogant to her like he does with everyone all the time.
Arnon Parenti
Savant had a mission and he failed, my guess he was supposed to kill Vic or slow down Tacita in exchange for a higher grade Dawn.
Zaim İpek
*Tristan* was the one with Dawn who took interest in Savant. Liss's Grandson was the one who built cyborg golems.
Blaxxun
I disagree, I like it that way. They are really pushing him especially with Liss help. His sister being weak I would have been annoyed at, he needs at least some people to be on the same power level as him, and why not clear allies for once. They still have 3 years to go, who says that one of them will not find their own opportunities and be a serious rival on his/her own once again, especially with somw help now from liss.
LawBear2005
I’m thinking savant died because keiran, the champion that took an interest in Savant, was Lissandra’s grandson. Savant probably said something arrogant like when he was talking to Nat in the first tournament and Liss Killed him just to show Savi his place.
Leyphelio
My theory for why the cockroach doesn't like Savant is that she views his power as stolen. We know he has some form of Copy skill and the ability to replace his body parts with those of monsters. I don't think she's a big fan of that.
Belmont Igneul
There’s just something about naming yourself “talented” that makes me dislike you - lissandra probably
Ansordia
Then she is doing her job!
Flippu
Victoia ripping your arms and beating you to death with them, meanwhile Nat loosing arms to beat you to death... truly marvelous writing
Max
Tftc!!
Tsorov
So, the Cockroach is still rigging the game against Nat to push him even further? Well, I shouldn't have expected differently
Ikawaii
Cocroach -> Cockroach
Zaim İpek
Savant pisses everyone off. He has a terrible personality. Very anti-social. Just imagine him in a wheelchair being extremely annoying and hostile for no reason all the time. It's no wonder he was bullied before. He probably brought it upon himself.
Zaim İpek
Everyone held back significantly. Liss wasn't specific enough with her instructions. Rather than rewarding them for simply gathering together against the siblings, she should have made the rewards based on how much damage they could do to the pair. That would have encouraged more active teamwork at the very least.
vEnviouz
TFTC!!!
Madje Tobi Marc'Avent Tchona
Knowing Liss, the mana stones probably contain each an imprint
zoarian
Liss is truly best girl. Although killing Savant seems a bit out of character; what could he even do to make her lose her cool? Unless it was a slap on the wrist kinda thing, though even then, I'm surprised she'd care. It's also nice to get an explanation about the other groups joining against Nat. I hope we get thermal energy lasers of doom with the ignition heart. I remember Nat was capable of focusing the thermal energy into narrow beams before. He could try the same thing again or channel the energy along lay lines for maximum impact.
Hypnotical
Honestly this is really lame. Jean vs Nat was the best fight in the series an amazing showdown of earth's best. Now he and all the other Kings have become cartoon characters. Also yes I know its a story but also having his sister be insanely powerful sucks.
Fred Mwilima
Amazing as always cerim.
Mattias Rydahl
The cockroach is really starting to bug me.
frankie doerr
Replied to wrong comment
frankie doerr
I think she’s bored like the guy who sent his neighbor Steve some flowers
ramir
So the others most likely held back too
frankie doerr
I just think she’s bored like that guy who sent his neighbor steve some flowers
frankie doerr
The cockroach is manipulating behind the scenes again I wonder why she didn’t get Sophie’s manipulate she enjoys it so much she’s like a farmer fattening up livestock and Nat is becoming a very juicy burger
Max Vidal
Lissaaaandraa !! What a move. As she said, she'll be the villain in his path. The tournaments chapters are amazing ! Thanks cerim
EDMANGO
Ofc she would do that
Belmont Igneul
Of course savant would piss her off
Justin B
My first thought was "That sneaky bitch."
im_among_you
Yay
Oaktree
Hey look i was right about savant being the defender, granted I thought he was going to be in the throne room but still.
Antoine Magny
Thanks for the chapter
BlackRazaras
Thanks for the chapter
