The Species Tournament

The Species Tournament.

To the players of the Tower of Infinity, it was a massive event that came as close to a festival as anything in their lives—a brief chance to set down, if only for a while, the burden of the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Demon God's Invasion.

Inside the tower where the tournament was held, losing one's life did not mean truly dying. No one knew how such a thing was possible. They simply assumed the System had exerted its power.

Almost like a virtual-reality game.

Less than an hour remained before the Species Tournament began, and a faint tension had started to settle over the players' faces. Standing out there meant more than enormous rewards. A name could spread across the whole of the Tower of Infinity. A reputation on the right side of things might bring scout offers from guilds, or the chance to found one and grow a following. Those already sworn to a guild might raise its name instead. And so the players entered the Species Tournament, each with a purpose of their own.

They said the Species Tournament puts you on a team with your own kind.

It would have been easy to assume that races with fewer numbers were at a disadvantage, but that wasn't the case. Smaller races were paired with other minority races, and in those pairings their weaknesses could cover one another until something close to a perfect team took shape.

Time slipped by quickly. Holographic windows bloomed before the players' eyes.

The world lurched and spun. Sky and earth seemed to tangle into one another—and in the next moment Yujun was standing somewhere entirely different.

His eyes went wide.

Wait… this place.

High-rise buildings. So many of them were familiar, and cars lined the streets as well. None of them were moving. Dumbfounded as he was, Yujun swept his surroundings with a calm, careful gaze. The signs were written in Hangul. He knew exactly where he was.

Seoul. Gangnam, no less. He could tell because Gangnam Station, Exit 11, stood right in front of him.

And yet something was wrong. Everything seemed frozen. Not a single person wore modern clothes. The only living things were the players.

It wasn't only Yujun. The Korean players were just as stunned.

"This is Korea, isn't it?"

"What is this? The Tower of Infinity—did we get out?"

"I don't think so. It's far too quiet for that. This place was probably fabricated, don't you think?"

"Has anyone here been through the last Species Tournament? Was it like this then?"

Someone raised a hand. Every eye turned to him at once.

"I have… but last time it was a glacier."

"Hmm…"

While the rest puzzled over it, another player spoke up.

"The starting location of the Species Tournament is different every time."

"I know that, but… Korea as the setting? That's a first, isn't it?"

"It is."

"How is this even possible?"

"Gives me the chills. Everything we've been through feels like a lie."

Everyone was thrown by the fact that their first warp into the Species Tournament had dropped them in Seoul—in Gangnam, of all places.

"Where are the other players?"

"Oh. Now that you mention it, there aren't that many of us."

"Looks like we got scattered when we warped."

Fewer than fifty players stood here. Considering that well over a thousand had been lined up only moments ago, it was a pitifully small number.

So this is how it goes.

The Species Tournament changed more than its setting. The situation itself was different every time, and having been through it once did not grant anyone higher ground. They were still taking in their surroundings when the next windows appeared.

"Jiangshi?"

"A hunting mission. Those are the easy ones, relatively speaking. I once got a mission to escape a maze, and the whole group was trapped in there for ages."

"But can we take down five hundred of them with this many people?"

"The System doesn't hand out missions that are outright impossible. There's always a way. With a hunting mission, though, if we aren't strong enough, a lot of people can die."

While the Koreans argued heatedly among themselves, the other races were talking as well.

"The humans seem to know this place pretty well."

"Lucky us. This ought to be easier."

"Easier?"

"Better than some godforsaken wilderness none of us has ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ever seen, isn't it?"

"That's true."

"Then let's get ready to fight."

The players were drawing their weapons when it came.

Thoom. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud-thud. Thud.

The ground trembled, faintly at first. With every passing moment, the shaking grew.

"They're coming!"

"Everyone, get ready!"

There was a hard ceiling on the level at which one could enter the Species Tournament. That ceiling was exactly level 300. The instant someone reached level 301, they were barred from participating.

Looking faintly excited, Yujun turned the thought over.

My combat power is enough to take down two demons close to level 300…

Here, in the Species Tournament, that would put him well up the ranks. Perhaps even among the very top. Through the trait Keen Senses (A), the movements of the jiangshi closing in registered with exquisite clarity. Their number matched the System's notice exactly: five hundred.

Whoever kills the most gets a reward, they said.

No one knew what that reward would be, which only made him look forward to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it more. Not knowing what the prize was—nothing thrilled him quite like that.

The jiangshi came bounding in from every direction, hopping toward the players.

Tap!

Yujun broke into a run toward the densest cluster of them. A few quick-witted players, and those confident in their own skill, moved first as well.

Even to Yujun, a jiangshi was a kind of monster he had never seen.

They seem a bit like undead…

And yet they felt different from the undead. As the distance closed, he swung his sword hard.

Whoosh. Shhk!

The blade caught for an instant on a hide that was far too hard—then sheared clean through the jiangshi's body.

Tough as hell.

A single strike was enough for him to grasp what set them apart. It was nothing like the usual sensation of slicing through tofu. A glance around showed other players panicking as their attacks failed to land.

"Watch out! Blades don't seem to work on these things!"

"Then what are we supposed to hit them with?"

"How should I know!"

"Let's try magic for now!"

The players adapted quickly, but the sheer weight of numbers began to drive them back. Before he knew it, Yujun was surrounded.

I need to clear these fast.

Stand around gaping and he wouldn't be the one with the most kills. He'd be the first one flat on his back.

Kkak! Kang!

Facing so many at once, he took more than a few blows from their claws. His high-defense armor did not give way easily. There was only the dull shock of impact. Yujun never stopped swinging, and just in case, he had tucked a potion at his waist.

Kang! Shhk! Shhk! Sssk!

Enemies on every side. Allies, none. A melee broke out of its own accord, and this was where Swordsmanship (SSS) showed its true worth.

Shhk! Ssk!

One swing dropped two jiangshi. The gap filled at once with new ones, and the same exchange repeated. Yujun fought a grinding battle against the jiangshi pressing in from front, back, and both sides. It wasn't desperate enough to truly call a struggle—the situation never turned truly dire—but being ringed by hundreds of jiangshi was dangerous beyond question.

A great pile of unallocated stats had built up, but he had no room to spare them a thought.

I'm still hoarding unallocated stats, and even so this isn't that hard…

Did that mean he had grown that much stronger? The confidence that he could grow stronger at any moment, simply by distributing those stats, poured still more strength into him.

Some ten minutes passed that way. Yujun dragged in a ragged breath. There was no end in sight. At this rate, he thought, he might collapse not from wounds but from sheer exhaustion.

Should I break through?

Because he was holding so many of them here, the other players were taking relatively little damage. But he had no obligation to look after anyone else. His own safety came before everything.

Then, all at once, a good idea struck him.

Jiangshi turn into corpses when they die, don't they.

Yujun summoned Paranet. He hadn't called him earlier; in a brawl like this, the summon hadn't seemed likely to help much. Now, though, he desperately needed one of the creature's skills—none other than Paranet's Corpse Explosion (S). An S-rank didn't get attached for nothing. Honestly, the effect was worth looking forward to, and against jiangshi, walking corpses, the odds of it working at its best were high.

"You called, my—"

WHAM!

The instant Paranet materialized, a jiangshi's arm caught him and sent him flying backward. Yujun shouted.

"Paranet! Use Corpse Explosion!"

Paranet obeyed at once.

KRA-KOOM!

A tremendous blast and a roar shook the whole area. Paranet had poured every drop of his mana into detonating as many jiangshi as he could. What was astonishing was that even the bodies of jiangshi still moving perfectly well burst apart. Foul chunks of their flesh sprayed in every direction.

"Master! Was that to your satisfaction?"

"Yeah. Decent punch to it."

The explosion had flung the jiangshi far and wide, and Yujun used the opening to slip out with Paranet.

The other players were locked in a bloody fight against roughly a hundred and twenty jiangshi. That meant each of them had to take on at least two. It could hardly be called a good situation.

Better to clear that side first.

He needed to preserve their strength. Otherwise the next mission would turn ugly.

"Can you use Corpse Explosion again?"

"I must wait until my mana recovers, so it will take some time, I fear."

"Hm."

Handing an expensive mana potion to an undead would do nothing. He wouldn't receive the effect. Yujun kicked off the ground and dove for the space behind the jiangshi attacking the players.

Shhk! Sssk!

The players' attacks inflicted only the slightest harm. Yujun was different. Even a simple swing of his sword brought a jiangshi's movements to a halt, and headless corpses began to pile up. The faces of the players fighting beside him changed by the second.

"Wh-what is that guy?"

"He's out there massacring them all by himself?"

"That's the player who cleared the Ancient Ruins."

"Wait, seriously? Then all that gear came from the ruins too? Is that why he's so strong?"

A few of them looked at Yujun with open envy.

Shhk! Sskk!

And then, all at once, every jiangshi that had first clashed with the players lay sprawled on the ground. A little over three hundred remained. The number of dead players, by contrast, was not so high. About five had lost their lives. The rest were in decent shape.

Starting to wear thin…

His mouth had gone bone-dry, and a coppery tang rode every breath. Breathing hard, Yujun looked around. Better than a moment ago, but he was nowhere near normal.

Unallocated stats. Time to use them.