Chapter 88
Chapter 88
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 81
Chapter Title: The Bloody Flail
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“Uh... Anna?”
The players were flustered.
They had no choice but to be.
Because it was the first time they had seen Anna deliberately step to the front lines and fight.
Right now, Anna was holding a flail and shield as she took the vanguard position, leading the charge in the war.
So everyone was bound to be surprised.
No one had expected Anna to stand at the forefront and fight like that.
Of course, Anna had already claimed first place in points during the previous Trials' Arena by clearing the hidden trial with more contributions than anyone else.
In other words, this combative side of Anna was not new at all.
It was the same sight from the previous Trials' Arena.
So why were the players flustered?
Because back then, they had no idea it was Anna.
In the previous Trials' Arena, there had been a Holy Knight in pure white full-body armor from the human camp, their identity unknown—and players and orcs alike had been mercilessly slaughtered by them.
Everyone had assumed until now that they were one of the human camp's heroic NPCs.
“That was Anna?”
Right there in their own vanguard, Anna had changed out of her priestly robes into full-body armor. And she had drawn the bloodied flail—the very weapon that had inflicted PTSD during the previous Trials' Arena.
Bloody Flail.
It was the nickname attached to the Holy Knight who had hidden their identity and smashed the heads of players and orcs alike with a flail back in the previous Trials' Arena.
And now, the players had finally learned the truth.
The existence that had made them tremble in fear, the Bloody Flail...
...was Anna.
One might think they could have guessed it was her, given that she had achieved the hidden trial.
But most players had assumed Anna had racked up her contributions from the rear by buffing and healing the human camp's forces.
In any case, now everyone knew.
The new moniker of Anna, whom they had called the 'Saintess' among themselves.
‘Bloody Flail.’ Whether they reacted or not, Anna—now in full Holy Knight mode—swung her flail without rest as she charged forward. In fact, by the current standards, Anna had no choice but to rank among the top three strongest. Why? For one, she was the only player with a dual class—and that dual class consisted of the combat-specialized Holy Knight and the self-buffering, self-healing Cleric. As such, she had zero drawbacks when it came to cutting loose on her own. One of those top three spots belonged to Hae-jin, whom no one could even approach. The other went to Raffaello, who had grown immensely stronger thanks to Hae-jin. In truth, Raffaello's growth came from upgraded summons and magic—but in a straight one-on-one duel, Anna might actually hold the edge. In other words, excluding Hae-jin, Anna was the strongest in close-quarters combat. Regardless, Anna kept only one thought in her mind as the other players reacted to her. ‘I have to catch the lord.’ Hae-jin had told her. To clear the hidden trial in this Trials' Arena, they needed to catch the hidden lord. And he had even shared exactly where the lord was hiding. Armed with that intel, Anna pressed forward toward the lord's castle without hesitation. Unlike Hae-jin, who cut down everything in sight, Anna smashed the head of every enemy she encountered with her flail. She wondered if this was really the right way. She had learned the sword from Damian, after all—wasn't she supposed to use that? Anna recalled Damian's words.
“You seem more suited to this than the sword, surprisingly.”
While teaching Anna, Damian had concluded that the flail suited her better than a sword and recommended it.
All while thinking of a certain woman.
“Back in my old days, there was a female Holy Knight called the ‘White Rose.’ You’d be better off learning her techniques.”
Anna had learned her fundamentals from Damian. But when Hae-jin stopped coming for lessons, Damian began teaching her White Rose's combat style.
On top of that, after mastering White Rose's techniques, Anna had even commissioned Hae-jin and Raffaello to craft a flail tailored to her unique flair.
Raffaello's skills made it possible to produce gear approaching dwarf-made quality.
She had wielded a short-handled flail at first. But after breaching the lord's castle, she made it all the way to the lord's bedroom.
There, Anna spotted a man.
A lavish bed stood in the room.
A man sat atop it.
Clad head to toe in armor, sword and shield at the ready.
The man on the bed spotted Anna and rose to his feet.
He bellowed at her.
“Do you have no pride as a human?!”
A man lecturing Anna about human pride.
Ignoring him, Anna recalled Hae-jin's advice.
“Strike first to gain the upper hand. Those pretending to be the lord or chieftain will spout nonsense—just attack immediately. No need to let them create an opening.”
Hae-jin had chatted with Banks because beating him wasn't hard. But for his party members chasing the hidden trial, he warned them not to miss their chance.
Banks pointed his sword at her while questioning her pride.
Without a word, Anna swung her flail.
“Haat!”
Anna unleashed her flail.
Banks sneered as he watched.
“Can't even judge distance?”
No matter how you sliced it, the iron ball gripped in Anna's hand didn't extend far enough from the handle.
He figured it would just whistle through empty air.
Sure, if she infused it with energy, it might reach him despite the gap.
But to Banks' eyes, Anna's flail showed no signs of closing the distance.
She wasn't channeling any energy to empower the weapon.
That was when it happened.
Swish-. Anna's hand twisted the handle as she swung toward Banks. Then... Clangclangclang-! The chain linking the iron ball to the handle suddenly extended. Banks panicked at the sight.
“Damn it!”
He had assumed it was a whiff—but seeing the flail extend unexpectedly, he scrambled to defend. Yet the surprise attack caught him off guard. He couldn't block in time. Boom-! “Grrgh!”
Banks cried out in agony. He had no choice. The blow had dented his helm—the one meant to shield his entire face. Sure, there was damage from striking the helm itself. But the real damage was worse.
“Ugh...”
Banks clutched his head with both hands and pitched forward. Anna's strike had rattled his brain. Looking down at the writhing Banks, Anna spoke.
“Sorry, but I have to kill you to get what I want.”
With that, Anna swung her flail mercilessly at Banks' head once more. Boom-! Boom-! Boom-! Anna hammered down on Banks' head without pause. And then she saw it. Banks vanished, leaving behind the item he had dropped. Anna stowed Banks' dropped item in her inventory. Then she smashed the bed where he had first been sitting with her flail. Boom-! Anna struck with full force, cleaving the bed in two. Beneath the ruined bed lay an iron door. Seeing it, Anna thought: ‘This must be it.’ Staring at the iron door, Anna recalled Hae-jin's instructions.
“The lord's or chieftain's bedroom will have pretenders acting the part. Beat them, then smash the bed they were sitting on first. An iron door for the human camp, a wooden one for the orc camp. The real lord or chieftain is hiding underground beyond it.”
Hae-jin had said the real ones were weaker than the pretenders, so they wouldn't be hard to kill.
It played out exactly as described.
Anna smashed the iron door with her flail as well.
She descended underground and confronted the true lord—not the fake Banks had been impersonating—for the hidden trial's sake.
She slew them too.
With the hidden trial conditions fulfilled, Anna muttered:
“Phew. Time to head back out for the rankings.”
She emerged for the rankings.
Catching the lord or chieftain fulfilled the hidden trial objective. But to rank high in this Trials' Arena, she needed sky-high contributions above all else.
As she climbed out from underground, Anna thought:
‘Hidden trial's done. Now to rack up contributions. That's why I used the scroll.’ Hae-jin had laid it out. Let the others duke it out with the enemy camp on their own. While they did, his group would snag the lord or chieftain—and rack up points in the process. Once survival quotas were met through those points, they should emerge from the lord's castle or chieftain's lair and farm more. Anna followed Hae-jin's blueprint to the letter. Not long after, the orc garrison—having bled troops nonstop to the castle-defending humans and run out of food, forcing a retreat—succeeded in their siege. With the siege won, an electronic billboard appeared.
[You have completed the Seventh Trial.]
[Level increased.]
At last, the Seventh Trials' Arena had ended.
Immediately after, Anna saw the follow-up system window.
[Seventh Trial completed.]
[Settling Seventh Trial results.]
[Announcing Seventh Trial results.]
Top 3 Zone Rankings for the Seventh Trial
1st: Anna - 81,400 points
2nd: Grami - 22,700 points
3rd: Pakul - 17,300 points
In the current zone, Anna had claimed first place by a massive margin over second and third.
She had no choice but to.
Banks had given 20,000 points. The lord had given 20,000 more.
Normally just 10,000 each—but doubled thanks to the Contribution Scroll from clearing the previous Trials' Arena's hidden trial.
The billboard announced up to third place in the zone, then continued.
[Survival condition for this Trials' Arena: Players who accumulated contributions above the enemy camp's minimum.]
[Calculating enemy camp's minimum contributions.]
[Enemy camp's minimum contributions: 4,300 points.]
[Settling surviving players.]
[Number of surviving players: 222.]
“Oh! More than half survived!”
“Nice!”
“Damn it! Short by 100 points!”
“No... nooo!”
Joy and despair crossed between the surviving players and those doomed to die as the survival threshold flashed on the board.
But Anna showed no emotion.
What mattered to her hadn't appeared yet.
To Anna, the key was the hidden trial results.
[Hidden Trial completed.]
[Level increased.]
The hidden trial completion window appeared.
Which meant the results would follow soon.
[Seventh Trial's Hidden Trial also completed.]
[Seventh Trial Hidden Trial]
-Objective: Kill the master of enemy territory.
-Achievers: Park Hae-jin, Raffaello, Speller, Anna, Manager Kim, Me.
Anna beamed as the hidden trial results were announced.
“Hehe, yes!”