1169 The World Is A Stage
"Chase him! This guy is a loner! There's no help coming!" An ogre pointed his large mace—that seemed to be made from the thigh bone of a huge creature—and chased after a man who was speeding up the mountains.
Behind the ogre, a couple of goblins wearing wizard hats and robes whipped their hog mounts and tried to keep up the pace.
"I just wanted a few rank 3s. Why did a rank 4 pop up?" Varian slid down the giant mountain, jumped over the lake at its base, and—
When he stepped forward, the land sunk and something violently pulled him in. It was a bit too late when Varian realized he fell into a dangerous varient of quicksand.
'Ugh, this sucks.' Varian thrashed around to get to the shore but the quicksand was negating all of his movements.
Varian used his matter powers to move away from the quicksand. It was working, but it was just too slow. Whatever made this thing, was much more special than it seemed.
Heck, the entire planet was weird. How could a rank 2 celestial get stuck in quicksand? It made no fucking sense.
Varian tried sending vines of his plants outside but the quicksand had an unexpected suction force. It sucked away all the vines he threw out.
'I guess teleporting is the only choice.'
He could've teleported right when the ogre started chasing him. But it had a cost.
Jai Empire had a near monopoly over the space-time awakeners. While the Alliance had plenty of space-time awakeners in lower ranks, there were few civilizations in the celestial ranks.
If he did show his space powers, he might be suspected of being a spy by fellow challengers and natives.
Even if the divine ranker in the tower wasn't watching, he could learn if someone was able to pass on the message.
It's not a 100% death scenario. Maybe he'd be thought of as one of those rare alliance warriors. But it's still something that'd put him at risk.
"Hahahaha!" The ogre approached Varian with a large smile. The goblins followed behind and circled him on their hog mounts.
Feeling their intrusive gaze similar to a predator sizing up its prey, Varian's lips twitched.
"Don't feel too bad," The ogre said in a hoarse voice and slammed the mace onto his head. "Your skull will be present in our hall of glory for helping us grow."
The defenses he set up as a last resort broke apart and Varian felt a not-so-gentle force slamming his head.
Thankfully, a lot of force was already negated and whatever hit him was only enough to scratch his scalp to the point he shed a few drops of blood.
"Huh?" The ogre was taken aback and one of the goblins came forward, muttering. "He is a tough one, boss. It'll take some time to end him."
"Er, can I ask something before you kill me anyway?" Varian was sinking into the quicksand. Now, only his chest and above remained above the surface.
"Are you crazy? Why would we talk to prey?" The goblin snarled at him as if his intelligence was insulted. "You must be one of those guys who thinks goblins are dumb and greedy creatures."
"Well…" Varian pursed his lips.
It's not his fault that the pop culture back home did depict them that way.
"How about a trade?" He asked quickly as the ogre raised his mace again.
"A trade?" The goblin poked the ogre on its waist—that's how high it could poke anyway—and the ogre stopped. "You'll spit out all information when we drag you out after seriously injuring you and inflict some good torture."
'So, this guy is the actual boss?' Varian raised a brow.
"Not everyone is a braveheart, you know? Instead of going through all that trouble, I can just…" Varian looked into the goblin's eyes and for some reason, the latter had a bad premonition, "Kill myself."
"Don't!" The goblin stepped forward instinctively and stretched his hand toward him. Realizing his eagerness, he quickly stepped back and coughed. "It's not impossible for us to negotiate."
'As I guessed, just like challengers getting survival hours for killing natives, natives get a reward for killing challengers.'
It might probably not work if he could commit suicide very early though. Or maybe it did count but reduced the reward.
Either way, once he grasped this truth, Varian felt a lot more relaxed.
With a passionate expression on his face, he looked up at the sky and said with moist eyes. "I'm a truth seeker, you see. All my life, I've spent seeking the wonders of the world and the truth behind them. I entered this tower alone. No one supported me. But I can't stop and I won't stop in the pursuit of truth."
The chief goblin was persuaded by Varian's acting. There were people like him in the past anyway. Idiots who follow their passion so blindly that they won't even notice they're walking to the edge of a cliff.
These guys were always easy to manage.
He signaled to the goblins behind him to charge their 'spells' so that they could kill him in one shot.
And then, he started speaking with an admiring tone. "Truth seeker, huh? Even though I hate all challengers, that batch is the exception."
Varian looked at the goblin chief's acting and gasped in shock. This bastard was as good as him at deceiving people!
What was that sad expression? What were those natural tears? Oh, and the faint glow in his eyes as he cast an admiring gaze.
For a moment, Varian wondered if the goblin guy really admired the truth seekers.
'So they're charging up for an attack. Good. I'll need at least two minutes to charge up the space power.' In contrast to his cold and calculating inner self, Varian shed tears and looked at the goblin with an expression of finding a confidante.
"Truth, yes. Truth is everything! Truth is the only thing worth seeking!"
"Yes!"
"No power, wealth, or women can replace truth!"
"Brother! I regret not being born a goblin and being your real brother!"
As they got more and more passionate in their play, both the goblin team and Varian charged enough of their powers.
The decisive moment occurred at almost the same time. When it did, the expression of Varian and the goblin turned cold simultaneously and they said together. "Bye!"
A circular array consisting of all elements—fire, water, lightning, earth, light, and darkness—appeared over the quicksand and slammed into Varian.
At the same time, dozens of space cracks appeared inside the quicksand and emptied it by half.
Varian jumped out of the quicksand, grabbed his goblin brother and slammed him into the quicksand, and ran away.
The ogre didn't have much time to make a choice. Instead of chasing after him, the rank 4 jumped into the quicksand to save the goblin.
Varian took the chance and returned without hesitation. When the goblins were struggling to get their chief and ogre out, he attacked them from behind shamelessly.
"Who?!"
"Missed me, darlings?"
"You shameless thief!"
"Thanks for the compliment."
Varian was smiling light-heartedly but his attacks were ruthless. Five rank 3 goblins died before they could even fight back. Varian knocked out the remaining three with ease.
His strength had completely surpassed a rank 3 and fighting them was a child play for him.
The ogre and the goblin chief struggling to get out froze when they witnessed this horrifying scene.
Who? Who the fuck was this guy?
The most shocked was obviously the goblin chief. He glared at the screen in the corner of his eyes with hatred.
[Yankas
Race: Goblin
Rating: 1 Star
Upgrade: 76/100
Targets nearby:
Peak Rank 2 Mystic (4 points)]
Had the tower's system gone mad? Why else was this monster shown as a rank 2?
While the goblin chief doubted the integrity of the tower, Varian glanced at his screen with satisfaction.
(Challenger: Name ???
Survival Hours: 12: 36: 55 + 20: 00: 00
1) Natives killed today: 5/5
2) Challengers killed today: 0/3)
Even if he didn't find any other challengers, he'd be fine for the time being.
"I have a trade proposal." Varian threw a straw at the drowning enemies.
""I accept!"" They accepted without hesitation.
Unfortunately, something else interrupted them.
"Move! Get out of the way! Run away!"
Dust rose into the air, the ground shook violently and shockwaves slapped the three of them in the face.
A lady with beautiful green hair was running from the two oysters, a blue-haired man and a woman.
"Ugh…they give a familiar feeling." Varian pursed his lips at the chasers.
The mermaid and merman too noticed the situation here. Their noses wrinkled instinctively and they smelled a familiar scent on Varian.
The scent of mermaids.
"This bastard! He hunted our kin! Kill him too!"
An oyster clapped with its mouth and spat a red liquid at Varian. He narrowly dodged it but the goblin and ogre weren't so lucky. Half of their bodies were burned to ashes in a blink.
"What the hell did I do? You crazy water bastards!" Varian threw a string of insults but started running.
The tree lady threw an oval trinket which created a gust of wind and pushed her forward.
"K-Keep running! They're very vengeful! B-Been chasing me for ten hours!" The lady panted heavily but said anyway.
"Vengeful? I did nothing…oh, wait, I have the scent of their kin on me. They might've misunderstood." Varian quickly realized and yelled at the pursuers. "Hey guys, we're on the same team. I am the ruler of a mermaid tribe."
His words caused the eyes of the mermaid and merman to bulge in fury. "You enslaved them? You son of a bitch!"
"Oh fuck!" Varian facepalmed and glanced at the tree lady running beside him with resentment. "Why the fuck are they chasing you?"
"I just robbed their star-pearls?"
"The what?"
The tree-lady rolled her eyes at Varian's ignorance, "You loner country bumpkin."
Just when Varian was wondering if he should punch her in the face or the stomach, she said with a haughty expression. "Let me put it in a way that you normal people can also understand. The star-pearls are to a mermaid what his balls are to a man."
Varian's eyes went wide and his jaw dropped. "You stole their balls!"
"No, not like that!"
