Pick Me Up!

The box closed.

My eyes narrowed.

‘I came to the right place.’

In truth, winning the ticket would be nice, but it wasn’t necessary.

I came to this Festa to win that advent stone. I was worried it might not be included as a prize, but it seems I was right.

“Phew, that’s a relief.”

A faint whistle sounded.

Turning to my side, a somewhat familiar woman was standing there.

After some thought, I remembered her.

She was the four-star woman who had been causing trouble yesterday.

Her party members were gathered around her. It seemed they had withdrawn from both the team and individual events.

“If we can get that summoning stone, we can break those guys’ pride. Whether it’s Niflheimr or whatever, they’re all has-beens. Just wait for the next event. I’ll make them lick my boots.”

The blonde knightess snorted with disdain.

‘…’

I will be meeting those guys soon.

I turned my head.

[As I said earlier, dying here doesn’t mean you’re out. Thanks to Mobius’s great technology, you’ll be resurrected! For the audience’s sake, kill a lot and die a lot!]

“…”

[Now, everyone, let’s start the preliminaries. Have fun!]

The fairy smiled sweetly and stepped down from the platform.

Then, she began to whip the lined-up employees with a leather whip.

[What are you irregular slave bastards doing! Why aren’t you working?!]

Smack!

The whipped employees scrambled about.

The event preparations began immediately. Heroes were guided by staff into various groups. With thousands of participants, they were organized into teams. Dimensional gates appeared throughout the circular stadium.

[http://go.onewinch.tv/ – One Inch TV]

[Pick Me Up! – Huh? Niflheimr in a four-star dimensional city?]

[BJ – Assalamu Alaikum]

[Viewers 3,053]

A broadcast banner floated on the right side of my view.

It was Anytng’s screen. The Raid Festa provided many broadcast opportunities for BJs. While most users focused on the rankers participating in raids, this time it was different. Niflheimr was here, after all.

‘This isn’t the place.’

The broadcast was covering the individual event site.

I glanced at it briefly before dragging the broadcast out of my field of vision.

I couldn’t get the exact situation from the game screen.

The preliminary seemed to involve a small number of participants.

I counted the people assigned to the same group as me.

About twenty people. The number of participants increases as the rounds progress.

From the preliminaries, the odds were thousands to one.

There were too many variables.

One could be ambushed or caught in an unexpected accident.

Those confident in their skills would go to the singles or team events. I noticed heroes exiting the stadium to apply for other events. It wasn’t too late for other events yet.

Naturally, I wouldn’t leave.

I came to win it all.

“Preliminary Group 18, heroes! Please return your equipment!”

At the corner of the stadium, in front of a dimensional gate.

A staff member opened the door of a display case installed on the wall.

“You can’t bring your own items! If caught, you will be disqualified immediately. We’ll keep your armor and equipment safe, so please take them off and put them inside.”

Heroes began to strip off their armor and equipment and started placing them into the lockers.

“Once you enter the dimensional gate, the preliminary round will start immediately. As mentioned earlier, you can be resurrected, so don’t worry. Just do your best.”

“…”

I unfastened my leather armor and my Bifrost, a dagger, and placed them in the display case.

Even if I tried to cheat, I couldn’t take Bifrost with me. It was secured with various security magics. I’d retrieve it after passing the preliminary.

“Alright, go on in!”

Whirring.

A dimensional gate, as tall as me, was spinning.

The other participants had already entered. I was the last.

I spoke to the female staff member standing demurely behind me.

“If I finish the preliminary round quickly, can I leave?”

“You may leave if you finish earilier, but this event is likely to be a long haul…”

I stepped into the dimensional gate.

A unique sensation of buoyancy enveloped me as light wrapped around my entire body.

[Floor ?]

[Special event field.]

[Objective – Survive until you are the last one standing!]

I opened my eyes.

I looked around. It seemed I was summoned to one side of a high-rise building. Exposed concrete and bare steel frames were visible.

‘This field is modern-style too.’

It seemed to be modeled after a ruined city.

It was late at night. A crescent moon shone through the broken window glass.

‘Twenty survivors.’

The odds were one in twenty.

A mini-map of this field was displayed on the left side of my vision.

The red on the outskirts must be the no-entry zones. They would shrink over time as mentioned.

‘First, find a weapon.’

It would be stupid to go unarmed.

Supposedly, usable items were scattered everywhere.

After about ten minutes of rummaging nearby, I managed to find a rusty iron pipe. It was pathetic in performance but would serve as a makeshift sword.

I carried the iron pipe down the stairs.

“Hey there!”

On the third floor of the ruined building.

Someone called out to me.

Turning towards the sound, a young man holding a crossbow was approaching me.

“Nice to meet you! You’re aiming for victory too, right?”

I nodded.

“It’s still early. I don’t think we need to fight right away. How about we join forces? It would be a good tactic to increase our survival chances. I’ve been watching, and you seem like a warrior. I come from a rogue background. We could make a good team…”

‘He’s suggesting forming a party.’

Indeed.

Not a bad idea.

“Heh, it seems we understand each other. My name is Lahan and…”

Thump!

I struck the young man’s head with the iron pipe.

“Ugh!”

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Each time I swung the pipe, blood splattered from his head.

[1Kill!]

Hastily.

I took the crossbow, bolts, and first aid kit from the young man’s body and continued down the stairs.

I'm currently Translating the following novels: Pick Me Up! | A Frontline Soldier Awakened as a Gamer In The War! | The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player. If you want to support me and read more chapters please subscribe to my Patreon!