NOVEL FROG Chapter 57: City of Ruin
[Welcome to the ‘City of Ruin’]
“Tch.. can’t they come up with some cheerful names?”
“Well, it is a fitting name,” Kyle replied to Lauren while looking at the far horizon.
“Is it time to fight Chie- no, wait, what do I call you?”
“He would prefer ‘Your Majesty’,” Ria answered instead of Zyrus.
“Majesty? Him?”
“Just call me whatever you want,”
“Chief it is then.”
“…”
“You two get along pretty well,” Ria smirked at Zyrus who was speechless.
“Why don’t you bother Lauren as usual?”
Zyrus ignored the three chatterboxes and walked towards Jacob. They were at a square surrounded by five-story buildings. The infrastructure had a nice blend of industrial and medieval styles. Concrete buildings surrounded by green trees and fountains at every intersection, it was a beautiful sight.
“A pity that it’s ruined,” Shi kun sighed as he touched the broken walls.
“Did you notice anything else?”
“No?”
*Boom*
Before Zyrus could explain further, he heard a loud explosion in front of him.
“Can’t burn anything.”
“…”
“…”
Thanks to Jacob’s practical experiment, Zyrus didn’t have to waste his time explaining. Although the city was destroyed for the most part, it was strong enough to handle their attacks.
“Where are the others?” Kyle walked over with Ria and Lauren, leaving the bored Franken behind.
“They’ll spawn inside the building”
“Spawn?”
“You’ll know when the time comes. For now, I have something important to tell you,” Zyrus spoke and gestured the others to come over. Once he made sure that all eyes were on him, he continued at a measured pace.
“We’ll soon leave the first ring, and things will be very different in the future.”
He didn’t bother about motivating speeches and the like. Zyrus was strong enough to win on his own, even without anyone’s assistance. However, his goal wasn’t to just win. An empire couldn’t last with just a strong leader.
He had learned it the hard way in his previous life.
“Until now, I didn’t completely trust any of you. Nor do I plan to. You have to prove your loyalty and worth to me.”
He didn’t have to tell him about what they’d get in return. They were together since the start of this event, and unless they were as dumb as pigs, they should understand what benefits he could give them.
“How?” Ria asked on behalf of everyone.
“It’s simple. I told you about the crown’s skills, right? I have selected one of them.”
“I see. Do you still intend to use us as tools?” It was Lauren who spoke this time. Unlike her usual expression, she was pretty serious right now. It was almost like the cheerful girl was replaced by someone else.
“That depends. I’ll give you an opportunity to change the status quo. Prove it to me that you are more than just a tool.”
“Fair enough, so what’s the deal?”
“Anytime no-, oh there she is,”
A projection of aurora appeared before all of the silver crown holders. With a wave of her hand, she summoned a screen that showed the information about the crown hunt.
Crown Hunt:
[You can obtain a crown by either gaining allegiance from other players or by killing the owner of the crown]
[After reaching the second ring, the owner of the crown can command the others from the tutorial area]
[There are different tiers of crowns, each with their own abilities]
[Bronze Crown: 100 players]
[Silver Crown: 1k players]
[Golden Crown: 10k players]
[Note: You can fulfill the above requirements by subduing other crown holders as well]
[Players can also obtain variant of the crowns mentioned above by fulfilling the hidden requirements! May the luck be in your journey]
Everyone had memorized these details by now. However, what she said next left all of the players reeling in joy.
“Is that true?”
“Hehe.. this is just the start,” Zyrus replied with a grin as he looked at others' dumbfounded expressions.
[Crown Hunt: City of Ruin]
[The city of Ruin has an area of 1 km^2. The city has a square shape and it is divided into four sectors and one central district. East, west, north, and south sectors are separated by Ingardium walls.]
[These walls start from the corners of the city and join the circular walls of the central district. Portals will be created where these two walls join, and thus, each sector will have two such portals that lead to the central district.]
Zyrus was once again awed by Aurora’s ‘I don’t give a fuck if you all die’ attitude. He wondered who was the moron who made her a guide, and that too in the first ring of all places.
Her next words were the same as he remembered, and they can be summarized into this: It was essentially a battle royale where all of the crown holders were placed in different sectors. Everyone had a limited time to gather the required followers or crowns to reach the central district.
[Each sector will have 5 spawn points. Players will revive at their nearest spawn point, and after dying three times they will be forced out of the city.]
[Revived players will lose their affiliation forever. Once any Silver crown holder reaches the spawn point, they can automatically recruit the revived players. Players recruited this way are unable to betray their leader for the duration of the crown hunt.]
[After killing other players, the leader will be able to see the time and place where they would revive.]
The happy players had their spirits doused with cold water. Losing their affiliation forever wasn’t much better than dying after all. In the worst-case scenario, they might become eternal slaves of other species.
Then, before they could even ask a single question, all of the players were blinded by a white flash.
*Rooar*
“Hey pouka! Did you miss me?”
“That furball is just hungry.” Franken snorted disdainfully at the field boss and looked at the sky.
Golden and red words were floating in the middle of the clear sky. They were like two sides of the same coin. The difference between the winner and loser was just a single line, a line that separated the living and the dead.
[Congratulations! You have survived in the crown hunt against all odds.]
[For the next 24h, the surviving players will receive a 10x Exp boost!]
[List of the players in the crown hunt:]
(Humans: 34K/100K)
(Orcs: 25K/39K)
(Goblins: 4.7K/28K)
(Kobolds: 9K/23k)
(Trolls: 3K/13K)
(Rats: 2.7K/10K)
(Ogres: 164/638)
(Sylvarix: 1/1)
Surprisingly, the orcs had performed much better than everyone else. Just as everyone thought that this was the end, another message appeared in front of the crown holders.
[A total of 100K players will take part in this event.]
[The remaining numbers will be filled by other players from the tutorial area. These players will be recruited in the same way as the revived players.]
There was also a vague map attached at the bottom of the message. Zyrus was currently in the east sector, along with another 13 crown holders.
[The hunt will begin in 00:05:00]
“The others are surprisingly quiet.”
“They can’t make a ruckus even if they wanted to, At least not now,” Zyrus replied to Kyle who was observing the map.
All of them were staring at Zyrus once again. Seeing that just five minutes remaining, Zyrus cut straight to the chase.
“Who wants to have their own troops? You’ll still work under me, but I won’t meddle with your force unless it’s disadvantageous for me.”
“We do,” Kyle replied after sharing a glance with Lauren.
“Me as well,”
“If it’s okay with you, I’d like to lead the human players.”
Ria and Shi kun replied one after another. Zyrus nodded at the others first before landing his eyes on Shi kun. He didn’t plan to lead the humans anyway, but he had to understand his intentions first.
“What is your reason for leading them?”
“Well, I’ll be honest here. You are a strong and resourceful leader, but your personality is… let’s just say it’s not a desirable trait. I don’t care what you do with other humans. Even if I do care about it, there’s nothing I can do because I’m not strong enough.”
Zyrus nodded at him with understanding and gestured for him to continue. It wasn’t just him, Zyrus knew that Ria and the others were also worried about how he would treat other humans.
“So, I would like to do what’s within my power and protect those who have followed me so far.”
“Interesting… you guys think the same?” Zyrus asked with a smile that wasn’t a smile.
“Sort of,” Ria replied after a bit of hesitation. If it was her when she first met Zyrus, then she wouldn’t say her opinion. However, now she knew him better.
“I think that’s hypocritical. You may not agree with me right now, but I’m sure you will in the future,”
Zyrus patted Shi kun’s shoulder and continued as he walked towards Jacob,
“That being said, I’ll entertain your thoughts. Some require freedom to unleash their full potential while others are better suited for working under someone else. Neither is better than the other, it all depends on what they themselves think of the situation.”
[The hunt will begin in 00:00:59]
“Time waits for no man, or Sylvarix. I’ll leave the humans to you guys. Get as many subordinates as you can, and last but not least, don’t die.”
Zyrus threw a bundle of HP recovery potion towards their direction and burrowed into the ground with Jacob.
[The hunt will begin in 00:00:01]
*Riiiiiiiiiiing*