Chapter 98 Know Your Place [1]

The stadium in which the championship was going to be held was near the periphery of the Underworld.
I pulled the hood closer to my head as I navigated through the crowd.
(Are you worried about someone recognizing you?)
I nodded.
With my different hair color, mask, and thick robes, it was practically impossible to recognize me. But there was one problem.
It was my earrings.
The [Mephistopheles Earrings] couldn't be removed.
The championship was a yearly tournament that was moderately popular. It would spell trouble if someone recognized me by my earrings.
"Coming through."
Miller, who was walking in front of me, shouted as he pushed through the oncoming crowd.
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While walking to the registration venue, I tried to find any traces of Tristan.
Finding Tristan and recruiting him was one of my two primary goals for coming here.
The other goal was 'Mermaid's tear' the 2nd prize in the tournament.
'Mermaid's Tear' is a useful item that increases the intelligence of someone by 20 stats.
But if it was just this much I wouldn't have been participating in the tournament.
'Mermaid Tear' was the easiest to acquire and one of the four ingredients required to create a resurrection elixir. The other three being: Dragon's horn, Hydra's heart, and Phoenix's feather.
"Haaa…"
Just the difficulty of collecting them was off the charts. Forget about creating the elixir itself.
I was aiming for the resurrection elixir because I wanted a fail-safe backup.
My aim was to survive in this dammed novel.
For that, I had decided to intervene in the story to make sure my future wouldn't be ruined.
And because I was going to intervene, I knew.
I knew my chances of dying weren't low. No, rather the chances of Demon King Beezelub descending on Earth by the end of the year were higher.
Anyway, Tristan will also be aiming for the 'Mermaid's Tear'. Not that he will win. He will be eliminated in the under-8 fights.
Though, even if he had won, he wouldn't have gotten the prize.
During the under-8 fights, an attack will be carried out on the venue of the tournament. The goal of the attackers was to steal the prize.
I didn't know which prize they were aiming for.
The only thing I knew was that the attack was carefully planned.
Although the attack only targeted the stadium, the attackers had hijacked the energy core of the Underworld for dozens of minutes.
This made almost all security measures running on a constant supply of energy useless, making the heist easier.
The room where the prizes are kept can only be accessed by the corridors connected to the under-16 contestants' seats section. This was mentioned in the passing as Tristan remembered the beauty of 'Mermaid Tear' when it was shown to the last 16 contestants.
So, the attackers must also be among the final 16 contestants.
When the signal will be given, the attackers hidden among the contestants will move.
Fortunately, I knew the time when the attack will begin and the signal for it.
(Now that I think about it, who do you think is responsible for the upcoming attack?)
I racked my brain for possible answers.
'It shouldn't be other races. Then the only organizations capable of infiltrating Underworld are Illis and Aegis. It should be Illis, as Aegis is an alliance with Umbra off papers.'
Eth quieted down before asking another question.
(Why do you think the attackers decided to steal? Couldn't they have simply won the championship and taken the prize?)
I shrugged my shoulders.
'Some people simply like chaos.'
Besides, even if there was another reason, I didn't need to know.
"Why are so many people returning? Shouldn't most go toward the tournament registration venue, not the opposite?"
"It's because the list of the contestants should be up."
Miller shouted through the crowd to answer me.
"Boss, you know about the registration procedure?"
I nodded.
To participate in the tournament, the contestants have to get a ticket. These tickets are openly distributed throughout the Downtown. But the distribution stops 6 months before the tournament.
The ticket I currently had belonged to Eth. The ticket was among the belongings that I received in Ward.
I only understood its purpose after going through the plans that he had written on his bracelet.
Frustrated with his lack of progress, he was planning to win the tournament and use the prize to raid a dungeon to increase his level.
I could only shake my head at his na?ve thoughts. The tournament allowed anyone below Lvl.25, or peak Iota rank, to participate. There was no way for Eth, who was only Lvl.3 at that time, to win.
"The reason we can only register on the day of the tournament is that many people withdraw before the tournament starts."
"Withdraw before the tournament?"
"Yes, boss. They release the profiles of people who had bought the tickets to the public on the day of the tournament."
"Can they track our identities from the tickets?"
"No, the profiles include only the name and level registered when buying the ticket. The ticket itself has nothing to backtrack the holder."
Ignoring Miller's smug tone, I agreed. If the tickets could be back-tracked, then it was possible that the identities of the attackers to be tracked, which never happened.
"Do you know what type of match will be the first round?"
I spoke while going toward the VIP line.
The tournament is always held in two stages. For this tournament, the 2nd stage will be 1vs1 fights between 16 people.
But the 1st stage wasn't told in the novel.
Miller nodded in affirmation.
"The first round is the same every year. It is fr-"
"Move"
Miller was suddenly pushed away by a person emerging from the crowd.
Miller, who almost fell because of the sudden shove, flared.
"What do you think you are doing, bitch?"
"…what?"
The person, who had almost left along with the crowd, stopped walking. Turning back, he walked to us and stood in front of Miller.
"What did you call me?"
"Are you deaf too, you blind cockwaffle?"
"Miller, stop."
The person who had pushed Miller was buffed, too buffed. His arms were thicker than my waist, not to mention the large hammer on his back.
Besides, although he was coming from non-VIP lines, in Underworld it wasn't uncommon for top-level awakeners to act as normal, unassuming people.
The headmaster was the best example. He was one of the 4 pioneers, yet he was posing as an old blacksmith here.
Knowing my luck, it was best to not antagonize random strangers.
"Looks like I need to teach some lessons."
He grabbed both Miller and me by our necks and raised us in the air.
"H-hey, stop. We can talk d-Ugh"
From Miller's words, it seems he finally understood that he might have messed up.
"There is no need to talk anymore."
Before I could speak, he tightened his iron grip around our necks.
It was becoming hard to breathe. I decided to move before he broke our necks.
'[Appraisal]'
A screen appeared in mid-air.
======
Name: Alzak Taco
Race: Human
Rank: Meta(Lvl.8)
Stigma: -/-
Disposition: Neutral-Evil
Title: -/-
-> Stats(Click to expand)
Status: Gloating/Excited/Greedy
[A random thug trying to loot you]
======
'Eh?'
The evaluation and status made it sound like this person was trying to loot us by appearing threatening.
I checked his stats and calculated. He had 2SP/Lvl with his strength-focused distribution. He didn't even have a single skill.
Finally, I realized. I had become too paranoid.
There was no way this person was a top-level awakener. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been provoked by the meager swearing of Miller.
Immediately, I felt the iron claw around my neck turn into a so-so massage.
"If you want to leave with your life, giv-!!"
The massage abruptly ended, and the person fell to the ground.
"B-boss, wasn't that too much?"
Miller shivered, covering his privates with his hands as he looked at the person writhing on the ground.
I lowered my knee, which had just destroyed the man's future generations, and went to the VIP register counter.
What? This wasn't a cliché-Chinese cultivation novel. There was no way I would waste time on face slapping some random stranger after an argument.
If someone weaker than me is trying to mess with me. Then they better pray to god for their safety.
If the person was stronger?
I'll run away the first thing after messing up. Only idiots will fight an unwinnable fight.
"Boss, sorry about that. I didn't think through before acting up."
"It's fine. Everyone makes a mistake ONCE in their lifetime. It isn't anything to be remorseful about. Just make sure it doesn't happen a SECOND time."
Miller, living his life on the streets and later in the gang, had developed the habit of fist first-think later. It wasn't weird for him to act up when someone was looking down on him.
But his actions could have landed us in serious trouble if that person was a high-rank awakener.
Both of us registered.
The recipient explained to us about the first round and sent us toward the participant-only area.
The room, which was large enough to house over a hundred people, was filled to the brim.
PARTICIPANTS, PLEASE ENTER THE STADIUM. THE FIRST ROUND WILL BEGIN SHORTLY-
I was about to start using appraisal on others when an announcement rang
"Let's go."
Along with the dozens of people, we walked through the dim corridor and entered the ground.
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