The Innkeeper

It was like a sudden festival at the Inn, and everyone was suddenly enjoying the festivities. Many people were watching from the comfort of their rooms, but many had come out into public spaces to enjoy the atmosphere. There were two topics that were being discussed most commonly.

First, who was crazy enough to attack the Inn? Even though there was an invasion a short while ago as well, no guests were hurt, which showed just how in control the Inn was of everything. Second, the topic was who would be the winner for the 50,000 MP prize?

The contestants' names were shared, and if the contestant permitted, some information about their cultivation and ability.

The crowd favorites were Rorick Morrison, for naturally he had a stellar reputation on Earth, a well-respected captain from the Jotun army, here on vacation from the Vegus system, and finally a young devil.

But the bets were not only one who would win, but on how many points any of the participants could get. Considering the limited number of enemies, no one was expected to have an overwhelming lead, but there were still a few who were expected to get at least 10 points.

While the crowd was hyping themselves up, the Inn's staff was preparing for the event. Mary was spreading the delinquent vines underneath the battleground, and Qawain was requested to help out as well. He would only interfere if a participant was about to die, and would remove them from the formation. This technically wasn't a part of his job, but the Inn staff was all so friendly - a stark difference from the humans he had met early when he gained sentience - that he had become fast friends with many of them, and so did not mind helping out.

In the meantime, some of the staff who were free stood in awe. For example, Z, who had been slightly traumatized from how badly he was wounded, could not help but compare how they had handled the situation, versus the Innkeepers arrangements. This invading force, despite being fewer in number, was much stronger since most of their forces were in the Golden Core realm, with quite a few Nascents as well. Despite that, not only had they been easily herded into the formation, but the Innkeeper, instead of getting angry at the invaders, actually used them to entertain his guests.

He was so vastly different from Z's direct boss, Leo, the original caretaker of the Gamer's den. Z could not remember the last time he saw Leo, and of all the Inn's staff and workers, he was the most absent. His sheer laziness and lack of effort was all the more apparent in front of the Innkeepers silent dedication towards the Inn.

Velma had a day off and was, surprisingly, sitting alongside Larry. If Lex noticed him, he would be tremendously surprised to discover that Larry was in the Golden core realm. His cultivation was more focused on absorbing various rare metals into his body than anything else, and the Inn had been a good source for that. During all his time here, his many attempts at wooing one of the waitresses had failed miserably, but he had developed a decent friendship with Velma out of it.

She especially loved hearing stories of his failed exploits back on Earth and often encouraged him to keep on trying. In fact, she even set Larry up with a Neko (cat-human) from X-142 and, well, it wasn't a complete failure - yet!

"Are you placing any bets?" Velma asked as she looked at the screen.

"I don't have the MP to spare. I'm a wanted man, back on my planet, so it's hard to come by any money. What about you? Place any bets?"

"Heh, of course I did, and not just a small bet. I placed all my savings on a single participant," she said with a sly smirk. "If you beg me, maybe I'll share with you what I know."

"Oh? In that case, oh noble miss of the Inn, I implore you to impart onto me some information. I could really use some MP. You know if I go back to my planet, my life will be in danger."

"Cheh, fool someone else. I know you've been hiding in King Marlo's new mansion, disguised as a gardener. Who has the guts to do anything to you there?"

"How did you know?" Larry asked, genuinely startled, only to be responded with a knowing smile.

"Well, anyway, since you asked so nicely, I'll tell you. The winner is going to be a human from Nibiru. She's extremely powerful, extremely ruthless, and she benefited greatly from the upgrade Nibiru is undergoing in its star level. She's been hiding at the Inn lately, because she's caused a lot of problems back on Nibiru, but if she wins this 50,000 MP, it'll be tremendously helpful to her so she won't let anyone else get it. Her name is Tiffany."

Having full faith in Velma, Larry bet quite a decent amount on her.

Countless conversations similar to that one were taking place, but little Tiffany from Nibiru remained overlooked in almost all the bets, since no one knew her.

Eventually the time ran out as 30 minutes was just a short interval, and the event was finally beginning. Mary instructed all the participants to make their way to the battleground while she explained the rules once again. Killing an enemy got them 1 point, but capturing an enemy got them two points. This wasn't really a fair event, considering the higher leveled cultivators had a blatant advantage, but as an impromptu event held in the absence of the Innkeeper, it could not be perfect. Another rule was stated right before the contestants went in, which is that anyone who attacked a fellow contestant would get disqualified.

With that, the event began and all the contestants walked through the white wall of the formation, appearing at the far end from where the invaders were.

Nzaar immediately noticed their entry, and immediately picked up on the fact that they were exactly the same number of enemies as him and his crew. Many thoughts ran through his mind, but his orders to his crew were ruthless and efficient, as usual. There was no buildup to the fight as it immediately began!

It was absolute chaos, and in the very first second, Qawain separated several participants who were going to die under Nascent level attacks. These participants were, naturally, disqualified. On Nzaar's end, however, they had no immortal to protect them, so immediately there were some deaths.

The Nascent cultivators took to the skies, fighting in midair. The pillagers and participants both wanted to avoid friendly fire, for their own reasons, which formed an unspoken understanding. On the ground, however, it was absolute chaos.

No one had even tried to capture an enemy instead of killing, for the battle was too dangerous to take any risks. The numbers dropped quickly and in just the first few minutes; it went from 101 pillagers to mid-60s while the participants actually dropped to the 40s! The pillagers fought for a living, while the participants were just the lucky ones who managed to enter the tournament first. It was fortunate that Qawain was able to save all of them with great skill, removing them without harming them or their enemies.

But, after the first massive drop in numbers, the fight stabilized as the remaining few were similar in strength and skill. It was here that the strength of the pillagers became evident, for not only were they skilled in fights, but they had incredible cooperation as well.

The participants, on the other hand, were just fighting randomly. Even when they paired up, they could not match the synergy of the enemies. But, while they were the ones under pressure, the remaining participants were elites in their own rights. It was now that a few names started to stand out on the leaderboard. A surprise to everyone, except two specific people, was that on the top of the leaderboard was the name Tiffany. She already had 20 points! This wasn't because she had killed 20 people, but that she incapacitated every foe effortlessly, at which point a vine would emerge from the ground and take the captured enemy away.

When Tiffany struck a foe, it was no longer a matter of skill. Her ability was so astounding that even the viewers could not accurately understand what happened - despite the effect being quite simple. If she attacked a pillager with a punch, and the pillager blocked her punch, without moving anywhere, the pillager would be struck by a sonic boom before fainting. If a pillager managed to dodge her punch, however… still sonic boom. If a pillager saw that she had the intention to attack, and ran away… sonic boom. If a pillager thought about attacking her, he would suffer a sonic boom. One pillager, in fact, only gave her a dirty look before suffering a sonic boom.

The most common wound her victims suffered was ruptured eardrums - if they had those! She was a force of nature, an unstoppable entity with a relentless will. She was the living embodiment of the drumming in a good rock song, because wherever anyone heard her strike, they would get chills!

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