...…

The entire gaming world was now focused on a single thing. And that was the current ongoing event, the Shadow Ranking Cup. Especially that this tournament was about to come into an end.

All of the players watching since the beginning of the tournament couldn't help but anticipate the next match.

At first, every player was expecting that the grand finalist who was going against the 'Angel of Death' was the 'Midnight Devil: Raptor'. After all, he was someone with a great reputation and was considered as a veteran ranker of the gaming industries.

But too much of everyone's surprise, Raptor was thrashed by his opponent brutally. He didn't even get a chance to showcase his real strength since he was immediately beaten by 'Demon' one-sidedly before he could even enter stealth.

The audience who witnessed that sight couldn't even believe what they saw. They were not expecting that Demon was actually hiding that kind of strength. And that fact that he was actually acting on his previous matches really fooled almost everyone.

Now that Demon had shown his real battle prowess, everyone was now very excited for the grand finals that were about to come. Especially when they all knew that this was going to be a very epic battle.

And since this was the last event of this tournament, the organizers decided to change the venue setup for the audience stand; they were now not planning to isolate the battle area from the stand which meant Shin and Demon was going to hear the shouting and yelling of the audience.

At the same time, the battle arena chosen by the organizers this time was a pretty simple one. It was a ruined city just like the stage where Roger and the fake 'Sairen' battled against each other. Though, this place didn't have any tall structures in the area unlike that one.

To make things even more hype, they also decided to let the audience come at the stand first before the start of the match. And naturally, the stand became rowdy when the spectators started to fill the place. Especially when they discovered some noticeable players alongside them.

A lot of well-known players joined to watch this match since they want to personally witness the rise of their new rivals.

Of course, there were also some big shot players who were going to watch this particular match. Though, other players couldn't see them since they were the ones who were occupying the VIP Rooms right below the audience stand.

Alongside those players were the scouts sent by powerful guilds and famous adventurer teams. There were even some guys who came from some different organizations of the gaming world.

*******

Whistle~♪

Arthur couldn't help but blew some wind the moment he saw the number of players sitting on the audience stand.

"Tsk! This Shadow Ranking Cup really surpassed other previous ones. It is more like a match of the Hegemon Gup," he muttered while looking at the spectators of the match from his VIP room.

He was currently sitting alone in this room since Leonard had his hands full at dealing with the two ladies on the outside world. He couldn't help but shake his head helplessly every time he remembered about that matter.

"Such a poor soul," he mumbled while smiling bitterly.

And right after those words left his mouth, a voice suddenly called him from behind. "And whose soul are you talking about?"

Then the owner of the voice suddenly sat at the chair beside Arthur before asking. "You seem to be quite free today, huh? Already done with the things on your side."

Arthur threw him a sidelong glance before answering. "Well, to tell you the truth, I just managed to find a little bit of extra time to join this fun. How can I miss such a lively event?"

Then he suddenly formed a smirking smile with his lips before asking. "But I am surprised that you are the one to arrive first. It is quite unusual – did you drink the wrong medicine this time, Zorldryck?"

But before the other guy could reply to him, Arthur immediately added with a sarcastic tone. "Oh~! I just remember! I heard that you finally got promoted to the Godlike Ranking List. So, you finally take the 8th place from that rival of yours? Impressive!"

The corner of Zorldryck's mouth suddenly twitched the moment he heard those words. He was one of the peak experts of the gaming world. In fact, his reputation didn't lose much compared to Arthur.

He was known as the 'God of Shadows', a player who stood on top of the assassin rankings along with the other assassin gods just like the 'Death God: Faker' and 'God of Killing: Riyuk'.

Even though he couldn't claim the number 1 spot among the assassins, he was still confident that he could hold himself against anyone – and that included Arthur who was now mocking him.

Zorldryck suddenly squinted his eyes at Arthur while releasing a very threatening aura from his body. And that aura became even more intense when he saw Arthur further curved the corner of his mouth upwards and seemingly inviting him for a fight.

But before the fight broke out, another person entered the VIP room and interrupted them. "Tsk! Looks like you two are quite energetic, huh? Mind if I join the fun?"

This new guy who just entered belonged to the Naga Race. It was quite hard to guess his class since all of the classes under that race all belong to the magic category. But the most noticeable thing on him was the trident hanging on his back.

That trident was quite different from the usual weapons of the other Naga Players that were being used as magic sceptres. This weapon of his was more of a physical type weapon since its three-pronged head was quite larger than the usual ones.

At the same time, its whole body was covered by a bunch of diamond scales with blue color. The bottom of this trident had a head of a serpent with three eyes.

This guy was wearing a cloth armor which entirely contradicted the weapon hanging on his back. But even if that was the case, anyone who would encounter him on the sea would surely tremble in fear since was known as the god of that place.

He even changed his original in-game name to match his title 'Sea God'.

"Oh~! You are also here Poseidon? I thought you are going to ignore my invitation as always," said Arthur with a slight of disbelief after seeing the newcomer.

Then the grin that he was wearing curved even higher and said. "And~… I don't actually mind if you join our fight. In fact, you can even team up with this dude so that I can beat you at the same time," while pointing at Zorldryck.

While Arthur was saying those words, the door of the room was suddenly opened once again. But this time, there was a pair of players who entered the room.

"You are still too full of yourself, Siegfried. How about you fight me instead so that I can teach you a lesson?" said by the leading guy who was clad with a full set of plate armor. There was no need to guess his class since the full-body armor that he was wearing already spoke for himself.

But what really made him much noticeable was the glowing emblem of a rising fist that he was wearing on the right side of his chest – this indicated the guild that he was belonging to, the Titan Guild.

The moment Arthur saw this guy, he couldn't help but smirked a little before saying to Poseidon. "Oh~! Your long-lost brother!" while pointing the armored knight that entered the room.

The corner of the knight and Poseidon's mouth suddenly twitched when they heard those words. Then the two turned their heads to the side before throwing a fierce glare at each other.

"You should change your name back to the original one, Poseidon. That name doesn't suit you," said the knight with a mocking tone.

Hearing that, Poseidon suddenly smirked and said with a sarcastic tone. "Oh~! How about you do that instead, oh mighty guild master of the Titan Guild? Do you think the Title 'God of Thunder' is enough to name yourself as 'Zeus'?"

Then he tilted his head to the side to take a look at the man behind Zeus before saying. "And you even bring your loyal dog along. How is he called again? The 'God of Speed: Hermes'?"

While the atmosphere inside the room was getting heavier, a tall and very muscular man suddenly entered the room. And when he noticed the heavy air surrounding the room, he started grinning from ear to ear while saying. "Looks like this place is quite lively-…"

This guy was still in the middle of talking when an annoyed female voice suddenly interrupted him from behind. "Hey! Theio! Can you get out of the way for a moment? Your huge body is blocking the path!"

"Oh! Sorry!" said by the giant guy who was named Theio, before stepping to the side.

And the moment he stepped out of the way – a bunch of players entered the room one by one.

"Oh~! There are a lot you arrive already? You guys are quite early!"

"Oh! A lot of familiar faces! How about we spar a little after watching the show?"

"D*mn! Why is the noisy bunch here? Tsk! I guess it is better if I watch alone."

"Tch! Why is this b*st*rd here?"

If the common players saw this group of players entering the room, they were most probably going to have a heart attack for how famous these guys were.

On the other hand, the man who caused this 'disaster' was currently smiling from ear to ear while muttering to himself. "Looks like this is going to be an exciting one, huh?"

...…