Chapter 54: The Rope Battle

Chapter 54

Using his stealth skill, Fade quickly ran up to the mountain summit. The scene that unfolded before him was nothing short of chaotic.

“This is hell.”

Numerous participants were engaged in a bloody battle directly below the descending helicopter at the landing site. The sounds of weapons piercing flesh, gunfire echoing, and a mix of shouts and screams filled the air. Fade shook his head slightly as he observed the chaotic scene.

“The helicopter’s arrival has made everyone lose their minds.”

It wasn’t hard to understand why. In a situation where survival and death were only minutes apart, how many could remain calm? Only someone with a mindset as hardened as Fade’s, honed through years of being an assassin, could manage it.

“The helicopter is about to descend… Right.”

Just in time, the magic circle-powered helicopter began to slowly descend to the landing site. When it was about 20 meters above the ground, the rear door suddenly opened.

“…Isn’t it too high to drop a rope?”

Fade’s confusion was quickly resolved. From the open door, something massive began to leap down to the landing site.

**Roar!**

**Roar!**

As soon as they landed, the giant monsters started attacking the participants. There were two Minotaurs and two Twin-Headed Ogres.

“These maniacs…”

Fade couldn’t help but curse the production team inwardly. The situation was already hellish enough without dropping those monsters to raise the difficulty another notch.

“They never end things normally, as rumored.”

As Fade thought this, the helicopter descended to about 10 meters above the landing site, and a thick, sturdy rope was thrown down from the rear door. At the same time, a staff member inside the helicopter grabbed a megaphone and shouted.

– You have 5 minutes! The helicopter will take off in 5 minutes!

The megaphone’s sound was loud enough for everyone at the mountain summit to hear. Whether the participants fighting near the rope heard it was another matter.

“Now’s my chance.”

Remaining in stealth, Fade began to approach the rope. His high agility proved invaluable in the chaotic situation. Dodging numerous skills, weapon attacks, and the rampaging giant monsters, he reached the rope without getting hit. It was a testament to his reputation as a veteran assassin in the back alleys for over a decade.

“Now I just need to climb up.”

Fade jumped and grabbed the middle part of the rope. It was much higher than the bloodstained, flesh-covered bottom part, making it a safe spot away from other participants’ attacks.

“Am I the first?”

**Thud!**

“…!”

A cold sensation in his left chest. Looking down, he saw a long sword piercing through his heart. Fade turned his head to see a very familiar face, clinging to the rope behind him.

“You… You…!”

“It was you.”

Kim Jinsung, with eyes filled with a thin layer of killing intent, spoke in a low voice.

“Out of all the abilities, I wanted yours the most.”

**Thud! Slash!**

Pulling out the sword, Kim Jinsung swung it at Fade’s neck. With his neck more than half severed, Fade fell limply to the ground, his eyes wide open. As soon as he hit the ground, a notification appeared before Kim Jinsung.

—

▶ You have defeated an evildoer.

▶ You have earned 115 Beast Karma points.

▶ You have acquired the composite trait ‘Veteran Assassin.’

▷ Veteran Assassin: Grants the following traits and permanently stored skills:

– Stealth: Turns the entire body invisible when activated. The skill deactivates upon taking damage. Consumes mana continuously when active.

– Neck Cutter: The first attack after using the skill deals 200% damage. Can only be used with short weapons like daggers. Consumes 50 mana.

– Hiding Expert: Reduces mana consumption for stealth, hiding, and similar skills by half.

– Permanently increases agility by 45.

—

“These are the highest points I’ve ever gotten from a person.”

More Beast Karma points than he had gotten from killing both Kang Minhyuk and Yoon Aram combined.

“I think I understand why… Anyway, it was worth the wait.”

Satisfied, Kim Jinsung confirmed the notification again. To catch this assassin, he had hidden in the shadows under the helicopter, waiting for the strong presence of someone in stealth. Despite a few close calls, the wait had paid off.

“Now, let’s escape first.”

Kim Jinsung began climbing the rope towards the helicopter.

—

At the moment Kim Jinsung killed Fade,

[Oh?!]

[It’s Kim Jinsung! Kim Jinsung has appeared, everyone!]

[Wow… Haha! Unbelievable!]

Both commentators stood up in excitement, with Kim Jincheol even clapping. The chat was going wild.

– Wow!

– It’s Kim Jinsung!

– He was really alive?!

– This is crazy! Insane!

– The rumors were true… Thank goodness ㅠㅠ

– Damn! I knew it!

Even the staff in the monitoring room, who already knew about his survival, were shouting excitedly.

“Viewership is skyrocketing! We’re about to break the all-time high!”

“The Colosseum official site crashed due to traffic overload!”

“Fix it quickly! The official broadcast room is lagging too! Take care of it now!”

The sudden influx of viewers had the staff moving frantically. Watching with satisfaction, Baek Jun turned to Jang Seungwook and raised his right hand. Jang Seungwook raised his left hand, and they high-fived with a loud clap.

“We hit the jackpot.”

“Yeah.”

Both smiled as they watched Kim Jinsung on the monitor. Kim Jinsung was already climbing up near the helicopter’s rear door.

—

“Drop your weapon!”

“Raise your hands!”

As soon as Kim Jinsung boarded the helicopter, four staff members armed with mana guns shouted at him threateningly. Kim Jinsung obediently raised his hands and looked around. The first thing he noticed was the magic circles drawn on the floor and walls of the helicopter.

“A mana suppression magic circle?”

Kim Jinsung thought this because as soon as he entered the helicopter, he felt his mana stop moving entirely.

“Or is it a skill prohibition magic circle? There are two drawn, so it might be both.”

While he pondered this, the staff cuffed his wrists with special restraints designed for hunters and frisked him, removing all his belongings.

“Go sit in the far corner.”

Just as Kim Jinsung was about to sit where he was directed, he heard a regretful voice from right behind him.

“Oh! So close. Iam second.”

Startled, Kim Jinsung turned around. A handsome young man in his twenties was looking at him with a disappointed expression.

“What?! When did you get in? Drop your weapon and raise your hands!”

The staff rushed towards the young man with their mana guns aimed at him.

“Alright, alright.”

The young man raised his hands, showing no intention of resisting. After going through the same process as Kim Jinsung, he was cuffed and sat down right next to him.

“Congratulations! Both of us survived without a scratch.”

The young man extended his hand with a bright smile for a handshake. Kim Jinsung shook his hand, thinking to himself.

“I didn’t even notice him approach until he was right behind me. It must be because of the cuffs.”

The special cuffs for hunters completely blocked the use of mana, skills, and traits. Kim Jinsung assumed that was why he hadn’t noticed the young man’s approach.

“Why isn’t anyone else coming up?”

The young man muttered as he looked towards the rear door of the helicopter. Seeing no sign of new participants boarding, he asked a nearby staff member.

“How much time is left?”

The staff member stared at him for a moment, then checked his watch and answered.

“Two minutes.”

“Not much time left? Does that mean not even ten people will make it?”

“That’s not the case.”

Kim Jinsung’s voice drew the young man’s attention.

“You don’t hear the sounds of fighting below anymore. It means things have settled down, and the survivors will start coming up now.”

The young man looked out the window next to him.

“…You’re right.”

He murmured, eyes wide. The landing site was now quiet. Amid the bodies of monsters and participants, the survivors were cautiously climbing the rope one by one. As he counted the survivors, he realized,

“Twenty people… They should all make it up in two minutes.”

The survivors likely knew there was enough time left, which is why they were no longer fighting. When the last survivor climbed up, the alarm on a staff member’s watch indicated that the five minutes were up.

“Take off!”

A staff member shouted towards the cockpit, and the helicopter began to ascend vertically. One of the staff members closed the rear door and reported to the monitoring room PD through a microphone.

“We’ve taken off.”

– Confirmed. I’ll activate the button in 30 seconds.

“Understood.”

The helicopter continued to ascend vertically for 30 seconds. When the landing site was barely visible from the windows, the survivors saw the entire area engulfed in flames with a massive explosion.

“Whoa! Anyone still alive down there is definitely dead now, right?”

The young man whistled and looked at Kim Jinsung in amazement. But Kim Jinsung didn’t respond. He silently watched the burning landing site with an unreadable expression.

Soon, the magic circle-powered helicopter carrying Kim Jinsung began to move away from the island where the preliminaries had taken place. The island grew smaller and eventually disappeared from the survivors’ view.

* * *

[Finally, the long first preliminary round of Group A has concluded! Let’s summarize the number of survivors for our viewers.]

The caster began reading the numbers from the documents provided by the production team.

[There were a total of 672 participants in Group A. Of these, 100 passed as defensive soldiers, 66 passed the losers’ revival round, and 22 passed as players, making a total of 188 survivors.]

[This might be the lowest number of survivors in the history of the first preliminary rounds. We’ll have to check the records to be sure.]

[There were some unexpected non-survivors too, right?]

The commentator nodded in agreement.

[Indeed. Many viewers were surprised that players like Kang Minhyuk, Fade, and Yoon Aram didn’t make it to the final survivor list.]

[But!]

The caster raised his voice.

[The top star of Group A, Kim Jinsung, and the rising new star after the losers’ revival round, Seol Daun, both made it safely!]

[They finished first and second, respectively. And let’s not forget participant 7-49, a former defensive soldier who showed remarkable performance.]

[Exactly! These three have made a strong impression on the viewers. It’ll be exciting to see what they do in the second preliminary round!]

The caster began his closing remarks.

[Thank you to all the viewers who loved the first preliminary round of Colosseum Season 12, Group A, over the past seven days. We’ll be back with the first preliminary round of Group B starting tomorrow. Thank you for your hard work, commentator.]

[Thank you.]

[We’ll see you all early tomorrow morning. Goodbye, everyone!]

With the commentators’ farewell, the continuous seven-day live broadcast of Colosseum came to an end. Of course, another long seven-day live broadcast would begin the next day.

* * *

That evening, after the preliminary journey of Group A concluded, Colosseum’s CEO Baek Jun was seen entering the players’ dormitory building with his escort staff after getting out of a car. They went straight to the basement and walked down a long corridor before stopping in front of a door labeled ‘Interview Room.’ Two staff members standing guard saluted him.

Baek Jun asked.

“Any problems?”

“None.”

“Open it.”

At Baek Jun’s command, the staff opened the interview room door. Inside was a familiar face, wearing special cuffs for hunters, staring at him. Baek Jun sat in the chair opposite and greeted him.

“Nice to meet you, Yang Joong-geun.”

The former Dream Gold Master, Yang Joong-geun, maintained a stern expression without responding.