Chapter 31: Those Who Must Block to Survive

Chapter 31

“Uh? Wait a minute.”

But there was something peculiar about the appearance of the guards.

They all wore black masks covering their faces completely, with a white letter ‘C’ painted on them.

It was none other than the abbreviation for the Colosseum.

The moment he saw the masks, Kim Jinsung realized the identity of the guards.

“They’re the defenders!”

Anyone who had watched the Colosseum even once would know about the defenders.

Kim Jinsung was no exception.

“The participants are starting to show up near the iron wall.”

A producer’s mutter could be heard in the monitoring room.

The dozens of monitors before the PD were broadcasting different participants, most of whom were approaching the iron wall.

“Let’s put out the explanation for the defenders now.”

“Okay.”

A female producer conveyed the message through the microphone, and the TV screen immediately changed.

The commentators reacted right away.

[Ah, just as we were about to explain, a description appeared on the screen.]

[Let me explain to you what the defenders are, as detailed in the text on the screen.]

※Defenders.

– Just like the players, they are all composed of participants.

– All are of forced laborer status.

– The defenders have been assigned the mission of defending their designated area.

– The players must breach these defense zones to reach the mountain summit.

– If a defender defeats more players than the number that passed through their assigned area, then all defenders in that area pass the preliminaries!

– If more players pass through the defense area than are defeated, then all defenders in that area are eliminated!

[- In simple terms, these are other participants who must stop the players to survive themselves, hence the name ‘defenders’.]

[For our regular viewers, this would be a familiar name!]

The defenders officially appeared in season 7, so it was about 2 years ago.

Especially, the ‘C mask’ that symbolizes the defenders has often been parodied to the point where even those who don’t watch the Colosseum would recognize it.

[I’m really curious to see what the outcome will be this time, as the defenders have passed the preliminaries more often than survivors in the past.]

[Ah, as I’m speaking, Kim Jinsung has reached the wall where the defenders are located!]

The caster raised his voice while looking at Kim Jinsung on the TV screen.

Now Kim Jinsung was being broadcasted in great detail with every move, having become a key figure in this preliminaries.

“Yeah, come to think of it, I haven’t seen the defenders until now.”

In the past, defenders had always appeared at least once during the season preliminaries.

Kim Jinsung had forgotten for a moment that around three days in was the natural time for them to appear.

“But how do I get over that?”

The high wall seemed well over 10 meters.

At first glance, it looked incredibly sturdy and seemed impossible to break through by force. Moreover, the Colosseum side wouldn’t have set up a wall that could easily be broken down.

So, it meant he had to get over the wall, watched vigorously by so many defenders…

“Not to mention their weapons look extremely good too…”

Bang!

“Eek!”

At the sudden sound of gunfire from the top of the wall, Kim Jinsung instinctively flinched.

Fortunately, the shot wasn’t meant for him; there was the sound of someone falling hard to his right in the distance.

It seemed as if someone scouting from a tree had been spotted by a defender and shot down.

‘Must be rifles made from mana stones.’

Regular modern rifles can’t penetrate the mana enveloping an awakened person’s body.

But bullets cloaked in mana can definitely pierce through the mana.

And such bullets can only be fired from guns made using mana stones.

“Could all defenders really be carrying these rifles?”

Kim Jinsung pondered the possibility as he examined the defenders.

And he couldn’t help but sigh. Truly, all the defenders were equipped with mana rifles.

Meaning, he would have to dodge a hail of mana bullets while scaling the wall.

An immensely insane level of difficulty.

“There’s a reason why more defenders survive than participants.”

In the five seasons since the defenders had been introduced, there has never been a preliminary where more players survived than defenders.

Thinking about it, this result was obvious. In war, the defending side is always at an advantage over the attackers.

And with obstacles like those iron walls, it only gets tougher for the players to break through.

“I definitely can’t get through this alone, and there’s not even a shadow in front.”

The sun was behind Kim Jinsung, casting no shadow in front of the wall.

This also made the ‘Shadow Hide’ skill unusable.

Then there was only one answer left.

“Maybe I should team up with the other players? When I watched it on TV, it always seemed like they only had a chance of success when they attacked as a united front.”

Recalling past episodes, Kim Jinsung looked around.

He saw participants hiding here and there, all cautiously moving towards the left.

Kim Jinsung’s gaze followed where they were headed.

…Sure enough…

There, a middle-aged man was gesturing to participants nearby.

Seeing a few participants gathered near him, the man gathering people seemed to be taking on the role of a leader.

“Looks like everyone’s thinking the same thing. Maybe it’s time to see what they do…”

Soon, Kim Jinsung also stealthily began moving in the direction where the players were gathering.

****

[Ah, as we speak, we see players starting to cluster together! Kim Jinsung is doing the same!]

[It’s instinctive—they must feel they can’t get over alone.]

[This is the very moment the intentions behind creating the defenders is revealed by the production team! In fact, the defenders were created to see the players’ ability to unite in a moment.]

[Exactly. It’s interesting to see if they can maintain unity till the end, or if they will fall into disarray along the way.]

Listening to the commentator’s explanation, the vice representative, Jang Seungwook, quickly scanned the monitors.

“It seems they’ll cluster into three groups.”

Kim Jinsung was in block 2, Fade was near block 4, and then there was block 7 at the far right.

Players were seen through the monitors, gathering in the bushes of these three zones, discussing uniting into one group.

“Kang Minhyuk is also near block 2, huh? Hmm??”

Chapter 31: Those Who Must Block to Survive

At that moment, Jang Seungwook’s smartphone vibrated in his hand.

Checking it, he saw it was a message from Baek Jun.

“Hmm.”

After reading the entire message, Jang Seungwook immediately relayed it to the producer.

“Tell the defenders in zones 1 and 3 to move to zone 2. The ones from zone 5 should move to 4, and from zone 6 to 7.”

“Got it.”

The producer noted the instructions and began to communicate them through the microphone.

Soon the defenders on the monitors started moving in unison as directed.

Watching this, Jang Seungwook tilted his head in confusion.

“Can they really get through that? Did the representative judge the level of the participants too high this time?”

He had genuine doubts about Baek Jun’s judgment.

The mana stone rifles that could kill with a single shot if one is caught off guard were a problem, but above all, the towering iron wall was the main issue.

There had never been an obstacle as tough and tall as that in any of the previous seasons.

“How many groups have we seen fail to overcome obstacles of much lower levels than that…

He wanted to ask if they should lower the difficulty even now, but unfortunately, Baek Jun wasn’t there.

Jang Seungwook and Baek Jun worked in shifts. Baek Jun had been in the monitoring room for the entire 24 hours yesterday, so he wouldn’t be coming in today.

“All I can hope is that we don’t end up with all the participants disqualified.”

There have been cases where participants were mass-eliminated at this stage. There’s no more deflating situation for the production team. To use this preliminaries as an example, it’s as if key participants like Kim Jinsung and Kang Minhyuk, who have been built up with effort over three days, all die off.

At that time.

Near the area of the number 2 wall, participants hidden in the bushes were devising a strategy to break through under the command of a middle-aged male participant.

“Has everyone written down their abilities? Anyone who hasn’t?”

“Let’s see.”

After taking back the notebook that had circulated among the participants, the middle-aged man read through it.

“What’s this? Why is everyone so ordinary? Did you all write this down properly?”

“We need honesty here! Even with that, it’s a big ‘if’ we can get over that iron wall!”

Despite the middle-aged man’s pressing, everyone just looked around, and no one responded.

No one wanted to reveal their abilities in front of a crowd.

Especially with the second and third preliminaries and the main competition still ahead. They could meet these very people on the battlefield as enemies.

In the event of a one-on-one match, if an opponent knew one’s traits, it would be a disaster indeed.

That’s why no one wanted to easily disclose their abilities.

“Whoa! A warping skill? Who’s Han Seungjin?”

Of course, there were exceptions. Like the forthright man named Han Seungjin, currently raising his hand.

“How many people can you move with your warping skill?”

“Uh… Everyone within about a 2-meter radius could be moved.”

“Then that’s settled! Everyone here can be moved, right?”

“But, the warp distance is only about 10 meters….”

“10 meters?!”

“Aish, jeez.”

The middle-aged man’s face fell, showing disappointment.

10 meters, that means you have to warp right in front of the iron wall, doesn’t it?

Half of us will be dead before we even reach the wall.

“Does no one have a defensive skill? Something like a personal defense could probably hold out until we warp…”

“No one talking? Have I been holding this meeting by myself? Does everyone even have the will to break through there together?!”

It was then when the middle-aged man finally raised his voice in frustration.

“Over here.”

Everyone’s attention turned to a lone raised hand in the corner.

It was Kim Jinsung.

“Could I make a suggestion?”

“Ah. Yes, go ahead!”

The middle-aged man quickly granted permission, his face welcoming.

Kim Jinsung looked toward Han Seungjin.

“How long does it take to activate the warp skill?”

“It doesn’t take long. About five seconds.”

“That should be fine.”

Kim Jinsung then turned back to everyone.

“Everyone, wait here until I give the signal. When I do, move to a point above the wall where the warp is possible. That’s when Mr. Han Seungjin will use the warping skill. Do you understand?”

“Well, wait a minute…”

The middle-aged man waved his hand to interrupt Kim Jinsung.

“I heard you say to warp openly where there are swarming defenders, is that right?”

“No, that’s not it. Of course, we’ll secure a safe area on top of the wall beforehand so we can warp without harm.”

“Safe area? How? Gonna throw like a grenade, or…”

Kim Jinsung shook his head and then pointed to himself.

“I will break through alone.”