The Innkeeper

The crowd at the Inn was going wild. They enjoyed the twists and turns in each fight, swooned as they saw the various weapons on display. Alexander's fight was just one of many, quite a few had managed to make a name for themselves. A few outstanding beasts attracted a lot of attention, and naturally many of the humans. The Jotun soldiers did not dazzle with ostentatious displays, but their extremely consistent and steady performance was an award winner. Even up until now, they had not suffered a single casualty.

The participants themselves, though, had a very different mindset. Most of them were extremely tired. Large-scale battles were very different from small scale fights, and they had to balance their physical and spiritual stamina, something that not many were trained for. The mental fatigue had also started to wear them down. But despite all of that, they had around 5 hours left, and somewhere between fifteen to twenty thousand zombies still standing. They didn't even want to kill the zombies, they just wanted to get their hands on the treasure chest the horde was quickly escorting back, but just that seemed a momentous task. And if they weren't able to do this much, destroying the node would be even harder.

But little did they know, the node was almost destroyed simply by accident. Pramod, battered and beaten, kept trying to lure Alexander away from the center. For a while now, he had just been using devastatingly powerful attacks that threatened to destroy the node just by attacking the vicinity near it.

He himself was bleeding from all over, and his armor seemed destroyed in many places. But he truly did not care about the damage he was taking - in a sense, he had not lied when he said he was immortal. Such attacks, no matter how many times he received, would never kill him. Of course, he would not explain that to Alexander.

The only thing on his mind now was to hold Alexander off long enough till his zombies brought the treasure chest to him. After that, he would let Alexander destroy the node because the truth was he had realized it was impossible for him to actually kill Alexander right now.

While all of this was happening, Lex had calmed down now and was watching the game with a critical eye. He did not know enough about cultivation to understand the complexities of the techniques and abilities being used, but the one thing he could understand very clearly was his own inferiority.

As of late, he had been getting slightly arrogant with all the influence he held at the Inn. People older and stronger than him hung on his every word, and he made decisions arbitrarily. In brainwashing himself to seem more confident for his performance, he had at some point really started believing himself something great.

But all it took was a single crisis on Earth to bring him back to reality. As much influence as he had at the Inn, outside of it he was nothing. His personal strength was weak, and Lex Williams' connections were all for naught. He was so caught up in avoiding trouble on Earth that when trouble came, he had no one he could ask for help. Even his connection with Marlo he had terminated.

But this realization did not mean he was indulging in self pity. Far from it, in fact. He was waking up to the cold hard truth, so that he could remedy it. If he stayed within his delusions, a simple accident was all it would take to cause him irreparable damage.

With his self-actualization achieved, he needed to decide what to do next. He already put up a commission for items to heal the soul or information about it, so now in that regard all he could do is wait.

Much more importantly, Lex was worried about his family. Without moving a muscle, he used his ability to put up another commission in the Guild room for detailed information about the situation in London, which is where his family was currently staying.

He also put up another commission for general information about the details behind what was happening on Earth.

Once he had enough information, he would then decide what to do. His greatest power and asset was the Inn and its influence, and he intended to use it fully. Currently, his attention was split between the family heads and the games. They seemed to be waiting for someone, which was good enough. The moment they learnt anything, so would he. And in case his family was in trouble… he would hold events, put up commissions, offer jobs, give out trials, whatever it took to make sure they'd be safe.

"Lex, you're getting angry again," Mary said softly, waking him from his thoughts. She was sitting on his shoulder, looking at him with a little bit of pity. Lately she had spent less and less time with him, because she realized she could not help herself but give him recommendations. That in itself was not a bad thing, but he needed to learn how to make decisions based on whatever information he had himself. After all, if her way of doing things was so great, she wouldn't be…

"Thanks," Lex muttered, and turned his attention back to the game. He needed to keep himself occupied.

Back in the game, the horde had neared Pramod enough that he completely ignored Alexander and sprinted towards the horde. He couldn't let the human realize that the horde had the chest or he would use his overwhelming firepower to steal it.

From Alexander's point of view, it merely seemed like Pramod was running away. Initially, he thought to chase after him, but by now even he had realized that despite doing a lot of damage, he was unable to kill the demon. And with various other forces chasing close behind the horde, Alexander decided it was a better idea to look for and destroy the node before they arrived.

He didn't know which of them was able to get the prize, but it hardly mattered to him anymore.

"Squads 1 and 2…" before Alexander could continue to give orders, he realized that his earpiece had fallen out or had been destroyed at some point. He could not communicate with his soldiers, so he would have to figure this out on his own.

Right now, he had no equipment or weapons other than his blades, so it would be a little hard to determine the location of the node. His emotions, in the heightened state that they were in, made it difficult for him to make a detailed plan, so he went with the most basic and brutal one.

He started bombarding the ground with an endless barrage of Final Glory. The ground shattered and quaked as his attacks landed. Each attack brought about its own cloud of dust and dirt to the point where Alexander felt like a smoke machine, but he did not stop. And, just like that, in the stupidest way possible, one of his attacks finally reached deep enough and hit the node, destroying it.

A siren rang throughout the battlefield before the Innkeeper's voice was heard, full of energy and mirth.

"Congratulations to Alexander Morrison for single-handedly destroying the first node, and kicking off the games in such a splendid way! The rest of you performed remarkably as well. Why don't we get you some well-deserved rest?"

With that, all the participants were covered by a protective bubble, and teleported back to the Inn. Since many of them were in combat, when they returned, they were spaced far apart so as to not accidentally harm one another.

The sudden change caught many of them with surprise, and most of them felt frustrated rather than relieved that the game was over. After all their hard work, the points for the node had been single-handedly snatched by Alexander! Of course, the other Earthlings were ecstatic. Though they separated from Alexander, his points would ultimately count towards Earth's total as well.

Followed by the feeling of frustration, they were hit by exhaustion. The next game was supposed to be in around 17 hours, which was definitely not enough time to completely rest up. This was not even considering those of them that had been wounded. But of course, since they could think this far, so could Lex, and he had already taken care of it.

"To all the contestants, I recommend you return to your allocated bases and get some rest. The housing in each base has been fitted with the healing capabilities of the Recovery room, so that all remaining participants will be in tiptop shape for the next match."

The participants, too tired to think about anything else, started marching back towards their bases to get some rest. The sounds of hooting and cheering from the coliseum made a nice backdrop to their return, but while most Earthling participants were reveling in their victory, Alexander was staring at his grandmother.

His grandfather was missing, and so were the other family heads. Something must have happened. Something bad.