Chương 58: Gauntlet (2)

"Coming in with the statistics, it seems about 80% of people have completed the first round and are now waiting for round 2 to start!" Jenny excitedly said.

"That's right." Will nodded, "Looking further into it, the fastest clear time so far is 0: 01 seconds by, as you may have guessed, Anonymous. Unfortunately, since he didn't allow viewing rights, we are unable to see the footage."

"Gah! Why's he so secretive!?" Jenny complained.

"However, the second fastest, Monarch, with a clear time of 0: 02, has allowed viewing rights. So, let's see their floor 1 clear." As Will said that, the arena changed from showing some random person fighting to… well another random person fighting—in my eyes at least. However, this random person seemed the be that Monarch fellow. He wore a royal robe with fluff around the neckline and a golden crown. He had black hair and undeniable poise.

With a straightened back, he looked arrogantly at the opposite side of the arena, waiting for the timer to count down. He didn't even glance towards the audience. When the timer hit 0, 5 giant rats spawned in. And with a simple movement of his hand, those 5 rats were gone. … Did I miss the attack? I blinked and missed it? I thought. All he did was flick his wrist and those monsters died…? I looked at the arrogant man with awe. How have I never seen this guy on the leaderboards before?

But, I quickly came to a guess. He must've gotten this strong after clearing quite a few floors. If I were to see his name, it certainly wouldn't be on the floors that I'm at currently.

"Wow! Monarch swiftly dispatches the enemy with a simple flick of the wrist!" Jenny excitedly exclaimed, "Those rats went down in seconds!"

"Yes." Will nodded, "Monarch is a known wind magic user, I presume he used the [Wind Slash] skill just now. These beginning rounds certainly won't be a problem for rankers like him, however, let us see someone who is still trying to clear this floor." The arena switched to showing a young man with a old-looking iron sword. He wore a dirty, brown robe and had messy, black hair. From a side screen, I could see this guy's alias was: I Will Become Heavenly.

"Oh wow, this guy has such an arrogant alias!" Jenny said, "Let's see how he clears this round!" Heavenly, as we'll call him, had a determined but tired look on his face. Two of the five rats were already down and the other three was surrounding him. Heavenly aimed his sword at one of the rats with a glare. Panting, he charged towards one rat. The other rats, obviously, didn't sit around and wait. They rushed towards the man with rabid eyes. As did the one he was currently charging toward.

With one heavy movement, Heavenly stabbed his sword forth, piercing through the head of a rat. But, as his sword got stuck in the now-corpse, the other rats were on him. Unable to free his sword in time, one of the rats lunged at him. Heavenly barely got his arm up in time as giant, yellow teeth sunk into his arm. With a look of pain on his face, he gritted his teeth, dropping his sword and stumbling out of the second rat's attack. Blood dripped from his arm to the floor but the rat didn't let go.

Quickly making a decision, the man pulled out his secondary weapon—a small dagger—and plunged it into the rat's head. Four down, one to go. Yanking the now-dead rat off his arm, he threw it to the ground, retrieving his dagger. The last remaining rat charged at him with its usual rabid fury. Heavenly stared down the charging rat, but instead of getting into a stance, he hung his arms at his side and waited for it to get in range. With a deep breath, he kicked up, slamming his foot into the rat's jaw.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Airborne, the rat, discombobulated, found no footing. In that moment, the man charged forth and plunged his dagger straight through the rat's heart. [Round Complete] [2: 00 Until Next Round] With that notice, the man finally let out a deep breath, falling to the ground and started to recover his stamina.

"Wow! Congratulations to 'I Will Become Heavenly'!" Jenny said, "Albeit hard fought, he has successfully cleared the first round and shown us a thrilling fight! This just shows that it's not just rankers who we need to keep an eye on!" Will nodded.

"Say, is there anything you could explain about that fight?" Jenny asked her co-host.

"…" Will stared at the girl for a moment before speaking, "Honestly, I'm a little confused."

"Confused?" Jenny asked.

"To be in this event, you had to have cleared the 10th floor. Statistically speaking, no one, even production classes, should be struggling with giant rats. I'm not trying to downplay his fight, but, it looked as if he was fighting a life or death battle."

"Hm…" Jenny thoughtfully nodded, "Now that you mention it, it is a little strange! However! Don't overlook the fact that he simply may have done party play until now! Not many people can fight solo against multiple enemies! Only those scary leaderboard people or rankers usually do that!" Jenny fake shuddered, rubbing both her arms.

"Hey," Luna whispered and nudged me with her elbow. Her face showed a mischievous smile; I just knew she was about to say something to annoy me.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Ms. Scary leaderboard person, can you deal with those five rats easily?" She asked teasingly. I pursed my lips before answering,"I can certainly deal with one Mouse easily."

"…" I smiled. Luna looked away and turned her attention back to the arena. Tsk, what a silly mouse. If you're gonna tease, you got to go all the way. I thought, shaking my head before turning my attention back to the arena.

"Oh! Looks like the second round is starting!" Jenny exclaimed, "Let's see Monarch in live action!" … The first few rounds of the gauntlet passed by smoothly. The first round had 5 rats, the second doubled that, and the third added goblins to the mix. Soon, only about 70% of the players remained and most of them were on the 6 or 7th round. Anonymous, the rank 1, maintained his position, consistently clearing the floor faster than everyone else. I really want to see just how he fights.

Stop hiding behind your anonymity! Come out, coward! Hm…? Doesn't that sound a little wrong coming from me…? Nah, I must be imagining it. Luckily, we could see other rankers fight instead.

"Let's see how one of the top are doing!" Jenny said as the arena changed. A girl with long, auburn hair stood on one side of the arena. She wore a red robe and wielded a long staff with a red crystal at the top of it.

"This is Ember! A ranker and the guild leader of the Fire Rose guild! She goes by Witch Of Flame!" Jenny explained as her profile appeared in a side screen.

"That's right," Will nodded, "The Witch has always been good at large-scale AOE damage, it's unsurprising to see her near the top of the event rankings."

"Indeed! I'm super excited to see how she clears the 9th round!" As Jenny said that, the monsters spawned in. Multiple kinds of goblins, kobolds, and spiders appeared on the opposite side of the arena. They totaled to around 20, but the Witch looked unperturbed. The Witch raised her staff as the monsters all started to charge at her. One by one, large fireballs started to appear behind her and hovered in the air. When three fireballs were in the air, her staff glowed and they finally shot forward. BOOM!

An explosion larger than my dynokali potions erupted in the crowd of monsters. When the smoke cleared, nothing remained. [Round Complete] [2: 00 Until Next Round]"Amazing!" Jenny exclaimed, shooting up from her seat, "With simple fireballs, the Witch has easily cleared the 9th round!"

"Indeed," Will nodded, "Her firepower impresses me every time I see it. It's no wonder she's known as having one of the strongest damage output."

"Yes!" Jenny happily nodded along, "And that explosion! It gets you excited every time you see it!"

"Mhm." Will nodded.

"Speaking of," Jenny started, "That explosion just reminded me of another explosion user. Except, instead of a skill, they use a potion!" What? Excuse me? That person sounds familiar. No way, it couldn't be…

"Oh, are you talking about that famous alchemist going around recently? Raccoon?"

"Yes! The Little Bomber!" …What? Why am I being brought into this!? I just want to watch the event with Luna! Leave me out of it! I have nothing to do with this!

"Indeed, the Witch's explosion definitely reminds me of the Little Bomber's dynokali potions." Will said.

"That's right! We've seen her explosions and despite haven just awakened, they're quite strong! People have said that the firepower is around C-B rank level, so, it's quite impressive a newbie can create something like that!"

"I agree." Will nodded.

"If only the Little Bomber had cleared floor 10 by now, I'm interested in seeing just how far her dynokali potions could go in this gauntlet." Jenny sighed. I wouldn't enter the gauntlet even if I cleared the 10th floor! I internally shouted.

"I think she could earn high rankings at the start—even competing with the top rankers, but would fall off towards the middle. Unless she can create those potions on the spot, she'd only have a limited supply." Will said.

"Yes! It's a shame other production classes rarely get involved with combat events. Else, we'd have a baseline."

"Those guys usually spend all their time inventing or creating stuff—they're too busy to bother with combat events." Will said. Stop thinking of me like I'm some combat personal! I won't get involved with combat events either!

"I'm excited to see where the Little Bomber's potions go in the future. If you're watching this, good luck, Little Bomber!" Jenny smiled and raised her fist. Gah!! What is this!? Some kind of ad read!? I didn't sponsor you! Stop using the Little Bomber title! Now everyone's gonna know me as the [Little Bomber]!!! As I put my head down and covered my face with my palms, I heard snickering from beside me.

"Pfft!" Luna wasn't even trying to hide her laughter. She nudged me with her elbow, "Hey, hey, Little Bomber, how much did you pay for that ad break?" I didn't speak, shooting her a sharp glare.

"Pfft! Little Bomber, Little Bomber, answer me!"

"…"

"Bahahaha! Come on! Your fans are waiting!" She held an imaginary microphone towards me, "Ms. Little Bomber, just how far do you think your dynokali potions could go in the gauntlet?" Ah… I noticed an influx of notifications appearing on my profile. The followers were shooting up at a rapid rate. Even my point count was rising because of people watching my replays. It's over… I'm stuck with that title forever now…Aren't I?

"Heh…Hehehehe…. Hehehehehe!" I started to laugh. At this point, Luna could tell something was wrong.

"Um…Bin?"

"Hehehehehe!"

"Fine! Fine! Fine! Perfect! Absolutely perfect!"

"…Bin?"

"Little Bomber! Yes! I'm the Little Bomber!"

"B-Bin!?"

"Oh, tower! Your cutest and most beloved awakener is here! I request the Little Bomber title!" I shouted, "If you all want to see the Little Bomber, I'll show you the Little Bomber!"

"BIN!?"

"Ah, explosions, explosions…Just what kind of explosive potions should I create…" [Your request has been acknowledged] [You have met the requirements.] [You have gained the title: Little Bomber] …What the fu-