Pick Me Up!

I looked outside through the shattered shop window.

Near the dark, unlit intersection, shadows were squirming about.

They were one of the groups of survivors from this preliminary round. The party, consisting of two men and a woman, was crossing the crosswalk, each armed with a bow, a spear, and a shield.

[Survivor Count – 6]

White letters flashed in the upper right corner of my view.

The number of survivors left on the field. 14 out of 20 had died.

It was the result of one hour since the start.

‘It’s been dragging on for quite a while.’

The map was larger than I thought.

If only the field had been half as small, I would have already gone to watch the individual preliminaries.

They were passing right beneath me.

I had a spiked metal pipe slung on my belt.

Following that, I slid down the building’s drainpipe.

“Wha!”

I locked eyes with one of the men.

I immediately drew my hand crossbow and pulled the trigger. Ping! With a crisp sound, the bolt lodged itself in the man’s nape.

“Gurk!”

[11Kill!]

“Enem, enemy attack…!”

Ping! Ping! Ping!

The two managed to dodge the three consecutive shots by leaping.

Even the least skilled were 4-stars. Physically they were superhumans. I then landed in the alley and stomped the ground, wielding my metal pipe.

“Wait! There’s no need for this…!”

Thud!

The man attempted to block with his crude wooden shield.

The metal pipe smashed halfway through the wooden shield. I then kicked the staggering man and slammed his head onto the asphalt.

[12Kill!]

“Augh!”

The woman, perhaps a thief class, sprang onto the roof of a two-story building like a squirrel and began to flee.

I climbed the wall and pursued her. As she fired several arrows while running, I dodged them all and continued the chase.

“Why wouldn’t they hit!”

“…”

“Stop following me! Mon, monster!”

Thud.

Soon, the woman caught by the nape died instantly with a dagger lodged in the back of her head.

[13Kill!]

Why wouldn’t they hit?

Such arrows are child’s play compared to Jenna.

I kicked the sprawled woman. Her body turned into light and slowly disappeared.

‘That leaves two.’

I spent almost 30 minutes searching the entire field, dealing with the survivors.

I formed no alliances. The power of the 18th group in the preliminaries, which included me, had already been fully assessed from outside the dimensional gate.

After using my Insight skill to check the power of the heroes in my group, I decided that there was no one worth guarding against.

Meaning, there was no need to waste time. Although I would need to be somewhat cautious in the finals where the last 100 gathered, I can be a bit reckless here.

I casually picked up items left by the fallen heroes and moved toward the center of the field.

The last survivors of this preliminary round were gathered in a half-constructed abandoned building in the middle of a junction.

‘They’ve made quite the nuisance.’

Barricades were set up at the entrance of the building.

Through a gap, the aim of a crossbow was fixed on me.

“Hey, hey you. Who are you? You’ve been wiping out the participants all by yourself. Are you really the same 4-star as us?”

‘You’re weak. How did you manage to become 4-stars without polishing any skills properly.’

Most of these heroes were the product of incompetent masters. Of course, even if their abilities were higher, the outcome would have been the same.

“No matter who you are, you can’t break through this barrier!”

The building entrance was blocked with a solid steel plate.

Through a small gap, numerous spearheads gleamed. They seemed to have put quite an effort into it.

And on the second-floor window of the building, a familiar object was installed.

It was a ballista.

‘So they’ve got their hands on one of those.’

All I had were a metal pipe, a hand crossbow, and a few daggers.

“Just die quietly!”

Thwack!

The ballista ejected a large arrow.

Where I had been standing was deeply gouged out, and asphalt debris flew everywhere. In that moment, I dodged a crossbow bolt aimed at exploiting my motion.

“…”

Annoying.

I strode straight towards the barricade.

The reloading of the ballista had started.

Hmm.

It indeed seemed a bit difficult to break through the sturdy barricade with just a metal pipe.

I grabbed a streetlamp lying beside the road. The smashed middle of the streetlamp seemed like it could serve as a handle.

‘…Hup!’

With all my strength drawn up, I lifted the streetlamp.

Kwoong. Hundreds of kilograms of streetlamp were lifted into the air.

“That crazy bastard…!”

“Quick, shoot him dead!”

Thwack!

The second ballista shot.

I lowered my stance and swung the streetlamp.

The ballista arrow that hit the side of the streetlamp shattered into pieces.

‘As expected.’

This streetlamp was considered a ‘great sword’ and received skill adjustments.

Then, it was easy.

I immediately hurled my body towards the barricade.

Bang!

With one strike, I smashed through the barricade.

After tossing the streetlamp aside, I entered with the metal pipe in hand.

What followed was a rapid series of actions.

[14Kill!]

[15Kill!]

[#1/20]

[You won! Tonight’s dinner is chicken!]

[You have won the preliminary round!]

[Look forward to the first main round tomorrow!]

Flash.

Light enveloped me, and before I knew it, I was back at the stadium.

From entry to clear, it took exactly 90 minutes. A female staff member approached me dazedly.

“Uh… Congratulations on passing the preliminaries.”

“Can I go now?”

“Yes, yes yes. Please come by 8 a.m. tomorrow.”

“I know.”

“You’re really amazing! The fastest to pass!”

I received my equipment from the showcase and walked out.

Inside the indoor stadium, heroes who had been eliminated from the event were gathered.

Among them were those I had personally hunted.

“He’s the mad dog of the battle royale!”

A mad dog?

I looked toward the source of the sound.

The heroes were murmuring and glancing at me.

“They say he nailed a hero’s forehead and killed him…”

“He tore apart a hero who surrendered and then ripped him to death.”

“The moment someone requested to party, he smashed their head.”

“He’s truly a blood-crazed beast!”

It seemed I had gotten a strange nickname.

It didn’t matter. I decided to ignore the losers’ barking.

It would quiet down by tomorrow.

I unfolded the information flyer.

The flyer listed the routes and schedules of shuttle buses traveling throughout the city. The bus to the individual tournament preliminaries was arriving in 5 minutes. Fortunately, I wasn’t late.

In less than 10 minutes, I arrived at the venue for the individual preliminaries.

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