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Chapter 365: The Ultimate Evil of Promotion (1)
Supersonic Descent.
While Team 023 was swiftly flying northward, beyond the sky, Evaluation Team 9 was basking in endless applause.
And soon, the reason for this applause descended upon the Promotion Hall.
BOOOOOM!
In the form of a massive pillar of light.
-What the—
Amana, leading her team through the skies, looked up, and her pupils were instantly filled with a blazing yellow glow.
Unfortunately, the ominous pillar of light was descending directly onto Team 023.
-Watch out—danger!
Mistaking the sudden burst of light for an attack, Amana swiftly maneuvered to evade.
The other three team mbers, tethered to her by a ring of wind, were thrown sideways with her abrupt movent.
-Ahhh!
-What’s happening?!
Aldo and Taru scread in panic.
anwhile, Yeongwoo fixed his gaze on the yellow pillar of light that had just engulfed the space they’d occupied a mont earlier.
‘What is that? Doesn’t seem like an attack.’
Yeongwoo, a veteran of countless planetary bombardnts, couldn’t mistake destructive energy.
But no matter how he looked at it, the pillar of light before him didn’t seem lethal.
“Amana, wait a mont.”
At Yeongwoo’s request, Amana, who had been about to retreat quickly, hesitated.
-Why? We should get out of here—
“That’s not an attack.”
-What did you say?
By this point, Yeongwoo had already freed himself from the wind ring and was descending to the ground.
Thud!
As if on cue, the yellow pillar of light began to shrink, leaving behind a golden chest on the ground.
‘I knew it—sothing’s there.’
Yeongwoo’s eyes glead as Amana and the other two team mbers hurried down to the ground after noticing the chest.
-What the—
-There’s a chest?
-So it wasn’t an attack after all?
And just then—
FLASH!
From the sky above the Promotion Hall, golden waves erupted, filling the heavens.
It resembled golden rain, and Yeongwoo tilted his head to gaze at the sky.
The other three team mbers did the sa.
“Looks like they’re making an announcent. Didn’t they ntion releasing the rankings earlier?”
As Yeongwoo murmured, a colossal system ssage materialized in mid-air.
「First Ranking Release」
-What?!
-How did you know that, Yeongwoo?
-It’s true!
The three team mbers looked at Yeongwoo in suspicion, but he maintained a calm expression as he observed the ssage in the sky.
“It’s big enough for everyone in the Promotion Hall to see. That pillar of light earlier and this ssage—it’s clearly a notice everyone has to see.”
In a place like the Promotion Hall, the most likely candidate for such a grand announcent would be the rankings.
Revealing the rankings early would give an idea of the leading competitors’ strength and tendencies, allowing latecors to strategize on whom to target or avoid.
BOOM!
With a deafening roar that shook the heavens, the ranking chart appeared.
SWOOOSH!
「Real-Ti Score Rank #1: Team 023」
Following this, profile photos of Team 023 mbers appeared in the sky, as if taken without their knowledge.
-Huh?
-What?
-Why are our faces up there?
Yeongwoo’s profile was at the forefront of Team 023. Clad in his Vesedel armor, it was clearly a recent photo.
“Don’t they have privacy laws in space? And when did they even take this?”
The profiles of Team 023 displayed proper portraits showing them from the chest up, their faces blown up to enormous proportions for all to see.
It was practically a wanted poster disguised as a ranking board.
The rankings then continued with the second to fifth teams:
| Rank #2: Team 004
| Rank #3: Team 029
| Rank #4: Team 006
| Rank #5: Team 049
However, no profiles or photos were shown for these teams.
-What?! Why aren’t their faces shown?
-This isn’t fair.
-re they really only showing our faces?
As expected, the three team mbers grumbled, staring at their still-floating profiles with dissatisfaction.
They weren’t naïve enough to endure unfair treatnt without complaint.
But for soone as deeply steeped in villainy as Yeongwoo, his perspective was entirely different.
“Why is this unfair? This is actually a good thing.”
-What?
-Excuse ?
-What do you an by that?
“Didn’t we deliberately co to a place with the most teams to make ourselves pri targets?”
Of course, this wasn’t a strategy the other team mbers had agreed to.
“Now everyone knows who’s ranked first and what we look like. Those with ambition will be laser-focused on finding us.”
This ti, the team mbers managed to piece it together themselves.
-No way.
-They’ll target us to take first place…?
-That’s insane.
“That’s the burden of being villains, folks.”
Yeongwoo grinned wickedly as he glanced at his team.
Just then, another boom resounded through the sky.
BOOM!
This ti, it was the Power Rankings.
「Real-Ti Power Rank #1: Team 023」
-What?!
-Power rank #1?!
-We’re first in both rankings?
The profiles of Team 023 disappeared from the sky as they took first place in the power rankings as well.
FLASH!
A video played in the skies, showing why Team 023 had been selected as the top-ranked team in power.
—These losers were all trash.
‘No, these crazy bastards.’
Yeongwoo imdiately recognized his own voice and blinked in disbelief.
The footage showed him from just minutes ago in the central-western Promotion Hall, confronting their first opponents.
BOOM!
Earth’s guardian, Jeong Yeongwoo07, was annihilating Team 011 with his overwhelming strength, wielding his weapon, Bastard.
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‘If they’re going to show that, won’t it scare off the challengers? Who would want to ruin their plans by coming after us?’
Yeongwoo, slightly dumbfounded, watched his own display of power as he utterly destroyed Team 011.
It was certainly compelling evidence for ranking them first in power, but for potential challengers watching the sa footage, their motivation to engage would likely plumt.
―Poima, I swear I’ll avenge you!
―You despicable bastard!
The scene then switched to the desperate final stand of Count Katissan, the toad and the last survivor of Unit 011.
It replayed until, like his comrades, his body was split in two, and the footage ended.
Flash!
Next, a highlight reel appeared, like ending credits, showing the rankings of power from second to fifth place.
| Power Rank 2: 004
| Power Rank 3: 050
| Power Rank 4: 042
| Power Rank 5: 033
‘Huh?’
But sothing seed odd.
‘Except for the second place, the scores and power rankings don’t align at all.’
Aside from Unit 004, which ranked second in both score and power, the other top spots in the two rankings were held by entirely different units.
And what this suggested was...
‘There’s sothing going on. The scoring system isn’t just based on elimination rankings.’
This wasn’t entirely unexpected, given the nurous icons visible on the world map.
But the fact that the top spots, aside from the overwhelming first place and the still-mysterious second place, were distributed across various units indicated sothing unusual.
It implied that it was possible to achieve high scores without engaging in combat or demonstrating high combat power.
‘What kind of bastards are raking in rewards without spilling a drop of blood?’
As Yeongwoo glared with a fierce intensity, Aldo, the second prince of the Shelbir royal family, looked at him with concern.
-Yeongwoo, is sothing the matter? Is there a problem?
Yeongwoo quickly changed his expression to one of brightness and replied as if nothing had happened.
“Oh, Prince, it’s nothing. Any problem can be solved, right?”
He then glanced down at the unopened golden box and added:
“You all co from the world of good karma, but I hail from the world of evil karma. So I’ve never truly experienced anything like the ‘benevolence’ of the universe.”
-Oh…
-Is that so?
-That’s unfortunate.
What nonsense was this man about to spew again?
The three virtuous participants looked at Yeongwoo nervously.
“That’s why I believe there’s no such thing as ‘benevolence’ in this trial. Just look at how they’ve mixed people from the worlds of good karma and evil karma.”
-…What?
-What do you an by that exactly?
-No benevolence? I don’t quite understand.
Still inexperienced in the ways of the world of evil karma, the three virtuous participants tilted their heads in confusion.
Yeongwoo placed a hand on the golden box and spoke seriously.
“Why do you think this box has been placed here? Isn’t it a reward for being ranked first in both score and power?”
-Well…
-Since you’ve ranked first in both categories, they must be giving you extra points.
-It must be so sort of ranking reward.
That was the logical assumption of the virtuous participants.
But Yeongwoo’s opinion—or rather, his hope—was a bit different.
“If it were a simple reward, boxes would have been distributed to all top-ranking units. But this one was given only to us.”
He was confident of this fact because the leaderboard and profile displays had appeared at the sa location as the box’s landing point.
Then Amana, growing impatient, asked Yeongwoo:
-So, what kind of reward do you think it is? Are you planning to use it to kill more participants? Just hurry up and open it so we can see what it is.
“Shall I?”
Without hesitation, Yeongwoo swung his mythic cursed sword.
Slash!
Right at the golden box’s lock.
Clang!
The lock fell to the ground, split in two by the sword, and the box’s lid flew open, emitting a radiant golden light.
-Oh…
-What is this?
-Wow.
The virtuous participants’ eyes glimred with gold as they gazed at the holy-looking light.
anwhile, Yeongwoo reached into the box.
Swoosh.
From inside, he pulled out a small orb radiating a mysterious light.
“What the hell is this?”
Yeongwoo, who had been expecting a specialized weapon or tracker for the hunt, furrowed his brows at the unexpected item.
A system ssage then appeared in midair.
「Unit 023, ranked first overall, has obtained the special reward ‘Ga Maker’!」
“Ga Maker?”
An ominous na.
The instructions for the “Ga Maker” began to appear above the orb in Yeongwoo’s hand.
[1] Discuss with your unit to determine the order of turns.
[2] Each mber may input one primary rule in turn.
[3] Once a rule is input, it cannot be invalidated by subsequent mbers.
[4] When all mbers have input their rules, strike the device to confirm the rules.
[5] The confird rules will replace the existing rules of this trial, and previously earned points will be preserved.
“What?”
Yeongwoo’s eyes widened after reading the instructions.
Amana, who had been reading alongside him, raised her hand and shouted:
-From now on, no more killing! We can set the rules now!
“…Damn it.”
Virtue versus vice.
A one-against-three unfair battle.
Foreseeing the potential chaos, Yeongwoo closed his eyes tightly and muttered through gritted teeth:
“Please, don’t make crazy suggestions like banning all killing. Let’s pick sothing else, I beg you.”
Hearing this, Aldo cautiously raised his hand.
-Then… how about the unit that shakes the most hands wins?
[TL/N: These guys are kinda pissing off 💀.]
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