The Author's POV

[Leviathan building, Lock]

"You feeling better?"

With his legs crossed, Kevin sat on the seat next to me as he scrolled through his tablet.

Displayed on it were the highlights of the different games of the tournament.

"...I feel like crap."

A light groan escaped from my lips.

My body was still extremely battered from yesterday's incident, and even though the medical facility was very advanced, it would still take a while for me to completely heal up.

"You'll be fine soon. That aside, I was honestly quite shocked by your performance. Didn't think you would go all out like that."

"Haha, me too..."

At Kevin's statement, a fake laugh escaped from my lips.

Had it not been for Monarch's indifference, I would've never done something like that.

"Fortunately, your injuries aren't too bad. Within a week you should be all healed up."

"Yup, so you really don't need to worry too much"

Kevin suddenly laughed out loud.

"Hear this, watching your performance, Emma was so shocked that she didn't speak for a whole ten minutes. Do you understand how much of an accomplishment this is?"

"Mhm, that does indeed sound really impressive."

Listening to Kevin, a small chuckle escaped from my lips.

Emma talked all of the time.

For her to not have been talking for ten minutes straight was an accomplishment in itself.

"Right?" Kevin chuckled alongside me. "I was just as surprised as you."

"It is what it is...by the way, when's the battle royale?"

Recalling something, I switched the topic.

"In about a week's time. So you should be able to recover by then. You could've recovered faster if you just took a potion..."

Kevin pointed out as his eyes glossed over the bandages covering my body.

"The doctor said that it's better if I don't consume too many potions, and recover naturally."

To Kevin's suggestion, I merely shrugged my shoulders.

If too many potions were consumed, the body would start to become accustomed to them and their effects would dilute over time.

As such, it was just better to recuperate naturally.

"...Oh right, um, so you found anything else about the Monolith's plan?"

I suddenly asked.

This was the main reason I had asked Kevin to come to my room. To talk about this topic, as it was extremely important.

Turning his head left and right to make sure that no one was present, Kevin lowered his voice and responded.

"Mhm. I've found out a couple of things."

"Spill it."

"Here?"

"It's fine, this place is pretty secure"

We were currently in my dorm, so no one else could overhear our conversation.

Kevin turning his head left and right to check if anyone was present looked pretty stupid from my position.

Although the Lock wouldn't go as far as spying on the conversation of their students, on the first day I moved here I checked to see if there were any listening devices installed in the room.

There weren't, so it was pretty safe.

"Alright...they are planning on attacking whilst the game is happening."

"I've figured that much. Anything else?"

"Mhm," Kevin nodded his head as he elaborated, "There apparently are a couple of <S> ranked villains amongst the people they are sending. Their goal is to kill as many first years as possible on national television to ruin the Lock's reputation as much as possible..."

"...to go that far."

My brows furrowed tightly.

If the Monolith went as far as to employ multiple <S> ranked individuals to make this work, it just went to show how much importance they put on this matter.

This was definitely going to be extremely troublesome.

"Are you confident in the source of your information?"

"Yes, I'm very confident."

"I see..."

Placing my hand on my chin, I mused.

Given that this information was most likely something he got from the system, I didn't need to worry about it being false.

The Monolith was definitely planning on killing as many first years as possible during the battle royale event.

"Have you got anything else?"

Turning my attention back to Kevin, I asked.

"No. That's it for now." Kevin shook his head. "All I know is when they are going to attack, but I don't know where."

'So it's that type of quest...'

At Kevin's reply, I had a sudden realization.

There were many different types of quests that the system would assign to a user.

There were ones that would give him a specific task that he would need to complete before getting awarded, and there was one that would ask him to stop a certain event.

This was most likely the latter as he may have gotten something that said; save as many people as possible during the incident that will happen in XXX at XX time.

If it was that type of quest, then Kevin really did only know that much.

"Let's think this logically Kevin. If you were a villain and you were trying to infiltrate the event, what would you do?"

"Hmm..." Kevin thought for a bit before responding. "I'd first disguise myself as one of the staff and then set up different portal links inside of the facility where the battle royale is being held."

"I agree."

At his evaluation, I nodded my head. This was the most plausible option.

"The battle royale is at the dome right?"

I asked to which Kevin nodded his head.

"Correct."

"That's problematic..."

"Right, I'm also stumped on this matter."

Kevin scratched the back of his neck as his brows furrowed.

Although the dome was only recently built by the Lock for the tournament, its security was extremely tight.

Regardless of how much Kevin and I wanted to infiltrate the place, it was practically impossible.

At least not with our current abilities.

"Kevin, how are we going to enter the facility and check where the portals are being set up? Do you have anything in mind?"

"...Actually, don't we have to infiltrate the place?"

Kevin replied after a brief pause. My eyes lit up at his response.

"Oh? You've got something?"

"Something like that...realistically speaking, Infiltrating the place is almost impossible. At least not with our current abilities. Right?"

"...Yeah."

My eyes squinted slightly.

"Right. So why don't we instead spend our time finding out who the people undercover are? That way, we don't have to enter the building at all"

"That's easier said than done. How are we going to identify who comes from the Monolith?"

I rebutted.

"Don't worry, I've got it covered."

Kevin laughed bashfully but didn't elaborate.

"...fine."

For a short period of time, I didn't respond as I looked at Kevin suspiciously.

This was merely acting on my part as I knew exactly what Kevin was planning on doing. Without a doubt, it had something to do with his system.

"Let's meet up in a couple of days when you're all healed up. During that time I'll scout the area for a bit."

Kevin got up.

"That sounds good."

"Alright. it's settled. I'll message you in a couple of days"

Picking up his phone from the table, Kevin waved his hand and made his way towards the door.

"Mhm. See ya."

Because of my injuries, I couldn't see him off, but he didn't seem to mind this. Closing the door behind him, Kevin left my apartment.

'”Clank!

***

'”Trriiing! '”Trriiing!

Two days later. My phone repeatedly rang throughout the whole day as the screen of my phone got clogged up by an endless amount of notifications.

It got so bad that I had to turn off my notifications for most of my apps. Only then did my phone once again became usable.

[Theodora Academy wins the battle royale against the third years of the Lock securing the first place spot in the tournament. Will the Lock undefeated streak finally break?]

"...so it really happened."

Reading the news article on my phone, an extended sigh escaped from my mouth.

Because of my lack of interest in the third years game, I only found out now about their loss.

'I guess this part of the novel didn't change.'

This event was inevitable. The lack of cooperation between the three heads was something that anyone could've seen.

The result of the battle royale was a clear indication of this.

'”Ding '”Dong!

Disrupting me from my thoughts was the sudden sound of my doorbell ringing.

"Hm? Who could it be?"

Confused, I made my way to the entrance of the room and opened the door.

"A package? Who is it from?"

Sitting right in front of my door was a small box. There was no tag on it so I wasn't aware of who gave it to me.

'This looks really suspicious...'

Squatting down, I lightly poked the box.

Although I knew it was safe because all boxes that came through the Leviathan building were checked beforehand, I was still slightly apprehensive.

After all, I didn't know who gave me the box.

"Oh well."

Looking left and right of the corridor, curiosity got the best of me, and I eventually took the box and brought it to my room. Taking a pair of scissors, I carefully opened it.

"Ah..."

A small sound escaped from my mouth. In the middle of the box was a colorless potion, and a sudden realization dawned on me.

"...how kind of her."

Looking towards the right side of my room, where Melissa's room was, my lips curled up slightly.

Everything started to make sense to me.

There could only be one person that would give me a potion and added with the fact that there was no tag on the box, it was without a doubt Melissa who had given me the box.

"...there's a letter too."

Taking the potion, I soon spotted a white envelope placed beneath it. Opening the letter and reading the message, my lips slightly twitched.

[You're fucking crazy.]

"Right, what did I expect."

Throwing the letter to the side, I looked at the potion in my hand. I guess Melissa did feel guilty about the false information she had given me.

But in hindsight, she really didn't do anything bad. I mean, never would she have expected me to sacrifice my body like that to get a high score.

She probably would've never expected me to act that crazy. Me neither to be honest.

"This looks like an advanced healing potion?"

Turning the potion around and inspecting it carefully, I realized what it was.

Although there was no label on it, having taken the potion a couple of times already, I was able to instantly identify it.

An advanced healing potion. Something that was worth around 40 million U.

"Hmm, I'll keep it for now. I'll use it later."

Since I had no games for at least a week, I may as well just save it for now. I had a faint feeling that I would definitely be needing this for the future.

***

Moonlight shone through the glass of a small window, illuminating a specific area within a dark room. In the middle of the room sat an imposing existence.

'”Lord.

A voice rang out in the empty space. The call awoke the existence that was sitting in the middle of the room.

'”There's important information I would like to brief you upon.

The existence slowly opened its eyes. The revealed pupils glistened like jewels as a scarlet red bloodlust faintly emanated from them.

"Speak."

The existence replied briefly. An emotionless voice echoed across the empty room.

'”We've already started making preparations. More than half of our spies have already been caught, but we somehow have managed to get two people to successfully infiltrate the premise where the battle royale will be held.

"Two?"

'”...Yes. Although we've sent over a hundred spies, most of them have been caught by the Lock. Their security is far too tight. We've only managed to get two in due to the aid of two <S> ranked villains.

"Understood."

'”What should we do next?

The existence did not reply immediately. Slowly he stood up.

Meanwhile, a full moon slowly revealed itself from behind the clouds. The moonlight entering the window brightened as it softly enveloped the exitance's body. The darkness that clocked the room became fainter.

"We proceed as we originally planned."

Underneath the moonlight, the figure's features slowly became more discernible.

With long-cascading black hair and jade-like skin, was a topless male figure whose looks could only be described as outrageously handsome.

If someone were to stand before him, they would assume he was an immortal that had descended upon the world.

Taking a couple of steps forward, a robe magically appeared on the male's figure.

"We can't let our plans fail. Especially not after our failure a couple of months back during the banquet. Any mishaps cannot be allowed to happen..."

His emotionless voice drifted around the room.

'”Y-yes.

The voice on the other side stuttered.

Despite communicating from such a distance, hearing the existence's voice sent chills down his spine.

"Anything else?"

Dully said the male figure as his hands interlocked behind his back.

'”...I have another thing to report.

"Proceed."

The figure's eyes shone slightly as he emotionlessly replied.

'”Someone has been snooping around lately.

"Snooping?"

'”Yes. We've found a student repeatedly making their way towards the dome. His visits appear to be too irregular.

"Don't do anything."

Replied the figure as he stood beneath the large window and stared at the full moon in the sky.

"If we act right now, there's a possibility of our spies getting exposed."

'”So what do you suggest we do if the person finds something?

"If such a situation happens, get rid of them."

'”As you wish, Lord.

"Anything else?"

'”No.

"You may leave."

'”Yes my Lord.

"Huuu..."

Basking underneath the moonlight, the figure slowly closed his eyes.

Silence once again descended in the room as only the sound of the figure's breathing resounded across the room.