Book 5: Chapter 58: Puzzle House


    <strong>Scarlet</strong>


    <strong>Wee back everyone, to the third day of thepetition! </strong>King Oberon deres, his voice echoing throughout the stadium as the contractors within it cheer. And from what I heard when I left the universest night, the sapient demons and humans all across Tartarus and Earth are no different. In fact, they tend to be even louder since theyre all regr humans and demons.


    Although there arent very many demons that arent contracted. If any.


    In fact, the only demons I see outside of this little universe are the non-sapient ones who have no reason to watch.


    <strong>Tomorrow will be thest day of the first round of thepetition! </strong>King Oberon continues, surprisingly a little. <strong>We will be having the sixth, seventh, and eighthpetitions today, and the ninth and tenth tomorrow. Then the fae and partner teamworkpetitions will begin three days after that!</strong>


    At least were being given a break between them. Not that it would matter as much considering that the second round of the tournament isnt directlybat rted.


    I nce at Tar who is on my shoulder as I briefly wonder what the third round would entail.


    The king mentioned that you fae already know what will be in it, so are you able to tell me?


    Tar shakes his head without saying anything.


    Darn.


    <strong>Now lets get to thepetition! </strong>King Oberon shouts with excitement clear in his voice right as the rules for the nextpetition appear at the center of the stadium.


    <strong><em>Race to the Finish</em></strong>


    <strong><em>Description:</em></strong><em> All Competitors will be ced in a puzzle house filled with monsters and puzzles where they must split off into teams of two. They will then be required toplete the puzzle in each room to move on to the next room. Meanwhile other teams may spend points to send monsters to the otherpetitors rooms or increase the difficulty of their puzzles.</em>


    <strong><em>Rules:</em></strong><em> Directly killing otherpetitors is not possible. Anti-death use is allowed. Bonus Points will be granted on a speedrun basis, giving those who finish each room faster more points. Bonus Points are granted for killing monsters.</em>


    <strong><em>Goal:</em></strong><em> Reach the end of the puzzle house first.</em>


    <strong><em>Rewards:</em></strong><em> First ce gets one hundred points. Second ce gets seventy-five points. Third ce gets fifty points. And allpetitors may keep the points they rued throughout thepetition.</em>


    <strong>This time around there will be no directbat between thepetitors! It will also be a <em>team</em>petition, so no one canplete this alone! </strong>the king shouts, making me purse my lips slightly. Then the king snaps his fingers, making arge metal box appear beneath us with the walls partially see through. <strong>There will be a total of fifteen different rooms, each filled with monsters who will try to stop you frompleting the puzzles. And as the description says,petitors will be getting ess to a new menu that they can use to either send monsters at otherpetitors or increase the difficulty of the otherpetitors puzzles. A much more indirect method ofbat than the previouspetitions, if I do say so myself.</strong>


    The audience seems to like it considering the excitement I can practically feel pulsing from them in their cheers.


    But a team puzzle Im not gonna bother spending my points on otherpetitors, but why do I get a bad feeling about this?


    <strong>Because everyones probably going to target you with their points, </strong>Tar points out.


    Right. Yeah. Thats gonna be annoying.


    Theyll probably realize that sending monsters wont be very effective against me rather quickly though, so itll probably just end up being them increasing the difficulty of my puzzles.


    I was wanting to team up with Aria for this. Shes always been good at puzzles, and Id be able to defend her from the monsters.


    But if were gonna be targeted


    <strong>Rowena just contacted me, </strong>Tar says out of nowhere, making me nce towards where Aria is. <strong>She said that Aria doesnt care if youre targeted. She doesnt want to work with anyone other than you.</strong>


    Oh.


    A smile spreads across my face.


    In that case


    I nod my head towards Aria, still smiling. And she immediately pumps her fists into the air in excitement, which I notice Oberon ncing at without saying a word. Just smiling. If you can call that a smile, considering that hes, well, in the form of a dragon.


    Adorable.


    The king seems to be waiting a bit for people to decide on teams, and after a few minutes have passed, he spreads his wings and exims, <strong>Now that everyone has decided on their teams, let thispetitioooooon </strong>Im teleported into some sort of training hall looking room, <strong>begin!</strong>


    I raise my head, feeling slightly surprised that I heard his voice even after entering the arena. But I dont hear anything else from him or the audience, so it was probably just a one-time thing.


    Anyways, I turn to find Aria fidgeting, clearly wanting to hug me but not daring to considering my Red gue clothing. Which has made things a little awkward.


    Thankfully she is a very smart child and knew not to hug or touch my clothes after I started wearing Red gue clothes.


    Even if she doesnt like it.


    I dismiss the clothing on my right sleeve and pat her on the head, making her smile brightly at me.


    This is where you shine, little one, I tell her with a smile on my face. But to my surprise, she just shakes her head and grins rather maniacally.


    As if she has something sneaky in mind.


    I raise a brow in amusement.


    This ought to be good.


    Then again, despite how adorable she is, Aria really does have a devious mind. I know that just from how she fights in the Fractures Ive followed her in just to make sure she knew how to fight. Since she kind of begged me, and the demons wouldnt dare do anything too bad with me being there.


    Even if it meant she didnt get any EXP from it. Just the experience of fighting.


    I wasnt gonna let a child fight against demons on her own though, so it was apromise.


    She was very devious in how she handled it though.


    What do you have in mind? I ask, a grin splitting my own face as well.