Jarxen walked back and forth the Dome as he waited for the live broadcast of the mock battle. Since it only happens once a year, it was something everyone was looking forward to. In fact, Jarxen wasn't the only one lounging around the Dome as the countdown on a huge screen was shown.
As for the reason why they were all waiting, that's because the block who would win the whole thing would get a huge advantage on the upcoming Runners Survivors, and the block owner would be greatly rewarded as well. The reward being a percentage of everyone's salary, making it a highly-anticipated event.
"When will they show up?" Jarxen nervously muttered as he bit his nails. "This is so nerve-wracking."
Jarxen never showed worry in front of his workers, but now, he was showing huge amounts of concern for them. He knew they have the potential to win the whole thing, but what matters to him the most was their safety. Even though the Runners Survivors was going to happen a few days from now, he still wanted them to live 'til that day, no matter what.
"Don't worry, you told them everything they need to learn about the humanoids even though it's greatly discouraged to do so. They should be able to handle them properly by now. The only thing they need to look out for are the unfriendlies from other blocks." Jarxen muttered underneath his breath.
5...
4..
3.
2
Beep!
The huge screen propped against the walls of the Dome finally lit up with a bird's eye view of the Inside. The block owners already saw it plenty of times but they still couldn't help but stare in awe at the size of the place. After all, it was as big as a city and all of it was constructed underground.
The bird's eye view then descended onto one section of the Inside: the City Section.
The Inside was divided into six sections, namely: Factory-Section, City-Section, Starting Point, Forest, Fortress, and a small portion with a body of water. All of these were shown one by one in different cameras, all of which were carried by a LeXoR-450 drone.
Each camera panned around the Inside, but all of them couldn't detect a brawl happening. It was a very lax night compared to the previous Elite Conquests. Or maybe, it was just the calm before the storm.
"Welcome to the twenty-first Elite Conquest! Tonight may seem dull bu... " A monotonous commentator spoke with little to no emotions. This made the broadcast so boring that no one bothered listening to it. Unbeknownst to them, however, it was a humanoid who was commentating on the whole thing. After all, it was more efficient that way rather than hiring a human who would almost always get a sore throat after a twenty-four-hour broadcast.
"Still worried about them?" Julia Ventio walked towards Jarxen with a cheerful ambiance emanating from her. "I know that could be your kids if you ever had one but don't worry about them too much. It would just add wrinkles on your handsome face."
"W-what?!" Jarxen almost exclaimed in a high-pitched tone but he managed to suppress it. "I'm not really worried about them. I'm feeling really good about my batch this time so I was looking forward to my bonus coming from all of your salaries."
"Honest as ever." Julia stood beside him as the two of them watched the live broadcast of the Elite Conquest. "Don't think about it too much. If they lose, they lose, if they give up, they give up, and if they die, they die. Simple as that. It may sound horribly bad but that's the gist of this annual event."
"That's the problem. One of my workers just defeated two outclass humanoids and now he's as useless as a newborn chick. If only he was in his prime condition, he could easily defeat the lot of them. Honestly, all I care about was my additional income. So I don't really want them to give up and exit the mock battle... "
"... but what if they gave up?" Jarxen muttered to himself as his forehead creased once more. For an idiotic-looking person, he was brooding over the topic quite well.
""... ... sigh~" Ventio shook her head. "There's no use hiding that worried look on your face. You don't have to deny it. You're worried about them."
"What?! If had a cup noodle for every concern I showed for them, I'd have starved for a year and die." Jarxen hmph~ed as he continued watching the live showing.
After a few seconds, one camera finally stayed on one section as it was broadcasted live. The camera silently hovered towards a humanoid standing on the corner somewhere in the Starting Point. It peered his head over the corner of the street, locking his target on a group of teenagers probably walking back to their base.
"I guess it's true. Look, Jarxen. An Outclass humanoid." Julia pointed out even though Jarxen saw it clearly.
The group of teenagers took up a defensive stance as the Outclass humanoids charged at them with full momentum. As the drone flew overhead the Outclass humanoid, it focused on the faces of the recognizable teenagers. At first, Jarxen couldn't identify who they were because of the darkness. That's when the drone hovered close enough to show their faces on screen.
A red-haired teenager saw the drone and immediately grabbed it by the rear, smashing it on the ground. The screen suddenly blacked out as waves of static flowed from the loudspeakers. In a split second, a new camera focused on the group and the Outclass humanoid. This time, it stayed a few meters away from them.
"T-that's... " Jarxen stuttered. He couldn't believe his eyes.
.....
Starting Point, Southeastern part of the Inside.
.
"Hey Gadge," Red called out after dusting himself off from the fight with the humanoid. "Before we fought, I whacked something flying back there. I don't know what it was but it was spying on us. Can you check it for me?"
Gadge nodded and headed to the direction where Red pointed.
"We're almost there. Just two lefts starting from that building over there." Blond said after sighing in relief. He never thought that they would encounter an Outclass humanoid right at the bat. "Honestly, this is one unlucky bunch." He painfully smiled after looking back at Red and the others.
"Hahaha." Gadge laughed in a low voice as he picked up some sort of machinery from the ground. It looked like a mini helicopter, except it had four rotors and a square-ish body with a camera underneath it. "Red, next time you see one of these flying in the air, don't swat them. They aren't flies." Gadge couldn't hold back his laughter.
"Oh... who would've thought." Blond's lips curled upwards as he saw the drone. "I agree Red. Those things were probably monitoring everyone here. And now you killed it."
"But I didn't... for all I know it was a humanoid flying in the air." Red justified. "I didn't even see it. I just swatted the air after hearing it buzzing."
"Don't worry. It just powered down and a few of its wires got removed. I can fix it in no time." Gadge gladly offered. "We can even take it as a hostage and show our progress to everyone watching. I can also override its system and access one of Nexus Corporation's network. To put it in layman's terms, Red swatting it to oblivion worked for us just fine."
"You can do it tonight. For now, let's head back to our base." Blond reminded them. "It's getting late. We might get ambushed out here in the open."
Red went to Blond's side as they started walking. "Blond's right. We'd better head out. We'll be more vulnerable the longer we stay here."
.....
The group continued their travel with no difficulties the rest of the way. They couldn't believe it at first but as the night grew darker, so did the temperature constantly dropped. Now, the Inside was as cold as an airconditioned room. Everyone wanted to shiver but all of them didn't want to show it so they silently endured it.
"We're here." Blond finally announced as he did a t-pose in front of a dilapidated building that vaguely resembled a shopping mall. The building was a three-story one excluding the rooftop. Compared to its adjacent buildings, it was way shorter. However, it looked less conspicuous than them, making it an ideal hunting spot. Red stood in front of the entrance for a few seconds, his face lighting up. It would be an understatement to say that Red was impressed by the exterior of the building... or what's left of it.
"It looks just the way I foreshadowed it," Red said as he headed inside.
"What did I tell you?" Blond nudged Freckles as he followed Red. "At first glance, I already knew Red would like it."
"Seriously? This barely looks like a base at all." Freckles responded sarcastically.