Even though the one who plays the role of this year's Demon King is not a secret anymore, still no participant feels comfortable. It's not that they fear Damian, but because of the mystery behind one of his Four Heavenly Kings.
When talking about Pope Damian, it's a must mentioning the Rebecca's Daughters who often appear beside him: Isabel, Rin, and Luna. But who is the fourth heavenly king, no one has the information.
In the waiting room, Jishuka put the back of her hand over her forehead and leaned her head back on the chair, asking Yura, "Do you think the Four Heavenly Kings this year are easier to beat than last year? After all, last year they were Grid's NPCs, they were already strong and were overgeared, while this year Damian's NPCs are not like that."
Holding the cup of tea in her hand, Yura closed her eyes to enjoy the taste of the tea and replied, "It's not that simple. They might not be equipped with new items, but there will definitely be adjustments to their health. You saw the press conference, Grid's NPCs last year didn't get any health increases because their skills were already too terrifying."
"But in the end, it's just a health increase, the Four Heavenly Kings' skills this year probably won't reach that level."
"Don't forget that three of them are Rebecca's Daughters, it's obvious that they keep their skills hidden to avoid losing to the Yatan Church, and in a major event like Demon King Subjugation, they are completely allowed to unleash their full power, and can even receive Damian's support spells from afar if the S.A Group wants to make up for the Demon King this year."
Jishuka put her hand down and turned to look at the President of the Korean Patriotic Association, Kang Daehan. "Do you think so?"
Peak Sword was clearly a skilled player, his opinions would definitely carry weight, however, this time they did not. "I don't know much about them any more than you do, Coke is probably the one with the most information since he was present during the Yatan Church's attack on the Vatican."
Lee Seonung, Coke, was standing by the fridge and took out a can of coke. He took a big gulp and sighed, "The skills they showed the last time I saw them were not much different, but like Yura-noona said, it's not that simple. What new skills they've gained in the past few months is something only Damian or the elders know. Those are just the three of them, we still have the fourth mysterious character."
"So, besides that mysterious character, who do you think is the easiest to deal with?"
"So far, Isabel is the most prominent and has the most interactions with both Damian and Grid, so I'm pretty sure she's the hardest to deal with."
"What about the other two?" This time, it was Yura who asked.
"Luna uses a shield, and if you add in the adjusted HP and the buffs from Damian, she'll be no different from a living fortress. It might take longer to get past her and reach the gate than Isabel. As you know, longer doesn't necessarily mean harder."
"Then Rin would be the easiest to deal with, right?" Jishuka asked.
Coke took another sip of coke and said, "Yes, at least out of the three of them, Rin will be the one with the fastest chance of being defeated. Swords don't have as much range as spears, and their defense isn't as good as shields, so if our Korean team meets Rin, the time it takes to reach the Demon King's castle will be shortened, and the amount of health that Demon King Damian will receive will also be less."
"But it all depends on the other groups too, if their raid fails then it will be handed over to the groups that passed through the respective gates." Yura added.
"Exactly. If a group encounters the right natural enemy, let's hope they get wiped out as soon as possible so as not to add to the Demon King's waiting time. This time it's 500,000 health every 10 minutes, not 200,000 health."
Daehan added another thing, "Encountering any Heavenly King is also random. Since Damian leaked the information that he was playing the Demon King himself, the rules have changed. The groups have to choose the gate first before they can see who they will meet. Personally, I probably don't want to meet Luna. My skills might be effective in Breaking the Hero, but against a defense-oriented NPC like Luna, the Draw Sword Technique won't be very effective." Daehan's expression didn't look good.
Jishuka stood up cheerfully. "As for me, I want to meet the strongest among them. Fighting and winning against the strongest is the goal of Overgeared Guild, everyone knows that."
Yura just silently agreed while drinking her tea elegantly.
The atmosphere in the waiting room of the Korean team was strange. Sehee and Yerim were eating cake with Regas in the hallway, so they didn't know anything about this discussion.
Jang Doksoo, whose in-game ID is Eat Spicy Jokbal, was busy chewing on a pig trotter that had just been microwaved. He always lived up to his passion.
***
Kraugel meditated in a corner of the waiting room, not paying any attention to the people around him. He knew that whoever it was, he would still beat them because they could not surpass the shadow of the Demon King from last year. The members of the US team, including Zibal, Skull, and Asuka, decided not to bother Kraugel. They also knew what Kraugel was thinking and hoped that their performance would not be overshadowed by him. With each passing day, Lauel's absence revealed more and more the importance of a talented strategist like him.
***
Mei Xiao glanced at her brother who was standing in a stance. She knew he was disappointed that he had lost a gold medal to Kraugel, but she also knew that he was not discouraged. The Demon King Subjugation event would be the final stage and it had 5 gold medals. A man like Hao had proven himself to the world many times, and he had more than enough talent to win the prize of this event, at least if Kraugel did not get in his way again...
***
Pon, as usual, was flirting with the female players. This time it was a blonde German player who towered over him. One's pelvis wouldn't be safe from those firm curves... Omitted.
***
Just like last year, the Demon King's castle appeared on the main screens. It has been renovated to be more solid and look more thorny.
『 Dear audience in the stadium as well as viewers watching on TV, in just a few minutes, the Demon King Subjugation event will officially begin, and unlike last year, this year's Heavenly Kings have kept their appearance locations a secret for the players due to objective reasons from the Demon King. However, that only applies to those participating in this event. Right after this, we will provide you with a brief overview of the Four Heavenly Kings and their appearance locations. All of these are accurate contents sent by the S.A Group. First, at the North Gate... 』
The host started talking about the names, locations, and main fighting styles of the 3 Heavenly Kings. Yes, just the 3 Heavenly Kings. This was something that every viewer would take for granted because with the fourth Heavenly King, the element of surprise would be the key feature to get everyone excited.
"What do you think about this year's event? Will they be wiped out like last year's event?"
"I don't think so. After all, the rules have changed a bit this year and the players are much stronger. It's possible to defeat the Four Heavenly Kings on the first try. Looking at the roster of each group, Group A has Chris and Hao, Group B has Kraugel and Regas, Group C has Yura and Jishuka, Group D has Alexander and Pon. In terms of raw strength, Group D is probably the weakest, but they still have Ibellin and some other famous people from Zibal's raid team back then, so it shouldn't be too bad."
"Looking back and forth, every group has Overgeared Guild members, fighting together with them already relieves a lot of the burden."
"The rest is a matter of how well they coordinate. Although it is an event to unite players against a common enemy, just a little hidden trickery will make the person next to them lose the gold medal."
"Do you still think there are people who play dirty?"
"Who knows, this world is so big, they have no shortage of excuses. At that time, the important thing was to enter the Demon King's castle, otherwise, if everyone died, what would be the point?"
"Stop judging others by yourself, acting like everyone is like you."
"Chill, dude, I'm just saying. If they are butthurt, then they are butthurt. Not everyone participates for the sake of their flag. Ultimately, it's all for their own personal benefit. As for viewers like me, as long as there's a fierce and instructive fight, I'll watch. The rest isn't that important."
Discussions are going on all over the world. Grid's absence may be disappointing, but there are others who are working tirelessly to fill his shoes.
***
As scheduled, the Demon King Subjugation event began at 9:50 AM. Teams were given 10 minutes to randomly assign groups and then choose their gates. Everyone was ready to face the challenge because this year, each gate would have up to 120 players participating.
The Korean team, consisting of Yura, Jishuka, Peak Sword, Coke, Ruby, and Sexy Schoolgirl, chose the West Gate along with the rest of their group. It seemed the most normal but they all thought it was a trick and were sure that this would be the strongest Heavenly King.
Coincidentally, their team included Elizza Nowak - the German female player that Pon had just flirted with not long ago. With such a tall figure, at first everyone would think that Elizza must be a tank player or a special bodyguard for some noble family, but no, both the audience and the players participating in the competition were surprised to learn that she was an assassin whose name was not on the unified rankings. After becoming one of the last survivors of the Battlefield and winning the silver medal in the Obstacles Race 2 days later, Elizza registered her name on the unified rankings, and in the assassin rankings alone, her ranking was already threatening Kerb's position, who was an assassin player in a team with Shay and Sniffer.
The group of Jishuka and Yura were teleported to the western gate and waited. At exactly 10 AM, in front of the gate, the four-pointed star with demonic words written around it started to smoke red and bricks started to fly up, forming three rotating rings with a deep red pit as the center. From the bottom of the pit, a statue slowly emerged. It was a faceless statue holding a trident that looked like it was made of hot lava. The name on this Heavenly King's head was Heterogeneity Vampire Helix.
Peak Sword breathed a sigh of relief that this wasn't Luna, and Jishuka at the end of the group was ready to give instructions so that this raid could go as smoothly as possible.
Some of the players from Thailand were whispering to each other.
"Do you think you'll have good luck today?"
"I just went to the temple to pray for good luck the other day, now I can only hope."
"You just got a bronze medal against two strong opponents, who knows, maybe you can get a silver medal this time?"
"It's easier said than done, with a party of 6 people from Overgeared Guild like that, we should just aim for a bronze medal. To be honest, I can't even dream of a silver medal…"
"You're right..."
The battle hadn't even begun yet, but someone was already feeling down.
Meanwhile, Group D of Pon, Ibellin, Alexander, Seuron, and Tarma were facing an unimaginable enemy at the South Gate.
[You are under the influence of the Evil God of Time Aduka's power.]
[The ability to attack freely has been disabled.]
[Battle mode has been forcibly switched to Turn-Based Strategy.]
[Please be careful! Delaying your attack decision when it is your turn will reduce Aduka's attack waiting time. When this value drops to 0, Aduka will steal the next player's attack turn and that player will lose 45% of their current total health.]
[The first attacker will be randomly selected and will have 35% increased damage for all attacks until Aduka's health drops below 15%.]
...
...
Forced change of rules. This is probably the most unbelievable variable that no one dares to think of.