Free Web NovelChapter 489: Cluster of Evolvers
Moon arrived inside the safe area, putting solid distance between himself and the contracting boundary. He was clear of the Zone for the moment.
’It’ll start moving again soon. I can’t get comfortable.’
His thoughts were interrupted by the sharp sound of clashing weapons and the crackle of spells being exchanged to the south.
"Fighting has already begun, huh?"
Most people would have turned away from active combat.
Less risk, less attention, less chance of being drawn into someone else’s mess.
To Moon, a fight in progress meant exhausted competitors, divided attention, and points changing hands. There was opportunity in the chaos if he knew how to spot it.
He moved toward the source of the noise.
The clearing he found was already a battlefield. Ten Evolvers were locked in a chaotic free-for-all, the fighting spread across the open ground in changing clusters.
Some were mages, their spells lighting up the area in flashes of color. Others were physical fighters, their weapons clashing.
One mage already nursed a deep wound across his ribs, blood seeping through his robes. A physical fighter had clearly caught him off guard with a powerful attack.
"Hand over your points!" One of the mages shouted, sending a fireball arcing across the clearing. "Hand them over and I’ll let you walk away in one piece!"
"You hand over yours!" Another shouted back, dodging the fireball. "I have more points than you do! I am more deserving of them!" freewebnovel.cσ๓
"Like hell you do!"
Near the eastern edge of the clearing, a physical fighter tried to break away from the chaos, running for the treeline at full sprint. He had taken a few hits already and clearly wanted out before things got worse.
A mage on the opposite side spotted him.
"Where do you think you’re going?!"
Her hand snapped up.
A wall of flame erupted across the runner’s path, cutting him off completely. The fighter skidded to a halt, throwing his arms up to shield his face from the heat.
"Get back in here and fight!" The mage shouted. "You don’t get to leave with my points!"
Moon watched from the treeline, his arms folded across his chest. He didn’t intervene just yet.
He studied each of them carefully, weighing the auras flowing through the clearing.
They were peak Second Star Evolvers across the board.
Not weak by general standards, they were solid, experienced competitors who had survived a full twelve hours of the tournament. But in the context of the bracket itself, they were average. Mid-tier fighters who had clung to their positions through caution rather than dominance.
They weren’t going to be the kind of people who provided Moon with a meaningful fight or massive points gain.
But, their large number compensated him for that.
He would gain lots of points, if he played this right.
Moon settled into a comfortable position behind a tree, watching the chaos unfold. There was no need to rush in. He would let them tire each other out first, thin their own numbers, and then collect what remained.
Patience had served him well so far.
The fight in the clearing dragged on, and as it did, it drew attention.
More Evolvers approached, drawn by the noise of combat and the promise of point-rich chaos. They didn’t engage directly. Most of them tried to hide, watching from concealment to see how the situation developed before deciding whether to intervene.
Caution kept them alive.
Moon noticed each of them as they arrived. So did the people inside the clearing.
"There are people watching!" One of the mages shouted between casts, her eyes sweeping the treeline. "Come out and fight, stop hiding like cowards!" ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com
A few of the hidden Evolvers reluctantly stepped out, drawn into the brawl. Others stayed hidden, more willing to risk being labeled cowards than to dive into a fight that was clearly thinning the competition.
Those that remained hidden were attacked by those in the fight, forcing them to engage whether they liked it or not.
Within fifteen minutes, the original ten fighters had become fifteen.
Moon remained perched on a large tree branch, his body wrapped in a concealment rune he had used earlier. The rune masked his aura, his outline, and his scent, making him effectively invisible to anyone not actively searching his specific position with any scouting skill.
While consumables were banned in the tournament, runes were not. They offered less immediate impact than potions, weren’t mentioned anywhere in the rules as restricted, and required skill to deploy effectively. The tournament committee had likely considered them acceptable because most competitors couldn’t get meaningful value out of them to change course of a fight.
Moon was different. His Runemaster skill made every rune he used vastly more efficient and potent than a normal user could ever hope to achieve. While most competitors burned huge chunks of their mana reserves just to activate a single rune, Moon could deploy several without feeling a strain.
It was the same principle that applied to weapons. A mage could pick up a sword. That didn’t make them a swordsman. A mage could use runes. That didn’t make them a Runesmith. Most competitors who tried to incorporate runes ended up wasting mana for marginal returns, which was why runes were generally considered a bad investment for non-specialists.
Moon’s investment had paid off many times over because of his rune-related skills.
He stayed perfectly still, watching the chaos below unfold.
Time passed. The fighters grew impatient, exhausted, and desperate. Spells flew across the clearing in increasingly reckless waves.
Arrows whistled through the air. Alliances formed and broke within minutes. Some Evolvers tried to escape with their points, only to be hunted down by groups who refused to let them leave with the prize.
The clearing turned into a meat grinder.
Bodies were forced to surrender as the points kept changing hands. Each surrender chimed through the watches, the announcement marking another Evolver leaving the tournament.
The number of evolvers began to drop.
Fifteen became twelve.
Twelve became eight.
Eight became five.
Eventually, only four remained. Battered, exhausted, and watching each other with caution flashing behind their eyes.
’It’s time...’
