Chaos Carrier With A Broken Talent

When people saw something valuable, the first thing they thought about was how to get it as quickly as possible.

More often than not, this was the right approach if the item was truly essential.

However, sometimes it wasn't necessary to try to be the first in the race to get the resource you needed. From time to time, you just had to reduce the number of people wanting the resource so that there was enough for everyone.

If there were four people at the table, they didn't have to fight to get a piece of pie cut into four pieces. Everyone took their piece at a leisurely pace. But if there were ten people and it was their only meal, the situation could quickly turn into a bloody mess.

Ethan's plan was based on this reasoning.

He saw no point in fighting the Walking Crypt when he had no guarantee that he would get the bell if he won.

Someone could just take it away from him.

But if there were as many bells as there were participants, this problem simply wouldn't arise.

There was a small risk that one of the bells would be destroyed upon the death of a man to even the numbers, but that didn't happen.

'Good.'

Ethan nodded deeply, biting his thumb.

'Once, the trial took measures to reduce the number of participants, but not the conditions of the stage. If only six must survive to the next stage, then that is what will happen, no more, no less.'

After the man's death, no one rushed to attack the Walking Crypt. It was too dangerous. The participants understood that the same thing would most likely happen to them.

The Walking Crypt stood motionless, continuing to remain in the same place in front of the four pillars, three of which glowed with bright runes.

It seemed that this could go on forever, but that was a mistake.

Thunder! Thunder! Thunder!

The rumblings of thunder grew louder. They had enough time, but not too much.

The Walking Crypt had nowhere to rush to, unlike the participants.

If no one got the bell, everyone would turn to ash, and the trial would end before reaching its finale.

Whooooosh.

The charred Hollow Walker flew in from the side, falling between Ethan, Klaus, and Aime.

Many hands engulfed in flames tried to move to escape, but Klaus's sword didn't let that happen.

Ethan's eyes turned left to meet two figures moving toward them.

'Hmm? They decided to come to us themselves? Well, I was going to do it anyway. They're better than that Loena... She's dangerous.'

Step.

A young man and woman in black clothes, almost the same height, stepped in front of them. Their appearance was quite similar: crimson hair, brown eyes, and smooth, pale skin with sharp cheekbones.

If they were two girls or two guys, it would be impossible to tell them apart.

Klaus frowned. He didn't see any swords in their hands. Each of them had two rings on their hands, and the rings were connected by chains.

"Twins?" Ethan raised an eyebrow.

The girl came forward.

"Sera and Kael. And yes, we are twins. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out!"

Kael just shyly rubbed the back of his head and nodded in greeting. It looked strange because his arm was soaked in blood, which didn't quite match his innocent smile.

Then, Sera glanced at them and stopped at Ethan.

"You're the leader, right?"

"Well, I'll do the talking. Do you know how to take this thing down?"

Sera crossed her arms over her chest.

"We have one idea, but we can't do it alone. I was thinking about..."

"WAIT!" Klaus exclaimed.

He stepped forward, staring intently into their eyes.

"You're not from Hail of Swords, are you?"

Sera rolled her eyes.

"Of course not. Do you see a sword on any of us? Agh? We're from Orsire, the Upper Expanse."

Aime raised her hand. "Me too."

Klaus glanced at Ethan, hopeful, though he already knew the answer.

"Yeah, I'm from Orsire too, but from the Lower Expanse."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Sera's eyes lit up as she licked her lips.

"Oh, so you're poor, but you still managed to become a Carrier and live to see this stage? Not bad, not bad at all."

Her reaction caught Ethan off guard for a moment.

Whether he wanted it or not, as a resident of the distant borders of the Lower Expanse, he'd faced contempt because of his financial state countless times in his life. Even the ceremony was no exception, Leyla was proof of that.

He was used to it, but Sera's reaction was something new to him. Even though she was from a wealthy family, which was evident from her clothes and the fact that she lived in the Upper Expanse, she only praised Ethan's aspirations.

Ethan was not a machine, and like anyone who rarely heard praise, he was pleased.

"Ahem." He coughed. "What is your plan?"

Sera nodded toward the Walking Crypt.

"We can't kill him, it's suicide. However, we don't need to do that, right? If we knock him to the ground, we can just grab the bells and scatter like cockroaches."

"And…" Ethan's voice grew lower. "I assume you have a way to do that?"

In response to Sera's gesture, Kael pulled four iron handles out of his pocket, hollow inside with runes carved into them.

"We need four. Does anyone have the ability to immobilize it?"

With excitement, Aime raised her hand.

"Me!"

Sera grinned.

"Good, very good."

...

One of the nine participants died, as Sera and Kael joined Ethan, Klaus, and Aime.

But there were still three participants left in the field.

However, they were not destined to become a team, and the reason for this was just one person.

Step. Step. Step.

With a calm stride, Loena headed toward the girl and the young man who were trying to come up with a plan. They had swords on their belts, three of them from the Hail of Swords.

Soon, they noticed Loena.

"You! Let's work together! I saw you at the beginning when you were fighting the knights!"

Loena nodded as streams of light energy ran through her frame like a noble but cruel light.

Then, she pointed her sword at them.

"In that case, you know what awaits you. I don't need competitors, especially two worthless swordsmen like you!"