It took a while before Yuigahama Yui finally sent a reply.
Yuigahama Yui: "Hey! Yami-kun really didn't lie to me!"
Yami Tsukishiro: "Ehm… I swear on heaven and earth, I've never lied to you."
Yuigahama Yui: "Well… sorry. I mean, heroes are kinda hard to believe in, you know?"
Yuigahama Yui: "But… Yami-kun dropped out of school, and even fought monsters. Does that mean… we'll never see each other again?"
Yami Tsukishiro: "That's way too dramatic."
Yami Tsukishiro: "I only quit school. It's not like I died. I'll send you my address—come over whenever you want."
Yuigahama Yui: "Oh! Okay! Then I'll send mine too! Yami-kun has to visit me, promise! cute.JPG"
Yami Tsukishiro: "Of course."
After they exchanged addresses, Yui's messages finally sounded lighter.
Satisfied, Yami set his phone aside and leaned back.
With nothing else to do, he slipped into the dungeon once again.
He needed to get used to his new powers.
The moment he moved, the dungeon itself seemed to tremble.
Darkness spread first, swallowing the entire mining area in an instant.
To the people below, it looked just like the end of the world.
Some even broke down on the spot, old fears bubbling back to life.
But just as quickly, the shadows receded.
In the sky above, a massive dragon woven from starlight unfurled its wings. The thousand-meter-long beast roared silently as it soared.
Gasps turned into prayers.
Some dropped to their knees, convinced they were witnessing a god's blessing.
They were wrong.
It was only Yami, stretching his power.
Meanwhile, he kept an eye on the challengers.
Akame and her group were moving more carefully now.
Takagi Saya had bounced back from her shaken state—her fire was stronger than ever.
She even boasted: "Just you wait! I'll get stronger and shove it right in the Dungeon Master's stupid face!"
Yami couldn't help but smirk. "…Interesting."
They had already unlocked the second level.
This time, he wasn't planning to throw impossible walls in their way.
The real problem wasn't difficulty—it was balance.
There weren't enough lower-ranked monsters. He needed more E-rank memes to pad out the early floors, otherwise the flow of the dungeon would always feel lopsided.
Right now, the first four floors had barely any fourth-tier creatures left.
The fifth floor held only a single one.
And since the adventurers had learned their lesson, they weren't rushing forward blindly anymore.
The spectators, however, were starting to get impatient.
Still, with each repeated attempt, the group was slowly stockpiling magic stones.
Their memes were on the verge of leveling up.
It wouldn't be long before they made their next push.
In the real world, the ripples of his power were impossible to ignore.
The third day after Yami dropped out, schools reopened as if nothing had happened.
But at his own home, Yami sat idle—until once again, the familiar distortion in space appeared.
[Theme of the Virtual World: Fight! King of the Arena!]
[Participants: 50,000 / 50,000]
[Goal: Win at least one arena match!]
The call to battle had come again.
"Eh?! Hello?! Again?! I don't want this!"
"What? What? Where is this?!"
Voices overlapped in confusion. The noise was so loud Yami Tsukishiro felt his ears ache. He swept his gaze around.
The scenery was… a coliseum.
Like the ancient Roman amphitheaters he had seen in history books, the seats stretched upward in a circle, packed with countless people. And at the center—an enormous arena.
Too enormous, actually.
The entire ground had been split into nearly a thousand separate sections.
"…So this is how they're fitting fifty thousand people," Yami muttered.
His sharp eyes immediately picked out Eriri and the others, but they were far across the field.
An invisible force kept everyone separated, sealing them into their own seats. For now, all he could do was wait.
Then, something caught his attention. Some participants held strange black stones, faintly glowing in their palms.
"Rewards…?" Yami narrowed his eyes.
They were the same survivors from the first virtual world. Not the top ten, though—those players had received different prizes.
The rest had been given these stones. And judging from the rules, they were about to use them.
[Ding! Thousands of random participants will enter the Ring King Challenge!]
[Challenge Rules!]
Only those who win at least one arena match will receive rewards.
Winners may choose to quit or continue to the next round.
There are ten rounds in total. Rewards scale with the number of victories.
Players may choose solo or team battles. Team battles allow up to ten members, but difficulty will rise accordingly.
[You have 30 minutes to choose and form a team!]
The isolation barriers dissolved.
The moment they did, Yami reached out, pulling Eriri, Chisato, and the others into the shadows beneath him, away from the chaos of the crowd. He released them again in an empty area.
"Geez! My heart almost stopped—I thought I got jumped!" Chisato clutched her chest, but she wasn't frightened in the least. In fact, she looked like she found the whole thing thrilling.
Yami's eyes swept across the group.
Chisato. Takina. Kurumi. All of them had advanced to Level Two. Their memes had upgraded as well.
It wasn't surprising for Chisato—she was naturally gifted. And Kurumi had brains that worked like a machine.
But Takina…
His gaze lingered on her a little longer.
Takina immediately stiffened. "…"
The truth was, she had been training herself desperately—pushing her clairvoyance until it hurt.
She couldn't stand the thought of standing next to Yami Tsukishiro, seeing his overwhelming presence, and being useless.
Now, she could not only turn her clairvoyance on and off at will, but also control the depth of it.
"Yami-kun, should we form a team?" Utaha asked smoothly, stepping forward.
Given the situation, a team seemed like the obvious choice.
Yami thought for a moment, then nodded. "From my perspective, it's better for you to group up."
Eriri frowned. "And what about you, Yami? Not joining our team?"
"You don't have to worry about me," he said. Then, after a pause, four black shadows rose up from beneath his feet, slipping quietly into the shadows of his companions.
"Wahhh!!"
Takina nearly jumped out of her skin. "Something just crawled in! Was that a rat?!"
"Calm down." Yami's tone was casual. "I placed something inside your shadows. I'm just not sure if I'll be able to bend the rules and sneak it through the Ring challenge."
Whether it would actually work or not… was anyone's guess.
"Yami-kun."
A soft voice called from behind.
Yami Tsukishiro turned around.
Standing there was a girl with light blue hair, wearing the uniform of Gakuen High School and a white beret. She looked straight at him, as if she already knew who he was.
"…And you are?" Yami asked.
"I'm Ryūjū Momo, Class A. Second year at Gakuen High School." She smiled faintly. "Also the Minister of the Astronomy Club."
Utaha tilted her head slightly. "Ryūjū Momo… I've heard of her."
Mizuki, recalling the data she'd memorized, spoke up. "She ranked seventh in the last virtual world tournament."
"Really now…" Yami narrowed his eyes.
Momo's gaze swept the area, as though confirming her suspicions.
"You came here looking for me on purpose, didn't you? How?" Yami asked.
"There's a function to locate other participants by name. It was probably added for team formation."
She pointed to the air in front of her.
"Eh?!" Eriri leaned forward to check. "She's right! There really is a search function."
Momo turned back, her expression calm. "If my guess is correct, everyone in the top ten last time should have received some kind of ability in this new virtual world, correct?"
She didn't press the issue, but her eyes focused squarely on Yami.
"And among those, the only ones whose real identities I don't know are you and your classmates. That's why I want to form a team with you. Simply put—my chances of surviving are higher if I'm with you."
Then, as if to prove her sincerity, she added: "As a token of trust, I'll tell you what I gained."
Her tone sharpened. "Armed One. That's the name of my ability. When I wield weapons, I feel naturally skilled, and the weapons themselves sometimes generate random special traits. I don't know the full extent yet."
Having said her piece, she fell quiet, patiently waiting for his reply.
The others exchanged glances. There was no way to know if her claim was genuine…
Until the system display confirmed it:
[Name]: Ryūjū Momo
[Rank]: Level 1
[Race]: Human
[Meme]: Class D – Armed Person (Level 1)
Exactly as she'd described. She had indeed revealed her true ability without holding back.
Yami gave her a small nod. "You're honest. Good. But I won't be joining your team. Instead, you can team up with them. Their strength is reliable...you can rest easy."
"…!"
Momo blinked, momentarily surprised.
But then, after considering the sheer difference between his power and theirs, she nodded in relief.
"If we form a team, we might be able to bring in the sixth-ranked player," Mizuki suggested.
"Yor Blair. Sixth place, an impressive result."
"That makes sense…"
Yami used the search function to locate her. His eyes locked onto a woman whose appearance stood out immediately.
A strange sense of déjà vu washed over him. Without hesitating, he reached into the shadows and pulled her to their location.
Yor appeared—tall, with long dark hair and piercing crimson eyes. Yellow flower ornaments decorated her hair.
She wore a black dress paired with thigh-high boots, a pendant gleaming at her neck.
The moment she landed, two long golden needle-like kunai snapped into her hands, her stance full of lethal vigilance.
"Who are you?!" she demanded.
Yami's suspicions were confirmed. The woman before him was the very same Yor from the "spy house." But the style was jarring—like eras stitched together into one person.
"Miss Yor, don't be nervous," Yami said evenly. "I brought you here to invite you to form a team."
"…A team?" Yor slowly lowered her weapons, though her eyes stayed sharp.
Chisato and the others leaned forward, excitement sparking at the sight of her skill.
"Miss Yor, are you a killer too?" Chisato asked bluntly.
"I'm not," Yor shot back quickly. Her true profession wasn't something to expose so carelessly.
"Really?" Chisato's eyes narrowed with suspicion. Kurumi and the others exchanged doubtful glances.
Unwilling to stay on that topic, Yor cut straight to the point. "What do you mean by team formation?"
Yami explained it simply. "They're all top ten players from the last virtual world. They want to team up. Together, the chances of survival will be higher."
Yor's eyes widened slightly—top players, gathered in one place? She hesitated, weighing the pros and cons, then gave her answer.
"…We can form a team. But if I sense any malicious intent—" her crimson eyes flashed cold, her voice sharp as steel, "I will kill you without hesitation."
"Fair enough. That goes both ways," Yami replied without flinching.
Chisato, meanwhile, looked positively thrilled. If Yor really was a killer, then this was the kind of battle partner she'd been itching for.
Yami, however, wasn't about to let familiarity make him careless. Just because he recognized Yor didn't mean blind trust was warranted. Strangers, no matter how skilled, required caution.
With Yor's addition, their lineup was complete—eight members strong.
Now, all that remained was the countdown to the arena challenge.
--------------------------------------
Support me at patreon.com/Arthorain and read upto 50 Advanced Chapters and R-18 Content!
--------------------------------------
Every 100 power stones = 1 Extra Chapter
By voting with [power stones], you can easily get double the number of chapters.