Welcome to the Impregnable Demon King Castle

218 Part 1 – The Qualifying Round of Lem and the Others

『The long-awaited qualifying round of the All-Heaven Festival Contest is finally here! I’m currently in the 12th venue of the qualifying round! As you know, this battle to determine the world’s strongest has brought together Heroes from all over the continent! However! Unfortunately, not all contestants will be able to fight against the legends! This qualifying round will reduce the number of contestants!』

It’s a live broadcast.

The battlefield, or rather the petition stage, was not the only thing set up inside the Elementary Level – Beginner’s Dungeon.

Spectator seats and multiple huge screens have also been prepared.

There were spectator seats and 4 screens surrounding the stage where the battle would take place.

The screens were divided into sections and images from multiple locations were projected on them.

It seemed like the size of each image and screen would change according to the battle situation.

Since the contract with the Beginner’s Dungeon, Fellow has negotiated in the same direction of borrowing rather than acquiring and succeeded in renting enough magical space to hold the festival.

The Dungeons’ managers all over the world are also grateful for the source of ine that doesn’t depend on the Attackers. It’s no wonder that the number of people willing to work in Dungeons is increasing since they won’t lose their entire workplace.

I’m currently waiting for the time to enter the venue with my party members.

『Well then, today is the first day of the qualifying rounds that will be held across the continent! Everyone may not be familiar with the rules yet, so I will give you a quick rundown!』

There are two people giving the live broadcast. One is a male Minotaurus and the other is a female human.

As if to continue the words of the Minotaurus, the voice of the female human resounded.

『The rules are super simple! Just defeat the opponents to earn points. Since the festival is held with five-man groups, the total points allocated to each party are the same! 10 points for 1 opponent, 50 points for 5 opponents!』

『There are 100 parties gathered in one venue, so that’s a total of 5,000 points! The round is over when there is only one party left or when it reaches the time limit! If you survive, the points that you gain will be added to your total points, so for example, if one party wipes out all the opponents, then they’ll get all 5,000 points! I’m not sure if that’s actually possible though!』

『Ahaha, that’s true! But 100 parties mean… umm, a total of 500 people, right? Isn’t that too much? Well, the field is very wide, so there should be no problem in terms of capacity. It looks like the contestants are likely to be confused as to who to look for since there are so many people.』

In a Dungeon Clear, even if there are a lot of Monsters, they won’t appear in the same space all at once, and even if that does happen, it won’t be as many as 500 Monsters.

Moreover, unlike the Dungeon Clears where we only have to concentrate on the five-member Hero Party, this time there are 100 parties and a total of 500 contestants.

『At first, the area projected on the screen will be mainly focused on the famous contestants. We can expect to see a flashy battle from them. The spectators can enjoy the realism of the battles happening near their seats and if they want to see a popular party, then they can pay attention to the huge screen. Of course, there’s always the possibility that your favorite party will be fighting right in front of you, just like a dream e true!』

『Ufufu, by the way, the place where the parties will enter from has been announced at the time of ticket reservation, so customers who were able to secure the seats they want can see the remended entrance from up close. However, although it can’t be helped, there is a feeling that the famous contestants are receiving preferential treatment on the screens. Can’t we do something about that?』

『Well, we have also prepared a screen that projects the battle situation at random… Hmm, if the contestants want to be noticed, maybe they should aim for a Giant Killing or steadily show their results.』

If the famous contestants are given preferential treatment for screen time, then the other contestants can just fight those famous parties. If they manage to win, then they will definitely stand out.

『Ohh, what do you mean by showing their results?』

『We’ll be tallying the points and announcing the parties with the most points periodically. Of course, it will be done during the battle. If they can show a good result at this opportunity, then we also won’t be able to treat them as mobs.』

For example, they will announce a ranking of which party has the most points five minutes after the start, then they will announce it again ten minutes after the start.

In this case, it won’t matter whether the contestants are famous or not. The party that defeats more contestants will have its name announced.

『Ah! I see! In that case, the Parties that do well at the beginning would have a possibility of being targeted by the other parties because their results would be revealed!』

『Yes. In addition, the total number of points they can earn will decrease with every second. Because even if they defeat a party that has earned 1,000 points, they will only get 50 points.』

So even if someone has defeated another contestant, they won’t be able to take away the points that that contestant has acquired.

『In that case, the record of the Party that got wiped out will stop at 1,000 points.』

If all the members of the Party survive until the time limit after acquiring 1,000 points, then that Party will receive an additional 50 points.

On the contrary, even if the Party got wiped out, the points they acquired by defeating the other contestants will not be lost and will be recorded as their points.

『Ah, by the way, in this qualifying round, the party will still be able to continue fighting even after their leader gets sent off the field. If it’s a Dungeon Clear, it’ll be over after the leader gets sent off the field, but you don’t have to worry about that here!』

The only exception was the raid battle. Basically, the Party would fail to Clear the Dungeon if their leader has fallen.

『The qualifying round will be held under the same conditions, and after the results of all the venues, not just this venue, have e out, the contestants for the next battle will be decided in descending order of the ones who have the most points!』

『There are other rules as well, but I’ll explain them whenever needed during the actual round! By the way, there is a chance for those contestants, who have so-called unfavorable Jobs, to shine in this qualifying round, so please look forward to it! Everyone in the audience has been given a pamphlet that has the detailed rules written on it at the entrance, so feel free to read that!』

『And now it’s time for the contestants to enter! We can’t introduce all of them because there are so many of them, but I hope that the contestants who were not introduced here will catch our eyes with their abilities!』

The excitement of the audience could be felt all the way from the entrance place of the contestants.

Numerous famous Adventurers and Monsters… No, the contestants are entering the field.

Especially if you want to extract only those who are interested in me.

If I had to choose just a few people I’m particularly interested in, I would say…

『Although I’m one of the mentators for the live broadcast, I can’t hide my excitement at the thought of being able to see them in action because of this festival! The leader is the Commander of the 7th Knights Order! The Scales of Justice Astrea!』

Astrea is a beautiful woman. Her gold hair is cut short so that it won’t reach her shoulders and her blue eyes are looking straight forward. She has a dignified manner of walking, but it doesn’t make her look haughty.

The Knights Order.

To put it bluntly, during the war, the Knights Order was the army and the Adventurers were the mercenaries.

Of course, there were many who adventured as they pleased, but since it was a time when humanity needed to unite for victory against the Demons, there were many who were hired to fight.

There were also many who chose to be neutral like the Elves, and there were also a lot of Demi-Humans who sided with the Demons at that time, like the Orcs and Goblins. Anyway, there was a conflict, but it’s all over now.

Adventurers and Monsters now coexist together due to the Dungeon Clears.

And the Knights Order has bee more like a security organization.