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Last Embryo Volume 6 Chapter 2 Part 1

Chapter 2

Lost Continent of Atlantis, dawn of the {Lost Continent of Atlantis} Gift Game’s third day.

The sun has already reached its topmost position in the sky.

Accompanied by Lalah, the Assistant Priestess from the village of the natives, Kudou Asuka and Kasukabe You were taken to a place in front of a tightly locked gate. Aside from the two of them, other Players were also gathering around in the same spot. Looks like these are all of the Players participating in the 2nd War for the Sun’s Authority that have been gathered here because they accepted the native people’s job of protecting the village from an onslaught of monster attacks.

In total, the number of Players that have responded to the village’s offer, which was a Gift Game invitation in disguise, was around twenty, but out of all of them, three people were so distinctively different from all the others that you could not miss them even if you were actively trying to do so. They were a young man with a blue turban on his head, a black haired, oriental-looking woman dressed in modern-day casual clothing and a boy with two spears resting over each of his shoulders who was casually taking a nap as if it was the most obvious thing to do in this situation.

Looking around, both You and Asuka wasted no time at all and began to evaluate the rest of the participants.

「Hmm. . . . I should have expected as much, but still, I am surprised that so many people managed to qualify to the first stage of the 2nd War for the Sun’s Authority and clear the first trial of the main Gift Game here.」

「Definitely, but even if their abilities might be on the lower side, it is entirely possible that their Sponsors might be very influential people, so it would not be all that strange if those Players who wanted to take part in this Gift Game no matter what tried to ask them to use their influence to secure a spot for them in the open slots, but I wonder if the competition here is going to be a free for all, or perhaps something based around a seed bracket based on the Sponsors that are involved with each Player?」

「So. . . .what? Are you trying to say that there is a very high chance of us running into Players who might have connections to powerful monsters or heroes from various mythologies and folklores?」

「That is certainly a possibility. . . .  but since you brought up mythologies and folklores yourself, then it has to be said that the two of us do not have all that much going on for ourselves in that department. And yet we managed to qualify for the Game without breaking too much of a sweat, so that proves that even though the possession of a Sun Authority or being related to the sun in some way might have been advantageous during the qualifiers, it does not mean that the same thing is going to be true for the Games included in the main competition.」

Uesugi, who was standing half a step back behind Asuka and You leaned in towards them to offer some additional insights of her own in regards to the current situation.

「The fact that so many more Players have been placed into the seed bracket for this Game despite the takers of all the top places from the qualifiers round being present here just goes to show how confident their Sponsors must me in believing that their chosen champions are going to win. There is also a possibility that they wants their champions to show themselves off before the other Sponsors and secure the biggest advantage possible by conquering as much of the other Players from the bracket as possible, because in this War, the performance of the champion will have a tremendous impact over the position of the sponsor. If they perform well enough, the Sponsors position and standing among the Gods of Little Garden is going to increase, and if they perform exceptionally poorly, it is more than likely that their current position will plummet, so I can imagine the competition being that much more fierce, because no one want to be the last place in the entire bracket.」

「Ahhh, I see now, so it is actually about something like that, huh? But if that is how it is, then I wonder if there were ever the kinds of accidents in similar Gift games where the two favorites have collided against each other during an early stage of the Game, resulting in both of them not qualifying any further?」

「Of course there were, and believe it or not, happenings like that are actually quite common when tow or more powerful Players are involved in a Gift Game that employs a bracket system. I herd that it was like that with the 2nd War for the Sun’s Authority as well, where a number teams backed by some pretty powerful and influential Sponsors ended up not passing through the qualifiers because they were defeated by the teams that were much more powerful than them. But on the other hand, do you not think that it would make for quite an entertaining story if someone who did not even to win the qualifiers for a better position to win The 2nd War for the Sun’s Authority in its entirety?」

Whenever Gods and Demons are involved in any kind of conflict, there is only one thing that everyone can be sure about: that the battles in that conflict are going to be both grueling and deadly, where all that is needed for the participating Players to lose their lives is but a single misstep, which was all the more true for the Players who could not even do good in the qualifiers. Branded as the weakest of the entire Player pool, it would be perfectly understandable to expect them to be destined to lose somewhere along the line without getting very far into the competition where they would inevitably have to face off against opponents much stronger than them at some point.

「On the other hand, there are some people who can only really kick off and show what they are capable off when the odds are stacked heavily not in their favor, and oftentimes such underdogs proved to be much more dangerous than the most powerful of the Victory Candidates, so I strongly advise you to be at high alert at all times, even more so since there is so much unknown Players gathered here. If you choose to ignore them and write them off as someone who poses no threat to you at all, then you might just be in for a pretty rude awakening.」

「Fufu. . . . . . thank you very much for the warning, Miss Uesugi, but I already realize that perfectly. And that is also why I cannot wait for a chance to fight against you. As a person who hails from the same country as you, I promise that I will not lose or give you a disappointing performance. . . .  oh, and by the way. . . . . . . 」

Asuka glanced behind her with a gentle look in her eyes, looking straight at Kudou Ayato, who was keeping her distance from her by staying behind Uesugi the entire time. She lowered her voice to make sure that she would not be able to hear them, and then asked Uesugi:

「Is it just me, or is she always looking as if she was so awkward and uncomfortable, almost as if she was not feeling well. . . is everything all right with her? She is not sick and forcing herself to be here with us for our sake, is she? Or maybe. . . . . did one of you do something to her and bullied her into taking part in the Game with you?」

「W-Well, I do not think that this is the case here at all. If I were to take a guess, then I would say that she is acting the way she is because she did not eat enough for breakfast or woke up on the wrong side of the bed and is in a bad mood because of it.」

「Oh my, is that so? If I knew that beforehand, then I would have taken a moment of my time to prepare some nice lunch boxes for everyone.」