Project GB is an official initiative by Re:Library.

Although he still had no idea what was going on, the best course of action right now was to get inside first. Dragging the rabbitfolk along with them, Zane and Starry quickly merged into the flow of pedestrians.

…

The cities of the Dark Faction and the Light Faction were not all that different. If there was one noticeable distinction, it was the residents rather than the architecture. All kinds of monsters roamed the streets openly, creating a strangely fascinating atmosphere.

After walking along the streets for a while and confirming that the girl hadn’t followed them, Zane opened his communicator.

“Windblossom, we made it inside.”

“That fast!?” Windblossom exclaimed in surprise. She herself had only entered the city not long ago.

“Yeah. We ran into a strange NPC who let us through. I don’t know if it’ll affect the later quests.”
“A strange NPC… I see.” She paused before adding, “By the way, it’s already pretty late. You two should find somewhere to log out and get some rest. I’m heading to bed too.”
“Alright. What time are we meeting tomorrow?”
“Let me think… Let’s gather at eight. If we sleep in too late, we might miss some event.”
“OK.”

Not long after the conversation ended, Windblossom’s avatar dimmed. She must have been completely exhausted.

‘Ah… It’s probably about time for me to rest as well.’

***

The next morning, Zane silenced his blaring phone alarm and climbed out of bed.

“Yawn…”

‘Have I been staying logged in for too many hours lately? Maybe I should get some exercise?’

The thought lasted only a moment before he dismissed it. Exercise? Yeah, right. Summer vacation was meant for staying comfortably holed up in his room. Still, his body felt surprisingly refreshed instead of sluggish.

Two servings of breakfast sat on the dining table, probably something his mom had bought.

‘Come to think of it, ever since returning home, I’ve been so busy playing the game that I hadn’t even had a proper chat with my parents. I should find an opportunity to do that. Zina’s probably still asleep. Maybe she’d stayed up late gaming last night too?’

That was understandable. He had done exactly the same thing on the first day the servers opened.

After finishing breakfast and freshening up a little, Zane returned to his room.

«Log in.»

The scenery shifted in a flash of light, and beneath a clear blue sky, the true appearance of Noctilune City unfolded before Zane’s eyes. Every functional shop imaginable was present, along with all sorts of bizarre-looking buildings whose purposes were impossible to guess.

Rather than being laid out in straight lines, the buildings spread outward from the city gate in countless sweeping arcs along both sides. Viewed from the map, the entire city resembled the shape of a crescent moon. No wonder it was called Noctilune City.

Compared to the bustling crowds of the previous night, the streets were now nearly deserted. Even many of the shops remained tightly shuttered. Were there really this few people around during the daytime?

**Beep!**

An incoming communication interrupted Zane’s wandering thoughts.

“Starry, Zanny, hurry over here.”
“Where?”
“Hang on. I’ll send you the coordinates.”

A moment later, she posted a set of coordinates in the party chat. Following the marker, they walked for about three minutes before the distant clamor of voices gradually reached their ears.

They were almost there. After passing through a narrow alley and turning right, a towering arena came into view. On top of it, two monsters crashed into each other with tremendous force.

The one on the left was broad-shouldered and powerfully built. Every time he exerted his strength, the phantom silhouette of a brown bear flickered behind him, accompanied by earth-shaking roars. That was none other than Karlo.

His opponent was a gigantic stone statue. Its upper body was earthy yellow while its lower half was dark blue. It had no legs at all. Instead, it relied solely on a pair of massive stone arms to battle the brown bear on equal footing. The stone face at its peak wore a savage grin, as though victory was already within its grasp.

Countless monsters and undead surrounded the arena so densely that there wasn’t even room for a drop of water to pass through.

Standing at the very edge of the crowd, Windblossom waved both hands frantically, afraid Zane wouldn’t notice her.

“The match has already started?”
“Mm.” She nodded.
“To be more precise, it started around five o’clock.”
“What?”
“Actually…” Windblossom began to explain.

From the Brown Bear Captain, she had learned the detailed rules governing this competition.

First came the Small Arena. Across Noctilune City, there were a total of five arenas just like this one. The victory conditions for the Small Arena were straightforward. As long as a contestant remained undefeated for one full hour and defeated more than five challengers during that time, they would emerge victorious. The winner would earn the qualification to participate in the Grand Arena.

“So the Small Arena is basically a qualifying round?”
“That’s right.”
“How long does it last?”
“Three days and three nights. Challenges can be issued at any time,” Windblossom explained. “Also, aside from those who have already become arena champions, every participant can challenge different opponents again. Each time they step onto the arena, the timer resets.”
“I see… How long has that guy been fighting?”
“Fifty-seven minutes.”

A deep, booming voice suddenly cut into the conversation. Turning around, Zane saw that it was Tako, the other brown bear.

“Then doesn’t that mean he’s about to win?”

“No…” Windblossom shook her head. In the very next moment, Karlo was smashed off the arena by the stone statue. His HP had dropped to only 8%, and he was afflicted with numerous debuffs.

The group hurried over.

“Sorry you had to see me in such a sorry state…” the brown bear said, scratching his head awkwardly.

The monsters, however, had no interest in the defeated. After giving him a brief glance, they immediately shifted their attention back to the arena.

“Boss, there was no need to push yourself like that.” Tako let out a sigh. “After beating five opponents, you could’ve simply stalled for time against someone you had an advantage over. Fighting eleven matches in a row was just…”

“Hahaha! What’s the point of dragging things out? A Small Arena title won that way would only be a hollow honor.”

“…”

Eleven consecutive victories? That was absolutely insane!

“Windblossom, should we give it a try too?” Zane asked eagerly over the party chat.
“Try my foot! Did you forget why we’re here?”
“To infiltrate? Oh, right. But haven’t we basically accomplished that already? We also found out why all the monsters have gathered here.”
“No. The quest hasn’t indicated completion yet. This information is probably just scratching the surface.”

She was right. If the arena tournament were all there was to it, they could have simply grabbed any random monster outside and questioned it. A mission like that would never have been rated Double S.

“There are two options right now.” Windblossom thought for a moment before continuing. “The first is to enter the arena and use that opportunity to get close to the Endless Water Prison, but that’s going to be difficult. I don’t think we’re capable of winning the Small Arena, and even if we did, we’d still have to fight in the Grand Arena afterward. The second option is to spend these three days gathering information while the tournament is going on.”

“Got it. Though… I actually know someone here. Maybe I can find out something from them.” Starry took out a gray card, its inscription emitting a faintly ominous aura.

“…You two really seem to have connections everywhere.”
“Not really.” Zane waved dismissively.
“Then I’ll let them know. We’ll head out afterward.”
“Sounds good.”

…

While Windblossom was talking with Karlo… The stone statue on the arena strutted around triumphantly, sweeping its gaze across the spectators below. For a brief moment, not a single monster dared to step forward.

“Fool!” Accompanied by a thunderous roar, the wielder of a gigantic battle axe, clad from head to toe in black full-body armor, leaped onto the arena. A pair of crimson eyes flashed beneath the helmet as he leveled his axe at the stone statue and said calmly, “If you don’t get off the stage now… I can’t guarantee how many pieces you’ll end up in.”