Martial Online.

Chapter 430 The Tag Fighting

?A mind-breaking sight was happening on the livestream of the tournament.

The watchers were in awe at the sight of billions of players running. It was a sight that was hard to forget, leaving a lasting impression on everyone who witnessed it.

"Let's push through!" Moriarty shouted, tackled the players in front of him to the ground, and then stomped on their fallen bodies as he forcefully passed them.

"H-hey, you bastards!" The players screamed with hostility, but no one except their teammates managed to hear those words.

Ambrose shoved players on their backs and pushed his way through the chaos. He and Moriarty started to gain some positions in the total rankings. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ ɴo(v)elꜰɪre.ɴet

They ran for who knows how long, but it was painfully slow and exhausting as they had to push through players like obstacles.

However, eventually, they saw that they had run over the starting line and had actually just taken the first proper steps in the race.

But then they saw that the players had started to spread more as there was more space in the barren wasteland.

They also saw that there were wretched-looking buildings scattered across the wasteland, but not many players paid any attention to them as their attention was only on the looming mountain in the distance.

Moriarty and Ambrose finally had enough room to run without bumping shoulders and colliding with others. It caused their speed to increase, and they started to pass other players with ease.

It was clear that other teams either lacked physical fitness or coordination to keep up with them.

"These buildings." Moriarty breathed quite steadily, as if the intense physical activity hadn't affected him. "Should we go check them out?"

"The game master wouldn't have mentioned the hunger and thirst aspects if those weren't going to be a problem." Ambrose said while moving along Moriarty's running rhythm. "Those buildings might have food and water."

"I thought of the same." Moriarty said. "Let's hurry up!"

"Nn." Ambrose nodded, picking up their pace and focusing on reaching the buildings as quickly as possible.

…

Mark Rothsmith watched the ongoings of the tournament through a wide theater screen in his own private viewing room.

He wasn't alone, as he was joined by some other members of the Rothsmith family.

"Sigh, so pathetic." Mark muttered under his breath, shaking his head in disappointment. "This is the best team you could create?"

"S-sir, Sunseeker, and Moonshadow are extremely skilled fighters!" A thin-faced member of the Rothsmith family said: "They had also experience working together in the past, which gives them a strong advantage over other teams."

"Can they win, though?" Mark asked sternly.

"U-uh…" The thin-faced man looked troubled. "T-they can reach the finals, b-but, winning is already extremely hard!"

"Hmph." Mark pinched his glabella in annoyance. "After the first round, all the qualified teams will be revealed on the Internet, and we can finally see which teams look strongest.

"Then we can start analyzing just how far we can actually reach, but this is indeed pathetic that we couldn't get someone from the top 10 in ForeverStream's rankings. Sigh!"

Percy and Nyx continued watching the tournament in silence. They were only here because Mark invited them. They didn't have as big expectations as the others.

…

In Rothsmith Estate.

Jack and Anna laid on a sofa, embracing each other while looking at the tournament through the television. They were enjoying a cozy evening together and were curious to see how the tournament would unfold.

"Emma said that Jesse is taking part in the tournament." Anna looked at the screen where millions of players ran about. "I wonder if he is among them."

She pointed at the screen where millions of players ran about, wondering whether Jesse was one of them.

"I heard that there are half a billion teams participating." Jack wryly smiled. "Qualifying is extremely unlikely given the fierce competition."

"Come on, have some faith in our son." Anna smiled encouragingly.

"Well, I hope the incident at Christmas didn't faze him." Jack said. "First, the Christmas party, and there was that one servant… Sigh, it's bad for mental health."

"I saw him earlier today, and he seemed fine." Anna said thoughtfully. "I had breakfast with him, and he seemed completely unaffected by the incident."

"Hmm…" Jack shrugged his shoulders. "That's good, then. If Jesse doesn't qualify, he might feel bad, so maybe we should make his favorite food. I feel like he puts high expectations on himself."

"Mm, I can do that." Anna said and smiled. "But I still believe in him."

"Haha, I believe in him too." Jack laughed. "Where is Emma, by the way?"

"She is still playing, as far as I know." Anna said.

…

At the tournament dimension, Bella and Emma appeared in a small, closed room with a leather sofa and a window overlooking the race.

To everyone else, the small, closed room was invisible, as every spectator had their own room.

Bella pulled up a few more screens to display different angles of the race.

Emma jumped on the sofa and excitedly looked through the window at the race. "Where is my brother?"

"Umm, I am not sure whether it will be too easy to find him." Bella said with a giggle, and sat beside her while navigating through the camera angles on the screen.

It was absolute mayhem on the race as all the players shoved each other and used other players as footstools to gain an advantage.

…

Moriarty stumbled inside one of the abandoned houses, while Ambrose awkwardly followed after him.

"L-let's hurry; each second we spend here, we lose a hundred more spots." Moriarty said, and he rushed upstairs while basically dragging Ambrose behind him.

As they stummed through the dark and dilapidated rooms, they came across two players scavenging for supplies. They found a paper bag filled with canned food and a first-aid kit.

"Ugh!" They turned to the door after hearing footsteps and saw the two enter the room.

"T-tough luck, we found these first, haha!" The players smirked and waved the paper bag in the air. However, they were panting and visibly injured, suggesting they had been through a difficult ordeal.

"Did the rules forbid fighting?" Moriary turned to Ambrose and asked with a smirk.

"No, the only rule is to reach the finishing line." Ambrose replied.

The players looked at each other, and one of them pulled out a knife, which they found in this very room.

"You sure?" A shoulder-length-haired player asked while pointing the knife at them. "Well, what now, tough guy? I can see players running past the windows, and we are losing more positions every second.

"I would rather not waste any more time, as I possess a weapon and you two do not; therefore, I can easily kill you both. So, piss off!"

"Assist me!" Moriarty shouted, and he lunged at the knife-

wielding man.

Ambrose quickly followed after him, as he didn't want to accidentally hinder Moriarty's fighting capabilities. It was already very hard for him to fight, as he only had one hand and one leg to use.

The shoulder-length-haired player tugged his teammate behind him and swung his knife at Moriarty very awkwardly, as he felt like he was fighting with chains on his limbs.

Ambrose pulled Moriarty back to him and helped him dodge the knife strike.

Moriarty clumsily kicked his leg up and kicked the knife out of the shoulder-length-haired player's hand.

"Argh!" The shoulder-length-haired player swung his teammate at Moriarty, using his friend as a human shield, and pushed Moriarty to the ground.

"Ngh!" Moriarty groaned as he hit the ground.

Smack!

Ambrose landed his punch across the shoulder-length-haired player's face and caused both him and his teammate to fall to the ground in a heap.

Moriarty picked up the fallen knife from the ground and stabbed it between the shoulder-length-haired player's eyes, ending his life.

"Nooo!" The shoulder-length-haired player screamed in despair. "I-I can't lose alrea—"

After his final scream, he died, and followed that, his teammate let out a scream, and he also vanished.

"So, if one person in the team dies, the whole team gets disqualified." Moriarty took a deep breath, and Ambrose offered a hand to him, then pulled him back to his feet.