[Nightmare]

Chapter 196 [Pressure]

Tyrene's celebration of life was set to take place in the arena at 2 pm.

It was noon.

However, over three hundred people were standing outside the arena—because it was already too packed.

It could house over 2000 people, making a massive colosseum by Myriadian standards.

Citizens and nobles lined every inch of seating in the arena.

Helix announced the event three days ago, yet many flew Gryphons, and other winged beasts from neighboring countries had arrived.

Among them were many individuals from Kozen who had traveled after word had spread about Tyrene's death during the Colossus battle.

"There is no room for mistakes when everyone's watching." Helix sighed.

In the arena, hundreds of people stood around a massive fighting pit.

Helix suggested to Oakley that a fighting pit could keep soldiers and citizens entertained.

It was a warrior's funeral, after all.

"I've got a que~stion." Charlotte chimed.

She ran up to Helix and started rocking on the balls of her feet.

Helix couldn't help but chuckle at her cuteness.

"What is it, Charlotte?" He asked with a warm smile.

"Are~you… gonna go super~duper mega ham and slice that cute little thumbsie in twosie?" Charlotte asked with a cute voice.

Helix's eyes widened in bewilderment.

The cute words shot out of Charlotte's mouth like she was unloading a machine-gun clip.

However, the content didn't align with the cuteness.

"I don't plan it, but at least not until the opportunity closes. Why?" Helix asked with a warm smile.

"Becaaaaause. It would be like, super~hot." Charlotte replied playfully.

"I'll think about it if someone makes a scene." He chuckled while patting her head.

"Oh~kay. Good enough for me. Muah!" She blew a kiss and ran away.

"That woman, I swear." Helix laughed as she disappeared.

Helix looked at the object in question.

In the middle of the fighting pit, there was a thumb.

It was the thumb of the Stalkwalker.

As promised, Helix brought to the celebration to let anyone swing at it to vent their frustrations.

Above it was a large sign that read:

[Cut me to experience the type of enemy that can kill a legend.]

Below that, there was a second sign.

[Voluntary Betting Pool: Ten Gold to Enter.

Prize for cutting it in half in one slash: 1000 gold.

Five gold is added to the pot for every attempt.

The pool resets after it's cut in half.

All proceeds go to the Alzerian Royal Army.

If no person slashes it in half by 4 pm, the entire prize pool goes to the Alzerian Royal Army.

Sponsored by Helix Hellsgate Margrave.

Exclusive to Alzerian soldiers with one year of military experience.]

The betting pool allowed soldiers to bet ten gold to attempt cutting it in half.

Every bet added another five gold to the pot.

So by the 200th participant, the pool would be 2000 gold coins.

Charlotte wanted Helix to cut it in half as a show of force.

However, his experience policy cleverly excluded Earthians—including himself—from cutting it.

A woman walked up to Helix.

"That's a mighty twisted game you're runnin'." She said with an evil grin.

"Hoh? You think I'm doing something nefarious, Miskie?" Helix asked with a grin.

"Thinkin' and knowin' are two different things." Miskie laughed.

"Are you talking about making money for the army because I know at least a hundred people will cut at it before it breaks?" He asked casually.

"Nah. I'm talkin' about you settin' up people to bicker about someone else." She replied with a mocking tone.

"Oh my. I could never think of something so cunning." Helix replied with a sweet, innocent voice.

Miskie laughed with a sarcastic twang.

"I can't wait for people to chop that thing like a tree until it's thin." She chuckled.

"Then when the last person takes a swing and wins off everyone's hard work, everyone will target that person with their bitterness."

"Wouldn't that be a dream?" Helix said with an evil grin.

Miskie gave Helix a discerning expression.

"Dream?"

Helix glanced at the woman with his evil expression before giving up and sighing.

"It's a beautiful system… but I doubt four hundred people striking it in the same spot will cut it in half."

Miskie's eyes widened in shock.

"You can't be serious."

Helix gave her a wry smile before looking at the thumb again.

"Marie, Charlotte, Riley, and I were the only people that could cut the bones." Helix replied.

"Marie was already stronger than Tyrene by a wide margin at the time.

We chopped it up after we leveled up like crazy.

High-powered Magic from overpowered people killed that thing.

It took a hundred soldiers just to cut through the neck."

Miskie's eyes trembled in shock.

She looked at Helix with a serious expression.

"And you killed that thing?"

"Yeah. We killed that thing." Helix chuckled bitterly.

"But if we didn't lure it into a trap, it would've killed us."

"Ah. Well, best of luck gettin' people to hate one another, cult lead."

Helix gave her a wry smile as she walked away.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"I've never been under this much pressure before."

He looked around and saw thousands of people peering into the stadium.

Soon he'd be standing before them.

At that time, he would need to deal with hecklers and skepticists under the eyes of the entire army and countless foreign visitors.

"Well, at least people will be distracted." Helix chuckled nervously.

He walked around and greeted innumerable people.

The caterers arrived, and they sent food into the stands.

Helix spent 8000 gold on the event to give everyone free water and snacks for the event.

He also provided liquor to the nobles, officials, and international guests.

Anyone could pay for food and drinks, and the army sponsored a third of the cost.

He also drew the [Air Conditioner Circle] around the stands to cool the visitors.

Helix wrote [created by Helix Hellsgate Margrave] on each of them.

It was controversial how he was buying supporters and advertising himself so much.

However, the army and Kingdom couldn't complain.

He'd be making the army a fortune with a Colossus finger sale and earning them thousands in the prize pool.

There would be sponsored gambling on gladiator-esque fights shortly, and the military would earn proceeds from those.

Lastly, he created a fundraiser for the army that provided donors a ticket for every hundred gold.

He would randomly draw five donors from a hat to receive exclusive Samma Shaw items.

In short, the army would make ridiculous money from the event.

So he was also buying the support of the Kingdom and military.

As a result, no one could complain too much.

However, Helix knew exactly what he was doing behind the scenes—emulating Gaius Julius Caesar.

He was intentionally amassing political support by gaining support from normal citizens and increasing his popularity.

What he did far exceeded his decision to broadcast Tyrene's speech to Alzeria, and he knew there would be consequences.

Yet he had no choice; ultimately, he didn't have time to waste with the kingdom's political games, and he couldn't just murder his way to the top.

While that worked in cultivator novels, it didn't work in the real world. It would destabilize the entire chain of command network and cause the army to collapse from shadow politics.

It was a nightmare situation that made any other approach completely counterproductive.

So he gritted his teeth, calmed his beating heart, and prepared to act with charisma.

"Gambling, food, drinks, displays of magic, cutting a Colossus finger, a huge skull…." Helix started listing items for the event.

"I'm making a fortune for the army, but… will it be enough?"

Helix thought about it for a solid minute.

"No. It's not going to be enough." He chuckled bitterly.

"You can't buy loyalty at scale in a week.

And there are still five days before the monsters start moving."

"Sir Helix, is everything alright?" Major Oakley asked as he walked up.

Oakley's relaxing voice was a godsend at the moment.

"Yeah. I'm trying to strategize how I'll deal with the hecklers in front of thousands of people." Helix sighed.

Oakley thought about Helix's statement with a thumb to his chin for a moment.

"Sir Helix. If I may ask. Why go so far?"

Helix's eyes gilded to the left in thought.

Oakley's inflection felt more complex than the usual questions he was getting.

"Can you clarify your question?"

The Major's eyes narrowed slightly in amusement.

"You've already won the support of the military." Oakley asserted.

"Not now. However, you'll have our backing when monsters are sighted moving into Alzerian territory.

With your power, we don't have a choice.

You have guards and are treated as a guest of the nation.

So why are you making yourself a larger target than necessary?"

Helix's eyes widened.

He hadn't considered things from that perspective.

Helix opened and closed his mouth multiple times.

The major waited patiently for the young man to speak.

"To be honest, I have no fucking clue what I'm doing."

—

Power stones and grammatical errors = more content. :)