Chapter 199: DASHA: Hall of Players

The Hall of Players was a great museum of unfathomable size with thirty-three sections representing a Heavenly Game of the past. As a player, selecting and using a spawn point was a gift given only to them. Small little spaces were designated for players that appeared. Spawning in Section HE 1921, Dasha Pang was met with a large, dark open gate and a long line of people.

The people needed to pay. Dasha, as a player, did not.

He walked through the open gate, the line for players quite small, and he saw paintings, old artifacts kept in glass casing, and floating candles. It was a long, long hall with no end in sight. Dark and gothic, on the left side were the gates of the time period, complete with a pedestal full of information and a visual whether it be an artifact or statue. Dasha’s own curiosity, however, was only surpassed by the curiosity of the common people.

“Newspapers! Get your weekly Times newspaper!” a bearded man cried out. Almost immediately, someone plucked the newspaper from his hand and quietly gave him the coins. Then another, then another. A whole line-up formed in a matter of seconds. Dasha quietly watched the newspaper man selling print like hot pancakes. Ten minutes later, after his current stock was complete, a small portal opened and a pigeon flew in carrying three strapped boxes of newspapers. The bearded man sighed in relief and took it from the pigeon.

“Another stock people! The Times officially declares that Jack the Ripper has returned! Find out the details!”

The news stand became clambered and rushed. That was Dasha’s cue. Since they were occupied with the newspapers, the pedestals describing the gates were open. Before he busied himself with history, he went and plucked a newspaper from behind the stack. ’Thank you very much,’ Dasha said.

Lots and lots of people, new and old, had decided to revisit the section after the events of Gate 10. Walking, his eyes scanned the big, bold letters and the blocks of text underneath.

THE TRAGEDY OF GATE 10: JACK THE RIPPER’S REVENGE ON THE TEMPLARS

Author: Joy

Date: March 7, 177 HE

Jack the Ripper has returned! Raids have always been known for their high casualty rate but none like what happened on February 22nd. An estimated two thousand players die upon the first raid. Last week, out of the five thousand that went out, only four hundred players returned. Out of the fifty students sent by the Templars, only four survived. The Unorthodox Sect has refused to comment but it has been rumoured that the Sect Master has lost his Core Disciple.

However, none have suffered more than the Holy Dynasty, who have lost all their members. Indeed, while the Templars lost half the students at their Current Player Program, the Holy Dynasty returned with no one. The already dwindling guild has struggled to gain their footing ever since their independence. Even with the famous Knights of the Holy Light, can they continue to exert their rivalry with the Templars? Only time will tell.

The golden blade of Jack the Ripper looms in the minds of the survivors, including myself. I narrowly managed to escape with my life. For those that have lost faith, for those that have wallowed in despair, do not allow yourself to be intimidated by the Ripper. He is but one man. The Alhambra Guardians, who suffered the least casualties, have vowed to defeat Jack, as do the Sapphire Order and the Justice Sect.

Jack will not go unpunished.

His eyes scanned the remaining parts of the newspaper. Other than Gate, there was news on the death of the caretaker of the Christian orphanage founded by Saint Marianne Cope during the 1921 Heavenly Games. A coincidence? That was the question the article asked. Was Jack responsible for the death of this innocent lady?

’Open inventory.’ He tossed the newspaper into his inventory and went for a walk through the hall. He would regularly stop and read the gates that caught his attention. All of the pedestals listed who completed the main and special objectives first as well as who found the hidden objective. It didn’t go into detail about what strategies the winning players used, only offering brief strokes of what occurred.

On the right side of the hall were the statues of the top twenty players. Towards the end of the hall were a crowd of people either trying to vandalize or get a look. The latter was a futile action due to the Hall of Players’ robust magical barriers. Nothing could be touched.

“So it’s true! Jack didn’t have a statue!”

“That’s weird!”

“I know right.”

’Hm?’ Dasha squinted and walked slightly faster. Standing at the edge of the crowd, he directed his eyes towards what was stealing everyone’s attention. It was exactly as the people were hushing about, the placeholder was empty. There was no statue depicting Jack the Ripper.

Dasha silently slipped to the front to read the pedestal. There wasn’t much to glean:

Name: Jack the Ripper

Era: 1921 / 161-162 HE

Points: 20,456,000,000

They say his fighting style resembles the Knights of the Holy Light from the Old Templar Knights. He is famous for the killings of five prostitutes in the Whitechapel District of London, England. Rumours say he also killed Alexander VI, Grand Master of the Templar Order, during the Great Schism. However, the Holy Dynasty has rebuked this to claim they were responsible for the Grand Master’s death.

Dasha promptly slipped out of the crowd once he was done reading. Besides being a serial killer, he seemed to possess a strong connection to the Templars and Christianity as a whole. ’I remember seeing a vision of Saint Hildegard too. She’s with the Sapphire Order right now but back then it’s possible she was with the Templars.’

So what was he doing? What was his plan? Jack hadn’t revealed himself to anyone judging by his brief conversation with Kón. ’A message within the killings perhaps? Something only a select few would understand.’

It was hard to say. Unless Dasha saw the bodies for himself, it was difficult to speculate on Jack’s reasons. Many serial killers did what they did out of sexual satisfaction. In regards to Jack the Ripper, the question on whether his killings were sexual in nature was still hotly contested. Dasha checked the gates to try and find something, but besides the occasional unnecessary killing, there wasn’t much to gain from the pedestals.

He checked the runner-up. Abdul Hamid II, the previous Caliph of the Alhambra Guardians, who accumulated 15,566,000,000 points. Five billion shy of Jack the Ripper. Quite a gap.

Name: Abdul Hamid II

Era: 1921 / 161-162 HE

Points: 15,566,000,000

A shrewd Sultan who in life fought desperately against the slow death of the once great Ottoman Empire, Abdul Hamid II was able to rally the members of the Safavid Empire and Mughal Empire into refocusing Islamic authority into himself. He overthrew and executed the Caliph of his time, Şehzade Suleiman, and seized the Alhambra Guardians for himself. His rule marked the greatest rise in Islamic power since Selim the Drunk’s establishment of the Alhambra Guardians in the 1583 Heavenly Games.

A pan-Islamist that, to an extent, accomplished his goals. Known for avoiding conflict, he accrued points through his political maneuvering and carpentry skills. Upon his second place victory, Abdul Hamid II elected to stay in the White Abyss rather than reincarnate.

’I see. The reason why Jack was able to become the undisputed strongest was because the big guilds were busy with their own conflicts. The Templars were dealing with the Great Schism and the Alhambra Guardians were overthrowing their Caliph. In that time of conflict and uncertainty, Jack flourished. He killed. He won.’

It didn’t answer every mystery but it did give an idea as to how it went for him. Lots of chaos, political maneuvering, and death. So much death. No one would blink if a woman or two was killed.

’Open map.’

The large hall depicting the current section appeared. At the corner of the blue screen, hanging down like a scroll were links to the other sections. His eyes went up and clicked on the section he was looking for: Section HE 1981.

The Golden Generation.

The world became a brief blur, from black to gold, from a gothic style to an elaborate Egyptian treasury. The hieroglyphics were bright and took their placing on the ceiling and the walls. Switching from the dark moodiness of Section HE 1921 to the wonderful glimmer of hope was slightly surprising, especially since there were equally as many people venturing inside. The demographic was adjusted, however, with families and children bouncing around. The contrast in atmosphere took a moment to adjust to.

Dasha quietly walked, avoiding any and all people.

This was how it was supposed to be. The champion was supposed to be decorated and remembered within the Hall of Players, not forgotten. Fortunately, among them all, none was more decorated and remembered than the champion of the Golden Generation. The one that voided his competition as the uncontested strongest. A figure draped in an elaborate black overgarment called the Durra’ah, standing firmly with his hands on the hilt of a curved sword that melted into the golden base of the statue. The front of the curved cutlass was an Arabic inscription:

Lā sayfa ʾillā Ḏū l-Faqāri wa-lā fatā ʾillā ʿAlīy

Tall and golden eyed with long eyelashes and dark red hair, the champion was a handsome, pretty man. Denying his beauty was blasphemy, whether it was regarding his gorgeous olive complexion, sharp smooth face, or the expression displaying a tinge of annoyance over the statue’s very existence. This was the winner of the Golden Generation—the current Caliph of the Alhambra Guardians.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep