Reincarnated With The Van Helsing System
Chapter 391 The Fourth Round (Part 2)

The Minister saw Daimon's almost unnoticeable mocking smile, which was naturally aimed at him on purpose, and he felt his lungs filled with anger.

'A brat that came out of nowhere like you, dare to mess with me, let's see how long will you be able to keep smiling punk!', he screamed in his heart, but on the outside, he kept a neutral face as he continued with the explanation of today's round.

The Minister snapped hos fingers and then the arrays engraved in the huge platform which was actually the complete form of the individual ones illuminated, unlike previously, the platform occupied a part of the three lakes at the same time.

Also, the complete array looked way more complex than the previous ones, which made sense since these platforms were made by the other Stellar ranked Rune Master, who has had some deals with the Clear Water Kingdom from time to time.

"As I have stated before, the lakes "weaken" with each day that passes, until the harvesting of the three-colored water arrives, but the day of the harvest is special, while the partially mixed lakes aren't safe to be absorbed, there is an extra effect caused by this day".

"Besides the three negative effects, you have seen in the previous three days which will be active together and used on the stage, from time to time, the positive effects will randomly appear as well".

"In other words, the heroes of the young generation will get to experience the positive effects of the lakes as if they have absorbed the three-colored water, that is if you are lucky enough to be present in the place and moment when they appear of course".

The spectators nodded, their interest was picked by the stage set up by the Minister, which of course fed the ego of the latter.

"My Arcarius family's tournament is meant to evaluate the young generation in the different aspects that are important to a leader, since they are the future of our Neptune, this chaotic scenery where "troubles" and "opportunities" exist, is a battlefield created for the sake of rising a king", said the Minister.

If a normal noble were to say something like that, the King would probably slap his face, but the Minister is his right hand and he even gave him face, by taking in his two sons who though aren't at the level of his heir, were still his flesh and blood, so he didn't pay mind to this "stage" mentioned, in any case Terry was going to win, so this play will make his pride grow stronger, or at least that's what he believed.

"With that being said, today's round is called "Conquest of the throne room", and will consist in a simple yet difficult task, you'll all enter the royal maze and make your way to the throne room, naturally being fast won't grant you the victory, your team needs to defend the throne where the captain will have to stay for more than five minutes to win".

"And to make things more entertaining, once the first team has arrived to the throne room, the countdown for the end will begin, and the teams will have just twenty minutes to fight for the win, if no team manages to hold the throne for more than five minutes, the winner will be chosen depending on the performance of all the participants, how fast they arrived at the throne room and the time that the captain managed to hold the throne".

The stage sounded easy but everyone knew it was going to be a harsh battle, there were five teams and just twenty minutes once the countdown started, if divided equally no one will get even five minutes in total, to the fight at the throne room will be chaotic, especially with the addition of the fourth effect from the lakes.

'This old bastard planned things through, most of his team have water affinity and some of them drank at least one dose of three-colored water… what a shame, you can't calculate how an irregularity like him will affect the stage~', thought the queen as she stole a gaze at Daimon's calm face, which made him look as if the win was his from the very beginning.

Some perceived such a thing as blatant arrogance while others were eased by the aura he exuded, that's how he is supposed to be, an apex predator is supposed to be unrivaled in his ecosystem, the moment Daimon starts doubting of his victory, he will stop being an apex predator and will become just another prey.

Of course, Daimon is aware that overconfidence is a shortcut to death, and that is why when it comes to the lives of the girls and his, he always has something prepared beforehand, in case being an apex predator ever gets the best of him, he won't let even his own power prey on him.

"Ah I almost forgot to mention the first surprise I have for you now that the set up was changed by the champion's petition, the teams will be split from the very beginning, and while the number of "surviving" team members won't be taken into account for the score, it will be harder to defend the throne with less team members, so keep that in mind and good look", said the Minister.

And just like that without letting anyone adapt to the situation, the Minister snapped his fingers and individual walls surrounded each one of the participants, the huge platform also changed like in the first round to become a giant closed rectangular prism, with walls and a roof, to become a large-scale maze.

The very moment the Minister did his move, Daimon did his too.

'Mom, you go straight to the throne room, I'll go pick up the others since illusions are useless against me and I can see through the walls and traps on the floor, you can let loose and eliminate anyone that appears in your way, if you replace it quick, you can reunite with me'.

'Okay darling, I hope I meet that Ezequiel guy, how does he dare to show off that bitch as if she was the prettiest woman in the world hmph', though Aisha's voice tone was clearly a joking one, she seemed to be actually angry.

'It should be the euphoria caused by she drinking my blood and me drinking hers', thought Daimon, vampires often go nuts due to the euphoria of drinking blood, for nobles it's hard for that to happen, unless they replace a highly compatible blood partner, in which case they become infatuated or even obsessive, Victor thought Aisha would have been compatible with him, that and her transcendental beauty was why he coveted her.

Unfortunately, he never had the chance to solve his doubts, since he never got to drink Aisha's blood, and Daimon will make sure it stays that way, so far only he has drunk Aisha's blood.

Daimon couldn't communicate with the others mentally, and he didn't want to give away his ability to send messages through mana vibrations in front of all these people, so he didn't talk with the others, but they already had a strategical meeting earlier so they knew what to do depending on the situation.

Not to mention a certain trio of sisters could "feel" Daimon's intentions, since his mana ran through their mana circuits like a furious yet comforting stream.

…

For Daimon once the individual capsules in which they were all trapped activated, everything went dark, not like he cared since he could perfectly see in the shadows, originally thanks to being a vampire and now due to the infinity eyes.

After what seemed to be around two minutes, the walls imprisoning Daimon disappeared and he then inspected his new surroundings.

It was a classic dungeon-like lay out, similar to the ones one could see in videogames, movies or comics back at earth, with the gray brick like walls, wooden doors reinforced with metal ornaments and torches that barely illuminated the nearby areas, hanging on the walls.

Daimon's eyes glowed for a split of a second and he located the places where the array worked as a camera to follow his movements, also he adjusted the mana output so that he could see the laws coming from the lake without his mind being dragged into them, to avoid that head splitting pain.

'Mm, that should be enough, now let's see where did those girls ended up', thought Daimon, with ease he felt where Aisha was, since she is his soulmate, he can feel her position without the need of using mana sense, which is good because the walls interfered with that on purpose.

'Mom is advancing towards north, her mana sense has a larger range than mine unless I use core synchrony, so the throne room must be there, then let's go northeast and do a whole circle starting from that', concluded Daimon.

In normal state, Daimon's mana sense can cover around one hundred kilometers, while Aisha can triple that number, inside this maze their mana senses are being suppressed, but the creator of the array took the abilities of the natives of Neptune as the base, and they aren't, so Daimon kept around a tenth of his mana sense, that's also why he sent her to look for the throne room first, she is the correct girl for the job.

The maze allowed the participants to feel the nearby doors with mana sense without any problem, only the walls were "impenetrable", for mana sense that is, Daimon's eyes glowed behind his mask and the layers of the walls became visible for him, he could see gears, and movable arrays floating all over the place, the traps changed their location randomly, to prevent the participants from avoiding them.

'I found you', thought Daimon, he then exploded in lightning and became a flash which dashed through the maze.

Outside of the maze, the spectators were seeing the different points of view of the participants, reflected on the mirror plates, today all the guests from the previous days were also watching from the judge's skybox.

"Esteemed seniors, I want to hear your opinions on the participants performance so far, since a good start is often accompanied by a good end", said the Minister to the guests.

The first one to speak was none other Tideus, the cousin of Vincent and the captain of the royal guard, he pointed at the mirror plates showing the crowned prince and the twin princes performance.

"In terms of personal fighting skills, my bet is on the crowned prince, unless the two princes are together, I sadly admit they aren't a match for him, even if they are my disciples whom I have personally trained since a young age, but if they manage to reach the throne room first than anyone then they can snatch victory away", said Tideus, the twin princes were advancing easily surpassing the traps, using different methods.

The old glassed man from the Sail family played with his long beard for a moment before pointing at the mirror plate which showed Lance and his scholar who were somehow moving in the same direction.

"Don't underestimate scholars Lord Tideus, specially one who has overcome the natural weak point we tend to have, if my guess is correct that child is related to the other general of the neo nobles, which is also their major asset, besides their muscles of course, a man who can create all those strange formations that gave the neo noble unit their name is everything but normal, I expect the same from his offspring".

"Lord Tideus is a being a bit too straightforward in his prediction, this stage resembles the first round a lot, and it was Corey the one who cleared the maze in the shortest amount of time, the one who arrives at the throne room first will have an advantage over others, the decision of starting the countdown while also preparing an ambush for those who arrive later can be quite impactful in the result", said Carlos Delphini, in other words the father of Annete and Mellie.

The Minister nodded, naturally every one of these guys were supporting their own either relatives, or the ones with which they identified, it's not like they were lying, since they mentioned people who outstood so far, and he is the same.

"Lord Tideus is right in one thing, the twin princes are formidable when they are together, and though my grandson is the captain, I can assure you they are as important, so if those three join hands, they will be hard to defeat in this stage", confidently said the Minister, so far only the team of his family counted with the positive opinions from two judges.

"Hoh, to be so old, all of you sure are quite shortsighted", the playful voice of the queen suddenly broke the peaceful atmosphere of those old men who seemed to be drinking and enjoying a "friendly" football match.

While the glassed old man didn't show any reaction and instead nodded happy that his opinion was challenged, the other three turned to see the queen with frowned expressions.

"I know miss Delphini is know as a fierce strategist, but even you can't convince me that running around through the whole maze, like that little champion of yours is doing, is a good strategy", said the Minister with clear disdain in his voice.

Tideus sighed, he might not be a strategist but he is an experienced commander who has protected the royal family for a long time, so decision making under unknown circumstances and leading people is part of his curriculum.

"I'm not one to prejudice unless I see someone being weak, so I won't slander that youth's battle capacities given his result in the beast hunt, but in this situation, he sent his vice-captain to the throne room and took a large detour, probably to look for the rest of his team instead of trusting they will get to there with their own means, if that is not a bad decision, based on knowing the incompetence of one's team mates then I don't know what it is".

As for Carlos Delphini he simply glared at Annete and snorted before he ignored her, which made the queen smirk.

"That's your problem, you only watch the surface of things, have you ever thought that… the girl who was sent to look for the throne room is strong enough to crush almost every participant, included the two incompetent captains of the lot", she said with a ridiculing smile on her pretty face.

As always, Annete's sharp tongue, landed a critical hit on her targets, she didn't mention who where the two incompetents, and naturally everyone was making calculations in their mind while refusing to believe it was the ones they supported, with a few words she kicked everyone out of their games with ease, and now it was time for her to take the lead.

"Since all the captains are centered in looking for the throne room as that is the condition for the win, have you thought what will happen when a group lead by a captain and ten vice-captain level fighters do a whole run through the maze, I can resume it in one word "massacre", and then how can a captain defend the throne alone while being bombarded, the ones who didn't trust their team mates are the others, while my Mellie's bodyguard, went on to hunt down all the nuisances", said Annete putting emphasis in the word "bodyguard".

"That would be a sight to behold, but her majesty is forgetting that nothing prevents the remaining captains to join hands", said the glassed old man with a neutral voice not servile nor arrogant.

"That's true, but what if I told you that on a 4v1 battle, the four-man team at most could tie with the sole person, and then we add eleven supporters to the sole person, what the result do you think will be?", asked Annete.

The old man from the Sail family sighed and then accommodated his glasses.

"An utter and crushing defeat for the four-man team if my calculations don't fail me, I would say, I must ask, did her majesty come with this strategy or…", humbly asked the old man, to which Annete giggled and then focused her attention on the mirror plates again.

"Who knows~", said the queen with a happy voice, while she glared from the corner of her eyes at the Minister.

"I almost forgot to mention it, but my personal auditor gave me the record of your treasury, Minister, and since you haven't declared any retire in the high ranked treasure category, I expect for everything to be the same tomorrow, or we will have to run a deep "inspection" through all the territories of the Arcarius family, to look for the missing items".

The Minister saw the smile which wasn't a smile on the face of the queen and he gritted his teeth, if what she predicted happened like normally… wasn't he screwed!