Fourth on the Demon King Rankings? Are You Kidding Me?

Respected Xiao Yu / Azathoth, Elemental King:

Hello, Xiao Yu, our team has received and approved your application for the final boss competition event of the new expansion – the [Demon King Tournament].

Please come to the official meeting before 12:00 PM on March 18th to discuss related matters.

Additionally: Based on your recent in-game experiences, there is a very important matter that needs to be discussed with you. Please contact the official game support office within 24 hours of receiving this email. Failure to do so will result in consequences.

Sky World Operations Team: Second Working Group

Discussing related matters? What's there to discuss? And based on some recent experiences in the game, this line sounds familiar... Could it be that they're going to take back the Scepter of Elemental Domination?

Having experienced the previous artifact retrieval incident, Xiao Yu was now somewhat traumatized. Although the email didn't mention it at all, his worries were inevitable.

This time, however, Xiao Yu was determined. If the other party really wanted to take back the artifact, he would not hand it over under any circumstances. The Scepter of Elemental Domination was the foundation of his rule over the Elemental Plane, and it was completely different from the Scourge of the Ocean that he had once possessed, which was a matter of life and death.

With that in mind, he stopped waiting and logged onto the official website, entering the office space of the Second Working Group.

The Second Working Group was significantly more impressive than the Sixth Working Group. Upon entering, one was greeted by a classical garden in the style of ancient Greece, bathed in sunshine, filled with birdsong and fragrant flowers. Many enormous statues stood in the garden, but they clearly did not resemble the gods of ancient Greece. Moreover, some of the statues depicted Asian people dressed in ancient Greek attire were likely members of the working group.

Walking along the marble path in the middle of the garden, you soon see a man dressed in an ancient Greek robe sitting on a stone chair in the sunlight, reading a book.

"A guest has arrived! A guest has arrived!" A parrot nearby suddenly reminded him. The man looked up at Xiao Yu and immediately stood up.

"Hello Xiao Yu, you must be here to discuss the Demon King Tournament, please follow me," the staff member recognized Xiao Yu at a glance.

"You know me?" Xiao Yu was somewhat flattered.

The man couldn't help but laugh. "You're on our company's radar, a key person we're monitoring. How could I not recognize you?"

As he spoke, he gestured for them to proceed.

Xiao Yu, who had suddenly become a celebrity, did not feel pleasantly surprised. Instead, he felt a little pressured, wondering if they would really have to take back the divine artifact.

Following the staff member, we entered a Greek-style palace and soon arrived at a lounge. Inside the magnificent marble hall, six or seven people were sitting.

"Mr. Xiao, please sit down and wait a moment. It will be your turn in a while."

Xiao Yu nodded and sat down in the reception room.

Bored, he looked around and observed the other waiting people. If he wasn't mistaken, these people were probably all there to discuss the Demon King Tournament, just like him.

His gaze passed over a man in a black cloak, a strange creature shaped like a giant ball of light, and landed on several angels in the corner. Angels are a common fashion item in the virtual world, and many girls like to change their outfits to angel designs. However, these girls were clearly not ordinary girls.

(Holy crap, they're actually the Dynamic Angels!) Although Xiao Yu doesn't follow celebrities, he inevitably knows a little about this kind of well-known and super popular idol group, especially since these five girls have all used the fashion system that turns them into angels, making them look more and more beautiful than the last.

They're probably here to discuss the Demon King Tournament too.

The angel girls didn't pay any attention to Xiao Yu. His appearance was only slightly above average, and since he didn't have any fashionable clothes, he really looked like an unremarkable person.

"Hey, I'm Baal, the Pit Lord. What's your name, bro?"

"Baal, the Pit Lord? Is that his identity in the game?" Xiao Yu said, "I am Azathoth, Elemental King."

"Damn, brother, you're a master! I've heard of you, a Plane Master! That's not something just anyone can achieve. Even though it's only a small plane, it's still amazing. My goal is also to become a Plane Master, but unfortunately, after years of struggling in the Abyssal Hell, I'm still just a minor Pit Lord."

"It's nothing, it was just luck," Xiao Yu said modestly, though he couldn't help feeling smug.

Baal, however, refused to accept this explanation, exclaiming excitedly, "What luck? How could becoming the fourth strongest expert on the Demon King's power ranking be a fluke? Strength is strength! Brother, you're too modest!"

Just as Xiao Yu was about to offer another few words of modesty, he suddenly realized something was amiss. Fourth on the Demon King strength ranking? No way! I'm an eight-skull-level BOSS, a dignified Chaos Elemental, the Elemental King, and I'm only ranked fourth? Is there someone stronger than me?

He thought to himself, but didn't ask directly. He should be able to find out about this online, but he'd been too busy lately to keep up with the Demon King Ranking. It seemed he'd have to check it out later to see who was stronger than him.

At that moment, a voice suddenly broke in.

"Rankings are not reliable, after all, they only provide data and standards and don't take the technical aspects into account."

If the rankings are really that accurate, we don't need to have this Demon King Tournament. We can just make the top three the final bosses of the expansion, right?

Xiao Yu looked up and saw that it was a huge black panther that was speaking. Previously, this black panther had been lying on the ground, almost blending into the black marble floor, so much so that Xiao Yu hadn't noticed it.

"What you say makes some sense, brother. May I ask who you are?"

The black panther stretched lazily, stood up from the ground, and slowly walked over.

"I am Deathclaw Cat from Crazy Zoo, and I'm the cat representing Crazy Zoo for this registration."

"Holy crap, it's this guy!" Xiao Yu was taken aback. He had known the black panther Deathclaw back in Nightwhisper Village when he was still Goblin. He never expected him to have gotten involved in something similar.

However, since the Crazy Zoo killed Rexxar last time, it has been wanted by the Hunter Guild and has been besieged by Horde adventurers and NPCs several times. It seemed to have disappeared without a trace. I didn't expect it to reappear now.

Xiao Yu didn't reveal his Goblin identity to acknowledge the other party, since they weren't very familiar with each other anyway. However, judging from Deathclaw's appearance, it seemed he was addicted to being a leopard, even his accent had taken on feline characteristics.

The three chatted for a while, and the topic turned to the Demon King Tournament again. "So, what do you think the organizers of this event are trying to achieve by calling us here?"

"There must be something good going on. As far as I know, quite a few people have signed up for this Demon King Tournament, but look here, it's just us. That means we're special, and we must be getting some kind of special treatment."