Reject Humanity, Return to Monke

After the third excruciating trip back to the Divine Realm, I landed on my ass inside a seemingly normal forest. I stood up with my hind legs and scanned the surroundings for anything amiss.

"Welcome to the second event for this decade's Dungeon Games. Here are the rules that all of you will be following during the duration." Uius' voice echoed all around the forest, some leaves rustling due to how powerful the voice was. "The Battle Royale Event will take place in a 30-kilometer arena, filled with various biomes where Dungeon Masters with no disadvantage will be placed initially. This is so that upon deployment, nobody will be immediately disqualified to provide fair treatment to all participants."

Well, at least the deployment part is fair. Imagine what would happen because of my horrendous luck that I was, instead of being deployed in this forest area, I would be deployed in a lava area… Yeah, monke no like…

I immediately equipped the [Monkey King's Garb], feeling the robe hang around my body without any type of discomfort. Hell, it feels like it was made for me, and just me.

The garb didn't look like anything special, if you don't count religion, that is. It had baggy pants fashioned out of tiger skin, iron plated boots that were also outfitted with iron toes, a robe not unlike a monk would wear, colored green, and some gauntlets made of brass, iron, and steel.

Too bad there wasn't a crown. It's probably another piece of equipment.

But that begs the question, though: is there a set bonus? If there was, then even if it was goddamn expensive, I would buy it from the Dungeon Store.

"The event will take up until a clear winner is decided, which is about a week. Until then, there are no specific rules to follow, other than survive for as long as you can." Well, that is certainly relieving. No rules mean I can just stay cooped up in one area, avoiding the closing ring, and survive against any attacking Dungeon Masters. If I do lose, I need to find a way to lose consciousness without any fatal wounds, so I'm sure I can stay alive when I get back to my Dungeon. I just hope that I can get the top 300 so I can advance to the next Dungeon Event. "For every day a Dungeon Master survives, a bonus will be awarded to their Dungeon."

Once I heard that, I was extremely determined to not get disqualified until I lasted for a week. Bringing out the Monke Staff, I found out that it was perfect for my body in its base form. After doing a bit of moves with the staff (which I'm sure a professional staff user would laugh at and beat me with a stick), I nodded and grinned that it wasn't very cumbersome to use.

I need a skillbook for a staff, and I'll buy it once I return… Why I didn't buy it before, I have no idea. I'll chalk it up to my nervousness and anxiousness.

'I should really stop fucking up so much…' I sighed to myself as I bonked my head with the staff.

"As we have stated before, killing is allowed, which when done, will integrate the fallen Dungeon Master's Dungeon with the killer."

Wait… What the fuck!? That's a thing!?

I had to plant the Monke Staff on the ground just to calm my nerves. 'It's like they're encouraging the killing of Dungeon Masters…'

Holy fuck… I also had a very dangerous realization. Aren't I the only primate Dungeon Master in the entirety of the Dungeon Master population…?

'Holy fuck! I shouldn't have made that death flag! Fuck you Murphy!' I screamed internally as I scanned my surroundings once more to see if there were any Dungeon Masters that wanted to take my head.

I bonked my head with the Monke Staff once more and tried my very best to calm my nerves.

'Alright… Calm down, and think things through… I'm pretty sure those that would gun for me are the low-level Dungeon Masters, since I'm sure they would be desperate to gain a new type of monster to defend their Dungeons.' I cupped my chin as I leaned on the Monke staff. 'Also, I'm pretty sure the higher-level Dungeon Masters would care no less about me, since they'll probably think of me as a somewhat average monster in terms of capability, unless they're a collector of sorts…'

"The ring will gradually shrink, until it only covers about a hundred-meter diameter at the center of the Arena. With all that said, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die." And with that, Uius' voice slowly went silent, until only the breeze flowed into my ears as the only form of sound in the area.

"… Shit… I need to find a place where I can hide out for the rest of the day…" I grabbed the staff and made my way through the forest. It wasn't any different from a normal forest, other than the unnerving silence, since there weren't any sounds coming from animals or insects, because there weren't any. I assume that they didn't place any living beings – aside from plants, of course – other than us Dungeon Masters.

It wasn't until a few minutes later did I spy a familiar figure slithering on the ground.

"Prixais, is that you?" I asked from my spot, the slithering figure stopping in her tracks as she turned to regard me.

"Well, didn't think I would see you this early." Prixais said, her eyes glaring at me with her hand on a wooden spear. She was on guard against me, an obvious thing to do given that we were just acquaintances.

"Now, now, no need to get hostile." I raised my hands above my head, my Monke Staff nowhere to be seen since I had placed it in my storage before speaking towards her. "I'd like to make a deal with you."

"A deal?" Prixais lowered her guard slightly, but was still tense. "What kind of deal you talkin' about?"

"Just a mutual beneficial deal." I shrugged, my hands now coming down as I regarded her with my eyes. "We agree to ally ourselves, so our survival rate increases. I scratch your back, you scratch mine."

"… And how do I know you won't backstab me?" Prixais glared at me, her spear pointed towards me.

"I won't since I'll be more a target than you, so I need every help I can get." I said with a sigh. I could see Prixais working her brain to get what I was talking about, before a metaphorical lightbulb lit up above her head and she looked at me with pity.

"Well, that's gotta suck for you." She said this to me with an indifferent face. "But, since you asked nicely, I'll be accepting your offer. Just make sure when we lose, you knock me unconscious before I get killed."

"Deal." I approached her and she lowered her spear.. Once we were close to each other, the both of us shook hands and we went on our merry way deeper into the forest.