Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

"The five minutes are up. Both the teams should step into the battle ring now."

The battle between Ron's Raiders and White Raven Crew was about to start.

"What's our plan, Steve? Which formation are we going to use against them?"

Becky asked Steve who in turn looked at Eren, hinting that he was going to be the one who decides. The butcher didn't take long to reply:

"We'll go with the first formation. I'm not sure about the rest but those two, Ron and Dino, are both berserkers. The defensive stance will put us in passive. That is enough for the two to overwhelm us given enough time."

Eren concluded swiftly before stepping into the battle ring. When all of the team members of the battle entered the ring, the battle ring erected an energy shield to seal them all in from the crowd watching outside it.

The first formation Eren's team had practised focused on offence. In the first formation, Eren will start an all-out offence against their mage while the rest will keep the other members of the opposite team busy.

Renita will be in charge of long-range attacks to support Eren when he needs it. Becky will halt the advances of the enemy berserker. And Jake will defend their side and provide a zone for them to fall back to.

Steve would be given time to prepare and would only be utilized as a follow-up after Eren's retreat. The first formation was the most ideal for the team they were up against. But it had a flaw because of the enemy team's formation.

The enemy had two berserkers. That meant Becky had another berserker in her platter. Steve could help her take care of the other one, but as a result, he won't be ready to initiate his charged attacks.

But since Eren had told them to go with the first formation, nobody had objected to it. They also knew no matter how many formations a team comes up with, a template won't necessarily match the scenario with 100% accuracy.

"5… 4… 3… 2… 1…"

"Hold on!"

The referee was about to announce the beginning of the battle. But Eren interrupted him. He raised his eyebrows and was about to ask what was the hold about. But Eren cleared that for him in the next second:

"Ron Valencia of the Ron's Raiders, our leader Steve wishes to talk to you."

Eren put forward Steve's name for his plans. Ron was confused but he nodded anyway. But nobody was more confused than Steve himself who had no idea what Eren was talking about. The team leaders and one of their extra members each met at the centre of the battle ring:

"Well… we are listening."

"Hmm. Steve wants this battle's stakes to be raised."

"Hahahahaha! Ron, these fools think they can win this battle. Can you believe it?"

'A lackey would always act like a lackey.'

Eren thought to himself and sighed at Dino's taunt. He didn't pay attention to him but focused his eyes on Ron before continuing further:

"If you are so confident in winning, I don't see any harm for you to accept Steve's demand. You might even profit big if you raise the bet and win the match."

The devil whispered into its victims' ears. And the victims fell prey to his trap as he had expected:

"Hmm, you are right. So how much raise are we talking about here?"

Ron asked curiously. He didn't mind raising the stakes if that would help their team win big in their very first inter-class match. He was expecting "Steve" to raise the compulsory betting amount of 200 to 1000 Merps at maximum.

"10,000 Merps!"

Ron started coughing hard. Dino was stunned as well. And even Steve felt like he was having an out-of-body experience with his soul flying over him.

But the butcher said this with a plain face.

"What the actual fok! Ron, these idiots have gone crazy.

I've checked their credentials and earlier battle records. This Eren guy is good and their mage Becky and ranger Renita are decent. But this Steve here is total trash. He lost without even casting a spell. Hahaha!

Let's accept their deal. If this bunch of idiots want to hand all their Merps to us, so be it. Who are we to stop someone from committing an act of benevolence? Haha!"

Ron had figured out there was something fishy when he saw Steve's reaction after Eren said that huge number. But he was distracted by Dino who made a fair point. He too had studied a lot of students' performances.

Eren was good. But there was nothing special about Steve or Jake. Frankly, he didn't understand how he got to be a team leader in the first place.

But the thought of earning 10000 points in one go finally blinded him. He checked with his members. They could collectively raise 11K Merps, just barely able to fulfil the raised bet's requirement.

Eren had already come prepared. He had liquidated some of his wealth into Merps. He did the heavy-lifting in his team and put 5K merps into the pool. The rest of his team members begrudgingly put forward the remaining amount.

If they lose now, Eren's team will cry rivers of blood. It was their hard-earned resource. Doing a part-time job while taking care of their curriculum was not easy after all.

The team leaders from both sides approached the referee and made their intentions known to him. He couldn't believe the two teams would appear at the beginning of the inter-class ranking wars and raise the betting amount to 10000 Merps.

But he had no power to stop these students anyway. His only responsibility was to send the system prompt to the two team leaders about the raised amount. And once they accepted from their end, the money would get automatically deducted from the loser team leader's account and get credited to the winning team's leader.

Both the team leaders accepted the prompt sent their way.

"Eren, I hope you know what you're doing. Otherwise, we all will be fucked royally here."

"Steve, my man, stop being a wuss and play your character well. You are a berserker, for devil's sake. Act like one. Your emotions influence your path as a ranker you know."

"It's just…"

"Later. Now we have the battle to win, 20K Merps to gain, and some scores… hehe!"

Eren laughed cheerfully as he clapped his hands.

AN: The minimum betting amount for an interclass battle is 200 Merps. The teams can raise that value however they can after each other's consent. The reference chapter is chapter 67.