I quickly scan the nearby mountain range, and the few surrounding biomes. There are only a handful of 2nd Class Lords left around here; any actual threats are all far deeper in the Arena.
The blank-faced elf walks toward me but stops as I nod with approval and speak up.
“You can survive on your own for a few minutes, right…?”
My eyes track up to the sky and read the number left in this tournament. “21 minutes at most… if worst comes to worst I guess you could select that option on your avatar to move on, but I’d prefer you stayed nearby until I move on as well.”
Ren nods calmly. “I can do that. It’s doubtful anything will come up here this late in the round.”
I nod too, looking to my side to see red pillars shifting about, and reply, “Yeah, if I leave, nothing else will come…. See you soon.”
The elf sits in a comfortable position on the cold ground in front of where the two bear avatars dissolved and stares forward with an eerily blank expression, then shows a fake thin smile. “Yes, see you soon.”
Even as I fly upward and leave this biome, Ren doesn’t move at all, and none of the wandering Lords nearby seem anywhere close.
Just to make sure, I send fireballs down at the ground as I fly away, and make a quick circle through the surrounding biomes, killing a few dozen Lords in the process and moving my total points up to [7,995].
Even before this small detour, the fall of the black stone golem pushed me up to the 2nd place ranking without having to move a muscle.
This, in turn, puts a target on my head for the 1st Ranked Berserker Giant. As, after it is done celebrating its victory and bathing in the white mist of the golem’s elimination, it turns in my direction.
Just like myself—and everyone else in the top 10—we do not have to fight. I see some of the red pillars disappearing, some from losing battles, and others from being satisfied with their point total and leaving while they still have their ticket to the main event.
Unlike before when I was lower on the leaderboard, no one else in the top 10 is trying to come near me. It seems only one wants my head.
The massive humanoid monster, holding a long sword, with sharp green eyes and a light white greater form made from pure ether and mana; it is here to battle the strongest enemies.
It runs forward, still holding its greater form that towers hundreds of meters high, toward my red pillar without hesitating one bit, so I stop my hunt and fly through the sky and do the same. If I’m to meet that monster here, it would be far too close to Ren, and would defeat the purpose of separating in the first place.
Just looking through the spectate feed alone, I can tell this is a whole different beast than that Mammoth. The announcer begins to hype up what is about to occur too, as I see a greedy gleam in its eyes.
“And our undefeated number one ranked fighter is on the move again! He’s done with the golem after their devastating brawl… I wonder who he’ll target next?”
The live feeds have been distant from myself ever since we went off hunting lower-class beasts. However, there are many audible whispers in the crowds wondering about the human they heard rumors of.
The announcer hears these whispers too and sees the trajectory of where this monster is headed, but wants to build the suspense.
Imagery of the other top 10 monsters battling flashes by on the spectate feed, and the biomes flashing by below me fade away as I activate my greater form again and start to charge up enough borrowed stats and ether into my soul weapon, equivalent to the finishing move I used on the mammoth earlier.
As I reach a comfortable state, I begin to hear an annoying humming sound partially drown out my senses.
The buildup of Noble Vibrations is back, and this battle hasn’t even started yet.
Many possibilities for how I want this fight to end process through my mind, as I’ve been debating the same thing for days now ever since I entered into the center of the grand citadel in the first place.
But as the announcer’s next words ring through my inner ear past the humming building up behind my first seal, I come to a decision, thinking to myself, ‘It won’t only be the Demons that fear humans once this is over… but in order to pull it off, I must give them a show.’
“That anomaly, the mutant, the Lower Race! That is who the King of Round 1 has chosen as his next opponent in the match! The human! Don’t forget to place your bets before they clash!” This rings through my mind as two visuals side by side in the spectate feed make themselves known.
The 1st and 2nd Ranked fighters tearing through biomes to face each other.
Though, once I finally see the white aura of mana control and ether over the horizon, and my eyes lay on this monster rather than just through a screen, I do get a sense of awe for a moment.
I’ve seen Berserker Giants in dungeons before, and even scanned a few 3rd, 2nd, and 1st Class species back on Ellipsia that trained alone in their towers; and of course saw Zashen up close a few times as well, but now I’m seeing one unleashing its fury, and not holding back.
It stares me down like a piece of meat, an object to kill and move on.
I did get to sense the 1st Class Warlord’s power for a split second after his battle with Andras Vermillion, though I only got to see him after, in an injured state… and back then, I was using all of the borrowed stats available to me, as well as my Noble Human Form.
Staring at this Berserker Giant now, I get the feeling this monster is of similar base strength to the warlord. Though it is lacking its new freedom avatar and the Crimson Aura I felt before leaving.
This excites me, so I yell out for the recording devices to hear while swinging my ball and chain in a circle above my head, “Finally, a real battle!”
All of the attention from the many Lords that left their duties around the city because of rumors now look at their live feeds.
“It’s really true, a human is in 2nd place…” “I heard he took out a mammoth earlier, in a single blow…”
“I saw it! It wasn’t a single hit, but he really did win. A human really beat one of the Elite Races…”
“He won’t beat a Berserker…. Besides the Demons themselves, nothing can beat that race. It would be impossible…”
More talk from the crowds is captured live and publicized to those watching, as the gossip and chatter is what makes the show more interesting and sparks even more conversation between Lords and even Admins beyond the walls.
I drown it out and focus on the screeching noise and jagged teeth of the green-eyed killer that jumps upward, using the base of a plateau in a plain biome as a foothold, crushing it and everything around for kilometers to fly into the sky to match my trajectory.
Only a few seconds pass as we both fly past the final few biomes between us, but it feels much longer.
I take breaths in and out, close my eyes, and solely focus on following out the plan I’ve devised.
After my final slow breath out, I open my eyes and swing the spiked fiery ball across my body, colliding with the downward swing of this monstrous beast’s sword.
Our ether travels through our greater forms, into our soul weapons, and collides with each other, creating a shockwave more powerful than anything I’ve felt so far in this entire arena event.
The strike I just threw shattered the mammoth to pieces with ease, yet both of us are at a standstill in the air, not a single crack on either of our weapons or greater forms.
We’re a few kilometers off the ground above a forest biome with tall trees and a few small lakes; but the shockwave knocks down every tree for dozens of kilometers and even empties a lake below.
I see this Lord eye to eye now and feel its vicious nature radiating through its blade. It is far less sane and intelligent than the Berserkers I’ve seen back on Ellipsia… This one is much closer to the mindless, battle-hungry monsters I’ve fought in dungeons.
That being said, there’s no point in expecting reason, conversation, or any rational thought.
This thought process does me well, as the moment we both bounce backward from this blow, the monster steps off the air and counters before I can even catch my footing.
Its sharp white blade aims right for my back, but I twist and dodge out of the way just a split second before getting cleaved in half. I swing my spiked ball downward in the same motion, colliding with the sword again as it’s already moved to track me in the air. The spiked ball is pushed backward and I have to dodge again.
I grin and let out a laugh while pulling borrowed stats from a few dozen more worlds. It makes the buzzing noises in my ears immediately grow louder, but this is enough to move out of the way and counter with another move that stops us in mid-air again over another lake, evaporating it in the blink of an eye from the shockwave of white ether and fire.
The same phenomena I felt with the mammoth is happening with this enemy. Raw instincts have pushed the ether its refined deep within its true being out of this premium avatar that can’t hold it back. There is far more than just preset ether commands being used.
The smile on this mad monster’s face grows wider and wider, as it realizes it’s found someone that can keep up with it… I too am using more than just preset avatar commands, but it doesn’t understand this… all it see’s is an enemy that will allow it to improve and grow stronger by pushing its limits.
We clash again while it lets out a screech, and slow-motion recordings and visuals of the fight beginning are broadcast to over 50 million Lords in the Grand Citadel watching live…
They all grow silent… even the announcer’s eyes go wide and he’s lost for words in the first few seconds of battle.
However, as the slow-motion visuals of more and more exchanges are shown, and the entire forest biome is leveled to flat dirt, the announcer finally speaks.
“It seems I was wrong, the Round 1 King is yet to be decided! The Berserker’s raw strength and battle prowess might be matched… This could be a once-in-a-millennium—no, a once-in-ten-millennia event… A 5th Class human truly exchanged multiple clashes with a 1st Class Berserker Giant from a world located in the Star Cluster of the Elites!”
The silence in the crowd breaks, and excited and angry roars erupt around the seats that are filled about 40% now. Mass messages and recordings of what is taking place are sent throughout the Grand Citadel again, confirming and spreading the rumors from before even further.
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