Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

The healers healed Hitori and his opponent near the grasslands. His opponent gave him glares from time to time, it was a tough fight after all and he did not think he could lose to a newbie.

Their fight lasted ten minutes until Hitori landed the final blow and threw his opponent out of the ring. He defeated a student from the top five rankings and made his way to the fourth spot, he was sure he was qualified for the expedition.

The wizards told him to go back to the room or sit in the audience or get his lunch. He decided to get his lunch.

It was afternoon, past lunchtime, when Hitori headed back to the arena after his lunch. He saw the leaderboards, his name was on the fourth spot, a girl was above him, and two boys were above her. Hitori was not expecting to climb to the first spot in his first serious attempt at the battles, as long as he was qualified, it was enough.

Then his eyes fell on the name two spots below him. Kamiya Jigoku, his name was glowing, indicating Kamiya was engaged in an ongoing battle with someone.

It felt as if it has been a long time since Hitori saw him fight seriously. If Kamiya had climbed to the top ten, he was serious, but why? He never wanted to work for the ministry, as he stated.

Hitori's legs moved towards the fourth arena on their own. He was standing under the stands, but away from the benches. He crossed the path and reached the other side, he found Kamiya.

He threw a white beam at his opponent, he dodged it easily. Then Kamiya raised his wand above his head, chanting as he brought it down, "Electrify!"

Hitori pushed his back from the wall he was about to lean into, he unfolded his hands and held them by the side. He wanted to confirm one thing, maybe this would be his chance.

The beam of electricity struck the opponent, or it looked like it did. His opponent had blocked the beam with his wand.

Kamiya pushed his electric beam. Hitori did not care what happened next, he was disappointed.

'Only if his spell's intensity... oh, forget it, he does not have a system to sync his real-life powers with the game.'

He wanted to go back and sleep. But now that he was here, he decided to witness Kamiya's battle till the end. It would reveal whether Kamiya qualifies or he will have to fight a few more battles before he does.

He went into the corner and pushed himself into the dark, hiding him from the sunlight under the shadow of the stands above him.

Kamiya engaged in a spell fight with his opponent, after three minutes, they were not fighting anymore. The guy dodged every single of Kamiya's spells.

One of the spells he fired hit the ground and cracked a part of the grass. He tried again, but this time it struck the wall beside Hitori. He watched as smoke erupted from the hole in the wooden wall.

Kamiya was losing it, Hitori thought, he just randomly threw spells around.

His opponent struck in, he swung his wand and cast an explosion spell followed by water and fire spells.

Kamiya was cornered, he created a wall but that could not sustain the guy's spells.

Kamiya took off on the right side, from the corner. His opponent closed the distance, he created a firewall to block Kamiya's way.

That did not remain a problem. The guy fired more of his spells. A beam of fire made a blazing cut on Kamiya's arm.

He was approaching the wall and the guy at the same time. The corner was blocked, the only corner remained from where the guy was aggressively throwing spells.

Kamiya gulped and took a jump off the grassland. He moved to the border. He was out of the ring. His opponent watched with a wide mouth as Kamiya flew past him.

He could not move in the midair, so his opponent turned his wand behind him and pointed it at Kamiya.

Too late, Kamiya landed and rolled on the ground, he got up and started running around the corners.

The guy charged another spell, but Kamiya was fast, the guy could not keep with him. He watched in frustration as Kamiya completed a round around the borders.

Kamiya left for the second round, and Hitori leaned forward. He stepped out of the show and examined Kamiya's movements. Yes, indeed.

Every time Kamiya went around the corners, he touched his wand's tip on the ground, he was creating a circle.

"Ah... god... no way." Hitori shook his head. "H-He must be copying his strategy... it can not be."

Kamiya completed the second round and ran to a corner. The guy grinned, got you, he thought.

He rose two walls around Kamiya, fifteen feet tall, leaving no space for Kamiya to run off. Even if he used levitation, the guy would hunt him down before he could climb over the fifteen feet wall.

The guy slowed down. Kamiya stared at his opponent. He bent and squatted. Then he brought his wand forward, pressed it in between his hands, and closed his eyes.

The audience thought it was his end, he was cornered, and the only way to save himself from severe injuries was to fall back, out of the ring.

The invigilating wizards took a step forward and drew their wands. "If he chants a funny spell, bind him," the boss ordered. "Stop him if you suspect anything wrong with his wand movement. We can not afford a grave injury."

Three wizards surrounding the grassland took their stance. Hitori knew Kamiya would not lose this battle, he would not sit there praying for his life, he had something planned. But he could not risk Kamiya getting injured.

He is one of the best fighters they have, if Kamiya gets injured it will become easy for Onogi to kill him, one pillar down. Hitori would have to pay a big price for it.

He walked out of the shadow, near the grassland, and took an angle from where he could aim at Kamiya's opponent. He adjusted his view with his wand near his thigh.

"Hey, who is that student?" a wizard asked.

"He is not a guard, is he?"

"What the fuck is he planning to do with a wand by his side?"

The three wizards lost their focus, and that was when it happened. An explosion threw the wizards on their backs. They were not prepared for it and preparation was the key.

Hitori was prepared, his eyes were fixed on Kamiya. So when the fire and smoke embraced him, he stood his ground with a defense shield around him.

The guy was prepared, too, but for his victory, not for a plot twist. Kamiya twisted stretched his arms and closed them again.

Another blast occurred in a radius shorter than the previous explosion's. While the previous explosion pushed him inside, the second explosion pushed him outside, squeezing him in between two forces.

Due to the burns and exhaustion, the guy gave in. He let the fire take over him as he lost his consciousness and fell to his knees, then on his face.

Kamiya still sat in the corner with a defense shield around him, the fire could do nothing to him.

The audience shouted and yelled at the wizards. The teachers turned to the fourth grassland and got to their feet when they saw the huge fire on it. It was a terrifying sight for everyone, most of them left the arena in fear of being caught in the fire.

Atama and Senso disappeared from the teachers' stands. Hitori raised his wand and cast, "Hydro pump!"

The water pump cleared the smoke around him. The wizards joined in and used water to extinguish the fire.

The students fighting on the other grasslands stopped their fight and looked at the fourth field in the middle of the arena.

Atama appeared behind Hitori. "Hurry up, Senso-sensei," he said as he walked to the fire. "I will get the kids."

"Yes, sir!" Senso drew his katana from the side of his kimono.

He concentrated his mana on the katana and charged inside the fire. Atama created a whirlpool above his head, he moved it above his head.

"Move aside!" he shouted.

Hitori glanced to his side, his eyes widened when they fell on the pool of water Atama was holding. The wizards glanced at the headmaster, they backed off, too.

Atama lowered his hands. The pool was big enough to extinguish the fire on the grassland and wash any remaining fire.

Hitori was panting hard when his eyes fell on Kamiya in the corner and his opponent lying on the ground. He knew Kamiya had planned something, but he knew a thing more surprising than that.

He widened his eyes. 'Divine Valley's Trap Strategy…' he thought.

Instead of rising from the ground,  Kamiya dropped over his face. "Call the healer!" Atama shouted.

The audience was in total chaos, most of them were rushing to the exit portals, pushing, punching, and stomping on others. The guards at the portals had to use magic to calm the crowd.

It was just a fucking fire, yet nobody used a water spell to help the teachers. Instead, they all pissed their robes and ran to the exit. Maybe because it looked like a scientist's exploit.

Hitori stood frozen and watched Atama rush to Kamiya and the guy lying unconscious on the ground with a few burns on his chest and back.

Senso stood back. He knew Hitori would be around, he found Hitori standing behind him, staring blankly.

He was not blankly staring at anything, he rather had a disturbing thought. "T-That fighting strategy…" he said, he found himself trembling. "I knew it. But how can it be possible?"

He jolted. He turned and ran out of the arena. Senso stood steady and decided to help the students and wizards with clearing the area instead of chasing Hitori.

Hitori ran straight and took a portal, he appeared in a square, the route direction map was dangling in the air. Hitori went straight, in the direction of the Vr-cade.

He banged open the door and rushed to the nearest console, he dropped his card in the slot. He banged it.

The game processed, this was the first time Hitori thought how slow the loading process was.

He opened the inbox and ran to Reon's DMs. "Reon-san, come online. I need to tell you something immediately." He texted. "Please, hurry up. It is really important, you would not believe it."

Then he logged out of the inbox and went to the game's website. He raced to the trending list and clicked on the first name without bothering to check the name.

The backlink threw him to another video. Hitori paused it, he searched for the player's streaming channel, and he got it after scrolling down.

Hitori reached the streamer's channel page, then he scrolled to some of the old videos. He played them.

He did not use that strategy in the first few videos but as he got famous and well-known, he encountered stronger monsters, that was when Hitori spotted the Trap Strategy.

He planted a little of his mana in the ground, then concentrated his mana on the wand, releasing the element from the gems and trapping the monster. He killed the monster in a way he found reasonable.

This continued, from that video to the latest video uploaded a day before yesterday. Yes, they all followed the same strategy.

He ran two rounds in circles, planting the traps, then acted as if he was about to lose the battle, but suddenly, boom! Everything finished.

Hitori made sure. He closed the website. He opened the game again but was disappointed to see no reply from Reon.

His smile faded, he wanted to but he could not wait any longer. After all, he had someone to confront about something in the evening.

"I am in a hurry, so I guess I will let you know: The streamer, it is him. Kamiya is the hot streamer."

He texted.

"He left us because he wanted to stream his gameplay and earn fast cash and he did. If you come online I will explain my theory. But it is him, Divine Valley, that is the meaning of his name."