The Challenger's Return: Rebirth of the Rainbow Mage

Time passed.

Every single Throskart was sweating profusely under the raging sun.

The fact that they could still sweat meant that despite the lack of water and the area's intense heat, their bodies were very strong.

None were overly dehydrated.

At least, they had yet to lose any of their combat power.

Otto killed the spiders like a machine.

In what felt like no time at all, 200 spiders had been killed.

Otto narrowed his eyes and watched his lane slowly began to disappear.

He counted the time. The black maw lasted for merely three seconds before it, too, vanished into thin air.

Otto glanced at the corpses strewn in front of him.

Not a single one had made it within 20 meters.

He clicked his tongue.

"How pathetic."

Otto exited the lane to meet the vicious glares of the onlookers.

Still, instinctively wary of his power, they shrunk back from his gaze.

Otto inwardly smirked.

'Good.'

'They should be afraid of me.'

But deep within, the fire in their eyes had yet to go out. A will to live, a will to resist, a wish to fight burned brightly from the bottom of their hearts.

Otto carefully began to raise the temperature of the surrounding air once more.

What will to resist? What wish to fight?

Hunger and thirst would soon force them, too, to obediently cave to his will.

However, Otto didn't forget to put on a kind face.

"These lanes are indeed first come, first served."

"This time, I happened to arrive first. Next time, perhaps you will get a chance to fight the monsters."

Otto checked his game screen.

It was very different from the screen in the preliminaries.

All he could see was a large green number.

'200.'

At the moment, there was nothing to spend his merits on.

Otto sat on the ground and meditated as he waited for the others to finish fighting the monsters.

The lanes were tiered, from what Otto remembered.

His lane was the only lane that contained 200 monsters.

The ten lanes, five on either side sandwiching his own carried 50 monsters each.

The ten that sandwiched them released 10 monsters.

The ten outermost lanes, five on each side, let loose only five.

These Throskarts would be able to get varying amounts of water and levels of 'luxury' with their merits.

Even with these differences, and despite killing 40 times the number of monsters they'd killed, Otto was still the first to complete his lane.

Hours passed as Otto meditated to wait for the others to emerge.

He watched carefully as their partitions disappeared entirely as well.

One by one, the Throskarts came out from their lanes, some looking more pleased than others.

Otto's bodyguards wasted no time in surrounding him in a diamond formation.

What a joke!

Without the big boss to give them water and guard their merits, wouldn't they have been shut out like the rest of these pathetic Throskarts?

They would definitely surround him, doing their job dutifully as long as he continued to support them in passing the round.

The sky began to darken as the afternoon waned. The golden sand took on a more muted, brown-ish color under the afternoon light.

Conversation was kept to a minimum as everyone wished to conserve their energy in the unbearable heat.

It was the hottest part of the day, despite the decreased intensity of the sun on their backs.

Otto thought there was a strange sense of beauty to the desert in the late afternoon.

But before he could appreciate it, a robotic voice echoed in his head.

[Voting will now commence.]

[Those who didn't pull their weight are at risk of elimination!]

A large stage appeared.

66 Throskarts who hadn't killed a monster disappeared from the desert and reappeared, lined up side by side with shackles on their arms and legs.

Ten tools that looked suspiciously like guillotines sat in front of the stage.

It looked like a slave market, or a beheading of death row inmates.

Which, Otto supposed, was probably the point.

[All of our dear contributors, please vote 10 people out of the desert.]

A pressable red x-mark appeared over everyone's head.

Otto did not make his decision hastily.

[You have 30 minutes to discuss and vote. The ten folks with the most votes will be eliminated!]

[And of course, as per the historical Throssiv ways, the punishment for laziness is…death.]

The guillotine-like tools rumbled as if in excitement at the blood they'd get to spill.

The Throskarts on the stage shivered.

Most maintained their silence.

A few glared at Otto's posse with desperate rage in their eyes.

They wouldn't have been here if one of these jerks had bothered to let them in and kill even a single monster!

"Please wait for me to analyze them carefully."

Otto raised his eyebrows and once again began to [Analyze] each of them one by one.

This time, he paid the most attention to the weaklings.

Surprisingly, the group on stage was, on average, much stronger than Otto's 'posse.'

And Otto intended to keep it that way.

Another 30 droppers of water appeared in his hand.

"Here's 5 drops of water if you vote for the following people."

He pointed at them one by one and handed out the water.

With their disguises, it was impossible to tell by sight who was weaker and who was stronger, so no one doubted Otto's decisions.

The ten who were selected started yelling and shouting as loudly as they could.

One old looking Throskart woman (who was ironically, actually an old Throskart woman) quietly begged for the 'gentlemen' to reconsider.

"I have a granddaughter at home. She's all I have left, please. If I die, that's it for her. I beg you to have mercy!"

Her pleas set off a chain reaction.

One man claimed,

"I am actually a woman, I can be very useful, I'll do anything you ask! I promise, with no complaints at all, no matter the task, just please don't kill me!! Please!" she half sobbed, half implored Otto to change his mind.

One man couldn't bear to stoop so low as to beg for his life.

His tone was calm, his gaze poisonous.

"You'll meet your end soon enough. Just wait until your little friends turn on you before the game ends. I'd like to see how you do without your posse behind you."

Otto just stood there with arms crossed and raised an eyebrow.

He also cast [Imbue Persuasion] on his voice again.

His tone was careful, slow, and measured.

He gazed at them with eyes full of sympathy,

"If it wasn't you, it would have been others. You are all making a noble sacrifice in the name of the greater good, and we will all thank you for your heroism in the afterlife."

"Collectively, we can... forgive you for not aiding us in our arduous battle against the monsters."

The man's face reddened. His rage was seconds away from bursting a blood vessel in his eyes.

He sputtered and choked on the vehement words he'd just prepared.

Otto inwardly laughed.

His talent for angering others was truly marvelous.

But his words had another purpose.

Adding [Imbue Persuasion] would make his words sound more convincing.

But only to those who already had a tendency to favor him or his side of the argument.

Perhaps his charisma, to the 56 remaining Throskarts on the stage, would only make them hate him more.

Only by making them hate with all their hearts could Otto achieve his goals…

The ten voted contestants were led to the guillotine one by one.

Everyone watched on silently as the heads of ten people were summarily cut off.

The stage disappeared.

Two groups of Throskarts stood on opposite sides of the clearing, one group glaring at the other while the other just sat and picked their proverbial noses nonchalantly.

The afternoon turned into evening.

The robotic voice was heard once again.

[Finally, it's time for everyone's favorite part. Your water is arriving!]

[For those who contributed, congratulations. You may exchange your merits here.]

[There are many amenities available.]

[We have a luxurious place to sleep in a mansion, a small home with a roof over your head, a tent, or even just a glass of water or two at the water stations located throughout the desert for the thriftier fellows.]

[Ah, for all of those who haven't contributed, with no merits to exchange, you can't receive a single thing.]

[Well, if you're lucky, you may be able to convince one of our hard workers over there to exchange two of their merits for a 'tradable merit' that they can gift to you!]

[You'd have to provide something of worth, though…]

[Better luck tomorrow!]

And the robotic voice disappeared.

In its place, a mild rumbling came from below the sand.

Suddenly, from underground, a series of structures appeared under the six moons' watchful eyes.

A large white mansion appeared, lit up brightly amongst the sand.

Everyone's gaze was glued to the mansion's ethereal beauty. It even looked like it was barely floating, just above the ground.

A huge sign hung on top of it, visible to all.

[150 Merits for one person to rent]

[Bring yourself and four guests to sleep in the lap of luxury!]

[Unlimited water, gastronomic delicacies, swimming pool, hot-tub, a top floor suite for the paying renter, and four guest rooms for chosen guests.]

[Check out time is five hours after sunrise.]

[Enjoy yourself and release the tension from fighting those dastardly monsters!]

It was the exact same price as in the past.

Even the description hadn't changed a bit.

He remembered this, as he had spent quite a few nights in this very desert imagining himself inside the mansion...

Next to the mansion were 5 small brown houses.

Two beds sat inside the open flaps to the houses, and the sleeping arrangements looked cozy, if not quite as luxurious as the mansion beside it.

The sign above the houses read:

[40 Merits per person to use.]

[Maximum of 2 people]

[Plenty of water, two cozy meals, couches, beds, and a hangout area complimentary when renting a small house.]

[Check out time is three hours after sunrise.]

Beyond that were a series of small white tents.

Otto counted 20 of them in total.

[5 Merits to use]

[Entry limit 1]

[Drink as much water as you can pay for! Sleep with a covering between yourself and the night sky!]

[Tent partially blocks out sunlight]

[Check out time is one hour after sunrise.]

[Cost: 1 Merit for 5 glasses of water.]

[Cost: 2 Merits for a small meal.]

Finally, on the far right there were 40 small stations consisting of a wooden post with a water barrel attached.

Disposable conical cups lay in a small dispenser to the side.

[Water available to all guests!]

[Sleeping arrangements are on your own.]

[Cost: 1 Merit for 1 glass of water.]

[Special: Disposable cups are FREE to use!]

"…"