The Challenger's Return: Rebirth of the Rainbow Mage

Worst off were the Throskarts who were forced to sleep directly on the sand.

Now that they awoke, the discomfort combined with the lack of water made them feel as if they hadn't actually slept at all.

They shot a—at this point, almost habitual—glare at the mansion where Otto lay on his bed.

Their mouths were dry, eyes slightly sunken.

Dehydration was beginning to take its toll.

As the sun rose over the horizon, the temperature slowly climbed its way up again.

By 2 hours after sunrise, it had reached yesterday's highest temperature.

Muffled groans could be heard from those who had just stepped out of their tents, while those inside the houses and obviously the mansion remained asleep.

At 4 hours after sunrise, the heat was becoming almost as unbearable as the dehydration.

The magical thermometer in the mansion read '46' which Otto translated to 193F (89C) outside.

Otto steadily continued to cast [Heat Wave: Unlimited] over and over again, still taking great care not to cause any actual damage to others.

He would not allow himself to fail because of a careless mistake.

Actually, for most Throskarts, though it never got this hot on the planet they inhabited, the current temperature was not considered a dangerous temperature for them in normal times.

Their strong bodies could withstand this temperature for days at a time if needed.

But this was still conditional on the amount of water they could drink.

After all, while Throskart genetics were different from human genetics, one of the basic functions of water was still to help moderate their body temperature.

With no water, it meant their bodies heated up unreasonably fast…

By the time Otto exited the mansion, looking very well rested, it was over 200F and the sun aggressively glared down at them from its position dead center in the sky.

All eyes turned towards him.

When they saw his hair that was still wet from a shower or a bath, anger, jealousy, even resentment surged in their eyes once more.

But Otto wasn't concentrating on them at all.

He counted the number of people gathered.

And rubbed his chin.

Why were there two fewer Throskarts than yesterday? Did they die over the night somehow?

It was unlikely.

Even the weaker Throskarts could stand a day or two in yesterday's heat without drinking water before they perished.

So wha…

Suddenly, Otto's gaze landed on a relatively nondescript young woman hidden towards the back of his own posse.

If his memory was correct, she had previously been a person with no merit points.

How did she sneak into his group without being caught?

Her hair was mussed, her eyes slightly sunken with dehydration.

But what caught Otto's attention was a faint red glow that surrounded her entire body.

He looked around and discovered that no one else could see it.

It was only showed to him…but why?

A hypothesis quickly formed in his mind.

Otto wasted no time and cast [Wind's Whisper: Unlimited].

His eyes flashed.

The woman wasn't startled as a voice entered her ear.

Nor did her eyes show the depth of hatred that the others without merit seemed to have for Otto.

She got up with some difficulty and met Otto a ways away from the others.

Their eyes calmly followed the pair.

But for whatever reason, no one else approached.

Otto's eyes flashed as he handed her 20 drops of his condensed water and whispered a number of words into her ear.

She carefully controlled her expression as she listened.

After a minute, she quickly started to whisper back.

The conversation went on for five minutes.

The contents of the exchange were unknown, but her expression was slightly less dull as she returned to her prior position.

Otto's face carried a small smirk.

Another few hours passed.

There was little to no conversation among the contestants.

They were unwilling to waste energy and precious saliva on needless chatter.

Soon, the group of folks with no merit got themselves in position to capture the 'lanes' first.

They stood right before the approximate position of yesterday's lanes, judged by the indentations on the ground that previously held spider monster corpses.

Otto was unbothered.

He merely sneered, and brought his own crew to line up about 36 degrees clockwise in a slightly diagonal line.

Soon, the partitions rose from the ground.

But the crowd's heart collectively sunk as they realized it was, once again, directly in front of Otto.

Otto's group wasted no time, each occupying a lane for themselves.

However, where yesterday there were 31 lanes in total, today there were only 28.

An ominous thought resounded in everyone's mind.

The lanes decreased based on the number of people!

What better way was there to ensure continual water scarcity?

Soon, the black maw opened once again and the spider monsters emerged.

Otto found that today, they were slightly stronger in every aspect.

They came at him faster, their legs sunk deeper into the ground, and he needed to add slightly more mana to his wind blades to kill them in a single hit.

But they were not strong enough to threaten him.

Otto didn't change his style of fighting, either.

[Wind Blades] flew dispassionately at the spiders' heads one after another.

Otto didn't vary his method of killing once.

To onlookers, it seemed as if he would just shoot a single mana bolt.

Under a second later, the spiders would collapse onto the ground, less their deformed heads.

Unlike humans, though, the spiders seemed to feel no resentment for Otto, even after he killed so many of their own kind.

Otto thought their eyes looked slightly...dull.

But he shook off his thoughts and continued to kill.

Once again, 200 spider monsters were murdered with great prejudice.

As Otto exited his lane, he was met with resentful glares, not only from the usual suspects, but even from the three members of his 'group' who hadn't gotten the chance to obtain merits this round.

There weren't enough lanes for them anymore...

Otto was unfazed. He shrugged and addressed them,

"I don't have every piece of information on this round of the game."

He looked at them calmly,

"Perhaps a few of our comrades will tire out too quickly."

"You may yet have a chance."

"If not,"

Otto looked them in the eye and swore,

"I don't mistreat my own. I won't let you die today."

They nodded, feeling slightly more spirited, even under the sun's glare.

After all, this guy had a lot of merit! Maybe he'd even let them stay in his mansion this evening where they could eat and drink to their heart's content…

Of course, according to Otto, allowing them to survive only meant sending them each a single merit point, so…

The fights lasted longer today than yesterday.

Eight people even gave up in the middle of their challenges, too tired and hot to kill additional monsters.

Four of them switched their lanes with Otto's bodyguards, who he'd sent to stand at the entrances to the four who were most likely to give up.

Two more switched with Otto's group members, while the two final lanes were taken by members of the waiting crowd.

One of the Throskarts who managed to snatch a lane was the same defensive man who had spoken with Otto yesterday regarding the distribution of lanes.

His glare was like two pinpricks on Otto's chest before he turned his back and entered the lane.

Otto paid him no mind.

The afternoon came and went.

Surprisingly, a spider monster actually escaped from the lane!

Otto's sharp eyes caught the lane in question.

It was from the girl with the red aura.

His lips curved up.

Instead of letting the monster wreak havoc among the participants, Otto killed it with a single shot of his [Wind Blade: Unlimited].

His eyes widened in innocence and he proclaimed,

"I didn't want it killing you!"

Then he smirked evilly and turned his face away, leaving the exhausted, dehydrated, hot, half-delirious contestants to talk amongst themselves.

Indeed, a surprisingly serious conversation was taking place amongst the contestants with no merit.

An old woman spoke with sharp eyes,

"It can't go on like this."

"We'll be dead in under three days."

The others nodded.

A middle-aged man in a suit whined,

"We're too tired now to really fight for those lanes, though."

"It's the worst example of a positive feedback loop.

They get the lanes, so they kill monsters, gaining more merits, leaving them stronger in order to continue to snatch the lanes."

"Meanwhile, we miss the lanes and can't drink water, weakening us, decreasing our chances of snatching the lanes."

The others nodded in unison while the old woman looked around and asked softly,

"So what do we do? What's the solution?"

A young man with large glasses that covered his thin face suggested quietly,

"There are a few solutions."

"One. We talk to the leader and try to coexist. Now that we have an idea of the pattern of the lanes, it will be harder to snatch it from all of us at once."

"But based on the situation and his attitude," he lowered his eyes to cover the depth of his hatred,

"I doubt this method will work. Plus, when resources are so scarce, there will always be fights over who gets them."

"Because he had more information, he immediately established two groups and decided the course of this part of the game."

"There's no way he'll give up his current advantage."

The others nodded, their frowns deepening.

No one wanted to die.

Especially not at the hands of a true psychopath like this guy who clearly didn't give a rat's ass about them.

"Two, we bribe a couple of his men and attempt to overthrow his leadership."

"But this requires having something of value to offer."

The others shook their heads, and the young man with glasses rubbed his forehead.

There was no way clearing this game was as impossible as it seemed.

Suddenly, a woman's voice interjected.

"Three, overthrow him directly."

It was the woman Otto had spoken with earlier in the day.

The group looked at her with doubt and some wariness.

After the conversation between the two of them, most thought her words had lost some credibility.

As she had successfully landed herself a spot in the lanes.

They looked at her with suspicion and puzzlement.

"How is that possible?"

"We can't even attack directly. How can we overthrow him without attacking?"

The woman lowered her voice and whispered,

"I have a special role in this game."

The group's eyes widened.

"A special role?"

"Yes. I can prove it to you."

She handed over a small card.

One man's eyes widened.

His voice was hushed,

"This is the exact same stock used by the game. I used to work for them."

A murmur ran through the crowd.

"Is this real?"

Someone hesitantly asked.

The woman smiled slyly.

"They call me…the Insurgent."

Despite their doubts, a seed of hope sprouted in everyone's chest.