The Challenger's Return: Rebirth of the Rainbow Mage

Otto's heart pounded.

He had to act, NOW.

A second passed.

It was as if time slowed down.

His narrowed gaze swept passed the airborne arrow.

No one noticed Otto's left index finger twitch slightly, nor did they see the arrow's course divert by a single degree in the air.

Then, it struck.

The Throskart that was hit sported a small hole near the center of his heart.

His eyes were wide before his body hit the ground.

THUD

Everyone waited with bated breath for the old man to get struck down by the game.

Thirty seconds passed.

Yet nothing happened!

The eyes of the revolutionaries brightened, while Otto's posse sported murderous expressions.

Someone called out,

"Fight!"

While their attention was occupied, the Throskart who was 'hit in the head with an arrow' silently disappeared.

A small rock in which the arrow was embedded returned to sand.

Chaos descended onto the desert while Otto's smirk widened by the tiniest fraction.

His training had borne fruit in a big way.

The ruse was effective.

He finally got the chance to show off his new, improved cast times!

In the instant the arrow flew out, Otto cast two spells.

[Illusory Body: Unlimited]

[Condense Earth: Unlimited]

Both spells were cast together in 0.03 seconds, around the time it took the arrow to travel 5 or so meters.

An unknown Throskart had appeared in one spot, his head floating directly in front of a small rock.

Then, like lightning, Otto threw out a rapid fire [Mana Bolt] to slightly adjust the arrow's course.

His brain worked on overdrive for a split second.

Suddenly, Otto was broken out of his reverie as a magical projectile streaked past his body.

Instead of evading, though, Otto moved into it.

He allowed the bolt to graze his hand.

He lost a single health point. He didn't retaliate.

But ten seconds later, the mage who shot the bolt was killed instantly, a small, perfectly round hole in the center of his head.

'That guy was pretty strong.'

Anyone who could do any damage to Otto's body at all was considered first class in his book.

With his improved defense and resilience after using the evolution bead, hurting Otto was indeed quite the feat.

He then proceeded to step in the middle of every attack he could, taking full advantage of the chaos to cover some serious ground.

Otto weaved in and out of the battle, ignoring the 'protection' of his bodyguards.

To outsiders, it might look as if he was being targeted.

Only the participants could tell that something was off.

But by then, it was too late.

It wasn't long before the attacks slowed.

Bodies continuously dropped to the sand.

Now dead, they shriveled slightly from the lack of water.

The chaos was almost over before it could even fully begin.

Two of Otto's bodyguards perished after retaliating against their attackers, leaving only Roran to 'defend' Otto.

Otto quickly signaled Roran with his eyes.

Roran nodded.

He shouted,

"Pomona!"

The Insurgent, the other participant in this grand scheme, whipped her head around in shock.

Wasn't she disguised!? How did someone recognize her well enough to call her name!?

But her attention was distracted by a small grey sphere sailing towards her.

It glowed blue with mana.

Roran signaled her to catch it.

She did so, then belatedly noticed that something was wrong...

And the ball promptly exploded, killing her as well as another six Throskarts instantly, while Roran looked at Otto with wide eyes.

But before he could think to speak, his body slumped to the ground, sporting a small hole in the center of his forehead.

Of course Otto couldn't leave a second [Assassin] alive.

She had done her job to the fullest, hoodwinking almost every other Throskart into believing that she was an [Insurgent].

Combined with Otto fanning the flames of their hatred towards him and his cronies for blocking their paths to survival…

The result was a foregone conclusion.

He looked around at the sand on the stage where body after body lay in the sand, amidst a thick coat of purple blood.

Then, his eyes fell on the few still standing.

He applauded slowly as he walked towards the few of them.

Greer stood in front of eight people who were previously part of Otto's crew.

The man who had first opposed his decisions regarding lane distribution was busy comforting four others from the opposing 'faction' who held swords in their hands.

They survived because they were too slow to reach the others in time to attack.

Now, including Otto, in total, only 14 people still lived.

Otto's goal was half achieved.

Thankfully, this wasn't his only move.

The 14 Throskarts who still lived plopped themselves down onto the sand.

Their thirst was momentarily forgotten in their shock, seeing the bodies that lay by their feet.

It wasn't the number of bodies that was the problem.

Most of these Throskarts had died…with small holes in their heads.

It was hard to tell in the chaos of the 'battle.'

But now, it was obvious.

The rules were still functioning normally.

They'd all been duped!

Subconsciously, their eyes simultaneously turned to Otto.

Was it he who planned this murderous charade?

Otto didn't give them any hints, though, and he obviously wouldn't confirm their suspicions.

Soon, the partitions opened up again.

Yet once they finished opening, another shock was in store for them.

There were only five lanes…

Otto didn't hesitate and shot towards the lane in the center.

The others could barely capture his figure with their eyes.

They ran for the other lanes at the same time…

*****************************************

Otto tried to catch his breath as the 199th spider monster was killed with a wind element spell.

He checked his stamina.

Stamina: 890/1,680

Because of the hot weather, it depleted much faster than usual, particularly because he now had to move occasionally to avoid the spider's attacks.

Otto imagined that by the seventh day, in this game, these spiders would be no joke.

Well, he could deal with them fairly easily, but he worried a bit for the kids…

Otto took the brief opportunity to catch his breath as his suit injected a stamina powder potion into his body.

He was reinvigorated.

The final monster exited the black hole.

Otto prepared himself and made some last minute calculations as he began to bombard the 200th spider with spell after spell.

Another minute passed.

Otto stealthily ran past the spider monster to get himself closer to the hole at the end of the lane.

The spider began to collapse.

Otto's muscles tensed.

Before even ensuring that the spider monster had breathed its last, Otto jumped toward the gaping maw.

He immediately accelerated to his fastest speed, using all 100 points of agility to rush towards the opening.

The hole slowly began to close.

Otto felt like he witnessed it shrinking in slow motion as his body rushed towards it.

He had under a second.

But his calculations couldn't be wrong!

His face reddened as hints of steam exited from his body. The hot weather combined with Otto's extreme speed was practically burning his body…

But 100 points of Sturdiness and his body's heavy defense didn't allow him to feel much of anything.

Finally, Otto reached the black hole.

By now, it had shrunk to just under 1 meter in diameter.

Otto LEAPED forward, head first, barely managing to get himself through.

His figure disappeared.

The hole vanished.

He was in.

Otto opened his eyes to find himself in a large, cavernous space.

It was pitch black, completely the opposite of the desert's glaring sun.

He didn't give his eyes a moment to adjust before casting [Night Vision].

Otto looked around, and barely refrained from gasping.

What...was this?!

Thousands upon thousands of spider monsters stood in front of him.

They were lined up on the hard floor of the cavern in impeccable lines that reminded Otto of a massive military regiment.

Otto felt a shiver crawl down his spine.

Not a single one of them moved a muscle.

At first, Otto thought they were dead.

But looking closer, he could make out with his perception the faint ups and downs of their abdomens, signaling that despite how they looked, they were indeed still breathing.

Otto scratched the back of his head.

What in the world was going on in here?

An idea hit him like a bolt from the blue.

Could this be...a spider factory?

Seems like he'd stumbled upon yet another secret...