The Challenger's Return: Rebirth of the Rainbow Mage

Otto spread out the tendrils of mana of [Analyze] while he simultaneously cast [Night Vision] on himself.

He spotted the woman's real figure almost immediately with the combined information from the two spells.

It wasn't a scantily clad woman after all!

It was a big, hulking brute of a warrior, over 6 meters tall.

The warrior's was so tall that his head almost touched the top of the dome.

Otto felt a little nauseated at the contrast between the illusion and reality.

He quickly discovered that none of these 'scantily clad' women were actually real.

His eyes narrowed.

He pinched himself as hard as he could, using every ounce of muscle he had.

His health dropped by a single point.

Obviously, this dome was somehow blocking or nullifying the safe zone around the pantheon.

Otto's heart sank.

Should he teleport out?

If so, he should start immediately, because the teleport spell on his boots took a bit of time to cast.

His mind spun.

Otto was hesitant to reveal his teleportation trump card if these folks could be beaten with other means.

Although it was more dangerous in the short term, it might be better from the long perspective to just kill them outright, doing his best to hide his skills…

In a snap, Otto made the decision to fight.

Still, he decided to charge his boots on the move just in case he'd need to flee quickly.

His decision was made just as the 'woman' in the lead spoke.

Her voice was like tinkling bells.

But Otto, who could see the 'woman's' true form, that of a tall, green skinned orc-like creature, didn't feel one bit pleased at the sound.

"You must be Toto."

The 'woman' winked at him and said,

"Please cooperate with us ladies, we just need a bit of money and time, and we'll be on our way in a flash."

Otto nodded, pretending to look confused.

But as soon as they prepared to control him, he struck.

Otto instantly rushed over to the big hulking warrior who looked like the biggest threat to Otto in this small dome.

A blade flashed as Otto poured mana into an invisible spell.

[Void Blade: Unlimited]

Space Element

Level 11

Conjures a space element blade that rips apart the enemy, dealing (440 + 11% magic power) damage.

Mana Cost: 303

Cast Time: Instant

No Cooldown

A full 3,360 mana was poured into the spell as Otto suddenly felt satisfied with his decision to search for his teammate before he split his soul and his attributes dropped.

The invisible blade moved like lightning. It tore through the massive warrior's neck.

Blood spilled out of the cavity, covering the grey floor in a sickly green color.

The illusion flickered.

A head almost the size of Otto's entire body dropped to the floor.

The women looked at him in alarm.

Otto smirked.

"Yes, ladies, why don't we stay here and—play—with each other for a while?"

Silence filled the dome.

But contrary to his expectations, not a single 'woman' burst out in rage.

These were trained combatants.

Their eyes narrowed, bodies tensed as their demeanor grew serious.

"You have some hidden skill, hmm, Toto?"

Whoever was casting the illusion didn't drop it. Or perhaps each of them was equipped with a tool for this purpose.

With his naked eye, Otto still saw nine beautiful ladies in front of him.

And in that instant, they moved.

Three rushed straight at him, attempting to forcibly engage him in melee combat.

But Otto was too fast: he hopped off like a flash and used [Wind Jump] now that the tallest warrior was out of the picture.

He was careful not to reveal any elements besides Earth and Wind. Should these folks die with an extra life, he would prefer them not to know the truth about his power.

Of course, if he was really cornered, he could just teleport away.

Also, his self set restrictions on cast time, cooldowns, and super charging his spells were loosened a lot to allow him to fight on even ground, at least.

He had a feeling these folks weren't here to kill him immediately, anyway.

The fact that they bothered to dress up as prostitutes indicated that there must be some other scheme in mind...

But that didn't mean he'd let himself be caught!

Four 'women' bounced up and down, presumably to distract him even a bit with their two 'best assets' as they cast spell after spell targeted at Otto.

Fireballs, flaming arrows and fire bullets scorched the air as they approached his position. The three warriors also didn't let up, and constantly fired bolt after bolt of what looked like sword-energy straight through his platforms of wind.

Otto dodged and weaved with incredible maneuverability, but on a seven-against-one fight, his space was continuously shrinking.

Moreover, they seemed to be buying time for the two other 'women' in the back to do something.

Otto suddenly had a thought.

Why not activate the spell on his boots?

[Winged Run]

Wind Element

Boots grow aerodynamic wings, allowing the caster to fly in the air with extreme mobility.

Uses: 5

Duration: 60 seconds per use

Cooldown: 24 hours

Four tiny little wings appeared out of each foot, flapping at speeds even he was unable to detect with his perception, and Otto suddenly felt that his agility was massively enhanced.

Otto slipped through a narrow gap in between spells and targeted energy attacks to break through the encirclement.

He didn't bother with his seven attackers, though.

Instead, he flashed towards the two 'women' in the back of the group.

Beads of sweat trickled down their face as they both laid four fingers on a small glass orb, slowly channeling all of their mana into it.

Even after peering through the illusion with [Analyze] and his [Night Vision], the scene was the same, only that the two women were actually fully clothed men.

Both men's concentration was at its peak; they were finishing up the charge, preparing to activate the orb...

Otto didn't hesitate in the least.

He didn't appreciate surprises.

It was better to take the two of them out before they could prepare one for him.

One 'woman' rapidly looked up in horror as two extremely heavy [Wind Blades] cleanly bisected both of their heads from their shoulders.

The orb fell to the ground with a clatter.

Actually, Otto could tell these two had been the strongest of the lot by the sheer amount of mana they had injected into the small bead they held.

But once they focused their entire concentration on charging it during a fight…suffice it to say, even with their might, their bodies now lay motionless on the ground.

Otto still had fifty two seconds left of the buff from his boots.

He turned around and starting fighting with the four casters, who had already begun to pepper him with more spells.

He focus-fired them with super charged [Wind Blades] one by one.

1 down, 34 seconds to go.

2 down, 20 seconds to go.

3 down, 9 seconds to go.

All four lay dead in front of him as Otto's agility returned to normal.

He gazed calmly at the three 'women' who were barely keeping their composure. Apparently, they each had an extra life left.

One mustered 'her' courage and yelled,

"Kill!"

And they charged him once more.

But, this time, they were doomed to fail.

Otto didn't intend to spare a single one.

It was unlikely that an ambush this well prepared would ever leave obvious witnesses who could speak to the identity of the mastermind.

The best evidence would, instead, be found on the attackers' dead bodies.

Otto simply used his buff again, bringing its 'uses' down to 3, and quickly wiped them all out with little trouble.

He first turned his attention to the bodies of the two powerful mages and the orb they held.

[Reicher's Kinetic Absorber]

Silver Grade Auxiliary Tool (Evolvable)

Select a single target and forcibly restrain said target for a maximum of 120 seconds. Orb absorbs the kinetic energy produced by the target, up to a certain maximum.

Energy can then be converted into user's mana at a 1,000:1 ratio.

Cost: Requires 6,800 mana per activation.

Otto raised a brow.

What a rare treasure!

It was on the level of some of the items Otto had won from the auction at the Golden Club.

This tool was the epitome of a multipurpose tool.

It was both a godly control tool and a way to increase a mage's maximum mana, little by little.

At a 1,000:1 ratio, even if it could only help pump 0.2, 0.5, or 1 mana at a time, after being used 100, 1,000 times, this little orb could become a mage's rare treasure.

And this was not the only thing he found.

As he searched through the dead mage's bodies, he realized that this team had indeed been well-prepared.

A small, hidden insignia with a picture of a brain was hidden in a pocket on one man's chest.

Otto used [Analyze].

[Silent Suggestion]

Bronze Grade Attack-Type Tool

Perfectly control a target's mind for a maximum of 5 minutes.

Restriction: Target must be entirely stationary.

Basic Cost: 885 mana per activation.

NOTE: Cost increases with strength of target's mind.

He whistled aloud.

These two tools were practically made to work together!

A scheme arrayed itself in Otto's mind.

The seven fighters (and the giant) would work to control Otto within the dome, restraining him while the other two prepared to activate the orb.

Then, the orb would activate, perfectly restraining Otto for a short period of time while it absorbed his would-be kinetic energy.

Finally, the small brain insignia would activate and control Otto's mind, most likely forcing him to hand over a good portion of his money.

Then, they would return to their employer. Task complete.

Perhaps they would kill him when they were done, or perhaps not.

Alas, even if Otto had eventually succumbed to their ambush, their ploy could not have succeeded.

Mind-control type spells and tools were especially weak against him.

Not only because of his veritable sea of mental power.

It was here when his innate trait worked overtime.

[Multitask]

Otto was essentially able to completely split his mind into two parts.

Even had everything gone according to their plan, as soon as they tried to control Otto's mind, they were doomed to fail.

Since one portion of Otto's mind would remain sober, fighting back against the control, rapidly eating away at their mana as the tool was rendered unable to properly invade.

Then, perhaps he would launch the true counter-attack once their mana was depleted.

The end result would have been exactly the same.

Otto stared at the carnage around him.

He chuckled a little as he tossed out two Wasnacht coins and wrote a little message on the ground for good measure.

The dome was already beginning to disappear.

"Don't say I never paid for what I took!"

Otto leisurely made his way to his meeting with Clatenis.