The Challenger's Return: Rebirth of the Rainbow Mage

Countless eyes rose to the tip of the forest as a giant blue dome seemed to envelop the planet itself.

The dome was awe-inspiring in size and sheer intensity of its effect.

Moreover, it was contracting, slowly but surely.

Otto's eyes glittered as he brought out his next move.

An object appeared in his hand.

Two tubes stuck out of its small, semi-rectangular body, hiding the complex internal mana circuitry within.

It didn't look frightening at all, but it was with this tool that Otto planned on conquering the area.

He sent a command with his mana.

Invisible mist snaked its way out of the golem in giant rivulets.

The mist carried an almost liquid consistency.

It soon expanded into huge clouds of dense, colorless poison mist that rapidly began to disperse into the air.

He was careful to avoid the area surrounding himself.

Otto didn't intend to replicate the feeling of being poisoned.

Of course, when he started moving, he'd have to pay careful attention to the poison's dispersal.

Five minutes passed as the poison in the air grew thicker and thicker.

Otto had also specially 'programmed' the dome such that all the emitted poison was trapped by the glowing blue barrier.

His mana began to drain slowly as the poison did its work, faster than his regeneration could keep up.

The dome slowly filled up.

While Otto's dome indeed covered a massive area, this golem had been responsible for filling a much larger section of the forest ring with poison.

It wouldn't pose a problem for this golem to fill just the space within the dome.

Plus, as the dome contracted, the poison would only further condense.

After another ten minutes, the golem finally notified Otto that his poison had completely saturated the air.

Otto could tell via the barely discernible smell alone that the poison was coated thickly.

He then sent the golem another command to 'soak up' any poison within a 1 meter radius surrounding itself (and by extension, him).

This way, Otto would not be harmed by his own maneuver…

Otto also cast another [Sense Life] to better understand the situation of the Throskarts in the valley.

He then hurried over with haste.

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

An enormous dome appearing over the battlefield so suddenly could not be ignored.

It was humongous, covering the sky completely for those who could see it, which was, by nature, almost everyone.

Some even had the illusion that it was an act of god.

An impulse to kneel below the dome took root deep inside many hearts, even if they understood with their minds that this was a magical creation.

Awe filled their eyes.

Still, there were also a few who barely noticed the disturbance above the top of the forest.

The eyes of both Lefwyne and Edward were red as they glared towards the mouth of the valley.

After much hardship, losing almost 50 men between them both to arrows and magic projectiles that never seemed to end, they had finally arrived at the exit.

But both men were stunned when they reached the valley's mouth.

There, blocking the exit with almost two hundred Throskarts, was Aluerad!

Lefwyne and Edwards' faces simultaneously sank. It was a betrayal of the lowest sort.

Unknowing, an invisible mist seeped into all of their bodies.

Because the dome wasn't nearly as big as the usual area the golem covered, the poison everywhere was particularly thick.

It rapidly invaded the minds and bodies of everyone present.

Because the initial effect was rather subtle, no one figured out that their emotions were compromised.

However, the subordinates of all three ranked contestants had clearly already become increasingly agitated.

Without a second thought, nor a command from any of their three leaders, the subordinates began to clash.

The ground was immediately dyed in an ugly purple as weapons were waved around without a care.

Otto watched this scene through narrow eyes as he hovered in the air above.

It seemed the poison was already taking effect; the Throskarts on the ground almost looked as if they had all taken [Berserk] potions.

The fight was particularly wild and unrestrained.

Otto flew through the air with his wings, figure still covered by a layer of [Shadow Stealth], unseen.

His gaze was cold.

Since Otto intended to commit a massacre, he needed to ensure he gathered every single point these Throskarts dropped.

He wouldn't show himself immediately, since the points wouldn't disappear in any case.

However, should any of the Throskarts fighting manage to gather enough points to obtain a blue colored token, upon death he would then have the option to revive, for a price.

Meaning that a pile of coins would not appear by his corpse.

Decreasing Otto's point gain by half.

In other words, Otto was present to secure his point stash by killing all of the strongest Throskarts, subtly decreasing the number of points present on the battlefield.

However, this was not the only task he had.

Otto also had to search for the real thief. He was unconvinced that the poison alone would do him in.

Let alone if he had already used the coin worth one hundred thousand points.

Though the poison covering was indeed thicker than normal, it would be impossible to pump out enough poison that the air itself shimmered with it.

In other words, Otto would still have to search for, and kill the thief manually.

The dome continued to shrink up above.

From its original area of over 2,800 squared kilometers not including its height, it had already shrunk by half.

The smaller the area, the less room the thief would have to run around, and the greater Otto's chances of stumbling upon him.

Actually, there was also a reason Otto chose not to make the dome invisible.

Watching the dome tighten little by little would put a certain amount of pressure on the thief, if he did escape to the air.

Combined with the amplifying effect of the poison on one's emotions, the fusion could be deadly.

In the best case, the thief would make a major mistake and expose himself to Otto prematurely.

Even in the worst case, there would still be an additional strain in his movements.

When the thief began to breathe in the poison in the air, combined with the burgeoning fear as the dome above began to tighten around him, Otto could imagine his terrified mental state.

Otto looked down at the ground.

These contingencies, after all, were only useful if the thief was indeed in the air.

Though Otto was increasingly confident this was the case, he still wouldn't hastily rule out a different outcome.

Otto instinctively cast [Tunnel] to get a feel for the surrounding terrain.

Yet as soon as a shallow tunnel spread out beneath his feet, Otto's brows rose.

He discovered another use for [Tunnel]!

He found he could also sense if there was movement underground!

Right now, it was completely static. Animals such as worms and even smaller organisms that would be found in Earth's soil were not present here at all.

He idly wondered how this forest ring's ecosystem functioned without them…

Fortunately, this new function of his spell wasn't strictly needed at the moment.

Otto looked up at the sky.

His lips curved up once more.

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

Jacek was beginning to worry.

He flew through the sky at the fastest speed his tool would allow, his eyes hard and determined.

His hands clutched a brightly glowing coin.

Previously, he had been confident in the success of his boss's plan.

His boss was intelligent, scheming, and very powerful!

How could he be anything but confident?

Plus, he saw with his own eyes how that group of idiots easily went to chase after the decoy.

So he spread his proverbial (and literal) wings with confidence as he took to the air.

In fact, he flew a total of 20km in the short time before Otto realized his blunder.

Jacek was filled with confidence in his escape.

That was, until a problem arrived.

A giant blue dome appeared above his head.

It covered the surrounding area entirely.

Jacek was immediately alarmed!

That dome looked like it was there to capture him....

Instead of immediately panicking, Jacek contacted his boss using the secret method.

He was a trained combatant, after all. It wasn't so easy to make him lose his composure.

"Boss, we've got a problem."

His boss's lazy voice resounded in his ears, casual and serene.

It sounded like whatever might be a problem to Jacek was not even worth mentioning to him.

"I told you not to underestimate the human, didn't I?"

Jacek gave a small grunt of affirmation, then declared with solemnity,

"I used all three magic tools you gave me and remained extra cautious. The hand-off was smooth, and everything was proceeding to plan.

"Currently 21 kilometers away from the coin's origin, flying out of the area. A giant blue dome appeared to surround me. Should I try to fly out directly, or do you have other instructions?"

His boss was silent for a second, before he remarked, voice sounding casual,

"I recently received orders from above. Do you want to know why I specifically reminded you to be careful for this operation?"

"Please advise, boss."

Then, Jacek gasped, voice low but unable to hide his surprise,

"Do you mean to say the human... created... this giant blue dome?"

"Of course. Or else, did you think that any of us Throskarts were capable of such a feat?"

"No…"

"This human is both powerful and cunning. I've also received specific orders not to underestimate this one…He might have killed a purple robe."

Jacek froze.

"He…what!? Killed a purple robe??"

His eyes widened and his breathing hastened as his body shook like a leaf in the air.

If he could, he wanted to speed up several times and forcefully blast through this dome. Someone who could kill one of those monsters....was not someone to be trifled with.

But alas, his boss spoke and shot down his plans.

"Indeed. Don't show a hint of your nerves. Trying to break the dome with force will also carelessly reveal your position. Calm down, think, and remain cautious."

"I'll be with you soon enough, and will help you escape. Above all, this is neither the place nor the time to panic. It'll be tough even for me if he notices you and tracks your position."

Jacek nodded and forcefully calmed himself.

"Affirmative."

His boss hung up the 'call.'

Somewhere underground, a man shook his head. Then, he let out a sigh.

"Yet another one dead, huh. This human is really…too hard to trick…"

If he had a choice, he would never make this human his enemy.

Alas, orders were orders, and not following them would only lead to his own demise.

Fortunately, the implementation of such orders rested on his initiative.

Thus, he had decided to use this fight for the 100,000 point coin as a small-scale testing ground.

So far, the results were quite interesting.

His eyes shone with a sinister light as he readjusted some of his following plans.

Jacek, after thinking over it carefully, decided to head forward, towards the edge of the dome, then descend to the ground.

He wanted to be as far away from the human as possible in order to maximize his chances of safely escaping.

Perhaps if he went underground, he could escape the dome's range?

Jacek's thoughts turned as he contemplated his best chance for survival.

At that instant, an invisible mist started to enter his body.

Alas, Jacek didn't notice a thing.

He continued to fly forward, heedless of the invisible threat looming ever larger over his head.