The Challenger's Return: Rebirth of the Rainbow Mage

Half an hour slowly passed.

Otto watched from the air with narrowed eyes as Greer and Mikelo were eaten by the spiders, then revived over and over again.

Slowly, the light in his eyes sharpened.

Despite reforming their bodies and coming back to life, there were some differences between Mikelo's and Greer's method of resuscitation.

It seemed that while the both of them were trying to deceive him into thinking that the two methods were the same, the small changes still gave them away.

Otto could pick up a faint but intense wave of mana every time Greer revived.

A wave of mana that wasn't present on Mikelo.

Greer also died quite a few more times than Mikelo.

Still, the greasy Throskart had not lied to Otto.

He'd revived over 12 times and counting, and didn't look worried in the slightest…

It was increasingly probable that he could actually come back to life without limit.

Luckily, Otto was able to pick out a few additional clues.

First, it took slightly longer for both Throskarts to revive each time they died.

Which meant that whatever they were using either had to be charged with some sort of energy for each revive, or perhaps had a cooldown time that increased with use.

Otto had also spotted the tool that Greer, at least, seemed to be using: a small triangular, green token that looked like it was glued to his chest, right above the location of his heart.

It was this token that emitted the dark green light that appeared every time Greer stood up after 'dying.'

As for Mikelo's token, Otto couldn't find it at all.

Otto thought for a second before releasing a [Magic Eye] to get a closer look.

[Magic Eye]

Level 10

Send one magic eye up to 2km away from caster. Magic eyes will scout the surrounding area and transmit feedback whenever a 'significant' change appears.

Mana Cost: 55

Duration: 60 minutes

Cast Time: Instant

No Cooldown

Otto's expression quickly darkened as he spied on Mikelo.

The light that was emitted when Mikelo revived seemed to come…from inside his body.

In other words, if it was a token like Otto suspected, he would have to literally cut him open to get this token out.

An impossible task if he couldn't cause harm to Mikelo's body.

Otto laughed, feeling slightly resigned.

What a smart move.

Checkmate!

He glanced down at Mikelo, amusement streaking his gaze.

Or…was it?

Though Otto's mouth bore a frown, his eyes were bright.

It was rare that someone was able to put him in such a position.

His mind whirred.

There had to be a solution to this.

The [Tower] never put a challenger in an impossible situation.

Only a challenger was able to put his or her self into an impossible situation, through their own poor decisions.

'There has to be a weakness to this process…'

His mind seized on something.

'For Greer, I have a suspicion. I'll have to get closer to confirm.'

'For Mikelo, though…something about the timing?'

'The timing!'

Otto's spirits lifted.

He needed a way to kill Mikelo over and over again.

There was a chance that if Otto worked quickly enough, that if Mikelo continued to die within milliseconds, no matter how many times he could revive, it would no longer matter.

Moreover, there would be no way for the game to 'declare' him alive.

But now, he had to think of a plan for Mikelo to die continuously as fast as possible without harming him directly.

Otto mused and continued to watch them struggle against the horde of spiders.

Even now, almost an hour later, the spider horde showed no signs of slowing their mass exodus from the cavern.

'The wolf's laird is more effective than expected.'

It had, at the very least, bought himself a bit of time.

Under the legs of these spiders, the two of them were unable to escape.

'Can I spur the spiders on to eat Mikelo faster and faster?'

Otto shook his head.

'What about if I drag him up to outer space?'

Possible, but Otto quite frankly doubted he'd be able to get up there in the first place.

Who knew if contestants were allowed to leave the planet.

Suddenly, a devious idea popped into his mind.

His lips curved upwards.

There was no time to waste!

Otto flew down to the sand and immediately jumped into action.

His first step was to deal with Greer.

A hunch about Greer's 'token' had long formed in his mind.

He recognized the light Greer gave off.

Unexpectedly, it was not the light of 'life' at all.

Plus, why was Greer's supposed 'token' directly on his body?

Even Greer wouldn't be dumb enough to reveal that unintentionally.

Unless…the token wasn't real in the first place.

Otto's boots landed on top of the scorching sand.

He stomped down.

A ripple of force surged outward, vibrating through Otto before growing in intensity as it flowed into the surroundings.

[Shockwave]

Level 10

Conjures a 'wind force' that blasts enemy targets within the surrounding 100 meters away from caster. Blast does no damage but can sustain its force for a short duration.

Mana Cost: 345

Duration: 5 seconds

Cast Time: Instant

No Cooldown

Every single spider surrounding Otto was tilted 90 degrees into the air as they rocketed backward almost a full additional 100 meters.

Their legs made small treads in the sand.

Otto leisurely made his way over to Greer, who still snarled at him despite his injured body.

As if he didn't feel pain at all.

Otto had especially waited until Greer was almost, but not quite dead before he arrived.

He heard Greer's arrogant voice.

"Even if they kill me again, I'll still come back to life."

"And then I'll come back to life again, and again, and again, and when you can't kill me, YOU will be the one to…"

His words were abruptly cut off as Otto cast a spell.

Another wave of mana rippled through the desert.

On the surface, it looked like nothing had changed.

In fact, the spiders were even beginning to approach the duo once more.

But Greer's eyes widened.

His face paled drastically.

It looked like he'd seen a ghost. Or was one.

He desperately clawed at the sand, wanting to scream.

But words could no longer escape his mouth.

Otto chuckled lightly.

To Greer, it was the sound of his own damnation.

Otto spoke calmly,

"I had to see it with my own eyes to be sure."

Then, he casually reached down and plucked a small token off of Greer's body.

But it wasn't the green triangle on Greer's chest. It was a finger-shaped bone hidden in a small cavity around his neck.

"And I was right to do so, wasn't I?"

He stroked the small bone in his hand.

Otto leaned down and whispered some words into Greer's ear.

"When I cast [Sense Life] on you, nothing came up."

"At first I thought it was another concealment tactic."

"But after putting the pieces together…"

Otto thought back to the various clues.

The greasy appearance, the sudden change in personality, the lack of pain on his face when he died, starkly different from Mikelo, the light that reeked of death…

Greer wasn't alive in the first place.

Someone was controlling his movements.

Occasionally even entering his body, it seemed.

Otto looked around stealthily.

Whatever the goals of this unknown necromancer, he or she was emphatically not a pushover.

This sort of unlimited revival magic was undoubtedly a higher order dark element spell.

The kind that simply didn't exist in Area 1. Perhaps wouldn't be found in Area 2, or Area 3, either.

Otto [Analyzed] the bone in his hand.

[????'s Finger Bone]

Gold Grade Spell Focus

Effect 1: Grants target a permanent state of false animation.

Effect 2: Eliminates all cooldowns for spells of the dark element 5th circle and below that are cast on the target.

Effect 3: Enables caster to focus spells on target, ignoring range limitations.

Effect 4: Bound to ????

Otto read the final line, and felt it was a pity.

In the [Tower's] lingo, it meant this thing couldn't be taken out of this world.

A high level magic tool that was even of such great quality would eventually be of great use to Otto.

Meanwhile, Greer bit his rapidly rotting lip.

Now that the tool was no longer attached to his body, the state of false animation he'd been in was canceled.

His body started to fall apart.

Worse, his mission had failed.

Perhaps his soul would be tortured again…

Otto watched as the Throskart once called Greer was scattered into bones, with half of his attention on the magic eye making sure Mikelo didn't escape.

But, after four seconds, Otto's head whipped up sharply.

Though his expression didn't show it, Otto felt a sense of alarm.

A figure had appeared before him.

He had dark hair, and looked very young, with somewhat androgynous facial features.

Yet the mana waves he emitted carried great pressure.

Otto hadn't felt him arrive.

Moreover, the Throskart standing before him wore a purple robe.

A person of the uppermost echelon of society.

Otto thought back to his last experience with a purple robed Throskart and subconsciously prepared for battle.

His limbs tensed.

His mind leapt into action.

Two powerful spells were ready to cast in under a tenth of a second.

It was only… Otto couldn't tell exactly how strong this man was.

He could only tell that this man outclassed the woman he'd met on the first floor.

And by no small amount, either.

Otto was about to attack first, when the man suddenly spoke.

"Toto, is it? I've been looking forward to making your acquaintance."

"Call me Ivocraes."