The Oracle Paths

To the great surprise of Jake and Lu Yan, he was not the only one to use this technique. Erwin, who was on the front line not far from him, adopted the same profile stance as Jake when his shield shattered. A yellow aura focused on his exposed side, the arrows hitting him bouncing as if they had struck solid steel.

The former colonel was perfectly calm and already well trained before the Ordeal even began. He probably knew everything there was to know about the Oracle Device, and yet he was there with them instead of elsewhere with the rest of the Earth's army.

Just like Jake earlier, when his shield broke, he picked up a few pieces of his shield relatively intact and threw them like shurikens at the enemy legionaries. The speed of the projectiles was comparable to Jake's and easily broke through the large bronze shields of the enemy's front line, breaking their formation.

Unfortunately, this technical feat was not repeatable by everyone.As more and more shields were destroyed, the remaining gladiators were forced to disperse more and more in order to avoid the strike zone and reduce the chances of being hit.

Noticing that the arrow bursts were no longer hitting anyone, 'General Flavius', who had been there before, immediately ordered the archers to concentrate the fire on only a few targets and more precisely on those who were already struggling the most to dodge these attacks.

In an instant, the flock of 60 arrows with no specific target separated into three groups of 20 arrows, each aimed at a different recruit. The unlucky ones who had been targeted had already lost their shields and were often already wounded or easy prey due to their larger size and build. Their agility was also one notch below the others.

At each salvo, three recruits would collapse after being turned into a hedgehog. Every second, the archers would notch a new arrow before firing another salvo after selecting three new targets. Within a few tens of seconds only half of the Throsgenian gladiators remained standing, the ground and the victims strewn with blood and arrows.

After that, however, no matter how many arrows the legionaries shot or how hard they hit their targets, they no longer struck anyone. All of the remaining Throsgenians were monsters whose eyes only showed an intense fighting spirit.

After a while, the 'General' raised his hand again and one of the Tribunes next to him shouted:

"Cease fire! "

In good order, the archers immediately lowered their bows ready to hear the next instructions. Their quivers were practically empty.

Jake took advantage of this respite to inspect the survivors around him. He was relieved to find that Will, Sarah, Kyle, Hugo, and Thomas had survived the attacks and were completely unharmed. He wasn't surprised for Hugo, but Kyle, Sarah and Will had to make significant progress to achieve this feat.

The siblings were also unharmed. Lu Yan's wooden shield and sword was even intact to his surprise. The bright yellow glow shining on a part of Jake's body was also apparent on her wooden shield.

'I understand... But I can't do it right now.' Jake sighed as he controlled his Aether.

Extrasensory Perception allowed him to extend his psychic sense and the range of control of his Aether to within inches of his skin but no further. What the young Asian girl was doing was impossible for him right now. It seemed that she had invested all her Aether in the Seventh Stat. The future would tell whether it was a winning bet or not.

At that very moment, the Myrmidian General stretched his arm out to the side as if he wanted to grab something. A nearby legionary immediately entrusted him with his spear, bowing deeply. Without paying further attention to the soldier, the giant swept the surviving Throsgenians with his eyes in search of a victim. After a while his gaze stopped on someone.

The poor gladiator in question was not from the same Ludus as Jake and swallowed with great difficulty, his throat suddenly dry as he felt a terrible sensation of danger as never before. The Myrmidian General slowly pulled his arm backwards, accumulating potential energy like a spring, then suddenly swung it forward.

The shock wave made a noise similar to the sound of a whip cracking as the spear disappeared before their very eyes after its potential energy was converted into kinetic energy in an instant. Before he could even react, the targeted gladiator was pierced by the spear, then clinging to it, flew away with it only to be impaled against the stone walls bordering the arena.

No matter how hard he then tried to dislodge himself from the wall, the spear did not move. Despite the fatal wound, the victim in question had not survived all those volleys of arrows by chance. His vitality was commendable, and his resilience and ferocity were as high as one would expect from a trained Throsgenian. While spitting blood, the Throsgenian continued to struggle, contracting all his muscles to pull his body off the wall.

Just as he had almost succeeded, another crack of the whip sounded and a second spear pierced his forehead, nailing his broken skull and bloody brain against the stone wall. From beginning to end he had been nothing but a piece of meat on a chopping block. He never had a chance to escape.

The crowd, meanwhile, was in a frenzy. Every successful attack and bloodshed was followed by passionate shouts like fans whose team had just scored a goal. A few citizens of Heliodas above the wall on which the poor Throsgenian had just been impaled rose from their seats and leaned against the railing separating the stands from the arena to get a better view of what had happened.

Jake and the other Players felt like bulls at a corrida. An experience they could have done without.

"Motherfucker..." Jake cursed in his head.

He couldn't let things go on like that or they would all be executed without being able to do anything. He had switched off the Omniscient Prediction mode of his bracelet to avoid being deceived by higher ranking enemy Players, but as a result, his Shadow Guide's self-initiative was limited, using only his senses to gather information and calculate a Path.

He hoped that Lu Yan or even Erwin, whom he suspected of having a rather high Oracle Rank, would have applied their own tactics, but their attitude had been extremely passive since the beginning of the fight. Perhaps they were reasoning like him. From time to time, they glanced at each other, but without making the slightest move.

"Xi, any plans for me? "

[Without the cooperation of the other gladiators it will be difficult. Even using the Oracle System, recruits who can make a difference are ranked higher than you. I can't predict their attitude with any certainty. It's also possible that Players may be hidden among the enemy troops as well.]

" In that case, what can I do? " Jake grumbled mentally.

[Taking the initiative.] Xi solemnly declared. [The probability of you being killed by a legionary is almost nil. Apart from the general, only tribune and centurion are a threat. To do nothing means to die anyway.]

Jake frowned when he heard the proposal. Basically, he just had to fight with no care at all? That he could do. As he was about to charge alone, Erwin's voice rang out beside him, speaking in Throsgenian.

"Listen to me fuckers! If we keep on playing sitting ducks without doing anything, we'll all die in total indifference. If you want to live, follow me! With or without you, I will fight till the end."

Upon these words, the former colonel sprang to action while another spear fired by the enemy General had just pierced another gladiator chosen at random. Satisfied, Jake also sprinted after him, quickly followed by Will, Sarah, Kyle, Hugo and Thomas on his heels.

Seeing them charging towards the enemy alone, the other gladiators and recruits who were unsure of what to do finally regained their spirit and after shouting a battle cry, they too began to charge. Only Lu Yan stayed behind, voluntarily running a little bit slower to scrutinize the crowd carefully, further embarrassing her brother Yifeng.

The second round was about to begin.