All my teammates wished me luck. I thanked them and began to levitate. I look in every direction, trying to decide where I should go. Even if I want to help them, it would be a bad idea to head out without any sense of direction.
My friends know which way Areci went, but they aren’t sure if she kept going straight or if she’s moving around the safe zone.
I know the path I came from. I didn’t see either of them along the way. That only leaves three other possible directions. What should I do? Where should I go? It’s hard to choose between three paths without even the smallest clue.
I close my eyes for a moment to focus on my instincts. They’ve never failed me before, and this shouldn’t be the first time.
A few seconds pass and my instincts say nothing, but something feels different now. Someone is watching me. Their presence disrupted my Personal World, and their Imra is blatantly playful, as if they want to get my attention.
I open my eyes and turn my head toward the direction of the gaze. The wild boy is standing there in a relaxed and comfortable posture. He’s wearing a challenging smile and clearly has something to say.
I hesitate for a moment about whether I should approach him. I see him let out a slow sigh, raise his arm, and point in a direction. His hand is aimed almost opposite of where we entered.
What is he trying to tell me? Does he want to fight in that direction? The wild boy shakes his head in denial. I feel as if he can read my thoughts right now.
I teleport in front of him in an instant. “Why do you want me to go in that direction if it’s not for a duel?” I ask directly, holding nothing back.
“Your friends, right? Just follow my finger.” He points again in the same direction.
“Why are you helping me? What are you asking in return?” I don’t believe he’s doing this for free. There has to be something behind it.
“A duel with me whenever you want, and it’ll be fun if I get to face Lady Areci during the tournament.” He answers calmly. I judge him slightly with my gaze. “Don’t look at me like that. Even if I don’t share what you’re doing, I respect it. The weaker people always look for some way to move forward.” The wild boy turns around and leaves me standing there.
“Wait for good news from me,” I shout as he walks away.
“I know. You look like the type who doesn’t like owing anyone anything.” Salvaj raises his hand as he heads back to his group in the distance.
For a moment, I think it could be a trap, but I quickly discard that idea. I didn’t feel any malicious intent from him. I have no other choice but to trust him. I don’t have many clues, and somehow he knew why I was flying.
There’s no reason to doubt right now. If I don’t find anything, I can always dash around at full speed until I find them.
I take off at full speed in the direction Salvaj pointed out. My flying speed has increased slightly thanks to my improved control over gravity. It’s not a huge boost, just a few extra kilometers per hour.
As soon as I leave the safe zone, I once again feel the gazes of everyone around me. For now, no one attacks. I advance nearly two kilometers in the indicated direction and suddenly slam the brakes midair. I stopped so abruptly that I injured myself in the process—some muscles were torn.
Advanced Vital Synthesis immediately begins working hard to heal me as fast as possible.
I stare at something resembling a red half-sphere about a hundred meters ahead. Inside the sphere, there’s a group of six people. Four of them stand at each cardinal point, each surrounded by a protection barrier of the same red color as the sphere. It looks like it’s made of transparent glass.
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In the center of the sphere are two people—Areci and Shawu. They seem more tired than usual. Areci forms something resembling a magma meteor and hurls it against the inner walls of the sphere.
The sphere only trembles slightly. I focus more carefully and spot a tiny crack—extremely small—that quickly heals itself. It returns to normal almost instantly. What the hell is this?
I descend a little. Shawu is the first to notice me. She taps Areci’s shoulder and points in my direction. Both of them have already seen me. I can see how their sad expressions brighten with a bit of hope.
I land on the ground, and they rush toward me as fast as they can. “Are you okay? What is this?” I ask the moment they reach me.
“When I came to check on Shawu, she was already surrounded by these four people. When I tried to help her, another one of them appeared out of nowhere and attacked me.” Areci looks furious. “Those four took advantage of the moment to separate and trap us in this place. No matter how much I attack it, it won’t break.” She’s boiling with anger.
“I thought these kinds of artifacts weren’t allowed in this stage.” I look at the four spheres in their hands—that must be the energy source maintaining the barrier.
“They aren’t. Most likely they obtained it here in some challenge or mini-game.” Areci complains. “I don’t know who convinced them to trap me or what kind of reward they were promised, but this was planned from the start.” Her eyes are completely certain of her words.
I am too. Two of them are from the same school. The other two are from different schools. Someone directly convinced a school—or them personally—to form a group and contain Shawu or Areci. Maybe I would have suffered the same fate if I had found Shawu first.
I look Shawu in the eyes. “Seems I’m not the only magnet for trouble.” I smile at my friend, and her sad expression shifts into a shy smile.
“Hero, thank you for arriving. Please save these princesses in distress. I know you love princesses.” My joke is instantly thrown back at me. I nearly roll my eyes at her words.
“Let me try something.” I charge an attack with everything in my arsenal. I hold nothing back. My sword strike lands with all my strength. My arm goes slightly numb from the hardness of the sphere.
Damn, it’s tough. It felt like hitting something unbreakable. But I noticed something—the surprise on the faces of the people inside the smaller inner sphere with Areci and Shawu. Two of them looked at the barrier and frowned at the same time. It seems my attack had some effect.
“Rest as much as you can. I don’t know if I’ll be able to break it alone. I might need your help once I get tired.” My mana pool is still fairly full thanks to the short breaks, but I can’t afford to run out of fuel. That would make me an easy target for the other participants.
They step back and sit down to recover. As for me, I get to work. I stop thinking about my health for a moment, and gravity grows even stronger around me. Massive amounts of mana swirl violently in my surroundings.
My first strike breaks past my natural defensive limits. The force I load into it exceeds what my body can withstand, and my arm shatters. My other arm doesn’t hesitate—it swings my sword and strikes the exact same spot.
In that short instant, I’ve already regenerated enough to use my first injured arm again, and I continue the cycle. I don’t stop for even a moment. I’m fully focused on causing the greatest possible damage in the shortest amount of time.
At first, I hadn’t noticed it, but after a couple of minutes my theory proved correct. Striking the exact same point is working. The tiny fractures are growing larger and taking longer to regenerate.
Does this have a limit? Maybe a powerful enough attack could break it outright without needing to drain all the orbs’ energy first.
I keep burning the orbs’ energy with fast, powerful, precise blows. The four people stare at me with clear hatred in their eyes. In some of them, I can see desperation creeping in. Those emotions become my fuel, and I keep striking with renewed vigor.
Five minutes later, I realize something else. This sphere does have a limit. If we surpass it, we can create an opening large enough for them to escape before it regenerates.
“Areci, Shawu, come here.” Both of them stand up immediately and run over.
I explain my plan, and they agree. Areci and I will strike the same point with all our strength. Her way of breaking her limits is different—she consumes far more mana to make her flames hotter and her rocks harder. She doesn’t damage her body; she just burns through her mana three times faster.
Shawu will stay on guard to make sure no one attacks us if our attempt succeeds.
We prepare for the next strike. I load even more gravitational energy into my arms. This time, I intend to completely destroy them if necessary. I won’t hold back at all. Areci does the same—her sword shines like the sun.
A single nod is all we need. We step forward and swing at the same time. I match her rhythm perfectly so our strikes land together. The sphere suffers heavy damage, but it doesn’t fully break.
I can’t give up now. My left arm is already swinging to finish the job. The moment it lands, my other arm shatters as well, blood pouring down just like the first.
The sound of something cracking reaches my ears. The sphere fractures from the point where we struck.