Chapter 334 - Second Stage (1)

Another hour passed by. Finally, the challengers gained the upper hand. The challengers had a higher number than the enemies.

Although 30 thousand of the challengers died, but the enemies number had been reduced by 50 thousand. Right now, the challengers amounted to 120 thousand, while the enemies had less than that number.

Slowly but surely, the number began to widen. As the number of enemies decreased, the pressure on the challengers started to lessen a bit.

Slash... Auron killed another enemy. A white light surrounded him, showing that he leveled up. Throughout this battle, he had already gained 5 levels. So, with this newly acquired level, he already got 6 levels from this battle.

Auron's level raised quickly because of the area skill that he used. Throughout the battle, he used every area skill that he got. Because of the crowded enemies, each time Auron used his area skill, he could hit around 5 up to 10 enemies at once.

When Auron had hit the enemies, he already got reserve some portion of the monster's experience point. As long as Auron didn't die, when the monster died, Auron would get a piece of the experience points.

Moreover, Auron's swordsman skill level was decent. So, his damage was not that low. Thanks to that, he quickly leveled up even though he needed four times experience point that the other. Of course, the other players gained more level than Auron.

The monster here didn't drop any item at all. This could be considered as a fortunate thing. Item could make players greedy. If that player decided to just loot the item without fighting at all, then it would make the other jealous.

The other players would start to follow that player's behavior because they didn't want to lose any. This behavior could spread to all of the players on the battlefield, which would make their firepower lessened.

Auron knew that not everyone here could hold against their own greed. It would be a lie if he said that he didn't want the loot. However, he thought it was better for the monster to not drop any item at all. This way, everyone could just focus on eliminating the enemies.

Time passed by, the number of challengers was still around 100 thousand while the enemies only half of that number. This was because all of the [Sloth Papillon] had died.

All of the ranged units target them. So, it was not surprising that they were wiped out first. Moreover, the number of the ordinary monster was higher.

With the healer on the enemies' side had gone, killing the enemies became easier. Meanwhile, there were still many healers on the challenger's side.

With the current situation, this battle should be a winning battle. There was no chance for them to lose this battle.

Auron also felt the battlefield became more spacious. When he killed a monster, another monster would immediately take the position. However, the new monster didn't have full health because of the area attack.

Each minute more than 100 monsters would die under the siege. As time goes on, the number of monsters that killed rising. After an hour and 20 minutes, all of the monster finally died.

The battle had ended when all of the enemies had died. However, before they could take any break, a notification appeared in front of the challengers.

[Sckilemd Ruin's first stage range 201-300 completed]

[Number of challengers: 90182]

[You will be teleported to the second stage in 5 seconds]

[5... 4... 3... 2... 1...]

There was actually a slightly over than 90 thousand that survived. Auron, along with the other challengers, disappeared from the wasteland where the first stage took place. 

A second after being teleported, Auron regained his sight. He was currently at the top of a square arena. It was a 10 x 10 meters outdoor arena.

The sky was blue with a bright sun and a light breeze. Although the atmosphere was great, it actually scared Auron.

Auron saw at his surroundings, and he could not see the end. In fact, there was no other ground except the arena. So, the stage was the only place that he could move. Of course, if he could fly, then he still could move outside the arena. However, it was impossible. Without a flying mount, no one could fly even a mage.

Auron tried to look outside the arena. There was only dark hollow, and Auron could not measure how deep the hole was. He fired a [Fire Bolt] to see how deep the hole was. However, he could not hear any sound even after 5 seconds.

Ding... a bell sound was heard behind Auron's back. He could not help but look behind. However, he didn't find any bell at all. Instead, he saw some sort of faceless mannequin at the other end of the arena.

[Defeat the mannequin three times]

There was only that one single line. Auron had to kill the mannequin three times. However, he could not see the enemy's health bar.

A second later, the mannequin suddenly transformed into the standard papillon monster. A health bar appeared above its head. Not only that, the mannequin was level 280.

"So, the second stage is a one on one battle." Auron thought.

However, Auron believed that it wouldn't as simple as defeating the mannequin three times. When Auron was pondering, he could see that the mannequin had moved to attack.

The mannequin used its wing to slightly float above the arena and dashed towards Auron. It raised its hand and formed a fist.

Auron took out his sword and blocked the fist. However, the fist power pushed Auron back. Just as Auron thought, the mannequin's power was not the same as it should be. Its ability was slightly enhanced.

However, Auron also didn't afraid. As this was a one on one battle, he didn't have to hide anything. An [Earth Spike] appeared from the below the mannequin and pierced the mannequin's body.

The mannequin laid down on the ground. There was a big hole in the mannequin's body.