"Your words are our commands, governor." Lenna Zelu bows elegantly [western style].
"Have you heard that? Come on competitors! Get on the arena!" Lenna Zelu orders pointing one of her fingers towards the platform under her feet.
All those who signed up for this tournament begin to get on the platform. Some of them can't even hide the excitement on their faces or the nervousness in their hasty steps.
All wear armor or some other combat costume, as for weapons, there are almost all types and sizes: axes, swords, crossbows, spears, clubs, hammers, knuckles, etc.
As for their cultivation levels, there is not one that is lower than the Early Intermediate Awaken stage, and there is not one that is higher than the Early Advanced Awaken stage.
Thorn climbs to the arena with a serene expression, his whole body giving off confidence.
Though, because he is unarmed and the clothes he is wearing are made just of E-class zenanium and have the appearance of being completely casual ones too, several viewers are wondering if he is an idiot, a clown or maybe, just maybe he is someone really strong.
Suddenly, Thorn observes the face of a certain war elf among the participants. (It's that bastard!) He exclaims in his mind with great surprise reflected in his violet eyes.
Yes, the one who made fun of his skirt and then made a pathetic withdrawal a few days ago.
A sinister smile appears on Thorn's face. (Hahaha ...! This will make you cry in pain, little fool.)
He then approaches stealthily towards that war elf.
When all the participants are in the arena, it can be seen that in total there are 378 of them.
"If you stop touching the platform, you lose! Only 50 participants will pass to the second stage! Start!" Lenna Zelu shouts these words without warning.
All the participants stay frozen for a moment, until...
"AARGHH…!"
*Bump!!*
Someone's scream echoes and a certain war elf hits the floor beautifully with his face.
They all turn their confused eyes to that war elf who was unconscious and with almost all his teeth out of his mouth, his entire body lying on the floor out of the arena.
Immediately after.
*Boom!* *susshhh!* *grumble!* *rumble!!* *crack!* *slash!!* *slap!* *ripple* *splash!!* *swoosh!* *crush!* *moan!!!* *crackle* *zzzzzttt!* *clash!!* *smack!* *bang* *roar!!!*
There are explosions of fire, thunders caused by lightning, cracking of shattering ice, howling of wind, splashes of water, silent darkness, resounding punches and slaps, clear sounds of the wind being torn apart by edge weapons, excited roars and painful moans. All of that at the same time.
And while Lenna Zelu watches 360 degrees around her, she sends with her fists powerful blows of wind to anyone whose body stops touching the arena. These blows of wind expel, with one hundred percent of certainty, anyone who is reached by them out of the arena.
As for Thorn, he is surrounded by three male participants, a muscular gargoyle, a delicate gorgon, and an ugly goblin. The gargoyle throws a stake of ice, the gorgon shoots with his crossbow an arrow of fire, and the goblin throws transparent shurikens. Of course, all that is directed to Thorn, why? Well obviously because he seems easy to defeat.
In the face of such an attack formation, Thorn shows no sign of fear. He calmly dodges [matrix style] all those attacks without his clothes getting any damage.
The three participants who attacked him are amazed by Thorn's speed of movement.
And then an unavoidable mass of wind hits all three of them at the same time. They are suspended in mid-air for less than a second until three almost simultaneous wind blows from Lenna Zelu pulls them out of the arena.
Thorn watches Lenna Zelu calmly. (Probably, I'll need all the power of my 'second form' to be able to beat her...) He concludes after a quick calculation. After this, he moves carefully between the loud explosions of thunder and blazing flames.
Meanwhile on the north platform.
"Delia Adver, I ask you: who do you think will win this tournament?" Arger Dal, the head of the Mercenary Guild of Lurep Village, asks.
"Mmm? Why do you ask me that? The four of us already know who exactly is going to win." Delia Adver, the head of the Adventurer's Guild in Lurep Village, responds nonchalantly.
"Hahaha... Well, I thought you could have hidden some monster stronger than 'her'." Arger Dal explains.
"A monster stronger than her!? Do not joke around, Arger. It is almost certain that on all over the world there are at most five in her same cultivation stage that can defeat her." This time it is the Lurep Village governor, Cley Alch, who speaks.
"Yes, Cley is right, just look at her! Look how she is strolling on the arena as if strolling on her own garden! Hehehe..." Laughing, Ramph Zelu, the best blacksmith in Lurep Village, points to a certain individual with his finger.
Arger Dal then laughs mischievously: "Hahaha... That is for sure, the disciple of The Fire Goddess of Lurep Village is just too amazing."
"I just thought that if it is you, Delia Adver, maybe you could surprise us with someone stronger than your disciple." Arger Dal continues speaking, this time more slowly. "Because even I was able to find... someone of her caliber."
On the arena.
Thorn keeps walking carefully, and from time to time, he dodges some attack and counterattacks with a gust of wind, in this fashion he easily continues to kick all those who dare to attack him off the arena.
Everything is fine for Thorn, until suddenly...
*Rumble*
An electric arrow pierces the wind shield around his body. The arrow then penetrates Thorn's t-shirt and soon penetrates the skin of his waist, it is clear that whoever shot that arrow was pointing towards Thorn's center of gravity.
The reaction of Thorn is immediate, he uses a gust of wind to hit himself avoiding in this way to fly by the thrust of the arrow. Due to this action, the arrow pierces his body easily and shoots out from the other side of his waist.
After this, he uses a light blow of wind to turn his head to look at the one who shot the arrow. Normally he would not have to hit his head with the wind to be able to move it but at this moment he can't control his body because he is completely numb from the electric shock that the arrow caused him.
Turning his eyes in this way, he observes that not too far away there is a rabbit type monster human about to shoot another arrow with his bow.
(That's a nice bow, Mmm?) He was going to hit himself with another blow of wind to avoid this second shot but then he sees that, abruptly, a shadow with a female humanoid shape comes out of the ground and with a kick makes the archer fly.
(Oh, it must be the power of some shadow human... anyway...) He thinks as he secretly uses his Awakened Skill to heal his internal wounds.
Meanwhile, that shadow fades into the ground, and soon on the place where that rabbit type monster human was standing, there appears a girl, who seems to be seventeen years old, walking casually and with both of her hands in her pockets. She has a pair of sexy thick lips, short black hair that only reaches the middle of her neck, white skin, and light brown eyes. She is wearing a black light armor that completely covers her body except for her head.
As soon as Thorn stops bleeding and begins to gain control over his body, his gaze meets the calm eyes of the girl with sexy thick lips. Seeing her, Thorn thinks: (They have the same silhouette, she must be the owner of that shadow.)
Silently, a shadow arises out of the ground behind Thorn. The shadow becomes bigger and bigger until it has the silhouette of the girl. And just when that shadow begins to prepare to kick Thorn in the ass, it is torn apart into hundreds of shreds by blades of wind.
(Do you think I'll fall with a trick that you just showed me? Really?) Thorn says with disdain in his mind while a slight smile appears on his face.
Predictably, on the face of the girl with sexy thick lips appears an expression of complete surprise.
It should be understood that she is in the Third Level Advanced Awaken and Thorn is in the Second Level Intermediate Awaken, which means she is more than five times stronger than him. In addition, the shadows created by her Racial Skill are physically as strong as her. So, seeing how Thorn shatters her shadow so easily, she inevitably is flabbergasted for a few seconds by that sight.
Her eyes then turn serious as she mutters: "Your understanding of the wind... Let's have some fun then."
In the next moment, ten shadowy figures appear surrounding Thorn. (5, 8, 10! The shadow human's Racial Skill was definitely not that powerful back in my day!) Thorn sighs as he wraps his body with a thin cap of air.
At the same time, different weapons made of shadow appear on the hands of the shadowy figures: swords, daggers, crossbows, and spears. Thorn doesn't pay any heed to this and just smiles as he uses his wind type skill to move with an explosive speed.
At that moment the girl with sexy thick lips forgets how to breathe for a second, because, suddenly, Thorn appears standing less than twenty centimeters in front of her. (T-teleportation...!?) She could not help but consider such a thing.