Chapter 92: End of the preliminaries.

Chapter 92: End of the preliminaries.

The purple egg split into two halves and gushed out a strange green liquid. From its remnants, a strange figure appeared. All of its features were reminiscent of insects. Compound eyes, an exoskeleton with sharp protrusion and a tough carapace that the creature wore like plate armor. Its strange mix of green and purple color made it look even more alien.

And yet, the creature looked human, in a way. For starters, it was bipedal. It used two cricket-like legs to remain upright. On top of that, it had fingers that ended in sharp claws, as well as mandibles around its mouth. To summarize: it was a mix between a human and a bug, which made it all the more unsettling.

My mana was still flaring, its mana capacity well above any monster I had used the skill on before. Apart from its strange appearance, that was the only thing that made me keep my distance, cautious of its possible strength.

The newborn took in its surroundings and looked at the hesitant classers that surrounded it. Then, it turned its head to the sky and let loose a guttural, chirping screech. Right as I expected all hell to break loose, a figure flashed by, only noticeable for a moment. The bug lowered its chin violently, then stilled as a single purple line appeared on its cheek, a few streaks of purple blood leaking from the cut.

The perpetrator, who had aimed for the creatures neck, had disappeared again, not willing to face retaliation. Unfortunately, the speedster didnt have any choice in the matter. Before the rest of us could capitalize on the situation and take it down, it disappeared, just as its attacker had, before reappearing a hundred meters away, with an arm lifted to the sky like a spear. X, one of the seeded participants, hung limply from its arm, his chest pierced where his heart would usually be.

I sucked in a surprised grunt, though Karon wasnt so discrete. He let out a horror-filled screech and screamed unintelligibly, before sprinting from behind the safety of his goons and creating a wave of flaming oil as he ran.

X! Youll pay for his death, abomination! he screamed wrathfully. Xs limp body was teleported away, though the creature's arm remained red, stained with his blood. It wasted no time and countered the wave of oil with a swipe of its hand. Lacking any kind of visual effect, the wave of oil was still deflected by a sudden blast of air and Karon was thrown back to his mates.

The speed, strength and mana capacity of the creature could only mean one thing: it was a tier 4, sent to slowly wipe us out. The hunters had become the hunted.

At that moment, I realized that the only way to beat this thing, if that was even possible in the first place, was to work together. I could just outlast my competition, but where was the fun in that?

Apparently, John had the same idea, because he addressed the rest of us as we drew our weapons.Follow current novels at novelhall.com)

How about a truce, lads? I dont know about you, but Im not much fer gettin skewered by that monster-queen.

I didnt bother listening to the quiet murmur of assent, too eager to finally get this fight started, and launched myself at the bug. The queen, as John had called it, fit its look oddly well. There was something feminin about its torso, I thought, as I attempted to cleave my sword into the aforementioned body-part.

Unfortunately, I wasnt fast enough to get past the queens guard, because she lifted her arm just in time to block my strike. The dull clang that reverberated as a result wasnt exactly a consolation either. If anything, it reaffirmed my theory that she was a tier 4.

Before the queen could parry my strike, I lifted my feet in the air and catapulted myself sideways, throwing my body out of the way of an incoming fireball, which struck true.

I looked over at Arcellus and gave him the middle finger. Just because I was durable didnt mean he could use me as bait.

The bug jumped out of the flames, seemingly unscathed, and attempted to go for me. Before she could take off, a gust of wind and a flying boulder threw her out of my path, sending her sprawling, though she quickly recovered.

Need a hand, lad? John asked with a smile.

This isnt a battle you can fight alone. We must unite for the greater good. the nave monk next to him said. What was his name again? Gaius! That was it!

Apparently, our reinforcements didnt think so either. The few dozen of us that remained all started to throw skill after skill at the queen as she emerged from the rubble, repeatedly sending her back.

After a few minutes, it became obvious she was sandbagging, though. She hadnt moved as fast as she had when X had wounded her, since then, nor had she bothered taking the initiative.

Shes playing with her food I muttered absentmindedly.

For once, I think youre right. How unfortunate that it had to be in this situation. Cerion said as he appeared beside me.

We didnt waste any more time and threw ourselves into the thick of it again. Ducking and jumping to dodge passing spells and skills, we made our way to our target and engaged it in a melee battle. Our swords were coated with our respective elements, but even that wasnt enough to leave a mark on its carapace. The queens speed became progressively faster as we fought, and her skills at close-quarters combat noticeably improved. I attempted to go for its leg, but was blocked by her arm. For a moment, Cerion and I were both pushing back, our swords grinding against her armor, but we were being pushed back.

Just when I was starting to think this was a losing battle, a third party intervened. Arcellus came out of nowhere and used the distraction we had created to dig into her unguarded back with his flaming sword, causing the creature to shriek from the pain.

All of a sudden, the air itself expanded and threw us all back a few meters, though we recovered rather quickly.

Youre lucky this is a competition, traitor. I stated, less angrily than I felt.

Status report, Karons out. His friend betrayed him. That ones gone, too. I said to Cerion and Arcellus, who spread the word as we headed back to the battlefield.

Gaius and the blond girl were still fighting diligently, along with a small group of other, talented fighters. One of them had to be the final seeded participant, but I didnt have the time to figure out who it was.

There were about ten of us left at this point, so I believe it was time to do something drastic.

Shouted to the other participants as loudly as I could.

Everyone, charge up your strongest skill, Ill hold her off for a minute! Its now or never! I said, taking charge.

Thankfully, Arcellus agreed and nodded, while the rest assented as well. Desperate times called for desperate measures.

I launched myself at the queen, who was flitting around the battlefield like she was born to do so. I got close to her and sent a powered up, mana intrusive overloaded sword her way, leaving a curse mark on the arm she brought up to block. I quickly made some distance, using the dust kicked up by my aura step as cover, and sent more attacks her way. She emerged from the dust in a rage, and I barely managed to keep up with her following strikes.

On the sidelines, I could see skills in all kinds of colors being created and I could feel the mana being drawn in from our surroundings as their cores worked overtime.

Just half a minute more.

I kept up my mana intrusion, and aimed for wounds that were already there. My strikes did superficial damage at best, but I knew the overloaded mana would slowly overwhelm the creature.

15 seconds.

The queen stomped down on the ground and nearly sent me flying, but a hastily put-together maelstrom kept me from being thrown. I dispelled the maelstrom in favor of another clash and pushed against the queens guard as best I could. I failed, not strong enough to match her stats, but I had succeeded in keeping her distracted.

NOW!! I shouted.

Gaius was the first to move. He stomped down with both feet, and made a strange grasping motion with his hands. The earth around the queen came to life and grasped her legs, before twisting and hardening, taking on a strange, copper sheen. The queen gurgled, surprised, and tried to free herself, but failed. Realizing what was about to happen, I apparated away, joining the others and spectating the rest from a distance.

As the rest of the participants let their skills go, all hell broke loose.

Golden spears descended from a hole in the sky, a small sun that twisted the air around it with its heat exploded on target, a cyclone of water tore through every obstacle to get to the queen and a giant wooden sword came down from the sky. All of their skills combined in one giant explosion, which sent most of us flying by virtue of the shockwave itself.

A myriad of colors erupted, the spectacle truly unmatched in beauty and power. More and more skills piled on top of one another, until their creators ran out of mana. The crater left behind was truly impressive.

Is is it dead? Cerion asked hesitantly, breathing heavily from the exertion. Before I could answer, I heard a strange noise to my right.

Guhu urg

As I looked over, I found Gaius, his heart speared through by the queen. She looked beat-up, and was missing an arm and a part of her torso. In a panic, I shouted.

Shes not dead yet!

I moved to attack her, but she disappeared from my sight in a flash. Slowly, I heard more and more panicked voices from around the crater. I saw all of us struggling to defend ourselves and failing. The non seeded participants went first. Then, the blond girl was cut in half and Arcellus sword broke from the impact of a single strike. He was defenseless and couldnt block the queen as she decapitated him. Cerion sent out a tidal wave, but it was futile. His torso was cut diagonally and his body was separated into two halves.

I screamed in anger and created a maelstrom, but it was too late. The queen ignored my skill and just walked through it as if it wasnt even there. As she flattened her hand into a dagger and sent it through my chest, I could only think of one thing.

Sandbagging, indeed

Then, everything went white.