The second stage of the examination began.
Across the arena, the gates opened.
A lion much bigger than Elizabeth's Lew walked in. He was of an elephant size or perhaps even more enormous. His gait, similar to Lew's of the king of the jungle, made it apparent that he also considered himself the strongest and most prideful.
He slowly took over the arena.
He was darker than his shadow, and his long black mane fluttered like a cape.
[The Arena's Champion Lv. ??? HP: ??? MP: ???]
As his red eyes pierced Jake, the lion suddenly widened his jaw, revealing his sharp teeth. However, those weren't his main weapon—it was a laser beam.
The red beam tore through the air with an unbelievable speed.
It was so fast that Jake felt a warm sensation in his chest in less than a second!
He quickly ducked and plastered himself to the ground.
The Champion's attack went past him. Its leftovers swirled above Jake.
It was such an unexpected move that Jake's heart rate quickly surged. He would have been scored through if not for his fast reaction.
His dream of becoming an esports player would have died!
[The Second Stage—Survive.]
[54 seconds left.]
Jake's mission was to survive The Arena's Champion onslaught. He quickly rose to his two feet and took out his bow. He didn't forget to wrap the monster in his perception bubble.
Combining his Death's Lock and Archer's Death Eye, Jake put a tracker on the lion's movement and presence. He swore to himself that he wouldn't let any of this existence's attacks get him!
'His level is unknown... he will obliterate anyone in a single attack!' Jake thought. He was confident in his theory. Therefore, he released his arrows around the arena after avoiding the second beam.
Once again, it was so quick that Jake barely dodged it.
[You have summoned your companions.]
'Take each arrow and move away from me! I will use the arrows you hold to teleport to you, just in case! Ender, make darkness nests around so you can spit arrows whenever I need them! I'll stuff lots of them inside! You're the most crucial to pass this test, so I'll keep in contact with you!'
'Ok,' Ender's voice boomed in Jake's mind.
These two could talk because of Jake's beast-tamer subclass.
Jake's voice was so urgent that other summons didn't dare lag behind. They didn't even exchange their usual glances with Jake and immediately got to work.
The Champion growled.
He raised his front paws high before slamming them down onto the ground!
The arena shook upon the impact.
From beneath those paws, the ground cracked. The cracks fanned out in Jake's direction in a cone.
He stood still beneath them.
At last, the floor erupted. Shockwaves of a raw physical force unrolled toward Jake from where the lion had imprinted his skill. They zoomed at him like an avalanche.
Jake noticed a gap in their pattern. It was probably a chance for players to survive this second aggression, but he didn't want to risk anything and decided to work with his summons.
He teleported to Odin, who had distanced himself from Jake, taking over the spot far away from the lion.
Kamil's eyes gleamed as he gazed at Jake and his choices.
He said, "The moment you choose to run away from The Champion's test..."
A huge shadow loomed over Jake and Odin.
"The Champion himself will verify you."
-
Kamil took an honored seat in the crowd.
He crossed his legs and commented on Jake's endeavors.
'The Perception Skill is the key to this test. We don't want anyone to use their special classes and skills to overcome the second stage,' Kamil thought. This didn't mean that skills like Jake's unusual movement skills weren't enough to pass the second examination.
[Third Stage—Gladiator.]
[Defeat The Arena's Champion.]
Those stats weren't much for a level thirty monster.
At the very least, his health and mana points didn't seem like a problem to Jake.
He suspected the lion was either too strong, fast, or tough.
None of it mattered.
Jake's bow elongated.
Falling into his Formless Soldier Form, Jake drew his strongest anchor point. He also had Odin by his side as the puppy had entered the battle cooldown a minute ago, so he didn't dare to waste that and told him to immediately enter the arrow.
He would genuinely release his strongest!
Kamil leaned forward, his eyes shining bright. "Oh! This is Fenrir's Arrow! Go, my man, silence this entire arena!"
The thunder boomed across the arena. Everyone was put into silence.
Jake's strongest arrow was impossible to stop, even with The Champion reacting just in time to defend himself.
He'd raised his paw to block it, yet the arrow deeply lodged itself in his flesh.
It victoriously thundered for the second time as blood spurted from the monster.
Jake wasn't done.
Even faster than Odin could return to sheathe the second arrow with his presence, Jake had already drawn the second strongest anchor point.
It was fortunate that Odin didn't need time to unleash his arrow!
One, two, three, four... Jake sent so many thunderous arrows that anyone blind would have thought a lightning bolt had struck the same spot numerous times!
He was relentless in his pursuit.
[-1540 HP!]
[-1479 HP!]
[-1431 HP!]
[-1601 HP!]
Jake was dealing an absurd amount of damage with his arrows.
That said, The Champion hadn't been wholly stopped by them.
He was marching forward.
Each arrow halted his march for a little, but not enough to shut him down.
Finally, he stood before Jake.
Jake, however, disappeared off the scene.
He appeared in the skies beside Ender, who had been summoned to perform a simple task—hold an arrow.
Facing the monster with his back from such a high altitude, Jake smirked and broke his bow into two twin swords.
As he started plummeting, he abruptly turned around and filled himself with more strength.
A flash of inspiration went through him as he plunged at The Champion.
'Wouldn't it be better to shoot an arrow?' Ender asked.
Jake replied, 'I always wanted to try it!'
The lion looked up. Here, he saw a human plummeting at him.
That human wore such a bestial smile that goosebumps went through the lion's tough hide.
Before the monster could react, Jake landed on his face, his twin swords sliding into the lion's forehead.
The brain burst open within the skull.
[You have defeated The Arena's Champion.]