"We're lucky the other team wasn't prepared to snatch the consumables," the man in long, red robes said.
He was the owner of the explosive magic—Rothlord.
Laying adjacent to the oasis' wall, he breathed heavily. Their territory had been peeled off the earth around five minutes ago, becoming an island. The environment's change happened in the next minute.
Therefore, only a few minutes of the desert's scalding temperature could convert a physically weak mage into a half-corpse.
The other mage of his team, Untamed Seventh, was lying on the other end of the oasis in the same state, licking his lips as though no amount of water was enough.
His nickname was Waifu Trainer.
He muttered, "I knew reading harem novels was better than playing this game..."
Rothlord weakly chuckled, "Your traps will catch them off guard, and your amazing magic will be seen by so many girls that you will grow disgusted by the harem."
"As if harem is possible in our world," Waifu Trainer complained. "Even NPCs aren't as easy as I thought they'd be! It's because I am not a main character!"
'You'd never be a main character with such a nickname,' Rothlord thought. He believed in his friend, though. Though his chances of becoming a main character with a harem of beautiful women were close to zero, he could always become a third-rate side character.
It should do for him.
These two were the only left mages of Untamed Seventh's team.
Most teams decided to fill their teams with three mages, as this class was the easiest to play and was also the strongest. Magic was versatile and even more shapeless on lower levels than other classes.
This was mostly felt by Casual Clowns, who were splendid individually, yet only four of them could arguably affect every corner of the battlefield.
Last Coin and Sin were the best in this field, while Jake and Prince followed shortly after them.
"I'm not even going to peek outside," Waifu Trainer said. "You tell me if they come here! I only had enough stamina to plant traps around our base, no further than twenty meters!"
The man with a wild grin hollered. "Lay still and stop moaning! The desert itself is a trap! A few steps in and their legs will be halfway gone in the scorching sand! By then, I should have felt them with my perception skills!"
He was one of the newbies who respected Mary the most.
He was so wild that only one of the creators of Untamed could calm him down.
His nickname was AxBeast.
He remained loyal to his nickname by picking up an ax on the tutorial island and practicing it for quite a long time before coming to the mainland.
Waifu Trained looked away from him.
He muttered under his nose, "So loud, yet he has no balls to go out and scout around."
Rothlord smiled.
The other two teammates were a tank and a healer.
"Rothlord is right," the healer said in a soft voice unsuitable to his masculine face, "we were lucky. I noticed seven presences chasing after us, so these guys came out better than us from their first fight. We're two teammates short and lack a lot of main power."
AxBeast scowled, "You dare?!"
He sounded so like Mary that Jake would have puked had he heard him.
"You alone are not enough to be our main force. Rothlord's explosive magic has more power than you. We need to be smarter than before," the healer comforted the beast with a gentle smile and calm voice.
The tank nodded, siding with him. "We lost our mastermind. It's difficult to be smarter than before, but we should think a few moves ahead."
If it weren't for that mastermind, these five wouldn't have snatched the consumables as easily as they had done.
Alas, the tournament was so unpredictable that the brain of The Untamed Seventh was killed in the battle against the first team they had stumbled on.
-
"They're coming at us! What the hell is wrong with them?! The desert hasn't even stopped them!" AxBeast screamed as he'd sensed that Casual Clowns had made their move.
"It's fine! I've already activated the traps!" Waifu Trainer replied aloud.
Earth Hands sprang from the desert, threatening to collapse on Casual Clowns.
It, however, didn't happen.
Waifu Trainer spat, "How?! Someone destroyed them already?!"
AxBeast shouted, "I sense five presences! It means that the other two must be behind!"
"You should have told me this earlier, you muscle head!" Waifu Trainer clenched his left hand on his staff's shaft. "Fine! Let them break in, then!"
He sneered.
A moment later, someone obliterated the base's main door like an armored titan.
He was huge.
His armor was so dark that the base's door seemed to have been replaced by a dark boulder.
Before he could even reveal his presence by coming out from the cloud of dist, the explosive magic times ten had been activated.
Mana sparks flashed around the dark knight's torso and head before exploding in a loud bang, silencing the island.
The dark presence, however, wasn't blown away, let alone defeat.
As the dust cloud subsided, the Casual Clown's tank stood still, his hands holding his broad sword's handle.
The sword had been impaled long before the explosion so Prince wouldn't lose his footing.
He glared ahead as pieces of his helmet peeled off his face.
He said, "I won't let anyone push me around anymore... that I can also forgive." He arched his head back and widened his eyes like a demon. "But breaking a part of my art is an unforgivable sin. You're no longer poor. You're less than zero. Your next generations and you morons slaving away in Hell won't be able to pay off this."
Damien Twice's face became exposed.
It went against his art!
He wanted to win this competition and remove his mask at the award ceremony to reveal it was him!
And then, he'd take on the international tournament, making his name more famous!
"Damien T-Twice," the healer of Untamed joined his knees and grabbed his crotch as he muttered the name of his crush.
The rest of the team also stood stupefied, and so could be said about the arena and people in The Spirit Observer. All at once, the avalanche of cries and screams resounded across various houses and facilities.
The famous actor who disappeared from the scene for a few months was back in the esports tournament!
He was so handsome, too!
No, he was handsome! So handsome that the viewership skyrocketed as mothers and grandmas turned on their TVs to watch the tournament upon hearing that he was there!
Prince craned his head to the side.
An arrow flew past him, exactly where his head had been.
The sixth member of Casual Clowns teleported in.
He appeared close to the healer, and his bow turned into twin short swords.