"Battle Start!"
Bruno's shout, after the timer hit zero, sounded across Arena 4 and the contestants inside it instantly took action.
The most high-handed of them all was none other than Rol, who decided to attack Lux the moment the timer hit zero, ignoring everyone around him. The Barbarian was confident that he could take out the summoner in just two minutes, eliminating one of the candidates that were preventing his brother from winning the tournament.
"Time to die, chubby boy!" Rol roared as he summoned a War Axe and brandished it towards Lux, who had his arms crossed over his chest.
Lux smirked at the approaching Barbarian, who he expected to single him out the moment the countdown ended.
"How about, No?" Lux replied as he sneered at the young Barbarian whose eyes were locked on his body.
However, before Rol could even activate one of his powerful abilities, he suddenly found himself moving against his will. The next thing he knew, he was face to face with a rocky fist, which faintly glowed as a sign of a skill's activation.
"Jackhammer!" Orion shouted as he slammed his fist into the Barbarian that was planning to hurt his Master.
Rol hurriedly used one of his life saving skills which allowed him to endure one blow that could potentially end his life once a day.
Although he believed that the Rock Golem's attack couldn't potentially kill him, getting seriously injured at the start of the match was something he didn't want to happen. Not only would it reduce his chances of winning, the other players might decide to attack him while he was injured, giving him a lethal injury in the process.
A mini-shockwave erupted where Rol stood as Orion's fist smashed into his chest, sending him hurtling through the air like a kite that had its strings cut.
Einar Mordosk, Rol's older brother, clicked his tongue as he watched the battle from his VIP Seat. Seeing that his Brother had used his life saving ability so early in the tournament made him feel disappointed. However, because of this incident, he now knew that the chubby boy's Rock Golem had a skill which could force people to exchange blows with it.
'According to the list Nero gave me, this guy is one of the participants that could be that Half-Elf in disguise,' Einar thought as he looked at the chubby boy in the distance. 'Although I highly doubt it, there's no harm in eliminating him early in the tournament.'
Aside from his younger brother, there were two other people that Einar knew in Arena 4. He had tasked them to support his brother during the fight to ensure that he would pass through the next round safely.
Although Rol was only a half-brother, who was born from a different mother, he was still close to the other person and wanted the younger Barbarian to at least reach the semi-finals of the tournament.
As Einar gazed at the battlefield, the battle between the participants intensified. After seeing the Rock Golem's incredible might, the other contestants stayed away from Lux and focused on the other participants.
Orion's punch had sent Rol hundreds of meters away from Lux, landing where the battle for survival was particularly intense. Because of this, Rol had no choice but to defend himself from the blows that were coming from his left, right, front, and back, giving him no room to advance to where Lux was currently standing.
Suddenly, a group of six people unleashed a barrage of ranged attacks towards Lux's direction, forcing Orion, and the other Rock Golem to step forward and use their bodies to tank the attacks aimed at their Master.
It was also at that moment when three individuals charged at Lux from the side. Two of them were wielding swords, while the last one held two daggers in his hands. They were part of the group that attacked Lux, and their goal was to eliminate the Summoner as soon as possible in order to decrease the number of strong fighters in the arena.
Lux, who saw this, summoned the sword Blood Moon, as well as its new counterpart, Blood Shield.
Blood Shield was a Unique Weapon that Lux had crafted personally. He had used a small portion of the Red-Eyed Terror Mantis' exoskeleton, as well as Mithiril and Steel, to create the best equipment that Lux had crafted to date.
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(A/N: Just in case you guys forgot the ranking for equipment, here are the rarity ratings. Common weapon, Rare Weapon, Unique Weapon, Mythical Weapon, Legendary Weapon, Demigod Weapon, Divine Weapon.)
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Blood Shield had two passive Skills which Lux believed were perfect for All-Rounder fighters.
One of them was Shield Boomerang. This was similar to Shield Throw, except this Skill had an additional advantage which would make the shield automatically return to its owner after it hits its target or reach its maximum flight range.
This Skill had a high chance of stunning its target if the attack hit the target's head.
The second Skill of Blood Shield was called Shield Retaliation.
This ability was a charging type skill that stored 5% of the overall damage that was dealt in a single blow.
Meaning, if the shield bearer successfully blocked an attack, the shield would absorb 5% of the total damage of the blow and store it. The stored damage could be stacked up to 20x, which could then be unleashed as a form of AOE energy attack that had a range of five-meters around the shield bearer.
Originally, Lux planned to let either Diablo or Pazuzu wield the shield since both summons used shields when they fought. But since he couldn't summon his two Named Creatures in the tournament, he decided to use the shield for the time being.
Just us Lux was about to engage the three attackers in close combat. Several wind blades descended from the air, catching them by surprise.
Cries of pain escaped their lips as they were hit by the razor-sharp wind blades that attacked them from their blindspot.
A moment later, a powerful gust of wind lifted the three warriors in the air before smashing them against the barrier of the arena. The deadly combination knocked them unconscious, which forced the Mages, who were monitoring the battle, to teleport them outside of the arena.
Lux stared at the green-haired teenager who was floating in the air. He recognized the latter as Gerhart Cenele, one of the two people that Alicia had warned him about.
The Half-Elf didn't know why Gerhart had helped him, but before he could even call out to him, the green-haired teenager spun around, creating a hurricane in the very center of the arena.
Soon, shouts and curses of panic and frustration could be heard in Arena 4 as several contestants were sucked up by the hurricane which was getting bigger with each passing second.
Orion, and the other Rock Golem, stood firmly beside Lux, acting as his support, preventing him from being sucked up by the fierce winds that had grown to an unbelievable size.
Rol, who was near the center of the arena, decisively threw his War Axe to the far end of the battleground. A few seconds later, he disappeared from where he stood, and reappeared where he had thrown his Axe.
The young Barbarian then smashed his Axe into the ground, using it as an anchor to prevent himself from getting sucked by the hurricane.
The audience, as well as those seated in the VIP rooms, watching the spectacle, could only admire the deadly hurricane that single-handedly sucked up almost all of the contestants in the arena. Those that were sucked up by the hurricane found themselves at the mercy of nature as the winds shredded their armor, as well as parts of their bodies with every passing second.
The mages who were carefully monitoring the condition of the contestants were frantically using mass teleportation spells to save the individuals who they deemed were in mortal danger.
Ten minutes later, the hurricane stopped.
Gerhart glanced down at the ground and saw that Lux and Rol were the only survivors in Arena 4.
He had eliminated all other contestants, leaving only the other two behind.
Rol stared at the floating youth in the air with a hateful expression before shifting her glare to the chubby boy who was clinging to his Rock Golem's leg.
His mission was to eliminate the chubby boy, but after his failed attempt, he no longer had the opportunity to carry out the task assigned to him.
"Lucky Bastard," Rol muttered as he glared at the Half-Elf. "Next time, I will make sure you get eliminated!"
Without another word, Rol left the arena without even giving Lux a second glance. Now that only three of them remained, it was impossible for him to attack the chubby teenager because the battle was now over.
Gerhart was about to go as well, but a call from the ground stopped him in his tracks.
"Why?" Lux asked as he looked up at the green-haired teenager who had stopped the attacks that were aiming for him.
"The boar you saved is one of my Sworn Brothers," Gerhart replied. "Now, I have repaid his debt in full. The next time we meet on the battlefield, I will not show you any mercy."
After saying those words, Gerhart flew out of the arena under the cheers of the people who watched the battle.
Lux could only scratch his head. He didn't even need any help to deal with the people who attacked him. In the end, he decided to just let it go and treat it as his good karma for the good deed he had done the other day.
As he walked towards the exit of the arena, he felt several appraising gazes pass over his body. The Half-Elf ignored them and just walked as casually as he could, while waving at the audience like a wrestler who had just won his wrestling match.
"It's not him," Nero muttered as he looked at the chubby teenager using a monocle that was capable of seeing through disguises. "Just where is that blasted Half-Elf hiding?"
Although Nero had handed the list to his other acquaintances, he was a very thorough person. He believed that if he wanted things done right, he should do them himself.
Because of this, he personally scouted the people in the list he had made. By now, he had gone over a fifth of them. Nero left Arena 4, feeling disappointed, because he strongly believed that the chubby boy was Lux in disguise.
Now that the person he suspected as Lux had been cleared from his suspicions, he decided to visit the other arenas, and see if the other people in his list would be the Half-Elf that he was itching to give a beating to.
