Grim Reaper in the Apocalypse: Reaping Immortals

Atlan observed everything with sharp eyes. He saw how the Olympians used their agility to skillfully maneuver their target into a position where they could leverage their strengths.

But that wasn't the only thing he saw. He was able to familiarize himself with everyone's LifeSkills. He was especially curious about those Olympians because they had powers he never even thought possible. They used their mutations in tandem with their LifeSkills with such smooth coordination that Atlan was able to find new ideas on how he would use his multiple LifeSkills in the future.

He was so honed in on absorbing all of that information that when he finally got a hold of himself, there were only two of them left in the arena.

Realizing this, Atlan immediately went back to the entrance of the arena and took out one of the blinders in the chest. Without this, he wouldn't be able to control a Canzer and command it to drive the chariot.

And once he was ready, he looked around the arena to find a suitable Canzer.

Which one should I choose? That skinny Grasshopper-Horse looks fast, but it doesn't seem as durable. That Armadillo-Horse has a lot of protection, but it's really slow.

When he looked up and saw the racing chariots on the screen, he saw a lot of sabotaging and fighting among the competitors. It was quickly apparent that targeting an opponent's Canzer mount was the most effective way of advancing through the placements.

It didn't matter if your mount was slow, it only mattered that others were slower than you.

Atlan would have gone for the Armadillo-Horse because of its defense, but he was already at the bottom of the pack. Defense wouldn't matter if he couldn't even catch up to the others.

The ideal mounts were a good balance of speed and defense. However, the good ones were already taken by other people. His only choice was to find the speedy ones and simply defend it himself.

And just as he walked around the arena, he noticed a peculiar Canzer in the middle of the pack.

Every Canzer in the arena was a little bit tamer compared to when the competition started because there were only two people left with them. But, when he listened to their grunts and barks, he figured out that they were still cautious.

'Human…defense…'

'Move away…shadow…disappear…'

'Kill…approach…'

Everything he heard was in line with those sentiments—except for one.

'There's still humans here…the two of them look weak…'

Surprisingly, this one had more coherent language than the rest of the Canzers! All of the Canzers he heard only spoke about one to two words, but this specific Canzer was somehow able to construct complete sentences!

He honed in on the Canzer and saw it lounging in the middle of a pack of Canzers. This one had a very long neck, with irregular brown spots among whiter skin. This one had a giraffe's head!

Then, Atlan noticed that one Cow-Horse Canzer got a little bit too close to the intelligent Canzer's space.

The Giraffe-Horse grunted, 'Stay away from me…I won't repeat it twice…'

Usually, an altercation like this would result in a fight between the two monsters. But instead, the Cow-Horse bowed its head and quickly retreated away from the intelligent Canzer. Once it realized its mistake, it begged for forgiveness.

'Apologies!....no kill…please….'

This was extremely weird because the Cow-Horse was much bigger and looked much stronger than the Giraffe-Horse. Atlan reckoned that if a fight between the two broke out, most people would assume that the Cow-Horse would come out on top.

But judging from its reaction, it looked like Atlan was wrong. This Canzer was different from the rest. It was special.

Could it also be faster than the rest?

With no other alternative, Atlan decided on his steed.

###

Meanwhile, Obek Orioness kept his eyes peeled as he looked for a specific Canzer amongst the crowd of monsters. He was getting antsy. The longer he waited, the further away the others would be.

The only thing consoling him was the fact that the porter was still in the arena with him.

Kugh! I have to find it quick or else they'll think that a mere porter is better than me. Come on! Where are you?

He was looking for a Canzer with a giant fly as a head. It would have green compound eyes and little wings on the back of the horse's torso. He was the only one who knew that this particular Canzer was specifically altered to be faster than normal and have a mild and submissive temperament.

He knew that he wouldn't be able to subdue fast Canzers like the Olympians, so he cheated. Tampering with the Canzed's programming was the only way he could find a mount that he could easily subdue but still be fast enough to compete with the rest.

"Aha! There you are!" Obek rejoiced.

Now that there were fewer Canzers on the field, he was finally able to spot that perfect mount. All he had to do now was subdue it with his paladin LifeSkills.

"Gatekeeper's Authority," he shouted. His whole body glowed golden as he channeled the LifeSkill given to him by the Genesis God himself.

He took out the 2nd removed Masamune Original short sword from his toolbelt and used it to stab at the ground.

With his powers, magic traveled from the ground toward the inattentive Fly-Horse Canzer. It looked around, confused, as the ground trembled underneath it.

The Canzer was like a deer in headlights as a smooth wall made out of soil suddenly emerged around it. And as it tried to jump over the obstacle, it found that the wall was constructed just enough for it to be insurmountable for the Canzer.

"You can't run away from me," Obek smiled.

He ran towards the encirclement, and the walls magically parted ways for his body to pass through easily. Soon enough, he was inside with the Canzer.

With one swift move, he saddled the Fly-Horse with no resistance whatsoever. It didn't even utter a single cry as Obek put the blinders on its head.

And just like that, Obek gained his mount.

The walls submerged back into the ground as he made his way to the exit with a proud smile on his face. He looked back at Atlan and shook his head in derision.

Is he an idiot or what? Why would he go after that Giraffe-Horse? It's lethargic and barely even moves! Whatever. It's not like he could subdue stronger Canzers anyway.