The Challenger's Return: Rebirth of the Rainbow Mage

It took barely ten minutes before Otto arrived on top of a hill in the middle of the forest.

He set Jackal down on to the ground and examined his surroundings.

The trees weren't quite as crowded here, allowing both of them a relatively clear vision of the scene in front of them.

Three parties, each with a few hundred Throskarts, were squarely facing off, inching closer to a brightly glowing coin in the center by the second.

Otto closely examined the three parties. He noticed a key detail.

In each of these parties, the Throskart in the lead carried a green token.

They were in different shades of green, but they were green nevertheless.

Otto had never seen a green token.

His breath hitched and his heart thrummed in his chest.

Perhaps these were ranked contestants, members of the top 10,000 Throskarts in the game.

Moreover, there was an abundance of dark yellow within these factions.

A few others even boasted pale green tokens on their chests.

Otto knew that if it were possible to hide their tokens, these people would certainly have done so long before.

Since they were moving targets to any enemies in large numbers.

But it was impossible to hide one's token, as it was a feature of the game show.

One's token would always be displayed proudly against one's chest.

Thus, these strong individuals had little choice but to join or create a strong faction.

And now, even the strong factions had gathered.

The tension in the air was palpable.

The three male Throskarts with the green tokens were facing off from the middle of their respective factions.

One tall, somewhat burly man clad in yellow robes standing on the right of the coin began to speak,

"Aluerad, Lefwyne, I see you've both already arrived."

The burly man snickered,

"Seems like you wanted to take this coin by yourselves? Alas,"

He waved his hand, and his demeanor abruptly hardened into a ferocious looking sneer.

All 200 of his men raised their bows and wands.

Half pointed them at Lefwyne's contingent, while the other half focused on Aluerad.

It looked like he was planning to take both parties on at once if needed. Though both Lefwyne and Aluerad had to admit that he indeed had the capital to do so.

"The 200 folks beside me may be loathe to agree."

Lefwyne's face darkened.

He was getting on in years, now, and his skin had only grown thinner with age.

He knew Edward was stronger than him, both personally and as a faction.

But since when had he, Lefwyne, ever been below others?

He narrowed his eyes at Edward before revealing a slight smile.

"Indeed, indeed, but… even for you, taking on the both of us at once seems to be a little much, no?"

As he spoke, he sent an eye signal at Aluerad.

Without a sound, another thirty or forty men appeared behind Edward's army.

Actually, Aluerad had originally prepared them to use against Lefwyne before Edward arrived, but there was no need to sweat the small things…

Lefwyne glanced smugly at Edward, and said with a small smile,

"Everything is as god wills it, perhaps it is best for you not to wade in such muddy waters…"

Edward simply harrumphed and glanced at both of them coldly.

But he wasn't stupid. His men were surrounded: this was not the moment to fight head-on.

Still, he readied a magic tool he'd purchased from the game shop just in case.

He was still at an advantage. Being surrounded merely decreased that advantage.

If he had gotten here first...his eyes narrowed.

In any case, if any of the three made a move, they would definitely be met with heavy fire by the other two factions.

Both Lefwyne and Aluerad knew that there was no such thing as a permanent alliance, especially when it was clear that both coveted this high value coin.

It was no longer immediately apparent which of the three factions were the strongest, which was likely the only reason why a fight hadn't broken out already.

But unbeknownst to them, a fourth faction had now arrived.

Otto stood on top of the hill and surveyed the scene through the semi-obstructed view provided by the forest.

His eyes glittered brightly, and he prepared to enter [Shadow Stealth].

This fourth faction consisted of two people.

Or rather, only one that could be counted on.

A human.

And he was coming for 'their' coin.

The coin glittered brightly through the sparse canopy in this portion of the forest ring.

It was at this moment that suddenly, a change occurred.

The shining yellow coin at the center of the three parties was lifted into the air, as if by invisible strings.

Lefwyne, Aluerad, and Edward's eyes widened simultaneously.

Urgency appeared in their expressions.

Someone was there! Trying to steal the coin!!

Immediately following this, the coin vanished, leaving no trace of its glow.

Sounds of loud footsteps echoed in the valley as the perpetrator ran away, still invisible.

All three parties had been on high alert the whole time.

They reacted with their fastest speed.

Loud shouts of "Attack!!!" rang throughout the clearing.

Their subordinates didn't let them down.

Spells and arrows flew out from each party, aiming directly at the unknown intruder.

The area where the coin had just vanished was bombarded with projectiles and littered with arrows.

A scant few landed amongst each others' faction members, as well, eliciting quite a few intense hostile glares.

Lefwyne, Aluerad, and Edward stared coldly at each other.

None were willing to back down.

But none were willing to fight here, either.

And, in the end, the order to attack each other was never given.

They now had more important things to do.

Such as catching the thief and finding the coin once more.

Alas…. they could not seem to catch his tail.

This unknown intruder was incredibly fast.

It was evident that he had not been hit by any of the projectiles thrown by the angry members of each faction, as no purplish blood marred the ground.

Either his speed was natural, or he had used some sort of tool to instantly escape.

The most embarrassing thing for the three factions was that he had done it right under their noses.

Lefwyne shot a vicious glare at a few of his subordinates, and Aluerad and Edward were no different.

They had specifically equipped a few of their own with anti-stealth tools to guard against the other two factions secretly trying to steal the coin.

These tools were supposed to be active at all times!

But they still hadn't caught hide nor hair of this person who appeared and disappeared like a ghost.

All three faction leaders simultaneously gave out an order,

"Chase him!!"

Hundreds of Throskarts burst into action.

For once, none of them fought, even as they scrambled to become the party in the lead.

A mad chase ensued through the sparse trees.

A few of the speediest members of each party also circled around to try and head off the unknown thief.

Back on the hill overlooking the valley, Otto was also caught by surprise at this maneuver.

The coin had already been stolen?

He inwardly lamented… that he had only just arrived.

How could someone else be so quick to steal his thunder!?

Otto quickly cast [Tunnel].

A hole in the ground appeared below his feet.

Otto placed Jackal inside with a few air holes to make sure he could breathe even if this took longer than expected, then sealed it off.

That way, no one would be able to find him. He even cast a [Shadow Stealth] on Jackal for good measure.

Instinctually, Otto also wanted to chase the assailant.

After all, he was positive that as he was now, he was both faster and stronger than the guy, no matter what tools he was using.

But suddenly, Otto was hit with a flash of inspiration.

Wasn't this the perfect stage for him to showcase another beautiful massacre?

And gather all the points in the area while he was at it?

Perhaps he could also gain that 100,000 point coin…

Otto's eyes began to glow.

He first used [Sense Life] to catch the position of the guy with the coin.

The man was currently running in front of the pack of hundreds of contestants.

His movement pattern remained in a zig-zag motion to throw off incoming projectiles.

It was highly effective; the contestants couldn't see his figure nor lock on to his pattern.

They could only go by the sound of his loud footsteps.

And rather than being at risk of being caught up to, the thief was currently gaining on his enemies!

Which meant there was not a single person faster than him in the entire three parties of the other ranked contestants.

Otto smirked.

This was excellent.

The longer the thief could hold off the enemy, the more time he'd have to set up his plan…

Otto's legs blurred into motion as he used the full might of his speed to whip past the other contestants.

A few of them exposed stunned looks on their faces as they felt a vicious wind almost knock them off their feet.

One thought, 'What in the world, is there a storm coming?'

Another assumed it was a faster contestant chasing the thief, and yelled angrily,

"Don't let me catch you in the future!"

But Otto was already out of hearing range.

The trees and bushes streaked past him.

His footsteps should theoretically have sounded like they came from a giant, moving at this speed.

Yet it was not so!

If only his [Speed] was this high, it would be impossible to avoid sounding like an elephant traipsing through the woods.

But Otto's [Agility] ensured that no matter how fast he moved, he would remain as light as a feather on his feet.

Otto took under a minute to run almost five full kilometers in front of the mob.

He was also far in front of the thief.

Finally, without breaking a sweat, Otto stopped.

"This should be far enough."

He muttered under his breath.

In an instant, a bundle of interconnected runes started to glow on the ground in front of him.

They writhed and squirmed as Otto continued to input mana.

Otto squatted down to quickly add a few quick modifications to the array he'd drawn.

His finger touched the ground, and the array once again leapt into motion.

Connections shifted, runes changed positions, a few disappeared and new runes took their place.

The circle rotated a few degrees.

Otto looked down at his work, satisfied at the modifications to extend the array's range and hide its glow.

Then, he looked up from the ground. His head tilted ever so slightly, in a classic position of concentration.

Otto made some brief calculations featuring advanced geometric math, then shot off once again.

He ran two hundred meters in a clockwise direction and repeated the motion.

A pile of runes on the soil dimmed and became invisible as they melted into the ground.

His trap was beginning to take shape.