He couldn’t afford to stay down for long. The brief lull in his activity was enough for the brunette to recover from being stabbed in the abdomen by one of the projectiles that were set up to catch her in a dodge. She was rushing towards the crystal so he had to think quickly.

He released his hold on every other projectile so that he could focus on the one. The mana that surrounded it ignited while its shape contracted so that it could fall deeper into the wound and then suddenly expand. This attack dealt critical damage to the elf, who fell to the ground with a scream.

This distracted the blonde, who was clearly concerned for her friend. The mana around the Fyn returned to normal and the shape did as well, allowing him to focus on the rest of the metals sitting on the floor and combine them all into a larger shape once again. He left it to hover low against the ground where it could easily be forgotten.

He scrambled back to his feet quickly so that he could resume his assault on the blonde while she was unaware. Her eyes were still locked on the limp body of her partner laying in a growing pool of blood, with the putrid scent of burning flesh spreading in the air around her.

He closed the distance in a flash. Once he was in front of her, he paused for a moment, waiting to see what the elf man would do in this scenario. The healer was either going to remain there or focus on healing the downed brunette, but what would the attack mage do? Would he even risk attacking when Amon was in the vicinity of his summon, who would likely be struck as well?

The lull in his actions was brief, but it was sufficient enough to test his circumstances. Another bolt of lightning descended from the air, but this time Amon was anticipating it. He was able to sense the distortion in the mana above him and bring his Fyn to cover his head like an umbrella at the last moment. This deflected the lightning, leaving him completely free to activate his new skill: mana cannon.

His fist made contact with the elf’s gut, then a burst of mana extended from his knuckles and punctured her body, leaving a gaping hole where her innards used to be. Blood poured out ceaselessly as she fell to her knees.

Amon didn’t falter. They were both practically dead, so he turned on his heel and focused his attention on the two mages. The corpses of their companions decorated the floor behind him, but he didn’t seem particularly tired from the battle. His clothes were a bit burnt and tattered, but overall his condition looked great.

He stared his foes down intently, waiting for their next actions. Before anything else could happen they both disappeared, as well as the two corpses behind him.

‘Congratulations! The first half has been completed. Initiating second half!’

The terrain began to change. A hill formed in the middle of the city and the bases shifted as if they were on some kind of grid instead of part of the land itself. At the top of the hill was a temple, which he could only assume housed the altar.

Seru and Rea had both come out of nowhere but they didn’t announce themselves. They both spoke at the same time instead, asking him something along the lines of: “Let me deliver the crystal!” with more enthusiasm than he was honestly prepared for.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

He could only take wild guesses as to what had them so motivated and he wasn’t exactly keen on figuring it out. They both looked disheveled as if they were in some kind of rush, but neither of them had taken any visible damage. He reasoned that they decided to do the smart thing and only take out enemies that they knew for a fact that could engage with and come out unscathed.

Between the three of them, he actually looked the worse. Was his outward appearance the reason the two of them wanted to take the crystal so that they could help lessen his burden? If so, they were both very considerate.

He stared at them both while he thought of what he could say to get his intentions across while also staying within the confines of who he imagined Amon to be. In that time, Seru spoke up to fill the silence.

“We won’t settle the tie if only one of us can deliver the crystal. Let Lord Amon do it and we’ll see who can take out the most competitors.”

Rea nodded in agreeance. “I like that better. Whoever wins will take the spot.”

“The spot is already mine, but I don’t mind this little wager to show you why I am the only one that deserves it.”

“Yeah, whatever. Let’s just get this started.”

He didn’t have any qualms with the way things were progressing so he kept his mouth shut. He was fine with delivering the crystal and staying on the defensive. The girls were excited to go back into combat, but he needed to think about his last fight. He was sure he would’ve won if it continued, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t slightly overwhelmed. If the players were better tacticians they might have been able to give him a run for his money and he didn’t like that.

He needed to get stronger.

Something occurred to him as he assessed his own capabilities. Seru was competing with Rea? Was Rea, the one strong enough to be a top prospect, going easy on Seru or was she just that strong? He figured she was stronger than average after going through the same training he did, and her results in the first part of the tutorial proved that, but had he been underestimating her? If she was strong enough to go toe to toe with someone that should be in the top three, where did that put him?

Could he be the strongest?

He smiled to himself. Could I be the strongest? Fuck that, I need to be the strongest.

He decided that, since Rea was knowledgeable about the world he was currently in, she was his next target. She had a favorable opinion of him so far, but he needed to strengthen it. He needed to convince her that he was a priceless talent for her to invest in. If what she said earlier was true, and he had no reason to believe it wasn’t, that meant she had substantial resources. Her fame was noteworthy as well, so it was safe to assume that she either came from a family with wealth and power or she earned all of it herself.

What kind of people were even in this tutorial?

He took the crystal, which was now roughly half the size of his body. It wasn’t particularly heavy, so he wouldn’t have any real trouble carrying it, but he still tried to place it in his inventory to no avail. It emitted a powerful light that radiated so brightly that it was easily seen even in broad daylight, which would make it simple to find the location of any crystal bearer.

He didn’t like that.

He broke the Fyn up into pieces once again and dispersed them evenly under the crystal before using them to lift the gem up and above his head. He then slowly raised its height and made it circle around him. With him as the center of the circle, the distance from himself to the circle at any given time was about ten feet. Close enough for him to immediately close any gap.

The few minutes that they had to recuperate their energy and strategize were now over, seeing as a screen appeared before all of the remaining competitors.

‘Begin!’