The rock bounced up and down on the spot. “Good.”
“Wait,” Baptiste interrupted. “Are you seriously telling me humans have had three champions in the time you’ve been here?”
“Humans are reckless,” Esedhuil observed. “They are clearly fighting without a GOD’s shield.” While earlier she had fluffed up to show amusement right now, she looked almost desiccated to show strong disapproval. “Their success does not justify the risks they’re taking or have taken.”
“See now,” Amkhael stated proudly. “What Esedhuil is missing is that humans are a special case. Their survival rate is better than average.” A new list with eight names appeared. The last two, his and Corrine’s, had question marks, but above those, there were two with skulls and four with coin totals ranging from five hundred to fifteen hundred.
“You’ve had eight?” Baptiste’s voice sounded strangled. “Eight! How long has the competition been going for? Forty years?”
“The first one was twenty years ago,” Amkhael told him, unhelpful yet again. Tom couldn’t tell if it was deliberate shit-stirring or if the stone was that oblivious to social clues.
“Eight in a quarter of a generation.” Baptiste squeaked. “That’s unconscionable.”
The lines in the mushroom went even sharper. You could see creases that went a centimetre into the thin creature. He didn‘t need the supernatural empathy sense to interpret what that meant. If she had shown annoyance to this point, she was furious now. “Don’t question DEUS. The humans are here because she wants them to be.”
“Don’t concern yourself with Esedhuil,” the stone said. “She’s a priestess. She gets touchy about certain topics, especially if your careless words impugn on our GODDESS.”
Tom’s other two companions immediately did their equivalent of prostrating themselves. Tom did nothing, his mind racing. Part of him thought he should venerate the priestess of the GODDESS who had claimed them from Earth. Showing her respect was in his best interests, because it was not sensible to mindlessly challenge cultural norms, but he still couldn’t bring himself to do it. Instead, he considered the new information from the lists. The trick he had been considering implementing clearly worked. All the other humans had gotten far more coins than their strength should have enabled them to. If Tom added his precognition mana into the mix, he hoped he could supercharge his coin acquisition even further. He would confirm the exact technique Corrine used, and then improve on it. He wondered how often they had all fought without the GOD’s shield, but without knowing how long they were here and how many battles they’ve fought, it was impossible to tell.
“There’s a locked file for human eyes only,” Esedhuil told him. “I presume it explains their secrets.”
“I’ll check it out in private,” Tom promised. “But I doubt it would be necessary. I’m pretty confident I know their trick.”
“It’s some kind of oracle cheat.” Amkhael speculated.
“You know better than to pry like that.” Esedhuil snapped at the rock. “It’s dangerous to try to find another’s secrets, especially when they’re in the competition. Please, ignore my colleagues’ stupidity – but, Tom, I would also like to warn you. Please, don’t be overconfident and throw your life away. Nothing is infallible, and especially not humans’ tricks.” She had various appendages sprouting out at seemingly random spots on her body, and they were all a variety of different sizes, but, as she said her warning, they all straightened to point at the screen, and the list upon it had changed. “That’s human activity, listed chronologically.”
Tom gulped slightly. One of the skulls had come in after Corrine, and the other one was just before them. The first four had survived, but the later ones had either died or were still active. The reason for the warning couldn’t be clearer. “I’ll be careful.”
“Excellent.” Amkhael said happily. “Now that that’s resolved, let me draw your attention to the opposition research we have available.”
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“What the fuck.” a female voice abruptly yelled behind him. “Tom, is that you? What the fuck are you doing here? How the fuck did you manage that?”
He turned sheepishly to see Corrine’s red-tinged face.
He shrugged. “For now, it’s just me. But I’ll get Kang and Bri in soon.”
“You’re too weak to be here. They’re even worse. Humans died in this shithole.”
He couldn’t help but smirk at her. “Too weak? Clearly not.”
“You are weak. I know this; I’ve fought you in the real world.”
“I said I was going to make it.”
“And you know each other personally,” the pot plant said with a despairing voice. “How can one species be so lucky?”
“And, surprise,” Tom beamed at her. “Here I am.”
For a couple of seconds, it seemed like Corrine’s brain had shut down. “This is bullshit. You’re too fucking weak to be here. I challenge you.”
“Wait a moment.” Amkhael said. “I haven’t finished. It’s not appropriate to give challenge before I’ve finished.”
“You think you’re the fucking best, Tom. You’re not.” Corrine continued, ignoring Amkhael’s interruption just like he had disregarded Baptiste’s. “I challenge you. Right here, right now.”
Text appeared in front of his eyes like it would appear in the system room on a wall, but there was no wall and he knew with absolute certainty that no one else could read it.
Corrine Hayley Roberts has challenged you to a duel to the death under a full GOD’s shield.
Accept or Decline.
Tom wrinkled his nose. She had a combat rating of nine. Him fighting her was clearly ridiculous. “Is this really necessary?”
“Yes, it fucking is.”
There was a full GOD shield involved, so he accepted the offer and found himself on a mountain peak immediately. Cutting freezing gusts of wind assaulted him and almost knocked him off his feet. The total space they had to fight with was about equivalent to a soccer pitch, with you falling off a sheer cliff once you went beyond that point.
Corrine stood with the wind powerful enough to upset his balance, not even fluttering her hair because of one of her skills. “When you do an official battle, it generates a random arena. I’ve fought in water that comes up to my waist, a blizzard, and a desert so hot it hurt to breathe. This,” she glanced around. “Is almost fucking pleasant.”
A countdown appeared above him.
“When it reaches zero, I’m going to kill you.” She smiled.
Tom had no doubt she meant every word. He held a spear, and he tried to work out how to fight his opponent. He knew for a fact she had magic far superior to his own. If it became a long-range magic fest, he would lose.
He would have to charge her.
The moment the countdown finished, he sprinted forward. Time slowed down as his trait activated. She was, after all, three ranks higher than him and it showed by how sluggish his body abruptly felt.
Corrine didn’t change her posture. She was apparently waiting for him to close.
Suddenly, he was no longer in his body and he was looking down on the mountain plateau. Time had stopped, then it started. His body took a step and then Tom saw the wind blades coming for it. There were three of them - neck, chest, and knee-height. Like an idiot, he ran through them like they weren’t there and then they tore into his unbraced and unprepared body. His head went flying, decapitated, his leading leg was cut off at the knee, and the other leg survived, mangled, while the middle blade cut halfway through his chest.
It was gruesome.
A moment later, he was back with the others.
They were all staring at Corrine, their posture exhibiting various amounts of horror.
“You can’t challenge like that.” Amkhael protested.
“Fucking weak. You shouldn’t be here. What kind of fuckhead doesn’t bother with mana sight in a duel to the death?” She snapped. “Fight again. You need to be better.”
Corrine Hayley Roberts has challenged you to a duel to the death under a full GOD’s shield.
Accept or Decline.
“Is this really necessary? Your build hard counters mine.”
“I won’t use air blades. Fucking accept the invite. You need to understand what you’re fucking facing. There are people in the child category stronger than me.”
He accepted.
A flame whip cut him in two, starting from the top of his head and then crossing all the way down to his groin.
Then, in the next battle, her sword finished the fight. Each time she killed him, she removed the method from her arsenal.
She had restricted herself from using any offensive magic and no legs. Basically, she had only her fists, elbows, and head left to attack him with. He lasted a single blow longer. Tom catalogued her skillset. She was very impressive, and there was a very good reason she had qualified to be here. She possessed deadly flame, and air magic, and more than just the blades and whips. Corrine also had bolts, remote detonation spells, and could control six different attacks simultaneously. In addition to external magic, she could also empower her blows, and had two separate fast movement techniques. Her general combat rating of above nine was clearly well earned.
“You’re too weak.”
“I’ll be using a GOD’s shield.”
She looked at him incredulously. “No, you won’t. I’ve known you long enough to know you’ll take risks.”
He winked at her. “Don’t stress. I promise, I’ll be using it some of the time.”