"Your words are our commands, governor." Lenna Zelu elegantly bowed [western style].

"Have you heard that? Come on competitors! Get on the arena!" Lenna Zelu instructed pointing one of her fingers toward the platform under her feet.

All those who had signed up for this tournament began to get on the platform. It was quite funny to see that some of them couldn't hide the excitement on their faces or the nervousness in their hasty footsteps.

Except for Thorn, all of them wore armor or some other combat costume. As for weapons, there were almost of all types and sizes: axes, swords, crossbows, spears, clubs, hammers, knuckles, etc.

Regarding their cultivation, there wasn't a single one lower than the Early Intermediate Awaken stage, and there wasn't one higher than the Early Advanced Awaken stage.

Thorn got on the arena with a serene expression, his whole body giving off confidence. Though, because he was unarmed and the clothes he was wearing were made just of E-class zenanium, which had the appearance of being completely fragile, several viewers were wondering if he was an idiot, a clown, or perhaps, just perhaps he was a strong but eccentric expert.

Suddenly, Thorn found among the participants the face of a certain war elf. (It's that bastard!) Great surprise flashed through his violet eyes.

Yes, it was the one who had made fun of his skirt and then had retreated pathetically a few days ago.

A sinister smile slowly formed on Thorn's face. (Hahaha...! My revenge will make you cry in pain, little fool.)

With soundless and cautious footsteps, he approached that war elf.

When all the participants were on the arena, it could be seen that in total there were 378 of them.

"If you stop touching the platform, you'll immediately lose! Only 50 participants will pass to the second phase! Start!" Lenna Zelu shouted these words without warning.

All the participants froze for a moment, until...

"AARGHH…!”

*Bump!!*

Someone's miserable cry echoed out, and then a certain war elf fell headfirst on the floor leaving behind a beautiful arc of blood.

They all turned their confused gazes toward the war elf who was now lying unconscious outside the arena with almost all of his teeth out of his mouth.

Immediately after.

*Boom!* *susshhh!* *grumble!* *rumble!!* *crack!* *slash!!* *slap!* *ripple* *splash!!* *swoosh!* *crush!* *moan!!!* *crackle* *zzzzzttt!* *clash!!* *smack!* *bang* *roar!!!*

There were explosions of fire, thunders caused by lightning, cracking of shattering ice, howling of wind, splashes of water, silent darkness, resounding punches and slaps, clear sounds of the wind being torn apart by sharp weapons, excited roars and painful moans. All of that at the same time.

And while Lenna Zelu meticulously watched 360 degrees around her, she sent with her fists powerful blows of wind to anyone whose body stopped touching the arena. These blows of wind expelled, with one hundred percent of certainty, anyone who was reached by them.

As for Thorn, he was surrounded by three male participants: a muscular gargoyle, a delicate gorgon, and an ugly goblin. The gargoyle threw a stake of ice, the gorgon shot with his crossbow an arrow of fire, and the goblin threw transparent shurikens. Of course, all that was directed to Thorn, why? Well, obviously, because he seemed easy to defeat.

In the face of such attack formation, Thorn showed no signs of fear. He calmly dodged [matrix style] all those attacks, he didn't even let his clothes get grazed.

Thorn's movement speed left the three participants who attacked him completely amazed.

And then a mass of wind hit all three of them at the same time. They were suspended in mid-air for less than a second before three almost simultaneous wind blows from Lenna Zelu pulled them out of the arena.

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Thorn couldn't help but look over at Lenna Zelu. (Third Level Energy Core Evolution stage. I'll need to go all out at my Second Pace to be able to defeat her...) He concluded after a quick calculation.

He then carefully walked around avoiding the surrounding explosions of thunder and blazing flames, trying to save as much Complex Energy as he could.

Meanwhile on the northern platform.

"Delia Adver, who do you think will win this time?" Arger Dal, Lurep Village Mercenary's Guild Branch's Branch Head, asked, a mischievous smile on his face.

"Mmm? Why are you asking me that? The four of us already know who exactly is going to win." Delia Adver, Lurep Village Adventurer's Guild Branch's Branch Head, responded nonchalantly.

"Hahaha... Well, I thought you may have hidden some monster stronger than 'her'." Arger Dal explained.

"A monster stronger than 'her'? Please don't joke around, Arger. On all over the world there shouldn't be more than five in her same cultivation stage that can defeat her." This time, it was the Lurep Village governor, Cley Alch, who spoke.

"Yes, Cley is right, just look at her! Look how she strolls on the arena as if strolling on her own garden!" Laughing, Ramph Zelu, the best blacksmith in Lurep Village, added pointing at a certain individual with his finger.

Arger Dal then laughed playfully: "Hahaha... That's for sure, the disciple of The Fire Goddess of Lurep Village is too amazing. But, I thought that if it's you, Delia Adver, maybe it's possible to surprise us with someone stronger than your disciple." Arger Dal paused dramatically, and then continued speaking, this time very slowly: "Because even I was able to find someone of her caliber."

On the arena.

Thorn continued walking carefully, and from time to time, he dodged some attack and counterattacked with a gust of wind. In this fashion, he easily continued throwing all those who dared to attack him off the arena.

Everything was fine for Thorn, until suddenly...

*Rumble*

An electric arrow pierced the wind shield around his body. The arrow penetrated Thorn's t-shirt and soon reached the skin of his waist, it was clear that whoever had shot that arrow had been pointing toward Thorn's center of gravity.

Thorn's reaction was immediate, he used a gust of wind to hit himself, avoiding being sent flying away by the thrust of the arrow. Due to this action, the arrow easily pierced through his body, and shot out from the other side of his waist.

After this, he used a light blow of wind to move his head to look at the one who had shot the arrow. Normally, he would not need to hit his head with the wind to be able to move it, but at this moment, he couldn't control his body because he was completely numb from the electric shock the arrow had caused him.

After focusing his vision, he observed that not too far away there was a rabbit monster human about to shoot another arrow to him with his big bow.

(That's a nice bow, Mmm?) He was going to hit himself with another blow of wind to evade this second shot, but then he saw that, abruptly, a shadow with a female humanoid shape came out of the ground and with a kick made the archer fly away.

(Oh, it must be the power of some shadow human. In any case, I must recover my body functions...) He thought as he secretly activated his Life Restorer skill to heal his internal wounds.

Meanwhile, that shadow faded into the ground, and soon, on the place where that rabbit monster human had been standing, there came a girl who seemed to be seventeen years old, walking casually and with both hands in her pockets. Her black horns were small and cute. She had a pair of sexy and thick pink lips, short black hair that only reached the middle of her neck, white skin, and light brown eyes. She was wearing a black light armor that completely covered her body except for her head.

As soon as Thorn stopped bleeding and began to regain control over his body, his gaze met the calm eyes of the girl with sexy lips. Seeing her, Thorn realized: (They have the same silhouette. She must be the owner of that shadow.)

Silently, a shadow rose out of the ground behind Thorn. The shadow became bigger and bigger until it had the same height of the girl. And just when that shadow began to prepare itself to kick Thorn in the ass, wind blades came out of Thorn's fingertips and tore the humanoid shadow into hundreds of shreds!

(Do you really think that I'll fall for the same trick you just showed me? How naïve…) Thorn said disdainfully in his mind, a mocking smile appearing on his face.

Predictably, on the face of the girl with sexy lips appeared an expression of disbelief.

It must be mentioned that she was at the Third Level Advanced Awaken stage and Thorn was at the Second Level Intermediate Awaken stage, which meant she should be fifteen times stronger than him. In addition, the shadows created by her Racial Skill were physically as strong as herself.

It was inevitably, after seeing how easily Thorn shattered the girl's shadow, to become speechless for a moment.

Her eyes then turned serious as she muttered: "Special Wind Element Awakened Skill: Berserk…?" She smiled softly. "Let's have some fun then."

In the next instant, ten shadowy figures appeared out of the ground surrounding Thorn.

(5, 8, 10! The shadow human's Racial Skill was definitely not that powerful back in my day!) Thorn sighed as he wrapped his body with a thin coat of air.

At the same time, different weapons made of shadow materialized on the hands of the shadowy figures: swords, daggers, crossbows, and spears.

Thorn didn't pay any heed to this and just smiled as he used Wind Glide to move with an explosive speed.

At that moment, the girl with sexy lips forgot how to breathe for a second.

Thorn had suddenly appeared standing less than twenty centimeters in front of her!

(T-teleportation...?) She couldn't help consider such a thing.