We tangoed for a few minutes with me mostly dodging. There were a few times I saw some openings, but they were clearly artificial, so I didn’t fall for the bait and made sure to keep my distance.

He began to slow down quite a bit and his anger was pushing through that calm facade he had disgustingly plastered all over his face. And after I straight up just began to run away from him, cackling with amusement, he balled up his fists and turned upwards.

“ARGHHHHHHHHHHH!”

All of a sudden, he was engulfed in a dark red aura and his eyes glowed like a demon. He had a sort of demonic presence that sent chills down my spine. He charged toward me with all his might, ignoring whatever mental and physical fatigue that had been built up.

I had no clue whether this was actually supposed to happen or maybe I triggered some kind of event that pushed him to his limits, but what I did know was that I now had to take this seriously. No longer was my strategy working, but seeing how he’s entered this pseudo-berserk state, I doubt he was in his right mind to hinder my mana again.

I drew him in with a few steps to the side, acting like I was nervous and intimidated by this new form of his. Of course, it really didn’t matter as his bloodshot eyes locked onto me and he charged right in my direction. And as soon as he was close enough, he strangely jumped into the air as fast as a bunny and raised his sword above his head.

BOOOOOOM

He clicked his tongue upon seeing that he missed, only enraging him even further, yet before he could follow up with anything, a hand placed against his face under the shroud of dust that he had kicked up. He was immediately overwhelmed with a burning sensation, unable to escape it even as his body instinctively backed away.

Advanced Demonic Fire Magic

FWOOOOOOSH

A massive gust of green fire exploded from my palm, ripping the man’s head clean off and charring what used to be his neck and shoulders. It was a quick and painless death for somebody who I almost began to pity.

“I also want to see if this works…” I muttered to myself as just before the panels could pop up and steal away the corpse and weapon, I lunged towards the sword and tore it out of the dead man’s grip. It was still tightly locked around it, but after burning away what strained tendons there were, I was able to quickly retrieve it and easily make it mine.

Round 3: The Sword Arts of The Mermen

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Reward has been granted

Reward has been placed in your treasure trove

You may collect your rewards at the end of the gauntlet

Potential Buffs have been provided

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Preparing Next Round…

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Round 4: The Spear Arts of The Mermen𝒪𝑣𝓵xt.𝕔𝒪𝚖

Description: You have skillfully passed the third round, allowing you to reach the fourth round. Unfortunately, you may have a tough time as your opponent specializes in spear arts meant to close the distance between close combat fighters and mages who specialize in long distance. Not only is his body extremely resistant, but his mental fortitude is practically unshakeable. On top of that, his skill with the spear is unrivaled among his peers. Good luck.

Monsters: 1 Merman Spearman

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Once again I was encountered with a dilemma of buffs for the next round. Multiple options were granted to me and as I kicked at the burnt corpse on the ground, I began to filter out all of the useless ones once more. Increasing my stamina and mana was useless… and to be honest, anything physical is useless as well. I’d rather stay a glass cannon than try and balance my stats out.

“Instead of going with the flow, I’ll win this gauntlet using my brain. I’ll outsmart all of these magic-binding bastards.”

You have selected: Magic Power Enhancement

Would you like to apply it to this round?

“Yes,” I smiled and as the previous corpse began to crumble in front of me, the sword that I had gripped still stayed in my hand. It was heavy as **, but it could come in useful later on… “Although for now… Summon: Lesser Fire Spirits.”

Before the round could even start, I continuously used Summon: Lesser Fire Spirits. With each usage, it spawned five to ten spirits but when used repeatedly I stacked up an army of a few hundred in just a mere moment. And the greatest fact was, that my mana had only been decreased by a third, so I continuously began to spawn these things until the time of the next round came.

A merman with chainmail armor and a long wooden spear with an iron blade at the tip appeared in the distance. However, unlike the swordsman who had no head protection, this man had a metal helmet guarding everything but his eyes and a few sections of his face meant for breathability.

He seemed calm and collected at first, moving with a suave aura that tore and influenced the atmosphere around him. Clearly, he was a natural leader others had followed. He was the epitome of what I assumed Orion and Cy wanted to become… yet all of that came crumbling down upon seeing my army of fire spirits. He didn’t even bother deactivating my mana as he just stood there, watching tens upon hundreds of fireballs flying right at him.

Disappointingly, he had accepted his fate, calmly glancing over the rain of fire veering towards him. His spear had already dropped to the ground and with a light smile, admitting he had been outplayed from the start… his eyes turned red and he looked confused as he saw his body move on its own. So, clearly, the upper executives weren’t happy with how I cheesed the system and now needed to manipulate the players on the court with their own powers. How troublesome…