But then as he opened his mouth to continue someone forcefully pushed his way through RandidlyÆs aura You are the Ghosthound right LetÆs see if you are as strong as they say Azure Claw
Randidly blinked as one of the unknown images that had been hiding its presence blazed immediately to life A young man with spiky blonde hair leapt off the ground and shot upward toward Randidly and his wooden board The man glowed with blue energy and the spectral form of a Siberian tiger imposed itself on the young man making it seem like a tiger was pouncing upward with malicious intentions
The man was quick but not quick enough that Randidly wouldnÆt feel awkward bullying this obviously weaker individual
RandidlyÆs eyelids twitched as he considered the fact that most of the world was watching this The blonde haired man traveled upward at a painfully slow speed giving Randidly far too much time to think about what was happening Some idiot just had to try and to test himself against me well this IS the sort of place that the Earth is becoming But please wait for a more appropriate time to try and become the main character of a story Ah didnÆt I just decide to make sure I kept my images out of the public eye
Luckily Randidly didnÆt even have to move the police force of Kharon was running the security at the tournament and an officer quickly prepared to intercept the attack The nearest patrol officer exploded with a rather vague image of justice that manifested around his body as a spinning whirlwind of golden lights His legs flexed as he used his image to empower his physical body and leap upward
But as he did so Randidly felt a headache growing Everything felt like it was going in slow motion but it didnÆt feel appropriate to intervene directly ThatÆs Fenlin right Even before the Dungeon his control over his image was a bit And I have no doubt that he hasnÆt adjusted to using his new image on Earth
As Randidly had predicted the ground beneath FenlinÆs legs exploded and collapsed as he overutilized his image He shot upward like a rocket not so much blocking this Azure Claw attacker as directly intercepting him FenlinÆs shocked face smashing into the young manÆs chest with all the force of a ballistic missile
The casual image aura that remained around Fenlin was enough to shatter the image of the tiger with just the initial contact Then the two shot off to the side where they impacted the ground and created a smoking crater
Randidly rubbed his chin and sighed grateful that Fenlin had carried the attacker out of the area occupied by the crowd HeÆs so used to acting within the Dungeon where my image was a constant weight that he has no idea how much he needs to concentrate in order to accomplish basic tasks here on Earth itÆs like a man with a battle ax suddenly trying to wield a knife in the same manner Guess it just shows they need more training
A rather strained looking Fenlin stumbled out of the smoking crater and smiled awkwardly From within the hole some light coughing could be heard
Randidly smirked around and released a pulse of Nether to make sure everyoneÆs focus was back on him Better move this along Since it looks like everyone is itching to start IÆll keep this short
After a smattering of laughter from the crowd Randidly continued YouÆve already been divided into ten groups Today will be totally devoted to those ten preliminaries Each group will fight in a special environment for one hour Leaving the special environment will be considered a forfeit Defeating other duos grants points After the hour no matter how many people remain the top ten percent in terms of points will move on to the tomorrow’s rounds The round will finish early when 90% of the groups have been defeated
Other than that there are no rules Just know that IÆll intervene if I sense that anyone is out for blood obviously this competition might not be friendly but we arenÆt here to weaken ourselves Because beyond this tournament is the First Calamity
Randidly gritted his teeth Do not forget our true foe people of Earth
Gradually the people below nodded Randidly glanced sideways toward Clarissa who stood in the shadow of Kharon Seeing RandidlyÆs glance she began to gather her image Then her hands began to move through several complex signs as she started the process The Skills that Clarrissa had developed in the Dungeon were powerful but they did take a bit of time before they could be activated
So Randidly turned back to the crowd Group 1 you are up Show the world how much youÆve improved your images Everyone is watching
Very quickly Randidly floated upward and out of sight of the people below He quickly moved to the Southern edge of his island where he could look down at the battlefield and monitor the situation and prevent any accidents Although it cut into his training time he would be responsible for tracking the points of the fighters below In the end it wasnÆt such a big deal to lose out on a dayÆs worth of training all Randidly really wanted to do right now was work on Nether
Most of his other areas had already reached their limits within the Dungeon Besides centering the monitoring and safety activities in himself would mean saving the labor of at least two dozen members of the Order Ducis It was grunt work but also work that he was uniquely positioned to accomplish
As the crowd talked excitedly and split into the various groups Randidly also noticed that the blonde haired young man stumbled out of the crater covered in dirt and vaguely smoking After coughing several times he glared up toward RandidlyÆs island But compared to RandidlyÆs Grim Intuition it was clear that the blonde young man didnÆt possess the Perception to pierce through the silver mist around his island
Instead the blonde young man harrumphed and began to stomp his way toward the fighting ground It appeared that he was part of Group 1
Inwardly Randidly chuckled If defeating him was this individualÆs goal the blonde young man would need to improve quite a lot before he began a threat to Randidly Ghosthound So Randidly just looked up at the clouds Underneath ClarissaÆs influence the slate grey sky darkened toward black The clouds thickened ominously small flakes of snow drifting downward
Very soon the rate of snowing increased By the time al of the Group 1 was in position a veritable blizzard had descended Their battlefield had turned into a snow globe that was being rather violently shaken
Randidly closed his eyes When he spoke his words boomed out over the surrounding area You have one hour Begin
Chapter 1437
TosamÆs hand shot out and gripped KadirÆs extremely massive bicep He tightened his fingers making sure that Kadir could feel his grim through the chill of the surroundings Wait
Kadir glared hatefully at Tosam and yanked his arm out of his grip but did ultimately stop as requested By decree of King Phirun Tosam was in charge of their decisions during this very important tournament Kadir was the significant muscle while Tosam was the brains of the operation Yet even while they were both beset by temperatures low enough to affect even their System empowered bodies Kadir still found the energy to spitefully act out in small ways
Tosam was just glad Kadir had sensed the seriousness of this moment as he led his muscular companion to crouching next to a snowdrift and peering down the hill in front of them There standing in the middle of the oppressive blizzard like this was just a walk in the park were two men
Honestly the fact that there were only two of them standing so boldly in a large valley was the first warning sign in TosamÆs mind The arena for the preliminary fights was relatively small Perhaps only a single square mile With a thousand groups buzzing around it was inevitable that clashes happened frequently Only ten minutes had passed since the round started and the duo of Kadir and Tosam had been forced into several brutal fights that they barely survived
Even though the foes they fought were weaker even than Tosam the fights kept attracting the attention of other teams who would intervene when they thought they could strike decisively and earn points This meant that even during a fight a portion of their focus needed to be on the surrounding area so they wouldnÆt be ambushed Which made those ten minutes stretch to seem like several hours