The Challenger's Return: Rebirth of the Rainbow Mage

A beautiful young woman clad in a lithe black combat suit stood on the hot sand, perspiring slightly.

She looked around, murmuring quietly,

"Only 19 left."

This should be the last time she had to fight for a lane amidst these terrible Throskarts who tried to block her at every turn.

It was the beginning of the end of the round, and Julia had finagled and rammed her way into the center lane six times out of eight.

Her [A1 Suit] as well as her passive [Berserker] had proved to be big boons.

Julia prepared for the partitions to arrive for what she hoped was the last time.

Her glass of condensed water was now completely empty.

Today was the hottest day of them all.

Last evening, Julia had determined that she could afford to spend a few merits to rent a temporary tent.

At least she had filled her belly and drunk plenty of water for the first time in eight days…

But as of now, she was fighting against the cream of the crop.

A few of these Throskarts were undeniably slightly stronger and faster than she was.

She had previously only managed to take the center lane because of her suit's two skills,

[Knockback]

Suit emits a shockwave, knocking back the enemy.

Cooldown: 23 minutes

It was one of the few skills Julia could use that only knocked the Throskarts back without dealing damage.

As well as:

[Super Charge]

Speed of charge increased by 100%.

Defense while charging increased by 100%.

Nevertheless, she was beginning to reach the end of her rope.

Worse was that the spiders had gotten stronger and stronger as the days dragged on, forcing her to use more and more stamina to fight each one.

Julia checked her merit balance.

[1276 merits]

She was aware that the 2nd place Throskart contestant had racked up 650 some merits.

Thus, she didn't feel particularly worried.

Julia probably wouldn't even be fighting for the center lane right now if it was not out of concern for her final mission rating.

But right before the partitions emerged, Julia was thrown for a loop once more.

[It's time for an event! Huhuhu]

[Today's Event: Partition Break]

The audience can pay to break as many partitions as they can afford, up to all of the partitions.

Julia rubbed her forehead as she read through the event description.

Her first thought was 'Seriously? Now?'

Her second thought was 'At least I don't have to fight for the lane.'

But as she noticed the hostile glances of the other Throskarts, Julia sighed and thought about exactly how many spider monsters would come out if all the lanes broke.

Now that there were 19 people remaining, only five lanes remained.

Julia calculated carefully and discovered that she would pass the round just fine even if she didn't make a move.

There was no chance that the guy in second place would overtake her in merit, putting her at risk of being voted for execution.

Her eyes wavered.

Did she have to fight? Surely her rewards would be excellent even if she chose not to fight today.

Her teammates could cut her a bit of slack, right?

She was exhausted, fatigued, hot, and dehydrated.

Fighting again…

But as her thoughts turned to the training session she'd had with Jeremy, Elliott, and Mirabelle, she sighed and picked up her hammer once more.

She would be pissed if one of the others hadn't given their all on a floor. She might even go over and directly beat them up to vent her frustration.

Thus, it wasn't fair if she went and did it, either.

Fine. She would fight one last time…

****************************************************

Jason stared in shock at the massive wolf in front of him.

There was no doubt about it.

This must be the 'Wolf King.'

The wolf stood at a height of over three meters tall, gazing squarely down at the puny human below.

Its fur was a beautiful silver color that appeared vivid and lush even under the dim light of the moon.

But Jason's gaze was focused on its scarlet eyes and vicious looking fangs.

He gulped instinctively.

This was a king of beasts, an apex predator, a terrifying monster.

However, there was one thing that gave Jason a bit of courage.

His basic inspection:

[Wolf King]

BOSS Monster (I)

Status: Severely Injured (Attributes decline by 50%)

Health: 46%

Jason smiled lightly after noticing the massive inflamed wound on the wolf's abdomen.

This was the product of the deal he'd made with that woman ... Renora Nosk.

Renora had needed to use all her forces and all her connections, cooperating with both the military and the church to do her utmost to bring down the wolf king.

And despite feeling like she was a bit of a snake, Jason had agreed that she had definitely honored her end of the deal.

He was also grateful that Otto told him to use another force to weaken it before fighting.

His exact words had been,

"Jay, even as you are now, you'll never beat the wolf king by yourself. Ask for help from another major force. Trade if you need to. Don't try to take it on alone."

The Wolf King's wound showed no signs of healing anytime soon despite his powerful 'Sturdiness' attribute.

Jason didn't know how the wound was made.

However it was done, though, Jason was impressed.

In return, he had handed over the spell book for [Lesser Heal] for her forces to borrow and 'research' for a period of time.

Actually, since Jason had already learned the spell, he had completely no use for the book anymore.

It wouldn't allow him to learn it again, wouldn't increase his rating in the mission at the end, and if he wanted to learn it by rote, he could always just grab Otto's copy...

In comparison, giving himself the best possible shot at taking down the wolf king was leagues more important.

Otto had emphasized that a good rating in the [Tutorial] would set up his future as a challenger properly.

A failure, on the other hand, would follow him for many floors.

Jason braced himself in front of the giant wolf.

It peered down at him and snarled, revealing its glinting canine teeth.

He shuddered slightly.

He couldn't forget that this was no longer the virtual world.

This was the real world.

Dying now would put him down to two remaining lives.

Not to mention the terrible pain that ensued.

The wolf king growled menacingly at the intruder that dared to step into his pack.

He considered it a challenge to his majesty!

The trees danced in the wind, sinister shadows appearing under the light of the full moon.

Wolves started to surround Jason from every direction.

However, without the wolf king's order, they dared not attack.

They knew that their leader had marked this one as his own prey.

Suddenly, a silver light flashed as the wolf king pounced.

His body was so big that to Jason, it seemed to cover the sky. But its size belied its agile movements.

Luckily, by now, Jason was prepared.

[Mana Bolt]

The projectile landed straight on the wolf king's wound, eliciting a howl of pain and a deadly glare aimed at Jason.

The wolf did not stop his attack.

His paw moved like lightning to swipe Jason's head.

Jason couldn't properly react, could only jump slightly to ensure that the wolf could only hit his side.

His body flew backward and embedded itself into the trunk of a sturdy tree.

He checked his health.

Health: 544/638 (1.02/min)

The single blow, combined with the force of his body hitting the tree had knocked off 94 health points.

And that was when Jason was both prepared and not hit in a critical spot.

So much stronger than that old man Darius…

The wolf king didn't leave even a moment for Jason to recover.

Its paw swiped down towards Jason's head, wanting to immediately smash him into meat paste.

But the wolf king found his paw obstructed before a sudden pain blossomed.

A mana bolt exploded!

Leaving his paw bloody and battered.

The wolf's eyes turned slightly red.

This wound reminded him of those terrible humans that had gotten the jump on him the other day…

As if in concert with his thoughts, the wound throbbed as the wind hit it dead on. He HOWLED in pain once again.

The wolves in the surroundings trembled despite the chill in the air.

Their king was too scary!

Jason healed himself and quickly decided to scurry to the top of the tree while the wolf king was preoccupied with his mangled paw.

Jason's limbs reached up one after the other, but he wasn't fast enough!

The wolf king pounced once more, forcing Jason to twist his body while hanging on to the trunk or its branches as he continued to climb up as fast as he could.

As he climbed, he forced the wolf to jump higher and higher in the air to catch him.

Jason doubted that a wolf, especially such a big one, could climb up this high!

He proceeded to pepper the king with [Mana Bolt] after [Mana Bolt] from his new spot wedged in between two branches high in the air.

The wolf king was furious! What a cowardly prey! Hurting his glorious body, then running away??

He swore he would kill this measly little meat sack as soon as he got the chance.

The wolf king roared and howled for his wolves to attack the tree as he continued to dodge Jason's occasional mana bolts shot from above.

One lucky bolt hit the king's wound dead on.

He howled again.

His eyes turned even redder.

Jason's mind ran a mile a minute, trying to calculate a way to take this wolf down for good.

He touched his spatial storage ring, thinking, before he shelved the thought.

Truthfully, if he used a few of Otto's arrays, taking the wolf king down, while it might not be easy, would not be nearly as arduous.

The problem was in his mission rating.

While getting Renora's group to weaken it slightly before the fight would lower his mission rating, to Jason, this was an unavoidable thing.

He simply wouldn't be able to kill a wolf king in top condition.

This wolf, however, Jason thought he could kill.

He just didn't know how quite yet...

Otto drawing his own arrays to trap the wolf king would not lower his mission rating because he drew them himself.

But for Jason…they would almost certainly be considered 'outside help,' and his rating would inevitably further decline.

Plus, if he used Otto's arrays here, it would feel like he was admitting defeat...

He [Inspected] the Wolf King once again.

Were his [Mana Bolts] even doing much damage?

[Wolf King]

BOSS Monster (I)

Status: Severely Injured (Attributes decline by 50%)

Health: 34%

Yes!

Though it wasn't too much, Jason estimated that each of his spells took away maybe 0.5% to 1% of the wolf king's health.

He also checked his mana.

...And breathed a small sigh of relief.

Mana: 645/740 (1.98/min)

Thankfully, his magic power was high enough that his [Mana Bolts] did considerable damage to the wolf.

His mana pool was also big enough that he could cast hundreds of [Mana Bolts] at it and have plenty even if only a few would hit.

Plus, if he stayed in this tree, there wasn't even that much danger!

But it wasn't long until facts proved that Jason was too optimistic.

AWOOOOOO

The wolf king wasn't completely dumb.

He let out another long howl.

AWOOOOOO

Wolves began to crash into the tree, swiping at it with their paws, biting at it, and even directly committing suicide by tree, using their cracked skulls to shake the trunk even a little.

In no time at all, Jason found his footing on the sturdy branch begin to shake.

No! He didn't want to lose his shelter!

He decided to bombard the wolf king with mana bolts as best he could.

But soon, to his great chagrin he discovered that the wolf king had disappeared!

There was no target to hit!

"Ahhhh!"

Jason yelled in frustration.

Why weren't they having an epic battle like he'd envisioned?

[Mana Bolt] after [Mana Bolt] blasted down from the tree under Jason's focused gaze, hitting the wolves that seemed to be doing the most damage to the trunk.

But the wolves were too loyal, and too many.

The tree wavered and shook.

Jason's balance grew increasingly precarious.

But his eyes hardened.

'Fine.'

'I'll jump down on my own.'