The Challenger's Return: Rebirth of the Rainbow Mage

The dim light of the moon illuminated the greenery of the forest.

Trees rustled and swayed in the breeze.

The light noises they made hid the commotion in the forest's depths.

But Jason wasn't in the frame of mind to pay attention.

He panted noisily as he ran through the forest.

His head swiveled around again and again to check the number of wolves following him from behind.

It was the moment when he realized just how much he'd underestimated the leader of the wolves.

Even with barely a quarter of his health left, even seriously injured, the wolf king was a strong, fast, cunning beast.

Worse, it commanded a large army of wolf subordinates that made no end of trouble for Jason.

It got to the point where Jason felt that no matter what he did, if he could not get some distance on the wolf king, he might never win this fight.

The only small fortune was that despite the wolf king's powerful body, its injury significantly hindered its recovery speed.

Essentially, any damage that Jason did in the next hour would remain written in the wolf king's own blood.

Jason peered all around him, his eyes squinting in the dim light.

He was trying to locate a spot to escape the immediate threat: the wolf pack.

But it wasn't long before Jason's face lost all color.

He let out a light gasp.

How did this happen?

Suddenly, in every direction he looked, wolves appeared.

Their paws lightly padded through the grass, their footsteps making little noise among the underbrush.

But their approach didn't escape Jason's ears.

He had been surrounded.

He hastily scrutinized the surrounding environment for large rocks, trees, even plants he might be able to use as cover.

Alas, his environment turned up essentially nothing, only small trees and short grass.

The trees were too skinny and weak to climb very high.

But even if he did climb one, Jason didn't doubt that the wolves would take it down in under 10 seconds.

He also checked his status screen.

[Jason]

New Summoned

Health: 638/638 (1.02/min)

Stamina: 179/408 (4.25/min)

Mana: 485/740 (1.98/min)

[Attributes]

Strength 17

Speed 27

Stamina 17

Sturdiness 17

Mana Pool 37

Intuition 29

Magic Power 31

Regeneration 99

AP: 0

[Innate Talent]

???

There was nothing.

Literally nothing he could use.

Both his stamina and mana were also slowly dwindling.

His stamina was now under 50% from his all out sprint through the forest to escape the wolf king's sharp claws.

Jason couldn't imagine how hard this would have been if he hadn't given his all under Ramesthes's training.

By now, even he had worked out that Otto and Ramesthes had conspired to trick him into putting all his effort on the table.

However, Jason had never felt more grateful for being lied to in his entire life.

His brain worked overtime trying to come up with a way out of this situation.

Strategies?

There were none.

People?

None would be able to help him.

Renora had already fulfilled her end of the bargain.

The Temple was busy healing the wounded after the daily meteor strikes.

The military camp was currently facing off against the wolves' invasion.

Most importantly, no one else was here right now.

Jason narrowed his eyes at the wolves.

He was tempted to just take out a few of Otto's arrays and bomb all these wolves to hell.

But just as Jason gave in and reached for a few arrays inside his spatial storage ring, he heard a rustle of leaves behind him.

Then, something soaring through the air.

A wolf aimed its jaws at the back of Jason's neck.

Jason hadn't even noticed how close it had gotten.

Luckily, he still barely reacted in time.

He ducked under the pounce and slammed his fist upwards into the wolf's weak underbelly.

CRACK

Its spine broke.

The scent of blood filled the air.

The eyes of the pack turned red.

Jason spotted the wolf king several dozen meters to the north, watching the fight quietly.

Two pills entered his mouth, and Jason also directed his suit to inject a few potions.

[Perception Booster Pill]

Grade 1 Highest Grade

Doubles the range and sensitivity of the five senses. Has a small enhancement on the sixth sense.

Jason felt his senses expand.

A sort of intuition for bites, tears, and swipes appeared in his mind.

It wasn't to the point where he could predict the wolves' trajectories.

But at least he was more aware of the critical attacks.

[All-Around Agility Pill]

Grade 1 High Grade

Temporarily adds +5 Agility.

Duration: 10 minutes

This pill was a rare pill made by Otto himself from the resources Drennel sent over.

It didn't improve Jason's speed, but his reactions, balance, stability, and flexibility were all enhanced.

[Health Recovery Potion]

Grade 1 High Quality

X10 Health Recovery

Duration: 10 minutes

[Stamina Recovery Potion]

Grade 1 High Quality

X20 Stamina Recovery

Duration: 15 minutes

[Mana Recovery Potion]

Grade 1 Highest Quality

X25 Mana Regeneration

Duration: 8 minutes

His body filled with energy.

Then, Jason had no spare attention to pay to the wolf king's location.

As the wolves pounced on him from every direction.

Teeth and claws flew through the air aimed at Jason, enlarging in his vision, as the wolf pack did everything in its power to tear a piece off of his body.

Their numbers so numerous that they almost covered the ground.

It was the worst possible scenario.

He had been surrounded by the entire pack.

The wolf king watched as Jason was inundated but did not make a move. His gaze was mixed with resentment and satisfaction.

Since this prey had given him no small 'additions' to his own serious wounds.

Jason frantically ducked and dodged, doing his utmost to pay attention to every wolf within 5 meters.

Fists and feet went flying onto heads, spines, and sides as he did his best to fight off the entire pack, alone.

Wolves flew out injured, dead, or unconscious again and again.

But every wolf was replaced with another in an endless stream.

The forest was filled with a series of snaps, gurgles, and thuds as Jason physically fought against the wolves with all his might.

Initially, his moves were urgent and slightly awkward.

But it wasn't long before his training took over once more.

A quiet calm embraced him, drowning out his other senses as his mind laser-focused on his goal.

Jason had been through exactly this type of scenario many times in the virtual world, where he was inundated with enemies on all sides.

He remembered the key to fighting like this was two fold: awareness and efficiency.

He needed to keep abreast of every new enemy within a certain radius of himself as he dispatched the biggest threats to his person while consuming the smallest possible amount of stamina.

Jason's gaze focused.

His mind completely concentrated on the space around him and his own reactions.

'Wolf from behind going for the neck, elbow backwards, angled up, then kick the wolf at 2 o clock shooting for the groin, punch to the pouncing wolf's spine.'

His body pivoted and swiveled to face wolves in different directions again and again as his moves ingrained themselves deeper into his instinct.

Before long, Jason felt himself growing slightly sluggish.

He spent a tenth of a second to check his stamina.

Stamina: 49/408 (4.25/min)

As soon as he did so, he felt a small needle enter his right arm.

Almost instantly, his body felt refreshed.

He knew it was a stamina potion.

[Basic Stamina Potion]

High Quality

Restores 300 stamina upon use.

His energy restored, Jason continued to fight.

Little by little, scratches, tears and bites accumulated on his body.

The wolves were practically rabid in their ferocity.

Their king had ordered them… to take down this prey at all costs!

Jason, despite the [Health Recovery Potion] working to repair his body, felt his injuries pile up with increasing fervor.

The small bites, tears and scratches added up.

He continuously cast [Lesser Heal] on himself, but the healing wasn't keeping up with the damage.

Whenever his health got too low, his suit injected him with various potions in specific orders.

Some potions instantly added small amounts of health, while others added a large amount over a period of time for optimization.

Thankfully, another of the features of his [Dimensional Interfacing Combat/Kinetic Suit] was that it repaired itself whenever torn or broken.

He continued fighting.

Wolf after wolf attacked Jason, completely undaunted by the injuries and deaths of their compatriots.

Jason estimated he'd dispatched at least a few dozen already, the count only growing as he found his battle stride.

However, his body was finally beginning to slow down.

His stamina loss was having trouble keeping pace with the new enemies.

But Jason couldn't give up!

Even if he was tired, he would never let himself die here!

Finally, his eyes grasped onto an opening, a brief lull in the wolves attacking from one direction.

Jason lunged immediately, and sprinted away from the encirclement.

Almost free!

WHAP

He'd spoken too soon.

An enormous set of claws swiped at him out of nowhere.

It made contact with his head, twisting his neck almost a full 120 degrees, sending his body flying backward directly into the waiting jaws of the wolf pack.

Jason felt something snap in his body.

His health fell to under 50 points.

The pain in his back brought tears to his eyes.

For a second, he literally couldn't move.

Jason's eyes bulged as he realized his mistake.

He hadn't bothered to keep track of the wolf king!

Now, he was about to die as a meal for these wolves…

In an instant, with a single bad decision, his situation grew dire.

His suit injected him with an emergency potion which healed him for a full 1,000 points of health.

But while his body was rapidly repairing, Jason couldn't alter his momentum.

His body thudded to the ground, as wolves swarmed in and crowded around.

Jason blasted a wolf that hovered above his face directly in the jaw with a mana bolt.

But more wolves replaced it.

Jason couldn't find any leverage lying down.

His hits were less effective.

Seconds later, Jason was once again on the verge of death, as each wolf seemed to want to bite a piece of flesh from his body.

He couldn't get up!

He needed to GET UP!

But his muscles couldn't overpower the dozens of wolves biting and tearing on top of him!

His pain and frustration built up in his chest.

Jason felt like he was about to explode!

What the hell was he supposed to do now!?

Suddenly, a shrill cry echoed through the forest.

"AAAHHHHHHHH!"