Chapter 360 - Challenging the Avatars (Patreon)

Sitting on the roof, I observe the group of poor guys who thought it was a good idea to challenge Lily's avatar.

Lily decided to go with 4th floor restriction only, and it's fun to watch as she tears through men that are probably thrice her weight and twice her size. She does it all in a similar style to how she fought against the Fallen Hero.

Her [Sacrifice] used to boost her movement, the Avatar doesn't even bother to waste mana on [Disintegration]. Just the sheer strength of her body is enough to allow her to go berserk.

The event is fun for us and an interesting learning opportunity for people from other difficulties. For them it's different to see people from Hell doing all these things and then having to face them.

Sure, to some degree it happened during the 1st event, but now they thought they might stand a chance in bigger groups only to fail most of the time.

Each Avatar can be challenged 3 times, and 1st and 2nd challenges are mostly attempts of smaller groups, in hopes of getting better rewards.

No one from Hell difficulty interferes, and the remaining attempts are slowly getting more organized, and bigger groups are being put together, a lot of planning and information sharing going on. Samuel, being the annoying guy he is, does a lot of work, and a few more guys help him.

In the end, it seems like the first 2 challenges are to test the Avatar, and they are saving the last ones for real attempts.

Tess´ Avatar is challenged as well, and the group gets wiped out before they even reach her.

Gareth is attacked by dozens of people, no damage dealt to him.

Even Min-Jae, twins, Brainiac, Lootenant, Adam, Maya, and others easily win against smaller groups.

The restrictions are mostly around the fourth floor, Tacita also being fourth. But there is that one annoying guy with the 3rd floor as well. 

Savant.

On his Avatar there are five epic items and 20 thousand shards offered as additional rewards, and other than my Avatar, his seems to be the most eyed one.

My Avatar still got challenged only once, and his Avatar not even once. Channeler told me that there are a few dozen people going all over the common area, trying to look for people who faced me, gathering information on my abilities.

It's entertaining to watch. They are taking it much more seriously than I thought they would, and a big part is probably because of Samuel.

Seeing how effective he is, I guess it makes sense that Gareth keeps him around and to a certain point, Tess as well. He seems like a useful guy.

What's also fun is that the murderer guy from Easy difficulty is also accepting some challenges and entering the arenas to face the Avatars.

After each attempt, they take him away, tie him up, and put the null collar back on his neck. Yet the guy seems to have a decent amount of shards and accepts nearly every challenge, joining with challengers.

Seeing others having to keep grabbing him because the system is teleporting him away is amusing enough.

I also watch as he, most of the time, moves around sneakily, trying to damage the Avatars with poison-like attacks.

The guy clearly thinks a lot of himself and sometimes he gets into clashes with other people; in one situation, he even attacks and kills a careless guy from Hard difficulty and multiple people from Normal.

It's all as if he is doing it on purpose just to make fun of us. Especially when in the challenge against BenDover's Avatar he just attacks challengers immediately, standing there and smiling while they scream in pain from his poisonous-like attack that seems to cause a lot of pain.

He gets outside and it's Tess who pacifies him, grabbing him by his neck and pulling him away like a dog while he tries to attack her.

Then, when thirty minutes later another challenge starts, he accepts it again and this time attacks other challengers right away.

While others expected that, his poisonous mist still seems to be difficult to deal with for some people and he is quick and hard to catch. Even though he's from Easy difficulty, he has some skill and is on the 11th floor, so there must have been some decent rewards.

Samuel, being a killjoy, kills him with his giant sword and the murderer appears outside, laughing when Gareth with a dark expression heads towards him.

"The system allows some changes, so I can make his heart stronger. The system might even consider it beneficial. But it will continue to get stronger and stronger and out of the tournament, it will explode in a week or two," Lily says with a surprisingly angry tone.

"We can try it," Sophie nods.

She, Min-Jae, and Biscuit are sitting on the roof together with me and Lily as we watch the event.

Sophie then offers, "I could give him [Geas] that will block his survival instinct. Or if the system allows it, I can make it so he decides to end it on his own." 

Only Min-Jae seems to be uncomfortable because of the conversation we’re having. "Is he really that bad?" he asks carefully.

"Imagine the worst you can and then double it. That's that man. I saw hints of his memories when we were checking if he really killed all these kids, women and men. He is the lowest of the low." Sophie, even though she usually only cares about her sister, seems to be determined to end him because of what she saw..

I, on the other hand, watch as a group of 100 people faces Biscuit.

Some of the Easy and Normal difficulty still remember him tearing them apart during the 1st event so they are careful. However, Biscuit has no restriction and even his grayed-out version looks cute. It even moves the same as the original, slowly wobbling on its short legs.

Avatar Biscuit doesn't hesitate that much, and two of purple orbs he creates turn bright white, shooting towards the group who try to block them.

Their attempt is good, and it even seems like they will be able to do it, but that's when tentacles form from Biscuit, extend to the length of a football field. They swing, turning into a blur and doing so, cleanly cut down a huge patch of trees in front of them.

When the tentacles crash against the barriers the group sets up, they either cut through smoothly, or by sheer force, multiple of them hitting the same spot.

Biscuit also uses a mental attack, shouting into their heads loudly, most of the challengers not skilled enough to block it fully.

The orbs explode, wiping out half of the group. A few mana projectiles snipe the hurt members and tentacles finish the rest.

"Good boy," I say to Biscuit and hand him a piece of deer jerky.

He tilts his head, a bit confused but quickly noms the offered treat. The defeated challengers meanwhile group outside together and some of them even start taking notes.

"Nat," Min-Jae interrupts me and I focus back on the conversation they’re having.

"Yes?"

"Should we really kill him?" he asks carefully. Even though he is on a way to become a bully, killing a real human seems to be something to disturb him deeply.

It's not that hard to understand why. Normal people would act like that. It's just some of us who are a bit twisted.

"I don't care," I stretch and yawn.

Even though the guy seems super annoying, it's interesting to watch others trying to figure out what to do with him.

In the past few hours, I also wonder if me helping Tess and doing things she asks me to help with is only because she is akin to the leader of the group and dealing with annoying things. Or maybe it's because I want to pay her back that way.

Every day I learn a bit more about myself, and I wonder if it's the same for others. Am I just that dumb and slowly discover these things, or is it normal for them as well?

Well, it doesn't matter that much. I already know what I will do. It's useless to hesitate any longer, and it just doesn't fit me. I just need to find the right time.

As for the murderer from Easy difficulty, I do not even bother remembering his name. The guy is just a small fry that will be dead soon. There is only one interesting thing that came out of this.

If he reaches the highest floor of the tutorial and clears it, will he get teleported to Earth?

Until now, we mostly ran with the theory that everyone will return at the same time and we will likely continue to think that. If he could return after clearing, then there would be people from the first round already on Earth by the time our 5th round got outside. 

Oh, or it could be that by around the time we got in no one from the first round was close to clearing the tutorial? If our theory is right then 1st round started 4 weeks before ours so they wouldn't have had a chance. 

"They are challenging Savant," Lily points out at the same time I notice it. On the screen, Savant's Avatar appears, in the same area as other Avatars. The same forest and a 15-minute countdown starts during which anyone can join.

It's the 1st out of three challenges, so not that many people from lower difficulties join. Savant being the winner of the 1st event and with nice added rewards, around 100 people from Hard join in.

"Would be funny if they killed him," Min-Jae notes with a smirk, "just imagine."

I'm glad group 4 seems to show dislike towards the guy the same as me. Well, not dislike, he just annoys me and it would be fun to see him struggle. Otherwise, I would say my relationship with him is neutral.

But I do not think they will be able to challenge him. The Avatar is someone who cleared the 3rd Floor alone. He dealt with the Last King and his warriors and then put the Saint to final rest. A bunch of people from Hard difficulty won't be enough.

When the challenge starts, it is as I thought. Savant's Avatar uses his domain, even though weaker than during the 1st event it is still capable of quickly killing weaker challengers just from mana radiation.

The domain doesn't use a lot of mana as I don't think he invested that much in that stat. Yet it's still capable of doing so. Something I will have to examine. It might be used to improve on my own Mana Domain.

Savant is even able to extend his domain around a huge area. When weaker challengers all die off and he starts shrinking it and targeting Hard difficulty, they finally locate him, destroying the tree he stands on.

That's when he shows that weird skill of his. He absorbs fire attacks, mana projectiles, ice cones, water blasts. It doesn't even seem to cause him that much trouble.

Smoothly and with an emotionless expression, the Avatar uses that single skill for defense as well as offense, turning their own skills against themselves. 

He does it very calculatingly, finding weaknesses and using the right attacks against people who are either incapable of defending or it drains them.

As for close-range combat, even third-floor Savant is quicker than any of them. He uses bursts of mana with perfect timing and amazing efficiency to move quicker only when it's required.

He pries off their own weapons, using them to attack or throw. He runs away, repositioning, and using the domain before continuing to absorb attacks and fight.

And all of this doesn't even seem difficult to him; the Avatar clearly is not going all out.

When I turn to the side, I notice Min-Jae's clenched fist. The boy must know it the same as I do. Even third floor Savant would be able to defeat him if Min-Jae got careless. 

It's not stats or levels only. Current Min-Jae is at a higher level than 3rd Floor Savant; his main skills are of higher level too, and passives too.

Yet, it's clear to see in the way Savant fights. The same as Tess, same as Tacita; Savant is clearly a cut above normal Hell difficulty enjoyers.

Well, the duels will be interesting, that is for sure.

Losing against Savant's Avatar, the challengers get out. Then, an hour later, they challenge my Avatar again.

At this point, plenty of them know from where I'm watching the event together with a few members of group 4, so some of them glance towards me while waiting to enter.

In the end, the group is bigger than the first one. A bit over 120 people from Hard difficulty, which is more than half of them, and plenty from Normal and Easy.

As before, my Avatar waits there for them after the countdown finishes and all of them get teleported inside. Just as before, my Avatar flies up, finding out how many opponents he faces. And as before, he fights the same. This version of my Avatar also starts setting the forest on fire.

This time they are prepared, a few groups fighting against fire. Either by trying to put it out, weaken it, or cut off its access to more fuel.

It partially works, much fewer trees set ablaze.

If it were me, I would probably destroy the forest just to get rid of everything the Avatar would try to set on fire. But that would require too much mana from them.

A group of sneakier people attacks while two groups attempt to distract the clone and two more try to defend against the flames.

Unsurprisingly, my Avatar sees through various sneaky bullshit skills. The hate for invisible enemies or anything with 'phantom' in the name shines brightly and I start liking the Avatar as he mercilessly murders the wannabe sneaky ones.

Good job, king! Go and get them!

"Fuck, he tore his head off."

"He killed him with his own leg."

Even some members of group 4 seem to appreciate the show.

Being pushed more, my Avatar absorbs the heat from all the flames he can reach, creating a fire orb that floats around him, and he keeps feeding it more thermal energy. His heart beats strongly.

Only when needed, he uses some of that energy to turn into strengthening. Blades oscillate, cutting through armors and barriers, and [Armament] blocks a lot of damage.

When someone tries to use sleeping gas, a poison attack, or blind the Avatar, he simply creates a helmet without a visor, relying solely on [Perception] for his awareness.

Then, the Avatar explodes the flame orb.

The challengers expect him to shoot it, warned by more mana-sensitive members who know the amount of energy it contains. They are constantly aware of that and being unable to cancel it they are getting ready for the Avatar to shoot it at them.

But nope, the Avatar explodes it right next to his own head after charging into the biggest surviving group.

The flames wash over the forest, setting it ablaze, turning the forest to ash and heating up the ground. There is a hint of gold in these flames and no one is capable of stopping them as they devour most of the group.

Then from the center of the explosion, my Avatar steps out. The helmet around his face is destroyed and half of his face is burned terribly, bone showing through.

All the flames die off, pulled towards him, as he ignores the wounds. Then he attacks again.

The rest of the challengers die in a minute.

A bit over five thousand shards get sent to my account. Of course, only after the system takes its ten percent cut. 

Anyway, Avatarthaniel did a good job once again.

"Who do you think would win? 3rd Floor me or Savi guy?" I ask.

"Neither of your Avatars went all out, so it's hard to say," Sophie wonders while observing the group that, straight out of the lost challenge, starts brainstorming.

"I would win," I say confidently.

"Famous last words," Sophie pokes. "I'm more curious how they will challenge you in the final attempt. Channeler said they plan to go against you with probably over a thousand challengers, even people from Easy are willing to gamble 5 shards to do so. The thought of you losing almost an arcane item's worth of shards is as painful as it's funny."

"It will be fine," I wave my hand.

***

The challenges continue to the point where a lot of people from Hell get challenged twice with the last challenge remaining.

I also realize that within 24 hours, they do not have time to challenge every Avatar three times. Since only one Avatar can be challenged at once, and there is a 15-minute waiting period followed by the time spent facing the Avatar. So they are a bit more selective. 

Every Avatar gets challenged at least once, but some of them do not get challenged a second time.

Tacita is a menace, killing the group that challenges her with such efficiency they get more scared of her than of anyone else, Biscuit included.

Isabella gets called a crazy kid.

Even challenged a second time they do not even find Tess as she snipes them from so far away.

Gareth endures combined attacks from dozens of members of Hard difficulty. His damage output isn't that high, but having a stronger body than them, he slowly takes them down, in the end not even tired and not a single wound on his body.

The twins and Min-Jae do well and win the first two challenges. The twins use [Sensory Deception], making challengers attack each other and moving at high speeds because of their [Haste]. They also do mental attacks that disrupt the casting of a lot of people.

Min-Jae uses [Gravity Well] and [Telekinesis] mainly. Small stones turning into bullets, easily killing people or forcing them to waste mana on keeping up defenses. The projectiles are much heavier than they should be, causing a surprising amount of damage.

But even without using skills too much, there is a clear difference between Hell and other difficulties. People from Hell move their mana quicker, skills are activated faster and are more powerful. Their body strengthening and senses are much better. Even people from Hard difficulty can't compare.

It's interesting as I expected the difference to be smaller, but in the end, maybe Hard difficulty people aren't that strong? Or are people from Hell just that much stronger?

Only three out of 31 people from Hell difficulty lose in the first two challenges and none of them from group 4. 

Overambitious restrictions will most likely end up being the cause of most of the losses.

Maya's Avatar, using armor and weapons made of mana, cuts through them. Her technique with weapons shows as she is restricted to the 4th Floor where she paid some people to give her lessons. She really looks like a knight she named herself after in Community.

Sophie, with the same 4th Floor restriction, is also scary. Even then, she was capable of getting into the head of The First One and holding him down. So what are some challengers from the tutorial in comparison?

Her Avatar is ice cold as it takes over people from Easy who start stabbing each other. Anyone who gets close to her freezes just for a moment she uses to stab them in one hit. Her [Manipulation] interrupts castings, causing attacks to explode in the group.

Those with weaker defenses die just from the pressure of her mental attacks. Then she easily manipulates mana around her, redirecting attacks thrown at her or disrupting them. She manipulates earth, the spikes made out of it stabbing through people. The branches of trees twist and bend around people. It's not the kind of combat that fits her the most, but she wins.

When around five hours remain, my Avatar gets challenged for the third time. The first Avatar out of all.

It's not because of Channeler and the disinformation campaign we did. No, the cause is as expected: simple greed.

It's like a lottery. You know you will most likely lose, but what if...?

I watch as the number of challengers grows until there are five seconds to start.

Challenge 3/3 - 5 seconds remaining

Number of challengers:

Easy - 1021

Normal - 755

Hard - 212

Collected entrance fees: 19,015 shards

Inside of the area my Avatar appears for the last time. The same empty expression as before and grayish in color. Against him close to two thousand people. 

The common area becomes creepily empty, just a few remaining people from lower difficulties and us from Hell. For the first time ever since the start of the tournament it becomes quiet.

The following slaughter takes barely two minutes.

***

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