Martial Online.

Near Amaterasu, Crow Forest.

A ruined temple stood somewhere in the dimly lit forest, its buildings covered in roots and moss. It had a stone tablet nailed to one of the walls that was half-crumbled.

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[The Leaderboard of White Rock Temple]

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At the yard of the crumbled temple, armored and well-equipped players examined the temple's ruined buildings. They weren't going inside, and so far, they had no intention of doing so.

A trio of players sat on top of a fallen rock beam and observed other players with a keen eye.

"As expected, everyone is now going for this trial because of the tournament." Anthon, a handsome black-haired young man, looked at the scene with a frown.

Cauldron and Ignite, his two good friends, were throwing small pebbles at the small circle on the ground. The small circle was obviously drawn by a wooden stick, and there was a black pebble in the middle of it.

Whoever lands their pebbles closer to the black pebble wins.

Cauldron flicked the small pebble, and it landed inside the small circle but bounced slightly to miss the black pebble by a small margin.

Ignite closed his left eye and gently tossed the small pebble over to the black pebble. It landed right beside the black pebble, gracing its side.

"Shit." Cauldron rolled his eyes.

"Hah, my victory. Pay up!" Ignite smugly shouted.

Cauldron sighed and gave him 1000 silver coins.

They were waiting for anything to happen in the trial of White Rock. It was discovered one week ago, but it hadn't been successfully completed.

It was the hardest trial so far, but because of the tournament, players who were aware of the White Rock trial went to try their luck in it as they expected there to be nice rewards after the completion.

"See, I would be the better partner for the tournament!" Ignite smugly said to Anthon. "I won again."

Cauldron rolled his eyes. "Fine, want to do this properly and not some childish minigame? Let's fight properly to see who gets to be Anthon's partner for the tournament. The loser has to find another one."

"Hmph, I am fine with that." As Ignite grinned, his small cat-like fangs showed, making him look adorable.

Anthon chuckled and looked at them amusingly. "I'll be the ref. Whoever gets hit first loses."

Cauldron flexed his muscles, removed his coat, and sheathed his longsword as he stood up.

Ignite pulled out his small daggers and jumped up energetically, hopping like a bunny. 

All the other players, standing around the temple, saw that something was going on with them and focused their attention on them with a curious gaze.

"Well then, Kingslayer." Ignite chuckled in a childish manner. "I've always wondered who would win between us."

"Hmph." Cauldron coldly pointed his sword at him and narrowed his eyes. "You might be more powerful than me when fighting in close spaces, but in open battle, you are no match for me."

"We'll see about that." Ignite lowered his stance like a cat, readying himself for a strike.

Anthon pulled out a wrinkly-looking handkerchief from his breast pocket and threw it up into the air. It slowly floated back to the ground and soon landed on the rocky ground.

As the handkerchief landed on the ground, Ignite dashed forth like a bolt of lightning and crossed his daggers before delivering an X-shaped slash across the air.

"Haaa!" Cauldron smashed his longsword down and blocked the incoming daggers with golden sparks flying about.

Ignite's knees slightly buckled down under the heavy strike. He wasn't anywhere near Cauldron's physical strength, but he was very confident in his speed.

He lowered his stance further and dropped down to do a perfect split. Following that, he did a windmill kick and swept Cauldron from his feet.

Cauldron's eyes shifted from ground-level, and he suddenly saw the world turning upside down. He quickly realized what had happened and prepared for the rough landing.

As he fell down on his back, Ignite brought down his daggers, but Cauldron quickly placed the longsword as a block, blocking the two deadly daggers, and kicked Ignite away.

Ignite crossed his arms in front of his body and blocked the kick, but he was sent flying back a few meters, and his back crashed against a crumbling wall.

Gasp~

The watching players realized that this fight wasn't some minor skirmish. It was a battle between two highly skilled individuals.

"The Holy Cross!" Cauldron first slashed down, then slashed sideways, creating a cross-shaped afterimage of slashes in front of him.

The cross-shaped sword slash flew across the air at blitzering speed.

"Cat Leap!" Ignite tapped his foot against the ground for a split second and then leaped high into the air at insane speed. It was hard to see him even move.

The cross-shaped sword slash smashed through the crumbling wall, finishing the destruction of the wall, and flew a little bit further towards another nearly-crumbled building.

As the cross-shaped slash smashed through the building, the building exploded, and pieces of white rock flew throughout the air.

Ignite discreetly landed behind Cauldron and attempted to stab into his neck, but a hand grabbed him by his wrist.

Cauldron glanced at his eyes and quickly dodged the second dagger. He stabbed his longsword towards Ignite's waist, wanting to skewer him like a piece of kebab.

"Argh!" Ignite swung his arm down, smashed the dagger against the longsword's thick blade, and barely managed to deflect it before it graced his waist.

If it had landed on his body, this would've been his loss.

Ignite quickly leaped off the ground, wrapped his legs around Cauldron's head, and put him in a tight chokehold.

Cauldron's eyes bulged, and he struggled to breathe. He realized that he was in a bad position and felt like a fool for allowing Ignite to get so close to him.

He tightly grabbed Ignite's wrist and tried to shake him off, but he didn't loosen his chokehold, and instead it grew tighter.

'I-I am about to pass out!' Cauldron's eyes widened in shock, and the darkness started to fill his vision.

"Grrr!" Ignite raised his dagger and stabbed it towards Cauldron's face, using his current peril to finish this fight without waiting for him to pass out.

Anthon watched intensely, the corner of his lips rising up into a smile.

Cauldron's eyes slammed open, and he released an inhuman-sounding scream.

"Graaaah!" He grabbed the dagger-wielding hand by the wrist and stabbed it into Ignite's thigh.

"Ah!" Ignite's eyes widened in shock, and he lost the feeling on his legs, allowing Cauldron to shake him off.

Ignite crashed to the ground and looked at his dagger, which was stabbed inside his thigh. 

He let out a frustrated groan and didn't stand up, as this meant it was his loss because he got injured first.

"Whoo… whoo…" Cauldron breathed heavily, his face covered in sweat, and he rubbed his neck, which had a large red mark.

"Good job, Cal." Anthon clapped his hands as he approached him. "I guess we are partners for the tournament!"

"Nn." Cauldron nodded slightly and glanced at Ignite with a cold look. "I guess I won, huh."

"Haha, I should've known you were a sore winner!" Ignite laughed and sheathed his daggers. "But I admit my loss this time!"

"Ignite, any ideas who you will partner up with?" Anthon asked curiously.

"Hmm, not sure~" Ignite shrugged his shoulders. "I'll find someone, and then I'll beat you two."

"Hmph." Cauldron scoffed and then saw some motion happening near the end of the temple, where there was a small entrance going inside one of the intact buildings.

"Oh, the first ones are going."

"Finally." Anthon rubbed his neck. "Let's do this trial."