The Challenger's Return: Rebirth of the Rainbow Mage

Otto's eyes glowed as he looked around.

The thin poison mist was omnipresent.

It blended into the forest perfectly, snaking its way into the air, floating upwards as high as Otto could detect.

The soil, the trees, the vines, the branches, the yellow and green plants…nothing was spared its pervasive breath.

Poison coated every surface of the forest.

Otto found it interesting that the plants survived contact with it.

The poison covering their leaves clearly wasn't affecting them at all.

Otto glanced toward Jackal who was still unconscious on his back.

He knew he needed to leave quickly, but…

Hehe.

Jackal would be fine for at least a short while.

Actually, as Otto took a second glance at Jackal, he realized that Jackal's face really did look perfectly fine at the moment.

There was no indication of poisoning at all.

Otto was slightly confused.

He examined Jackal's status.

[Jackal]

First Floor Denizen

Health: 225/225 (0.15/minute)

Poisoned: (-10.6/minute)

Stamina: 123/180 (1.3/minute)

Otto's brows lightly furrowed.

He hadn't cast [Lesser Heal] on Jackal for almost ten full minutes now.

Yet while Jackal's status bar indicated he was being poisoned and losing 10 points of health every minute, his health bar was full.

Maybe the poison worked differently when a contestant was unconscious?

It was worth watching out for, not that Otto intended to test it himself.

He had a perfectly fine sidekick who was already unconscious right next to him!

Otto shook his thoughts away.

Since Jackal was still fine, he could stay around here for a bit longer.

And do some experiments!

Otto's fingers steepled together as he thought.

His first idea was to find a way to somehow gather and condense this poison.

The poison used in this forest was quite rare.

Not only was it completely invisible to the naked eye, it emitted no smell and had no taste when inhaled.

It also contained a powerful numbing property as well as a agitating neurotoxin.

Each of these components separately were great strengths to a poison.

Added together, they created a terrifying variety.

A variety that was much higher in level than the poison from his water-element spells.

Otto would love to get his hands on it.

At the very least, it'd be worth it to try and collect.

Otto cast the spell [Wave].

[Wave]

Water Element

Level 10

Conjures a 20m by 5m wave that crashed onto an enemy. Damage varies.

Mana Cost: 230

Cast Time: Instant

No Cooldown

This was one of his unlimited spells, and Otto chose not to add much mana to his cast.

His idea was to use the water from the wave to 'suck up' the poison.

Then he could gather the water again using a magic array, and slowly figure out how to refine the poison within.

A large wave of water appeared in front of Otto and swept through the trees and plants in front of him, knocking them down and hydrating the thirsty soil.

But the results were not as Otto hoped.

Rather than 'collecting' the poison in the air and on the surfaces, the poison seemed to almost actively avoid Otto's wave of water.

Wherever the water went, the poison followed, swept away onto new surfaces.

But it didn't get 'soaked up' at all.

Otto drew a simple magic array on the ground.

A container made of rock appeared in front of him, as if out of thin air.

The water rushed back hurriedly and plopped itself straight into the rock tub.

Truly, while magic arrays were not invincible, they were almost endlessly versatile.

Otto checked the water inside the tub.

Not even a wisp of poison mist was visible.

He dipped a finger inside, then brought it up to his lips to taste.

Nothing.

No poison at all.

His status also confirmed it.

Otto wasn't frustrated, though.

Actually, the discovery made him rather excited.

Next, he conjured a water ball in front of him.

Then, he dumped the water all over his body.

And held it in place with his mental power.

Could Otto surround himself with a sort of water barrier to isolate himself from the poison?

If the poison didn't like water, as Otto had hypothesized, it also wouldn't breach his water barrier to enter his lungs.

Alas, reality proved that Otto had thought too much.

The poison didn't act differently at all when faced with his water barrier.

It directly snaked through his barrier and entered his lungs like usual.

Otto tried to take advantage of the time the poison mist was inside the water to capture the water, too.

But as if the poison had discovered his attempt, the mist never integrated with the water.

When the water moved, the mist immediately left the water, wandering aimlessly back into the surrounding night air.

Otto's brows rose.

Was this truly a poison?

It acted like some kind of microscopic living being when faced with a deadly predator.

But his status didn't lie.

It read 'poisoned,' not 'infected' or 'hosting a parasite' or some similarly awful thing.

Otto scratched his head.

He tried another experiment.

This time, he tried to use a magic array to collect the surrounding air, filter the poison out, then capture the poison alone.

But the magic array wasn't able to collect the poison.

Otto tried again, this time slightly tweaking the array.

No results.

Soon, Otto entered a whirlwind of activity, performing experiment after experiment to try and collect the poison.

Magic arrays were drawn and discarded one after the other, some in conjunction with basic spells.

Otto tried all the elements and everything else he could possibly think of.

He found that the poison burned normally, but bound itself to the air and burned with it.

It would be swept away no matter which magical element he used, but couldn't be collected and brought back.

After around an hour and almost thirty separate experiments, arrays were strewn across the ground like scrap paper.

Otto looked up at the sky, helplessness written all over his face.

No matter what he tried, he was unable to gather the poison.

He couldn't separate it from the air, and he couldn't gather the residue on the surfaces around him.

Otto let out a groan of frustration and dual cast an enormous [Gale Push] along with a heavy cast of [Purify] on himself in irritation.

[Gale Push]

Wind Element

Level 12

Conjures as burst of air moving at 80 m/s in front of caster to push enemies back.

Mana Cost: 55

Cast Time: Instant

No Cooldown

A huge wind tore through the trees in front of Otto.

Branches and tree trunks snapped, plants were uprooted, and soil seemed to fly away on its own.

It looked like a tornado had ripped through a tiny section of the woods.

Which in a way, was exactly what had happened.

But Otto stared with wide eyes at the scene.

Obviously, this was not his first time casting [Gale Push] at full power.

The devastation in front of him was no cause for alarm.

But the ever present mist had completely disappeared!

It had been blown away by Otto's spell!

Otto knew this poison was highly mobile, but for one cast of [Gale Push] to completely disperse it...

For an instant, the trees, plants, and soil in front of Otto were totally devoid of poison mist.

But as soon as it lasted, the scene was gone.

Almost immediately after the poison disappeared, it returned once again.

Mist poured out from the ground below Otto and soon covered the surroundings anew.

Otto almost didn't dare to blink as he carefully watched the scene in front of him.

He saw where the poison was coming from now.

Underground!

What was down there, releasing this poison?

Otto looked curiously at the soil beneath his feet before a groggy voice interrupted his reverie.

"Otto?"

Jackal looked around.

"Are we safe now?"

Otto covered his mouth and let out an "oops."

The noise from the gale had awoken Jackal.

Otto came to his senses.

He couldn't explore the underground right now.

They had already spent too long here while Otto was performing his 'experiments.'

He didn't intend to dally here any longer.

Without saying a word, Otto blinked behind Jackal to knock him out again.

Jackal's body tensed, instinctively preparing for a fight as he sensed Otto behind him.

Then, it slackened again when he realized Otto would have to knock him out again to get to the destination.

He inwardly bemoaned that Otto didn't even give him a warning this time!

Then, his vision turned black.

Otto peered down at the unconscious Jackal, and gave him another chop on the back of the head for good measure.

What a kind boss he was.

His eyes flitted to Jackal's face, scrutinizing the man to detect for any additional signs of poisoning.

Otto cast 'Analyze' on him, and only then breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Despite Jackal's 'poisoned' status slowly getting more serious, Jackal's health still hadn't dropped at all.

Still, Otto would need to move fast to head to the safe zone.

The underground could be explored tomorrow.

Otto used over 2,000 mana to cast a [Purify] on Jackal before throwing him over his shoulders like a rucksack, and taking off into the night.

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

Otto didn't meet a single other contestant on his journey to the safe zone.

Those still inside the poison zone were likely planning on waiting out the night with their 12,000+ point air purifiers.

That, or they had already died without even realizing they had been poisoned in the first place.

The rest had already arrived in the safe zone.

According to Jackal's 'helpful' spectator, there were 1,000 safe zones on the first night.

However, by the third night, this number would suddenly fall to 100.

Jackal and Otto were both lucky and unlucky in a way.

Unlucky in that they were probably the only two people who had to travel 485 kilometers to get to the nearest safe zone.

The game show wasn't trying to pit everyone.

Most contestants would have to travel no more than 50 to 100 kilometers.

But to say they were misfortunate wasn't quite true, either.

They were blessed in that the safe zone they had traveled to would remain even after the third night.

So the two of them wouldn't need to leave their zone due to poison once again.

All the coins in the red zones would also be moved to the safe zones with unknown means.

In other words, in the next few days, the safe zones would become increasingly crowded with arriving contestants.

Otto didn't even bother asking how Jackal's helper knew all of this.

He just silently noted that this person was likely a higher up of some sort in the outside world to be aware of all of this supposedly 'secret' information about the game.

An hour after Otto started running, his [Night Vision] still activated, he finally spotted an oddity.

Half a kilometer in front of him, the poison mist suddenly disappeared.

It was the delineation between the red zone and the safe zone.

He had finally arrived.

But Otto did not heedlessly charge in.

He first cast [Sense Life] in front of him.

Then, he sighed.

Of course there would be an ambush here.

Moreover, these folks weren't even courageous enough to enter the poison when trying to ambush him.

These Throskarts were hiding like cowards behind trees and from safe perches, planning to attack the two of them from afar.

Otto could even make out a few of their expressions.

The majority exposed pale, distraught faces.

Their teeth were clenched, their brows scrunched into a thin line.

These Throskarts clearly did not want to be here.

A few others sported disdainful expressions; one even occasionally went over to spit at the poisoned area as a show of 'bravery' to his colleagues.

Otto felt he could guess the sequence of events from this alone.

Some of his dearly beloved audience members had hired these weak Throskarts to ambush him here.

Not only that, they must have promised excellent rewards and also detailed his terrifying deeds at the same time.

Hence, the fear on most of their faces.

Of course, since he was not a Throskart, many die-hard 'patriots' still believed that they would be superior to a mere human no matter how terrifying his past feats.

Hence, the minority's disdain.

Otto looked at this scene silently and took a deep breath.

He swore in his heart that if his dearly beloved audience members appeared in front of him, he would definitely *not* personally wring their necks one by one until they snapped.

He was also absolutely *not* yearning to escape this game and massacre a few cities in a fit of pique, either.

Well, part of Otto's immense irritation was definitely the equally beloved poison's work.

He sighed again and dual cast a heavy [Purify] on himself and Jackal for what may have been the fiftieth time this night.

As his irritation subsided, he found himself focusing on the positive aspects.

Such as that a mound of walking points sent itself right to his doorstep.

Otto didn't bother waking Jackal.

This weak teammate would be harmful, not helpful, in this conflict.

Not that it even mattered.

The strength differential was simply too great.

Otto gently set Jackal down on the ground.

Then he gave a light stomp.

His figure shot off like a bullet.

The would-be attackers didn't even know he had arrived before he was upon them.

Otto didn't use any area of effect spells this time.

There were only around 180 or so attackers, so Otto decided to polish his moves a little.

It was the return of the combat style from his past life.

The precise, efficient method of killing with focused spells exactly when they were needed.

Of course, this didn't mean that Otto would be careless.

A fight was a fight. Until he killed his enemies, anything could happen.

Otto was prepared at any time to unleash his [Force Field] should he find himself in real danger.

He didn't give his attackers any time to react.

As soon as he entered their encirclement, he used his new ability, dual casting, to its fullest.

Wind blades shot off of his fingers without end, ripping through the crowded Throskarts.

He moved like a storm, never staying in one place for more than half of a second.

In this way, his figure wouldn't be caught...until it was too late.

SKKKLET

GLISHH

THUMP

Wet sounds could be heard throughout the small clearing, followed by small thumps.

It was the sound of heads rolling onto the floor after being cut off by Otto's wind blades.

Yet strangely, no cries of pain or anguish accompanied it.

The Throskarts didn't have time to react!

It wasn't until a full sixteen of their own perished by Otto's wind blades that a few of them pulled themselves together.

"It's the human!!!"

The shout seemed to awaken something in the Throskarts.

They quickly roused themselves from their stunned state.

Suddenly, Otto found himself surrounded by colorless spells.

He smirked.

It seemed they at least knew not to send archers after him.

...In truth, these mages weren't much better.

Right after the clear spells flew at Otto, a contingent of sixty warriors surrounded him to block off any chance of escape.

Otto's eyes glowed.

'Finally. Perhaps this will be a real fight, then.'

Otto ducked and weaved through the spell projectiles, moving his body into contortions humans from earth would find unbelievable, even grotesque.

The few spells he wasn't able to avoid he simply shot down with wind blades and fireballs of his own.

It was as if Otto had eyes in the back of his head.

No matter from which direction, he anticipated every single spell and accurately evaded or countered each one perfectly.

The mages who watched felt like they were dreaming.

They thought because of all the points he was purported to have, the human would just tank the damage and the warriors could stall him in a long battle of attrition to wear him down.

How come he hadn't been hit even once thus far?

As the warriors began to close their encirclement, the mages grew ever more coordinated in their attempts to hit Otto.

Often times, they cast spells that were targeted not to blast him, but to prevent him from dodging in a specific direction.

Otto indeed found it increasingly tough to evade using only his body.

But so what?

He immediately cast a [Wind Jump] and stepped on the air, adding another two dimensions to his dodging range, and thus the battle.

Suddenly, all the stratagems the mages were using were rendered null.

But Otto wasn't finished.

Time to counterattack!

He sported a cheshire-esque smile that revealed two sharp canine teeth.

Two words that would haunt these Throskarts for the rest of their lives, now measured in minutes, emerged from Otto's lips.

"[Enfeebling Darkness]"