The fight was intense.
Hammers and swords clashed with arrows and invisible magic projectiles.
Throskarts snuck behind the armies on both sides to ambush unsuspecting opponents.
Bodies fell with a SPLAT onto the slick, purplish ground.
The Throskarts currently fighting were unsurprisingly much stronger than Otto's usual targets.
Otto estimated that without the poison seriously weakening them, it would take him dozens of minutes to kill them all in one fell swoop.
Well, to be fair, if Otto really went all out, they could be wiped out in under ten.
But he didn't dare risk such a thing with eyes all over the forest.
A sense of danger had begun to simmer beneath the surface of Otto's mind.
Causing him to act with maximum caution.
Since he knew he was about to become a target.
Otto continued to watch the battle with a cold gaze.
As soon as the three armies began to clash, he had hurried back over from where he had been searching underground.
He also grew increasingly certain that the thief had taken to the air, even though he had yet to find his traces.
In the meantime, he wanted to make sure there was no opportunity for any of these Throskarts to get strong enough to revive, causing him to lose half their coins.
The facts proved that he was right to have been watching.
Within a few moments, the token of one particularly valiant warrior began to turn the same shade of green as Lefwyne's green token.
The man had already killed more than 20 Throskarts, and had probably received a supplementary gift from his audience as well.
As his body grew increasingly powerful, this warrior would quickly find that he was unmatched on the battlefield.
Otto took action with no delay.
He quickly cast an invisible [Winding Restrictions] on the man to keep him in place, before silently bombarding him with [Wind Blades] that were heavily supercharged with mana.
Even still, it took Otto a full 5 casts before the man's body slumped to the ground, dead, showcasing his powerful physique.
The man's death didn't cause a disturbance in the battlefield.
Most simply assumed he'd died to a stray mana projectile, or arrow.
Otto felt a surge of new points enter his body. He grinned.
After a minute, another Throskart mage showed signs of gaining too many points.
This time, Otto dual cast [Basic Target] before using an even stronger [Wind Blade].
It hit the pitiful mage directly in the heart.
His body fell to the ground with barely a sound.
Otto continued to repeat this pattern another six times, without sparing a single strong enemy on either side of the battle.
His own points steadily rose, even if he could only harvest half the total gains from afar.
But he wasn't worried.
He would grab them all soon enough.
Almost 30 kilometers away, Jacek finally descended from the sky.
He could be said to have chosen an opportune moment, as Otto was still watching the battlefront like a hawk, focused on any burgeoning signs of a breakthrough.
But at the moment, Jacek's emotions were in chaos. Panic was at the forefront of his mind.
His eyes were narrowed as he scrutinized his surroundings for the tenth time in two minutes. He didn't understand why he couldn't calm down.
Every slight movement of the wind or in the trees caused him to jump, stoking his anxiety.
And seeing no sign of his boss who had promised to pick him up only exacerbated his fear.
His sanity rested precariously on a hair trigger, his body poised to attack at even the slightest unusual noise.
Jacek still carried the 100,000 point coin in the palm of his hand.
He didn't dare to use it, out of both loyalty and fear for the man behind the curtain.
Though the man tended to speak kindly to his subordinates, Jacek himself understood how cruel he could be when angered.
Jacek's footsteps sounded softly as he stepped forward.
The dome was still contracting. Even now, the edge was visibly approaching.
Jacek didn't dare to imagine what would happen should he be forced to make contact.
His heart was in his throat.
He had a sudden inclination to start manually digging into the ground to try and go under the dome.
His mind urged to him to escape, immediately! But he didn't act on it, desperately holding on to his final sprig of sanity.
Jacek eventually crept his way over to a particularly dense copse of trees.
He hid there for a while before calling his boss using their secret method.
But there was no answer on the other end.
Jacek wasn't aware that the poison was rapidly accumulating throughout his system.
It magnified every negative emotion he was feeling.
Otherwise, his composure wouldn't have dropped so easily, especially since he hadn't yet detected the footsteps indicative of an actual pursuer.
Still, stewing in his anxiety, Jacek's last thread of reason began to fray.
Every rustle of leaves became knives cutting into his ears, gusts of wind whispering about the imminent danger surrounding him.
Jacek's eyes gradually turned red.
He finally left the copse of trees and started to run. His footfalls fell heavily on the ground.
******************************************************************
Otto flew into the air as the battle began to dwindle in intensity.
Suddenly, his keen hearing caught the whisper of a sound from below.
It came from the opposite direction of the battle.
Otto swooped downwards to hear it more closely.
It was the sound of footsteps.
Hurried, loud footsteps with a wide stride suggestive of running.
But when Otto used [Sense Life], he didn't catch a reaction.
His lips curved upward.
Indeed, the poison and the mental pressure were beginning to reveal their effects.
Otto flew over at his fastest speed, and secretly began to tail the invisible footsteps quietly.
It didn't take more than a minute for his sharp senses to pinpoint the thief's position from the sound of his footfalls alone.
He started to run straight at the footsteps, keeping his stride light and relaxed, making almost no sound whatsoever.
His face contorted into a ferocious, demonic expression, and Otto let go of his [Shadow Stealth] to add to the mental pressure.
Jacek, in his panic, indeed heard him.
He turned around to find a demonic face grinning while running straight at him.
A loud cry instinctively erupted from his mouth,
"Ahhh! Demon!! Boss!"
Still, there was no answer, and the demon drew ever closer.
Jacek's features revealed his terror as his last shred of rationality entirely collapsed.
But right as he was about to give up on his boss and use the 100,000 point coin to ensure his own survival, his 'undying loyalty' all but forgotten under the weight of his sheer panic, a fire erupted on his back.
His body seriously weakened by the invading poison, Jacek's final screams were stifled as his body rapidly turned to ash.
Otto smirked.
And went over to pick up the 100,000 point coin that had fallen in his wake.
That….had been easier than he'd expected it to be.
Now, all he had to do was to take care of the remaining Throskarts…
********************************************************************************
Lefwyne and Edward walked out of the valley with their remaining subordinates, which combined did not number more than 100.
Their faces were dark, their emotions growing ever more agitated.
This time, they fully realized that they'd been tricked.
It was doubtful the 'thief' they were chasing even had the coin in the first place.
Regardless, said 'thief' had now almost definitely escaped into the unknown forest.
The two of them no longer had any idea of where to go.
They glared at each other with ferocity.
Both suddenly felt that the other was an eyesore.
But just when yet another fight was about to break out, Lefwyne seemed to think of something.
His eyes widened, hiding a tiny sliver of fear that crept its way into his expression.
Without saying a word, he hastily gathered his subordinates, turned, and ran.
Edward merely sneered in his direction, wondering how such a coward had been able to become a ranked contestant.
He decided to take a quick rest on a nearby tree stump. A few minutes passed as he closed his eyes.
But soon, he also felt something off. Why were his surroundings so noisy?
He looked around him, and finally revealed an expression of alarm.
Since when had his subordinates started fighting each other? Why hadn't he noticed at all?
He was now surrounded by a mere twenty remaining men, and even they were glaring at each other, murder in their eyes.
'Poison!'
He cursed the scoundrel Lefwyne for not warning him earlier, and hastily bought himself an expensive air purifier before bringing his subordinates along to escape at full speed.
He had no energy to spare even a thought for the 100,000 point coin.
Lingering fear filled his heart.
If he hadn't noticed earlier…wouldn't he have died a dog's death in that clearing?
But his relief didn't last long.
A figure appeared in front of him, descending down from the sky with glittering wings.
He and the twenty others entered a guarded state.
But Otto didn't even seem to notice.
He revealed a smirk, and leisurely walked over.
"The second group?"
Edward's eyebrows rose. A powerful urge to escape filled his mind.
But his fear clouded his reason, and he hesitated for a second.
Otto snapped his fingers.
The ground around them suddenly turned into a swamp, Otto hovering a few inches off the ground.
Edward was too late.
"Don't worry," Otto whispered,
"One is already dead."
He casually tossed Lefwyne's head into the swamp. It stuck like glue, pointing up at Edward.
The expression of terror on Lefwyne's face was fully visible.
Edward paled.
"And the others will soon follow."
He still had to get details about the next faction's so-called 'boss,' after all.
Otto smirked before he cast a spell.
Edward's vision went black.
Otto gazed dispassionately at the coins surrounding his corpse.
Perhaps if the poison hadn't already mangled the man's innards, leaving his health at a measly 114 points, he would have been much harder to kill.
But…it was also fine like this.
Otto whistled as he made short work of the other Throskarts.
His token was now deep blue, on the verge of turning purple, and there was one large group of Throskarts left to kill.
Otto's figure slowly disappeared into the forest.
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