"Would you look at that! A new entry managed to break their way into the top 100 with a combo kill! An ingenious move there, using the gift checkpoint as a high ground and striking once the reward spawned in!" the Demonic Servant yells out to all that are listening, pointing at the massive spiked Soul Weapon wrapped in red fiery aura breaking through three Premium Grade 1st Class avatars.
The Demon zooms in further, showing my face and entry number at slot 97 on the leaderboards, and yells out again with an excited tone.
"And it's a human! I don't think we've ever seen one of those with a greater energy form before... Maybe you're all looking at a future main event challenger—"
Its voice breaks off, and the displays of my ruthless attack turn off from the screen at the same time, and a massive Mammoth lets out a roar in its place, fending off half a dozen other 1st Class Lords at once, all in the top 100.
"Onto bigger news! The Rampaging Mammoth has finally stopped, we're seeing it face opponents it can't kill in a single attack for the first time! Remember everyone, placing bets on entries is still available until the main event starts. The live odds are here!"
More visuals of this battle raging on are shown, and the display screen is split to show options to bet on other entries in the top 100. There is a separate popup window of the Admin's personal bets on myself and Ren already selected as max.
"Looks like I'm already old news..." I send to the admin through a telepathy link in a sarcastic tone.
A few seconds of the Mammoths battle passes, then the point of view in this spectate feed is swapped again with another battle of a familiar Berserker Giant I saw earlier battling a spider, now facing off against a horde of ten black serpents that look like the one I just finished off.
Its massive blade slices through all of them in a single circular swinging motion, pushing it up to the number 1 slot on the leaderboards with over 3,000 points already.
I let out a relieved sigh, looking at the notification in my own mind, showing that there are still over 48 minutes left, so I have plenty of time. My display may have been impressive, but there are still many more things watchers have their eyes on for now—I'm not the main spectacle.
I slowly float around in circles, deactivating my greater form and letting Ren absorb all of the leftover residue from this battle above the lava pits, then keep moving onward toward the next pillar far off in my vision.
The contact of this elf's chest on my back grows hot, as the increased ether absorbed this time has started some kind of reaction. My own body is growing hotter too, as activating my greater form in that battle certainly sped up the buildup of Noble Vibrations beneath my 1st seal.
I take a few deep breaths to get it under control, but as I fly over to the next biome, and start soaring over sand dunes, there is still a buzzing sound in my ear no matter what I do.
Though, my attention moves away from this annoying noise once I watch the white pillar of light I'm headed toward fade away before my eyes...
I squint, and enhance my vision, but there's no sign of any other Lords nearby to trigger it.
Not wanting to waste more time, I pivot and change my flight path to enter a mountainous forest region a few hundred kilometers away next, where the nearest checkpoint lies again.
Though, once I get within range to start reading its information, it fades away too.
I look around, expecting some invisible monster to attack me, but it never comes.
A region full of translucent crystalline rocks is straight ahead with another pillar, and a volcanic region mostly filled with black mountains is off to my right. Both have more pillars in them as well... so I dart forward to see which one will be easier to claim.
It's not like whatever is interfering can be at both places at once.
However, a minute later, once I'm directly in the center of both, they fade away at the exact same time.
My gaze tightens, and I look to the sky. "Someone's messing with me..." I murmur.
In the Admin's live spectate feed, I watch myself fall far below the top 100 mark in these few minutes that pass, as other monsters are more competitive, and the prize pools and odds constantly shift on the screen. The Demonic Servant looks very lively, commenting on more of the strongest monster battles.
It all makes sense in this moment—I've flown too far away from the action. It may seem like randomized rewards, but in reality the only rewards I'll get are for putting on a show.
There are certainly Demonic Servants behind the scenes manipulating this event in realtime to make it more entertaining.
"Fine... if it's a show you want, I'll give it to you..."
I change direction entirely, and begin doing some mental calculations, watching the live feeds of many monsters fighting, and pinpointing explosions in the background of other scenes.
It allows me to begin painting a mental picture of many new biomes, and a mapping of this whole arena.
"I think you'll do... Let's see what kind of reward I get for taking out a beast in the top 10," I whisper while looking off over a dense swampland biome, but my gaze is staring over a dozen zones away.
I pick up my speed, and let trails of fire and ether linger behind me.
A few more minutes pass, and explosions and clashing auras of other entries fly by above, below, and beside me.
I block a few attacks with the swing of my new spiked soul weapon, but don't engage in any fights. The majority of Lords around here still have less than 50 points, and the occasional one over a hundred is occupied fighting others.
My vision stays pointed forward, at a massive cloud of dust on the horizon.
I can see it with my real eyes, and also in the spectate view of the Admin in my mind.
A grin grows on my face as the greater form of this beast sits at over a kilometer wide, made of a pure maroon-colored light, giving off natural intimidation that can be felt from multiple biomes away.
I activate my own greater form again, glowing crimson and charging my ball and chain with fire while letting out a loud laugh, and flying through the now dozen other 1st Class Lords trying to kill this beast.
The Mammoth I've been seeing on the big screen over and over is still at it, at number 9 on the leaderboards now with 1,415 points.
I don't hold back and swing my weapons across my body at its head, plunging down toward it, and the beast lets out a roar that shakes the whole dry and rocky region, turning its head with speed I wasn't expecting from an unintelligent monster this size.
The flaming spiked ball hits one of its massive greater form's white curved tusks, and we're caught in a standstill, sending shockwaves through the air, and making the Demonic Servant viewing the match scream with excitement.
"The human is back! It looks like it wasn't a fluke! He's chosen on his own to face the undefeated Mammoth! Will it be the end of him like all others that challenged it so far, or will this Lower Race pull off another miracle?"
I grit my teeth at the announcer's words, and am blown backward by the force of my exchange with this massive woolly mammoth.
Its true body inside its greater form looks to be over 40 meters long, larger than my entire energy form already...
Now that I think of it, I even heard other Admins talking about mammoths in the past... Its ether is far more refined and powerful than any other monster within my current perception. It feels very similar to the strength of the Warlords back on Ellipsia before their new avatar upgrades.
Whatever this beast is, it's certainly not using only the provided premium grade ether commands. The rage filled aura and animalistic roar coming from its open mouth as I fly backward through the air tells me this refined ether it's using is leaking out from its avatar on instinct alone...
An even wider grin shows on my face as I watch its greater form tear up a few hundred meters' worth of rocky land behind it, as the force from my hit sent it moving back as well.
The announcer's eyes widen, and he takes advantage of this by hyping up the crowd further.
The seats are still over 90% empty, but I can see some movement in them now, as they're getting a bit excited.
However, as I gain my footing in the air again, and decide whether to use more ether in my next strike, or pull a small amount of stats to boost my strength, a familiar white pillar forms between myself and the mammoth that just regained its footing and has started to charge my way.
[Challenge Checkpoint!]
[Enter the pillar to join the challenge!]
[0/15 Slots Filled.]
'This is clearly Admin interference again... no way a checkpoint naturally formed in the middle of our clash...' I think to myself while reading the descriptions and text boxes that popup in my mind.
At the same time, I see even more trouble approaching out of the corners of my vision. The dozen 1st Class monsters that were hunting this mammoth before now look at this situation with even brighter gleams in their eyes, as they see me as the perfect bait to distract this beast and take the points it's holding for themselves...
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Author's Note:
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Thanks for reading:)
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