The Author's POV

"Huuup!"

Jumping down from the building and softly landing on the ground, I walked over to Hein.

"You okay?"

"…Yeah."

He replied, his eyes darting all over the shield. My brows furrowed at his actions.

"What's wrong?"

"...Nothing."

Taking out a handkerchief, he slowly wiped away the dirt that was on his shield.

A sigh escaped from my lips once I saw this. Ever since Henlour, he had always been acting up like that whenever his shield got dirty. I didn't even know how to react at this point.

That aside, apart from minor dust on his body and shield, he truly did look fine.

"We'll talk more later. For now, step back."

"Wai—"

Cutting him off, I extended my hand and turned my head.

"Don't worry, I'm only borrowing him. You can fight him later."

My goal was to test the magic cards. I wasn't going to kill him. Hein could easily fight against him in the future. Plus, at the moment John was still stronger than Hein by one minor rank.

"…fine."

What I said seemed to have some effect on Hein who eventually stepped back. I nodded in satisfaction.

Looks like he still had some respect for me.

"You still didn't answer me, who are you?"

John's voice rang from behind as a powerful wave of mana sprung from his body.

Ignoring him, lowering my head, I stared at the cards in my hand.

'Fireball, Ice wall, quake, and blind.'

They were the spells enchrypted in the magic cards. They were quite the simple spells, but they were still quite powerful. At least, they were powerful enough to deal with the person in front of me.

The reason why Melissa chose to encrypt these spells was because the others were just too complicated for her current level of development.

Lifting my head and staring at the place which was surrounded by people, I looked back at John.

"Looks like a big crowd has formed around us."

"That's good."

John lowered his body and took out his shield. He took a stance that looked similar to that of Hein. But, if I had to say, It was a bit more refined. Not sure if it was a bit more efficient though.

"I'll keep you in check until the others come. See how you can explain the fact that you are here despite not being one of the people participating."

I rolled my eyes at his words.

Honestly, if I explained to him properly, I could resolve this whole conflict, but…why would I?

Had the perfect testing material right in front of me. Why would I miss such a good opportunity?

Turning my head, I looked at Hein and softly muttered.

"Pay close attention."

Bang—!

Then, pressing my foot onto the ground, I shot in John's direction. Within a couple of seconds, I was already before him.

"Huuup!"

Reacting to my sudden burst of speed, taking a step forward, the ground beneath John cracked apart and small pieces of rock shot upwards.

Dodging the pieces of rock, I swiftly arrived before him. As I arrived before me, in my view, all I saw was a massive shield. It looked as though I was facing a massive tortoise.

Quite frankly, despite my experience, I saw no openings. Still, I wasn't disheartened by this.

'Let's see.'

Taking out the 'fireball' magic card, I channeled my mana into it. Then, turning my body sideways, I skid before the shield and smacked the card right on it.

Smack—!

him to notice that I had attached the card to his shield, I put quite a bit of force into my attack. The moment my hand smacked

Swoooosh—!

the ground around us

foot on the shield, I jumped up

"Was that it?"

shield, John looked at me. Confusion flashed

that the strength of

edges of his lips

saying anything, I touched my

'Is one enough?'

Melissa told me, it would take one second and a half to activate

also delay the activation of the card by ten more seconds by channeling my mana inside of a specific area that would delay the flow. This was a feature that I suggested to her

Glad she listened.

"Try attacking again."

John taunted.

out another magic card and once again dashed in his direction. The speed at which I was going was the

Bang—

ground, my body shot toward the right side and

Smack—!

out between the point of contact between my

think two is

Since the time limit was only ten seconds, there wasn't enough

opponent's strength, this

done

John halted his steps. Furrowing his brows tightly, he glared in

don't know what you just

be careful if I

SHUUUUA—!

he could even finish his sentence, his shield glowed, and a bright flame suddenly

before his whole

I could hear a small scream

"...Oh shit."

seconds ticked, and the flames engulfing

a lot stronger than

direction, I found her looking at John's burning

bunch of stuff

eyes

'What did I expect?'

"What's going on here?"

a

figure rushing in our direction. Long black

Swoooosh—!

hand and

"Haaa..haaa..."

the flames disappeared, John knelt down on the ground. His breathing was extremely rough, and a part of his hair was burnt. Fortunately, that was the extent of his

in relief

specialized in

he truly been heavily injured, I would've found myself in a bit of trouble. It wouldn't be to the extent of me getting kicked out by the

"Did you do this?"

interlocked with Donna's.

Gulp—!

at by Donna, I swallowed a mouthful of saliva. She may have not been releasing any pressure, but the aura that her body gave off was

it wasn't

gave out wasn't anything I wasn't used to as I quickly

have

"Huuuu..."

breath and lowering my head, I muttered inside of

'Monarch's indifference.'

***

give a roundup to the participants about who their opponents were and

the residence,

she could also hear

the direction of where

then that she saw two males fighting against each other. One seemed to be fine, while the other was completely engulfed in

and quickly removed the flames away

features of a young

'John Berson.'

Donna instantly recognized him.

was one of the few people she paid close attention to

sure that he was okay, she turned to face the perpetrator

soon as her eyes laid

seen him

memorized the faces of all the five hundred participants, and yet, the face before her was not someone on that

Instantly she became warier.

"Who are you?"