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—!

force into my attack. The moment my hand smacked against the shield,

Swoooosh—!

ground around us

I jumped up and did a backflip, distancing myself from

"Was that it?"

shield, John looked at me. Confusion

strength of your

again questioned. The edges of

I touched

'Is one enough?'

it would take one

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.

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

Bang—

ground, my body shot toward the right side and

Smack—!

out between the point of contact between

two

time limit was only ten seconds,

opponent's

done

John halted his steps. Furrowing his brows tightly, he

know what you

if I

SHUUUUA—!

his shield glowed, and a

enough time to scream before his whole body

a

"...Oh shit."

engulfing John grew, my eyes

a lot stronger than

head in Melissa's direction, I found her

a notepad in front of her, she scribbled a bunch of stuff on it. Next to her,

her head, our eyes met and I

'What did I expect?'

"What's going on here?"

a familiar

familiar figure rushing in our direction. Long black hair,

Swoooosh—!

Donna waved her hand and the flames engulfing

"Haaa..haaa..."

ground. His breathing was extremely rough, and a part of his hair was burnt. Fortunately, that

in relief once I saw

specialized in

trouble. It wouldn't be to the extent of me getting

"Did you do this?"

of my thoughts was an airy voice. Turning my head, my eyes interlocked with Donna's. She had an icy glare on her face as she

Gulp—!

by Donna, I swallowed a mouthful of saliva. She may have not been releasing any pressure,

it wasn't anything too

out wasn't anything I wasn't used to

have

"Huuuu..."

breath and lowering my head, I

'Monarch's indifference.'

***

of days and Donna was supposed to give a roundup to the participants about who their opponents were and how the structure of

as she was about to arrive at the residence, she suddenly saw

she could also hear a muffled

she dashed in the direction of where the noise

that she saw two males fighting against each other. One seemed to be fine, while

hand and quickly removed the flames away from

features of a young man close to

'John Berson.'

Donna instantly recognized him.

the few people she paid close attention to due to his outstanding

was okay, she turned to face

soon as her

never 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?"