The main problem with this obstacle is the swamp. He can't move very well in the swamp, so he will encounter problems once he steps into the swamp.
Using the diamond physique will only ensure that the crocodiles don't kill him. It won't stop them from dragging him down to the bottom of the swamp.
Mind Overseer might be able to repel the crocodiles, but it won't stop his heavy body from sinking to the bottom of the swamp. Seeing as he doesn't know how deep the swamp is, sinking is a problem that he should try to avoid.
He might be able to keep himself alive for a while longer underneath the swamp by siphoning the life force of the crocodiles, but again, it won't solve his main problem.
"For all I know, once I get into that black swamp, I won't be able to get out."
The whole swamp is black. The warning from his extraordinary perception ability is clear. Whatever he does, he shouldn't enter the swamp.
The easiest solution is to fly over the swamp. He can't do that, but he can run over it with the full speed of Juggernaut's Force or use Spatial Anchor to cross it.
He will be able to pass the obstacle that way. As for killing the crocodiles in the swamp, that is a more difficult thing to achieve.
It is ironic that he can kill the crocodiles easily with Life Siphon but crossing the swamp is much difficult for him.
It is something he can do, but if he uses Juggernaut's Force or Spatial Anchor to cross the swamp, it will expose the fact that he has more than one ability. That will expose Augustus as a paragon.
Once that happens, many demigods will come after Augustus. If he uses the diamond physique too, that will link him to his Diamond Dollar identity.
At any other time, exposing his identity as the paragon is a risk he might consider. But Icon is hunting him currently. Adding demigods on top of those who want to kill him is not a good idea.
Currently, Icon can't get to him at the core of the world. But that might not be the case with demigods.
He doesn't know exactly what demigods are capable of. He just doesn't have enough information that makes exposing his identity not seem suicidal.
He thought to himself, "Game points or my life."
On the one hand is giving up here. On the other hand, is Icon and Raijin hunting him? There will also be other demigods racing to catch him.
He thought of what had happened last time Icon was almost captured. Then he thought of Raijin, who is essentially a demigod version of Icon and other supers combined, coming after him.
"Maybe next time. Maybe next time."
He decided to give up then. He has cleared 43 obstacles in nearly 30 minutes and has earned 3,215 game points.
Of those 3,215 game points, 2,338 were earned by passing or destroying obstacles. The remaining 877 game points were earned by increasing the difficulty of others' obstacles.
His gambling was not all success, though. He had lost nearly 500 game points because of two failed bets.
He had bet on the bees in Evil Eye's track. He increased their difficulty so that she would be eliminated and he would gain her game points. But she gave up.
She gave up right after he thought she couldn't hold on anymore. Apparently, she knew that she couldn't hold on anymore too. So she surrendered, which left his investment hanging in the void.
He also lost when he bet against Mecha Man and the obstacle of the invisible wind blades. He thought for sure that a completely invisible enemy would be able to bring Mecha Man down.
He knows that Mecha Man is very resourceful. But if he doesn't see his enemy, he shouldn't know how to defeat it.
He was counting on Mecha Man having a poor perception. With the wind blades sharpened because of his investment of game points, a slight mistake would cost Mecha Man's life.
He was right to think that. But where he went wrong was that Mecha Man could summon special goggles to help him identify what the obstacle was.
Then Mecha Man summoned a nitrogen spray gun and froze the wind blades. This earned him the reward for the obstacle and Kelvin's investment in it.
That was a big loss to him. It was much bigger than his loss to Evil Eye. He stopped gambling after that because only he and Mecha Man were on the track, and he didn't want to lose money anymore.
After reviewing all that he has earned, he said, "All in all, it is not a bad game. I earned this much in 30 minutes. If only every game was like this."
Unfortunately, he can't get his wish. Advancement games are the best opportunity to earn game points. Most of the time, players rarely earn 100 game points, no matter how well they perform.
The next time he will encounter something like this will have to be in the next advancement game. That is 19 games away. He doesn't plan to wait that long.
He was thinking about his plans when his figure disappeared from the tracks.
The Black Crow shouted, "It seems even the great Augustus has finally reached his limit. Let's give him a round of applause, everyone."
Not everyone clapped and cheered for him. But most of the audience did so. It was because they were impressed with his performance.
Even those that hated him were impressed. It helped that they didn't know that he killed some people by gambling against them.
Soon every participant that passed the game appeared on the platform beneath the moderator. They were 20 in number. The rest were those who surrendered, died, or didn't have enough game points to pass the game.
The Black Crow began asking them questions. It interviewed them from the 20th to the first.
It wanted to know their thoughts and opinions about some matters. But what it asked about the most was their opinion of Augustus.
Eventually the black crow reached Mecha Man. It asked him, "What do you think of Augustus?"
Mecha Man sighed and ruffled his hair before replying.
He said, "Augustus is tenacious, hardy, and possesses a great sense of judgment. I never once saw him struggle to pass. He was always able to do what needed to be done to pass or destroy an obstacle. And when it reached the turn where he couldn't pass, he knew to surrender immediately instead of risking his life."
"I still don't know why he gave up on the 44th obstacle. But I am sure that it has to be pretty serious for him to give up on it. It has to be because I have seen him walk through a giant slime of acid."
Mecha Man chuckled after saying so. Then he glanced at Augustus.
The Black Crow said, "I'm sure everyone would like to see what was so special about that obstacle. Let me show you."
The display of the screens changed to show the mud swamp. Everyone looked at it, so they saw as the mud began to swirl and turn into a whirlpool.
The Black Crow said, "If he had jumped into the swamp, he would never be able to leave it. The swamp is a trap. The solution is to fly over it. Only those with telekinesis or other ranged abilities can destroy the obstacle by killing the crocodiles hiding in the mud."
It said to Mecha Man, "This swamp is a trap for people like you who try to destroy obstacles. It won't be a problem if you summon something to help you fly across. But it is likely that you would want to go down into the swamp to kill the crocodiles. But you will fall if you enter the swamp."
Mecha Man clapped. "You're right. So Augustus failed because he couldn't fly and didn't have telekinesis. But it is still impressive that he was able to identify this problem."
"In fact, I find his surrender more impressive now that I know that he was able to identify the danger and avoid it. He didn't risk his life at all. He knew when to advance and retreat. I guess that's why he was able to survive on the foreign battlefield."
The Black Crow laughed and came up to Augustus.
It said, "Wonderful performance Augustus. If not for you, we wouldn't be able to appreciate just how difficult and absurd some of those obstacles are. I saw some of the things you had to do, and I was frustrated for you. I totally agree with you when you began to curse."
Kelvin chuckled when he heard that.
The Black Crow asked him, "You have heard what the other players have to say about you. What do you have to say about them? How well do you think they will do on the foreign battlefield?"