Chapter 786 Difference
Chase continued to drag out the excitement, peppering in commentary from the first round. However, the crowd was quickly getting restless, wanting him to continue with the next round already.
If nothing else, Chase was a professional. He turned a deaf ear to the murmurings in the crowd even when they became a tidal wave of annoyance.
Minutes later, as though finally receiving a message on what to do, he continued as though nothing at all had happened.
"And without further ado, we'll progress right to the second round!"
Attendants began to appear on the stage, each rolling forward with a steel case on wheels that looked like it came straight out of an airplane. They wheeled them into place and then locked the wheels.
The steel cases shook.
At first it was subtle, but by the time Chase began speaking again, they were vibrating so fiercely that the loud racket almost overwhelmed the announcer's booming voice.
"Rune Monsters! I'm sure many in the crowd have a love-hate relationship with them, and many have died under their hands! The task is simple. Survive under the Rune Monster's onslaught!
"BEGIN!"
The lack of an explanation was once again glaring. What was a Rune Monster? How did you survive it? Did this mean that they definitely wanted to kill someone in this round? Or was there another explanation?
There was no time for Sylas to figure it out. He also found that he was frozen in place, his feet locked beneath him.
But this time, it wasn't because he was being targeted… at least not on the surface. All three of them were locked in place.
The only thing that Sylas knew for certain was that this was a challenge meant for Rune Masters to cross. Other than that, he had no choice but to fly in blind once more.
BANG!
The steel cases burst apart and a fog of white shot out.
The crowd gasped, their eyes widening.
Rune Monsters came in various kinds, but there were two main categories: Natural Rune Monsters and Artificial Rune Monsters.
The former were formed by odd phenomena in the real world, triggered by a twisting of a world's laws. The latter were created on purpose, usually for training. They were a valuable asset for getting Rune Masters to work on the speed and flexibility of their Rune drawing.
Usually, Artificial Rune Monsters would be used, especially in competitions like this one. However, this was clearly not an Artificial Rune Monster. It was a Natural one. One could tell by how amorphous and lacking in form and substance it was.
It was the difference between real smoke and rendering smoke in a 3D program. The difference could be seen at a glance.
…
Erythra and Nyssa frowned, their brows furrowing. This was dangerous, and yet another blatant sign of favoritism.
The Thryskai, their Unique Gene allowed them to deal with Rune Monsters with far greater ease. At this point, what was the reason for even holding this competition?
…
PA! PA! PA!
All three Rune Monsters attacked at once, their amorphous blobs bulging with light like lightning flashing in a curtain of heavy mist. The light bounced around before coalescing into a Rune that shot out like it had been fired from a cannon.
These Runes were completely unlike the others. They were not only lethal, but they weren't just simple foils of one another. They were random, crafted from the laws in the immediate vicinity.
Although they were just ten Foundations, the Aether behind them was potent, and something told Sylas that…
BANG!
The Rune crashed against his chest and he coughed up a mouthful of blood. Sparking electricity danced across his body with just a touch of fire.
He was forced a step back. Or rather, his feet were still locked in place, but the mechanisms beneath him shifted him backward.
Clearly, every failure would lead him closer to the edge of the stage until he was pushed off entirely.
However… the distance made some raise an eyebrow…
It was too short.
Sylas should have been pushed much further back for a failure of that caliber, maybe even blown off the stage entirely. So why had he barely been pushed back a single foot?
Sylas felt paralyzed, and waves of confusion took hold of his mind. That attack was so odd. It carried some hints of lightning, some of fire, and even somewhat of a Will attack as well, though the last of these had been wiped out.
Before he could consider what had just happened, a second Rune shot out from the cloud monster, appearing in an instant.
At this very moment, Ulrik and Lorien were already dealing with their second wave as well.
Lorien's body became covered in a pink mist that the Runes crashed into, slowing considerably. Even with this slowing effect, the Runes still crossed a dozen meters in barely two or three seconds. But this was still enough time for Lorien to deduce it and slap out a palm with a counter Rune.
The twin Runes crashed into one another in the air, countering each other perfectly.
In the same fluid motion, she struck out with a second palm, stamping a second Rune in the air and snuffing out the next.
As for Ulrik…
He stood there with his hands clasped behind his back, an indifferent air exuding from him. The slit in his forehead opened just the slightest bit, and yet a flood of red bathed the surroundings like a sea of blood.
Every time a Rune came into contact with this sea of crimson, it seemed vanquished to eternal damnation, buried into an abyss of nothingness.
BANG!
The second Rune slammed against Sylas and he coughed up another mouthful of blood.
Part of his body almost froze over, a dense earthy energy pooling at his leg and locking his knees in place while yet another Will attack, more potent than the last, crashed against him.
Finally, Sylas seemed to understand just what this round was about.
He needed to draw counters to randomized Runes, each one carrying several laws that he couldn't possibly understand until he had properly analyzed them.
While he was very familiar with Ice-Poison Runes, what did he know about these lightning, water, earth, or other aspects?
By comparison, not only had Ulrik and Lorien been studying these fundamentals for decades already… but both had Unique Genes that made it far easier.
Suddenly, the difference between superior raw talent and refined inferior talent reared its ugly head as a third Rune crashed into Sylas.