The Challenger's Return: Rebirth of the Rainbow Mage
Chapter 43: Poison (4)

"[Enfeebling Darkness]"

Otto dual cast [Enfeebling Darkness] with [Foggy Mystique] to cover his enemies' vision.

There were no visual effects tied to [Enfeebling Darkness].

As the thick fog already made it so that his enemies couldn't see.

But every attacker still felt its presence immediately and irrevocably.

Enfeebling darkness was a spell Otto's class had granted him after the [Tutorial].

It was one of the five spells that, at the time, Otto hadn't had the required intuition to learn, alongside [Cone of Fire], [Earth Shrink], [Sun's Aura], and [Force Field].

He had not yet learned its unlimited version.

[Enfeebling Darkness]

Dark Element

Level 10

Creates a circle with 20m radius of pure, perfect darkness. Enemies are blinded, weakened, and will experience constant damage within this radius. Power escalates with proximity to caster.

Mana Cost: 525

Duration: 10 minutes

Cast Time: Instant

No Cooldown

At level 10, [Enfeebling Darkness] was one of Otto's most formidable spells.

After extensive testing back in his virtual pod, Otto found that this spell at its maximum weakened all of his enemies by a whopping 50%!

This weakness extended to ALL attributes.

Moreover, their health, stamina, and mana would also be sapped faster as they closed the distance to attack him.

By the time enemies had arrived in front of Otto, they would be sheep to the slaughter, no matter their previous strength.

Yet none of this was why Otto found this spell so terrifying.

The spell's darkness cloaked the small clearing.

From afar, it looked as if a gigantic blanket of pure black had settled around Otto.

Suddenly, without warning, the Throskarts attacking couldn't help but feel weariness deep in their bones.

Hadn't they done enough by attacking the human?

They were so tired!

They just wanted to rest for a short while.

Their bodies ached, feeling increasingly bruised and battered by the second.

Plus, no one would be able to tell if they paused for only a minute, right?

It wasn't like anyone could see them!

Perhaps they could just rest for a bit….

34 of the Throskart warriors attacking Otto froze and stopped moving.

14 directly put down their weapons in favor of lying down on the ground.

Even the 10 with particularly strong willpower were hesitating and didn't dare to attack.

Otto's lips curved up as he watched the scene in front of him.

He was the only one who could see in this darkness, so he obviously witnessed each of their reactions.

Yes, this was the view he'd intended.

Otto's body shuddered slightly.

Even he felt a little afraid of this spell.

[Enfeebling Darkness] ensnared one's mind!

Once one entered the darkness's range of effect, their will to fight would be sapped uncontrollably.

The closer they got to Otto, the stronger the effect.

The mages who were further back weren't as impacted, but even they stopped casting as a result of this spell.

Otto's eyes shone in the darkness.

Suddenly, his spell casting speed increased!

Wind blades and fireballs came pouring out of Otto's hands at lightning speed, targeted at each of the mages at the edge of the darkness.

His new ability to dual cast his spells showed its tremendous might at this moment.

Otto's killing speed had effectively doubled.

He targeted the mages, not the warriors for a particular reason.

To guard against their escape.

It wasn't long before the Throskart mages began to die.

One by one, their heads were cut off and their hearts were pierced by a wind blade. Or a lesser fireball burned them to ashes.

Otto's spell casting was incredibly precise. He hadn't yet missed a target.

Worse, the mages couldn't see their comrades dying through the cloying darkness.

Not a single one was able to let out a cry to warn the others!

Since none had survived through one of Otto's spells.

A full minute passed where spells rained down on the mages like torrential rain.

Invisible and unstoppable in the darkness.

Otto looked around him and found that there were only twenty mages left standing.

Finally, one let out a shout of alarm!

The body of the mage right next to him had fallen to the ground!

The rest of the mages, hearing this cry, panicked and woke up from their brief darkness-induced stupor.

They started to yell and shout in hopes of communicating in this intense darkness.

"What happened!?"

"Who is next to me?"

"Ahhhh!!!!"

"Where is the human? Target the human!!!"

Their yells amounted to too little, too late.

Otto paid them no mind.

He continued bombarding the mages with deadly magic.

Until not a single one was left alive.

Otto checked his points counter and revealed a small grimace.

He had only earned 280 points from that killing spree.

'As expected, if they're this weak, they probably don't have many points on them, either.'

But his mood brightened quickly.

A few warriors had broken free of their negative thoughts.

They braved the terrifying darkness, and finally approached to attack.

Otto stood in front of a woman swinging a sword.

He easily dodged her clumsy strike before a thought hit him and he stepped into its trajectory.

The sword swung down and grazed Otto's finger.

Otto frowned unhappily.

The sword hadn't even broken his defense.

These warriors weren't worth his time to fight at all, let alone after being enfeebled by his spell.

Otto decided to get this over with quickly.

He cast another of his rarely used spells, intent on gaining something from this fight that could barely be called as such.

[Mana Weapon]

Level 10

Conjure a weapon made of mana. Doubles sharpness.

Mana Cost (channeled): 25/minute

Cast Time: Instant

No Cooldown

Nine small throwing stars, better known as shuriken, appeared in Otto's hands.

He threw them leisurely, one by one, at the slowly and carefully approaching warriors.

All nine let out a THUNK as they hit their targets.

In his past life, Otto used these types of small shuriken, along with various other weapons, as a last ditch self defense mechanism should his mana ever run out.

Which, in the past, was rather often.

Over time, he grew extremely proficient, almost masterful, in their use.

In truth, even if Otto had never used them before, throwing these shuriken would be child's play to the current him.

His agility attribute improved his dexterity, though his accuracy would be nowhere near as precise as it was.

The thing Otto liked best about conjuring mana weapons was that with a simple tug of his mind, they would return to his hand.

No fuss, no loss, no mess. They were totally superior to traditional weapons.

With enough mana, he could throw these endlessly.

Well, with enough mana, he could also cast spells...

Either way, Otto didn't take more than 90 seconds to cut down all but one of his remaining enemies.

The air smelled like blood and urine.

The warrior left had pissed himself after hearing the intimidating thunk of bodies hitting the ground.

In the darkness, he begged to no one,

"Please don't kill me! Please, please!"

His terror raised the pitch of his voice into a shrill cry.

Sadly, his cries were ignored.

Otto left one alive on purpose.

His smile turned sinister before he strode over and knocked the man unconscious.

He had plans for this one…

****************************************************************

After the ambush was resolved, and the final man was killed after who knows what 'tender' ministrations, Otto brought Jackal over and entered the clearing littered with bodies.

Jackal saw this sight and revealed an expression of horror.

But he didn't dare to speak and meekly lowered his head.

Otto's face was impassive, his thoughts deeply hidden.

The two of them smoothly entered the safe zone.

Otto's audience chatter was full of irritating comments after his most recent massacre.

[How come they didn't show when the human killed them?]

[Is he trying to hide something?]

[Hmph, what could a stupid human have to hide]

[lol are you new or something]

[yeah have you seen him fight]

[…]

[why didn't the poison kill him…didn't they make the safe zones so far away on purpose…]

[lolol careful the game show will block u]

[how dare the human kill our people! kill him! kill him!]

[jeez you know how long I had to spend to convince those idiots to come over…how could they die without a show *pout*]

[well at least it was fun at the beginning]

[watch the replay]

[death to the human!]

[hehe we'll see how he survives from now on…]

[kill him!!]

[no you stupid fucks! don't call anymore people over! you're sending him points!]

[why am i the only smart one in a batch of idiots…smh]

[sob sob I'm out of money and can't buy any more gifts sob]

[stupid lurkers I see you]

Otto's brow twitched as he read these comments before he suddenly felt alarmed.

Was he becoming immune to these senseless netizens?

No way. He hurriedly stopped thinking about it, not daring to further this line of inquiry.

Then, he shook his head, and cast one final [Purify] and [Lesser Heal] on both himself and Jackal.

It was still nighttime in the forest ring.

Otto estimated by the weight of the darkness that there were still around two or three more hours until the sun rose.

He decided to take the remaining time to settle down and meditate.

It would help relieve some of the fatigue built up after long hours of what essentially amounted to fighting and running around.

Moreover, he had never dared to relax his tension in this forest.

Otto first spent some effort and created another one of his 'stone houses.'

This new house was two stories high.

It also carried a large underground space that extended twenty meters down below the ground.

Otto decided, on the spot, to remain here for the rest of the survival game.

Of course, to add some security, Otto also set a bunch of his favorite magic arrays outside of his house.

The first array was one of his own inventions.

Otto called it the 'Heavy Duty Sensing and Tracking Alarm.'

…He wasn't great at naming things, okay?

The alarm was 'heavy duty' because it carried quite a few sensing jobs.

It detected 'unusual' noise, scanned for heat signatures, and tested pressures and movements nearby to form a complete picture of the surrounding environment.

As soon as even an ant stepped into its range of 'vision,' the sensor would detect it and immediately alarm Otto.

The best thing was that it wasn't a traditional 'alarm,' either.

An attacker wouldn't even know they'd been caught.

The alarm would let out an invisible wave of magic that was specifically attuned to Otto's mana.

This would in turn send a vibration through Otto's magic network, noiselessly alerting him to the presence of an intruder.

Otto could then activate the 'tracking' function of the magic array, allowing him to observe the movements of said intruder in real time.

He scattered dozens of these arrays outside his makeshift 'home' and managed to cover a radius of two full kilometers.

It was plenty of warning for Otto to react in time.

He also didn't forget to set up traps.

This time, his traps were more varied than at his last stone house.

He knew the method he used in the large swamp massacre wouldn't work a second time.

Still, he did cast a few [Swamp Grounds] around the property for good measure.

If nothing else, this spell was great at trapping enemies.

The only real way around the swamp was to fly over.

And Otto had defenses set up for that too.

There were actually quite a few flying artifacts in the game shop.

Some of them were even reasonably cheap, too.

The only reason his swamp massacre worked was because his enemies were caught off guard and completely unprepared.

They couldn't very well fly when their feet were stuck in the swamp, could they?

For the air, Otto placed basic [Targeted Aerial Defense Arrays] all over his home.

Their use was simple: to shoot down any target that flew in range with powerful mana projectiles.

The biggest reason they were so effective was that they drew directly from Otto's own mana pool.

These were consumable arrays, so Otto's house was practically covered with them.

He also made the arrays themselves invisible.

No one would be aware of their might…until they fired.

After another hour of work and having used up a good bit of his array stockpile, Otto nodded with satisfaction at his new abode.

Its defense was airtight.

Moreover, it was almost impossible to tell that the whole surroundings were booby trapped until intruders actually entered.

Otherwise, all of the arrays were invisible.

Even their mana fluctuations were concealed as tightly as Otto could manage.

Which, with his minute control over his mana, made them virtually impossible to replace.

The set up was perfect for trapping, capturing, then killing any invading enemies in one fell swoop.

It was a very 'Otto' style of fighting.

He even started to anticipate intruders knocking at his door...

Actually, the biggest reason Otto was so insistent on a tight defense was to allow him to enter his mental casting space.

He didn't forget to 'key' Jackal's mana signature into the arrays before he himself moved downstairs.

****************************************************************

Otto breathed a sigh of relief once he entered his mental space.

He could finally relax!

Before Otto did anything strenuous, he conjured a beach and some comfortable beach chairs.

Then, he sat on a chair and meditated to the rolling of the waves in the background.

His tension slowly ebbed along with the tides of the ocean.

Otto was at peace.

He smiled.

In the outside world, he had around an hour before day broke.

Which gave him 9 more hours in his mental space.

After calming himself, Otto first moved to check the details of the new titles he earned from the swamp massacre.

[Current Rank: 7]

Fortunately, Otto's points seemed to be somewhat ahead of Rank #8 so he hadn't lost his position overnight.

[Title: Top 10,000]

Title Effect: While contestant remains in the Top 10,000, contestant can enjoy a 20% discount on all game shop items.

Permanent Effect: For reaching the Top 10,000, contestant can enjoy a permanent 10% discount on all game shop items.

[Title: Top 1,000]

Title Effect: While contestant remains in the Top 1,000, activate special 'title' effect once a day. Contestant can use this effect to replace the nearest high-value coin!

Details: High-value coin is a coin with a value of 10,000 points or above. Only one coin's location will be returned. Rules and restrictions apply. This title effect will only provide one high value coin's current exact location.

Rules: Location returned will correspond to value of coin and contestant's current location. Locations of higher value coins may be returned even if they are physically further away.

Permanent Effect: For reaching the Top 1,000, contestant will always be more sensitive to coins of all values. Happy hunting!

[Title: Top 100]

Title Effect: While contestant remains in the Top 100, activate special 'title' effect once every hour. Contestant will receive a detailed map of the current surroundings within 1 kilometer of the contestant. Map includes terrain, obstacles, thros-made structures, and intelligent life forms.

Permanent Effect: For reaching the Top 100, contestant will receive a map of the current surroundings within 50 meters of the contestant each hour on the hour. Map includes terrain, obstacles, thros-made structures, and intelligent life forms.

[Title: Top 10]

Title Effect: While contestant remains in the Top 10, contestant may toggle their own magical surveillance on and off at will.

Permanent Effect: For reaching the Top 10, contestant may toggle their magical surveillance off for one hour each day.

Otto didn't feel particularly surprised or excited at any of the first three effects.

If anything, the Top 1,000 title effect was the best, at least for Otto, since he had no other ways of replaceing coins except by utilizing his keen perception.

The shop discount he could do away with.

Sure, it was nice, but Otto didn't plan to use his points very much in the first place.

How else would he be guaranteed to clear his mission?

As for the map, didn't he already have his spell [Sense Life] that did all of this to greater effect, and with greater range?

Perhaps he couldn't sense the surrounding terrain and trees with his spell, but did Otto really need to know about each tree in a kilometer radius?

In contrast, the effect that thrilled Otto belonged to the Top 10 title.

Being able to toggle his magical surveillance off at will was clearly a huge advantage.

The annoyances his beloved audience brought him seemed to have no end.

They didn't give up on pitting him despite his repeated massacres of their race.

He wasn't sure if they actually cared about their brethren at all.

Or perhaps the ones who might care were not watching this game show.

And the ones who watched had grown callous towards the repeated loss of life.

Thus, they would continue to dig pits for Otto again and again, sacrificing members of their own race, even if only for that tiny bit of additional excitement.

'In a way, they're not so different from humans at all.'

Otto decisively toggled off his magical surveillance.

Actually, his audience could not tell where Otto's stone house was located. They only knew its general location.

Since the fog surrounding it from a cast of [Foggy Mystique] had yet to clear.

But it was always better to save himself from future annoyances.

He hated having his actions monitored.

It was better to do away with it all for good.

As long as he could stay in the top 10, that was.

Thinking of the benefits of not being monitored continuously, Otto reluctantly got up from his comfortable roost on the beach.

The [Tower] really didn't leave him any time to breathe, huh?

Otto stretched his body.

Time to snatch some more points!