A Tutoring Match?

The crowd was dejected, there money had been wasted.

When the next two teams were chosen they watched half-heartedly. All holding a similar wish close to their hearts.

Don't end it soon!

~ ~ ~

As the party loaded into their match Kan'na immediately held up a finger. A tiny magic circle flashed before vanishing, "Such a simplistic way to spot people. Easily manipulated as well."

The Book of Life's pages flipped. The book floating above Jarvis' hand, "How does it work?"

"It's like heat vision, but except heat it spots mana. Due to that with just a small spell I can easily tamper what they sense."

Colors flew out of the page and two birds appeared on Jarvis' shoulders, "Noted, how are we going to take these guys on?"

Akiol spoke, "Leave Era to me."

They nodded with understanding. Jarvis snapped the Book shut, "They're north-east from here. Heading west in a hurry."

Kan'na nodded, "That's how I tampered with it."

Wrock stretched, "Well, let's see what they can do!"

~ ~ ~

Quol tapped their staff, "They're north-east from here."

Hairn's knife gleamed, "Shall I take them on?"

"These guys are dangerous."

"No matter how dangerous one is, if their healer is dead then it will only be a matter of time before they die."

Quol shook his head, "Their first battle was one of sheer luck, the preliminary matches were a one-sided slaughter. We will take this with extra precaution. Stick with us, but remain in stealth."

Hairn rolled his eyes, "I think you're overestimating them. But I'll comply."

Quol bit his nail, something felt off. It was too easy spotting them. Someone of this caliber wouldn't be that easily spotted. A feeling of dread clawed at his stomach.

Was it a trap?

A shadow flicked, making Quol look to the sky. Two birds circled above, making him grit his teeth, "It seems like we are spotted as well. Nime, can you shoot them down?"

Nime aimed her bow carefully before shaking her head, "Too high, while I'm confident in hitting them the chances of them dodging is too high."

Quol nodded, "Essentially giving away that we know that they know. The only relief I have is the fact that they don't have any stealth related classes."

As they carefully moved forward Quol began warning, "If at any moment you feel like you are in danger then don't hesitate to use your trump cards."

Era frowned, "Aren't you overestimating them?"

"I wish I was, but this feeling. . . it's the same when we fought that Second Stage boss. A sense of helplessness, dread, and fear."

Era took the words seriously, Quol was more in touch with his natural gut feeling. His sense of danger was unnaturally high. If he felt this way then their opponents were no average pro.

They arrived to the location where Quol detected the enemy team. He clenched his staff, "As expected it was off. Then what is the trap?"

A voice called out, "There is none."

Quol snapped his head in the direction the voices came from. He spotted three individuals. A purple haired player with a glowing magic circle at their fingertips. A Priest who was leaning against a tree. And a unremarkable player with a floating book.

Quol lifted his staff, "Nonsense, why else would you gather us here?"

"To fight of course. While I had ideas to plant a few surprises, you all arrived sooner than expected."

The purple haired sorcerer's magic circle faded as she continued, "But you all stuck together like this?"

Quol remained calm, but his bad feeling grew strong by the second, "Can you count? There is five of us."

The Priest's hand moved and gripped something in the air. A figure suddenly appeared, arm being gripped.

Quol wanted to swear, Hairn had gone on his own. However even if he was spotted, why wasn't he taking action?

Meanwhile Hairn felt sweat being to form. The Priest was incredibly strong! Although he still had greater strength, for a Priest to be able to exert this much strength was unheard of!

As for why he wasn't moving? A pair of five adorable creatures watched his every movement. With his large amount of experience he knew the moment he made a wrong move they would swarm him. So he decided to wait for now.

Quol felt the air grow tense as his team members grew restless, "Where is the other three then? If you claim this isn't a trap then where are the others?"

The purple haired player sighed, "Unlike you lot we didn't stick together. They are behind you."

They quickly looked behind themselves only to see nothing. The purple haired sorcerer grinned slyly, "Made you look."

Quol felt embarrassed by the simple trick, but the dreadful feeling put him on edge. His thought process was hasty and sloppy.

She continued, "No but seriously they are behind you."

"We won't fall for that again."

Another voice called out, "No seriously we are behind you."

Henry commentated, his voice hinting at his own confusion, "It seems like Six Lights is. . . taunting Determined Souls?"

John shook his head, "Similarly to trash talking, by playing these little mind games one can disrupt their opponents thinking process. It seems like they have a plan."

"This would actually be the first time we see Six Lights in action. Considering their previous match was a card game."

"Let's see if they live up to the hype they seem to be gaining!"

Yielya let go of the Assassin, "You should head back to your team."

They held their silver dagger, a gleam in their eyes. As they pretended to walk back towards the team they suddenly spun and stabbed towards Yielya.

Tring~

A rock fell to the ground where the Assassin was. A small bell fading away next to Yielya. She turned towards enemy team, "I had to do it for you, unless you wanted to turn into a set of bones due to these guys."

The Assassin frowned, but said nothing.

Kan'na nodded and began listing off names, "From what I remember. Quol, leader and sorcerer. Era, sword wielder. Hairn, Assassin with the silver dagger. Immen, by the looks of it, Counter Expert. The only person I have yet to gain a name for is the Priest."

The enemy Priest gripped their staff, unwilling to answer.

Akiol unsheathed Stars, "Well it seems like you all are unwilling to exchange introductions. Shall we proceed?"

Era unsheathed her sword, a dangerous gleam forming in her eyes, "Your confidence will be your end."

Akiol merely blinked. Era's game character looked incredibly alike to Ava. With such a resemblance he really began to wonder if Era was a reincarnation of Ava. Regardless, it wouldn't affect him in battle.

Wrock cracked a few knuckles, "I'll handle the Assassin. Tilia make sure that Trapper doesn't litter the field."

A semi-translucent bronze energy covered Tilia. She rolled her shoulders, "You can count on it."

Era dashed forward, wind assisting her speed. She began the fight with a slash aimed towards Akiol's neck.

Wrock teleported behind the Assassin and placed a hand on their shoulder, "You should keep an eye on your surroundings."

Hairn quickly slashed behind him, the slash narrowly missing. Wrock nodded, "Not bad, a quick reaction. However if I hadn't warned you then you would already be dead."

Hairn's jaw tightened as he dashed forward. Just as he was about to enter the proper range for battle he suddenly jumped to the side. His figure disappearing.

Wrock praised, "Not too bad, giving off the intention that you were about to fight head on you quickly dash to the side and activated some sort of stealth skill. This would throw off your average fighter."

Tilting his body an appearing dagger had missed its mark. Wrock quickly knocked the Assassin to the floor, "However you rely too much on the stealth aspect of the Assassin class."

Wrock turned his head suddenly, "Immen, was it? You'd best stay by your healer."

Immen, who was planning to assist Hairn, suddenly stopped in his tracks. He realized that if he assisted now then the Priest would lack protection. Normally this wouldn't matter since Immen was confident in their ability to survive, but after remembering the words from Quol he decided to step back.

Wrock then refocused onto Hairn, "What you lack is the ability to fight upfront. Relying on stealth means direct conflict is a fatal weakness for you. This much was obvious in your first match. After all you rely on that thing in your eyes right?"

Hairn's expression wavered, "What do you know?"

"Bullet time, or so we believe. To escape deadly blows you activate the eye ability, or maybe it automatically does so, then you counter attack or dodge. By slowing time down you can react faster. It is due to this that you have a critical weakness."

Wrock lifted a fist, "Let me show you."

A fist was thrown at intense speeds. Hairn's heart skipped a beat as runes began to form in his irises. As time slowed he moved his body to dodge the blow.

However the fist suddenly curved and continued heading towards him. He forced to move back and the fist glided past harmlessly.

He felt euphoric, 'Even if you know my ability doesn't mean you can fight against it!'

He suddenly felt his legs move and his body falling back. It was at that moment his ability ended and he fell to the ground.

Wrock looked at him from above, "See? Due to your lack of experience in direct battles you were unable to see my actual intention. Even if you see things slowly, it doesn't do much if you don't know what to do."

Wrock gestured, "Now stand up and come at me directly."

Henry grit his teeth. Six Lights have this nasty habit of stealing his job!

Why are you explaining things?!

John's expression turned sour, "It seems like. . . it seems like Six Lights is teaching Determined Souls?!"