Rosemary's scent

Entering a cave-like dungeon, the atmosphere was damp, filled with the earthy scent of dirt, and punctuated by the occasional glimmer of shining gemstones.

The roof stretched far beyond what the untrained eye could see, and the group of five individuals moved in unison, taking formation.

'Dungeons in this world don't contain monsters as in usual fantasy novels. They either hold treasures or are unlivable and deadly due to the overflow of poisonous radiations and plants,' Ryan thought.

Whoosh-

Sensing something Ryan quickly ducked down, but nothing came. Instead, he received weird glances from his group and an indifferent one from Damion.

Frowning, he prepared to dodge again, but the attack seemed to vanish when it failed to hit him.

'This is hard," Ryan licked his lips and frowned inwardly, 'Defending against mana isn't my specialty.'

Having used his pre-constructed independent radiation to protect his unsuspecting teammates from the ominous attacks, Ryan appeared to be the only target now as the attacks directed at his classmates met with his radiation.

"Stay hidden, Elsa," Damion dashed forward, leaving those words behind. He cut the oncoming wind attack midair and swiftly sliced the closest opponent in front of him in two using an Ice spear.

Slice- Thud-

The opponent's head dropped to the ground with a low thud.

Poof-

Or so everyone thought until his body turned to smoke, and another one attempted to sneak attack Ryan, only to be taken down in the same way by Damion.

Ryan also materialized an Ice spear in his hand and thrust it into the increasing numbers of doppelgangers' hearts, turning them one by one into smoke.

But this was the beginning of an onslaught of attacks from multiple doppelgangers. While simultaneously having to dodge the invisible attacks.

Drip- 

Sweat dripped from Ryan's forehead as he felt the energy being sucked out of him, not only that, but his physique didn't improve a bit, even after a month of training with Noah, causing a larger consumption of radiation, and the inability to make a shield to protect himself.

"Ivy's Lush Embrace, wrap around my foe," Tracy finished chanting her mana as the vines sprawled out of the rock-filled ground, moving upward to intertwine with the wings of a flying guy who held the flag.

The guy shrieked, flying out of Tracy's Ivy vines reach.

"Get down here, you coward," Tracy muttered under her breath suppressing her curses, aware of the televised event.

swoosh-

"Golem of defense, Stonewall," Josh shouted in the nick of time, reacting to dispel a violent wind attack from the side.

The wind mage stepped back, sensing the malice in Josh's eyes. "Golem junior. Go get him," he commanded.

In the confined space, a towering golem, standing at a height of two meters, materialized from the abundant stones surrounding it. It moved with somewhat unsteady steps. With its massive stone jaw wide open, the golem lunged forward, charging at the mage.

Ryan shifted his gaze from the chaotic battleground toward the roof of the cave.

Though he could have taken down the winged student from Soma with ease, his instinct held him back.

He sensed an ominous magic that emanated from all corners of the dungeon, a foreboding mana that screamed with despair. It displayed a mixture of colorful auras and emotions, all coming from the same source, causing his stomach to churn with nausea.

"The attacker is undoubtedly stronger than Damion and me combined," Ryan held back the urge to gag and smiled nervously. "I don't even want to know what would happen if I got hit."

In a moment of distraction, three clones attacked him, throwing their bodies at him.

"AHHHH," Ryan couldn't suppress a cry as he unleashed multi-ice shards, turning the clones to smoke. The invisible attack had struck him directly, causing immense pain. He barely managed to dodge the next one as his fingertips trembled uncontrollably.

Ryan fell to the ground, writhing in agony, hugging his stomach. He suppressed his miserable cries, even though the pain-inducing attack hadn't caused any visible skin injury. His head slammed into a rock, and two more hits landed directly on his abdomen in his immobilized state.

"Ryan," Tracy acted quickly, sending her vines to intertwine around Ryan and pulling him towards her, narrowly avoiding an attack from a clone that Damion had pushed aside.

As she checked on him, she noticed tears welling up in his eyes.

"What just happened?" Tracy wasn't foolish enough to overlook the fact that the fifth and fourth members of the opposing team, who had been hiding behind the rocks, were responsible for Ryan's pain.

Ryan exhaled a tormented breath as his senses began to numb, and he remained clueless about the source of the attack. "Ahh, so painful. I got hit... by something," he muttered, struggling to regain his composure.

"Rosemary's scent help, my dear," Tracy chanted in a soothing voice, creating flowers to alleviate Ryan's pain. "Lavender's Soothing Aroma, share relief with my lover."

The pain Ryan felt was barely gone as his mind regained clarity, propping himself up with difficulty.

"Tracy," Ryan said, looking at her with hazy eyes. "Can you create a barrier that provides oxygen over our heads? I'm going to shoot down that flying guy."

"O-Okay," Tracy nodded, drawing her hands together, with green mana spinning around her. "An invocation to call forth the powers of the Pothos."

Ryan, wrapped in healing vines and flowers, stood, lining his feet in a straight formation, creating a bow of fire in his hand. He aimed upward toward the target's left wing, closing one eye and pulling the string backward.

A blazing hot arrow materialized in his line of sight, while the panicked guy was flying around frantically so the attack would miss.

Taking a deep breath, Ryan released the arrow as the attacks against him increased. The vines regenerated repeatedly as he endured a mixture of pain and relief.

The released arrow moved so swiftly that it was imperceptible to the naked eye, creating a whirlwind of hot air. If not for Tracy's barrier, both their group and their opponents might have struggled to breathe.

BOOM-

However, the arrow didn't hit its intended target. Instead, it was intercepted by a surge of powerful mana.

Yet, that had been Ryan's intent all along, as it forced the hidden last two members of the opposing team out of their hiding places, the doppelganger's main body and the mage that had attacked him.

The arrow split before colliding with the mana, transforming into multiple smaller arrows that attacked the clones scattered throughout the dungeon and those surrounding both Josh and Damion.

Mobilizing the radiation within the cave in a way that only he, Damion, and Elsa could employ proved to be a painstakingly slow process and energy-draining, especially amid the ongoing battle. But at long last, he succeeded in disrupting the other team's formation, as both the invisible and flying guy's abilities stopped functioning.

"You're finally out," Ryan's mouth curled into a triumphant smile. "I'll leave the rest to you guys."

Ryan slumped backward, rendered speechless due to exhaustion. "Huh..."

"I don't know what you did, but," Josh said, tossing aside the Wind mage he had been toying with, cracking his knuckles. "Now it's four against one. It's time to win this competition. Don't blame me, my fellow classmate."

The lone remaining mage was drenched in sweat, nervously licking his lips. He wondered, 'I repeatedly sent invisible attacks at the other team, but apart from that Ryan, why did none of them connect? Did I waste my mana in vain? Why do I have a nagging feeling I've been tricked into using my mana?'

"Even if I lose, you'll be going down with me," the mage shouted to conceal his anxiety, resisting the urge to start biting his nails. 'Only ten minutes remain, and all my radiation-using teammates have inexplicably become immobilized. My mana reserves aren't filling up. I can't pull this off.'

Damion didn't waste a word as he dashed forward, ice forming in both hands, meeting a mana shield.

The exhausted mage struggled to defend himself, while the combined assault from Josh and Tracy made it nearly impossible for him to push them away.

Seizing the opportunity and seeing the clock drawing near the deadline, Elsa sneakily and with ease got the flag tied around the winged guy's hand in his distraction.

Ding Dong --

[Time is up.]

The MC's energetic voice sounded through loudspeakers that appeared inside the dungeon with a poof.

[A round of applause for team B, the first to move up to the last event of the tournament.]

With that announcement, Ryan finally closed his eyes, drifting into sleep.