Chapter 30 - Free for All

The arena was filled with screams as soon as the fight started, with explosions of skills bouncing from all around. The rank C hunters were taking each other out without a question, their eyes filled with greed.

The lower-ranked hunters here were those whose greed had surpassed their common sense, as the sane ones stayed on their seats to keep on watching the moment they realized the people competing for this would mostly be rank B

I watched the scene of chaos unfolding in front of me as I smiled and activated both [Stealth] and [Camouflage]. I disappeared from the sights of all the hunters and watched the scene while fully protected with multiple defensive skills that brushed off any spell that accidentally came my way

The audience was screaming in a frenzy as they watched the bloody fight below, calling for more blood anytime someone fell. Rank B hunters gradually began to move in full force, devastating skills beginning to fly out

The squad I had dived into [Mangrove Swamp] with were all far apart fighting their own battles, but one of the mages was already knocked out cold. At the center of attention was a hunter holding two round shields with his body bathed in golden light. This Knight pushed back all attacks and hunters that neared him with explosive blasts of white light the moment they neared

Multiple hunters were falling just from him alone. Opposite on the other side was a woman holding a bow that was shooting flaming arrows and heavily wounding the hunters that were struck

I watched all of this while evading any hunters rushing about and absorbing the stray attacks without the notice from any hunters. The bloody fight continued until most of the rank C hunters were knocked out, leaving 9 rank B hunters on the floor of the arena intently staring at each other

AAAHH!!!

One of them couldn't hold on any longer and let out a battle cry while rushing to another hunter nearest to him. Another brawl ensued, with the hunter holding the two round shields continuing to push away any skills and attack with explosive blasts of white light

From the hunting squad I knew, only the berserker with the flaming sword continued, his entire body wreathed in flames once more as he took on two other hunters by himself. The rest of the team members were knocked out cold or sitting out injured

I found a relatively far place in the arena away from the fight that had a ton of rank C hunters either knocked out or struggling painfully and sat down while continuing to observe the fight. My aim was to do very little work and defeat the last hunter standing that should be exhausted to obtain this rank A skill easily

The hard fight continued as it came down to two hunters facing off in the Arena, the hunter bathed in a golden light that was holding two shields and the hunter with a bow that shot scalding hot flames. Their standoff was building up the anticipation among the audience as the cheers continued

I was looking forward to doing very little work and win when I felt the air change. Instead of heading towards each other, two hunters turned towards my location at the same time.

Well shit

I stood up and got ready for the fight early as it seemed the hunters saw through my [Stealth] and [Camouflage]. Did they have a skill that helped in detection or something else?

Oh well, it doesn't matter anyway. A bright smile bloomed on my face as I watched the woman draw her bow and shoot multiple flaming arrows towards me and the shining Knight rushed forward

I would at least get a chance to test the destructive force of the newly gained skill against two rank B hunters that seem to be standing at the peak of this rank. [Miniature Tornado] was cast for the first time

A swirling mass of sharp winds appeared in front of me that dispersed the flame arrows that were rushing towards me and pushed back the glowing Knight. I felt the winds move my dark hair around as I commanded the skill to go towards the nearest hunter

The body of the glowing Knight...expanded? Wow, his body actually expanded as the blinding light shooting out of him increased, withstanding the heavy and sharp winds until the skill faded a few seconds after as it had a 10-second duration

His body came back to normal size while he was roughly breathing, seeming proud of being able to withstand the attack. I gave a light laugh as I shook my head and cast another [Miniature Tornado]

The Knight's face turned ashen as he saw another coming right at him and used the two shields to try and withstand the rotating winds to no avail, being blown away with cuts all over his body a second after

The remaining hunter on the field that was shooting arrows had moved a further distance away from me while continuing to shoot. I wouldn't let her have her way as I used [Whirlwind] to close the distance and cast another [Miniature Tornado] at her position. The rapidly rotating winds swiped the hunter off her feet, inflicting heavy damage on the armor and skin beneath it, the force ultimately blasting her onto the walls of the arena

Silence followed after as I stood in a field of hunters that were either knocked out or crying painfully, with a few missing some limbs

"WAAAA!!!"

The crowd's cries reached another decibel higher as they saw the end of the fight, and the booming voice of the rank A Hunter could be heard

"Haha, good, good, good!"

The man repeated the same words three times before he leaped up from the area he was in and fell down towards the arena like a strike of lightning. He looked me up and down and laughed once more before pulling out a glistening book from his storage ring

"Calm yet careful, smart, and also powerful. Haha, this skill book isn't wasted on you. It was supposed to go to the rank B hunter with the highest achievements in the city, but I'm impulsive and I believe in opportunity and luck. This, is your fortune!"

The skill book was carried by a thin layer of sparkling electricity and drifted towards me. I was marveling at the skills of a rank A hunter while looking at this monster of a man in front of me. His body seemed like a volcano ready to erupt and smash anything standing on its way

I knew I wasn't ready to face someone like this yet. My attributes had only just broke through to rank B because of some support skills, and I needed to put in a lot more work if I wanted to catch up to people at this stage before everything crumbled

"Thank you for the opportunity" I grabbed the skill book, absorbing it right then and there without wasting a single second as I thanked the man surrounded by lightning.

"Use it wisely and try to reach for higher places" He nodded as his body lifted off the ground effortlessly, leaving behind a few words before shooting up to skies and being gone in a flash of light

I could barely follow the speed of that lightning as it went away, making me even more excited to go back to my lone ways of dungeon diving and quickly gain that level of strength.