CHAPTER 162: FIRST BLOOD

Zephyr acted like he didn’t notice. He stood naturally, without even giving either of them a glance, and walked out of the oasis, taking the opposite direction from where he had entered the first time.

Behind him, Moonlight Sage paused, watching as he left. Had it been a coincidence that they had both stood up at the same time?

One of his new subordinates, who noticed his gaze leaned closer and asked quietly, "That weird-looking one... who is he?"

Moonlight Sage didn’t answer at all, simply smiling lightly with an unreadable look in his eyes as Zephyr disappeared into the darkness of the night. "It’s almost time," he suddenly called out loud enough for the highest ranking champion in his faction — Braddox, to hear.

Braddox gave a slow nod, cracking his knuckles and rising to his feet slowly.

The culling was about to begin...

But Zephyr had already slipped into the darkness by then. He had chosen a different route than the one he had entered from this time to throw those watching him off his trail.

His plan hadn’t changed though. He was still going to loop back and head toward the western border — the side that bordered the forest sector he’d seen while falling toward the planet.

But for now, he just needed to act like this was his true direction.

He could sense the elf variant girl trailing behind him from a distance, trying to erase her presence as she did. But she couldn’t evade his sharp senses. Even for someone like Komi, who was more experienced at hiding her presence, he had still picked up her traces, talk less of this elf variant girl.

She was trying, but it wasn’t her forte.

Zephyr was content to deal with her later. He’d find out what she actually wanted then. But for now, his goal was just to cover more ground and put more distance between himself and the oasis. He just kept walking briskly through the cold darkness of the desert.

To him it might’ve been a brisk walk, but for the elf variant girl in question... it was like he was moving at a constant jogging pace.

She was having a hard time keeping up while trying to hide her presence at the same time.

She’d resorted to brief jogs every now and then to prevent their gap from widening more than necessary, and all through the while, she just couldn’t help but curse at his inhuman pace, wondering if he ever got tired. Just the deep sand alone was enough to slow one’s pace down after a short while, but Zephyr just kept going.

Zephyr paid her no mind, simply moving ahead. Now and then, he spotted other champions in the distance, and each time he did, both sides would quietly evade, widening the space between themselves.

Most people who had chosen to leave the oasis did so because they wanted to avoid any kind of confrontation at the start, so they were even more particular about avoiding conflict now that they were out in the dry desert that had nothing to fight over.

But not everyone was like that...

After a short while, Zephyr noticed another presence traveling parallel to him in the distance and tried to move away to avoid the person’s path, but this person seemed intent on being a bother. Shifting closer and maintaining the same gap whenever Zephyr moved.

Zephyr eventually stopped after he tried the same thing a few times and the person still kept following...

This champion was after them.

He squinted his eyes in the dim-moonlit dark, trying to make out the person’s features. It was a demon variant with heavy goat-like features. He walked some ways to Zephyr’s left, with a massive frame covered in goat-like hide. His eyes were small and beady, glinting under the moonlight, and two thick horns curled upward from his skull.

Zephyr could feel the demon’s direct gaze staring right back at him, assessing him just as he did the demon too. But the demon wasn’t only assessing him — he was also observing the elf girl trailing behind, staring at both of them like they were prey.

This guy was bloodthirsty.

He had probably been doing the same to others, observing from a distance to see if they were easy pickings.

And looking at Zephyr and the elf variant girl’s figures... one wouldn’t really think much of them.

In general, Zephyr was on the small side compared to the average size of champions here. Basically every demon, dragonkin, orc and titan variant were massive in size accordingly. And only the elf, human, and dwarf variants were regular and small sized.

This disparity brought up the average size here by a large margin, and coupled with the fact that most of the variants with smaller size had stayed back at the oasis, it made Zephyr’s and the elf variant girl’s presence here stand out.

Zephyr didn’t react as the guy kept walking alongside them watchfully, like he was herding his prey.

He only glanced at the digital clock that was counting down in his ever present HUD status panel. One minute. Fifty seconds. Forty. Thirty...

All of a sudden, the elf girl trailing behind him from a distance stiffened. She had been jittery for a while now, thinking about when the time would be over, so when Zephyr suddenly stopped walking, she froze completely.

The goat demon also stopped, watching Zephyr for any abrupt movement.

The countdown in Zephyr’s HUD reached zero.

For a heartbeat, nothing happened. There was no alert from the Voice of The World.

Zephyr frowned slightly. ’Did Aegis cut the estimate short so I’d be more cautious? Or was the projection simply off in the first place...?’

Just as he was thinking this, the Voice of The World suddenly rang in the mind of every single champion... in every single sector and corner of the planet... all at the same time.

[The grace period has ended. From this moment forth, all champions are free to act. Survival and progress are your responsibility. Glory to the last standing.]

Nothing else...

A heavy silence followed. And for a second, no one moved. Only the sound of breathing was heard.

Then all of a sudden—Boom!

The goat demon exploded forward, kicking up sand beneath his feet as he charged like a beast towards Zephyr. His previously barely contained bloodlust was unleashed fully and his eyes were locked onto Zephyr as though he were already dead.

Zephyr didn’t move at all, simply stuck in place, staring at the charging demon with a conflicted look on his face.

The demon grinned savagely, mistaking Zephyr’s state for panic. He charged even faster, convinced Zephyr was frozen with inexperience, unsure of what to do.

In reality, he was kind of right, but also very wrong.

Zephyr was indecisive, yes. But not from fear.

Rather, he was conflicted over how to send the guy to the afterlife to face his ancestors.

His HUD status panel had shifted from normal to performance mode.

PREEMPTIVE SPELL SUGGESTIONS

Attack Path In Use: Spell Barrage + Versatile Utility

Fire Arrow: 39 KB — Bombard incoming enemy with fire barrages.

Basic Flame Spell:

10 KB — Combine with Fire Arrow to confuse incoming enemy.

Basic Wind Gust: 7 KB — Disorient with desert dust.

Basic Water Spell: 9 KB — Hold for later use.

Basic Earth Spell: 14 KB — Trip enemy in conjunction with Fire Arrow + Basic Flame.

Total Memory: 79 KB (22 KB free)

The preemptive spell suggestions had already displayed a very straightforward method to deal with the demon without any hassle.

But Zephyr’s point of indecision was that these were spells saved in his register memory. He wasn’t about to reveal his ability to blink spells into existence here. The elf girl was still watching from behind.

So he had to cast spells naturally.

That was the real dilemma.

Even without relying on stored spells, he felt that his casting speed was still too fast. Almost all his spells could be executed in under half a second. And the few that didn’t were too powerful. He would rather even reveal his casting speed than to reveal those yet.

On top of that, even without choosing any powerful spell, he already had too many combinations to pick from.

And to top it off finally, he had just finished building his ALU, and a part of him was eager to try out combining various spells for a different effect.

He was spoiled with too many choices... hence his dilemma.

Meanwhile, the goat demon was closing in, and his body had started to glow with intricate markings that seemed to be embedded beneath his skin, and made from his blood.

Zephyr raised an eyebrow. The goat demon guy’s body started to enlarge slightly, his muscles increased in size and his pace quickened. He ate up the remaining distance between him and Zephyr even faster, roaring to instill fear in Zephyr as he did.

"Huh..." Zephyr watched the inscriptions on the demon variant’s body glow with more intensity. "So this is how his kind fights. Not with ranged spells... but some kind of raw physical enhancement magic...?"

Zephyr chuckled softly to himself. "I thought he’d throw something at me... but body strengthening, huh?" He clenched his fist. "Should I just use Galestrike and meet him head-on?"

The thought cleared his hesitation.

It seemed this guy was a brawler. Someone that fought with pure physicality.

This was a perfect chance to see how his raw strength stacked up against another champion. And if it wasn’t enough, he could always blend Galestrike into his blows.

The spell was clean and simple, and most importantly... wouldn’t reveal too much.

Zephyr’s lips curved into a smile as the goat demon barreled toward him, and all of a sudden, he charged forward towards the demon too, scattering sand into the air as he picked up pace.