Dungeon Diver: Stealing A Monster's Power-Chapter 836

Wisps of demonic energy flicker in my red energy form, and even circle my white sword, as I want to give more hints to those watching to believe what I'm about to show them. The most important watcher of all—the Vermillion Family head.

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He may be furious with me, but I know one thing the demons can't pass up, and that is an ego boost for their race and family name.

"Time for the main event to begin indeed!" I yell out while flying forward, spreading my perception outward as far as it can go in my current form and environment, getting a read on about 25% of the forest region I've been spawned into.

It's enough to see a few dozen entries. The majority being 1st Class Lords from the preliminaries, but a few unrecognizable—most likely from the grouping of Lords that pre-qualified from last month's arena event.

"Tough luck..." I whisper while leaving trails of ether, demonic energy, and fire behind me, making zig-zag patterns through the thick trees in the forest.

Notifications ring loud in my ears.

[Kill Confirmed!] x31

[You've Gained 1 Point!] x27

[You've Gained 3 Points!] x4

In less than 5 minutes, the entire area of forest I've spawned into is cleared out, and I make it to the mountain range beside it.

I hold 39 points, and the small prize option to claim a permanent avatar's upgrade is already visible in my system status.

This doesn't stop me from diving down into the massive mountainous region with tall peaks and deep valleys that are large enough to hold entire countries between them if I were to scale this to the human world's infrastructure.

[Kill Confirmed!] x14

[You've Gained 1 Point!] x12

[You've Gained 3 Points!] x2

My points raise to 57 after a few more minutes, but I finally stop my rampage once an image flashes in my mind.

It's of Ava's spectate POV, where she too uses 2% of borrowed stats, crushing dozens of Lords herself on the far side of this mountain range where I can't sense.

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She's looking at the visual of a giant white elf's greater form—one I'm certain is the doing of Ren's more aggressive personality.

Its hands glow extremely white and grab onto the air itself—it looks as though this greater form is pulling on the ether commands in the air, and ripping them apart like curtains to fly through with greater ease.

White arrow-like needles come out from the Lord's hands as well when enemies come nearby, making a Serpent, a Mantis, and a team of three high Orcs explode into fractured pieces all in the span of a few seconds.

I send Ava a telepathy message, "Hold them off, but stay together... both of you need to drop out of the match. I'm going for the Grand Prize."

Ava flies forward, trailing green and white mist behind her, but when Ren's attention moves her way, it's not friendly or recognizable at all. The massive white greater form tears away the suppression ether commands between them and flies forward with sharp eyes ready to kill.

—

I roll my eyes and start eliminating even more entries in these mountains while I watch Ava swing her hammer upward to smash away a flurry of those odd white arrows, then collide with the elf's greater form.

She borrows my telepathy skill and initiates peaceful contact, as they have met before out in the Black Desert of the Wilderness briefly.

At the same time, the announcer of this match yells out like he's having the time of his life. "And we're off to an exciting start! Take a look at these highlights!"

Visuals of the handful of jet-black Obsidian Clan Berserkers are the main attraction, as they all have headed straight for the army of Demonic Beasts.

This light show is not within my perception, but I get the Admin's aerial view of what is going on.

The second most popular attraction is deep within the Forest Region, on the side I didn't explore.

The Griffon that was staring me down the whole time I was in that holding cell is using its greater form to slaughter everything in its vicinity, stacking dozens of points similar to my own score.

Another team of Serpents all cluster inside the arena part of the floating rings, and face off against a team of Mantis creatures. The insects seem to have the upper hand, as they're more agile and fly through the rings, changing colors and claiming what look like temporary avatar buffs, chipping away at the Serpents one by one.

Lastly, I see myself slashing through 1st Class beasts with ease. What took many minutes to achieve before, I do now without batting an eye.

Mammoths are crushed with a single fiery slash, Mantis monsters that ruled over entire full rounds in the preliminaries are sliced in two, and even Berserker Giants stand no chance. I haven't run into any yet that hold the same dark black form I fought in Round 1, but I defeat some with grey auras without batting an eye.

[Kill Confirmed!] x42

[You've Gained 1 Point!] x35

[You've Gained 3 Points!] x7

My point total surges past 100, unlocking the large prize option in my system, and I hear the Demonic Servant announcer hyping me up as I approach the ongoing fight between Ava and Ren.

"For those of you that missed our Round 1 match of the Preliminaries, we have a few human entries in the arena today! This one is full of surprises! He broke his last Soul Weapon against a Warrior from the Obsidian Clan, and now he pulls out another that looks to be similar strength! I think we have ourselves another contender for the Grand Prize!"

Visuals of other entries show up on the screen, with the crowd's live voting system showing the % approval and guesses for who will make it to the end.

Mine only shows 5%, while the Griffon shows 12%. Three Berserker Giants battling with Demonic Mammoths while holding off other beasts in the flat zone hold about 25% each, and the rest of the entries share less than 1% each.

My attention pulls away from these visuals once the white and green auras of my allies come into view.

I yell out loud, "Hey, you two, heads up!" making them both turn their heads my way as I head right toward them, not slowing my speed.

My sword leaves my grasp, letting it slowly orbit behind me in its natural state.

This leaves both my hands free to grab both of the clashing Lords' greater forms and separate them from each other. I activate my light magic, to create a massive explosion of flames that seems real, but is really all a show.

I stare into the angry elf's eyes, and they finally realize it's me. "You're both on the same team here. Get along, and save your strength for the real fight that will begin soon!" Then turn to Ava, "Thank you. Now drop out and get Ren ready for what's to come! Your instincts brought them to this point, there has to be a good reason why."

The illusion of Dark Flames fills the entire mountain range we're in, for over 1000 kilometers around. It's far easier to spread my aura in this pocket of space, as Ren destroyed portions of the suppression commands.

Ava and Ren disappear in flashes of white light as they drop out of the match, and I feel their presence immediately shift to a holding cell below the arena floor.

I grab my blade again and kill every single thing that moves in this mountain range over the next few minutes, then head toward the moving rings in the sky.

The war between Serpents and Insects is still in full swing, but I look to the sky and see the timer already falling below 40 minutes left. So, to speed things up I pull more borrowed stats, bringing my total up to 5% and fly forward, leaving a trail of fire behind, with far more demonic energy in my aura than before.