BEEP BEEP BEEP
“PREPARATION TIME EXPIRED, THE FACTION BATTLE IS NOW BEGINNING, YOU WILL HAVE 1 HOUR. START!”
The VS AI chiming loudly echoed from seemingly nowhere, signaling the start of a bloody and one-sided massacre.
“Teehe Ha Ha, MYRKLYS MOVE OUT!” Smiling sadistically, Cynrik kicked off the ground and sprinted forward while flinging both arms down, extending out his newest and untested invention, the Grapple Shot.
With his grin getting wider, Cynrik weaved in and out of the trees like a wolf born in the woods, expertly twisting, jumping, and spinning to avoid every obstacle.
‘Hey Tobs, I need good background music; pick something appropriate.’ Then, feeling something was missing, Cynrik thought out something he figured would go unanswered.
-Based on your previous track record, I have an adequate selection; however, since it comes from outside your knowledge and even timeline…-
‘Eh? I’m ignoring that you just confirmed alternate timelines exist; how many points are you robbing me for? But, you know what, fuck it. If it’s less than a hundred points, do it, I’ve got 246 points regardless.’ Then, pushing Tobs misspeaking out of his mind, Cynrik curiously wanted to know what song she had found.
-75 Skill points have been deducted from Host Cynrik Jetlensr.-
-Pulling track information from an alternate timeline, Targeting Feb 2022 Earth.-
-Now playing Aot Final Season Part 2 Opening, Full Song, ‘The Rumbling’ by SIM FEB 2022.-
♫RUMBLING, RUMBLING, IT’S COMING!♫
Once the powerful metal theme kicked in, Cynrik’s eyes dilated in satisfaction.
“HAHAHA, HOLY FUCK TOBS, YOU FUCKING NAILED IT HAHAHA” Cackling like a lunatic, Cynrik thanked the system AI and started pumping his arms and legs harder, subsequently accelerating to his top speed.
Thanks to his high MIND and INT stats, Cynrik’s dynamic vision caused his surroundings to be extremely clear even though he was moving so fast that usually, the terrain would appear blurred. Unhindered, Cynrik picked a sturdy-looking branch, held out his left arm, rolled his wrist outward, and channeled a minute amount of Mana into his Assassins tools.
PPFFT
The action triggered the expulsion mechanism, firing off the Grapple shot, easily piercing into the branch. Then, without breaking his stride, Cynrik methodically snapped his left wrist inward, activating the retraction of the cable and pulling his body off the ground.
Seeing Cynrik take to the air and swing like a particular arachnid hero, Brance and Selene were at a loss. They were hot on his heels until the moment Tobs beamed the loud rock song into their brains and were still stupefied by the fact there were apparent alternate timelines. However, seeing Cynrik take off to the air and not wanting to be left behind, the two kicked off the ground and used easily accessible branches as footholds.
Not far behind, Gabby and Benny were lagging as per the usual plan, but soon after seeing everyone go airborne, they too took to the trees with Gabby’s replicas trailing half a dozen meters behind.
Ahead of the group, running at their top speeds across the battlefield, the members of Epsilon Chall were sprinting side by side, fanning out across the entire length of the forest, with Levin running slightly ahead of the pack, forming a massive arrow shape.
Floating above the battlefield in the approximate center, 10 referees watched both sides moving towards a head-on collision, and the 9 who didn’t know the state of MyrkLys sighed softly. Only the woman who had dealt with Cynrik earlier was watching with anticipation.
The woman, who happened to be a Third Year Professor, was named Annika Wallin. After seeing that Cynrik and his crew were S-Rank and A-Rank, she realized the need to give the other referees a heads up, or the battle results would be disastrous.
“Listen up, MyrkLys has three powerhouses, and even the weakest two, the little girl using Psychic Affinity and the boy beside her, are A-Ranks. After that, the boy and girl in the middle are both S-Rank, and lastly, that one,” Professor Wallin pointed at Cynrik, who was flinging himself through the trees by alternating between the two gauntlets on his wrists, advancing forward at breakneck speeds. The way he would flip and twist like an acrobat caused Professor Wallin’s eye to twitch.
“He’s Ivar Ragnarsson, one of the 8 SS-Rank applicants in this year’s Selections. Be advised that Ivar is known to be ruthless for his age; he and his brother Björn caused the incident in the Enrollment Office arena earlier. So we all need to be prepared to jump in and stop them if things get dicey.”
The other 9 referees tensed up at her words. But, of course, the abnormalities known as SS-Ranks weren’t to be trifled with. Besides their innate potential for rapid growth, they are all extraordinarily wild and unrestrainable. Additionally, if someone could obtain an S-Rank classification, they were more than likely able to fight on equal terms with someone above their Tier.
This meant that being a second late to do their job could potentially result in the death of a student. Thus, a silent agreement was made to pay extra attention to Selene, Brance, and especially Cynrik.
Cynrik had easily covered at least half the battlefield in the forest and was having the time of his life swinging from tree to tree while bobbing his head and performing stunts to the song, which he had Tobs play on loop.
[[NO BODY KNOWS WHAT’S INSIDE OF MEEEEEE!]]
[[A pile of goo made of pure stupidity?]]
[[A super pervert?]]
After listening to the song a few times, Cynrik had even begun singing in the mind link; what he didn’t expect was the annoying commentary being added to the lyrics by Brance and Selene.
[[If I lose it all, slip and fall, will you laugh at me?]]
[[YEP!]]
[[SURE FUCKING WOULD!]]
[[I hate both of you guys,]] gritting his teeth and performing an Arabian flip (backflip with a half twist), giving him a chance to flip his middle finger at both of them before reaching out with his right hand and firing off his Grapple again and righting himself.
Cynrik activated [Mana Sight] and realized they had closed the distance much faster than expected; there was not even a football field between them and the enemy. So Cynrik extended both arms to an exceptionally sturdy branch, fired both grapples, then swung around it before landing with both feet and stopping his approach.
Brance, too noticed how close they were, and after Cynrik executed his landing, he waved back at Gabby and Benny to get into position and landed with Selene on the same branch as Cynrik.
[[Selene left-wing, Brance right, and I’ll head up the center, strike hard and fast, don’t give them any time to recover. Disable your opponent to the point they can’t continue.]] As he spoke, Cynrik made some hand signs to Gabby, informing her to place the replicas into position.
Giving a quick nod of affirmation, Gabby started waving her hands around like she was moving chess pieces, and with each movement, a replica was placed halfway behind a tree with weapons raised.
It took her less than a second to get every one of them in position and draw her bow. Beside her, Benny had his sword and shield at the ready.
[[Gabby and Benny are set, waiting on your signal.]] Looking away from the Sanfords, Brance told Selene and Cynrik everything was good to go.
[[We hold until they attack the replicas.]] Cynrik didn’t look back to double-check since he had enough faith in the training Gabby and Benny had received, so he continued monitoring the approaching enemies.
[[So…is no one going to explain how our system AI can play music…]] Since there was a temporary lull, Selene spoke the question that had been haunting her since the music began.
There was clearly an unspoken overlooking of the timeline issue, so she had already let that one go, but the fact that Tobs could play music like a streaming service made her feel like she had wasted the last 16 years. Of course, she could have passed all those torture sessions by blaring music all this time, but the lack of knowledge agitated her.
[[It’s better if you just assume Tobs is ridiculously powerful and has no limits to what she can do. At least that’s what I’ve always done; that way, I don’t get surprised when I find out she can do ridiculous shit like pull a song I’ve never heard before from something that didn’t exist in Vinestra, or I guess our version of Earth. Get ready; contact in 20 seconds.]]
Seeing how close the opponents had gotten, Cynrik broke his standard two-handed style and only drew the kodachi on his hip; since his left hand was dominant, he decided to use it to fight and opted to use the right for maneuvering with his Grapple shot.
Cynrik’s eyes narrowed, and he began counting down from 10 in his mind while signing with his right hand for Gabby and Benny to only move after he did.
Just as planned, the line of enemies broke through the brush and quickly spotted the decoys. Letting out loud whoops and hollers, the line instantly fell apart, and everyone rushed toward the five replicas.
What happened next surprised Cynrik, as Gabby smiled widely and made each of the replicas appear horrified at how many people were running towards them. Next, she made them appear to take off, running away in fear.
This change in the plot left Cynrik satisfied beyond all belief. He swore silently to give the little girl all the praise and candy she could handle.
[[NOW!]]
Like death from above, Cynrik, Selene, and Brance flashed away from the tree they had perched on, with Cynrik using his right Grapple shot to angle himself over a cluster of 10 bodies. At the same time, the other two flitted to other trees creating a triangular zone of destruction, which they would drop down and begin their onslaught.
Above, as if moving at Cynrik’s command, all 10 referees split up and placed themselves in optimal vantage points, which would allow them to jump in and stop any accidents from occurring. In addition, they were able to teleport wounded students out of battle with the approval code stored inside each referee’s Watcet.
Professor Wallin hovered directly over Cynrik, as she was the highest Tiered Professor present. Her job was to deal with any potential danger presented by the unruly fellow since the others were all in various stages of Tier-3 and may not be able to stop him if necessary.
—
HOLY SHIT, GUYS, SHOUT OUT TO THE MAN THE MYTH THE LEGEND TACOWARRIOR. Thanks to the combined efforts of him and Joe, we have met the event goal of four Magic castles.
All that’s left is the power stones, which are also dangerously close to completion. Once we complete the final goal, I will finish that week as per usual, and the following Monday, I will begin double chapter releases. (This isn’t totally me being caught unprepared and not having enough chapters in reserve, I have no clue what you are talking about.)
-This series is exclusively published on WebNovel if you are reading it anywhere else…You Wrong, Fam. PS Check out the discord, https://discord.gg/dcxKNJEMwg