Chapter 40: Artificial Sun

"The top one hundred candidates will advance to the final assessment. Once the battle begins, you can use whatever abilities you have."

He looked around the group.

"Don’t worry about killing anyone. Death isn’t possible here."

A few candidates became more excited.

"Fight until you can no longer continue. The final rankings will be decided by your performance in the battle."

Marcus raised one hand.

"That is all."

The next moment, the candidates in the top one hundred disappeared.

Ethan’s vision changed.

He was standing in a large battlefield.

There were other candidates around him, spread out across the area. None of them were close enough to attack immediately.

High above the battlefield, a huge number appeared.

100

Fighting immediately broke out around Ethan. Some candidates rushed toward the nearest opponents, while others moved away to avoid getting surrounded.

Ethan had only taken a few steps when a young man holding a sword spotted him.

"You there!"

The young man changed direction and rushed toward him.

Ethan stopped.

The man was moving quickly, but Ethan could tell from his movements that he wasn’t particularly strong.

’An easy target, I suppose.’

The sword was already coming at him.

Ethan shifted to the side and let the blade pass. The young man didn’t stop. He turned with the swing and came at him again, forcing Ethan to give ground.

Ethan finally raised his hand.

Several Shadow Wraiths came out of his shadow.

The young man’s face changed when he saw them. He immediately backed away and swung at the nearest one, cutting through its body before it could reach him.

But another one was already behind him.

He turned and managed to block its claws with his sword.

"Damn it!"

A third Shadow Wraith grabbed his leg.

He hacked downward and broke free, but that was enough.

Dark chains wrapped around his body.

Phantom Bind.

The young man struggled and tried to break the restraint, but the Shadow Wraiths were already closing in.

He managed to free one arm and reached for his sword.

A claw struck his chest before he could grab it.

The attack sent him to the ground.

He tried to get back up, but several Shadow Wraiths were already standing around him.

A final strike ended the fight.

The number above the battlefield changed.

99

A moment later, the sky above the battlefield began to brighten.

Ethan looked up.

A small ball of light had appeared high in the sky. It continued to grow until it looked like a second sun.

The entire battlefield was soon covered in bright light.

Ethan looked toward the Shadow Wraiths around him.

Their bodies had become faint and blurry under the intense light. Even their dark forms were starting to fade.

Ethan quickly understood what was happening.

’So they’re trying to restrict my legion.’

"Hide in the shadows. Use anything you can find as cover."

The Shadow Wraiths immediately moved.

They slipped beneath rocks, behind small patches of terrain, and into whatever shadows they could find.

They could still hide.

But moving through the shadows had become much harder.

The artificial sun had turned the entire battlefield into a terrible environment for them.

The Free-for-All had only just begun, but Ethan’s legion was already heavily restricted.

...

Back at the monitoring area, the other representatives were stunned.

"An artificial sun?"

"You actually prepared something like this?"

The Order Academy representative remained calm.

"He’s a summoner. If his summons depend on shadows, then this should make things interesting."

He turned his attention back to Ethan’s assessment area.

"Let’s see how you get around this."

...

Across the battlefield, several candidates had already noticed what was happening.

They had seen the swordsman attack Ethan earlier. They had also seen how quickly he was eliminated.

None of them had been willing to try the same thing.

But now, things had changed.

The artificial sun had forced them into the few shadows scattered across the battlefield, leaving Ethan standing almost alone.

A young woman stood several dozen meters away with a bow in her hands.

She had been watching Ethan since the battle began.

"So that’s your weakness."

She pulled an arrow from her quiver, placed it on the bowstring, and drew it back as she activated her lock-on skill.

The skill failed to find a target.

"...Why?"

She kept the bow trained on Ethan for another second before lowering it slightly.

Her lock-on had never failed before.

She turned toward another part of the battlefield.

Two candidates were fighting nearby. One of them was already struggling to keep up with his opponent.

She aimed at him and activated her skill.

This time, the lock-on succeeded immediately.

She released the arrow.

The candidate noticed it coming and quickly changed direction. He ran left, then right, trying to shake it off, but the arrow followed every movement and stayed right behind him.

"Damn it!"

He suddenly turned around and struck the arrow with his weapon.

The arrow broke apart.

The archer lowered her bow.

"So the skill works."

She looked back at Ethan.

"Then why doesn’t it work on you?"

She placed another arrow on the bowstring and drew it back.

This time, she didn’t use her lock-on skill.

She simply aimed at Ethan and released the arrow.

The arrow flew straight toward him.

Just before it reached him, a Shadow Wraith emerged from his shadow and struck the arrow, breaking it apart.

Ethan watched the broken arrow fall to the ground.

So they were starting to target him.

He looked around the battlefield. A few candidates were already paying attention to him, clearly waiting for a chance to attack.

The problem wasn’t the candidates.

It was the artificial sun.

As long as it remained above the battlefield, his Shadow Wraiths couldn’t fight at full strength.

"But that can only restrict the Shadow Wraiths."

Ethan checked his Spirit.

[Spirit: 999]

One more point was all he needed to reach 1,000. He would probably gain it within the next ten minutes, and staying alive that long shouldn’t be difficult.