My Elf System

45. NET {4}:- Blaze Rats

"The second phase will be testing you on riddles, your knowledge of elven history, as well as some other things.

Meanwhile, the third phase will be aimed at testing your archery skills."

Everyone listened attentively to what Elder Jang had to say.

The three phases he listed were the activities that would be done on the first day of the tournament.

No one knew what they would be doing on the second day of the tournament, but what mattered the most to everyone was to ensure that they passed all three phases, because only then would they be able to qualify for whatever activity they had to do tomorrow.

"Prepare yourselves, everyone,"  Elder Jang cautioned after noticing that his colleagues were almost done chanting the teleportation spell.

Everyone made sure they had what they needed for the hunt, such as their daggers, bows, arrows, and quivers.

Orion also prepared himself mentally for what they were going to fight against. He glanced around the hall and noticed a bunch of crystal balls floating along the hall, almost as though they were recording everything that was going on.

'Was this also acquired from the witch kingdom?'

'I wonder who is currently watching us right now.'

'Could it be the other tournament officials or maybe the whole kingdom?' Orion thought to himself, but then, a huge magic circle suddenly appeared beneath everyone's feet and they were immediately teleported to the forest.

However, everyone had been separated from each other. This meant that Orion was currently alone with no one beside him.

He turned around to see if there was at least someone nearby, but all he could see were towering trees with twisted and gnarled branches stretching towards other trees. They resembled skeletal fingers as they cast long, ominous shadows on the ground.

It was currently daytime, but due to the way the branches were spread across the trees, it made the entire forest look dark.

The underbrush of the forest had thick, thorny vines and razor-sharp brambles, which looked like they were reaching out to snag Orion's clothes and skin.

Despite the darkness of the forest, Orion could hear the scuttling sounds of unseen creatures through the bushes, followed by the ominous rustling of leaves.

He could also sense that he was being watched. The Blaze rats had spotted him and they had no intention of letting him leave.

However, Orion wasn't bothered by this. He simply settled down on the ground and crossed his legs before listening to his surroundings.

'I have to find the horned rabbits first,' Orion decided on his top priority.

He activated his basic skill [Tracking], along with his racial skill [Omnivision] and he was able to see the number of Blaze rats surrounding and watching him, but since they weren't his current target, he continued to search deeper into the forest.

Some of the contestants might be bothered about facing two to three Blaze rats on their own, but Orion wasn't bothered by this.

He was confident that he could easily handle three to four Blaze rats on his own and this made him a bit more relaxed as he focused his mind on tracking the horned rabbits.

'Found one.'  

With the help of his sharp sense of hearing, in addition to his basic and racial skills, Orion was able to track and locate a horned rabbit. 

He swiftly made a mental note of where the rabbit currently was, then continued his search for more.

However, the Blaze rats hiding in the forest were feeling impatient, so they charged forward from their hiding spots with their jaws snapping wide open, revealing razor-sharp teeth that were ready to have a taste of Orion's flesh.

The Blaze rats were eight in number, and they were no different from the rats Orion was familiar with from Earth.

The only noticeable difference the Blaze rats had from normal rats of Earth was their huge sizes.

Each and every one of them had a height of six feet, making them more ferocious as they closed the distance between them and Orion.

Their pace increased when they noticed how their target was seated on the ground.

After all, it could only mean that he was too scared to move and run away, so what better way to honor their prey than to give him the luxury of experiencing death through their razor-sharp teeth?

Within seconds, the Blaze rats appeared before Orion and they leaped towards him, but just before they could have a taste of him, a transparent barrier of mana erupted around him, encasing him in a protective cocoon.

This was a Tier 2 mana combat technique [Mana Shield]. The shield repelled the Blaze rats when they came too close to him, and Orion used it to his advantage by focusing his mind on searching for more horned rabbits.

Meanwhile, the Blaze rats continued to scratch and claw at the magical shield. They bit down on the mana shield, hoping it would be enough to break the shield but it wasn't.

Feeling frustrated, the Blaze rats distanced themselves from the mana shield and began to unleash fireballs.

The small balls of flames clashed harmlessly with the barrier, causing the rats to feel even more frustrated as they unleashed more fireballs from their mouths.

Their attack continued for another ten minutes until Orion was able to successfully locate ten horned rabbits. 'Found them.'

Now that he had tracked the locations of the horned rabbits, Orion knew he had to take care of the Blaze rats before hunting for the rabbits.

The Blaze rats continued their relentless attacks, but suddenly, they noticed a huge fireball glowing brightly above Orion.

The huge fireball brightened up the surroundings, puzzling the Blaze rats as they wondered who could cast such a spell.

Never before had they seen a fireball as huge as the one they were seeing right now.

They tried to understand why the fireball continued to grow bigger with every passing second, but before the Blaze rats could comprehend what was going on, huge thorny vines suddenly sprouted from the ground, spiraling around the rats with their thorns piercing their flesh and causing them to release screeching cries of agony.

The vines coiled and tightened themselves around the Blaze rats as the thorns of the vines grew larger while cutting the Blaze rats into pieces.

In less than a minute, the noise surrounding Orion quietened down and Orion deactivated the Mana Shield before increasing the amount of mana flowing into his left hand.

A huge amount of mana continued to flow out of his left hand before morphing into a bow made completely from mana.

Orion also conjured an arrow of pure mana from his right hand before placing the arrow on the bowstring, taking aim at the floating fireball before him. He released the arrow and it struck the fireball with incredible force.

The huge fireball erupted and turned into ten smaller glowing orbs of flames that then morphed into flame arrows.

At his command, the arrows flew into the forest, with each one aiming for a rabbit.

They bent and weaved through the forest, navigating around trees as though each arrow had eyes of its own.

Unbeknownst to the rabbits, they continued their gentle grazing within the forest, oblivious to the arrows homing in on them, and within seconds, all the arrows found their marks and each target erupted in flames.

Orion confirmed their deaths through the help of his Omnivision skill, he then turned around and noticed a small magic circle behind him, glowing with a purple hue.

In front of the magic circle was a male elf bowing in front of him with his gaze facing the ground.

However, Orion had noticed the presence of the tournament official a few minutes ago while he had been tracking the horned rabbits.

He knew the male elf had to be one of the tournament officials due to the way he had been watching him and a few of the other contestants within the vicinity.

About half an hour ago, Elder Jang had informed everyone that their safety couldn't be guaranteed if they stepped into the forest.

He hadn't wanted the contestants to feel too relaxed if they knew they were being watched by the officials.

The elders also used this to test the contestants. They wanted to find out those who were confident in their strength and those who believed strongly in their dreams and were willing to fight for them.

If any Rank One or Rank Two contestants had stepped into the forest, the elders and other tournament officials would have subtly watched him from a distance and would have protected him if anything were to happen to him.

However, a lot of the contestants gave up their goals and dreams because of the fear of losing their lives.

This was understandable, and the elders respected their choices, but the elders would have been a lot happier if the contestants had believed in themselves more rather than given up on their dreams before even attempting to fight against the Blaze rats.