[Location: The Grand Battle Arena]
[Time: 10:00 AM]
[Event: Tournament Round 2 - Capture the Flag]
The arena had transformed again.
Gone were the ruins. In their place stood a massive, intricate Steel Maze. High walls, shifting corridors, and hidden traps everywhere.
"MATCH 2: Class F vs Class C (The Strategists)"
Class C was known for their brains. They weren't the strongest, but they used traps, ambushes, and magic formations. They were led by Caleb, a glasses-wearing mage with a high IQ.
Caleb looked at Ryan's team and smirked.
"A maze is the worst terrain for brutes like Grog and zombies like Jin. And if we separate them from Ryan, they are nothing."
The referee shouted: "START!"
Class C immediately vanished into the maze, setting up magical tripwires and ambush points.
On Class F's side...
Ryan didn't move.
He walked to the starting point's bench, pulled out a folding chair (from his inventory), and sat down. He put on sunglasses.
"Grog, Violet, Felix, Jin," Ryan said lazily, opening a bag of chips. "Go get the flag. I'm taking a nap."
The audience gasped.
"Is he serious?"
"He's not going to fight?"
"He's underestimating Class C! This is arrogance!"
Caleb, watching from a hidden camera spell, gritted his teeth. "He dares to look down on us? Isolate his team and crush them! Leave Ryan for last!"
Inside the Maze - Sector 1.
The team moved forward. Grog carried the sleeping Jin. Felix walked nervously in the middle. Violet trailed behind, humming a creepy tune.
Suddenly, Felix tripped.
"Whoops!"
He fell face-first onto a stone slab.
CLICK.
The slab was a pressure plate.
WHOOSH!
Three massive spinning saw-blades shot out of the walls at chest height.
If Felix hadn't tripped and fallen flat, he would have been sliced in half.
Because he fell, the blades passed harmlessly over his head... and over Violet (who was short)... and Grog (who ducked because he dropped his snack).
The blades smashed into the wall opposite them, destroying a hidden Class C Assassin who was waiting to ambush them.
"ARGH!" The Assassin screamed as the wall collapsed on him.
[System Notification: Felix's Bad Luck triggered.]
[Result: Trap evaded. Enemy Assassin incapacitated.]
"Good job, Felix!" Violet giggled. "Tactical trip!"
"I... I meant to do that," Felix lied, trembling.
Sector 2 - The Poison Zone.
They reached a corridor filled with green fog.
"Poison gas," Grog sniffed. "Grog feel dizzy."
Class C's voice echoed from speakers. "Give up! This acts on your nervous system. You will be paralyzed in 30 seconds!"
Violet adjusted her thick glasses. Her eyes gleamed.
"Paralysis toxin? Grade C? How... amateur."
She pulled out a flask containing a bubbling black liquid.
"Let's spice it up."
She threw the flask into the fog.
HISS...
The black liquid reacted with the green fog. The gas didn't disappear. It turned Red.
And instead of staying in the corridor, Violet used a wind talisman to blow it back towards the ventilation shafts leading to Class C's base.
From the other side of the maze, coughing and screaming could be heard.
"What is this?! It burns! My skin is itching!"
"Who throws Pepper Spray into a poison cloud?!"
Violet smiled innocently. "It's not pepper spray. It's concentrated 'Gym Sock Essence'. It won't kill them, but they will wish they were dead."
User_Slayer69: "Class F is terrifying. Even the Healer is a war criminal."
Sector 3 - The Ambush.
Finally, Grog, Jin, and Felix reached the center. The Flag was there.
But so was the rest of Class C.
Caleb and four mages stood there, protected by a glowing barrier.
"You made it far," Caleb sneered. "But you can't break this barrier without Ryan. It reflects physical damage!"
Grog punched the barrier. BANG. He was thrown back by the reflection.
"Ouch. Spicy wall."
Caleb laughed. "See? Useless trash! Fire at will!"
The mages began to charge their spells.
Grog looked at the sleeping boy on his shoulder.
"Wakey wakey, Sword Man."
Grog grabbed Jin by the ankles.
"Grog... SMASH!"
He didn't throw Jin.
He swung Jin like a baseball bat.
He slammed the sleeping Jin against the magical barrier.
CRASH!
The moment Jin's body touched the barrier, his [Dream Warrior] instinct screamed: THREAT.
Jin's hand moved faster than light.
Unsheathe.
SLASH.
In his sleep, while being used as a human club, Jin cut the barrier.
Not with magic. But with pure, sharpened instinct that found the one weak point in the mana flow.
The barrier shattered like glass.
Caleb's eyes popped out. "He cut a Reflection Barrier?! With a physical sword?!"
Jin landed on his feet, mumbled "Five more minutes, mom...", and sheathed his sword. Click.
Caleb and his team were exposed.
Grog grinned, cracking his knuckles.
Violet held up two syringes.
Felix... well, Felix stood there and a ceiling tile randomly fell on Caleb's head. Bonk.
"We surrender!" Caleb screamed. "You guys are freaks!"
"WINNER: CLASS F!"
[Back at the Start Line]
Ryan woke up from his nap as the victory announcement played.
He stretched his arms.
"Oh? Is it over already?"
He walked over to the camera drone.
"See that, folks? I didn't lift a finger. That's the power of 'delegation'."
He looked at the defeated Class C team being carried out on stretchers (mostly due to itching and nausea).
[System Notification: Your team has instilled fear.]
[Fear Points: +5,000]
[Reputation: 'The Lazy King' established.]
Ryan smiled.
By not fighting, he had proven a terrifying point:
He doesn't need to fight to beat you.
But as he walked out, his True Sight caught something.
In the stands, a hooded figure was watching him intensely.
The figure wasn't looking at the match. He was looking at Ryan's Shadow.
Ryan's smile faded slightly.
[System Warning: Hostile Intent Detected.]
[Source: The Necromancer Association.]
"Seems like the secret is out," Ryan whispered to himself.
"Let them look. The show is just getting started."