Chapter 545: Fighting Yourself (2/2)

On the second day, Krune prepared some food again. However, the number of cultivators and demon beasts increased this time. Krune didn't mind much, though. He liked to cook and even more to see others enjoying it, so he made more. This time, around 30 cultivators and demon beasts gathered around.

The problem came on the fourth day, though.

Krune looked at the big queue by his table as his mouth twitched.

'This... I don't know if I have enough ingredients for so many stomachs...'

What was supposed to be a week of silence with everyone glaring at each other, suddenly became some kind of party commanded by the wisp? The observers outside were speechless! Just what kind of bullshit is this?

”Since when the Heavenly Competition became a food degustation event?”

Wally, of course, laughed out loud when he saw that most of the participants ended dropping by Krune's table. It was to the point that Krune was even having trouble cooking so much food at once.

Norzulun was feeling like crying already. The higher-ups kept contacting him, asking what the hell was the scene. But he was utterly helpless about it. The rules had already been released to the others outside. So he couldn't change it now even if he wanted. All that was specified was that the participants could not fight during their week of rest. There was no rule saying 'you can't cook.' In fact, others would find it ridiculous if such a rule was there. Who the hell would stop to cook during the Heavenly Competition?

Well... here was a wisp who did so...

Of course, Norzulun and the other elders checked if there wasn't poison or anything like that with their Divine Senses. Still, Krune's food proved to be nothing more than food, that's all.

Fortunately for Norzulun, the outside world only had to watch it for one hour, not an entire week.

Back inside the Time Accelerating Formation, seven days passed in a flash. On the last day, Krune had a mixed feeling of happiness and gloominess. He was happy that so many of them enjoyed his food, but he was also sad that he had almost nothing left in his spatial ring.

'Oh well, I never use rare ingredients anyway. I can buy as much as I want once the Heavenly Competition is over.'

Suddenly, the speed that the laws acted around the Heavenly Competition participants reduced to normal levels. Right after, Norzulun contacted everyone once more.

”Cough, cough. I hope you all recovered after a week. Anyway, the third phase will start now.”

At this moment, the land around them began to change. The walls around crumbled, and they could see the Ice Maze behind it disappearing. It only took a minute for the land to go back to the same Snow Field that it had been before.

Suddenly, Krune felt space laws acting once more. However, when he, Laka, and Hanan tried to reach each other, some kind of barrier prevented them from doing so. It wasn't only Krune's group, everyone had been isolated from each other. Abruptly, everyone around Krune disappeared. The world around Krune also warped as the Space Laws continued to act. Only a few seconds later did his vision return back to normal.

Sure enough, he was the only one around.

'Well, it seems like everyone is alone this time. Still, what is this place?'

The entire place looked like a giant mirror that extended as far as the eye could see. But other than that, there was nothing else. Above Krune, everything was white, providing light for the whole world. All Krune could see was his Human Form reflection below his feet.

Krune then spread his Divine Sense. This time, it had nothing restraining it. That being said, Krune could see everything tens of thousands of kilometers around him. In this Heavenly Competition, no one had a Divine Sense that went as far as his one. Nonetheless, everything was still the same as the place he was at the moment.

'Nothing? What am I supposed to do?'

It was then that Krune noticed a few ripples coming from the mirror. It was as if he had thrown a stone in the middle of a calm lake. Those ripples intensified until suddenly, ten bodies began to emergy from those ripples. Every single one of them had the same shape as Krune himself.

Right after, a Divine Sense message reached Krune's mind.

”Welcome to the Mirror World. As you can see, your enemy is also yourself. However, I would be careful while dealing with them. Your objective is simple, find your way out of this place. As for the clues to achieve that, they are within yourself.”

”Anyway, the first 256 participants to come outside will advance into the Heavenly Competition's last phase. Good luck!”

As soon as Norzulun finished his speech, Krune's copies dashed at him. Yet, Krune couldn't tell whether they were strong or not.

”Tribulation Lightning Movement!”

However...

”Tribulation Lightning Movement!”

Krune was surprised to see that. All ten copies used his own Tribulation Lightning Movement!

But his surprise only lasted a second, Krune soon noticed that although they were very fast, they weren't as good as himself. Thanks to that, Krune could barely avoid them. Still, Krune's eyes narrowed. That's because even though he dodged the copies, they were close enough to use other skills against him. But in the end, they didn't do so.

'Something's wrong.'

”Tribulation Line!”

”Tribulation Line!”

Krune aimed the attack at the closest copy. Sure enough, the copies did the same against him. Just as the enemies' attacks were about to collide with Krune's own, Krune controlled his Tribulation Line to make a curve and dodge the collision.

The copies Tribulation Lines didn't change direction as Krune's one, though.

'As expected, they are not perfect copies.'

Krune then brought out his Diamond Shields, which he used to defend against the Tribulation Lines that came against him. The copy that Krune attacked also did the same thing as Krune. Nevertheless, Krune controlled his Tribulation Line once more, making it dodge the shields easily.

Krune knows how he controls his shields better than anyone, so he is well aware of how to bypass them if necessary. However...

*Zap!*

”Arrgh!”

The copy was hit by Krune's attack, but the who took the damage was Krune himself!