Chapter 1436 (2/2)

Luckily, Randidly didn’t even have to move; the police force of Kharon was running the security at the tournament and an officer quickly prepared to intercept the attack. The nearest patrol officer exploded with a rather vague image of justice that manifested around his body as a spinning whirlwind of golden lights. His legs flexed as he used his image to empower his physical body and leap upward.

But as he did so, Randidly felt a headache growing. Everything felt like it was going in slow motion, but it didn’t feel… appropriate to intervene directly. That’s… Fenlin, right? Even before the Dungeon, his control over his image was a bit…And I have no doubt that he hasn’t adjusted to using his new image on Earth-

As Randidly had predicted, the ground beneath Fenlin’s legs exploded and collapsed as he overutilized his image. He shot upward like a rocket, not so much blocking this Azure Claw attacker as directly intercepting him, Fenlin’s shocked face smashing into the young man’s chest with all the force of a ballistic missile.

The casual image aura that remained around Fenlin was enough to shatter the image of the tiger with just the initial contact. Then the two shot off to the side where they impacted the ground and created a smoking crater.

Randidly rubbed his chin and sighed, grateful that Fenlin had carried the attacker out of the area occupied by the crowd. He’s so used to acting within the Dungeon where my image was a constant weight that he has no idea how much he needs to concentrate in order to accomplish basic tasks here on Earth… it’s like a man with a battle ax suddenly trying to wield a knife in the same manner… Guess it just shows they need more training.

A rather strained looking Fenlin stumbled out of the smoking crater and smiled awkwardly. From within the hole, some light coughing could be heard.

Randidly smirked around and released a pulse of Nether to make sure everyone’s focus was back on him. Better move this along.“Since it looks like everyone is itching to start, I’ll keep this short.”

After a smattering of laughter from the crowd, Randidly continued. “You’ve already been divided into ten groups. Today will be totally devoted to those ten preliminaries. Each group will fight in a special environment for one hour. Leaving the special environment will be considered a forfeit. Defeating other duos grants points. After the hour, no matter how many people remain, the top ten percent in terms of points will move on to the tomorrow's rounds. The round will finish early when 90% of the groups have been defeated.

“Other than that, there are no rules. Just know that I’ll intervene if I sense that anyone is out for blood… obviously this competition might not be friendly, but we aren’t here to weaken ourselves. Because beyond this tournament is the First Calamity.”

Randidly gritted his teeth. “Do not forget our true foe, people of Earth.”

Gradually, the people below nodded. Randidly glanced sideways toward Clarissa, who stood in the shadow of Kharon. Seeing Randidly’s glance she began to gather her image. Then her hands began to move through several complex signs as she started the process. The Skills that Clarrissa had developed in the Dungeon were powerful, but they did take a bit of time before they could be activated.

So Randidly turned back to the crowd. “Group 1, you are up. Show the world how much you’ve improved your images. Everyone is watching.”

Very quickly, Randidly floated upward and out of sight of the people below. He quickly moved to the Southern edge of his island, where he could look down at the battlefield and monitor the situation and prevent any accidents. Although it cut into his training time, he would be responsible for tracking the points of the fighters below. In the end, it wasn’t such a big deal to lose out on a day’s worth of training; all Randidly really wanted to do right now was work on Nether.

Most of his other areas had already reached their limits within the Dungeon. Besides, centering the monitoring and safety activities in himself would mean saving the labor of at least two dozen members of the Order Ducis. It was grunt work, but also work that he was uniquely positioned to accomplish.

As the crowd talked excitedly and split into the various groups, Randidly also noticed that the blonde-haired young man stumbled out of the crater, covered in dirt and vaguely smoking. After coughing several times, he glared up toward Randidly’s island. But compared to Randidly’s Grim Intuition, it was clear that the blonde young man didn’t possess the Perception to pierce through the silver mist around his island.

Instead, the blonde young man harrumphed and began to stomp his way toward the fighting ground. It appeared that he was part of Group 1.

Inwardly, Randidly chuckled. If defeating him was this individual’s goal, the blonde young man would need to improve quite a lot before he began a threat to Randidly Ghosthound. So Randidly just looked up at the clouds. Underneath Clarissa’s influence, the slate grey sky darkened toward black. The clouds thickened ominously, small flakes of snow drifting downward.

Very soon, the rate of snowing increased. By the time al of the Group 1 was in position, a veritable blizzard had descended. Their battlefield had turned into a snow globe that was being rather violently shaken.

Randidly closed his eyes. When he spoke, his words boomed out over the surrounding area. “You have one hour. Begin.”