Lyrica charged forward with her mind scanning everyone she needed to eliminate.
On her path up, 5 people were climbing to the next layer.
Planning out her way of attack, she twirled the sword and threw it to the first enemy.
The sword smashed against his head. An instant kill.
Jumping up, she grabbed the sword while making sure her foothold was in place. She stepped hard on his body and jumped towards the second victim.
Kneeing him in the ribs, she twisted her body before slashing him at the back of the nape.
'2 down.' She thought.
Tilting her head up, she narrowed her eyes on the third victim.
Compressive Power.
Lyrica used one of the skills that came with her equipment. This skill allowed her to gather the force of her body in one short burst. The backlash will cause her to freeze up for a moment but she had already planned the next steps.
*BOOM!
She jumped towards the 3rd victim with incredible momentum.
*BAM!
Her sword struck the woman's head and eliminated her easily. Her body froze up as she expected but her flight path was already determined.
Scraping the sword against the wall, she jammed it in one of the cavities and supported herself from falling. The short 2 seconds where her body was frozen felt long as she narrowed her eyes at the next 2 victims.
It seemed like they knew each other since they were protecting each other's backs.
[Sam LVL 25 – Swordsman]
[Steve LVL 26 – Swordsman]
Swinging her body onto the sword, Lyrica crouched down and jumped towards the two.
*BAM!
Sam managed to block her strike while Steve took notice and attacked her.
Twisting her body, she avoided the strike. She followed her momentum whilst kicking Steve's chin.
The caused him to recoil backwards from the force. Grabbing Steve's collar, Lyrica swung him towards Sam and slashed at them both.
Due to the fact that Steve blocked his view, Sam wasn't able to react to her strike.
Eliminating the duo, Lyrica didn't have anyone else blocking her path to the top 500's.
Crouching down, she dashed from one foothold to another.
She left a trail of afterimages since her willow blade aura was still active.
Landing softly on the second layer, she quickly bent backwards as she dodged a sword strike.
'Attacked the moment I reach this layer. Seems like this layer's fight is more desperate than the one below.' Lyrica thought.
Flipping backwards, Lyrica charged at the assailant in a zip zag manoeuvre.
*BAM!
The sword clashed with each as they came face to face.
Lyrica didn't hesitate to headbutt her enemy. The force caused both of them to recoil with pain while she threw her sword at the same moment.
Striking him in the chest, Lyrica eliminated him and sent his body flying back to the start.
"Ssss!" She breathed in sharply from the throbbing pain. Holding her head, she regretted acting impulsively.
A heavyweight seemed to have been placed on her body since both her berserk type skills wore off.
Frowning slightly, she looked around for a place she could rest for a second.
Naturally, there were none but she was looking for an area with fewer fighters.
Dashing towards the area with only 3 people fighting, Lyrica could already feel her speed drop dramatically.
While it wasn't to the point where she'll not be able to fight, it would definitely be a hard fight.
Trying to make sure her presence was as small as possible, she manoeuvred around the trio. This was to make it seem like she was fighting with them while in reality, she was resting.
However, the reality was often disappointing since they found out straight away.
One of the fighters branched off and started to attack her.
"Ku!" Blocking his heavy downwards strike with a lot of difficulty, Lyrica kneeled heavily on her right knee.
[Scott LVL 30 – Axe Warrior]
Gripping her sword with both hands, Lyrica struggled with the power behind his axe.
Glancing to the side, she released one of her hands and allowed the axe to overpower her.
Shifting her body to the right, the axe slid off to the left due to the lack of weight in her sword.
*BAM!
Having successfully redirected his slash, Lyrica attacked his torso.
*DANG!
The sword collided with the axe since Scott's stats allowed him to recover before her attack succeeded.
Quickly jumping backwards, Lyrica created some distance between her and Scott.
'The level is too far apart.' Lyrica thought with a frown. Even when her Bladedancer class gave her a huge boost compared to the normal classes, it was still hard to bridge the status gap.
When a person levels up from 1 to 20, they would get 5 points per level up to use.
The average status page for a level 20 all-rounder would be:
STR: 30
VIT: 30
INT: 20
AGI: 30
DEX: 30
DEF: 20
And then a +20 depending on what class they chose. A mage would have a +20 in INT, a warrior +10 in STR and +10 in VIT etc…
This, however, was a one-time boost.
After level 20, the average class gave 150 – 175 points for you to distribute and then automatic points depending on your second class.
Her Bladedancer class gave her an astounding 225 points per level not including the automatic status.
In addition to this, she already knew the Bladedancer class gave her incredible STR and AGI since just these two stats could be compared to people 2 levels higher than her.
Combined with her hidden proficiency, this made for a fearsome combo.
Even if the sword wasn't exactly her hidden proficiency, she was able to get into a similar rhythm.
Yet all this combined was a far cry from what a level 30 could output.
'If I threw my sword like before, there is a high chance I'll lose it. I can't fight him head-on either since he is a power-based attacker. Lyrica thought with a frown.
This left her with only the options of suppressing him with speed, which was impossible, and eliminating him in one go. A single attack to breach his defences.
However, that seemed rather impossible as well since she was recovering from her backlash.
She still had 3 more minutes to go before it wore off and 8 more minutes till she could reuse the skills.
And surviving 8 minutes against a level 30 wasn't easy.
Brandishing her sword, Lyrica panted slightly as she shifted her body to a more defensive posture.
Scott charged towards her with his axe dragging across the ground. Stepping back half a step, Lyrica stabbed her sword towards the axe so that it would glide along the blade and over her body.
*DANG!
Her plan worked slightly since the axe did indeed miss her body. But, this resulted in her feeling a lot of the resultant shock through her body.
With her muscles contracted from the pain, it was hard for her to reposition herself to fend against the following attack.
Seeing the axe chop towards her, Lyrica gritted her teeth and threw her body away from the impact zone.
*BAM!
Rolling on the ground heavily, Lyrica was glad at the fact that she was able to avoid the axe narrowly.
Scott didn't mind and jumped towards her.
He used the Axe Warrior's skill, Ground Impact. This skill would use all the force gathered from his jump and attack with an area of effect skill.
Lyrica started to sweat when she saw his aoe charge up.
Looking around quickly, she cursed at the fact that there was no cover for her.
Narrowing her eyes, Lyrica had no choice but to fight fire with fire.
Her sword shimmered with a pale pink light.
Sword Dance of the Lotus.
Sword dance of the lotus was a skill that allowed her to attack several times like the opening of a lotus flower.
She planned to try to disperse as much of the force as she can before the aoe hit so she could survive.
Using her left hand to aim, Lyrica narrowed her eyes and aimed for the perfect moment. The small interval where he is barely within her reach. The gap where she could make the most of her skill to disperse his momentum.
'Now!'
A neon pink trail of light drifted from the tip of her sword as several lights followed. The streaks of light formed the outline of a lotus and collided with the axe warrior.
*BOOOMMMM!!!!!!
A huge cloud of dust rose up from the impact, attracting the attention of the surrounding participants for a slight second. However, they looked away immediately after since it wasn't rare for clouds of dust to form in the midst of battle right now.
Lyrica's body was sent flying out of the dust. Sliding on her hands and feet, Lyrica glared at the silhouette of the axe warrior.
While she managed to survive the contact, she was left barely surviving once more.
Checking her armband's HP, she was pleasantly surprised at the fact that it was slowly regenerating.
'So this was put in place to stop people from being eliminated as easily the higher up they are.' She thought.
However, this also meant Scott's HP was regenerating by the second.
Realising she had to act fast, Lyrica decided to risk it and dashed towards him.
Dragging the sword on the ground, she flicked up a rock before hitting it towards him.
Since the dust was still present, she was able to catch him off guard.
With him being preoccupied for a moment with the rock, Lyrica dashed around him and cut towards his head.
Sensing danger, Scott quickly ducked. Narrowly avoiding the strike.
Flowing through her movements, Lyrica grabbed the back of his collar and slashed the sword across his neck.
"You!" Scott cried out as he wanted to take her down with him.
Unfortunately, or rather fortunately for Lyrica, the force of the armband was too much and he was sent back to the start.
"Fuu…." Breathing out in relief, Lyrica took a moment to relax her body for a moment.
Looking up towards the next layer, she decided against it.
'If I'm struggling with the top 500, I won't survive the top 100. They're filled with level 40's to 50's.' Lyrica thought.
'I should use this moment to hone my combat prowess with people similar level or slightly higher than me.' She concluded.
After rotating between fighting and resting, Lyrica managed to secure her spot within the top 500.
"And STOP!!!! CEASE YOUR FIGHTING!!! The first quarter of the warrior's division has finished! May the current participants leave the arena. The staff will clean up before the second quarter can enter."
Walking away from the arena, Lyrica managed to find Madison before they returned to Shiro.
"Madison!" Lyrica called out.
"Lyrica. How did you do in your arena?" She asked.
"Er I only got top 500." Lyrica replied feeling a little embarrassed for saying she'll get top 10.
"See? I told you top 10 wasn't as easy as you thought." Madison shook her head.
"Hahaha, yeah you did. Oh yeah, how did you do in your arena?" Lyrica asked.
"Urg! I only got top 1000." Madison replied. Her arsenal mostly focused on defence meaning her attack was trash.
She was able to hold her own in defence but could barely progress.
"No worries no worries. This event was more focused on the attacking aspect after all." Lyrica said as Madison nodded.
"That being said, I'm rather surprised you got top 500. Most of them are filled with level 30's after all. How did you even hold your own there?!"
"I got lucky." Lyrica laughed.
It didn't take too long for them to return to the area for the school.
She saw Shiro sitting on her chair, relaxed as always, with the guys trying to please her.
Naturally, this was limited only to giving her items and no touching allowed.
Lyrica smiled wearily seeing a few ice statues placed aside and knew what probably happened.
[Welcome back. How was it?] Shiro asked with a smile.
"I got top 500 and Madison got top 1000." Lyrica reported.
[No I don't mean rank. I mean in terms of combat experience. Since you two are still on the lower spectrum of the levels in this event, I want you to experience fighting more than ranks.] Shiro typed, shaking her head.
She expected their ranks to as such since they are basically the two sides of extremes almost. Lyrica with attack only and Madison with defence only.
With this, they won't be able to get high ranks. However, the more important aspect would be to gain the experience that comes with fighting opponents. She could experience fighting in 1 on 1 battles or 5 on 1 battles.
The options were there, they just had to take it.
"I guess I kinda did." Lyrica said since that was the truth. She had to fight tooth and nail to keep her spot in the top 500.
"Same. I was mostly focused on honing my defence." Madison admitted. Since she wanted to her a defence orientated adventurer, she focused on fighting multiple people at a time.
[Then that's all that counts. If anything, I'll knock them out for you tomorrow when it's my turn.] Shiro typed with a grin.
Lyrica shivered seeing the grin. It was one she hadn't seen in a while and one that would make her pray for the safety of her enemies tomorrow.
The rest of the warrior's division didn't involve anyone they knew, so Shiro decided to take them elsewhere.
Somewhere to hang out for a little while before tomorrow since her mage's division was tomorrow.
[So where do you two want to go?] Shiro asked.
"Anywhere really. I just want to rest for a bit." Lyrica shrugged.
"In that case then why don't we go to an amusement park?" Madison suggested with a grin.
[Amusement Park? What's that?] Shiro asked as this was a foreign term for her.
"!!!" Both Lyrica and Madison were shocked by this. Normally, kids her age would at least know a little about the amusement park. Yet, they could see the honest confusion and curiosity in Shiro's eyes.
"You've never been to an amusement park?! Didn't your parents take you there when you were younger?" Madison asked.
[No. They didn't.] Shiro shook her head.
Rather, the only memory she had of her parents were that of peaceful ones. She would help them occasionally with chores and play around with some of the younger kids.
Since her family lived in more rural areas, they didn't have much electronics.
Thinking of her parents made Shiro a little nostalgic and sad due to the fact that they died without seeing her grow up fully.
'Then again, I suppose seeing me get experimented on would bring them more pain.' Shiro thought with a heavy heart.
Lyrica didn't know why, but she felt Shiro's mood take a sudden shift towards sadness.
'Perhaps it's something to do with her parents.' Lyrica thought.
"Then let's go! The amusement park is a place where you can enjoy yourselves." Lyrica smiled as she grabbed both Shiro's and Madison's hand.
"Huh? Wait! WHY ME! I CAN WALK!" Madison cried out, shocked at the sudden increase in speed.
Shiro only chuckled seeing Lyrica's enthusiasm and decided to play along.
After calming down slightly, Lyrica released the two.
[So what exactly is in an amusement park?] Shiro asked.
"It's mostly just a place where you pay money to enjoy rides. There are things like roller coasters, ferris wheels and other adrenalin-inducing rides." Lyrica explained.
[If you want adrenaline then why don't you fight a monster in a dungeon? That gives you quite the pump of adrenalin.]
"Yeah but that's to improve your combat standards. This is to just relax and have fun." Madison replied as she bought herself a drink from the street vendors.
"Want some?" She offered.
[No thanks.]
"I'm good."
They both rejected. Madison only shrugged seeing their response.
[So you say it's to have fun? Seems interesting.] Shiro typed out as she was quite curious as to what people in this world enjoyed.
And so far from what she heard, it seemed like the amusement park was something common for the children for New York to experience.
Arriving at the amusement park, Shiro was surprised to see the huge rides that were available.
People were screaming in excitement and raising their hands when they drop down on the roller coaster.
"Since we're here pretty late, we'll only go for a few rides."
Shiro looked around with curiosity and pulled down her hood.
Letting her midnight blue hair drift behind her, she attracted the attention of the surrounding civilians.
Yin flapped her wings and landed on Shiro's shoulder.
While she was looking around, she saw cotton candy on a stick and was rather surprised.
Narrowing her eyes, she scrutinised the fluffy pink sweet.
"Shiro are you curious what these are?" Lyrica asked. She had a smile on her face since this was one of the rare times where she would see Shiro acting more like her 'age'.
[Yeah. They look like clouds but the composition of these 'clouds' are clearly made from sugar.] Shiro typed out since her nose could smell how sweet the cotton candy was.
Lyrica only smiled wearily when she saw Shiro back in her usual character. It would feel rather odd for Shiro to act like a child after all.
"Yeah. They're called cotton candy and they're basically sugar stringed onto a stick." Lyrica explained.
'Hmm, that sounds rather interesting.' Shiro thought. Now that she had a chance at life once more, she should try to experience everything she could.
Walking up to the stand, she paid for cotton candy. While she couldn't taste it, she was rather curious for the texture.
Taking a bite of the sweet, Shiro recoiled back at the texture. She made a face of slight disgust since it felt like she bit on a clump of string. The string would then fuse together before melting apart into nothing.
"You don't like it?" Lyrica asked, surprised seeing how Shiro reacted to the cotton candy.
[Not my cup of tea. The texture is a little strange for me.]
"Do you want it little Yin?" Shiro whispered. Yin turned her head away as she reacted the same way Shiro did.
[You want it Lyrica?] Shiro asked since she didn't really want to waste the candy.
"Can I?" Lyrica asked. Shiro was taken aback at her enthusiasm.
'Seems like she really likes the cotton candy.' She thought, handing over the sweet.
Madison only facepalmed seeing the slight misunderstanding between the two.
In her opinion, Shiro looked like an older sister who is giving her little sister a piece of candy. While Lyrica looked like she enjoyed the indirect kiss more than the actual piece of candy.
Walking over to one of the rides, they queued up for a while.
The ride they chose was the biggest rollercoaster available in the amusement park. Since time was short, they wanted to try the best-looking ride first.
Paying for the tickets, they were seated down and secured to the carts.
Shiro frowned slightly since she didn't have much control over her body due to this.
'If the cart derails or anything of the sort, I might struggle with protecting the three of us.' Shiro thought with a frown.
The feeling of not being able to control her body to the fullest made her fidget a little.
*Clang clang clang~
The cart started to move as Shiro made sure she was in a position ready to jump out and float at any moment.
"ooOOOHHHH MMMMYYYY GOOOODDDDD!!!!!" Madison shouted out since she was surprised at how fast the cart was actually going.
Since the current riders of the coaster were all level 20 and above, they were allowed to increase the speed for more 'thrill'.
Yin gripped hard on Shiro's robe since she was about to be flung off her shoulders.
*CHIRPPPPPP!!!!
Yin cried out in a panic.
Shiro only giggled and reached out for Yin. Placing Yin on her lap, Shiro re-evaluated the security since she could see the structural integrity of the ride is as strong as ever.
Seeing that she was rather safe, Shiro decided to relax a little and enjoy herself.
Lyrica felt relieved seeing Shiro smile on the ride.
…
When the ride finished, Shiro was pleasantly surprised at how much she actually enjoyed the roller coaster.
[Not going to lie, that was pretty fun.] Shiro typed out.
[Though not being able to control my body as much did feel uncomfortable.]
"True, but that's where the thrill comes from." Lyrica grinned.
"Urg. Thrill it maybe, but not one that I liked." Madison replied, looking a little pale. Previously, all the rides she went to were slowed down for the lower levels. But due to the fact that they were all level 20 and above, the speed increased by quite a bit.
Shiro only chuckled seeing the opposite reactions of both Lyrica and Madison. One enjoyed the ride while the other looked like she was about to die.
[We'll come back if we get the chance. But since it's getting late we should go home and rest for tomorrow.]
Lyrica and Madison agreed. Since there were more mages than warriors in the city, the mage's division would start much earlier than the warrior's division.
As they were walking back home, Shiro narrowed her eyes when she saw Nan Tian's figure on the roof of a building.
'What is he doing.' She thought.
[Head back first, I'll join you in a second.] Shiro typed out.
"Hm, alright. Just don't stay out too long." Lyrica nodded.
Once she was out of sight, she hopped onto the roof easily.
[Is stalking a fun past time of yours? I could feel your eyes the entire day.] Shiro typed out with a frown.
"Ai little snow. It's not stalking but merely observing. You just so happened to be near where I was observing." Nan Tian chuckled.
While Shiro can't see his face, she could tell he was smiling.
[What do you want exactly? You didn't try to attack me and now you're here again. Making yourself obvious to me.] She questions.
"Can't I take the time to observe an interesting monster I found?"
[Stop beating around the bush and tell me already. Because if you have nothing you want to say then I might as well leave right now.]
"Fine, no fun at all. I want to recruit you and your friend to the hidden sect."
[Not interested.]
Shiro turned around immediately and was about to leave.
However, Nan Tian didn't let her since he was in front of her once more.
"Ai don't reject so fast, little snow. I know you don't like your freedom restrained, but this sect isn't like that. You can still join other factions. The sect itself focuses on improving the strength of humanity as a whole." Nan Tian tried to persuade.
"Not only that, but you can use all of the resources of the sect. Naturally, you'll get more resources the bigger your contributions."
Shiro paused when she heard this. It did sound rather good but she didn't want to take it all for granted.
[What's the catch.]
"You'll have to help protect the sect whenever it is in danger."
[Yeah no. I still don't want to join it.] Shiro rejected.
Seeing that there was no persuading her, Nan Tian only smiled wearily.
'Little snow is so hard to persuade ah…' He thought with amusement.
Watching her leave, he couldn't help but chuckle.
…
Waking up early the next morning, Shiro wasn't really in the brightest of moods since she realised she has two stalkers now.
Lucius and Nan Tian.
One was a shadow walker who kept stalking her with his shadow clones, and the other, a high level masked person who was wherever she was.
Sighing with slight annoyance, Shiro changed into her outfit and pulled forward her hoodie. Covering her lower face with her face mask, one could barely see Shiro's appearance face wise.
She contemplated about changing her current outfit so that she could let loose a little.
'If I used the first phantom, I should be mostly ok.' Shiro thought since the 1st phantom of the Yin style phantom arts helped a lot in terms of stealth.
The ability to minimalize your presence to trick your opponent's brain and make them ignore you were amazing in the heat of battle.
It was also this that helped her kill the level 50 mage. She was able to strike his weak point when his guard was down. If it wasn't for this factor, then the fight would most definitely be harder than what it was.
"Good morning Shiro…" Lyrica greeted still half asleep.
[Good morning. You can sleep longer if you want.] Shiro typed out.
"No, it's fine. I want to see you kick their ass." Lyrica grinned.
Nodding her head slightly, the duo waited for Madison to arrive.
Thankfully, they didn't have to wait long and made their way to the gathering point.
They mostly chatted about what Shiro was going to do in her arena and she only smiled before typing; [You'll see.].
This naturally caused Lyrica to shiver for a moment and pray for the safety of her foes.
Stretching her body slightly, Shiro waited at her assigned arena.
Looking around, she tried to single out a few note worth mages. However, luck was on her side since most of the mages near her right now were lower than level 35.
Waiting for the commentator to announce the round start, Shiro flexed her fingers slightly.
Frost gathered o the surface of her hand as Icy Touch was activated.
"START!"
Yin Style Phantom Arts: 1st Phantom + Cold Aura + Tier 2 Ice Magic + Icy Touch + Faded Snow Movement.
She slammed her palms down which caused a tsunami of cold mist to shoot outwards.
*CRRRR!!!!!
The arena was freezing at an abnormal pace as the participants couldn't escape the ice locking their feet to the ground.
Shiro's body flickered for a moment and faded out of view.
Clenching her fist, the ice between the participant's legs started to tremble. She flicked her wrist and blunted Ice Spikes shot upwards.
"ARRRGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Layers upon layers of tearful cries were heard as Shiro eliminated a large group of people in a short burst of time.
Grinning slightly, Shiro dashed towards the top 500 layer before anyone else.
I'll be going premium next week on Monday the 5th of August.
You can copy the link in the Synopsis
Discord Server: https://discord.gg/eFYFYcw
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