[Meanwhile, in a certain office in the real world...]

  A man in a white shirt with his long sleeves folded up to his elbows hummed as he stared at the number from one of the streamer's co-streams on the monitor. Just then, a man in a black suit and blue tie entered the room while carrying several papers to a table nearby.

  "How's it looking, event designer?" The man in a suit asked with a smile.

  "Not bad, Mr. White. It's as expected from several test plays. The participants adapted to the rules of the arena event and used what time they had to eliminate and gather supplies to survive and earn first place," the designer answered. "As for the location reveal, many were eliminated from the first half, while others became wary and used that time to change locations or strategize on counter plans against anyone who took advantage of it. In other words, the balance of the event is just right. And by the way, it's not "event writer". It's Mack Dudley. Then again, my name is as stupid as it sounds, so don't call me that."

  "Heh... That's good to know." "All that's left is to see through the end and send out the survey about the event for feedback."

  As soon as Mr. White said this, Mack frowned and crossed his arms. "About that... There is one strange occurrence that I noticed from one of the streams."

  "What is it? You said the balance is okay for the [Arena of the Strong] event."

  "True. But I noticed one participant claimed he managed to find a specific opponent, and the location reveal doesn't have any name tags on the map itself. The same can be said with a certain someone, but I excluded him for obvious reasons."

  Mr. White also frowned once he heard this. "Did you ask the fixers to find any third-party software during the event?"

  "I did, but they found nothing and [Isekai] didn't have any signs of glitches, bugs, or exploits within the system so far," Mack answered.

  The game developer hummed in thought. "If that's the case, I can either chalk it up to Evan Spears or the [Gaia Live] itself."

  Mack's eyes widened at the mention of the name. "You mean the AI program acting as brains is responsible for the strange exploits that the player found? How is that possible?"

  "Well, it depends on the algorithm and setting Mr. Enigma wrote for the game. While some of the [Quests] are partially generated, writers are still needed to expand the lore he created. In this case, he must have left several keywords or story beats that might have an impact on future events. This is how we avoid using too much AI and rely more on human hands for this project," Mr. White explained. "In this case, that player must have been participating in some kind of a [Hidden Quest] and the AI itself created something to connect the story with the [Arena of the Strong]."

  "And that connection might have something to do with how it easily located the player's opponent, correct?"

  Mr. White nodded. "By the looks of it, they might be involved in a [Hidden Quest] line revolving around secrets. But looking at this, it is breaching some rules for the event."

  "True. But neither of them uses any third-party, and you said it's part of the system." Mack groaned while shaking his head. "You know what? Let's leave them alone for a bit and see where it takes them. It would be rude for us to disrupt the fight on the livestream."

  "Good idea. Besides..." Mr. White smiled as he stared at the young white-haired man in leather armor. "I want to see where their story goes."

  "Speaking of stories, have you seen the current standings lately?"

  "Well, talk about a great list of potential rankers for the first year. And the top ten is..." He gasped after scrolling through the list on the monitor. "Well, this is quite a surprise..."

  "[Rampage]!"

  Ewa swings his axe the moment he calls out a new skill. More specifically, it's a [Berserker Mastery] skill that increases your [ATK] while sacrificing a bit of [DEF]. It's a double-edged sword, but since that [Mastery] is all about using rage for power, it's a perfect skill for a muscle head like him. It doesn't help since he still has an axe that has a 30% chance of a guaranteed hit with every 10 [STR] from his [Masteries]. Which means Kamiro and I are sitting ducks if we don't make a counterattack.

  "[Parry]!"

  At least I don't have to warn him. The [Beast Folk] player swings his katana around, letting it pull him around Ewa's attack before swiping it towards his back.

  "ARGHHHHH!!! You sneaky little..."

  "[Low Blow]!"

  I quickly take this chance to make an attack of my own as I raise my leg and kick it between his legs. But then, Ewa notices this and grabs it before it makes contact.

  "You sneaky little rat! Do you think you're going to get away with the same move?" He made a twisted grin, aiming at me. "Sorry to say I won't let that happen."

  Yeah... After I won that [Duel] and caught him off-guard with this skill, I expect him to predict it. But...

  "[Cross Slash]!"

  The moment I saw Kamiro jumping behind him again, that little bait-and-switch plan worked as I expected.

  "GRAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!"

  Ewa let go of my leg to deal with the pain in his back. As for me, I made my move with 4 kicks to his chest and a punch to his cheek. Thanks to my [STR], I can endure the recoil from his hard cheek and push him a little bit away from me. This leaves the [Beast Folk] to deal his own basic slashes right in front of him before ending with another [Cross Slash]. I have to admit, he really earned his right to be my worthy rival for this event. He was fast enough to dodge most of Ewa's skills and basics and counter them with the right skills with near-perfection. If our current circumstances are different. I would still be struggling in a one-on-one fight.

  But this still isn't over. Ewa is still part of the [Viper Fangs], and he's not the type to give up so easily. He will do everything to give me a penalty, whether we're in an event or not, and knowing from other players' statements after being penalized for talking back against the Vipers, he's not willing to show any mercy to me. This meant he won't stop using his skills until he runs out of [SP] and [MP]. And I'm including the latter since I heard from Lyco that he added [Fire] into his set a few days ago. Sheesh, overkill much?

  Still, this might be an advantage as long as I play my cards right. He might have already expected my [Martial Arts] from our last [Duel], but I learned a few things when I tried to adapt to the new moon before the event. When I'm in my peak outside of the New Moon, I mostly act as a brawler, with my magic being my answer to ranged attacks along with my support. However, if my strength wanes, I can have an option in becoming a magic ranged fighter or a supporter, like in the good old days. But in this case, I'm acting as both with Kamiro as my tank and main DPS against this brute. And this also means I can adjust my plans without being pressured to deal the final strike!

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  “Spirits of flames, heed my call! Burn the fields around my enemies!” I yelled out before placing my hands on the ground. "[Scorched Earth]!"

  Kamiro gave Ewa a few more slashes on his chest before jumping away. When he did, flames began to spread throughout the ground, surrounding the brute as they burned any nearby bamboo in the vicinity.

  "F*ck! What the hell?!" Ewa covers his eyes from the flames. "When I get out of here..."

  "[Mana Blast]!"

  Small balls of mana quickly flew towards Ewa, hitting him from behind. At the same time, Kamiro lands on the top of the bamboo, balancing the tip on a toe. "Hardly. I suggest you stay until this forest burns," he said. "It's a shame we have to abandon this place. But we have bigger plans for you later."

  With that, he left the bamboo just as new notifications popped in front of us.

  So the [Field Effects] do exist in this game. I didn't really mean to burn the bamboo biome, but he didn't give me any other choice. Unfortunately, this is only a temporary solution. If we don't get out of here, the flames will spread, and we'll end up getting caught by them.

  "Kamiro, let's bail!" I call out. "This forest won't last long!"

  I quickly turn around and run as fast as my legs can go. Ewa might be a brute, but he still invested some of his skills into [SPD]. He will catch up to us once he gets out of the burning forest.

  "Alright, Lunar. We got big and musclehead trapped there. Now what?" Kamiro shouted.

  I flash a smirk as we're getting closer to the biome's exit. "Now we'll play cat and mouse!"

  [Meanwhile, with Hiromi...]

  "OH MY GOSH!!! Have you guys seen this?!" The streamer screamed from the screen with her eyes widened, and her jaw almost dropped. "Lunar did a little fire trick, and it's enough to trap his opponent in the inferno that was known as the calmest biome in the event map! And that's saying something from a guy who used some support spells and fists! Looks like he's not fooling around, and it seems like this isn't his final trick for that guy!"

  Everyone voiced their awe and shock at Venus's stream in the same way as we do. I didn't expect a passive guy like Lunar would resort to trickery and vandalism so he could incapacitate Ewa like that. Not only that, he's willing to team up with his former opponent before Ewa ruined their fight. Just goes to show that anything can happen in this kind of event.

  "YAY!!! YAY!!! Go, Lunar-sama!" Nelli cheered while jumping out of her seat. "Teach that brute some manners!"

  At least someone got out of her brief trauma of being captured earlier. This leaves us with one question.

  "Where do you think they're heading now?" I asked Lyco. "Do they have a map accessible to spectators?"

  "Not exactly. But I notice from Qizuna's chat that they were seen in the abandoned town biome a few seconds ago," he answered. "They might have seen them through other streams, but I'm not sure if it's accurate..."

  True... They could be anywhere, and some of the viewers will do anything to get attention, like saying false information about their whereabouts. But knowing Qizuna, she's not the type to miss this kind of fight.

  "Oh, hang on a second! Looks like our eagle-eyed warriors found our runaway fighters at another biome! Let's switch it over there right now!"

  We watch the scenes switch. To our surprise, we see Lunar and his rival running through what seemed to be a small town with no signs of people around the buildings and streets. So they really are in that biome. Let's hope nothing bad happens to them there...

  [Abandoned Town Biome]

  I look around as we continue running through the streets littered with trash, swords, and stands. We saw no NPCs in the buildings and streets and heard nothing but a gust of wind blowing through the windows...

  Terrific... Why did it have to be this biome? I was already creeped out by how Ewa tracked me down, and I don't want a ghost town to freak me out a lot more than I wanted to. What's worse is there's a full moon above us... Kamiro is still with me, and at this rate, I might...

  Oh. Looks like my worries were quickly squashed by this addendum on the event rules. The devs must have anticipated this in case a [Race] or [Sub-Race] like [Lycanthropes] would take advantage of the quick day-and-night cycle for this event. At least that eases my concerns of exposing my werewolf identity by accident.

  That aside, I'm almost out of breath from running, and my [SP] is running low. We quickly hid inside an abandoned restaurant nearby and rested behind one of the tables so we could take this time to recover our strength. While we recovered some of our [HP] and [MP] with those recovery items before leaving the bamboo biome, they're not enough to bring us out of the red. Guess Ewa wasn't skimping out before the event, which is even bad news for us. However, I'm not the type to give up like this. Not when Save and his goons are still doing everything to thin out the number to entrap me in the late-game.

  "Okay, Lunar. We got away from that brute and found a hiding place," Kamiro said. "Don't tell me your plan involves camping here until the game ends?"

  "Do I look like the type who forgets some mechanics that disallow camping? No, I'm just buying some time to create a new trap for our brutish guest." I stood up after regaining a bit of my [SP] and looked around the restaurant for anything we could use. "And to make this work, I'm going to need your skills to make it work."

  "If anything to get him off our backs, I'm in. Just know that even two of us won't penalize that guy. But seriously, what's your history with him? It seemed like it's beyond just a simple [Duel]."

  I raised my eyebrow when he asked this. I expect him to be a no-nonsense player with his demeanor and skill set. But I didn't expect him to be a nosy type. Then again, he's not like the Vipers, and he helped me escape, so there's no need to stay suspicious.

  "Nothing much. He's one of my bullies' goons in real life. Except he's much more cruel and merciless in-game," I sighed while recalling those bad memories with Ewa. "I managed to endure his methods when I was associated with the Vipers. Unfortunately, not everyone has the same patience and willpower to do the same."

  "In other words, you were the bullied victim. God, I hate those kinds of people who torture and harass others for power, amusement, and abuse," Kamiro growled. "What gives you the courage to bail, though?"

  I take a deep breath and smile. "Just dumb luck and self-reflection. But it doesn't mean I'm not scared of them anymore, nor feeling strong enough to face them. If it wasn't for my friends, I wouldn't move forward, and I don't intend to stay a loner any longer."

  "Heh... Weird. I thought you were more of a lone wolf than me," Kamiro smirked.

  I chuckled at his statement. "Yeah, I get that a lot."

  Yeah, this guy is really cool outside of his rival persona. We're definitely going to get along after the event is done. If we can survive, of course...

  "Still, you could have picked a better place to hide. How do you expect us to survive with utensils and food here?"

  He's got a point. Most of the recovery items come in the form of preserved food that might taste bad, and we can't exactly defend ourselves with forks, knives, and spoons...

  Hang on a second...

  "That's it!"

  "What's it?" Kamiro raised his eyebrow. "Did you get something?"

  I smirked with a nod. "Yeah. We'll use the whole restaurant as a booby trap."

  "...Are you sure you're still sane from that last skill?"

  "Trust me. I kinda know my way around the kitchen."

  And it's this advantage enough to turn things around for the last time. Let's hope a miracle will come after this.

  "Oh, I'm first?"

  A young man with long ears smirked after checking the holographic window. He twirled his staff around while walking around bodies disappearing in data.

  "Guess I'm almost on par with the wolf boy. When he said he can take care of himself, he isn't exaggerating." He yawned while stretching his arms out. "Still, I think it's about time to meet up with him."

  He took out a familiar beetle from his pocket and tapped on its back, causing it to flap its wings.

  "And deal with a rulebreaker and a new prodigy."