"Damn it, I almost survive!"

"Arrgh! No way, why those demons had to show up!"

"I'm dead? Nooooooo! Give me another life! Reincarnate me in that world! I will get my revenge!"

"Urgh, I thought I would die for real."

"Oh shit, I peed my trouser. I forgot it's not real!"

"Grrrrr, even though it wasn't real, I still could feel how those monsters gnawed my head."

"Hey, bro, how did you die!"

"In shock!"

"Lame."

"How about you?"

"I don't even know what they meant about demons. I was only sleeping inside a cave after I crossed the second barrier, but then suddenly I heard a loud shrill that I thought was a shrill from a girl. To my surprise, I woke up immediately, and then my head hit the protruding stone above me. And that's the end."

"....."

Dead participants were spawning one after another that even the welcoming squad could not barge-in to make a joke.

Since they already made jokes to themselves!!!

"Chuchuchu, look everyone! The elimination round was at its climax. Behold! Let's witness how our mighty participants handle those creatures.

Truly a magnificent sight!

Our beloved her majesty The Empress Elleanna and her Eminence The Popular Artist Miss Ella did a very wonderful surprise!

Inside the third barrier, the theme of it is as you see! Apocalyptic World! Where various monsters roaming the place, led by D-E-M-O-N-S!!!

Ahem!

At the moment, the group of Hilion and his White Leo Knights was the nearest to the last barrier.

But the group was halted to their advance because more and more monsters were waiting and guarding...

THE LAST BARRIER!!!"

WOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH!

The crowd beamed in excitement.

"Chuchuchu! The next person who was the nearest—

— Was the irregular Gath Rainripper!

Currently, he was being chased by around 10 lower rank demons. Look how he sneakily fired those needle-like raindrops of him. He truly is an amazing participant to place your bet.

However,

HOWEVEEEEEEEEEER!

The third nearest participant is our greatest-!

ROMAAAA~~~AAAAANNN!"

WOAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!

ROMAN! ROMAN! ROMAN! ROMAN!

The audience chants his name!

"Look, his Artefact the Guardian Beast, the Lightning of Mayhem, like striking lightning, it's tearing every monster who comes across his way. LIKE A KING! Roman was advancing unbothered by it."

WOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH! With the instigation of the announcer Mr. Faye The Trickster, everyone's hype reverberated on the whole Public Square.

ROMAN! ROMAN! ROMAN! ROMAN!

HILION! LEO KNIIIIIIIIIGHTS!

GATH! GATH! GATH! RAINRIPPER!

Every gambler chanted their favored participants.

What's good with this kind of competition, is that the audiences could freely bet their money. So even those of lower family, if lucky, could win a huge sum.

Right now they are betting on who will enter the last barrier first, and who will be able to gather more points.

The announcer Faye The Trickster continued saying,

"Chuchuchu, just two days ago inside the world in the painting that the participant number 1500, 'The Mysterious' person was able to climb at the first spot on the ranking list of most point holders. He was followed by the Young Miss of Lupine Family! Her Highness The Shut-In Wolf Girl Lady Cinde Rayla Lupine!

HOWEVERRRRRR!

For whatever reason, these two were missing in action these past two days and their points had stopped increasing after that.

And now the new top in the ranking list is…

Number One! With the points of 15700 — The Platinum Rank Adventurer Gath Rainripper!"

WOOOOOOOHHHH! The people who were betting for Gath Rainripper boom in cheers. They mostly consisted of people from the adventurers guild.

"After assassinating multiple participants these past days in the world of painting, his points rose up higher than Roman!"

The cheers continued without stopping!

Number Two! With points of 12500 — The Mighty Roman of Hammerhelm family!

WOOOOOOOOOOOHHHH!

More cheers that almost shook the entire Public Square.

Number Three! With the points of 11800 — The Younger Brother of Gustav Family — Gilion Gustav!

"Ehhhh?"

"It's not Hilion?"

"Chuchuchuchu, I know that you are going to question how the Younger Brother of Gustav Family got higher points than the Big Brother.

It's because Hilion's points are mostly shared by his teammates. And they were not able to kill many participants because most of them scuttered away at the sight of their group.

On the other hand, Gilion was sneakily killing the other participants while hunting beasts on its way.

"Fair enough!"

"So, that is the reason!"

"Right, in any case, I still believe that Hilion will able to make a comeback!"

The Fourth place! With the same points of 11500 — We have a tie! The Young Miss of Lowe family! Her Highness Lady Lyka Lowe and The Big Brother of Gustav Family — Hilion Gustav!

In fifth place! Ember of Lupine and Harou of the Lowe family were tied at 10500 points.

But the elimination was still ongoing so we can't say for sure who will come up at the top!

Everyone! Let's watch and enjoy as we witness who among our great warriors will dominate the points and enter the last barrier."

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHH!!!

The whole Public Square shook at the people's cheer.

Around this time, inside the barrier, every participant came closer and closer to the last barrier. But their advance wasn't as fast as the last two boundaries.

Their visibility was hindered terribly, and stronger monsters were roaming across the land waiting for their victim.

Ember and the other were currently battling with a demon.

None of them knew what happened to Cinder and Crimson. But they believed that both of them were still alive. In any case, they could only advance. And so the group decided to team up with each other.

With Ember and Aegor as the vanguard, Tiafel, and Taflas as their range support, they managed to kill the demon.

None of them really cared about the points, the most important for them was to reach the last barrier.

At the same time that their group just finished killing the demon, Yman just came back inside the cave.

"How's your sightseeing outside?" He was greeted by a question.

"Just as you said," his reply.

"Do you think we can make it before the deadline? Can we make it?" She questioned him again with a mix of worry.

"Don't worry, as long as you help me with one thing, we can do it without a hitch."

His straightforward answer was like a melodious song in her ears, it brought so much weight and calmed down her raging worry, giving her more confidence like a prince charming in a fantasy movie.

She knew that this guy was not just an empty talk as she already witnessed all the impossible things he did these past few days that they were together.

"Okay just tell me what I needed to do!" She beamed excitedly.

Yman smiled.

"Flame Mating…"

"....."

However, her reaction was unexpected to him. She turned red all of a sudden and steam coming out from her head.

Her face was that of embarrassment.

*Fidget!*

*Fidget!*

"B-B-But w-we just know e-each other for an s-short t-time!"

Her stammering words puzzled him and even her reaction.

"Eh?"

Seeing her partner's puzzlement,

"Wha—?"

Yman was dumbfounded.

It was also the same words he whispered in her ears when they fought the [Nightmare] class beast. He found himself in a weird situation for some reason.

Yman explained to her that what he meant by [Flame Mating] wasn't like what she thought.

Though she felt embarrassed for her initial reaction, she accepted what he meant. She also was curious about this [Flame Mating] technique that he proposed to her.

The two of them were in meditation postures while in a half-naked state in which their back was touching each other. While closing their eyes.

"By the way, Crimson, how did you manage to solidify your [Mana Coating] even without you supplying mana on it?" Before they started what they needed to do, he heard her asking a question.

It's what was bugging her the whole time after seeing his [Fire Dolls]. Actually, it wasn't ordinary to use [Mana Coating] separate from the caster. It should only work if it was close to the caster's body.

However, this person was able to use it like it was some kind of rubber or some solid substances.

Yman's pupils moved to the side of his eyes, seemingly glancing behind him but not really looking at her as she was in her underwear only.

He was silent for a moment, thinking if it was fine to tell her about it. After thorough thinking, he opened his mouth, "the trick about it is the storage, in your case, it was called a spatial ring. To us, we called it Cyber Storage, but both were just the same. Just the name and the application was different. Inside that storage was a dimensional space in which time stopped running as we closed it. However, it's not as simple as placing the [Mana Coating] spell inside. For it to solidify, you must repeatedly place it inside then take again, after taking it, cast another [Mana Coating] in it. Then place inside again, then take again and cast another [Mana Coating].

(Cinder was wearing an 'Aha' expression.)

'Right, you can't use another [Mana Coating] spell to a [Mana Coating] spell if it's connected to the body because even if you use your other hand to cover it with another [Mana Coating] spell it would only reinforce the already existing one and no other reaction at all.

But, if it was frozen inside the spatial storage, after taking it, you can use another spell because the mana thread that was sustaining it was already cut. So it was a separate spell already after putting it inside the store. In this case, you can use another spell, a separate spell than the first one.

Wait.'

"Isn't it going to dissipate when you take it out of storage?" Cinder realized the obvious problem.

Yman's mouth extended into a smile. "It will, but not right away, in this case, you have to use the basic tier spell [Durability] and [Strengthening]."

"The real process is [Mana Coating], storage, take out, [Durability], storage, take out, [Strengthening], storage, take out, [Mana Coating], and then repeat the process until it solidifies to a certain degree you desire."

Yman said it but he didn't need this process as he had the [Skill Modifying] ability. But he could not tell her about it.

But the process he told her was a valid explanation as well. It would certainly do the trick.

After satisfying her curiosity, the two proceeded to what they originally wanted to do. To create some stronger [Fire Dolls] that could help them to cross the last barrier.

He would use her flame while the [Mana Coating] was his.

Since he was going to use his Black Miasma, he had to trick her by saying she needed to close her eyes and concentrate until the process was completed.

Actually, he realized something about her flame. It wasn't ordinary.

In meditation posture, while their naked backs were touching each other, both of them closed their eyes at the same time.

Cinder's flame envelopes her body, while at the same time he activates his Black Miasma and starts using his [Skill Modifying].

After a couple of minutes, they were finally ready to venture the red mist.

But before they started.

He teased her by saying that he didn't dislike what she initially thought about [Flame Mating]. After all, he didn't dislike her to be honest.

This made her speechless and boiled in redness. But he chuckled that made her want to beat him for teasing her.

From his storage, the dino type [Fire Doll] walked out. The inside of it was made from her flame. But the [Mana Coating] or the skin was black.