"What in the nine hells," Noah muttered with a pale expression on his face, as he stared at the forced quest that had popped up out of nowhere. He had expected them to eventually figure out his transgressions, but to have his Primordial Spirit transformation sealed before the fight even began was completely ruthless of the system.

"Lad, I think we might have pushed the system too far this time around," Liam also seemed to be surprised at the extent of the retaliation imposed by the system, but as such a scenario had never been recorded in the future he had no way to predict it.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck.... if I had my Titan Form it would be easy, but without it... fighting a thousand challengers....," Noah couldn't help but feel terrified at the sight of facing an army of bloodthirsty challengers alone. A few months ago his biggest worry was getting a job and building a career, not facing down an army of power-hungry maniacs! Hell, he'd saved some of these guys by ending the trial early and taking most of the aggro, and his reward? Getting hunted down by the very same people.

"Relax, lad. Deep breaths. First, open up your status screen," Liam replied in a calm, soothing voice that seemed to work on Noah's increasingly anxious mind. It wasn't as if he'd completely forgotten to fight or had cold feet, but up until now he was acting on future knowledge with certain advantages in terms of foreknowledge, items or equipment.

Noah did, and immediately saw Liam's point upon doing so.

Name Noah Smith

Level 10 (CAP!)

Race Human

Origin 100/100

Titles Trailblazer, Unflinching, Azamorath’s Inheritor, Realm Shaker, Veil Piercer (+), Master Assassin

Familiars:

1. Omni

Primordial Spirit:

Fragmented Primordial Spirit of the Titan.

Combat Art Myriad Illusions

Class -

Sub- Class -

Intelligence 45

Strength 58

Wisdom 37

Constitution 45

Dexterity 58

Luck 9

Perception 10

Free Points 0

He had a massive, undenaible stat advantage compared to the average challenger coming after him, in terms of the titles he had accumulated, giving him an initial advantage that had snowballed into even greater advantages. He even had the Combat Art: Myriad Illusions and Omni on his side, what was he so worried about. Hell, there was no guarantee that the challengers coming after him would have even reached level 10.

"Alright lad, now start sprinting and don't look back even for a second," Liam called out, but the sense of urgency in his voice hadn't lessened.

He obeyed, having regained a clear state of mind and a desire to fight against the oncoming threat, bursting out with tremendous speed in the exact opposite direction of the Sect City of Saemanis.

"Now, lad, the Tower states that only unclassed individuals can come after you. Mostly, that implies only challengers, which can't access classes before the main tower, can come after you. However, there are certain individuals who purposefully stifle their progression and remain classless for years, until they believe their accomplishments have reached a certain level- in order to get the best starting class possible. This... lad, will mostly be comprised of individuals like Samain, who have the resources to wait it out," Liam calmly stated, making Noah feel as if he were plunged into a river of ice.

"Shit!" he yelled out loud, increasing his speed by a further 20%. Fighting a Primordial Spirit while his own transformation was sealed, the Tower was going overboard!

Noah went into a state of high alertness, as he continued to run away while maintaining a tab on his surroundings. The first minute.... five minutes..... ten minutes....., the eerie silence of his lightly forested surroundings was grating on his ears, like a video game world that had forgotten to render the NPC's and the animals..... fifteen minutes..... twenty-eight minutes, twenty-nine minutes, and finally, thirty minutes.

The Tracking Mark placed upon you has been activated!

Noah was about to run even faster, when his [Persception] stat picked up some volatility in the air in front of him. He immediately halted, as his sixth sense indicated that grave danger lied ahead.

He watched in abject horror as three gigantic claw shaped tears appeared materialized in the air in front of him, followed by an influx of fifty-odd yelling challengers that came rushing through with swords, spears, axes, polearms, bows and other murderous implements meant for his heart, lead by an old friend at the very front.

"TRAITOR!!!" Samain, The Bladed Lizardman screamed with a hiss, immediately following with another scathing condemnation of a man whom he'd once called a friend, "ACCEPT YOUR DEATH!"

Noah had immediately started backpedaling the moment the first challenger had materialized from the portal, gladius drawn and shield at the ready.

"Don't worry lad, that portal can't teleport more than fifty people at a time, and with how rare spatial teleportation is, they won't have more than one," Liam called out, causing Noah to slightly relax.

"He's mine!" One archer yelled out boisterously, already having aimed his bow at Noah's chest. Ten more challengers reacted at that call, drawing their bows and releasing their arrows just a few seconds later. Samain remained standing, choosing to watch and wait for an opportunity.

Noah watched as 11 arrows flew towards him, and Noah could immediately tell that 5 were slightly off trajectory. What was more though- for Noah who was now used to superhuman levels and standards of combat, he could sense the path every respective arrow was taking, perhaps thanks to his hidden perception stat.

'Rapier,' he thought, and Omni immediately transformed into the Uncommon rapier for his perusal. A clinking sound continously echoed out in the air, as Noah rapidly slashed out with his rapier in one fluid, inter-connected motion, striking at the tip of each arrow thereby negating the force with which it was fired.

Silence reigned in the battlefield for a moment, as the challengers looked at each other with blank expressions.

"Is he really one of us?" Someone asked with a hushed whisper.

"Did he just.... are my eyes decieving me...." One man said with a hollow expression.

"The Tower said this was an F difficulty quest. What the fuck?" One archer screamed in panic, and started sprinting away with abject fear in his eyes, followed by two others.

"Don't panic guys, there's no way he can beat Master Samain while he has taken the lizardman form. All we need to do is get the last hit and we're rich!" A bald man in his mid-thirties with a stoic expression on his face as he threateningly held a longsword with both his hands called out.

"Pfft... Hahaha, Liam, these guys have a few screws loose in their heads!" Noah mockingly called out to seemingly no one in particular, causing odd glances to be sent his way. "I didn't want this Samain, but if it has to be this way then come!" Noah called out, unafraid and proud. Secretly though, he hoped to scare of a few more challengers to bail.

The Bladed Lizardman grunted, acknowledging Noah's spirit, and charged with blazing fast speed, seeing no merit in stalling further.

'Gladius' thought Noah, and Omni switched to the [Masterworked Revostrium Gladius]. At 58 Dexterity, while Samain's blows were still blazing fast, he could just about catch the first blow by the edge of his blade as he had practise fighting him before. Immediately getting a +5 percent boost in speed and a +1 percent boost in accuracy helped him catch the second blow, and the battle immediately devolved into a cacophony of sparks, Lizardman's blade clashing with Revostrium. Noah became faster each time he parried a blow, and the flow of the battle changed from him repeatedly getting pushed back to barely standing as equals for a moment.

The Lizardman had two blades that it could use as limbs, hacking, slashing and stabbing at Noah relentlessly, who just barely kept the assault at bay due to the 50 percent speed boost from [Master Duellist]. His accuracy had also been buffed by 25 percent, and after parrying a wild slash from the Lizardman followed by sidestepping a thrust, Noah used [Graceful Ballad] to land a grazing strike at Samain's side.

A burst of green blood flowed from the wound, causing Samain to fall back and glare at Noah with shock in his eyes.

"What is that sword!?" He exclaimed increduously, to which Noah just grunted in response.

"So be it. You have fought valiantly," Samain stared down Noah as if he were looking at a dead man. "But it is time to end this."

Samain's Lizardman Blades started glowing with an eerie purple halo, and Noah immediately felt a surge of power envelop him. With a flash of light, Samain burst out with such tremendous speed and force that even his grand-uncle would be impressed at the sight, distorting the air around him as he left a small sonic boom in his wake.

Noah could barely parry the strike, but he felt that he would get blasted away regardless of anything he did.

'Mirror Shield of Reflection- Absolute Reflect!'

Omni transformed into a rectangular shield that appeared to be made out of a translucent material that appeared to be some form of foriegn crystal- its surface was jagged and uneven, completely un-mirror like, but for the moment Noah could care less.

As Samain's purple halo blades collided with Noah's [Mirror Shield of Reflection], another sonic boom echoed out as Samain got swatted away with velocity equivalent to the one he'd charged at Noah with, literally flying for a good two hundred meters before he even made contact with the ground.

Noah felt a terrible sense of guilt wash over him as he sent his friend flying, even if it may be a simulation or what not. His anger was transferred to the stunned onlookers, the sleazy opportunist dirtbags who wanted him dead.

"Get the last hit and we're rich, eh fuckers?" Noah turned his gaze towards the nervous looking challengers with pure vehemence in his eyes.

"Careful lad, this is an endurance play. Your special is on cooldown for five days, and you had to use that up just to deal with Samain. They will keep coming every thirty minutes, make you use up your trump cards one after the other until you have nothing left," Liam called out from behind, dousing Noah's anger with a bucket full of reality.