With their small body, two large talons and small two hands, reptile like things ate on a pond area with weeds. Their beaks disturbed the mud and the scared fishes hiding in their mudholes came out. They were scooped out however into the small toothed cavern of these omnivores.

It was just another day in their lives. One of the larger reptiles was mating when its sensitive ears heard a low droning sound. Its head turned to the woods and it screeched to warn its fellows.

It backed off then moved forward. Made itself bigger then also lowered itself. The unfamiliar sound was making it act callow and unsure like the younger of its herd.

The trees rustled and bent as the large being forced its way through the forest.

This made the reptile scared since it was now convinced the foe’s strength.

The rustling stopped meters away and the being who was about to appear didn’t.

What came out of the trees however were two small turtles and three larger turtles that were flying. Harmless animals based on its instincts, it and some of the others jumped high trying to reach it.

It almost did but they flew up in reaction. The flying turtle’s contrary to their land brethren, didn’t swim away or hide in their shells to protect itself. They surrounded the herd and circled them.

Screeches came from the other herd member’s lungs. They jumped and chased as the offending turtles sometimes flew lower to enrage them.

Soon, they were chasing them in a line. In front of it was its mate even, excited and chasing faster than the others. She sprinted in a perfect start then jumped. The higher pitched screeching beak almost reached the turtle though she splashed some mud on it. So when she fell, she was even more motivated to chase. Then a large sound of trees cracking was heard.

A bright blinding red light headed through its mate’s head and parted it to its side. It continued to pierce through one, two then ten of its fellows. Their torso and bodies were given one-inch holes with smoke escaping the incinerated meat.

Before it could even cry in fear and grief, more light escaped from the trees. It came fast and in bursts of four and killed more of its herd.

Its herd that was 200 big was thinned to a dozen who bolted in different directions. It itself was alone and was about to reach the maze of the forest when the turtle appeared.

It was the one its mate was aiming for. The mud that was covering it fell away as its large penis pointed at it. It was another spiteful action among its other transgressions. So, it leaped once to avenge its herd.

This was its last thoughts as a metal object pierced through its mouth. It laid bleeding as the sound of the last of its herd accompanied its heaving breath.

*

[ Arena Completed! ]

[ Received 75 points. ]

‘How much faster am I clearing arenas? 200%? 300%?’

The simplicity of just going in, scouting for a while then decimating foes. The Lasrain was built as anti-aircraft but turned out to be anti-everything since its twin Lasblasters could penetrate a meter into concrete. And that was for one beam and this was fast firing.

One of main issues was the heating since it was liable to explode when pushed too far. Sometimes, movement had to be stopped for firing and if there were counter battery fire, Izo was toast.

The cost for operation would be ridiculous too. The APC came charged but if wanted to operate it in the future, he would have to reroute one of the small nuclear reactors for at least 12 hours. The loss of potential profit would be immense.

However, its reputation for being cheap yet effective thus being omnipresent on most Nexus battlefield has been proven.

Izo sat comfortably on the chair with its arm supports. This model of the Lasrain was for humans thus its air conditioning was calibrated properly.

He had just finished 22 arenas in an hour. He could’ve found time to snooze for one of them but Izo was under a lot of pressure still.

Controlling multiple drones and the Lasrain was very intensive. His tired brain was functioning out of adrenaline right now especially since Jae still hadn’t come out of special battle.

The more time that passes, relief spreads through Izo since it meant he still had a chance but it also made him worry.

‘If Jane’s analysis is correct, then this special battle was a counter to Jae herself. And a counter to her is a counter to everyone else.’

Izo came out of the arena to a dark camp. Lights from generators where sparse and more came from lamps and campfires.

He didn’t dally however and switched one of the normal drones and Decimator drones with charged models.

The dark gate loomed in its black ink nothingness beyond. Izo entered hoping for luck beyond luck.

*

Jae had now been in this special battle for 1 hour 40 minutes. She had seen the monster twice with her night vision/IR goggles but every time it has run away.

She was now with another Cilae warrior that she “rescued”. The woman was thankful and Jae would’ve been glad to had helped if she knew how she helped.

At first, she thought that it hated fighting with two or more people. Only at the 1 hour 20-mark, third sighting, the monster fought with two Cilae warriors.

Both were eliminated in quick fashion and when Jae had gotten close it ran.

Jae could only assume that the thing could sense her somewhere around 5 meters and knew she was dangerous. So, when she saw the woman with her right now, Jae stalked her waiting for the monster.

The thing appeared however it never drew close and instead fired green acid projectiles at the woman. It wasn’t effective since the Cilae woman with faith artifacts dodged continuously. Frustrated, it stopped and waited in the dark then it simply left.

‘Could it sense danger?’

This was the logical explanation she came to.

“Are you sure one of you still left?”

“Yes. There were five of us when we entered the arenas.”

It seemed that this group who went in earlier than Jae was five-man team. When they appeared here, all of them were separated.

“Dead end.”

They had just arrived in the southeastern most of the area and it was sealed in brick. Jae had reached the northwestern corner and before thus the size should be a square km.

“I wish we had a spirit radio. We were planning to buy one but held off. Now, it has come back to bite us.”

Special battles had a penalty of 300-500 points so it really hurts for a candidate to lose here. Only, the top 100 could comfortably clear them and this team had two of those. To be wiped out individually like this was very unlucky indeed.

There was a whip and a crack as to shots lit up the darkness. It happened a far from them but the walls easily reflect light, making it easy to determine the source.

An explosion joined the noise. Jae and her temporary companion ran towards the commotion. Crossing junction after junction towards the centermost of the area and soon they saw an insect like beast lit aflame.

The Cilae man who was top #71 had the talent of incredible stamina and had a Faith artifact that allowed one to step on the air. It had limited instances but with clever movements on the ground, he only needed to use it when it got dangerous.

‘I can finally see you!’

The dark carapace and eight scythe claws were connected to a mushroom ridden body. It was a grotesque spider with two bulbous rear ends from what seemed like a mistake at birth.

It was very angry and wished to pounce on the prey that caused its burning. The smart monster however formed a ball as it folded its claws then rolled away.

“Enlightened, thank you!”

“Later. Let’s chase it first.”

“Understood.”

The spider was fast but it stopped once in a while to smash itself on the walls in an attempt to snuff out the flames. Promethium flame wasn’t being easy to the monster’s discovery.

The acid projectiles from one of its rear ends came out once in a while. The floors sizzled in defeat, a promise of what would happen to their equipment when hit.

This tactic caused a stalemate overall with the candidates not gaining ground but it also couldn’t escape,

“Check your compass. We must split up and funnel it to the walls.”

The Cilae man raised his eyebrows since he was the one who usually gave orders but he acquiesced in the end.

“Understood, enlightened.”

Their reactionary plan begun and they chased with Jae at the center and the two on the sides. It didn’t matter if it changed directions as it would cost it speed. Thus, the net they were weaving closed in by the minute.

After five minutes of chasing, Jae could see the north eastern corner and the spider could too. The beast shrieked and faced them. The three slowed down as it was cornered and now infinitely more dangerous. This was the moment when animals became suicidal at the smallest chance of life.

The spider acted fast catching the trio a bit off guard and moved towards the woman. She was the weakest of the trio

Jae was forced to help her with the last of them following behind.

“Come here beast.”

The brave candidate shouted and beckoned the still burning spider while wielding a pistol and a spear. The rounds from the small caliber gun couldn’t penetrate through insect armor. So, she wielded the spear with both hands.

“Come!”

She focused her spirituality and activated its faith artifact ability. A counter swing as one of the spider’s claws fell successfully blocked the blow. A cut 30% of the way through the claw even appeared.

It would’ve been impressive if the woman wasn’t pushed to the ground by the leftover force.

The spider planned to jump and use its weight to crush the annoyance. Jae arrived and focused her ceramic power into his palm.

The thing shrieked and jumped over the now less important prey.

‘I can’t let this chance go to waste.’

Jae was about to activate one of her one time use magic items when in front of the monster a droning sound. A large vehicle of steel with its twin barrels appeared. Buzzing around it were similar technological marvels of the Nexus.

The death pipes protruding from the weapons of destruction calibrated their aims then unleashed their meat mashing firepower on the spider.