Chapter 5: The Trial Games

A sparkling light appears, followed by a portal spawning in a strange, unknown place. Exiting the portal was none other than Zack, walking with his hands in his pockets with a nonchalant look on his face.

["Talk about a dramatic entrance"] Celia said. Everyone was staring at me in surprise, like I'm a celebrity or something.

["Now look what you've done; now everyone's staring."] "You just had to look cool, didn't you?" she said mockingly.

"Shut up, you; you're the one who made the portal look so flashy in the first place, I replied, arguing.

She clapped back, saying, "O yeah", at least I wasn't the one walking like some big shot, going down the aisle of a red arpet.".

"What do you know about the red carpet anyway?" I asked.

["More than you, Jackass"]

"Hey, who are you calling a jackass?".

They continued arguing back and forth while everyone was staring at him, talking to himself like a maniac, until their argument was interrupted by an alerting sound.

All individual personnel, the trail games will begin in 30 seconds; please prepare yourself for what's to come. May the best man win.

Immediately, everyone was on alert.

"What's to come?" I thought to myself.

The 30 seconds were now up.

Surprisingly, competitors started vanishing.

"Celia, what's going on?" I asked.

"It looks like they're disappearing." "My guess is instant transmission; my apologies; I'm not sure where they are being transported," she replied.

"Shit, this is bad," I thought as I was transported to a sandy plane in the scorching sun.

I looked around as I used appraisal to check the environment for threats.

"Celia, give me a status update.".

["You are currently in good condition, but your hydration is at risk in this harsh environment."].

"I need resources as soon as possible if I want to survive this test," I thought to myself. The earth beneath my feet suddenly started shaking, and I could sense something approaching my direction.

Instantly, my body backed away from the danger approaching. "I would rather avoid that thing as much as possible. I might not have much experience fighting monsters in reality, but in video games, I'm a veteran, and I know, at my current strength, I won't stand a chance at that thing." As I thought about this to myself, I lost track of the approaching threat. "Shit, my day just had to get a little bit worse, didn't it?" I said, looking at the ground beneath me.

Zack understands the reality of the situation he's in; as he lost track of the threat, it somehow found its way directly under the ground he was standing on.

He knew that he's no match for the threat beneath the ground beneath him, and if he makes any sudden movements,he'll surely be dead.

He placed his hand directly above his head (Eye of Destruction). He said as an eye opened in his hand once more, and a blast of energy flew perfectly vertical into the air.

"Celia, analyze and give me a countdown on the blast's decent.".

["understood," countdown begins now in five seconds"].

["5,4,3,2,1"].

'BOOOOM', the explosion fell on the area where Zack was standing.

"Graahh," a giant creature, screamed in pain as it was hit by Zack's blast. It is now exposed.

It was a giant, minotaur-like, half-centipede-looking creature.

"That was sick, mad sick, crazy sick!" Zack yelled in excitement.

I have to fight this thing; there's no other way of going about it; it's like a cannon event in a video; if I run, I'll be chased down until I'm eaten or die from dehydration and starvation. 'This shit doesn't get any better for me, does it", he thought as he got into an attack stance.

"Hey, Celia, if you have any secret weapon or some holy water type shit to give me, I suggest you do it now.".

Immediately, a pair of gauntlets appeared on his arms.

["These are the 'Advancer Gauntlet'; they boost your attack and defense by 15%; the consecutive hit land in a row increases the power behind each blow."].

"Now this is what I'm talking about," he yelled, smashing his fist together. As he gets into a fighting stance,.

As the gauntlets were placed on his hands, he could feel his strength growing.

The minipede turned to face Zack's direction, steering him down like a hunter steers down its prey.

"Celia, are you ready for this?" I

He yelled, asking.

"Ready and waiting," she replied with an excited tone in her voice.

With Lazer's eyes focused and a psychotic grin on his face, he replied, "Just what I wanted to hear.".