Volume 2 Episode 24

"Both Ms. Andrea Perez and Mr. Luke Hamill have been eliminated from the round of sixteen battle royale tournament. This leaves just nine more contestants remaining in the jungle: Jack Nam, Daniel Kang, Roger Rodriguez, April Yan, Lily Green, Christian Ivan Andric, Drew Gibson, Lewis Myers and Lin Hamill. "

As the host announced the eliminated participants and the remaining ones, the crowd was in an uproar. The main reasons for this were the performance put on by Luke Hamill against the third year student Andrea Perez, the disappearance of Lin Hamill throughout the round, but most importantly, the chilling rampage of Christian Ivan Andric. 

"I can't believe that Christian is actually just a student. It's so unbelievable." One audience member commented on the situation.

"Yes I know, I actually want to believe that he is in fact a student, but those moves were something else."

"Yeah, it honestly felt like some experienced guild warrior was secretly wearing a student-faced mask and going around and attacking."

"Dude, I actually saw a conspiracy theory that Christian is actually a hybrid human, made from a mix of wild beasts and humans."

"Where the hell did you hear that? 'definitelynotfakenews.org', or something dumb like that?"

"Nah dude, I heard it from patriotbattletruth.info."

"...."

"Dude, I swear it's a legitimate website."

The audience were discussing wild conspiracy theories, from realistic ones like his talent coming from a dominant gene mixing, to ridiculous and hilarious ones like he may have been secretly experimented on by crazy scientists in a lab.

But it was definitely understandable where they were coming from. The way Christian Ivan Andric pummeled his opponents in almost no time was such an incredible sight that no one would actually believe it if they hadn't witnessed it themselves. His power and fighting techniques were definitely not high school level.

He had basically used only one move to beat all of his opponents. Christian was a fire magic user, but he only needed to use his fireballs to completely annihilate his enemies. The result had been brutal and humiliating for his enemies, who were knocked unconscious by his attack which took only ten seconds, making his fights the shortest among all of those conducted that year.

As the circle drew in closer, Christian, who had been on the eastern plains before moved inwards. He also had heard the loud growling of the doran before. Christian, who basically never changed his expression, had a subtle smile on his lips for a second as he thought about the legendary beast. 

From childhood itself, he had always felt that he was being controlled. Controlled by his parents. Controlled by his teachers. Controlled by his magic instructors. Everyone tried to use him. He hated that. He hated being told what to do. He hated being told what to become. He hated all of it. 

But he couldn't say no. He was afraid. The people who had been controlling him were the only people in his life. If they left, wouldn't he be alone?

In the end, he couldn't do it. As a result, he joined the Drakon Academy like his parents wished, to become a high ranking Guild warrior. His choices were closed in front of him, even though he could easily take it.

In that moment, he felt a strange connection to the wild beast. The beast too had been trapped in the jungle. It too probably wishes to go out and venture around, but it was restricted to this very forest. 

A doran is a giant beast having the size of a 2 storey building. It had large tusks coming out of its large mouth with a thick and sturdy skin, and it is most well known for its obsession with fighting powerful creatures. The Doran have a sensory gland that allows it to identify strong opponents by emitting a strange sonar-like growl that effectively scans almost any living organism in an eight mile radius. If it detects any creatures that it may find to be interesting, it would move towards their direction and challenge them to a fight. They are usually very hard to defeat, even for a normal guild member let alone a high school student. Which is why most people usually run as fast as they can when they hear the growling. But today, they couldn't run away. They had to remain in the forest until there were only eight left.

There were actually nine of them left, which meant that they only had to take care of one more person to qualify. But the problem was, no one participating knew how many people were remaining, which meant that they had assumed that the game would go on even more.

And for most part, their mindset had actually been right. In fact the only reason the game eliminated that many people so early is because of Christian Ivan Andric going on a rampage. There were basically no means of knowing the number of people left to the participants, which made them appear more serious than they actually need to be.

Some of them chose to form teams, while others chose to fight. If they actually knew how many people were left, they would most likely try to attack each other, ending the show way earlier than it was meant to be. This made them strategize more and be more cautious. It enhanced the viewing experience as well, which worked well for the broadcast networks.

Christian moved to the centre of the forest, trying to find the monstrous beast to have a fight with it, but he came into contact with someone else first.

"Well well, if it isn't April and Roger." Christian spoke in his usual cold voice, without any changes in his expression. In front of him were April Yan and Roger Rodriguez. Both had been spotted by Christian even though they were hiding, and had no choice but to come forward.

Roger looked at the serious face of Christian and sighed. He knew Christian wouldn't listen to anyone, but he had to at least try.

"Look Christian, I know you have a need to fight as soon as you meet someone, but just this once-"

"Not a chance!" 

Interrupting Roger's pleas, Christian took an offensive stance. Roger, who realized that there was no use in bargaining, got ready to fight along with April.

Both sides were ready to jump into battle when a loud roar echoed all over, shaking the trees with its voice. 

The Doran had arrived.