Something Strange

 We left the place where we were our first confrontation and after a few minutes the device did a scan. 

 We could not see anyone near us, so we continued together walking cautiously. Time passed and the second wave remained the same without any sign of flags. 

This place was too big. The third wave of detection arrived, meaning that half of the three hours had passed and the clock in the center clearly showed it.

Luckily, in this wave the scanning device detected something. Silvia, whom I put in charge of the device, informed me that there were six flags near us. 

If we got them, it would mean that we might have enough flags to get us all through. 

I sent Ban, who was the most agile. He came back after a moment and said that there was a team of ten heading towards us, right now we were in a swampy area that made our movements difficult, but there were places with small islands of dry land that allowed us to have good support. 

As in all ecosystems there were many trees growing both in the swamp itself and on the islands, giving a lot of cover but at the same time interrupting the view even so.

 I was fine with that, as it meant we would have a ground advantage. We positioned ourselves as we had previously agreed, biding our time. 

 Suddenly, several maguias of different elements headed in our direction, but a wall of earth and water rose up and protected us, our team was also prepared.

Suddenly five armed guys entered the place where the magical clash occurred, taking advantage of the clash as cover and cutting distance with my team and taking a stable position on this island. 

An arrow from our one archer tried to hit one, but suddenly changed direction to the sturdy guy in front who managed to block it easily with his shield. 

At that moment, fire magic was directed at the four guys, but again they managed to block it. The guy in front had an ability that made all attacks hit his shield instead of the others. 

It was someone I recognized: Ivan, "The Fortress", a metal element user who in the future would also become a representative of the kingdom. 

 And I noticed that even right now he was strong, he probably had three metamorphoses and his defense must have been high, in addition to his metal element and skill. 

 It was a tough nut to crack. They were able to get to our warriors and a physical confrontation began between warriors of both teams while mages and healers supported him. 

Unfortunately, I was unable to interfere and could only watch as my team fought them. The reason is that the fast guy from the team I defeated earlier was suddenly on my flank, pointing his sword at me. 

I don't know at what point he got there or if he allied with the guys who attacked us, but now the situation became complicated. 

Luckily, William, was able to tackle the tough guy on his own, while the rest of my team kept the rest at bay. 

I had to quickly finish that guy off before it was too late, so I took on the guy who was mostly fast. Now that I take a good look at him, he looks a little familiar and I thought I saw him somewhere, probably in my memories, but, as much as I thought about it, no one came to my mind, so he must not be someone important.

Fwoosh

The guy didn't hesitate and closed the distance as fast as he could, aiming straight for my neck with a horizontal slash.

I moved my hand and blocked his attack with the back of my left hand, I took steps forward scraping the sword with my glove to the handle and with my right hand ready to attack, approaching him to put him within my reach, but he quickly read my intentions and stepped back, jumping backwards, avoiding me. 

I didn't want to miss the opportunity and stayed glued to him. He tried to defend himself and move away, but I blocked with the hands.

Ching... Clang....Clink...Clang.....Ching....

We did simple exchanges where the one with the longer reach attacked and I defended, but I kept pushing him harder and harder, until he pulled out a dagger and threw it at me. 

You are only supposed to carry one weapon, but that doesn't preclude you from picking up or taking the weapon from other participants. 

The origin of the dagger didn't matter, as it caught me off guard, and I barely managed to dodge it, even though it scraped my cheek. 

The bracelets only stop attacks they consider lethal; small scratches and blows are not enough to activate them as long as a large lethal blow is not too much damage. 

I felt a momentary sting, but ignored it. The guy seemed confident about something, but I took advantage of that brief moment to empower myself with lightning mana. 

I circulated it through my body stimulating the art of lust and, with a thunderous sound.

bamm!!

punched him hard in the stomach, enough to activate his protection device.

"H-how should I have paralyzed you?" 

The blow was defended by the pulcer and she suffered no damage, so she immediately questioned me, but now she can't do anything else.

"eh?" I didn't understand what he said at first, but then I understood.

The guy was a poison affinity user or knew some spells the paralysis or poison , and probably the dagger was imbued with poisonous effect that would paralyze me or something, so he slacked off for a moment. 

However, nothing happened. It's useless, I'm invulnerable to any poison, spell the poison, or poisonous mana as well as curses, so I'm his worst opponent. 

I didn't want to waste any more time with this, so I removed the flag I had and then joined the battle against Ivan's team.

Luckily, I didn't take long and my team was still complete, but since the other team had one more person, they were suppressed, not to mention the tough guy. 

As I was about to join the battle, Silvia, whom I had previously told to inform me of any problems as I watched the scene while providing magical support from behind, sent me a message. 

 Usually that task is given to archers, but I knew Silvia would be better at it because of her skill and could be more accurate. 

The archer also had this job, but I had my attention more on Silvia and I was right. At that moment, her voice came like a message from the wind element. 

Silvia's message said that the other team seemed to be trying to buy time. She said it in a way that seemed like she only noticed it by observing their behavior, but I'm sure it's because of her skill. 

I knew something must be wrong, so I played it safe. 

"'Team Dynamite', retreat!!" 

"What, why what, can we still win?," responded the impulsive Mike

"Stay if you want to, the rest of you get ready, "There was no time to waste on a fool so I ignored him.

Without any hesitation, I stepped forward and went straight for Ivan, who had not taken any significant blows from William. 

 William may be strong in the future, but right now he still isn't so he couldn't beat Ivan s. 

Swoosh!!

I started to gain momentum as I ran in his direction, and prepared to hit him. 

 I knew it was useless to try to hit from another angle, so I didn't hold back. With my mana flowing through my body and guided by the art of lust, my hand was filled with lightning bolts that, strangely enough, you could sometimes see little pink parts if you paid attention. 

 bammm!!!

"ack!!"

 I hit the shield hard, I felt great resistance, but my strength stats were my forte, and in the end I was able to send it flying.

bamm!

 Without a second to breathe, I spun around and gained momentum to take on the second guy with a shield, I sent him flying as well. 

 It was easier, so it didn't take much effort. At that point, I headed towards the guy who looked like the second strongest.

I thought I had seen him before and I remembered that he caught my attention, during the first test, but not in a good way, and to confirm it, I activated the lust eyes and he was one of the guys that, for some reason, I could see his status window. 

I saw that he was very close to the third metamorphosis, as well as specializing in strength, having 66 in that stat, but seeing his window just made me angry. 

'You fucking pervert, why are you lusting after me!' 

I gritted my teeth and dodged his sword. I got close enough and then.... 

Crrack!!!