'A tiger at the Peak Stage of the Plane of Ascension? Interesting, really. But not impressive either,' Ryuk thought to himself, taking his gaze away from the tiger and looking into the distance.
Exactly 60 meters away from here, I can sense a creature with a more powerful aura. A creature at the Early Stage of the Plane of Dominion.
ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAARRRR!
The tiger's roar brought Ryuk back as he slowly turned his eyes to it, finding a gigantic maw appearing above his head, snapping at Ryuk's figure.
If it drew close, Ryuk's entire upper body would be bitten to nothing, but instead of dodging, Ryuk jumped directly and fully entered the tiger's mouth, which instantly shut close.
RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP!
Three lines appeared all over the tiger's head and face, two crossing diagonally, and another slicing down from the tiger's forehead straight to its neck.
With horror and confusion, the tiger landed back onto the ground, only to collapse onto its side as its head opened up, revealing the figure of Ryuk.
The scythe Nanobots slowly disappeared back into his arm.
Even when Ryuk was at the Origin Plane, he could already battle Peak Stage Fallen geniuses.
Now that he was at the Core of the Peak Stage, his strength wasn't something a barbaric tiger at the Peak of the Ascension Plane could hope to last a second against.
'I understand fully what is going on now. The little forest that we ought to cross to reach the gate isn't necessarily as little as it seems. But it isn't that large either.'
'When I was running for the past three hours, I've noticed some trees looking a little too similar to others, as if I had crossed them before. But since all trees almost look the same, I could say I was just running past another tree.'
'But now, I can confirm it.'
"This is no forest!" Ryuk mused.
"This is a formation instead."
"The distance between the place where we all left and the academy isn't obscured by a forest; it is just a formation laid down, and one we'll have to pass."
"The rain falling reduces the Mana of everything, and most likely falls through this entire formation. But while everyone uses Mana, I don't necessarily do. I have the Nanobody, and all that matters to me is my endurance."
"Most of the geniuses will find it wise to hide from the rain and wait for it to pause to conserve Mana. But then the beasts suddenly appeared, and based on how the tiger easily found my figure, it is safe to say everyone has their own beasts coming for them."
"The beasts will force them to fight, and if they get exposed to the rain, their Mana drains. Now, not only do they have to avoid the onslaught of the beasts, they also have to conserve Mana and dodge the rain too. A pretty difficult task."
"And more importantly, even though I can sense beasts in front of me a few miles from here, I can't sense any explosions, meaning all geniuses are stuck in parts of their own formation."
"The tiger found me as if it had been coming for me. All the beasts I'll be facing from now on will be beasts that already have me as their target. And there will be no geniuses around."
"Somehow, it feels like we all have entered a maze, with walls that guide away every genius from the other. All I need to do is walk through this maze, defeat all the obstacles—beasts and the Mana-depleting rain—and get to the end of the maze."
"But that also simplifies things and changes who really wins."
"The one who wins isn't the one who can run the most, or who is the fastest."
"It is the strongest! The one who can kill these beasts the fastest and preserve enough Mana to kill them. Something made difficult by the Mana-depleting rain."
"The test isn't the forest itself; it's the obstacles in the formation. And right now, it's just two."
"My hypothesis: once the beast obstacle is gotten rid of, I assume this formation will crack into nothing, and I will suddenly appear at the feet of the Gate of the Ascension Academy..."
"I can already see some idiotic winged geniuses thinking of outflying the beasts, but the forest will never end, and they'll just exhaust their Mana. Tsk, tsk, how clever..." Ryuk mused to himself as he slowly cracked his bones, feeling the ground rumbling as the closest beast began moving forward toward him.
"Since no genius is watching, I can go all out. But still, I don't know if all of the Ascension Academy instructors are also viewing this, so I can't go too all out and draw unnecessary suspicion either..." Ryuk mused as he turned his head to the sky, seeing nothing but the endless blue expanse, which he knew was nothing more than fake.
"But then, I plan to be among the top 30 geniuses in the hierarchy, since the Fallen family is one of the strongest families and they will expect their genius to be so. That range is just perfect," Ryuk stated as his scythe instantly found its way into his hands.
While it would be better to use his Ice ability, with the rain depleting Mana with every droplet, the power of his Ice manipulation would also keep depleting, reducing the power of his attacks and making him just like the ordinary geniuses.
But with his scythe, all he needs is endurance, which wasn't draining away with the rain, and that enabled Ryuk to gain an advantage which he plans to make good use of.
The entire ground shook as a gigantic figure appeared above Ryuk, its shadow completely covering him.
Instantly, a spray of acid spilled out like rain toward Ryuk, who smashed his leg into the ground. A gigantic pothole appeared beneath his feet, and he shot upward toward the incoming rain of acid, his scythe cleaving outward and blasting a hole through, and he appeared before the slitted eyes.
"I accept the challenge..."