When Damien's foot made contact with the third island, he immediately felt his physical strength get suppressed.
He definitely had the right to assume that it was just a part of the island's mechanics, but what kind of idiot would follow a thought like that?
Without hesitation, he put up a domain like the ones he'd seen from others. His physical strength didn't rise back to its original level, but it definitely increased to an extent.
With his barrier and the enemy's colliding, the level at which they matched was decided as the middle ground between them.
That made Damien curious about who exactly he was fighting.
Nothing else changed other than physical strength, after all. That could only mean that they were already equal in most aspects.
Damien looked around, trying to find the person who enacted the domain. They couldn't be far.
The battles here were like duels. Opponents would stand before each other and fight while showing all their cards. They wouldn't hide away and sneak attack because it was pointless in a realm one.
Anyway, if the enemy wanted to sneak attack, they would have never placed their domain in the first place. Domains were practically considered duel invitations. Strangely, the person didn't immediately appear. Their domain was likely set to automatically activate when a new person entered the island. Damien was forced to wait several seconds before an individual with the same aura signature arrived in front of him.
"You are a patient newcomer, aren't you?"
Damien raised an eyebrow.
After seeing only old men for so long, it was definitely pleasing to hear a woman's voice. She was beautiful as well. Her young appearance meant that she was an incredible genius in her own realm.
Still, it wasn't as if Damien was fazed. These things merely had to be acknowledged because her beauty was definitely a representation of her strength.
By the looks of it, this wouldn't be an easy battle.
"I've been waiting to fight for a while now, " Damien admitted as he laid eyes on her.
She didn't take that long to arrive, but she was correct in assuming that he could have fled if he wanted to.
Her physical strength rose noticeably when he placed his barrier. Judging by that and ascertaining what his physical strength was when it wasn't suppressed, she could easily tell that Damien had the means to escape.
He was clearly itching for battle. His words were unnecessary for anything other than continuing the conversation.
The woman looked him up and down, taking note of the same qualities he saw in her.
A young and handsome appearance that contradicted what most of the population had, and the desire for growth that many lost by the time they arrived on this island.
The main purpose of ninety percent of people at this point was escaping. They were already content with the power they had.
Nevertheless, Damien was correct about the fact that she'd set up this barrier to catch new people. The few seconds before she arrived were to give them a chance to leave if they weren't confident in their skills.
But, even if they knew they would lose the fight, running was the wrong option.
"Newcomer, before we fight, I will tell you what the goal of this island is."
Was it courtesy? Damien didn't know her intentions, but he could fact-check her words later. He opened his ears curiously. The woman held up her hand and manifested a golden shield emblem with a crest-like pattern on it.
"Your peaceful days are over," she started.
"Unlike the first or second islands, this place is filled with brutal competition. To put it simply, we are in a battle circuit."
The woman held up her hand and manifested a golden shield emblem with a crest-like pattern on it.
"If you look within you, you will find something similar. Each and every one of us has a crest, however…"
The woman watched as Damien held his hand up and summoned an empty, bronze shield emblem.
"...it always starts from zero. As you fight on this island and win against other denizens, your emblem will continue to grow. Once you have reached the platinum shield, you can challenge an Area Lord for their title."
The structure of the challenge was not difficult to grasp.
"If you defeat an Area Lord, you can choose to either remain on the island for longer and gain more rewards as the new Lord of that region. Otherwise, you may leave from there and continue your journey. While it seems like a better idea to do the latter, most people who defeat the Area Lords don't choose that path. They remain on the island for a very long time before leaving."
"Well…" the woman smiled.
"That's for you to find out if you ever reach that point."
She already said enough. It was useless to even tell him about Area Lords at this point in time, but he was grateful that she did.
Anyway, if she was telling the truth, he could thank her later.
"More importantly, isn't it time for us to fight?"
He didn't know why she was targeting newcomers. She either wanted to use them to build up her shield emblem or teach them the ways of the island before they went deeper into its lands.
Her intentions, whether selfish or selfless, were unimportant to Damien.
Since she presented herself as target practice, he wanted to use her as target practice.
It had been a long time since he started preparing to fight with Nonexistence, but other than a few spars with the beasts in Death's Hold, he actually wasn't able to do much.
'The Lords of the second island were a disappointment.'
He glanced at the woman, who smiled at him and took a fighting stance.
'I hope the people of this land are different.'
These stances meant nothing. They were not going to move as they fought, so it was pointless to take any kind of stance.
However, for the sake of creating a sense of familiarity with the battle style by mimicking actions taken in a normal fight, they were able to produce more power.
The environment and feeling mattered a lot in a battle , after all.
Damien closed his eyes. He put himself into a mindset where the effects of the battle could be visualized.
And, without any more hesitation, he made the first move.
He learned many things from the Lords who fought against Death's Hold. The most common strategy was to affect the opponent's mind and stagger them before using more material attacks to finish them off.
Damien's first move was also of the same branch of thinking.
He sent his energy into the world and it instantly brought back results.
His decision was not to start by attacking.
Once again, he banished ignorance from his mind. At the same time, he enacted a skill that aimed to banish "information" from the mind of his opponent.
Regardless of their equal states on the battlefield, she had more experience than him.
He had to be the one in control.
However, while he was able to give himself the information he desired…
…it wasn't so easy to take things away from an experienced fighter like that woman.
He was soon to find out that he was still in over his head.
But, wasn't that always the case?
Wasn't he always fighting enemies who were logically impossible for him to face?
This was just one of many battles, and Damien planned to treat it exactly as such.
And in classic Damien fashion, he would find a way to win.
This was his entrance into the third island's rankings.
He couldn't just lose and run away, could he?