Beyond M-Eclipse: Easy Mode LIVE

———Lynda———

*Zoom*

“Whoa!” I exclaimed in surprise as we’re teleported to… Yeah. This is the middle of the stadium alright. So now that we’re here, what do they want us to do?

“” Rico said with enthusiasm. “”

“” Coach Wana chimed in. What the hell are they going on about now? “”

“...I don’t think they can get away with us dying anyway.” Fiss flatly remarked while twirling her spear around.

“Whatever. Let’s show them what for!” Trener meanwhile is rather confident in our chances.

“Ain’t ten people a bit much anyway? I think just me by myself could do most of the heavy lifting here.” Histon remarked, very confident in his chance. Did he forget that the last time he thought the number advantage was enough he got one-shotted?

“” Rico muttered. Is she setting something up right- Oh!

“Where the heck did they…” I was about to ask where they came from, but obviously they were teleported in. There are multiple armored guys, similar to the one at the reception. Why are they called mooks exactly? What are these guys… “Are they not gonna say anything?”

” Rico mockingly said, no doubt having a smug grin on her as she said so. “”

“...Is this senior of yours right in the head?” Fiss can’t help but ask, bewildered at her choice of words.

“Hey. I never said she was normal.” In fact, I barely said anything about her. I don’t really know that much about her in the first place. “In the first place, you think a girl who is so monstrously strong has all her priorities in check? The one that chooses to throw hands for an entire hour?”

“I guess that’s fair…” She said while scratching her cheek, then looking at the golems. “Why can’t they be… less humanoid?”

“Who knows, it is a bit disturbing but we get the clear, so-

“” She doesn’t even let us-!

*Dash*

“Here they come!” I shouted out as these knight golems ran towards us with swords and shields in tow. There are twelve in total so we’re at a disadvantage here.

*Swing* *Evade* *Smash*

I managed to avoid the one coming after me and swung my axe right at its head in turn, but while this pushed it down to the floor, it clearly wasn’t enough since it quickly got back up for another attack. There’s a clear dent in there so maybe I should.

*Stab*

Before I could swing my axe into the damaged area, a spear pierced through the head and it ceased to function.

“Thanks for the assist.” I said to Fiss, turning to face her and- “Watch out!”

*Tackle* *Block*

I pushed her away and blocked the incoming sword strike with the handle of my axe.

*Push* *Slam*

I managed to overpowered the struggle and swung my axe right into the torso, but my arms are starting to feel sore already. These things are heavy. Maybe I should…

“[Earth Bullet]!” I shouted while pointing at the staggered golem.

*Bang* *Bang*

Small sharp rocks are formed and rammed themselves into the golem at high speed, staggering it further. Doesn’t look like that is enough, but a follow-up to it will!

*Smash*

I then smash its head in, destroying another golem. So that’s two down, how are the others doing?

*Grapple*

Trener is trying to hold down the golem attacking him, probably so someone else could take a free hit.

“Die!” Histon shouted out with his fist covered in mana.

*Smash* *Tumble*

Punching the golem Trener is holding down right in the torso, and ends up sending both it and Trener off the stage, since they were already at the edge of the arena.

“” Coach Wana said, sounding slightly taken aback. It was not a very good strategy, in my opinion. It looks like that can peg down our score.

“Those idiots…” I mumbled under my breath before changing my focus. There are still others who could use my help.

———Orrel———

“Those golems do not seem particularly aggressive.” I remarked, seeing how everyone gets a bit of breathing room. Their most prominent trait is being durable even when they’re hit in what should be the ‘vital’ area. I guess being made of magic also makes it… There seems to be something off here. “I’m surprised that doing a lot of damage to their head or torso shuts them down. Shouldn’t having their core intact be enough?”

“I guess they don’t want them to be too bothersome to fight.” Gregori posits his theory. “If they were anything like the dungeon golems, then it would take a lot more effort.”

“These things look like chumps in comparison, even though they look more sophisticated.” Karra remarked. Indeed, despite being in the shape of dignified knights, they are not particularly strong from what we can observe.

“I guess this must mean the second half is a lot more challenging, if this is what they’re starting with.” I said, and there is a good reason to believe that, considering the strength of the fighters in the first half of the day. They could easily obliterate these golems in only a few seconds, or even just a single second. If the group of ten here can’t even do that much, then they stood no chance. Of course, it would be foolish to believe that there will be no quarter given. Nothing would demotivate someone more than being so completely and utterly defeated. Whoever is going up against them will no doubt be pulling serious punches. The relevant information is, of course, who that person is.

“Now this is gonna sound condescending, but does anyone feel like they could’ve done this way quicker?” Useph asked, and indeed that does sound condescending, showing off an air of superiority that isn’t shown off effectively yet.

“I think that’s a fair thing to feel. These guys are taking it pretty slow.” Gregori answered, making it clear he was not impressed. I didn’t pay much attention to most of the actions taken place as well, but I’d rather not say it out loud if I could.

“Don’t care if some other guys around us hear this, but they’re definitely slacking off. Seriously, what if there are magically-enhanced school shooters roaming around? They’re not gonna survive.” Kenni came swinging with an out-of-pocket statement. It is a rather bold thing to say, but there is something to keep in mind.

“Yeah right, as if they can even get in without being blown into pieces.” Karra said, scoffing at the hypothetical. “I think the better way to phrase that is magically-enhanced muggers and robbers. The school isn’t gonna cover for those.”

“No one is going to, that’s for sure.” Gregori replied. Indeed, the idea of criminals with unchecked powers is a scary one. Only thing you could do to prevent it at the moment is some kind of deterrent, be it greater magical might, or firearms.

There is that thing Wiina did, but she hasn’t shown that generosity to others just yet. At least we know it’s possible to keep them in check with a tool of some kind, but it is but a small comfort, not a solution.

“Ah. Looks like they’re wrapping this up.” Finally, it’s starting to get stale. There is very little magic at play by them, which is most likely due to the possibility of friendly-fire.

” Rico said, keeping up with the commentator’s tone despite her words suggesting feeling somewhat frustrated by the length. Almost twenty minutes is not a good look, and unfortunately, this one isn’t the most incompetent, that much I already knew.

———Lynda———

“Fucking scrubs…” I can’t help but complain. Why am I in a team full of dudes who can barely survive ring-out by these slow golems? Only Fiss and Histon can keep up, and the latter is pushing it.

” Rico said, and who in the world is it gonna be?

“...Huh?” There’s a shadow casted on the opposite side of the arena, where is it… “A-A-Are you kidding me?”

I got goosebumps as I noticed the figure slowly descending down from the sky, with a sword in hand and a calm expression. The white hair flowing in the wind, and the black coat staying on her shoulder… It’s her.

“” Rico said with all the fanfare. Are we seriously doing this?

I mean, I know with any of the previous four fighters we wouldn’t really do any good. I know that I stood zero chance against any of them in a semi-serious fight… Even in a non-serious fight I might still get stomped into the dirt.

But against her? There is so much mystique built around her to the point that there is this aura of intimidation, authority, and the unknown.

“” Coach Wana said while Wiina dispassionately looked at us. She wields a simple sword, but anyone who even heard of her should already know about her vast arrays of spell. Looking through Karra’s archived streams, there is a lot to unpack. Even though a good deal of the footage is blurry and not much quality footage was taken during the dungeon exploration, there are still things that can be discerned, and those are things I have no counter for. “”

“Brace yourself.” I said to Fiss, who is standing next to me. This is gonna be real ugly…

“” Rico yelled out, interrupting Wana’s countdown.

*Dash* *Swing* *Block*

“Argh!” Fiss managed to block the incoming attack that took less than a second to reach us, managing to block the incoming strike with her spear, but from how she’s reacting it’s clear it probably felt like getting hit by a car.

*Kick* ***Swing*** *Evade* *Tumble*

“Ack!” She kicked Fiss away as Trener, Histon, and I all tried to jump her to no avail. She reacted too quickly and got out of the way, making all of us fall on top of one another. This is not my proudest moment.

Let’s get back up quickly and try something else. Also, are the rest of us gonna just stare at her? Fight for crying out loud!

“Raaah!” I yelled out as I swung my axe in her direction.

*Parry*

She easily parried it, making me stagger and almost lose the grip on my axe.

*Clash* *Parry* *Block*

This is when the others start piling up on her, and she quickly counter every single one of their advances. Swift, quick, and too smoothly for any normal human. She doesn’t even look a little bit alerted.

*Swing* *Grab* *Kick*

“Augh!” When I tried to go for another attack, she grabbed my axe by the blade itself then kicked me far away without a weapon, almost off the arena. Way too close for comfo-

*Swing* *Plant*

“Eeep!” That could’ve killed me you damn bitch! Throwing my axe right towards me and stuck into the ground.

*Whirl*

Once I plucked it off the ground, everyone got blown back by some sort of wind spell that she casted instantaneously. Definitely a good spell to have when you’re fighting a large group of enemies.

*Shine*

Uh oh.

“[Light Pillars]” She dispassionately said as multiple magic circles formed on the ground and started moving in our direction.

*Blast*

Multiple pillars of light emerged, looking more like pillars of deadly lasers than anything else!

“Run for it!” I shouted out and everyone started to scramble. This is what I was talking about. This kind of impressive and very frightening power is not something I really know how to deal with aside from running away!

*Shine*

What now!? Her other spell is still active and chasing people down, what is she-

*Swing*

A large beam of energy was sent out from her swinging her sword horizontally, a beam of energy moving slowly that will reach us, and more importantly is absolutely massive. I need to-

*Leap* *Graze*

I managed to jump out of the way of that arena-wide attack, but the moving pillars of death almost caught me, grazing my skin lightly.

“” …What? When did…

“Oh shit.” I exclaimed loudly, realizing that they got hit by either spell. If I barely dodged them, then I guess most got hit directly and sent flying or worse.

I think I might be cooked.