Dimensional Keeper: All My Skills Are at Level 100

Chapter 1825: First Round - 7

The randomizer continued.

A few more battles passed.

Some participants were eliminated quickly, while others managed to advance after hard-fought clashes. A spearwoman with thunder wings defeated a poison cultivator by overwhelming him before his toxins could spread.

A demon youth with black flames lost to a calm monk-like participant who reflected his flame back through a strange palm art. A silver-haired beastkin girl surrendered after realizing that her opponent’s soul attacks had already trapped her in an illusion field.

Then another familiar name appeared.

[Battle Forty-Three]

[Morgana Starveil vs Elara Mistwood]

Max’s eyes shifted.

Morgana Starveil appeared on the stage with her midnight-blue hair, black-violet dress, and purple eyes. Her witch hat tilted slightly over her head, and her lips carried a faint smile, but that smile did not reach her eyes. She looked toward Max almost immediately after appearing.

Their gazes met.

Morgana’s smile widened.

Unlike Selene, there was no open hatred in her expression. Instead, there was resentment hidden beneath playful calm, along with a dangerous curiosity. Max had killed her before with one Emotion Severing Path slash, splitting her apart despite all her curse defenses. Yet here she was again, revived by the rules of the conference and standing among the final hundred.

Elara Mistwood, her opponent, was a graceful woman with green hair and forest-like energy around her body. She used wood spirit techniques, summoning vines, petals, and misty roots to surround Morgana from all sides.

Morgana laughed softly.

”Wood against a witch? How nostalgic.”

Elara frowned and attacked first.

The vines moved like serpents, each one carrying spiritual poison. Mist spread across the stage, hiding dozens of thorned branches that shot toward Morgana’s body from blind spots. But Morgana merely raised one finger, and black-violet symbols appeared in the air around her.

”Stellar Witchcraft, Curse of the Wandering Root.”

The vines stopped.

Then they turned around.

Elara’s expression changed as her own wood techniques twisted under Morgana’s curse and attacked her instead. She quickly tried to regain control, but Morgana’s second curse had already descended. Seven purple-black stars appeared above the stage, each one releasing thin curse threads that wrapped around Elara’s limbs and spirit energy.

Elara struggled, but the more she resisted, the tighter the curse became.

Morgana walked forward slowly and stopped in front of her.

”You should surrender before the curse reaches your soul.”

Elara’s face turned pale. After a few breaths, she lowered her head.

”I surrender.”

[Winner: Morgana Starveil.]

[Elara Mistwood Eliminated.]

Morgana returned to her pillar and looked at Max again.

This time, she placed one finger near her lips and smiled, as if telling him that their unfinished business would continue later.

Max’s expression remained calm.

Morgana was still dangerous. Her direct combat strength might not be as overwhelming as Damian or Rakan, but her curse methods were troublesome and unpredictable. If she was allowed time to prepare, she could turn a simple battle into a trap. Max had killed her once because he had given her three moves and then crushed her with Emotion Severing Path, but that did not mean she was weak. It only meant his path had been a terrible match for her.

The battles continued.

Max also saw Seraphine Lareth and Fin Arclight among the remaining hundred.

Seraphine fought a halberd user who relied on violent close combat. She did not look as arrogant as before, but her Radiant Judgment Path was still fierce. Golden judgment light descended again and again, forcing her opponent to retreat until he finally failed to block a radiant spear and was judged unable to continue.

[Winner: Seraphine Lareth.]

Fin’s battle came shortly after. His Pale Eclipse Path spread across the arena like a gray-white moon shadow, dulling his opponent’s senses and weakening the rhythm of their attacks. He did not win as explosively as Seraphine, but he won cleanly, trapping his opponent in an eclipse field before ending the battle with a blade of pale light.

[Winner: Fin Arclight.]

Max looked at both of them without much emotion.

He had already killed them before. He had even forced them to end themselves once. But because of the rules of the first round, they had survived and returned to the final hundred. That did not bother him. If anything, it made things simpler. The more second faction people remained in the final round, the more chances he had to crush them on a stage everyone could see.

Rose’s battle also appeared later.

[Battle Forty-Six]

[Rose Valen vs Iskar Duskfang]

Rose’s opponent was a wolf-blooded fighter with sharp claws and terrifying speed. From the beginning, it was clear that Rose was not stronger than him in raw power. Iskar moved faster, attacked harder, and forced her to defend almost immediately. Several people assumed Rose would lose quickly, but Max watched with interest.

Rose did not panic.

She used small movements, defensive talismans, and precise footwork to keep herself alive. She never tried to overpower Iskar. Instead, she slowly guided him toward certain positions on the stage. After dozens of exchanges, Iskar finally stepped into a hidden formation mark she had placed through earlier movements.

Light chains erupted from beneath him.

Iskar roared and tore through two of them, but that small delay was enough.

Rose appeared behind him and placed a short blade against his neck.

Angelina declared the result.

[Winner: Rose Valen.]

[Iskar Duskfang Eliminated.]

Max smiled faintly.

Rose had not survived this far by luck alone. Her strength was not the most overwhelming, but her judgment, patience, and preparation were excellent. She knew how to make stronger opponents fall into her rhythm, and in a tournament setting, that could be just as valuable as raw power.

More battles followed.

Max saw battles battles of Tamara, and other few geniuses he could recognize but for some reason he didn’t find the prince from the first faction who had warned him about Caroline.

’With his strength he should have survive to top 100.’ Max thought deeply. ’But why isn’t he here?’

Finally, after the fiftieth battle ended, the massive screen of light above the arena changed.

[First Main Round Completed.]

[Total Participants: 100]

[Eliminated Participants: 50]

[Remaining Participants: 50]

The arena became silent.

Half of the final hundred had been removed.

The pillars belonging to eliminated participants dimmed and sank into the darkness below, while the remaining fifty pillars glowed brighter. The circle around the central stage became wider and emptier, making the remaining figures stand out even more clearly.

Angelina Valerius looked over the survivors calmly.

”Congratulations. The first main round of the final round has concluded. The remaining fifty participants will advance to the second main round.”

Max looked around at the remaining pillars. There were many he recognized among them.

Along with them, many hidden experts whose names Max had only learned through watching their battles had also advanced. The arena had become smaller in number but far more dangerous in quality.

Max’s gaze moved from one familiar enemy to another.

A faint smile appeared on his face.

The people he had defeated once were still here.

The people he had not yet fought were waiting too.

And from the second main round onward, the chance of avoiding dangerous opponents would become smaller and smaller.

Angelina raised her hand again, and the randomizer above the arena began to awaken for the next stage.

”The second main round will begin shortly,” she announced. ”Fifty participants will fight. Twenty-five will remain.”

The pillars hummed.

The remaining participants became silent.

Max watched the randomizer begin to spin again.

The true pressure of the final round was finally beginning to descend.