[CH399+ Continued] Dungeon Diver: Stealing A Monster's Power

Chapter 549

The other applicants in the smaller viewing area become restless as the match begins.

They whisper to each other about both of the hunters in the ring as the two-minute timer starts to count down.

Their comments are either guesses about whether the Flame Emperor's power is real or just some hidden artifact Natalie is using to scare her opponents.

Others comment on how well Emrie, the Bedrock applicant, fought in his last few matches.

The confusion and concern in the voices of the Vice, Veridian, and Apex applicants that talk about this cements the idea that the Bedrock Region really is a weak region.

The fact that two of their fighters are actually within reach of claiming a B-Class license is apparently a big deal.

There are four armed guards at the back of the box we stand in, their levels all between 800 and 999.

One of them is the wind user I met at the gate when I first entered this exam site, another is the long-haired healer with dead eyes that tried to heal me before this tournament, and the other two I don't recognize, but they are of similar strength.

They stand unmoving, watching all of us, not paying attention to the fight that's about to begin; most likely tasked with making sure no applicants here get into quarrels.

Silence fills the room as both fighters in the ring receive my telepathy message, and I apply my ranked-up buff to Natalie, sharing 1% of my base stats and 1% of my mana control with her.

She looks up to the sky, pretending to pray, then her whole body erupts into flames.

Ember stares back at her from the far side of the ring, putting his hands up to fight, and bursts into far less powerful flames, using mana control hardly 10% as powerful as the aura Nat gives out.

He grins, then looks up to the sky and yells.

"Hey Flame Emperor, grant me power to make this a fair fight!"

Nothing happens, and his dull-looking flames pale in comparison to the hot ball of fire burning around Nat.

He yells again.

"Just this once. I swear my loyalty to you, and will follow you as my leader... You can grant this power to anyone who believes, can't you?"

Silence fills the ring.

A full 5 seconds go by, then people start to whisper and laugh in the crowd.

Ember continues to stare up at the sky, putting on the act I asked him to.

More words of doubt begin to spread as nothing happens, and people start to yell out and complain.

"See, she's been faking it!"

"It's all a facade! See, why wouldn't the Flame Emperor do it again if they could? Especially for a fire user!"

"It has to be some kind of trick, an artifact!"

"Yeah! That's right, she's from the Apex Region! We can't forget what the number one fighter said, they're just playing us!"

Then, a wide grin appears on Ember's face as he opens up his limiter and allows a growing amount of power to leak out.

Over the next 3 seconds, everyone's chatter and words of doubt cease as the flames around Ember grow to match Natalie's, looking almost identical.

Both of them run forward at each other and the entire blue dome is filled with flames while dense auras of mana clash.

The vibrations of mana that ripple through the arena now cannot be faked by mere illusions; it's the raw mana control that is being released in each attack. All of the Regional Directors stand up from their seats, similar to the time they did the first time Nat showed this power.