Returning back to Miri and Anne, they were now in the process of finding their second star rune, which would allow both of them to have one star rune each so that they could pass the first trial. In order to accomplish that, they figured the easiest way to do so was to hunt down a 1-star monster. However, that was easier said than done as they would face countless competition from other contestants along the way.
One time, they tried to chase after a jackalope, a monster that looked like a rabbit with tiny deer antlers. Even riding on their mounts Tusko and Woolly, they were barely able to catch up with that small animal, which moved at blistering speed as it hopped across the grasslands. As they chased after it, Miri extended her staff forward and fired a couple of Starlight Bolts and Crescent Arcs at it, all of which missed the jackalope due to its incredibly agile movement.
“Goddamn it!” Miri grunted out of frustration. “Stay still and let me hit you already!”
In the middle of the chase, a trail of yellow lightning cut through the grasslands before approaching the same jackalope the Miri and Anne were after. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be a young man—a contestant donned in bright yellow, tight-fitting rouge garb that’s decorated with symbols of lightning bolts. From what it appeared, this contestant seemed to be able to move at superhuman speed using his magic—an ability that left behind a trail of yellow electric sparks behind him as he ran.
As it ran parallel with the jackalope, able to easily keep up with its speed just by running on foot alone, he quickly formed a yellow lightning bolt in one of his hands before tossing it right towards the speedy animal, striking it with a damaging shock attack that paralyzed it with just one hit. Afterwards, the lightning runner snatched the small animal off the ground before leaving Miri and Anne in the dust.
“Haha, too slow!” the lightning runner sneered with a mocking laugh as he took off with the jackalope. “Better luck next time!”
“Hey, come back!” Miri bellowed. “It’s ours! We saw it first! Goddamn it!”
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Then there was this other time where Miri and Anne had spotted a balloon frog in the far distance and decided to catch it. The frog was just sitting idly in the middle of a swampy area, so they’d decided to sneak up on it. However, their sneaking skills were not very good, causing the frog to notice them before they could catch it and make an attempt to get away. Like its name implied, the balloon frog had a special ability where it was able to inflate itself like a large balloon when it sensed danger so that it could float away.
As soon as the inflated frog tried to escape by floating up in the air, Miri cast several Starlight Bolts at it to try to kill it, able to land a hit on the frog with her third strike. However, right as the frog was about to fall to the ground, yet another contestant arrived seemingly out of nowhere to snatch it from them—bouncing on a trail of bubbles hovering in midair that seemed to act like stepping stones. This contestant was a young woman with dark-brown skin, half-blue half-pink hair that’s styled in pigtails, and wore a miniskirt that’s also colored in a mixture of blue and pink.
“Oh, come on! Not again!” Miri shouted as she watched that bubble-hopping woman make off with her frog. “Come back here with our rune!”
The bubble-woman didn’t respond with words, instead leaving a series of whimsical giggles as she bounced away on the trail of magical bubbles that formed under her feet with each step.
Then there was this other, other time where Miri and Anne faced off against an Aphrodite flytrap, a species of large carnivorous plants that were distinguished by their tri-sectioned mouth and magenta petals. Each was about twice the size of an adult human as well as having the ability to spit acid. Anne was able to block the incoming acid spit with her Protective Ward while Miri retaliated with a Meteor Impact, killing the plant with one solid hit.
However, as soon as the plant disintegrated into pink mist and left behind its star rune, a floating skull imbued with black flames swooped in seemingly out of nowhere and snatched the star rune right in front of the two women.
As the floating skull held the rune right between its teeth, it flew towards yet another contestant—a bald man in sleeveless black robes that sat on top of an even larger floating black-flamed skull. Once the bald man grabbed hold of the rune from the smaller skull, he quickly made haste and hurried away from the scene.
“You have got to be fucking kidding me?! Not again!” Miri roared, her frustration reaching a boiling point as she saw each of the star runes she sought after getting snatched away from her one after another.
