Reincarnated in the game world ~ A gamer's beginning to [Dungeon job hunting recommendation]

"Noel! I need help with sonar detection to find out hidden opponents!"

"! Right away—Grand Reverberation «Sound Sonar»!"

Noel's detection skill in the form of her singing travelled far and wide in the battlefield, with the reflected echo giving her insight on hidden opponents.

"—Found him. Richan!"

"! Sure enough! His target is Lacritta!"

For a short while, the hidden silhouette reflected back in the eyes of Noel and Mert in the shape of static. The hidden shilhoutte's target was Lacritta who had been busy dealing with two opponents at that moment. 

The silhouette approached Lacritta from behind, and took a lunge at her.

"So what if you notice me, it's too late now! Brace yourself, instant death unique skill—«Soul Cleaver»!"

As he had leaped at Lacritta, «Soul Compact»—a skill to turn himself invisible—became undone, displaying the appearance of Keel, and the giant scythe in his hands that was now coated in black miasma. 

It was this menacing sight that had earned «Soul Eater» its fame. Once an attack has made contact with the target, and if the target hadn't built any resistance to instant death, the target would easily be immobilized from fight. It was a strong skill.

In fact, Keel had raised his stats all with the intention to complement the unique skill «Soul Cleaver». What Keel sought wasn't overwhelming defense or offense, but speed. He had wanted a way to conquer the target within a blink of a moment, and this build was his answer. 

And this had bore fruit for him as well, evident from his earlier performance where he reaped the life of four leaders in previous matches with his unique skill. Similarly, his attire, and the earlier performance with instant death skill had led to him receiving the alias of «Reaper».

A resistance against instant death was something not many would've ever thought. While abnormal status resistance was a common sight to see among the students, Instant Death was something that didn't become a problem until Intermediate-mid dungeon or above, so this also meant almost all of the first-years were clueless against it. 

In the race where the majority had yet to appear in the starting line, Keel was already ahead on his run, even arming himself with «Mask of Hades» and similar other equipment that increases the chance to inflict instant death. And the most troublesome aspect of the unique was its ignore-defense attribute. The opponent could be a heavyweight tank, or even a max level character, as long as the chance was proc'd, they would be eliminated. —'The Instant Death is the answer to all' was the motto of Keel.

Soon, the huge scythe, glowing in an eerie radiance, and coupled with skill's unique effect, slashed toward Lacritta—or atleast, that's how it appeared.

"Objective complete. The case's clos—what?"

Keel had gone through all possibilities and carefully choose this timing where Lacritta wouldn’t be able to escape. And sure enough, the scythe did cut through Lacritta back, but he didn't feel any response.

Astounded, Keel looked at his scythe, and then at Lacritta, and realised he was staring at an illusion. With the slash mark still embedded on the illusion, the illusion slightly dimmed.

"A fake?! No, it can't be. —Shit, you telling me she had already hide herself after bringing that tower?! Then where the heck is the real one!"

" "The fuddge??" "

Similarly, another befuddled voice escaped from the two opponents Lacritta—or her illusion to be precise, was facing. A natural reaction, who would've thought the opponent they're dealing against was an illusion, and they didn't even notice that. The two's smug expression, believing that they'd successfully pulled a fast over their opponent, was promptly repainted in a fluster look and hurriedly ran their gaze over the surroundings. 

There was only one time Lacritta could have escaped while leaving her substitute without their realisation, and it was when she had conjured those towers. Keel saw through the situation and hurriedly used his own detection magic.

"«Soul Perception»! —Huh?"

But in an unexpected turn, he only felt the reception from that illusion in front of them. However, another baffling event followed—the Lacritta they'd thought to be an illusion suddenly turned on her heel.

"Eiya! —«Be a Piece of Junk»!"

"Gaarhhh!?"

" "Leader!?" "

The illusion... suddenly attacked Keel. The two-handed shield squarely struck Keel, and inflicted a strong debuff, while making a dull thwump sound—or not, given the size of the shield, would a thud be more accurate to say?

Anyway, Keel flipped over after receiving the impact. A discomfort coursed through his body, nevertheless he hurried to stand up and asked with an astounded expression.

"Rrgh, how... weren't you an illusion just a while ago?"

"Y-Yes, I was. It was my avatar. But by using «Pon-Swap» with «Pon-Avatar» in the set, I change place!"@@novelbin@@

"...The what??"

«Pon-Avatar» was a magic where Lacritta could create a look alike illusion of her. And «Pon-Swap» allowed her to swap the position with that avatar. So, the actual order of events went down something like this: Lacritta conjured her illusion, and then hid herself with «Mirage». And then, before the illusion could have disappeared completely after receiving that slash, she used swapping magic to replace the illusion and launched a surprise attack on Keel. 

It was a trick made to confuse her opponent and then hit them with «Be A Piece of Junk», taught by Rika who had been blooming in her own field as DPS Tank. And just as she had learned, the result was evident. Lacritta thanks Rika in her mind. 

But of course, the short explanation, or not, the explanation of Lacritta went above Keel's head. It instead sprang up more doubts.

"Huh? No, sorry, but I don't get anything. Can you explain in more detail?"

"Err, well, alright, but after delivering this final strike!"

"No, wait. How are you going to tell me if I'm elimina—«Soul—"

"I knew it. «Purple Touch»!"

"Argh!"

Keel had attempted to buy himself some time, but seeing that it didn't work, he immediately tried to escape while activating his skill. However his movement lagged behind, a result of «Be A Piece of Junk» unique skill debuff, and couldn't escape.

Much like «Illusion», the «Purple Touch» randomly inflicted «Fear», «Paralysis», or «Confusion» debuffs. The random meter of debuff this time landed on «Fear». This debuff temporarily lowered  the stats of Keel, and also inflicted DoT on MP. 

Also, as an influence from the debuff, Keel's body trembled in fear when his gaze landed on Lacritta. She appeared to him like the true Grim Reaper. It couldn't have been any more ironic to see «Reaper Keel» shivering at the sight of Grim Reaper's Illusion. 

"N-No, anyone—"

"Get away from the leader!"

"Y-You can't get in the way. I am going to defeat him here!"

Promptly, the two boys, who had been fighting Lacritta's illusion earlier, lunged at Lacritta with mace and hammer in their hands, however Lacritta easily warded them off. But als, this was enough for them to earn the time, so one of them turned to release the onslaught of his attack, while the second person carried Keel into his arm and escaped away. 

"You aren't going anywhere! «Frigid Pace»!"

"Yes, do you really think you can escape after targeting Richan? Prepare for punishment! «Terror Carnival»!"

Mert and Noel also doubled down on the opponents, but—

"Unique Skill, «Ability Burst»! —«Psychokinesis»!"

However before any resolution could be met, Jay wedged himself between the path of attack and  used the force field conjured by Psychokinesis to protect them. 

Mert and Noel halted on their step in surprise. As a matter of fact, both of them had been under strong buff, so it was surprise to them that someone managed to tank their attacks.

"! Tsk, Class-10' leader huh."

"Jay!"

"Hurry up and escape, Keel!"

It was Jay—his body was engulfed in a raging storm of mana—who jumped in the fray to confront the tag team of Mert, Noel, and Lacritta. 

The space around him was literally twisting as a bloodshot expression ran in his eyes. The overwhelming influence of power caused even the rocks and stone around him to float in the air. 

—Ability Burst. It was a unique skill that puts the user into an overload state, increasing the existing skills and abilities by many fold.

Jay twisted his lips in a fierce smile and passed his command.

"I am you opponent, you three!"