The countdown timer vanished. The sterile white room dissolved, replaced instantly by a landscape of frustrating, muddy realism.
They stood ankle-deep in a vast, emerald-green field that looked pulled straight from a poorly rendered fantasy RPG. The air was fresh and damp, smelling faintly of grass and, unfortunately, giant amphibians.
The Arbiter's voice boomed, less commanding than before, sounding more like a cheerfully condescending dungeon master.
"Welcome to Trial 2: The Low-Magic Gauntlet! To win, you must escort the designated 'Weakest Entity' to the dungeon entrance, visible on the horizon. The journey is one kilometer. Failure to maintain the Weakest Entity's physical integrity results in an immediate team score penalty."
A massive, golden arrow appeared above Kazuma's head, pointing him out as the "Weakest Entity."
"OH, COME ON!" Kazuma shrieked, batting uselessly at the arrow. "I am not the weakest! Okarun still screams when he sees a ghost! I have the god-tier luck skill! This is discrimination against thieves!"
Okarun, relieved the arrow wasn't pointing at him, was already trying to hide behind Tanjiro. "I... I think it's based on pure attack power, Kazuma-san. And you mostly just steal underwear."
Saitama yawned. He looked at the dungeon entrance—a generic stone archway miles away. "A kilometer? I can walk that in two seconds. Can't I just carry the loud one?"
"Negative, Anomaly 1," The Arbiter replied instantly. "Any action that breaks the conceptual immersion of the Trial environment will result in a cumulative score penalty. You must engage with the journey."
"Conceptual immersion?" Gojo looked around, genuinely confused. "This place is boring. The energy density is pathetic. I could use Infinity to walk the mile in zero time, and it wouldn't break anything."
He began to step forward, pulling down his blindfold, only for the world around him to shudder. A projection of the Arbiter appeared, a tiny, glittering crystal floating above his hand.
"Warning, Anomaly 2: Your power is too high-concept for this domain. Usage of Cursed Techniques above Grade 1 will risk a Reality Collapse. Reality Collapse will trigger an immediate team score penalty and reset the environment's rules to maximum difficulty."
Gojo froze, his eye twitching. "Wait, you're telling me I can't use my powers because I'll break the game? What kind of garbage rule is that?!"
"It means," Jin-Woo interjected, his voice cold, "that our high-level reality manipulation is considered cheating here. We are forced to use physical strength and low-level skills only."
Jin-Woo lifted his hand. "Rise." A single Shadow Soldier, a low-level Orc, emerged from his shadow.
"Warning, Anomaly 3: The deployment of a high-tier Shadow Army is considered over-engagement. Please limit active Shadow Soldiers to a maximum of three."
Jin-Woo's eyes narrowed in frustration. "Three? I have an army of hundreds of thousands!"
"Take the three weakest ones," Kazuma advised, already starting to scheme. "The ones that look like they'll die first. Then you can use them as bait!"
Their discussion was interrupted by a low, rhythmic thump. The ground began to vibrate.
From the muddy trenches surrounding the field, dozens of enormous, warty, brown creatures began to hop—Giant Toads. Each was the size of a small car, their massive, grotesque mouths opening and closing in a sticky display of hunger.
"Toads! WHY IS IT ALWAYS GIANT TOADS?!" Kazuma shrieked, the familiar horror of his home world instantly overriding his arrogance.
Tanjiro drew his Nichirin blade. "They're big, but they move slowly. Their scent is just simple, gross hunger. We can dodge them and cut their joints! Water Breathing, Tenth Form: The Dragon of Change!"
Tanjiro flowed forward, circling the first wave. His blade was precise and powerful, but the Giant Toads, known for their magical resistance, simply absorbed the blows. The skin barely tore, and the toads continued to hop.
"The skin is too thick! And my sword is metal, not magic! It's not working!" Tanjiro gasped, frustrated.
"It's the rules of the world!" Kazuma yelled, scrambling back to hide behind Saitama. "These things are immune to high-level magic and damage! They're only weak to low-grade attacks, or being hit by a really big rock, or just getting eaten by something bigger!"
Gojo, having been forced to lower his level, conjured a weak, non-lethal pulse of Cursed Energy—barely a Grade 4 attack. He threw it at a Giant Toad. It exploded with a harmless pop of blue light, merely stunning the creature for three seconds.
"Seriously?! A basic Cursed Energy blast just tickled it?!" Gojo was aghast. "I can't believe my Cursed Energy is less effective than a rusty shovel!"
"Don't worry, Gojo-san! I can help!" Okarun yelled, charging forward and unleashing the high-speed chaos of Turbo-Granny. He slammed his body into the nearest Toad. The collision didn't hurt the Toad, but it was enough to knock it off balance, sending it rolling. "See! Kinetic force is allowed!"
"Right. Kinetic force," Saitama muttered, watching the chaos. He didn't want to break the world again, so he merely put his hand out and gently shoved a Giant Toad that was hopping too close. The shove was enough to send the hundred-ton creature soaring into the air, where it disappeared over the horizon with a tiny, delayed "POP!"
"Saitama! Stop launching them out of the dimension!" Gojo yelled. "You're making them someone else's problem!"
"He's destroying the ecosystem! That's definitely a penalty!" Kazuma wailed.
Jin-Woo, realizing he could not use his strength or his full army, saw the only way to effectively neutralize the enemy without breaking the game: intimidation.
"Shadow Soldier: Rise!" he commanded, summoning Igris. The massive, armored knight appeared in a storm of black smoke. Jin-Woo pointed towards the line of Toads, which were advancing slowly. "Do not attack. Just be frightening."
Igris did not need to be told twice. He raised his massive sword, pointed it at the Toads, and let loose a blast of pure, unadulterated magical menace. The Orcs and Goblins in Kazuma's world would have run screaming.
The Giant Toads, however, just looked at the intimidating magical knight, saw the Weakest Entity (Kazuma) behind him, and unanimously decided to target the softer, tastier flesh. They hopped around Igris, focusing solely on the screaming human.
"THEY'RE IGNORING THE SUMMONED BEING!" Kazuma shrieked, feeling the spray of toad spit on his cheek. "THEY ONLY TARGET THE CLOSEST, MOST PATHETIC THING! THAT'S ME!"
"It's a biological targeting system linked to stupidity!" Gojo realized, his Six Eyes finally making sense of the madness. "Their concept is 'Weakness Homing!'"
"Then we need to use Kazuma-san as bait!" Tanjiro said, his face determined. "Kazuma-san, you draw their attention while Okarun-san knocks them down, and I will target their tongues when they extend!"
"What?! Bait?! I am not expendable! I am the protagonist! I'm the one who gets to complain about the useless party members!" Kazuma complained, even as his instincts took over. A massive Giant Toad lunged.
Kazuma reflexively threw out his hand. "STEAL!"
He was left holding a sticky, perfectly intact Giant Toad Tongue.
The Toad, having lost its primary hunting organ, immediately deflated and fell into the mud, twitching pathetically.