Chapter 2:
Calm and Chaos
RETURNING TO OUR seats after the match with Mordred, we found a ruckus near the front row.
“Terribly sorry!”
“Maybe you wouldn’t need to apologize if you hadn’t been such a jerk!”
Someone was arguing with an adventurer. It seemed like the adventurer was being the lout, but the guard was yelling at the one who was on his knees.
Must have been another Chalusian messenger. Like the guild mentioned, they really were going out of their way to make a scene.
The Chalusian didn’t seem to be sorry despite the guard’s stern warning. His apology was a lie. He had every intention of soliciting adventurers after this.
Fran, try not to get involved.
Got it.
I wondered what the Chalusians were really after. They were a major source of grief to the guards. They might even get banned before the tournament was over.
The next match still hadn’t started by the time we got back to our seat, the arena still being ruined by Mordred’s lava. But everything else was ready. The arena looked a lot better.
Good job, earth mages!
I thought they might have a decent chance of winning if they actually competed in the tournament.
And so the second match of the day began…
“It’s over.”
“Mercenary Biscott has taken his opponent out with a well-placed shield bash!”
Biscott won in a matter of seconds. Faster than his first match.
At least Zelt gave us a lot to work with.
But the match we were waiting for was two matches away. After an unimpressive battle between two unassuming contestants, the time had finally come for us to glue our eyes to the arena.
Also aware of this, Fran put her food away and stopped ruffling Jet’s fur. She sat up straight and quietly watched the arena.
The card was now Sibyl versus Colbert.
“And here comes B-Rank adventurer Steel Claw Colbert! Although no longer a student of Dimitris, he’s still a powerful contender! Will he demolish his opponent in mere seconds again?!”
The commentator refrained from saying that Colbert got kicked out of Dimitris’s school. I was really interested in seeing how he would fight without the Dimitris Style.
“He’ll be up against the red-haired mercenary Sibyl! Like Colbert, she also demolished her first opponent in a matter of seconds! Let’s see how she does with someone stronger!”
The commentator and spectators placed Sibyl below Colbert. But I suppose that was to be expected from an unknown mercenary.
It sure didn’t feel that way for the combatants, though. Sibyl had a playful grin while Colbert stared at her with a stiff look.
When you’re as strong as him, you would know how strong she actually was. The concentration of mana in his body was proof of his caution.
“Is he going to go all out from the start?”
Probably.
“Sibyl’s like me.”
Meaning that Sibyl would begin by watching and waiting. Let’s see what happens.
“Begin!”
And so the battle between Colbert and Sibyl commenced.
It was much like the match between Fran and Mordred—Colbert moved while Sibyl stood still. He was dancing around with his footwork, trying to find a gap in her defenses to end the match in one fell swoop. Bearing the weight of the tension and not attacking was Colbert’s strong suit.
Meanwhile, Sibyl wasn’t biting and seemed amused at his movements. Considering how much she enjoyed fighting, it was just like her.
In Fran’s case, Mordred had taken advantage of her habit and used it against her. On the flip side, this strategy might work against a fellow blood knight.
Colbert was making a circuit around the arena, slowly closing in on Sibyl.
“So you’re a martial artist?”
“I’m used to fighting swordsmen. Don’t let your guard down just because I’m unarmed.”
“Is that so! I’m looking forward to fighting you!”
They both smiled as they exchanged pleasantries but their distance between each other approached zero.
And then the match truly began.
“I’ll blow you away!”
“Not so fast!” Sibyl initiated before Colbert could attack.
Her downward strike left a small crater in the middle of the arena. This was the real starting bell.
Colbert was only two levels higher compared to last time, but he had a lot more Skills now. He must have been training hard to compensate for the loss of Dimitris Style.
Sibyl was unidentifiable, much like Biscott. Maybe I could get a better peek if Colbert broke whatever device was jamming Identify.
Colbert and Sibyl continued to trade small blows. Sibyl was mostly attacking while Colbert looked to punish her with counterattacks.
His defense looked much better. He was able to dodge and block Sibyl’s quick sword slashes.
Sibyl’s attacks looked wild. While she incorporated feints into her offense, her style was very straightforward. A good style to have against monsters, but easy to read against another human.
“Uraaah!”
“Gah! So much power!”
“Ha ha ha! Power’s the only thing I have!”
“And so resilient!”
“I guess I have that, too!”
Usually, Colbert would have made quick work out of a berserker like Sibyl. He even managed to land some hits after blocking some of her sword swings. His style controlled brute strength through agility.
But Sibyl’s toughness was shocking.
Colbert landed the perfect hook at the perfect angle to her stomach, but she didn’t even let out a groan. The same went for the punch he delivered to her face.
She shrugged off the jab to her nose and rushed in, bringing her sword down in front of her.
Colbert’s punches were powerful enough to explode a goblin in one hit…but Sibyl’s healing and momentum outranked his damage. There was a good chance she had Pain Immunity, too, on top of Shockwave Resistance and a slew of endurance Skills.
I hadn’t expected Sibyl to be such a power fighter.
But Colbert was able to recover from the shock of her violent fighting style.
If his hits didn’t hurt, he would hit her until they did. He could also attempt landing a powerful attack on her weak point since she was taking his hits head on.
Colbert shifted gears and placed strike after strike onto Sibyl’s midriff. He would tenderize her with body blows, slowing her attacks enough so he could finish her off… That was the plan, at least.
But Sibyl’s toughness was even greater than he thought. I couldn’t believe it and could only watch in disbelief.
Sibyl continued moving like before despite all the blows to her abdomen. Her animalistic smile persisted, pressuring Colbert to come at her.
Now, Colbert was beginning to slow down. I thought he was getting exhausted, but that wasn’t quite the case.
“Ha ha! I’ve seen that before!”
“Whoa! That was close!”
“Come on!”
“No way!”
Sibyl’s attacks intensified as if she was reading Colbert like a book. She used her sword to strike him at difficult angles, anticipating his dodges and even countering his counterattacks. Sibyl had somehow gotten used to Colbert’s movements during the battle. A terrifying display of instinct and adaptability.
Finally, Sibyl’s sword grazed Colbert’s body. He immediately crumpled from the destructive force of the impact.
“Urgh!”
“Ha ha! Got you!”
“I’m not down yet!”
“You can still fight from that position? Impressive!”
Colbert kicked at Sibyl as she rushed in for the kill. His left arm was wounded, but he managed to stop the bleeding by contracting his muscles.
But it was going to be difficult to use that arm from here on out. Meanwhile, Sibyl was still looking healthy and effective.
“She’s good.”
That toughness…I don’t think you could get that just from stats.
You think she has some Skills, too?
Probably…
But it didn’t look like a barrier of any kind. There weren’t any movements of mana around her. And Physical Immunity didn’t explain the bruising Colbert’s punches left behind.
It seemed Colbert had noticed it, too.
“I don’t know what trick you’re using…but it must be some kind of damage immunity… No, Reduction? Anyway, weaker hits aren’t going to hurt you.”
“Good eye. You’ve figured me out… But what are you going to do about it?”
“I’ll just hit you so hard you won’t be able to reduce it!”
“Ha ha ha ha! Correct!” Sibyl admitted her weak point. She actually did! She wasn’t lying, so she must have had some damage reduction Skills.
Colbert slowly approached her as she laughed. No stances, just plain walking…but inside, he was amassing a great amount of mana.
He was circulating the mana he focused around his solar plexus through his whole body. He repeated this process until his body was filled with mana.
A minute went by. There were only five meters of space left between the combatants. But Colbert continued his slow stride.
“Shiiiiyaaa!”
Sibyl launched herself at Colbert and slashed at him. She was excited, dying to know what he was going to do. It was a bad habit all blood knights had.
The next moment, Sibyl disappeared. A loud bang went off in the arena.
In her place was Colbert, standing still after unleashing a straight punch.
Did you see that?
Hm! Mana came out of his feet and back to make him move really fast.
Colbert used the sudden burst of mana to accelerate himself.
Although his top speed was lower than Fran’s, his acceleration gave the impression that he was faster. To most of the audience, it must have looked like he’d teleported.
His attack was also difficult to predict because there was little to no wind-up. Sudden motion from absolute stillness. He didn’t use his muscles to accelerate, catching even Sibyl off guard. It never felt like he was going to attack.
More impressive was the fact that he was able to suppress his bloodlust. He couldn’t have done it without a great degree of mental control.
Sibyl was sent hurling across the arena. But just as we thought she was going to be knocked out, an unlikely thing happened.
“Uraaagh!”
She let out an animalistic roar, abruptly stopping herself in mid-air. It wasn’t Air Hop, nor was it Mana Thruster. Her momentum dissipated instantly, and she was now floating in the air. It looked a lot like my telekinesis.
“Urghh… Daaah!”
Sibyl started puking blood. Her internal organs were probably a mess. Her breathing was ragged, and she seemed out of breath. How was she still breathing?
But Sibyl didn’t stop moving as she extended her left hand. There were twenty meters of distance between the combatants, but—
“Ooof!”
Now it was Colbert’s turn to be blasted. I thought it looked a lot like telekinesis. Then it turned out that it was Telekinesis. Sibyl was pretty good at using it, too.
As Colbert was flung in the air, she hurtled toward him. While lacking the initial burst of speed of Telekinetic Catapult, she was still using telekinesis to launch herself.
Still, that took a large toll on a human body. She was moving so fast from all the mana she put into it.
“Raaaaah! Crush!”
“Tsch!”
Colbert pivoted with Mana Thruster to dodge Sibyl’s sword slash in the air. But it wasn’t enough.
His body was still screaming with pain from his own attack. Sibyl grabbed his right arm as he failed to put enough distance between them.
“Gotcha!”
“Let me go!”
“Request denied! Raaaagh!” Sibyl’s lips curled into an evil grin and smacked her head hard into Colbert’s.
A simple headbutt. That’s all it was.
She brought her head down on Colbert’s cranium with all the force she could muster.
A gruesome crack sounded as Colbert fell to the ground. He fell in the arena with the thud and grace of a sandbag.
“Huff… Not bad… You put up a good fight…” Sibyl smiled happily, blood still trailing down her lips.
“And it’s over with a skull-smashing sound of a headbutt! Will Colbert ever recover?! Healers, you better see to it that he does!”
Healers immediately rushed the stage. I only hoped that they could get to Colbert in time.
He wasn’t moving at all.
“…I’m going to see him.”
Good idea.
Fran quickly got up to go to the infirmary, running through the corridors to get to where she needed to be. Upon entering, we found Colbert with a bandage wrapped around his head.
“You okay?”
“Oh…hey, Fran.”
He was certainly…responsive. It looked like the healers had gotten to him in time to heal him from Sibyl’s devastating headbutt.
He suffered from a collapsed skull and multiple fractures. Things did not look good at the outset. But now, he just looked dejected.
“I lost.”
“Hm. I saw.”
“Ugh. My fault for not beating her with my trump card. I thought I could throw her out of bounds even if I couldn’t knock her out…”
“That straight rush was really good.”
“You think so? I developed it after getting expelled from Dimitris School…”
“But?”
“…Still needs work.”
The Dimitris style was developed around Mana Thruster. It used spirit to hit things from a distance and enhance the body, among other things. But Colbert could no longer use it after being expelled. The moves he relied on were no longer available.
Still, he kept the Skills which he had acquired during his training like Mana Thruster, and he used them to replicate his old fighting style.
“I used Mana Thruster to quickly close in on monsters during my quests. They’re not very good at detecting movement, after all.”
“Hm.”
Normally, Mana Thruster was used to accelerate toward an opponent by letting out a burst of mana from one’s back. It wasn’t something monsters could notice from observing muscular movements.
“So, then I got an idea. What if I could use Mana Thruster to eliminate the initial signs of an attack?”
“And that’s what you came up with?”
“Yeah. But the initial charge takes too long. It won’t hit unless I’m up against someone who’s willing to wait for me to launch the attack. It’s going to take a while before I can use it in a real fight. And the overall damage isn’t great.”
“You nearly knocked Sibyl out.”
“I just punched her really fast. The perfect version would have me unleash my mana into a target.”
“I see.”
A blindingly fast attack from perfect stillness which would obliterate an enemy’s vital organs. That was what Colbert was after.
“If I could do that… I might actually have a chance against you.”
Colbert had developed this to counteract the Physical Immunity we’d beaten him with last year.
“The Dimitris style specializes in spirit manipulation. The advantage is that you can use spirit no matter your position and weapon…but your Skill actually nullifies the effects of spirit. The strength of the style is no longer a strength. Can’t speak for the master and Miss Hilt, of course.”
Spirit and mana were practically the same with some subtle differences. Spirit was mana which you used in and on your body. Mana was everything outside the body.
Fran and I didn’t really know what the actual difference was…but the Dimitris style was one where you could manifest spirit outside your body.
It allowed you to use your fists from afar where you would usually have to get close. I guess it was kind of like fighting with fists made of spirit?
But Physical Immunity granted us protection against spirit. If it didn’t, we wouldn’t have been able to nullify Colbert’s attacks last year.
“That’s why I wanted to use mana instead of spirit…”
At that range, Physical Immunity wouldn’t save us from a mana-based attack. But Colbert conceded that his attack was as yet incomplete. He had used all his mana to accelerate with Mana Thruster.
“I’ll show you firsthand when it’s done.”
“Hm. Looking forward to it.”
“It’s gonna be—”
BLAM!
Just as Colbert smiled and nodded, the door to the infirmary burst open. Hilt barreled in, dread on her face. Her eyes sharply scanned the infirmary.
“Colbert!”
“Whoa! M-Miss Hilt?”
“Oh. You’re all right.”
I thought she was upset at him for losing, but she only had concern on her face. She was visibly relieved when she saw Colbert laughing it up with Fran.
“Fran the Black Lightning Princess… What are you doing here?”
“I came to visit.”
“I see. Thank you.”
“Why?”
“H-huh? Well…he might have been expelled, but he still used to be one of us! I just wanted to see how he was doing!”
“Uh-huh.”
Hilt was flustered. And blushing. Very easy to understand. I was getting diabetes just being in the room.
Colbert, however, seemed completely oblivious.
“I’m sorry for causing you to worry, Miss.”
“Um… Y-yes! You should be! How could you lose to a no-name mercenary?! You lack training!”
“Hah. That’s harsh.”
“I-I wouldn’t mind training you myself, you know.”
That sounded like she was inviting him back to the Dimitris School in a roundabout way.
But it flew completely over Colbert’s dense (though cracked) skull.
“I’ve been expelled. I can’t just come crawling back begging to be taken in again.”
“Ugh!” Hilt looked frustrated. At Colbert for being unable to read between the lines and at herself for being unable to voice her honest feelings.
Honestly, Colbert was oblivious for not noticing her obvious advances. But I guess you don’t really question your assumptions unless someone else points them out to you. These assumptions gave me a lot of trouble in the old video games I used to play.
Colbert probably thought of Hilt as his master’s strict heiress. There was no way she could be in love with him.
“In any case! I’m going to beat you, Fran!” Hilt said before storming out of the room. Her eyes were quite hostile as she glared.
Fran was the reason Colbert got expelled and the opponent she would have to defeat so she could be together with the man she loved. Hilt would probably just get more intense once we were in the arena.
“Sorry about Miss Hilt.”
We wouldn’t hold back, but I wished them all the best.
I also wished Colbert would explode.
“Teacher? Are you shaking?”
N-no, not at all. I’m not absolutely shivering with jealousy or anything like that.
“Uh-huh.”
A-anyway, let’s head back to our seats. We might make it in time for the next match.
“Okay.”
The match might have been close to being over depending on how it went, but we made it back in time.
In the arena was a B-Rank adventurer named Abbav and a student of Dimitris.
Abbav appeared to be some kind of spellsword. He used a scimitar at close range and poison and water spells at distance.
According to the commentator, he was a student of Eiworth. No wonder he had the harassment-heavy fighting style that he did. He had the awful personality of his master, to match.
“Hee hee hee! What’s wrong? You look like you’re having trouble standing up.”
“Damn it! The poison…”
“Hee hee! You look like an absolute loser! Aah, I live for moments like this!”
Abbav poked at his opponent, heavily weakened by his poison.
As weak as Abbav’s pokes were, he was definitely strong. He was just toying with his opponent.
As terrible as his personality is, his movements are top notch. And he’s Eiworth’s student…
So, he might use poison potions.
Yeah. There’s more than poison magic to be wary of. We’ll have to figure out a way to restrict his item bag usage.
I won’t fail again.
Mordred had used a Barrier Stone to intercept Fran last time.
Abbav had the upper hand all the way to the end in an overwhelming victory.
As Fran sat in silence over his nasty provocations, someone approached her.
“Good match, Fran.”
“Mordred? You can walk around already?”
“More or less.”
Mordred, Fran’s last opponent, had come to see her. He could move despite his steps being unsteady. But he had a smile on his face instead of anger or resentment.
“Sorry about that last bit.”
“The lava? At least you got out of it in one piece.”
“Because I used a skill to increase my steel resistance before the match started. That spell would’ve kept going even if I got knocked out. Meaning you might have gotten hurt even after I’d lost the match. Bad manners on my part,” Mordred said, bowing his head deeply. Now here was a true gentleman.
“I forgive you.”
“Thanks.”
“In exchange, I wanna ask you about some stuff.”
“Ask away. I’ll answer as best I can.”
“It’s about our last match.”
Fran asked Mordred about pace setting, an inquiry which he gave precise answers to. He was clearly enjoying himself as he taught her; he would make a good teacher or dad.
It wasn’t every day that Fran got to talk to a veteran, so this was a great opportunity. She could review her intense match with the same one she had the intense match with.
The conversation carried on for almost an hour, and they moved on from discussing their own match to analyzing other matches.
“What would you have done against Abbav?”
“First, I’d keep my distance since I don’t know much about him. Then I’d try to create an opening using steel magic.”
“I see.”
“If I felt more confident, I would try to get closer. That’s what you want to do since you’re using a sword. Get the jump on them before they can try any tricks.”
Coming from Mordred, a master of trickery, the advice carried a lot of weight.
“I think that guy could actually cast his poison spells faster than he let on.”
“How can you tell?”
“There was one spell that came out faster than usual. He probably got surprised by his opponent charging. I don’t think that was a coincidence.”
“He’s trying to trick the other competitors into thinking his casting speed isn’t great?”
“Probably.”
Hearing Mordred’s analysis was a lot of fun. But eventually one of Mordred’s men came to fetch him. He’d been there during the protection quest of the boat, too, though Fran had completely forgotten about him.
The man was very respectful toward Fran despite her beating Mordred. He sure knew how to teach them.
“Is it time already?”
“Yessir.”
Apparently, Mordred had an errand to run.
“I’ll be off, then. That was a fruitful discussion. I’ll tell you about the haunt next time we run into each other.”
“Hm. I had fun, too. Thanks.”
“No problem.”
Now alone, Fran had Jet pop out so she could pet him. But someone else soon approached.
“Lady Fran.”
“Hm? Kaitley, Nilfe.”
“H-hello…”
“Woof!”
Kaitley, Aurel’s granddaughter and adventurer hopeful, and Nilfe, Dimitris’s shy and reserved granddaughter.
The nobles had a section all of their own, but they’d probably come to the VIP area after spotting Fran. I had sensed their presence a few minutes earlier, but they didn’t want to disturb Fran while she was talking to Mordred. Or maybe they were just afraid of him.
The VIP area was made specifically for those related to competitors and their sponsors. The regular seats were free seating, the VIP area for VIPs, and the noble area was by invite only. That was the gist of it. Invitees got special treatment for also being VIPs, so they were able to move to this section, too.
“That was Sir Mordred you were talking to just now.”
“Hm.”
“You seemed to get along very well with each other.”
“Hm. Because we’re fellow adventurers?”
Fran tilted her head, questioning herself. She didn’t quite know what to make of Mordred. She didn’t know him well enough to consider him a friend. He wasn’t exactly a rival, making him more of an adventuring comrade-in-arms.
“But you just fought earlier. Were there no hard feelings?”
“Why would there be?”
“Perhaps he would be upset about his loss…”
“It’s just a match.”
Honestly, it was because Fran was nonchalant and Mordred was respectful toward his opponents. There were definitely people who would get mad after losing a match.
But Kaitley, ever Fran’s student, took her word at face value and thought everybody behaved that way. She seemed relieved, and so did Nilfe.
“I-I see. So, it was only a match…”
“Adventurers are amazing.”
“Hm. We don’t hate each other just from winning or losing.”
The two then remembered why they came here in the first place.
“Of course! Congratulations on your victory, Lady Fran!”
“Congratulations!”
“Thanks.”
“It was an amazing victory!” Kaitley excitedly talked about Fran and Mordred’s match. “I couldn’t really tell what was going on after a certain point, though…”
“But it was still great.”
“That’s right!”
Apparently, people couldn’t see into the barrier once Mordred’s lava filled the arena. But the spectators still had a lot of fun, regardless.
“It was like a glass mug being filled with orange lava. I had never seen anything like it before. Who knew lava could be so beautiful?”
“It was so pretty.”
Lava wasn’t something you saw every day. Thanks to the barrier blocking out the heat, Kaitley and Nilfe had been treated to the bright and beautiful spectacle of it all.
Fortunately, the match had ended in just a few minutes. The audience could’ve gotten bored watching a sphere of orange goo.
“Are you hurt?”
“No more than usual.”
“I-I see… I’ll have to get ready if I’m going to be an adventurer, too.”
“You can do it.”
“Thank you!”
Kaitley only became more enthusiastic instead of afraid. I don’t know if it was because of Fran or if she was just born that way. You certainly had to be built different if seeing all that danger only got you pumped up.
She might just become a great adventurer in the future.
Fran ended up watching the next match with Kaitley and Nilfe. The girls listened intently as she provided analysis and commentary. Nilfe looked very interested, nodding from time to time. Fran wasn’t very good at commentating, but the girls were taking it in well enough.
“It’s unfortunate that your friend Charlotte lost.”
“Hm. But she still did better than last year.”
Elza versus Charlotte was the highlight of the day. It was the same card and same result as last year.
The difference was that Charlotte managed to hang in there longer than last year thanks to her improved movement. But she still lacked the offense to break through Elza’s defense and was thrown out of the arena by the big man.
“Good luck on your next match, Lady Fran. We’ll be cheering for you! You’re guaranteed a top placing if you win your next match. You might get invitations from other countries at that point!”
“Invitations? Like from Chalus?”
“Have they tried soliciting you?”
“Hm.”
“Goodness! Grandfather is positively swamped because of those people! They won’t stop no matter how much we warn them, so we’ve sent a letter of protest to their government.”
A sternly worded letter of protest? That sounded serious.
“They simply won’t keep their word.”
“Wow. Do you think they’ll come bother me again?”
“Probably… They’re so persistent that some adventurers have gotten physical with them. But the guild can’t protect them because they’re still nobles.”
“Even if it’s their fault?”
“Solicitation isn’t technically a crime. And again, they are nobles…”
Making the person who lost his temper the bad guy. Was that what the Chalusians were after? To disqualify tournament favorites? Or maybe they wanted to have leverage over them?
“Please be careful, Lady Fran.”
“All right.”
Staying out of their way seemed to be our best option.
Two days after our match with Mordred…
Fran happily made her way to the coliseum in the morning. As usual, she bought and equipped some meat skewers in both hands.
She had eaten breakfast at the hotel, of course. In fact, the first thing she did upon waking was take a lot of food out of Pocket Dimension.
But so what? For Fran, a skewer was preferable to a cookie.
“Munch, munch.”
“Nom, nom.”
Meanwhile, Jet was gnawing on a giant bone previously used for broth. It had been courteously given to us by a lady working in a soup kitchen.
He held the meter-long bone in his mouth and simply enjoyed chewing on it. He looked a bit silly, kind of like a dog which had found a particularly long branch and was walking back to its owner with it in hand.
Fran also received some soup for free after praising the soup shop the other day; the increase in customers had been instant. Fran and Jet instantly slurped up the warm broth.
The soup had some chunky add-ins, too.
“Munch… Hrm.”
What is it, Fran?
“There.”
Fran suddenly stopped and stared at a familiar-looking man in the distance.
“He’s from that country that’s annoying everyone.”
Baron Emmert of Chalus. Not someone worth remembering.
“What do we do?”
Hmm.
He was clearly waiting for someone, possibly Fran.
Let’s keep going. If he sees us, we’ll teleport out of here.
“Got it.”
Though I think you can slip right past him if you just conceal your presence.
We blended into the crowd, walking right by Baron Emmert and what looked to be his manservant.
As expected, they were none the wiser.
“Is the Black Cat not here yet?”
“She should be…”
“Keep your eyes open!”
So they were looking for her. I guessed we knew how to deal with them now, though. They’d be out of the city in a few days, anyway.
Thirty minutes after that…
“She’s no stranger to starting the day’s events! Give a thunderous welcome for Black Lightning Princess Fran!”
We went unharassed in the waiting room and now entered the arena to face our next opponent.
The big man’s metal armor was dull, robbed of its original sheen. In his hand he carried a tower shield that towered over himself. Biscott—the suspected Raydossian spy.
His defenses would be tough to crack.
How do you want to do this, Fran?
…By myself.
All right.
Are you sure…?
Is something wrong?
I mean…I almost lost against Mordred.
Her last match was still bugging her. She didn’t feel like she had won, but I thought she’d benefited greatly from the experience.
I couldn’t tell Fran, of course, but it wasn’t about winning or losing. It would be great if we could win the whole thing, but losing was still a win as long as she learned something from it.
This is just a sparring match, after all. Not a life and death situation. You should fight the way you want to. Besides, you’ve never gone up against a shielder before, have you?
Hm.
It was true, Fran had never fought a high-level shielder before. This was something she wanted to experience for herself. That’s why I wanted her to fight on her own without the pressure of ending the fight before it could begin.
Just promise me you’ll be careful.
“Hm.”
Considering our next match, hiding a few tricks up our sleeve wasn’t a bad thing.
“Hey. Last I saw you we were in a dungeon.”
“Hm.”
Biscott grinned. He wasn’t trying to intimidate Fran through banter; rather, he seemed to be genuinely enjoying himself. But then he enjoyed the heat of combat, too…
He appeared to be completely healed from his match with Zelt. His broken shield had been replaced. And this shield looked better than his last one.
“Oh, this? Just a dungeon drop. Guy sold it to me for cheap when I said I was competing.”
The shield didn’t have any special features except for its robust defense. But in the hands of an expert shielder, it only made it more dangerous.
“How’s about you show me how strong adventurers are?”
“You too. I hope that shield isn’t just for show.”
Their bloodlust clashed with each other and the match began.
Fran made the first move, awakening herself and rushing in for a slash.
“Haaaa!”
“Tsch!”
Biscott was visibly perturbed by her speed—even he couldn’t keep up. He shoved his shield to the side to deflect our attack. His armor was tough and sturdy but not enough to render us ineffective.
There was now a deep wound in Biscott’s side.
Fran’s attack had gouged both metal and flesh, creating a gap from which blood gushed forth. She’d probably ripped right into his guts.
It looked fatal.
But I got my hopes up far too soon.
“That’s it? You can do better than that! Come on! I’m still standing! You’ll need to cut deeper than that to take me down!”
He didn’t flinch no matter what Fran did. Blood continued to gush and he made no effort to staunch the flow. Still he continued to move.
He must have had some sort of regeneration Skill. This must have been the secret behind his toughness in his match against Zelt.
Unlike Sibyl’s damage nullification, Biscott was content to literally tough it out with his body. He winced from time to time, a sign that he might not have Pain Immunity, after all, but that was it.
Despite having taken a fatal blow, he endured.
“I fight giant monsters for a living! These wounds are a tea party compared to them!”
No wonder he was so tough. Biscott was used to taking a beating from large beasts. Fran remained unharmed so far, but she wasn’t gaining any traction. She simply couldn’t get past him.
His armor was battered and his body broken and bloodied. Though he looked like a dead man, the fire of battle still burned in Biscott’s eyes.
“I got bitten and swallowed by an earth dragon once. That’s a million times worse than this!”
“Earth dragon?”
“Yeah! One time me and the knights… Never mind! Anyway, it’s time for me to get serious. Get ready!”
“Sounds good to me!”
Knights? As in, Raydossian Knights? Biscott was beginning to confirm our suspicions for us. But the match was what mattered right now.
“Haaa!”
“Tch! You’re getting even faster…!”
Fran shifted gears to finish Biscott off. She was using Awaken, Physical Body Manipulation, and a slew of supporting spells to increase her speed, but still no Flashing Thunderclap.
The fact that she could move so fast without using a life-draining skill was a sign of her growth.
However, Biscott was able to react to Fran’s increase in speed.
“Guard Shift!”
“Urgh!”
He blocked her killing blows with his shield and took her non-lethal attacks with his body. Fran backed away and launched a thunder spell at him, but even this he took head on without any sign of paralysis.
Biscott was not cracking.
“Swing!”
“Too slow!”
“You’re the one that’s too damn fast! I’ll get you next time!”
“Not happening.”
“Won’t know until you try! Come at me!”
Despite being attacked more often and harder than before, Biscott remained as sturdy as he was when the match began.
He would even go for fast counterattacks—odd for a man his size.
Sibyl and Biscott were both incredibly hardy. Were all Raydossian fighters like this?
Biscott felt like he was on the level of Mordred or Colbert despite having a different fighting style. If anything, he might have actually been more dangerous than them. Still, Fran continued to hold the upper hand. Biscott’s attacks simply weren’t landing.
But I could see why he was so effective against monsters. He had top-notch expertise with the shield and superhuman toughness. His aggressive personality roused his allies on.
On the other hand, his offense wasn’t quite as good as his defense. It wouldn’t usually pose a problem against monsters since he had enough power in his counter hits to capitalize on his defense. One swing of his mace would be enough to crush most of his enemies.
And it could also be an effective threat against humans. Fran had to do her best to dodge his attacks.
But his best just wasn’t enough.
Sure, there were monsters that were faster than Fran. But very few had the quality of movement and offense that she had. Biscott had no experience fighting against such an opponent. As perfect as his timing was, none of his counters could land.
“Tch! There!”
“Whoa.”
“I have you now!”
“Urgh!”
Biscott got very close to hitting her. However, Fran now had to block more of his attacks than before. She couldn’t get away from them all in time.
As they traded blows, faint mana emanated from Biscott. Not a spell, so it had to be some kind of skill. It didn’t feel like he was going to attack, but I couldn’t tell what he was doing.
Fran then tilted her head, looking confused.
Fran?
Something feels off.
She felt an awkwardness in moving her body. Was it the skill just now?
Timespace mana detected. Fran’s perception has been accelerated.
Her perception? Just her perception?
Yes.
Only having your perception accelerated without the rest of your body was dangerous. It throws off your timing, making you think you’ve moved when you really haven’t. For a speed fighter like Fran, the difference in milliseconds was the difference between life and death.
This must have been the reason behind Zelt’s awkward movement at the end of Biscott’s previous match.
I could tell Fran what the problem was so that she could fix it with timespace magic. But she really wanted to fight on her own. I wouldn’t interrupt her, and the best I could do was watch to see if she could figure this out before she was defeated.
“Tsh!”
“Hah! Too easy!”
Her slash was perfectly blocked by Biscott’s shield. Messing with Fran’s perception was only one part of his plan. It resulted in her thinking that she had already made the attack when her body was still lagging behind. Her attacks were much easier to read now. All Biscott had to do was follow her eyes and he could anticipate where her next attack would go. The difference was slight, but for a master shielder like Biscott, it was all he needed to create a perfect defense.
Although this ability of his was subtle, it was a huge pain to deal with. Biscott continued blocking, causing Fran to stumble forward. It was the same thing he’d done with Zelt. He had finally created an opening.
“Spiral Bash!”
He unleashed a shield attack at her, a sharp thrust from the outside.
Normally, it would be difficult to react to this. It was too fast for the naked eye, a killer blow utilizing a sudden change of pace.
But Biscott’s blow failed to land.
“What?!”
“I’ve seen that before.”
Fran had fought with shield users before. Dullahans, fiends, she had enough experience to anticipate what could come next.
She had also fought with Skywall Zefield, an A-Rank adventurer who was a master of the shield.
In an ironic twist of fate, Biscott used the same shield art Zefield did. Having seen the move before, she easily dodged out of the way.
She also didn’t seem bothered by her perception lag. Fran was used to being accelerated by timespace magic and soon adjusted her movements to match her perception. She even baited Biscott into attacking by acting like she had been thrown off balance. She knew that he wouldn’t be able to resist hitting her with a big move if he saw his plan working.
Fran usually struggled due to the difference in experience between her and her opponents…but this time, she had the upper hand!
Biscott winced in acknowledgement that he’d been bested. He now noticed that he had fallen for Fran’s trap.
In fact, she’d laid her trap even earlier than he expected. Even before her perception acceleration, she had purposely blocked some of Biscott’s attacks to provoke him into using his big move. She wanted him to feel like he had her on the ropes.
Honestly, I wasn’t sure if it would work.
Biscott had used the same trick on Zelt. But he did say that his friend came up with the strategy, so that would explain why he didn’t recognize the same trick being used on him.
For better or worse, he was an expert in fighting monsters—not people.
“Got you.”
“Bring it!”
Biscott lost his footing after whiffing Spiral Bash. Still, he was confident that he would be able to tank whatever damage Fran threw at him. I thought she was going to activate Flashing Thunderclap and hit him with either a Skycutter or Pressurized Quickdraw.
“Haaa!” Fran rushed in.
Biscott braced himself.
However—
“Just kidding.”
“Wha?”
She grinned as his nerves came to a head. Fran wasn’t about to brute force her way through Biscott’s defense.
“Uhhh? M-my feet…!”
She used land magic, changing the shape of the arena. She created a downwards slope from herself to Biscott, then froze the ground beneath Biscott’s feet.
It was the worst position he could be in since he was digging in his heels, bracing for impact. He looked like a beginner ice skater, flapping his arms as his feet struggled to regain balance.
And now Fran charged at him head on.
She used Mana Thruster to accelerate herself, striking him from the air. He managed to put his shield up to guard against her, but this was still part of her plan.
“Damn it!”
“Bye-bye.”
Fran pushed him, his feet sliding on the ice. He frantically cast multiple wind spells to stop himself, but it was to no avail. He slid out of the arena, a look of despair on his face.
“Aaaaand it’s over! What a cold finish! I sure didn’t see that coming! The Black Lightning Princess wins with brain instead of brawn!”
I didn’t think Fran would’ve even gone for this kind of thing. And if I didn’t see it coming, there was no way Biscott could.
The match ended in a near-complete victory for Fran. She managed to conceal her trump cards and powerful attacks, and the match ended in a relatively short time. She used a lot of resources but kept damage to a minimum. She was a real nightmare for Biscott.
That was a cool plan, Fran.
Hm. I thought I’d do something similar to Mordred.
You’ll need more practice to make it your own…but I’m proud of you for going for that idea!
Really?
Yeah! Beating your opponent to a pulp isn’t the only way to win a fight.
Hm!
The match with Mordred had had a more profound effect on Fran than I thought. Just when I thought she would go all out, she went subtle. This wasn’t something she could immediately integrate, but the fact that she was going for more than brute force meant that her fighting style was expanding.
Her plan today was a little slapdash, but she would get the hang of this cunning fighting style one day. I was really looking forward to what lay ahead for us.
“…You got me.”
“Heh heh.” Fran looked absolutely smug when Biscott approached her. She was really pleased that her subtle tactic got her the win.
“I’ll warn you. Sibyl’s a lot stronger than me.”
“I’ll still win.”
“Yeah? You’ll hear me cackling if she kills you in two seconds,” Biscott said as he turned around to leave.
Still, our next match had yet to be decided. Sibyl still needed to win for her to fight Fran.
But Biscott seemed pretty sure of the result…
We’ll have to see who we’re up against next.
Hm.
The winner of the next match would fight Fran in the quarterfinals.
Five minutes later…
“Sibyl won.”
Figures.
Sibyl was up against a big man with a big mace (apparently a fan of Elza). He was proud of his powerful mace, but Sibyl took it head on. She didn’t budge, cut him down, and the fight was over in under a minute.
The fact that she took the brunt of the giant mace without even flinching…
Quick pokes would probably be a waste of time. Fran would need to give it her all to stand a chance. Even then, I didn’t know if she could win.
“…She’s strong.”
Yeah.
The matches of the day continued until only Abbav, disciple of Eiworth, and Dias, guildmaster of Ulmutt, were left in B Block.
The match could go either way. If I remembered correctly, Dias and Eiworth used to be in the same party. While the student probably wasn’t greater than the master, the match was still worth watching.
Next was Hilt versus Radule.
Another match with opposite fighting styles.
Radule, who peppered his enemies with a variety of magicks. Hiltoria, a martial artist who brute forced her way to victory.
What would become of these two?
If we were talking about raw strength, magic, and speed, Hilt was guaranteed the win. But that wasn’t enough to determine the victor in a fight. Experience and tactics amounted to a lot in this tournament, and Radule had plenty of both.
“Old Radule is a master of three elements and a master mage. Will he be able to use his spells to lock down his opponent again? Or will A-Rank adventurer Hiltoria of the piercing fist break the bones of the old mage before he can begin? Your guess is as good as mine, folks!”
The commentator ended his commentary by beginning the fight.
Hilt and Radule immediately moved.
“Haaa!”
“Hngh!”
Hilt charged forward while Radule jumped backward. They looked to be going at about the same speed.
Radule must have used a spell to increase his speed before the match started. Probably Wind Foot…obviously a wind spell. It increased your speed by covering your feet with…well…wind.
“Wow.”
Radule’s pretty good.
The way he moved around the arena was like a figure skater. Was it because of Wind Foot? I’d thought he would float like a hovercraft at best, but this level of control was difficult to achieve. The best we could do was release a blast of pressurized wind under our feet to maintain forward momentum.
As he maintained this difficult technique, he was already preparing his next attack. The feat was nothing short of amazing. Radule might have been the only contestant who had this fine control over his magicks.
Regardless, Hilt pressed on, covering the distance with her sharp movement.
“Earth Control!”
“What?!”
Radule released a big blast of mana. Hilt sensed it and immediately put her guard up. But her body was cast high into the air.
Radule had taken her feet out from under her by using a land spell to create the slightest of steps in the ground. Hilt managed to spin in the air to land safely, but she was still off balance.
“Did you catch that?”
He covered a large area with mana to conceal his spell instead of outright hiding it, making it harder to detect shifts of mana in the smaller spell. Subtle!
“He’s good.”
Radule had used a land spell called Earth Control. A fighter of Hilt’s level would be able to detect changes in the flow of mana…but Radule wasn’t your ordinary mage.
Radule had cast Earth Control over the whole arena, only to make a small step a few centimeters high. To Hilt, it must have felt like he was going to attack from all directions. But a small change was all he wanted, barely noticeable to the naked eye. It was quite a dirty trick.
The only drawback being that it took a lot of mana.
But Radule thought it was mana well spent if it meant delaying Hilt’s actions for even a moment.
“Here!”
“Pfft!”
Earth Control turned Hilt’s landing zone into a puddle of mud. She winced as mud got on her face.
Losing your footing meant losing your balance, no matter how high your stats were. Radule took advantage of the opportunity and bet it all on a single attack.
“I won’t make the same mistake I made last year! Opponents like you need to be taken out as fast as possible! High Wave!”
“This is why you can’t let your guard down around seniors!”
Radule was famous for using weaker spells, but that didn’t mean big spells were out of his reach. He just didn’t use them because of their high mana price tag.
But when push came to shove, he had no qualms about whipping out the big guns. He used an ocean spell to create a giant wave—one big enough to capsize a ship out at sea. In this restricted arena, it would be more than enough to carry his opponent outside of the ring.
The wall of water came closer to Hilt. Everyone watching knew she would be engulfed and carried away by the wave.
But she defied our expectations.
“Raaah!”
“Gah!”
Hilt unleashed a blast of mana, ripping through the wave and blowing Radule away. While he wasn’t thrown out of the ring, the old mage landed the ground without moving.
So much power in no time flat. Hilt’s Mana Thruster is much better than Colbert’s. That’s going to make her a problem.
“Hm.”
The wave absorbed most of the impact, but it was still enough to knock Radule out. He simply couldn’t overcome his old age.
“Wow! Just when we thought old Radule would put her away, Hiltoria answers with a knockout blow through the waters! She isn’t the successor of the Unmoving for nothing! How much power is she packing?!”
Though it looked like Radule was giving her trouble, Hilt wasn’t even close to fighting at full strength. She wasn’t like Fran and the others, who enjoyed battle for its own sake; she simply wanted to keep her strong cards close to her chest.
She would need them in her fight against Fran.
“Hrm.”
She’s staring at you.
Hilt was looking in our direction. She had somehow managed to pick out Fran from the crowd.
Fran obliged and glared right back at her in a preliminary staring contest.
Both of them could tell how much they wanted to fight each other even at this distance. Eventually, Fran broke off and left without a smile.
“…Now I’m really looking forward to this.”
There’s someone else we’ll have to beat first.
“I know.”
I didn’t even know whether Hilt would make it to the finals. Her semifinal round was still waiting for her.
Next is Cricca versus Bavaros.
Both names were foreign to me. Cricca was a mercenary, Bavaros an adventurer.
I wasn’t expecting much from a battle between two no-names, but Fran let out a startled gasp when the match started.
“Is she reading him?”
Probably. I wonder if it’s some kind of observation Skill.
The woman called Cricca used a strange strategy revolving around…observation and perception Skills?
She perfectly dodged every attack and punished her opponent with her bow and rapier.
Bavaros, despite his rough and tough name, was actually a thin-framed mage fighter. He was quick on his feet, using a combination of wind spells and his short spear to great effect.
I mean, Fran would’ve been able to dodge his attacks…but that was because of how strong she was. And Cricca didn’t have half the strength that she did.
The audience probably just thought she was fast, but it almost felt like she had eyes on the back of her head. Her reads were immaculate. You would have to have perfect comprehension of your surroundings to make the movements Cricca was making.
Not a single attack landed until the end. As a scout, her abilities were nothing short of impressive. On the flip side, her attack power wasn’t quite as good. Even against a lightly armored opponent like Bavaros, she needed to land a significant number of hits.
And there was another reason why we had our eyes on her. A reason unrelated to her unique fighting style.
No wonder she hangs out with Sibyl.
Yeah. It’s her, right, Jet?
Woof!
Jet told us that Cricca was one of Sibyl’s henchmen.
At their level, they probably knew they were being watched. And yet they chose to stay and compete despite knowing their cover had been blown. Maybe they had an exit plan ready…
We’ll let Dias and the others worry about what to do with them.
Dias definitely knew what I was already intuiting. Taking our own action now might disrupt the guild’s plans.
Looking at it this way, a lot of Raydossian fighters are specialists.
I see.
Biscott the wall. Cricca the scout. Sibyl the destroyer. Sibyl was no slouch defensively, either, but she seemed to excel at offense.
While each had their weaknesses, they made for a balanced party where each member could shine. They were never meant to fight individually.
“Here comes Knighthart.”
And Elza.
Our acquaintances would be going up against each other. Knighthart the mantis versus Elza the femme warrior.
“Wow, what a hunk!”
“…Thank you?”
Knighthart reflexively shook Elza’s hand when he put it out. Pre-match handshakes were quite rare in this tournament. This one had likely only happened because of Elza’s overly friendly nature and Knighthart’s good manners.
“What’s the matter?”
“Nothing. I’m just surprised because you sounded serious.”
“Oh! And what a voice to go with that face. I could hold you in my arms all day.”
“H-ha ha. Let’s have a good one.”
Even the hardened veteran Knighthart seemed thrown off by Elza. Mind you, Elza was being serious when he called Knighthart a hunk. He must have had low standards. Not to discriminate against insectoids or anything…but there were limits to these things, you know?
The match started after the handshake.
“Here goes!”
Elza with his mace, Knighthart with dual blades.
Elza wasn’t just tough—he was also a masochist who liked getting hurt. He even had the Skill to prove it. I really wanted to see how Knighthart dealt with it.
“Spiral Thrust!”
“Huh—”
But one strike and it was all over.
Knighthart closed the gap between him and Elza and pushed his sword into his stomach. Blood sprayed out of Elza’s back.
“Aah… Simply amazing…”
Why did he have a dreamy look on his face as he was being finished off?! Elza fell to the ground and stopped moving.
The match was over.
It all happened so fast that the people murmured in confusion.
“Did you catch that?”
Barely. It’s too far to know for sure. I might have gotten a better look if I were in Elza’s spot.
“Hm…”
Knighthart had probably done his research on Elza’s fighting style and abilities beforehand. In fact, he most likely did some digging into his personality, too. As a result, he came to the conclusion that the best strategy was to finish him off with a single powerful hit.
He was so fast. His Unique Skill, Skanda, probably had something to do with it…
Knighthart might have been even faster than Fran in Flashing Thunderclap. Top that speed off with the raw strength unique to insectoids and you had a piercing attack that could go through Elza’s defenses.
Elza had gotten up after being healed, and now Knighthart was doing his best to exit quietly. He didn’t seem powerful at that moment, but today’s match definitely made him a favorite to win the tournament.
…I wanna fight him.
I know, but you might not get the chance to.
Hilt was in the other block, and there was still one more match after this.
The winner of today’s final match would face Knighthart. As expected, Phelms took that spot without a problem.
“Knighthart versus Phelms!”
I really don’t know who’s gonna win that.
Fran’s eyes shone with excitement as she imagined what the fight would be like. As much as she wanted to fight them, she still enjoyed having them clash in her head. I knew how she felt. I did it, too.
The semifinals were next. The Cradle of Time would be in effect. The artifact gifted from the Beast King would reverse time to keep contestants from dying. On the flip side, ring outs were no longer in effect. Everyone was free to go all out.
We’ll have to beat Sibyl before we can fight those two.
“Hm!”
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