Chapter 99


“Contestant Lux, contestant Hibiki please enter the arena . ” (clerk)



Instead of following the clerk’s instructions, I was treating the injuries of Ms . Amazoness .


Since she was a slave, it would be hard for her to acquire permission from her master to get some treatment .


But in any case, since I didn’t want to be conspicuous, I just let her drink some potions .


Apparently her master didn’t want to pay for the treatment cost, so he insisted to check with me before giving her treatment .


“Gina!! Is Gina still alive!!” (master)


‘Gina’ is the name of Ms . Amazoness .


The one shouting her name was probably her master .


“She’s still a top 8 contestant!! Losing her now will be a huge loss!!” (master)


Gina’s master who went to the waiting room was blocked by the tournament staff .


Just when I felt relieved after checking Gina’s condition, this scene angered me .


“You s.h.i.+thead!! I told you to ask for my permission first before treating her!! I won’t pay the treatment cost!!” (master)


Somehow, once he knew that Gina was safe, he was already concerned with money again .


He was worried about Gina because she was his biggest source of money this time .


After checking his status, I found out that he was merchant . He was just a merchant no matter how I want to say it .


“What treatment are you talking about? I just let her drink a potion . ” (Hibiki)


When the man saw it, his nose flared up .


“Whatever you do, I won’t pay for the potion . ” (master)


By the way, the amount of potion I used on Gina was actually earnable by even a small household .


Only a really crooked ‘merchant’ could be stingy to even little things as that .


Without a doubt, our hero of justice exploded when he saw this talentless merchant .


Gina seemed to be recovering just fine, so I dragged him along to the arena albeit in a bit of a forceful manner .


“Hibiki!! Why did you get in my way!!” (Lux)


“Hey you, what do you think will happen if a contestant was caught making trouble before the match? Moreover, you and Gina will be the one who receives the blame instead of that guy . ” (Hibiki)


Hearing that, Lux became quiet .


“Sorry, Hibiki . I’ve brought trouble again for you . ” (Lux)


“No worries . After this match, the loser will get to handle that uncle’s complaining . ” (Hibiki)


We talked while we headed to the arena .


=====


[The contestants have entered the arena . It seems the two of them entered at the same time . ] (Commentator)


Two people entered the arena, and faced each other .


“Let’s have a good match . Hibiki . ” (Lux)


“Yeah, don’t you dare die on me . ” (Hibiki)


After b.u.mping our fists lightly and greeting each other, the referee announced that the match had begun .


[We are here at last at the semifinals, the first match . The two contestants are facing each other . ] (Commentator)


As they were speaking the play-by-play, I was watching how Lux would act .


However, Lux was merely gathering his power for the incoming attack . He seemed to be only standing there, but I could see power coursing to his arms and legs .


“Here I come, Hibiki!!” (Lux)


Lux’s body disappeared . And he did so with such speed .


“Kuh!?” (Hibiki)


I quickly twisted my body to evade Lux’s attack .


If 【Insight】 didn’t catch the timing of that attack, the match would’ve ended right there .


“As expected of Hibiki . ” (Lux)


Lux launched a pursuit while laughing happily .


As for me, I avoided two more attacks by making a back step .


After a.n.a.lyzing his battle style the [Fierce Blade], I’ve deemed his attacks as something that was ‘impossible to guard against’ .


Neither a defensive item nor deflection from martial arts would work . It was truly proof of his ‘strong character’ .



Against that [Fierce Blade], the only measure left available was to evade it .

And more importantly…


Lux’s [Fierce Blade] wasn’t actually a sword skill .


That’s how it was .


Of course, it was not limited to the sword .


In other words…


“[Fierce Blade], can work with regular punches or kicks . ” (Hibiki)


I don’t know if there was a [Punch] or [Kick] skill out there, but one can still do punches and kicks without using a skill .


That being said, I didn’t know the underlying method behind it yet, but Lux’s [Fierce Blade] covered the whole range of human motion .


In that case…


“How about this?” (Hibiki)


I released a fire bullet at Lux .


Lux calmly deflected the fire bullet with his [Fierce Blade] .


However, before his sword touched the fire bullet, the bullet burst into enveloping flames .


With that, I confirmed that [Fierce Blade] only worked against something that he could directly touch .


Lux immediately emerged from the flames, and resumed his a.s.sault .


Thanks to the silver armor of light, there seemed to be barely any damage .


Next up, the application of 【Fire Magic】 .


I collected magic power on the tip of my finger and produced fire, and then let it spread black smokes .


Lux was vigilant about the smoke, thus stopped his steps . He took some distance, while applying [Fierce Blade] to check whether there was a trap in the smoke .


Of course, it was a trap . The smoke was meant to find out the duration of the [Fierce Blade] .


If [Fierce Blade] had a lingering effect, the smoke would keep disappearing on the path that it had traversed .


But the smoke only disappeared on the single point where it touched the smoke .


I didn’t know for certain whether it was consciously or unconsciously, but [Fierce Blade] does need to be activated first .


And of course one cannot instantaneously activate it, it required focus .


Nonetheless it does not require the user to wield a sword .


“I guess this means I’ve achieved a small victory?” (Hibiki)


After he was sure that there was no trap inside, Lux came closer . I manipulated the wind to clad myself with the smoke to hide myself .


And then, I applied some water magic to his feet .


“Hm? What is this!?” (Lux)


Lux was taken by surprise with the mucus on his feet . However, it did little to hamper his movement .


Making use of that opening, I shot several wind bullets from various directions .


Lux, detecting a small change in the smoke, immediately scattered the bullet that came from his front with [Fierce Blade] .


However, the other bullets. .h.i.t him from various directions, aiming to off balance him .


“Kuh!!” (Lux)


Lux avoided some of the invisible wind bullets with his amazing physical capability .


But he couldn’t keep it up forever and the rest of the bullets managed to break his posture .


“Thi-this is, [Gale Hero]’s!?” (Lux)


Yes, that was the attack of the [Gale Hero] who got defeated in the first round . I didn’t regret practising this in secret .


Lux suddenly took the hit and was blown away to the edge of the arena .


I didn’t think it would defeat Lux, but at least I dealt some damage to him .


“Eee, ahahahahahah~” (Lux)


Lux laughed while falling down . I wonder if I hit his head too hard .


“Awesome, as expected of Hibiki!!” (Lux)


Apparently, he received barely any damage . He seemed pleased instead .


He got up and lay down an a.s.sault once more .


Although it was faster than I expected, I would just counter him once more . The wind bullets flew toward Lux’s path once again .


Lux swung his sword . I also brought a sword myself, but I didn’t feel like using it .


I couldn’t have my beloved sword broken .


“[Fierce Blade]!!”


Swinging his sword, Lux shouted the name of his technique .


The next moment, the wind bullet hit Lux’s body and sent him to the edge of the arena .


Or at least it was supposed to be that way .


“Wha-what!?” (Hibiki)


The sword reversed rotation with Lux as the axis with a great momentum right in front of my eyes .


I was taken by surprise and unable to respond in time .


When I realized it, Lux’s sword was already very close to hitting me .


“[Fierce Blade]!!” (Lux)


After hearing for the second time the technique’s name being shouted, I was the one being blown to the edge of the arena this time .


“Guh, uuuuuu” (Hibiki)


Pain ran through my whole body . I was close to losing my consciousness but I still managed to stand back up .


After a short while, the pain diminished . Thanks to 【Self Regeneration】 .


I managed to force my seriously injured body to get up .


“You are really amazing, Hibiki . To receive that attack and still be able to stand up . ” (Lux)


Right then, he entered the posture of [Fierce Blade] .


a.s.saulting the enemy with a very obvious attack, only to reverse direction at the critical point on top of adding another layer of [Fierce Blade] right before hitting me .


Is this, the power of a ‘Hero candidate’?


I checked the state of my body .


Right arm, left arm, right leg, left leg . All of them hurt but they still moved as desired .


“Until now, I didn’t feel like doing this . ” (Hibiki)


Fight properly, only then can I appropriately lose .


But…


“In any case, it’s not funny if I simply surrender . ” (Hibiki)


One shot . I didn’t feel like backing down now .


I’ll try it out one last time!!

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