Translator: Charlotte Editor: Weasalopes
Author"s note: 「I tried writing a longer chapter.」
I woke up to a clear sky.
I put my hands together in front of my window and said a silent prayer.
Thank you for today"s weather.
I"m sorry for all the evil things I did yesterday.
Please forgive me for all of the Evil Ants I"ve killed.
I summoned the usual Summon Monsters.
Zangetsu, Helix and Obsidian.
It was the day of the tournament, but I felt like it was just any ordinary day.
I went about like usual.
I started heading for Remut.
The closer I got to Remut, the more players I saw around me.
I wondered how many of those players would watch me fight later.
Well, probably not a lot of them, most of them were hunting Wild Dogs.
It looked like hunting didn"t change, no matter the day.
Remut was the most crowded it had ever been.
I wondered how much more crowded it would get at the training grounds.
I looked around for somewhere to eat, but there was a long queue at every stall.
Oh no…
I steeled myself and joined the queue at a random stall.
There wasn"t any s.p.a.ce to eat in the tent, so I just decided to eat my breakfast in the waiting room.
I headed towards the new training grounds.
The whole town was bustling with excitement.
Well, that was the case the day before too, but everyone seemed a lot more enthusiastic.
I parked Zangetsu outside and went through the entrance reserved for partic.i.p.ants.
The staff member let me through to the waiting room.
There were five players already in the room.
All their gazes turned to me as soon as I entered the room.
Although I bet they all lost interest after they used【Identify】on me.
I sat down against a wall and ate my breakfast.
Some of the other players were stealing glances at my food.
More players started walking into the waiting room.
Some players had the manners to ask before using【Identify】.
Most of the others looked completely calm, sitting relaxed like nothing was going on.
I saw one player silently meditating on his own.
A few players were doing final checks on all their equipment.
I spent my time watching the others.
Call it scouting.
It was fun.
It was easy to guess a player"s fighting style from their equipment.
I realised that they all managed to make it through the qualifiers.
They would all be strong opponents.
I"d seen some of the others before.
Especially the dwarves and the elves. They tended to stick in my mind for longer.
Equipment varied wildly from player to player.
From complete leather armour to next to nothing at all.
Unlike the qualifiers, they wouldn"t bother pairing together players with similar fighting styles anymore.
Interesting…
I would"ve loved to get to watch the tournament. If I wasn"t that partic.i.p.ating, that is.
I imagined fighting a few players.
Hmm…
Call it image training.
At some point, all the players had a.s.sembled in the waiting room.
A familiar figure appeared at the entrance.
It was Gelta.
As scary as always.
「It is time. Everyone, please gather in the arena.」
A young staff member guided us out of the waiting room and into the arena.
I left the room last.
I was the 16th person to leave.
So only half of the total were in that room.
The other half must"ve been in the other waiting room.
The arena looked different.
The eight sides turned to four.
It was probably to fit more spectators into the place.
Stones were stacked here and there to create more makeshift seats.
All of this overnight?
Strange.
Thunderous cheers and applause came from the audience.
It wasn"t a very comfortable feeling.
We walked out onto the field.
From the other direction, another group of players walked out at the same time.
Great. That would be all 32 of us.
The applause didn"t end until we all a.s.sembled at the centre of the arena.
Once we stood still at the centre, the applause slowly died down.
The Guild Leader was standing on top of an elevated platform, looking around.
It looked like he was doing some sort of opening speech.
I couldn"t hear anything.
I was focusing on the throne-like seats on the platform. No, more specifically, who was sitting in one of those seats.
It was Master.
I used【Identify】and sure enough, it was Master.
We made eye contact.
He quickly dodged my gaze.
Looked like the Guild Leader was done.
The arena was filled with applause once again.
After we returned to the waiting room, a young female staff member immediately guided me back out.
Looked like the opening match was starting right away.
It was just like all the other matches.
I put my hands on the crystal and recovered all my HP and MP.
Who would be my opponent…
I looked at the other corner.
A giant stared back at me.
He was covered from head to toe in heavy-looking armour.
It was probably leather, but it was definitely reinforced by what looked like metal plates.
His shield was gigantic.
It reached from the ground all the way to his shoulder.
It looked like his main weapon was going to be a mace.
A fighter, huh.
I didn"t remember seeing him at the qualifiers.
I did a quick【Identify】.
??? Lv.8
Fighter On Standby
Lv.8!
It was going to be an uphill battle.
I was grateful for the new set of armour.
My main weapon would be my rod.
I had my two tonfas too as sub-weapons. I hid them behind a shield strapped to my back.
I hid my push daggers in my belt.
If it ever came to close combat, I could easily pull them out.
Well…
I was planning on going in close anyway.
「Begin!」
The Guild Leader"s voice resounded around the arena.
Let"s go.
「Meditate!」「Bless!」
I used my usual martial art skills and immediately prepared to cast a spell.
I remained completely still that time.
The first spell was key.
I had a solid strategy in mind.
What about my opponent?
He was walking towards me.
Not running, walking.
My opponent arrived at the centre of the arena.
「Physical Enchant: Wind!」
After casting that spell, I immediately prepared to cast the next one.
My opponent didn"t look like he had any tricks up his sleeve.
He just kept walking closer.
Suddenly, he ducked and hid his whole body behind his shield.
Great. At least I wouldn"t have to worry about him surprising me anymore.
「Magical Enchant: Dark!」
『Physical Enchant: Earth!』『Shield Rush!』
The sight of the giant that was my opponent rushing at me was frightening.
But, you know…
I"ve seen much scarier monsters before.
My body didn"t even flinch.
But the fact that he was charging at me didn"t change.
I tried my best to dodge the attack, but I still took some damage.
The shield sc.r.a.ped my side, and my HP bar dropped by 10%.
Truly amazing.
I ran around him and delivered a rod attack to his ankle.
A direct hit.
But my opponent didn"t seem to care at all.
Well, I kind of expected that.
I dodged the mace coming down on my head and prepared for another attack.
C"mon.
If you won"t come, I"ll go.
I thrust my rod at him.
He moved his shield towards me again.
『Shield Rush!』
My opponent charged at me.
Since the distance between us was a lot shorter that time, I couldn"t dodge the attack.
I took the brunt of the damage with one of my shoulders, and secured a position to his side.
I wasn"t aiming to do damage at him.
My goals lay elsewhere.
After hitting me and losing his balance a bit, I did a quick forward kick, causing him to step out of the designated fighting area.
Just as planned.
「Please return to the fighting area!」
The referee just outside the ring gave a warning.
Just two more times.
If I could make him step out of the zone just two more times, I would win.
I saw some matches end in that exact way in the qualifiers.
Bring this giant"s HP bar to zero?
Are you kidding me?
「Physical Enchant: Earth!」
I increased my Def, just in case.
I immediately started preparing to cast my next spell.
I led him to the edge of the zone again.
He looked confident.
But he didn"t try to charge at me so close to the edge anymore.
I was kind of grateful for that too.
I let him control the centre of the arena, and I stayed closer the edges.
He didn"t come at me.
Did he figure out what I was trying to do?
「Dark Stare!」
I released a【Dark Magic】attack spell.
Unfortunately, it didn"t have any effect on my opponent.
I kept watching him while I prepared my next spell.
Of course, all while maintaining a good distance away from him.
My opponent wrapped to my right, mace out.
Why my right?
Probably because the shadow of his mace and shield wouldn"t telegraph his attacks.
I had to think of how to dodge as many of his attacks as possible.
I was going to win this fight with my superior speed and agility.
My opponent kept trying to close the distance between us, putting me in range of his mace.
He was like a moving fortress.
But I wasn"t afraid.
Could you charge at me, please?
He wouldn"t charge at me.
「Confuse Blast!」
I used the spell when he closed in again.
He tried to dodge it, but it looked like he was too late.
My opponent took the blast head-on.
I immediately prepared to cast my next spell.
At the same time, I wrapped to his right.
I took the opportunity to stab at the back of his knee with my rod.
His armour covered him there, too.
What the heck…
I saw my opponent give me a cruel smile.
His marker told me that the status effect worked.
I focused on it, and as I expected, he had the Confused abnormal status.
But that didn"t mean he couldn"t move.
It just made him swing around his mace without any particular direction.
「Stone Bullet!」
I hit him with another spell.
He took it head-on, and lost his balance.
I took advantage of the golden opportunity.
He flailed around wildly, trying to hit me.
My normal attacks didn"t affect him whatsoever.
But it looked like spells would work just fine.
『Urgh!?』
At some point, my opponent had stepped out of the ring again.
He stepped back in with a wild look on his face.
Once he stepped back into the zone, he recovered from his Confused status.
I looked at his HP bar.
It had gone down by less than 20%.
Just a little over 10%.
What a beast.
「Return to the fighting area!」
The referee gave him another warning.
Just one more time.
C"mon, what"re you going to do.
Charge at me if you dare.
My opponent didn"t charge at me, he just walked over to close the distance.
「Earth Heal!」
I recovered all my HP with a quick heal spell.
Great.
I could relax a little this way.
But of course, I still had to be very careful.
In close range, a single mistake could be lethal.
I waited at the edge of the ring, and prepared to cast my next spell.
While I was watching him, he suddenly ran at me.
Nice!
It wouldn"t be any fun if you just sat still for the rest of the fight.
『Heavenly Strike!』
I dodged in the last moment, and the heavy mace whooshed past the side of my head.
I managed to dodge the attack with a sidestep, but that was close.
My next step must"ve surprised my opponent.
I went to his left side, the side with his shield.
C"mon.
It"s a direct invitation!
『Shield Rush!』
Looked like he took the bait.
How manly of him.
The giant shield quickly rushed at me.
At the same time, I slid down to around his ankles.
I used my left foot to stomp on his left ankle.
At the same time, I kicked his right leg with my right leg.
My opponent quickly lost his balance and fell forward.
I fell down with him.
My opponent must"ve locked his leg around my left leg after he knew that he was going to fall down.
And because I was so light, I easily lost my balance too.
Both of us collapsed outside the ring.
《Match set! Please stop fighting!》
《Job Level Up!》
《Racial Level Up! Please add 1 point to a desired stat.》
What timing.
I looked at the info screen, thinking for a while.
Hmm…
I decided to go for multiples of four.
I started from the very top.
Base Stats
DEX 16（↑1）
AGI 15
INT 20
STR 15
VIT 15
SPI 20
《You have acquired 2 Bonus Points! You now have a total of 7 Bonus points.》
《You have advanced to the second round of the tournament! The second match will take place today, 10:30 am, at the new training ground E.》
《You have acquired 2 Bonus Points for advancing to the second round of the tournament. You now have a total of 9 Bonus Points.》
My opponent looked completely exhausted.
I got up first and walked back to the centre.
He joined me a while later for another bow.
My opponent walked up to me afterwards, asking for a handshake.
He gave me his right hand.
I instinctively shook it.
Hmm…
That felt a little strange.
「Nicely done, I lost fair and square. I"m a fighter. My name is Shelvie.」
「Huh?」
Shelvie?
Sounded like a girl"s name.
Ah, now that I thought about it, my opponent"s hand did feel strangely soft.
「I"m sorry, are you a woman?」
「Looks like you didn"t notice.」
My opponent took off her helmet.
She really was a girl.
She was a full head taller than I was.
Her hair was cut short so from just a glance, she could easily pa.s.s for a man.
Wow.
Her strength was really amazing.
I felt like I just said something really rude.
「Excuse my rudeness. I"m Keith. I"m a summoner.」
「A summoner?」
「Well, yeah.」
「Really?」
Huh…
Looked like she was just playfully being rude back to me.
She broke out into a grin.
I started shaking in fear.
I couldn"t take it anymore.
I was no match for her.
I decided to just keep my mouth shut.
I wanted to watch the other matches, but they wouldn"t let me.
There were two other games going on at the moment.
I recovered all my HP and MP at the crystal, and headed towards the waiting room.
I was looking forward to watching the other matches…
I saw Gelta on the way back.
She was using some sort of magic spell on Shelvie.
The carpet they were standing on started faintly glowing.
「This should repair all your armour.」
「Thank you very much.」
Hey, nice.
I wondered if I could use it to repair my weapons, too.
「Keith, if you could enter the waiting room.」
「Ah, sorry, yes of course.」
I quietly entered the waiting room.
As soon as I entered the room, the others" gazes all went to me.
And just as quickly, they all looked away again.
Scary.
I returned to my spot against the wall and sat down.
Something was shining in the bottom right corner of my vision.
It wasn"t there earlier…
When I opened it, it was the fight log from earlier.
Not just my fight, but the other fights too were being updated in real time.
Looked like the fights were being broadcast to the players.
Nice.
That would come in useful.
But I would"ve loved to see them fight live.
Maybe a livestream?
I looked over the fight log myself.
I was hoping to learn something new.
My personal name wasn"t written on the log.
Instead, it just said, "Summoner".
While looking at the Fighter vs. Summoner log, I pulled up another fight.
I see…
Every time I won, my opponents would get more of an insight into how I fought.
Well, that applied to them, too.
Now the only issue was who my next opponent would be.
But that was a minor issue.
Because no matter who my opponent would be, the fact that they would be incredibly strong wouldn"t change.
All the winners walked back into the waiting room.
Theoretically, there should"ve been 16 people, but only five people were in the room.
Looked like some matches were still going on.
A staff member came by a little sooner than I expected, telling us that the second round was to begin.
I spent all the time going over all the fight logs.
They were all very strong players.
Even the players stuck with horribly disadvantageous matchups fought well.
But two of the fights lasted an unexpectedly short time.
I looked at one of the matches and which players it was between.
One of them was in the room with me.
Lumberjack.
A production job, but his first battle was only one minute long.
All of his attacks were simple axe attacks.
He didn"t use any martial art skills either.
His opponent was a fighter too… Scary.
The other one was a fisherman.
Another production job player.
He used his net to restrict his opponent.
The match only lasted three minutes.
I felt like I"d seen the two fight at the qualifiers.
Oh, I remember.
I"d seen the lumberjack fight against a dwarf before.
The fisherman was probably the same one I saw in the qualifiers too.
Two more players walked into the waiting room.
The last first round matches were over.
I put a suitable distance between myself and the others, and soon a strange atmosphere began swimming in the room.
Some of the players exchanged glances, but most of us them were silently minding our own business.
Myself included.
They were probably looking at the fight logs too.
For a while, the silence dragged on but suddenly, a few staff members appeared to break it.
Four of them, to be exact.
One of them called out to me.
「Well then, Keith. The second round will begin now. Are you ready?」
「Yes.」
Urged on by the staff member, I got up.
I followed him to the arena.
My opponent was already waiting at the other side.
He was wearing leather armour, not unlike the kind I was wearing.
Their weapon was a bow.
There were two archers from the fight logs I read earlier.
I wondered which it would be.
I used【Identify】on them.
??? Lv.7
Sorcerer On Standby
Got it.
He was the archer that liked to use illusion magic
There weren"t any other sorcerer bow-users.
My opponent could use both【Light Magic】and【Water Magic】.
Since his first opponent was a Treasure Hunter, he wasn"t having a lot of luck hitting his arrows in the first round.
He probably knew who I was, too.
What should I do…
We stood across from each other.
Simultaneously…
A deep bow.
「Begin!」
Four battles began at the same time.
「Meditate!」「Bless!」
『Twin Shot!』
I used the usual martial ark skills.
The two arrows. .h.i.t me square in my shoulders.
But I took next to no damage.
Thanks to my new armour.
I prepared to use a spell.
Then I dashed straight for my opponent.
My opponent wasn"t trying to move.
I saw him fix another arrow to his bowstring, though.
My opponent was probably preparing to cast a spell.
Probably【Illusion】.
But that was alright.
I had a spell to deal with that.
I was prepared to take an arrow or two.
「Resist Light!」
I reached the centre of the arena.
I pulled out my rod and prepared to cast my next spell.
C"mon, what will it be?
『Illusion!』
As I expected.
My opponent stayed the same.
Just like I saw at the qualifiers.
But from all corners of the arena, copies of my opponent started appearing and running towards me.
Which one was real?
Which one was fake?
Which one…?
I saw my opponent approach me from my left.
I jumped up and thrust my rod at his throat.
A direct hit.
But I didn"t feel anything in my hands.
A phantom, huh.
『Twin Shot!』
I heard a dry sound come from behind me.
An arrow must"ve hit the shield strapped to my back.
The other one hit me around my hip.
My HP bar didn"t go down by a lot.
I dashed towards the direction from where the arrows came from.
Of course, the real one would be there.
What would his next step be?
I knew my opponent liked to use【Confuse Blast】.
In my opponent"s first match, he confused his opponent with【Confuse Blast】and【Illusion】, before finishing them off with arrows and【Water Needle】.
I decided I could take some arrow damage.
「Resist Aqua!」
A normal arrow flew my way.
It grazed my leather helmet.
My opponent was probably preparing to cast a spell.
I kept closing the distance between us.
『Water Shield!』
Bingo.
A wall spell.
He was probably trying to put some distance between us.
Of course, I kept going through the wall.
But on the other side were two figures.
One of them was a phantom.
What an annoying spell.
The two figures started dashing in opposite directions.
Like I would let you.
I threw my rod at the figure running to the right.
It pa.s.sed through it like nothing was there.
I immediately started dashing for my opponent on the left.
I saw him put an arrow to his bowstring.
Before my opponent could release the arrow, I kicked him in the ankle.
A direct hit. My opponent fell down.
A perfect opportunity.
I grabbed his right ankle.
I moved it to my left armpit and held it in place using my left arm.
Then with my left arm, I twisted his leg.
The Standing Heel Hold.
『Ah! That hurts!』
My opponent started making random sounds of pain.
I stepped on his left leg, preventing him from rotating his body and escaping the pain.
I stepped hard on his left knee.
I figured I might as well push his left leg away and force him to do a split while I was continuing the heel hold.
I was in a nice position to do so.
It would make my opponent less likely to pull out his sub-weapon.
『Aaaaa!!!』
An auditory hallucination?
That sounded like a girl"s scream of terror.
Huh?
Wait, what?
「Stop, stop, stop! That hurts! What are you doing! I"m done! Get me out! Help! Someone save me! I"m being violated!!!」
Huh?
Was my opponent a girl?
I couldn"t tell from the helmet.
Her chest didn"t stand out, either.
『Get off of me!!! Someone!!! Please help me!!!』
My opponent didn"t look like she was trying to pull out a knife or anything.
Both her hands were covering her crotch.
Stop struggling, the more you flail around, the more it hurts.
I wanted to tell her that, but I felt like she wouldn"t listen.
On top of that, I looked like the bad guy no matter how you slice it.
Telling her that at that moment would be a bad idea.
「Hey, would you surrender?」
I loosened the heel hold a little and called out to her.
She returned my question with a glare.
I heard her start to cast a spell.
Oh, is that so.
I tightened my heel hold again, and her chant was interrupted by another scream.
『Aaahh!!! That hurts! That hurts! What is this position anyway!? Stop that hurts!』
「Will you give up?」
『Go die you brute! How could you force a girl to go through this shame!!!』
Huh?
I felt my blood pressure rise a bit inside me.
I thought about loosening my grip again, but ultimately decided against it.
I knew that heel holds don"t do any permanent damage after all.
I just had to wait for her to give up.
All else was secondary.
《Match set! Please stop fighting!》
《You have advanced to the quarter final round of the tournament! The quarter-final round will take place today, 11:00 am, at the new training ground C.》
《You have acquired 2 Bonus Points for advancing to the quarter-final round of the tournament. You know have a total of 11 Bonus points.》
It took a long time for her to finally surrender.
I didn"t really want to dwell on it any longer than I had to.
Her words were the real weapons in that fight.
I definitely won, but it wasn"t a very satisfying win.
My first match was against a woman too, but I felt like it was just a normal match.
The second match was terrible.
After she finally gave up, she started crying.
The whole arena starting booing me.
Huh…
Was I the bad guy?
I was surprised when I saw her take off her helmet to wipe her tears.
She was really pretty.
If she wasn"t crying, that is.
I couldn"t get myself to like her.
The audience"s boos and hisses started getting louder.
I wasn"t expecting any further talks.
I gave a quick bow and ran back to the waiting room.
There were only three other players in the room.
Their gazes hurt.
What was that terrible pain I felt at that time…?
Please stop looking at me like that. I"m innocent.
It"s all one big misunderstanding.
I decided to just look over the fight logs.
The next person to enter the waiting room was a player with an axe.
Probably the lumberjack.
One more player came back.
A standard-looking fighter.
A sword, a shield, and leather armour.
The three players who were in the room earlier left as soon as they came back.
There were now just three people in the wide waiting room.
There was no conversation. We were all looking over the fight logs.
I killed some time looking over the different fight logs.
I still couldn"t calm down.
After some time, another player came back.
Looked like the matches were all slowly ending.
He was a fighter with a lance.
I knew his fighting style from reading the fight log from his first match.
He would be a difficult opponent.
After a while, another player returned.
A typical mage.
The three players never came back.
It looked like all the second-round matches were over.
Out of the eight people to go to the quarter-final round, only five were in the room.
In other words, two out of the five people in the room would have to fight each other.
The atmosphere became much thicker.
The word "waiting room" kind of loses its meaning once you can"t relax in it, huh?
「We"re incredibly sorry but we will hold the quarter-final matches a little ahead of schedule! The four quarter-final matches will begin now!」
「Will the staff members please guide the partic.i.p.ants.」
Five staff members walked into the room.
「Keith, yes? I will show you to the arena.」
「Alright.」
I purposely stood up as slow as possible.
I suddenly didn"t want to fight anymore.
I didn"t want to get booed again.
The five of us were led to the same place.
It was the same place where the opening ceremony was held.
A little later, three other players joined us.
A fisherman with a harpoon and a net.
An elf with a bow.
A dwarf that looked like a boulder with legs.
The best eight, huh…
I felt like my soul was going to escape my body.
n.o.body booed me.
Everyone was clapping.
Looking at the elevated platform and the royal seats there, I saw the Guild Leader and Master looking back at us.
It took quite a bit of effort to remain calm.
Although if Master started drinking alcohol, I would seriously get angry.
The applause slowly died down and I was led to the next fight.
Who would my opponent be?
I looked at the other corner.
It was the lumberjack.
Oh no.
Both his first and second matches were very short.
That"s how much force he could pack into his axe swings.
He could only use one spell.
【Physical Enchant: Fire】.
He probably copied his fighting style off of the dwarves.
I didn"t have the same defensive capabilities that dwarves had.
I didn"t have anything but a few grappling techniques.
But n.o.body would wait for me to have a panic attack.
The match was starting in mere moments.
Mutually…
A deep bow.
「Begin!」
The match began.
「Meditate!」「Bless!」
My opponent dashed at me.
A simple strategy.
He held his axe in both hands and ran at me.
The axe was gigantic.
I prepared to cast a spell.
Then I dashed towards my opponent.
Why?
I didn"t have any other options.
I thrust my rod at his right arm.
I thought I was going to get blown away the moment I stepped into range.
But I was OK.
His monster axe didn"t come.
Looked like I made him step back and readjust his grip.
Don"t be afraid…
I wrapped around to his right as he swung the axe down.
As he swung his axe again sideways to catch me, I ducked to dodge the blade.
I delivered a firm kick to the back of his right knee, and pushed his back at the same time, trying to get him to lose his balance.
He didn"t even move.
No, it looked like it had some effect.
His HP bar went down by a sliver.
Huh…
Damage was alright, but I needed a gap.
My strategy was to make him lose his balance and then aim for the neck.
But my opponent was taller than me, and he had the strength to match.
Like a Snow Ape?
No, definitely stronger than a Snow Ape.
「Physical Enchant: Wind!」
It was going to be a similar fight to my first match.
But this time, my opponent looked a lot stronger.
His defensive capabilities were probably lower.
His leather armour looked inferior to mine.
But that was all.
His attack power was far higher than mine.
I raised my AGI, but I could still only barely outrun him.
I could only buy enough time to cast a spell before I would have to dodge his attacks again.
It was an especially bad matchup since I could only fight in close range.
It was a h.e.l.lish time from the very beginning.
『Physical Enchant: Fire!』
Like I expected.
He swung the axe at me again.
I dodged with a backstep.
When he stepped forward to swing again, I slipped to his side and dodged the attack.
I did that two more times.
「Physical Enchant: Earth!」
My opponent spread his legs and dropped his hips.
I won"t let you pa.s.s me.
It"s like he was saying that.
He slowly closed the distance between us.
What an annoying strategy.
「Dark Stare!」
A direct hit.
I didn"t expect the status effect to work.
I kept running along the edge of the ring.
I checked my opponent.
No abnormal statuses. Unfortunate.
After a while, my opponent started chasing me again.
Since he controlled the centre, it was easy for him to close the distance.
Without the status effect, it was back to more dodging.
It was only because of my speed that I could dodge his attacks.
I managed to perfectly dodge the first three attacks.
I felt like I was in a rollercoaster.
「Physical Enchant: Fire!」
Nice.
I increased my STR stat.
Maybe I could finally stop having to dodge every time.
『Uproot!』
A weapon arte.
In the same position, he swung his axe parallel to the ground.
It was the skill he used to deal the finishing blow to his opponent in the second match.
I slid down to his ankles and dodged the attack.
I tried to thrust my rod into his side.
But in the next moment…
His right hand suddenly came back.
I saw the axe"s handle rush towards my head.
I reflexively backed up to block the attack with my rod.
My rod was broken in just a single attack.
And on top of that, I still took some damage anyway.
d.a.m.n it.
It was more damage than the total damage I"d dealt so far.
I let go of the broken rod and pulled out the tonfas on my back.
What difference would it make really?
I started losing confidence.
『Split!』
The giant axe started descending on me from above, like he was trying to split a piece of firewood.
Another weapon arte.
I dodged with a sidestep, but my opponent followed up with an attack using the handle.
I blocked it with a tonfa.
In the resulting gap, I delivered a kick and moved in close.
He had a higher range with his axe than I had.
I had to fight much closer.
We were stuck in a stalemate.
We couldn"t finish each other off.
Damage was starting to build up on the both of us.
What about spells?
Spells didn"t matter. The fight would be decided by who made a mistake first.
We were actually more even-matched than I thought we were.
I could dodge most of his attacks, and those I couldn"t, the tonfa could take care of.
The part that made him a difficult opponent was actually his shield.
It was originally stuck to his back, but after a while, he took it out and I started taking more damage from getting hit by the shield than by the axe.
For the first time, my opponent tried to put some distance between us.
I did the same.
Holding the axe in one hand and his shield in the other, my opponent began casting a spell.
I decided to do the same.
I prepared to cast my next spell.
What will you do?
『Fire Heal!』
Oh.
It was a recovery spell.
「Root Snare!」
C"mon…
My strategy should work…
The only way I could beat him was by getting him out of the ring, but there was something else I had to do that was even more important than that.
My opponent suddenly fell over.
That spell would probably only work once, while he wasn"t expecting it.
I took the opportunity and ran up to him.
I dropped my knees on his right arm. I had to get him to let go of his axe.
I used my tonfas to hit his right wrist.
Over and over.
Many, many times.
He let go of the axe, but not before hitting me in the head with his left elbow.
I stepped on the axe"s handle and delivered an elbow strike with a tonfa to the back of his head.
Looked like that hurt. My opponent quickly retreated.
I held my right tonfa in my left armpit and tried to pick up the axe.
It wasn"t something I could carry with just one hand.
I gained a new respect for my opponent"s strength.
I picked it up while spinning around to get some momentum.
I used that momentum to throw it outside the ring.
Great.
My opponent pulled out his sub-weapon.
A nata hatchet.
I had a chance of winning.
I had to go all out from that point.
I would have an advantage once I robbed him of his axe.
I only thought that for a moment.
The nata hatchet was scary.
And since it was a lot lighter than the axe, his attacks were suddenly a lot harder to dodge.
Our effective ranges were now about the same.
I could still deliver a few kicks, but they didn"t do anything to my opponent.
I had to beat him using my spells.
The【Ice Magic】spell【Delay】worked just fine.
Dodging my opponent"s attacks became a lot easier, but the power remained the same.
I tried the【Lightning Magic】spell【Paralysis】, but it didn"t work.
I tried again, but it didn"t work the second time either.
My opponent had a pretty good magic resistance for some reason.
I hit him with【Confuse Blast】from close range, but no status effects occurred.
Since my opponent was using recovery spells, his HP bar was still looking good.
It was still anybody"s game.
My tonfas started looking brittle.
Looked like I put them under a little too much strain.
I didn"t know how much longer they could last.
「Fire Heal!」
My HP bar went to over 90%.
An endurance fight, huh…
Sure, why not?
Our fight continued.
I felt like I was just getting hit by a hammer instead of a hatchet.
The blade was blunt, but the force of each impact resounded around my body.
I took hit after hit from the nata hatchet.
I managed to use heal spells to recover my HP, but I still had to be careful.
His strength was amazing.
I wanted to use some attack spells, but I didn"t have the time to do that.
My opponent would always rush at me right as I started the casting process.
He was just looking for a gap.
My opponent was prepared to take some damage in the process.
This is bad…
It took my utmost effort to just stay alive.
The difference in power made me laugh.
A big mistake occurred.
From both of us.
He swung his nata hatchet at me, and I blocked it with a tonfa. As a result, his hatchet got completely stuck in my tonfa.
I wondered to who"s advantage that was.
But at that moment, I didn"t have any time to waste.
I let go of that tonfa
My opponent let go of the nata hatchet too.
He dropped his shield and prepared to fight me hand-on-hand.
Alright.
Just as I expected.
In the resulting fist fight, I managed to get a hit on his chin.
I managed to land a knee strike to his belly, too.
But the moment after, I was knocked onto the ground.
My opponent threw me to the ground.
He followed up with a scarf hold.
I put my arms to around my ears before he could pin them down.
As I was trying to grab his right arm, he completely switched positions.
His legs flew towards my face.
Oh no.
It looked like he was going to try a triangle choke.
Before his legs could lock around my neck, I tried my best to escape.
Seeing me move away, he went for an inner thigh throw instead.
This guy… No doubt about it.
My opponent did judo in real life.
Our fight continued.
I tried to use my push daggers, but ultimately gave up the idea.
It would be difficult to respond to my opponent"s attacks if I were grabbing something.
My opponent tackled my right leg.
He was probably meaning to pick me up on his shoulders.
In that moment…
My opponent showed me his back.
I wrapped behind him and wrapped my arm around his neck.
I can do this…
But as I was trying to move my left hand to the back of his head, my opponent caught it and started twisting it.
d.a.m.n, I was so close…
I prepared to cast a spell.
But in the middle, I fumbled and the spell cancelled.
Without my left hand to secure the back of his head, I received a head-b.u.t.t directly on my face.
「Gah!」
We both went back to standing across each other.
I delivered a right jab.
Or at least, I was trying to signal that, but I quickly dropped my body instead.
I dodged my opponent"s kick and wrapped around behind him.
I put my arms around my opponent"s waist.
A back throw.
But as I did the back throw, my opponent managed to grab one of my arms.
We both fell over.
I was the first to get back up.
I kept him down with my knees on his shoulders, and started a ground-and-pound.
But that didn"t last for long.
I was quickly thrown off by his ma.s.sive strength.
When I was thrown off, I ended up in a nice position to twist his ankle.
But that too, failed by just the sheer difference in strength.
In terms of HP, I was still doing alright.
But I was quickly losing hope.
How much time was left?
I didn"t know.
I couldn"t even remember how much time spent hitting and throwing each other.
One of my physical enchant spells had already expired.
In other words, the fight had been going on for over 15 minutes.
What a tough fight.
My MP bar was doing alright, but I didn"t have the time to use any spells.
But I tried one more time, and finally managed to cast a spell.
I prayed that it would finally be enough to turn the tables.
「Branch Bind!」
Leafy branches burst out from my palm, shooting towards my opponent.
How about that?
Once I saw that the branches had completely covered my opponent, I prepared to cast my next spell.
I dashed over to my opponent to kick him and knock him over.
Even covered in branches, my opponent was still trying to get closer to me.
I knocked my opponent over.
Huh…
I just wanted the match to end already.
My opponent soon managed to escape the roots and get back up again.
We went back to punches and throws.
Since we were both wearing leather armour, the amount of damage we were taking was a lot lower than I expected it to be.
We were back to a stalemate.
《Match set! Please stop fighting!》
《The match has reached its time limit. By the judges" decision, you have lost the match.》
Looked like the decision went to the judges.
The info screen proclaiming my defeat echoed in my head.
Protagonist Keith
Race Human Male Racial Lv8（↑1）
Job Summoner Lv7（↑1）
Bonus Points Remaining: 11
Skill Sets:
Staff Lv6 Punch Lv4 Kick Lv4 Joint Lock Lv4 Throw Lv4 Evade Lv4 Block Lv4 Summon Magic Lv7
Light Magic Lv3 Wind Magic Lv4 Earth Magic Lv4 Water Magic Lv4 Fire Magic Lv3 Dark Magic Lv3 Ice Magic Lv1 Lightning Magic Lv1 Tree Magic Lv1
Alchemy Lv4 Pharmacy Lv3 Gla.s.smaking Lv3 Woodworking Lv3
Cooperation Lv6 Appraise Lv6 Identify Lv6 Discern Lv2 Cold Resistance Lv3 Grab Lv5 Horsemanship Lv5 Precise Manipulation Lv6 Jump Lv2 Heat Resistance Lv3 Climb Lv3 Dual Wield Lv3 Mental Reinforcement Lv3
Speedcasting Lv2
Equipment:
Kaya Wood Rod x2 Kaya Wood Tonfa x2 Snow Leopard Push Dagger x3 Wild Horse Leather Armour+ Snow Ape Armguard Wild Horse Boots+ Snow Ape Leather Helmet Rabid Horse Belt+ Rucksack Item Box x2
Items:
Survival Knife Woodworking Set
t.i.tles:
Old Summoner"s Pupil
Guardian of the Forest
Man of the Middle Path
Spell Archive
Stats
DEX 16（↑1）
AGI 15
INT 20
STR 15
VIT 15
SPI 20
Monster Summons:
Volff Wolf Lv6（Asleep）
Zangetsu Horse Lv4
Helix Hawk Lv4
Obsidian Owl Lv4
Jean Bat Lv4（Asleep）
Jericho Wood Golem Lv3（Asleep）
Goki Demon Lv2（Asleep）