Translation: Charlotte
Editor: Weasalopes
When I logged in it was 5 am.
After organising my equipment, I looked around to see that some people were already there.
Adele and Irina.
There were also several other players awake.
Naturally, Summon Monster were walking to and fro.
Looked like they were preparing breakfast.
「「Good morning!」」
「Good morning. You guys are early.」
「We"re making some for you too, Keith.」
「Oh, thank you very much.」
Hmm…
I could give Bunraku a break for once, I suppose.
I summoned Volff, Zangetsu, Helix, Obsidian, and Heather
They immediately started playing with Adele and Irina"s Summon Monsters.
Maybe you guys should get away from where they"re cooking…
「Where are you two having your match today?」
「The new training ground E. The match is at 11 am.」
「Looks like we have our matches at the same time, huh. I"m in the temporary arena though.」
「Does that mean we can"t watch each other"s matches?」
「Seems like it.」
We decided to meet up and have lunch after our matches.
I had【Telepathy】after all.
After finishing breakfast, Adele and Irina tried fighting each other as training for their match.
It was a bit cramped, but they managed to get into Battle Mode in the portal.
The spectators were, besides myself, a few other summoners and their Summon Monsters.
Hmm.
It was already pretty lively from early in the morning.
It would only get more exciting though.
While watching the small match in front of me, I thought back to the discussion of the night before.
A summoner is bound to get focussed down.
Good point…
It was definitely the most effective strategy.
But I was thinking about something else.
How could I best make use of that fact?
Adele won the match.
It was the first time I"d seen four Summon Monsters on each team fight one another.
Wait a minute…
Adele"s team consisted of a pretty simple tiger and three wolves.
Irina had a wood golem as a tank, but the difference in mobility probably decided the fight.
Hmm.
Maybe it was just a poor matchup for Irina.
「Oh yeah! Now it"s back to five points each!」
「Ah, I was had there… Really need to keep moving.」
Adele looked very happy about her win.
Irina was already reflecting on her defeat.
It was very much like them to do that.
Hmm.
But what would I do if I had to fight a summoner?
I could try it out?
「Adele, Irina.」
「Yes?」
「What is it?」
「Can I try having a match against you two?」
「「Whaaaaaaaatt?!」」
Hey, what"s with the shock?
Another pair of summoners were having a match, so we waited for them to finish before having our own match.
Adele and Irina used the same team they used in the tournament.
I did the same, or at least I wanted to.
I felt like it would be too one-sided if I did do that.
I decided to get rid of Rig.
As a bonus, I removed Jericho too.
I got into Battle Mode.
I could do with a little handicap.
「Set pain settings to zero!」
「Adele, I have a feeling you"re already a.s.suming that we"re going to lose.」
「I don"t feel confident even when it"s six against four!」
「You won"t know unless you try, you know? Come at me with all you got.」
「Whaaat…」
「You"ll get all your HP and MP recovered before the tournament anyway. Use your spells to your heart"s content.」
「No, that"s not the issue here.」
The two of them looked at each other.
Now, what to do…
「I can come at you with everything I"ve got, right?」
「Of course. Otherwise there would be no meaning to this.」
「I"m gonna give it my all.」
「Yep.」
Great.
They were really getting fired up.
Anyway.
Let"s go.
I had no strategy.
Just fight as usual.
As usual.
Having said that, it has been a while since I last had such a thin team.
I only had Volff, Senki, and Goki.
In front of Adele and Irina were two tigers, a wolf, and a viper.
The viper Toggle was the most interesting.
The Cla.s.s Change made it so Toggle was menacingly big, to a degree not even comparable to Creep.
But that also made me look forward to the fight.
The match started.
Everyone except Irina started moving.
「Practiced Spirit!」「Meditate!」「Bless!」
Volff jumped ahead.
I did the same.
Senki was next to me.
Goki was behind me, firing arrows all the while.
Adele walked sideways while she shot arrows at me.
『Snipe Shot!』
『Snipe Shot!』
I didn"t hear them cast the spells.
An attack using bow weapon artes, huh.
Arrows. .h.i.t my shoulder and my arm.
I was casting a spell, but it wasn"t interrupted.
Hmm.
I was still on a good pace.
But arrows kept flying.
It looked like they were casting another spell too.
「Gaa!」
「Gyan!」
Volff and U-chan struggled as they bit each other.
At a great speed, too.
They were usually the best of friends, but they really didn"t hold back in a fight.
Volff was clearly dominant, but the tiger Calico intervened here and there.
Volff had to watch out for that too.
Senki stood in front of Toggle and Mii-chan.
Senki started with a kick.
But Toggle and Mii-chan didn"t do anything rash.
All they did was a small parry.
Hmm.
They were quite cautious.
I was running towards Toggle…
But I changed course.
This time I headed for Adele.
Out of the side of my eye, I saw Goki taking advantage of the gap created by Volff.
In his hands were a sword and a hatchet.
Dual wielding?
「Whirlwind!」
I released an attack spell from close range.
Adele"s HP bar dropped to less than half in just a moment.
Wow.
Lv.10 attack spells were nothing to mess with!
I felt something approaching from behind me.
Mii-chan.
But Goki was hot in pursuit.
The whole fight descended into chaos.
Mii-chan kept running straight at me.
I stabbed with my staff.
And without wasting a moment, I ducked.
Mii-chan missed me…
And landed between me and Adele.
Hmm…
It was a good chance to take out both of them in one swoop.
『Fire Heal!』
「Gravity Bullet!」
As Adele recovered with a spell, I cast another spell..
I was aiming for Mii-chan.
I managed to break Mii-chan"s balance right as she was about to jump on me.
A direct hit.
In the next moment, Senki jumped in.
A direct kick to Mii-chan"s belly sent her flying out of the fighting zone.
Adele and me both turned to the sight.
In the next moment, I ran at Adele, who had already lost her tank.
She gave up trying to grab an arrow and reached for her knife instead.
I let go of my staff and grabbed her arm.
I quickly wrapped around behind her and wrapped an arm around her neck.
And, squeeze.
Adele lost strength in no time.
She didn"t have the time to recover the damage from【Whirlwind】.
Mii-chan and U-chan disappeared.
What about Senki?
Toggle was wrapped around his legs, causing Senki to fall over.
Senki had a status marker above his head.
Poison.
What should i do…?
I had to focus on Irina.
Calico was in the way.
But I had Volff and Goki with me.
『Dark Stare!』
It was a direct hit on Volff, and the Darkness status effect worked.
Goki couldn"t get past Calico on his own.
「Flash Flood!」
A direct hit on Calico.
It was enough to get Calico to stop moving.
Combined with Goki"s attacks, Calico was taken out.
Irina shot an arrow, but with Goki and me running at her, there was no escape.
I caught her and finished her off with a naked choke.
That was the end of it.
「Keith! You should"ve gotten rid of one more Summon Monster!」
「Well before that, let"s think about ways we can improve from that match, Adele.」
「Ah yeah, thanks, there was a lot I learnt too.」
I looked over the battle log while I recovered my Summon Monsters.
Yep.
My strategy from the beginning was to focus on confusing the enemy.
But I didn"t get the opportunity to do an all-out attack from the beginning.
I would also have been in a pinch if my spell casting process were interrupted.
In any case, not every fight would be so easy.
Their weak spots were obvious.
They were p.r.o.ne to getting overwhelmed.
And what about their tank Summon Monsters?
They were definitely not working together very well.
Even though they had the advantage of numbers, they couldn"t use it properly.
「Maybe we could"ve used our Summon Monsters to intimidate Keith…」
「Yeah, that might have given us the gap we needed.」
「Although Keith"s Summon Monsters don"t look like they have any weaknesses…」
Hmm.
The fight was definitely a not a bad idea.
「Was that【Snipe Shot】skill you used a weapon arte?」
「Yes.」
「It"s very useful!」
It sounded pretty useful, with a high hit rate and high damage.
They hit almost all of their arrows.
「Maybe look at your opponent"s team and equipment. You can come up with a plan from there so you don"t get surprised so easily.」
「But…」
「Although we"re dealing with players here… We can"t predict what they"re going to do.」
「That"s a good point. But you"re getting disorganised too easily, is what I"m saying.」
The two of them looked down.
No, I"m not saying you"re doing something bad here…
「Let"s go again.」
「「Whaaaaatt!?」」
「I learnt something new in that match earlier too. If you two don"t mind, could we hang out a little longer?」
Adele and Irina looked at each other.
Their eyes were serious.
「O- OK!」
「Let"s try it one more time.」
Ooh.
They were fired up again.
「Sure, but no pressure, alright?」
「Ye- Yeah!」
「We were had in the last match, but it"s a good opportunity to improve.」
Adele still sounded a bit unsure.
Are you okay?
「I will go for the same team as before.」
「OK.」
「We"ll get you this time!」
「Come get me.」
It may have sounded strange, but I was serious.
Hit me with as much fire as you have.
Show me no mercy, alright?
I won"t mind getting defeated.
How do I overcome the weaknesses of a summoner?
I had a few answers to that question.
But I didn"t know if my plans would work in battle.
There was nothing I could do.
I had to test it out in a real situation.
From there, we fought six more matches.
I tried out a lot of strategies.
It was a good experience.
I managed to test some plans, but I also discovered my plans" faults in the process.
The 【s.p.a.ce-time Magic】spell, 【Dimension Mirror】.
It was certainly a very powerful spell.
But I had to use it against a wall.
It would be less effective if I were surrounded by enemies.
The arrows coming at me from the sides would still hit me all the same.
Besides, the wall would only be active for a short time, so not all of the arrows could be stopped.
But I was sure bouncing back their attacks would definitely result in some confusion.
But I had to use another wall spell…
It definitely wasn"t a very nice condition.
Especially because depending on the situation, it might work against me.
I could also use the time to cast an enchant spell on myself instead too.
But that wouldn"t be really necessary either if I were aiming for a quick win.
Hmm… Figuring out my priorities was pretty difficult.
But I also realised something else.
Lv.10 attack spells.
I was glad I got the opportunity to explore the characteristics of each spell.
I was particularly interested in the range of each spell.
The range of【Whirlwind】seemed like it was shorter than the other attack spells.
It was definitely something I had to watch for.
「Isn"t this training a little too hard…?」
「There"s a lot to gain, Adele.」
Yep.
I knew that they were learning a lot from the matches too.
Especially after I used【Dimension Mirror】to reflect their barrage of arrows.
They learnt to time their attacks to maximise effectiveness and not give me gaps to counterattack.
They were using spells a lot more often too.
I cancelled their spells using【Spell Vibrate】sometimes, but they learnt to continue attacking without getting slowed.
It was a good experience.
They got some level-ups too.
Adele and Irina got level-ups in their magic skills.
What about me?
Some of my skills levelled up too.
《Job Level Up!》
《You may learn the following Support Skill:【Balance】》
《【Grab】Level Up!》
《【Spell Effect Amplification】Level Up!》
《【Spell Range Expansion】Level Up!》
Great.
About time.
The matches were really a good idea.
There were a lot of things I learnt from fighting handicapped.
It really forced me to use the Summon Monster I had in new ways.
That"s what I thought.
I was very grateful to Adele and Irina for hanging out with me.
Hmm?
I got the Support Skill【Balance】.
I had heard about in last night"s chat.
It wasn"t just for when you were on a ship, but it would let you regain your balance quicker in battle too.
Not a bad idea.
It cost five Bonus Points.
I could afford it.
There were quite a few other players around me having matches.
I prepared to head to Remut.
I changed up my team too.
I went with Helix, Zangetsu, Obsidian, Heather, and Ninetails.
「Want to go together?」
「OK.」
「It"s safer that way.」
Yep.
There were many summoners who owned horses as Summon Monsters.
Too many, in fact.
There were over 20 horses.
The summoners who didn"t have horses rode together with those who did.
An army of hawks and owls flew overhead.
A pack of wolves followed our cavalry division.
We were definitely safe.
Who in their right mind would even try attacking?
We arrived in Remut at 9 am.
Naturally all the monsters we encountered either ran away or were trampled.
I was surprised we even encountered any monsters.
It was just Horn Rabbits and Steppe Hawks though.
I thought all the monsters were already taken care of, but it looked like some were still around.
「Well then, let"s go our separate ways here.」
「We"ll meet again in the arenas!」
At Adele"s signal, our cavalry division broke up.
All the wolves howled at the same time.
Woah! Scary!
I saw off Adele and Irina as they went into the new training grounds, and headed towards another arena.
The temporary arena.
It was just a new castle on the outskirts of town.
Stones were placed here and there to serve as seating.
I went to the reception, but I was too early to get into the waiting room.
Oh well…
I guess I could watch the current game instead.
I recalled Zangetsu.
The game started at exactly 9 am.
The match was still a first-round match.
I suppose all the second round matches would be over within today?
And then all the third round to fifth round matches on the third day.
There was no tournament schedule.
It was the same for the last tournament.
It was very difficult to get information on who my opponents would be.
But that would be fine too.
It would let me enjoy the fight more.
It didn"t hurt to watch a match before my own too.
It was actually a really interesting match.
The time finally reached 10 am.
I headed back to the reception.
I took the time to switch up my team to the one I would use in the tournament.
Volff, Jericho, Senki, Goki, and Rig.
Great.
I wondered what kind of party I would have to face.
Not knowing was kind of fun too.
Protagonist Keith
Race Human Male Racial Lv17
Job Grand Summoner Lv3（↑1）
Bonus Points Remaining: 24
Skill Sets:
Staff Lv13 Punch Lv10 Kick Lv10 Joint Lock Lv10 Throw Lv10 Evade Lv10 Block Lv10 Summon Magic Lv17 s.p.a.cetime Magic Lv9
Light Magic Lv9 Wind Magic Lv10 Earth Magic Lv9 Water Magic Lv9 Fire Magic Lv9 Dark Magic Lv9 Ice Magic Lv7 Lightning Magic Lv7 Tree Magic Lv7 Dust Magic Lv7 Lava Magic Lv7 Steam Magic Lv7
Alchemy Lv8 Pharmacy Lv7 Gla.s.smaking Lv6 Woodworking Lv6
Synergy Lv12 Appraise Lv12 Identify Lv12 Discern Lv4 Cold Resistance Lv6 Grab Lv10（↑1） Horsemanship Lv10 Precise Manipulation Lv12 Jump Lv5 Acrobatics Lv2 Heat Resistance Lv7 Climb Lv6 Balance Lv1（New！）
Dual Wield Lv9 Disa.s.sembly Lv7
Physical Reinforcement Lv8 Mental Reinforcement Lv9 Speedcasting Lv11 Spell Effect
Amplification Lv8（↑1） Spell Range Amplification Lv8（↑1）
Equipment:
Staff of Torture x1 Tonfas of Torture x2 Capture Rod of Torture x1 Enraged Pickaxe+
x2 Silver Necklace+ Snow Leopard Push Dagger x1 Sturmtiger Push Dagger
x2 Snow Leopard Bagh Nakh x1 Plains Lion Bagh Nakh x1 Fighting Bull Leather Armour+ Set Bracelet of Torture x2 Anklet of Torture+ x2 Rabid Horse Belt+ Rucksack Item Box x2
Items:
Survival Knife Woodworking Set
t.i.tles:
Old Summoner"s Pupil
Guardian of the Forest
Knower of the Middle Path
Spell Glossary
Martial Arts Fighter