Translation: Charlotte
Editor: Weasalopes
My plan was simple.
Attack with a focus on kicks.
Kicks could be considered inferior to punches.
But then why are kicks used so much in Muay Thai?
A simple reason.
Kicks are superior in some cases.
They have more power.
And the difference in the way of thinking required.
To incapacitate your enemy means to kill your enemy.
It was a military martial art, after all.
I delivered a kick.
I replied to his jabs with middle kicks.
It seemed like I was finally getting the initiative.
I took a moment to check my surroundings.
Everyone on the enemy team except for the guy in front of me was already taken care of.
My Summon Monsters were just watching me.
Volff yawned.
Great.
Don"t move, alright?
My opponent looked at me with new determination.
My belly was poorly defended.
I did have armour, but that wasn"t enough to deter any attacks.
He was only attacking with punches, but there was no telling if he had any kicks up his sleeve too.
I"m inviting you.
What would you have to watch out for against a Muay Thai fighter?
The knees.
The elbows.
Neck holds.
Thinking about it normally, it would be something like that…
He probably knew I would go for a neck hold…
But what would he have prepared for me…?
Before I could think about it, my body was already moving.
I sent out a kick and immediately afterwards…
I stepped one more step forward.
I closed the distance between me and my opponent.
Naturally, punches started flying my way.
I ducked to dodge the first punch.
I avoided his left fist with a head slip.
At the same time, I wrapped my arm around his.
Using his neck as a support, I used a lever action to lock his left arm.
Before it got too painful for him he used his right hand to push his left elbow, freeing himself.
He knew how to fight it…
This time, I feigned going for a big neck hold.
I pulled on his arms with enough strength to pull his shoulders.
But then switched to a one-arm throw.
It was a very pretty throw, even for me.
As soon as he hit the ground, I went for his neck.
It looked like some twisted version of a Nelson hold.
I didn"t have the freedom to care.
My opponent was stronger when it came to pure muscle.
I couldn"t finish the choke.
He pushed against my arms with his free arm, resisting the choke.
Not giving up to the very end, huh.
I was beginning to like him more and more.
I put my weight to one side, and both of us collapsed onto the ground.
I wrapped my legs around his torso.
I used my spine to strengthen my grip around his neck.
He would probably try to counter by twisting my legs.
He had more raw strength, so it was definitely something I had to watch out for.
He really didn"t give up to the very end.
I continued strangling him until his HP bar completely disappeared.
Hmm…
It"s been a while since I"ve had such a fight.
It felt good.
An info screen appeared along with the sounds of the buzzer.
《Match Set! Please stop fighting!》
《【Punch】Level Up!》
《You have acquired the【Punch】Weapon Arte【Palm Strike】.》
《You have acquired the【Punch】Weapon Arte【Spear Hands】.》
《【Kick】Level Up!》
《You have acquired the【Kick】Weapon Arte【Roundhouse Kick】.》
《【Joint Lock】Level Up!》
《You have acquired the【Joint Lock】Weapon Arte【Armlock】.》
《You have acquired the【Joint Lock】Weapon Arte【Heel Hold】.》
《【Throw】Level Up!》
《You have acquired the【Punch】Weapon Arte【Spear Hands】.》
《You have acquired the【Throw】Weapon Arte【Overhead Throw】.》
The fighter I just defeated stood up.
He shook my hand with both his hands.
「I was definitely had there. Thanks!」
「It was a nice fight!」
Yep.
The grappler reached out and started petting Volff.
Before facing me along with his teammates and giving another bow.
A good match, with a sweet ending.
《You have advanced to the fourth round of the qualifiers! The third round is scheduled for 12:30 pm today, at the former training ground A.》
It was a very intense battle, or at least that"s what I thought.
I still had some time until the next match.
There were plenty of matches to watch.
『Good work out there!』
『We got to see you live.』
Oh.
Some whispers came at me through【Telepathy】.
It was Adele and Irina.
I looked into the audience and saw Adele waving at me.
Wait…
You don"t have to do that; your Summon Monsters are way more noticeable!
『My next match is in the former training grounds. What about you?』
『Our match is here.』
『It"s at 1 pm!』
『Well then, you want to watch a few matches before going for lunch?』
『Sure.』
『We"ll be waiting here!』
I changed up all my Summon Monsters except for Volff and headed for the spectator seats.
They were in quite an isolated, strange corner.
Wait, it wasn"t just Adele and Irina…
「h.e.l.lo!」
「It was very nice to watch.」
「The end looked like a one-on-one fight though.」
「A very exciting fight~」
There were more than 10 people, just counting the number of summoners.
There were only a few beast monsters, but there were a lot of hawks and owls.
There were a lot of them, but they mostly stayed silent.
Helix and Obsidian were calm too.
Well, the less we trouble those around us, the better.
I felt like we were still rather intimidating though.
「I took a video of the fight, want to see?」
「Well, maybe later.」
I got Irina to share me the video.
Not just the video, but the battle log too.
「How many summoner teams left?」
「One team besides the two of us, I think.」
「Can you confirm that?」
「I guess another team is still waiting to fight their third match, so it might be four teams advancing to the fourth round.」
Oh.
That"s pretty amazing!
「The forums are heating up quite nicely too~」
「The third day is definitely the most exciting of them all.」
After that, I enjoyed watching more matches while chatting with the other summoners.
Although I was mostly talking to just Irina, Konohana, and Haruna.
Adele?
She was busy playing with Volff.
Well, that was fine too.
It was certainly nice to see.
There were a few forfeits, but most of the matches were very interesting.
Most teams that were still in the game got there by good teamwork.
I saw a team with five players at Lv.14, but they were defeated by a team at a lower level.
Yep.
Level really was just a number.
I couldn"t get careless.
I couldn"t underestimate a low-level team.
Their record of wins would tell that much.
「I guess we"ll have lunch.」
「These matches are pretty quick, huh.」
「We"ll do our best!」
「See you later~」
With Adele and Irina, I split up with the other summoners and went to get lunch.
Our destination was Rick"s stall.
「We"re here!」
「Excuse us…」
「Oh, welcome!」
It was just before noon.
There were still a few other customers, but Yuka and Helga warmly welcomed us.
「It"s before our matches, so we"re here to eat a light lunch.」
「That means you won, right?」
「Keith had a big win!」
「Can"t expect our match to go as smoothly.」
「A match this afternoon? We"ll come by to support you.」
「Ohh I can"t show you my embarra.s.sing side!」
Everyone looked very excited.
「Where"s your next match, Keith?」
「At 12:30 pm, at the former training ground A.」
「We"ll definitely come and see as soon as our match is over.」
「That kind of one-on-one fight is bad on the heart, you know!」
We watched the videos of our matches and chatted while we ate lunch.
It was a bit overkill to force a one-on-one fight against that Fighter.
But Adele was definitely entertained.
Well, all"s well that ends well.
It was fun too.
After we finished with lunch we all headed to our respective arenas.
I looked at the spectator seats to try and find Yuka and Helga as I headed towards the reception of the former training grounds.
Who would be my next opponent?
I didn"t really care who it was going to be.
As long as I was having fun, that was all that mattered.
Protagonist Keith
Race Human Male Racial Lv17
Job Grand Summoner Lv3
Bonus Points Remaining: 24
Skill Sets:
Staff Lv13 Punch Lv11（↑1） Kick Lv11（↑1） Joint Lock Lv11（↑1） Throw Lv11（↑1） Evade Lv11 Block Lv11 Summon Magic Lv17 s.p.a.cetime Magic Lv9
Light Magic Lv9 Wind Magic Lv10 Earth Magic Lv9 Water Magic Lv9 Fire Magic Lv10 Dark Magic Lv9 Ice Magic Lv7 Lightning Magic Lv7 Tree Magic Lv8 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 Horsemanship Lv10 Precise Manipulation Lv12 Rope Walk Lv1
Jump Lv5 Acrobatics Lv2 Heat Resistance Lv7 Climb Lv6 Balance Lv2
Dual Wield Lv9 Disa.s.sembly Lv7
Physical Reinforcement Lv8 Mental Reinforcement Lv9 Speedcasting Lv11 Spell Effect
Amplification Lv8 Spell Range Amplification Lv8
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 Best Pupil
Guardian of the Forest
Knower of the Middle Path
Spell Glossary
Martial Arts Fighter