Translation: Charlotte
Editor: Weasalopes
One of the Fighters had a mace and a shield, another had a sword and a shield, and the last one only had a sword.
The Treasure Hunter in the back looked pretty standard.
No, he also had several throwing knives, tucked in a shoulder belt.
Throwing knives, huh…
One of the Sorcerers had a bow, and the other, a staff.
A very standard-looking team.
But there had to be a reason they made it past the qualifiers.
What would that reason be?
I guess I just had to fight them to find out.
The scheduled time was upon us.
10 seconds before the beginning of the match.
A countdown began.
3 seconds before the start of the match.
All my Summon Monsters were ready.
Good.
They would put on a show for me today too.
A simultaneous…
Bow.
「Begin!」
「Practiced Spirit!」「Meditate!」「Bless!」
『Meditate!』『Bless!』
Unexpectedly, the Sorcerer with a staff started moving.
Rig crawled onto my back.
Jericho liquefied and covered Senki.
Volff ran into the lead.
Without checking up on Goki, I broke into a run.
My spell had already finished casting.
I looked at the enemy team.
『Snipe Shot!』
Arrows flew one after the other.
One of them hit me square in the chest.
But I kept going.
Rig was keeping my upper body safe.
I ignored all physical attacks and ran forward.
Forward!
But there were two people in my way.
The mace fighter, and the two-handed sword fighter.
The Treasure Hunter"s threw knives towards me.
Wait, what?
Why were they throwing all their attacks at me?
「Physical Enchant: Wind!」
I boosted Senki"s AGI stat.
I could make do with just Rig.
Maybe it was a bit naive of me to think that.
Both a mace and a sword jumped at me.
But not exactly at me…
My Staff of Torture flew out of my hand.
『Back-Cutter!』
The sword flew back at tremendous speed.
I dodged it.
But soon, more slashes were flying my way.
I had no time to dodge properly.
The only option I had was to dive forward and close the distance.
『Pulse Laser Burst!』
『Shield Rush!』
『Pitfall!』
Attacks flew at me one after the other.
The last spell was【Pitfall】.
I fell into the hole, along with the two Fighters.
I landed in an awkward position.
The other two Fighters were already on their feet.
The Sword Fighter pulled out a dagger.
It didn"t look like they had taken that much damage from the fall.
Rig wasn"t on me anymore.
Must"ve been because of the attack spell earlier.
I hit the bottom of the hole pretty hard…
It was enough to cancel the spell I"d been casting.
Something else was falling down the hole.
A throwing knife?
No it was too big for a throwing knife…
It was the Treasure Hunter.
The Fighters both attacked me at the same time.
It had to be part of their plan.
It had to have been their plan to completely isolate and take me out.
I rolled out of the way of the Treasure Hunter.
But a dagger soon followed me.
I rolled again and dodged by a hair.
Next up was the mace.
I had no choice but to take the attack head-on.
The moment after, I wrapped my legs around the Fighter"s legs and pulled him forward.
I grabbed his thighs and wrapped behind him.
I could use him as a shield now.
Something else fell from above.
It was the Sorcerer with a bow.
Arrows rained down on me from a short distance.
A lot of the arrows just grazed the Fighter I was using as a shield, but one arrow hit me in the forehead.
A direct hit to my leather helmet.
Ah, that hurt!
I gripped the fighter in my hands and ran into the Fighter with the dagger.
At the same time, I approached the bow Sorcerer.
I noticed the Treasure Hunter running at me from my side.
Reinforcements were coming from above.
Volff.
The narrow hole turned into a crowded wrestle-fest.
The Sorcerer was about to shoot another arrow at me.
But Volff intervened and prevented her from shooting the arrow.
I took the opportunity to attack.
I pulled out my black rope.
I wrapped around behind the Sorcerer and wrapped the rope around the Sorcerer"s neck.
Flames started appearing around the rope.
The Sorcerer"s spells would be annoying to deal with. I had to prevent them from being shot out in the first place.
『Tsk!』
I managed to stop the spellcasting process.
But I couldn"t relax just yet.
Using the Sorcerer"s body as a shield, I ran into the Treasure Hunter.
Cowardly move?
Aren"t those wonderful words.
As a precaution, I wrapped the black rope around the Sorcerer"s upper body.
I still had a lot of rope left.
I held the rope in both hands.
At the same time, a dagger came flying at me.
『Whoosh!』
I dodged and took the opportunity to wrap my black rope around the arm of the Treasure Hunter.
I had more rope, so I wrapped it around his neck too.
After pulling him closer, I wrapped the rope around not just his arm, but his entire torso.
I used the rope to trip him and send him falling to the ground.
『Shield Rush!』
I meant to dodge, but I didn"t have enough room to completely dodge.
I let go of the black rope and dodged, but I still ended up taking a good amount of damage.
d.a.m.n!
My HP bar was at half.
Rig was crawling around on the ground, but seeing the tied-up sorcerer on the ground, Rig slowly approached.
The Treasure Hunter was trying his hardest to break the black rope.
The two Fighters stared at their two friends on the ground.
But they couldn"t get close.
Volff was keeping them at bay.
「Gah! Gah!」
Volff threateningly growled.
More shadows were coming down from above.
Oh no…
It was the other Sorcerer.
Along with Goki.
You know…
This is a pretty cramped pit.
Very cramped!
The fight turned into a brawl.
But I had no choice but to keep going as usual in the pit.
Spells?
I had no time to select any spells.
It was far too chaotic.
Martial Art Skills?
Those were impossible too.
But the enemy Fighters had enough time to pull them off.
『Shield Rush!』
I dodged by sliding away this time.
At the same time, I hooked my leg around his and tripped him.
I rode him and did a naked choke.
I jammed the Snow Leopard Push Dagger into his neck while I squeezed.
What about the Treasure Hunter?
He was already pressed into a wall by Goki.
What about the other Sorcerer?
The other Sorcerer was already on the ground, with Volff biting down on his neck.
It looked like I was winning?
But again, something else came down into the pit.
It was Jericho.
He landed right on top of the Dagger Fighter.
Sorry…
That alone completely took out his HP bar.
Jericho slammed his fist into the Treasure Hunter.
It should"ve been easy to avoid…
But Goki was keeping him in place.
The Treasure Hunter"s HP bar disappeared with a single punch to the belly.
Cool…
But it"s really getting cramped!
I put more strength into my arms.
I put in one last strong twist.
The HP bar of the Shield Fighter finally dropped to zero.
《Match Set! Please stop fighting!》
Looks like everyone else gave up.
Guess I won somehow…
But it was still a close match.
It was obvious that they were trying to focus me down.
I felt my back getting sweaty.
The holes created by【Pitfall】were restored, and the floor under me went back to the normal arena.
Oh, I almost forgot.
I stopped my choke, and let the Fighter free.
Oh dear…
The biggest issue was with the Sorcerer tied up in rope.
When she got up, her helmet fell to the ground.
Hmm?
Wait, what?
This person…
「H- Hey, no!」
As soon as I approached, she bent forward, face beet red.
I knew that face…
It was the cutie Sorcerer I made cry in the first tournament.
Her name was… Lydia.
She wasn"t crying, but her position was strange.
Black rope was wrapped around her neck and her chest, reaching all the way to even her feet.
The rope went around her crotch and behind her, tying both her hands behind her.
Her expression was what made it worse.
She looked like she was about to cry.
Her face was beet red.
She was bending down as to hide herself from the audience.
That"s not really how it works…
While she tried to untie herself, she threw insults my way.
At some point, she had started crying.
Oh no…
This is bad…
「I"ll untie you real quick! Just put up with it for a bit, alright?」
「O- Okay…」
I quickly untied her while she cried softly.
Some kind of shame play?
I took a raincoat from my《Item Box》and hid her.
After I untied her, she went over to the other side of the arena, where her friends were already waiting for her.
Are you okay?
I hope you"re okay…
I did the right thing there, right?
I was still a bit worried.
I went back to my corner and bowed.
《You have advanced to the second round of the tournament! The second round is scheduled for 10:30 am today, at the new training ground A.》
《You have received 2 Bonus Points for clearing the first round. You currently have a total of 28 Bonus Points.》
Putting the info screens aside.
I was worried about the audience.
They were a bit louder than usual.
A staff member fully healed my HP and MP.
Afterwards, I stepped on a carpet, and it glowed lightly.
My equipment was mended.
The staff member definitely had some nice skills…
「Keith, I will take you back to the waiting room.」
「Ah, alright, sorry.」
I couldn"t stop myself from worrying.
I managed to make the sorcerer Lydia cry twice now…
Was Margrid some kind of prophet?
Were Adele and Irina"s worries coming true?
Hmm…
I was really worried.
More worried about that than my second match
Protagonist Keith
Race Human Male Racial Lv17
Job Grand Summoner Lv3
Bonus Points Remaining: 28
Skill Sets:
Staff Lv13 Punch Lv11 Kick Lv11 Joint Lock Lv11 Throw Lv11 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 Ropework Lv2（↑1）Jump Lv6 Acrobatics Lv3 Heat Resistance Lv7 Climb Lv6 Balance Lv2 Dual Wield Lv10 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