Jabbing at Alleus, she weaved out of the way and countered with a spinning hook kick. I blocked with my forearm, and with the help of the Dragon Scales Armor, the force of her attacks was mitigated.
Exchanging blows, she shifted her attacks from kicking to using her hands and elbows.
Her right eye twitched to where I would attack. She was anticipating every move as if she knew the future.
No way. Don't tell me… she could see the future?
With that revelation, I snuck in multiple feints in my attacks, but they proved futile.
If she was able to see all of my oncoming attacks, the only way for me to win was to outlast her in a battle of stamina. In order to do so, I had to use techniques that would require the least amount of movement.
Over time, I noticed something. Alleus' technique became more refined, but not only that, her strength was not diminishing!
I knew that the gap between our stats was huge, but it shouldn't make it so that her combat abilities didn't wane.
Unfair. It was just unfair.
When I was about to command the Dragon Scales Armor to strangle her, Alleus covered my mouth and did an upward elbow to my chin, which made me step back and fall to my knees.
Slowly walking towards me, she looked down on me with an intimidating glare.
When she was about to punch me, blood started to pour from her eye socket.
"Urgh..!" Groaning in pain, she stumbled around, covering her eye with both hands.
Seizing the opportunity, I tackled her to the ground and locked her in an arm bar.
"I-I give up!" Alleus desperately screamed.
Letting go, Instructor Distal nodded.
"Our winner is Ring! Next contestants, step forward!"
Ripping off a sleeve, Alleus made a makeshift eyepatch.
Our walk back to the seats was awkward, but when we sat back down, Alleus patted me on the back.
"Great match, partner! I would have won if I didn't push the eye so much." Although her mood was cheerful, I noticed that she was gripping her leg.
What a strange thing to do to yourself
Looking at the draft, It seems that all of the next contestants are going to be nobles and the main cast.
"Check Status."
Looking down at her skills, it wrote:
「Skills」
[Advanced Short Sword Technique]
[Adept Stealth]
[Adept Evasion]
[Adept Nimble Martial Arts]
[Unique Skill: True Eye of the Truthseeker]
-Foresight-
-Mark of the Dead-
┌─────═━┈┈━═─────┐
Chapter 109: Tournament
…
One more bracket until the top ten, and it was Steinen's match. His opponent was a nobleman who had been training in the element of earth magic.
"Everyone might praise you for being chosen to accompany Hero Incus, but you're still a commoner… I will dig you into the ground until you see the rotting bodies of your ancestors!"
He then tapped the ground with his long iron staff.
"Rising Pillars."
Pillars rose up from the ground towards Steinen.
However, he didn't know something. Steinen had been trained to fight mages of all kinds. As a potential knight errant to accompany the hero who was to be summoned, he had to be able to fight in any circumstance.
Sticking his giant slayer great sword into the ground, Steinen launched a devastating blow that destroyed the pillars.
"W-what! Preposterous! How is a commoner like you able to negate my magic!"
Gritting his teeth, he launched a follow-up attack:
"Spiked Earth!"
Scraping his long iron staff on the ground, the nobleman launched an assault of spiked, raging earth from the ground towards Steinen.
Glancing at Incus, his helmet slightly shifted.
'My lady, I will show you the strength of a simple knight who craves your heart. So please watch me closely.'
Picking up his great sword from the ground, Steinen raised the giant mass of iron and struck down, splitting the nobleman's attack in half.
Walking towards the nobleman, Steinen emitted a killing aura.
Falling to his knees, the nobleman pleaded.
"I-I give u-"
Cutting off his surrender, Steinen stuck his heavily calloused hands into his mouth.
"Sorry, but I can't let you disgrace my ancestors… and my status as a commoner."
Putting his hands on the nobleman's chest, he then began to dig his fingers in, eventually reaching his rib cage.
Thrashing around, the nobleman began to cry in pain, his snot falling on Steinen's hand.
"So you dare to offend me further?"
The nobleman wanted to shake his head in disagreement, but Steinen held his jaw so firmly that the sound of fractures being made was evident.
"What a shame. I thought you would at least have some decency."
Gripping the rib cage, he then slowly began twisting it, causing it to break.
The nobleman thrashed with wide movements, but then his movements stopped.
Taking his hand out of the nobleman's mouth, he wiped the snot off on the nobleman's clothes.
└─────═━┈┈━═─────┘
Although I couldn't see what was happening because the earth magic had changed the terrain of the arena, I touched my chest.
This Steinen guy was ruthless. No, this damned author was ruthless.
"What's with that face? What's going on?"
I gulped before answering Alleus' question.
"I think Steinen just killed someone."
After Instructor Distal announced Steinen's win, a group of people who looked to be professors came into the stadium to take the nobleman and fix the arena.
***
Stretching from side to side, it was then my turn. My opponent wasn't Steinen or Incus, nor was it a noble. Instead, it was Radeius.
I had promised myself that I wouldn't check the stats of my opponent, but since she was one of the main cast, I would most definitely lose within seconds.
So it wouldn't hurt to check.
"Check Status."
====[Status Window]====
「Information」
[Name: Radeius Wordkeeper]
[Class: Warrior]
[Equipment]
◈ Academy Battle Uniform
[Weapons]
◈ Sky Piercing Spear
[Description]
「Attributes」
[Physical | lvl: 3.5]
[Stamina | lvl: 3]
[Intelligence | lvl: 4]
[Mana | lvl: 6.5]
「Skills」
[Advanced Spear Technique]
[Basic Limit Surge]
[Advanced Blade Aura]
[Advanced Perception]
[Adept Acrobatics]
========
It's strange.
Her mana was oddly high, but it must have something to do with her skill, Blade Aura.
This isn't going to be good, because the gap between an adept skill and an advanced skill was too vast.
The only reason I stood a chance against Alleus was because she held back her strength... urgh... this is frustrating.
But what concerned me the most was her Blade Aura skill.
Unsheathing the Fire Hero's Sword, I waited for her to move.
Taking the spear off her back, she spun it a few times before pointing it at me.
Not only that, but the tip of her spear was glowing with a hue of blue mana.
When I saw a slight shift in her foot, I immediately shot out an arc of flame.
"ExcaliBurn!"
Cutting through my attack, she did multiple thrusts towards me.
Barely managing to deflect them, I spat in her eyes, which caused her to flinch back.
Without wasting a second, I pulled her head down by the hair and slammed the pommel of my sword at her face.
However, she blocked it with the staff of her spear and whacked my arm in sequence.
Letting go of her hair, I aimed a kick at her face, but she dodged it by slightly leaning back.
At the same time, she hit my chin with the pommel of her spear.
With my vision growing hazy, I bit my lip, forcing myself to gain clarity.
"Time to end this."
Making the pommel of her spear face towards me, she pulled back and muttered something barely audible:
"…Thousand Sky Pierce."
Out of nowhere, a wall of spear thrusts appeared before me.
When she said thousand pierce, she wasn't being metaphorical.
The attacks then stopped.
Falling to the ground, I gripped the blade of the Fire Hero's Sword.
I used the pain of my palm being cut to wake myself up. The thrusts had hit my head multiple times, making my brain rattle.
If I passed out now, then I didn't know what would happen to me.
"The winner is Radeius!" Instructor Distal announced.
Running towards me, Alleus helped me stand up.
"Are you okay!"
Spitting out a tooth, I nodded.
"…I'll manage."
On the seats, I laid down and watched the novel being written.
┌─────═━┈┈━═─────┐
Chapter 109: Tournament
…
Being called up, Radeius made quick work of her match by using Thousand Sky Pierce.
Four brackets remained, which contained Incus, Steinen, and Radeius.
└─────═━┈┈━═─────┘
The author then published the chapter.
Almost immediately, the white window screen disappeared, then reappeared.
┌─────═━┈┈━═─────┐
Chapter 110: Unnamed
Steinen vs Radeius
Incus vs Steinen
Note - take show
└─────═━┈┈━═─────┘
The window then disappeared.
I had learned that after the draft had been written, the window would usually disappear.
I believed that this meant that whenever the author shut down their writing device, it would make the window disappear.
Two seconds, it would come back in two seconds.