Chapter 527: Build up for the Semifinals

After Joshua had taken down Charles he was teleported out of the arena as all of his aches and pains vanished even if he was still a bit mentally tired after such a fight. Although Joshua didn't taken any serious damage during the fight he was getting whittled down with several little injuries throughout the fight and having that pain taken away was relieving. Seeing as how the match between Joshua and Charles was the last match of the round it was time for another short break. This time around each of the matches were a lot longer than the last round with everyone being forced to use more of their skills in an attempt to defeat stronger opponents. The only match that didn't take very long was the one between Madalyn and Henry. That was the case because of the way both sides approached the match.

Now that Joshua had a little break before the next match he decided to layback and rest while thinking over the last match. The tournament was a great way for Joshua to get some experience in not only fighting some of the most talented explorers in the hub city, but it was also a way to learn about the competition without the repercussions that would occur with fighting each other on earth. The match against Charles had taught Joshua a lot about him, but the most important thing he learned was how Charles's unique job worked.

Although Joshua didn't know the name of Charles's unique job he had a good idea of how it worked and what advantages it gave him. What he had figured out was the main reason why Joshua was in such a rush to end the match as soon as possible once things got rolling. Before Joshua had ever stepped into the arena against Charles he already knew that his unique job allowed him to become extremely familiar with multiple weapons. Instead of just being good at using a sword like a swordsman or a daggers like a dagger specialist, Charles was amazing at any and all weapons that he brought out for combat. The only people Joshua considered better than Charles at using certain weapons were people with that specific weapon based job that had long term experience from before the time they became explorers in the first place. People like Aito and Adrian came to mind.

What Joshua learned while actually fighting against Charles was that he got the benefits of using weapons in ways that most weapon specialist wouldn't even be able to use. The way he was able to use so many throwing knives at once wasn't something that couldn't just come from being decent with knives. Joshua knew that the floating aspect of the weapons probably came from his soul beast in some way, but his ability to easily use two completely different weapons at the same time to their full capability was outstanding. Joshua tried to end the match as quickly as possible just to avoid Charles figuring out a combination of weapons that would have worked well against him.

When it came to Charles soul beast Joshua wasn't exactly sure what its full capabilities were, but he knew that it had something to do with electricity. There was no way in hell that he'd be able to hold onto a spear shooting off lightning everywhere or control the throwing knives that were just as electrically charged so easily without having some sort of control over the element. Since he wasn't a mage of any sort based off of the small amount of mana that he had Joshua knew that it was his soul beast that was giving him the ability to control such an element.

The abilities and skills that Charles had made him a formidable opponent. In the future when he was able to figure out more combinations of weapons that work well together along with his soul beast ability he'd become an even more difficult rival to handle. By the time that Joshua finished relaxing the short break had come to an end and the news crew was back to announce the upcoming semifinals. They were down to the last four contenders and each of the last four participants had their own advantages in a fight against the others.

This time around the battle arena decided to change the way it would introduce the match ups for the semifinals. Sarah came out to announce the fighters for the next round and with the order that she made the announcement the match ups would be decided for the semifinals. "Now with our last four contenders we have finally reached the semifinals. These four explorers of our hub city have all made a name for themselves during their time as explorers. Funny enough three out of the four of them are all members of the Alliance. Now isn't that something." Sarah said as she started the introductions for the final four contestants.

The fact that she pointed out hadn't slipped Joshua's noticed. At the moment all that was left were three Alliance members and the number one mercenary in the hub city. This painted a picture of the strangle hold that the Alliance hade when it came to talent and that was likely to attract even more talent when it came to the future recruits that were going to come swarming in after the tournament ended.

"Well let's kick things off with the poison mistress that can kill you with a nick of her blade or any other way she plans on poisoning you. She's made a mad dash through this tournament with her talent with her blades and the undeniable large variety of poisons that took all of her opponents down. The first semifinalist is the guild leader of the Serpent Guild Madalyn." Sarah said as Madalyn appeared in the battle arena in a brilliant flash as the crowd erupted with cheers at her sudden appearance. Madalyn waved to the excited crowd blowing them a kiss and having what could only be thought of as a venomous smile.

The announcer had done a good job of explaining Madalyn's achievements throughout the tournament to the crowd without giving to many details away to all of the other contestants. If Joshua didn't know Madalyn personally then he would have only thought she had a few poisons up her sleeve that he'd have to be careful of along with her skill with daggers, but he knew there was more to it than that. It wasn't just the variety of poisons that she had that were a threat, but also the variety of ways she had of actually using the poisons against her enemies. Wide area poisonous fog, poisoned blades, canisters that could have a multitude of different powerful poisons that could do any number of things to you were all a possibility when it came to fighting against someone like Madalyn.

"For the semifinals Madalyn will be going up against one of the more physical contestants that has strangled or beaten down any contestant that he has come across. The number one rated mercenary and a former champion level mixed martial arts fighter before the world turned upside down. Iron Claw will be her opponent and he's come this far with what could only be considered a battle maniac like grin the entire way." Sarah said as Dmitry was brought into the arena across from Madalyn. He didn't do anything put stare at Madalyn as his eyes seemed to be filled with what could only be considered a lust for battle. Madalyn didn't back away from him at all as she spun one of her daggers in her hand and stared back without a care.

While the two were looking at each other Joshua noticed that Sarah actually had some background information on Dmitry that he wasn't expecting her to know with the way he registered himself for the tournament. It looked like the news crew were gathering more information on the contestants than expected. Looking back on all of Dmitry's matches up to this point Joshua knew that he could siphon off what seemed like any form of energy possible if you got to close to him. Joshua didn't know the limits to this ability, but it would be interesting to find out if it worked against something like Madalyn's poison. It would give a good idea of what Joshua could and couldn't do against someone like Dmitry.

With the first match set up between Madalyn and Dmitry it was clear who Joshua was going to be facing in the semifinals and it was the match up he was hoping to avoid the most. When it came to Dmitry it would be a contest of pure skill and control over energy and when facing against Madalyn it would be a contest of tactics along with the question of if he could out last her poison. Lily however would be a fight against four powerful beast alongside her and there was no way they were going to just let Joshua get close to Lily which meant he was going to have to fend them off or take them down. That was going to be a long drawn out fight that he was hoping to avoid if at all possible, but he'd have to figure out how to take her down quickly if he didn't want things going in Lily's favor.

"The next contestant can be a little ditzy from the time I spent around her but don't let that kind gentle appearance full you. Even if she can't appear intimidating herself her beast companions make up for that and more with the power to back it up. Our third semifinalist is Lily." The moment Sarah finished the introduction Lily was brought into the arena standing a little ways away from both Madalyn and Dmitry. She gave the crowd a little bow and wave and the cheers for her were bigger than Madalyn and Dmitry. It was clear that at the moment Lily was the favorite in this tournament with her beast companions which wasn't all that surprising. Their imposing presence alone would give the crowd the impression that it would be hard for any of the other contestants to get through them to get to Lily.

Since Joshua had spent a lot of time training Lily and had been around her every time that she had gained a new beast companion he had a pretty good idea of what all of her partners could do and how she might approach a match against someone like him. He was going to have a hard time dealing with her beast companions, but he had gained a few new skills that might just help in that regard recently.

"Our last contestant is one who's become famous after my own personal film of him and the rest of the Alliance taking on the large town. He truly doesn't need much of an introduction with his powerful aura and the sudden rising surge of the Fenrir Guild that he leads he's made a name for himself in the surprisingly short time that he's been an explorer. The holder of the number one ranking in the first phase, Joshua!" When Sarah finished her introduction Joshua was teleported to where he stood directly across from Lily. He gave the crowd a quick wave before turning back to look at the smiling Lily. Now Joshua was wondering if he was about to regret teaching Lily how to defend herself.