118 Episode 118: The Dark Shadow and the Black Armor

◆ ◆

Few people walk through the town at night.

Because security is never good, even in town.

Instead of demons attacking, humans attacking humans.

"Ugh, did I drink too much? Well, good. 'Cause it's pre-game economics!

Return from the tavern or a man in a mask walks the night lane with a flirt.

Forged steel-like flesh warns us of that threat, even from above clothes.

But that's also true if you have a normal judgment.

With that head drunk, you can't make a decent decision.

"Let's go."

I ordered my men to whisper and attacked the masked man simultaneously from behind.

"uhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

Pity, the man was cut out of consciousness in an instant.

"All right, then you join the main line instead of this guy."

"Ha!"

I order my most similarly-bodied men to wear the masks that men have ever worn.

"Let him sleep until the ritual is over."

"Yes, sir."

If you kill him, he'll have trouble handling the body. If they see you dispose of it, it's gonna be a pain in the ass, and if you leave it alone, it's gonna reek of rot.

It was therefore decided to put him to sleep only while the ritual was being held.

You cut your consciousness before you saw us, so you don't have to worry about getting to know your identity.

"All right, we're going after the rest of the players."

"" "Ha!

We are the Secret Service that has come to assassinate the Dragon Emperor.

But even though he participated in the Dragon Emperor's ritual for the assassination of the Dragon Emperor, the lack of luck to pull the trigger led him to fight among his companions, and he fell short of qualifying, except for just three.

It is an unprecedented and unheard of Great Failure.

But we don't give up.

Having fallen short of qualifying, we decided to darken the players in the game and gain the right to compete in the tournament.

Fortunately, there were many players now participating in the tournament hiding their faces.

"Captain, those who attacked the athletes have been returned."

"You wouldn't have done the kind of hema where you'd find out who you were, would you?

He said he managed to escape with the help of his people.

"Then good."

"And he said one of the players hiding his face couldn't find him anywhere he looked"

"Hmm?"

I am interested in your reports.

"How powerful or..."

Considering a possibility, I order my men.

"It is likely that the athlete is the Dragon Emperor. As soon as you confirm your appearance, mobilize all personnel to track them down. Don't put your hands on it. Focus on finding out where you're lurking."

"Ha!

My ordered men will begin immediate action.

"Well, let's do a dragon emperor crusade"

◆

"Congratulations everyone on breaking through the qualifying round!

"" "" "" Congratulations "" ""

Everyone raises a glass with a drink to make a toast.

"You made it through the qualifying round."

"Well, that's the natural result!

"If you're in too much shape, you're gonna lose too much!

"Dude, I'm not even scared of S-rank right now! We're going to win!

"Damn, this idiot's in good shape."

Gyro in a good mood. Mr. Mina sighs at how you are.

But because you were able to break through the qualifying round, Mina seems in a good mood, too.

"I did it! It's a qualifying break! I'll do my best, Father... Master!

Mr. Lune is excited that he was able to make it through the qualifying round.

"Nevertheless, I never thought we'd be able to make it through a qualifying round for such a big tournament."

"Yeah, thanks to Rex's special training"

When Mr. Norb lays a glass to swallow his surprise and excitement that he was able to break through the qualifying round, Megri reaches out to cook in a good mood while agreeing.

"No, this is everyone's strength."

"I'm not complacent about boulders. If we were just like that, we wouldn't even be here in the first place."

I don't think so.

Everyone's qualities are real, and I've only accelerated everyone's growth.

"Ah, and you're fighting your brother very quickly! Who the hell is your brother's disguise?

"Hehe, that's a secret."

Yes, I was in disguise for this tournament.

I'm not going to stand out in my next life. [M]

For some reason I haven't even played a big part, but I can't help being promoted to S-rank Adventurer anymore, but if I win a tournament like this, that's what makes the nobles pay attention.

Then it's two dances from a previous life.

That's why I wasn't willing to participate in the Dragon Emperor's ritual, but Mr. Liliera has given me a suggestion.

You just have to disguise yourself.

If you change your name and join us, the audience and nobility will find out who I am is Rex, the S-rank adventurer.

Sure, that's a good idea.

The guild leader who had asked to participate showed difficulty, but after the Dragon Emperor's ritual and we left the country, he was convinced if he allowed me to explain the fact that the S-rank Adventurer was in.

Because if the identity of a mysterious participant of uncertainty is the topic of S-rank, he thinks it might be some other S-rank adventurer, not me.

A compromise with the operators who want to foil the tournament.

"But why didn't you tell us? He's one of us, so you can tell us."

and neck Mr. Norb if we don't know why we keep our identities to ourselves.

"That's array. My brother kept it to himself about who we deliberately disguised as so we could seriously challenge him! Don't you, brother!

"As far as it goes. If we do know what Rex is capable of, it's not weird that we give up if we can't beat Rex."

"So Rex is hiding his identity from us so Gyro and the rest of us don't think so."

"... yes, if you win the game, you can always fight"

... I wasn't really that serious... Yeah, let's do that.

"Wow! I'm gonna fight your brother for sure!

◆ Mina ◆

On game day, the venue was busy with many players.

But the audience's busier than that.

"No, you're amazing."

"That would be right. This tournament will be attended by the Dragon Princess."

The players nearby are also amazed at the number of people.

In fact, there are too many people to stand by.

"Yes, but there are a lot of people because the Ritual Ritual of the Dragon Emperor is now held to determine his role."

"Oh, it's a competition for the first man. That's a hell of a lot of money."

The annual Dragon Princess ritual is a festival highlight because the winner is sometimes paid a prize, but only a woman can participate in the competition, so it seems that the Dragon Emperor ritual that a man can participate in will be held, making a huge scene among the men of the town.

In fact, the gyros said there were a lot of normal men in the qualifying round.

Even so, it seems that ordinary people who have never fought demons could not win a tournament in which their brags gathered in the true sense of the word.

It's amazing enough that the two tournaments are now ready for men to participate, but there was another reason why people in town were excited.

"Hey, is it true that His Majesty the Dragon Emperor is in the tournament?

"Oh, the Golden Dragon case."

A month ago, that incident in which the town of Tatstron was attacked by a massive herd of demons.

"I was telling you that the story of the people who actually fought was as strange as whether they survived."

"I can't believe that golden dragon shows up on such a dangerous battlefield. And I can't believe you fought to protect us."

"There was a man on the back of that golden dragon."

In fact, this story can be quite famous.

The day the people in this town first saw the Golden Dragon, it was confirmed that people were on their backs.

Luckily it wasn't even confirmed to my face because the sun was going down then.

"There's only one human being on the back of a golden dragon,"

"Right. Only His Majesty the Dragon Emperor."

It seems that the inhabitants of the town think the Dragon Emperor came aboard the Golden Dragon to protect the town.

It's like a sighing story from us knowing the truth.

And at some point, rumors were circulating that that dragon emperor might be participating in this dragon emperor's ritual.

Who in the hell spreads such rumors?

"We will now host the ritual of the Dragon Emperor, the ritual of the Dragon Princess!

The MC's voice echoes in the venue.

"The competition will be held simultaneously at the same venue as the Ryu Emperor's Rite and the Ryu Princess's Rite. However, the match itself will be played by men and women."

Well, naturally.

It's the Dragon Emperor's Rite and the Dragon Princess's Rite, so if you don't play the game properly separately between men and women, if you're bad, the Dragon Emperor and the Dragon Princess could both be men and women.

"We will now begin the first match of the Dragon Emperor's Rite, Tiran vs. Salvar!

◆

The player, called Tiran, was a full-plate swordsman with his entire body covered in black armor, and the warrior, called Salval, was a lightly dressed spear man.

Tyran has a black cloak on his black full plate mail, his face is invisible with a full face helmet, so it's hard to understand his body line and you don't know his age or gender.

Well, I think he's more of a man than he is in Dragon Emperor's ritual.

"Oh, hardened with full body armor, I'm defending against bees"

"That's a lot of extravagant armor. Noble?"

"You're a jerk. There's no way a man wearing such remarkable armor would ever be famous."

The audience around you are also guessing who Tyran is by looking at his armor, but you seem skeptical about Tyran's prowess.

Isn't it true that people in this country don't know?

"This struggle, that Tyran is against the players."

And, Liliera squeaks as she stares at Tyran.

"If the game venue is narrow, wouldn't it be more advantageous for an athlete to consolidate himself with hard armor?

Sure, Lune's got a point.

"If you're fighting on the same reach, it's better to stick to it. But the other Salval is a spear. I can attack from farther than Tyran. I guess he chose a light outfit considering the advantages of his weapon. A tactic that always opens a certain distance from the opponent to attack from outside of the intermission. Because it's simple, it's hard to deal with without surpassing it with strength. Plus, the full-face helmet doesn't have a good view. Without a doubt, Salval will be attacking from the blind spot of his helmet."

As far as it goes, Salval prioritizes ease of movement in order to keep the target from attacking.

But you must have a lot of nerve doing that in action.

If it's a lightweight outfit and it's not a good place to hit, you can't die.

The wizard's opinion is helpful because I don't really know how to pick equipment for melee fights.

"Let the game begin!

Along with the proclamation of the referee, Salval jumps straight to the side. Sounds like an operation to attack from outside Tyran's sight, as Liliera guessed.

"Ha! It's full plate armor in a game like this, it's just wasted weight!

Salval turns behind Tyran as he exchanges provocations.

"Eat it!

And as he harnessed the momentum of his run, he stuck a spear on Tyran's back.

The spear protrudes into the gap between Tyran's armor and his armor.

The momentum is precisely electroluminescent fires.

"Wow ⁉"

"Yikes ⁉ Yikes"

An audience with no connection to the battle lays face down screaming that it was already a miserable settlement early in the beginning.

Everyone was convinced of Tyran's defeat, that was then.

"... become ⁉ stupid ⁉"

Oh, my God, the blade tip of Salval's spear that attacked him from behind was stationary just before he pierced Tyran's armor.

"Attack stopped?

"Why did you stop ⁉⁉⁉⁉⁉⁉⁉⁉⁉⁉⁉⁉⁉⁉⁉⁉⁉⁉⁉⁉⁉⁉\

"No, I'm not."

To the audience's voice of doubt, Liliera utters a word of bosoli and denial.

"I didn't stop it, I was stopped."

That was true.

Salval's unleashed spear was completely stopped from moving, sandwiched by two fingers stretched out by Tyran.

"Unbelievable. I stopped the spear with my finger... ⁉"

"How could that happen..."

To the sight, Megli and Lune make their eyes black and white.

"Ku ⁉⁉⁉R"

And when Tyran moves his hand, he's pulled by it and Salval breaks the balance.

The move totally ignored the weight of Salval, as if he didn't exist.

I mean, how can I pull that off?

And as Tyran threw Salval directly above each spear, his salval appearance rose high in the sky.

"Wow!

"" "" Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh "" ""

The screams of the thrown salval overlap with the surprise voices of the audience watching it.

And Salval's appearance, thrown over the sky, is getting smaller and smaller.

"Oh, come on... how far up are you going ⁉ ●"

"I mean, is that athlete okay?

An audience that was nearby raises a bewildered voice at how Salval is still rising.

Yeah, I know exactly how that feels.

Every time we were surprised by what Lex did...

"Well, maybe that athlete..."

"" "" Whoa, 8265; ""

And when I was thinking about it, it seemed like Salval, who rose up in the sky, was starting to fall.

"They're coming down."

"I thought I'd fly right up to the clouds."

With Salvar's appearance getting a little closer, the people who thought he was going to disappear just like that raise their voices of relief.

To be honest, it's obviously a sloppy relief, but there's no point in that being the case if you can show me this sight.

"By the way, how does that land?

The audience raises questions.

"Huh? That's usually off my feet... ah"

and that's where the other audience realizes their questionable intentions speak up.

"Oh, hey, isn't that bad?

Yeah, if you stay like this, if you land on the ground, you're gonna be in a lot of trouble at the drop speed.

Specifically, there's bright red blood on it that feels like I dropped an egg on the ground...

"That seriously sucks ⁉R"

We panic about what we should do when we realize the gravity of the matter.

Salval won't be able to fly magically like us, and I'm pretty sure that Tyran is, but if he's who we expected him to be, it's possible he doesn't realize that Salval can't land the worst.

"If this happens, we can just break into the stage and help..."

We didn't want to stand out before our own game, but we don't have a choice for boulders.

"Take it."

That's when Liliera screamed so loud that it sounded all over the venue.

Of course that opponent is not us or the audience.

"Ah⁉⁉⁉⁉⁉⁉⁉⁉⁉⁉\

Tyran moves, the opponent who was thrown words by Liliera.

As Tyran moves directly beneath the falling Salval, he opens his hands and prepares to receive him.

"Good, if this is... oh, but is it okay to accept someone falling from that height?

Even if that's what they took, I'm afraid we're both sorry for free. At least you're falling...

……

When I thought about it, I suddenly noticeably slowed down Salval's fall rate.

"What? ⁉ Suddenly it's late. ⁉

The audience shouts surprise at the sudden slowing down of Salval's fall rate.

"Could it be... magic?

The moment Salval's fall rate slowed, he felt his magic fill the game stage.

I think he probably did some sort of magic to slow down the fall.

"But I've never heard of magic like that."

Maybe that was his original magic.

And the fact that you can use such magic means that Tyran's identity...

And when Tyran takes Salval, he gently puts him to sleep on the ground.

Salval seems to be fainting, and there's no sign of Pickle moving either.

"... eh"

Tyran immediately kneels down on one knee and puts his hand on Salval's neck to see what it is.

I think he's probably checking to see if he's hurt badly.

And was it okay, when Tyran moved his shoulder, he sent a gesture that he was alive making circles with his fingers toward the referee.

"Uh... Sa, Salval player. Per stun, winner Tiran!

……

Even though the referee declared the winner, the venue remained surrounded by silence.

And when Salval and Tiran's figure, carried from the game stage to the attendant, disappear behind the venue, the sighs begin to leak from the audience as to whether the thread of tension has slowly been broken.

And...

"" ""... what is it now? ""

A surprising voice by the audience, finally recognizing reality, wooded the venue.

"That's Lex's disguise."

"Yeah, definitely"

It's easy to tell if you're in disguise.

On second thought, if Rex fights, even if he's disguised, he'll know in one shot, right?

We're even fighting a hell of a fight.

It's natural that disguised doesn't change the way you fight, does it?

Well, I never thought I'd join you in that noticeable armor.

You said you didn't usually want to stand out.

"... you're not gonna tell me you made that armor yourself, are you?