Volume 13 - CH 16

The match in the arena.

Jouga won the semi-final match with flying colors.

However, because his strategy was to "let the flesh cut the bone," the damage he sustained was so great that he had to be stopped by the doctor for participate the final.

It would have been nice if there had been another way to do it, but Jouga looked happy, and as long as he was happy, that was all that mattered.

There's always next year's tournament in the arena. If you don't give up on your dream, your dreams will continue as they are.

The problem is the final match with the "Mad King" this time.

I thought it would be fine to have a no-win situation, but the king insisted on having an exhibition match.

As expected, it's not good for the king to challenge himself to a final match, so either I or Sarah will have to take his place.

Well, I'm sure Sarah can do it, so as long as she agrees to do it, it's all settled.

But...

「Ah, soorry~, that's impossible, even if Alec who asks me!」

Before I could tell her what I was asking, Sarah refused.

That's bad luck.

「You have a hunch?」

「Yeah. I had a really bad feeling about this. So, what were you going to ask for?」

「The king's plan was to have a proxy fight against the Mad King since none of the candidates are qualified for the finals.」

「Ah.」

「So you're saying he win by default?」

Lunette confirms.

「That's right. He doesn't like it. He even offered to participate on his own.」

「What? He's, well, he's the King, isn't he?」

Sierra asks in a low voice, afraid of her surroundings, but there are no soldiers here.

「That's right. It's that annoying King Freedom.」

「Then why don't you just leave him alone, Alec?」

Sarah laughs and says, but it doesn't work that way. The king seemed to be drunk, and it would be no fun for me if he lost his life here.

「No, that would indeed be a bad idea.」

It's not me, it's the burly Jamie, she says with concern.

「Really? I don't think Kei-chan will get hit too soon, and I think the ref will stop it in the middle of the game.]」

If it's just a casual match, Sarah said, it's possible that the king will say, "Well, I give up, I give up, I'm going to do it", to the Mad King.

But I'm sure King Caius will be taking this challenge seriously this time. If he is serious and loses, he may not mind, but there will be ministers and nobles who are concerned about his reputation. That's where the trouble lies.

And above all, there is the danger of death. I know that he's very skilled and high level.

「No, Sarah, the king can't lose in front of so many people.」

Lunette seemed to be concerned and said with a difficult face.

「Hmmm, if Lunette says so, I guess I have no choice. What should I do?」

「Well, I'll do it.」

「Master......」

Meena is worried about me. If it's me, I'm confident I won't die even if I'm beaten to a pulp.

「Why don't you just use Serina for that? Huh, she's not here?」

Letty says, looking around the balcony, but it's rather dangerous because Serina has sealed her【Starlight Attack】in this arena.

In fact, she has lost to Ione.

「Ah, then, I'll go find her and call her.」

Thalia was smart enough to leave the VIP box seats, but that guy Serina, I don't know what she's doing now that her own match is over.

She could tell we were here by looking at the audience from the ring. She's got good eyesight, too. Ione is not back either.

「Sarah, I'm going to go look for Serina and the others. You're taking care of these guys, right?」

Jamie, the female warrior, said.

「Yes, but, Jamie, is there something on your mind?」

「Yes. I was downstairs when I saw Zorome's men talking to Serina. I gave them a quick glare and they just disappeared.」

Zorome. That's a name I don't know.　

「Eehh?」

「Oh dear. ......」

「I wonder if they're up to something again.」

Sarah and the others looked each other with a mixture of disgust and confusion.

「Who is this Zorome guy?」

I asked.

「She's a woman. But ...」

「「「 She's nasty fellow 」」」

Sarah's party said together, their faces contorted.

You seem to hate her so much.

But that doesn't really tell us what kind of guy she is.

Lunette added.

「She's like the head of the marketers in the arena here. However, since she had a dispute with us before, she should no longer be in control. ......」

「That's right. Well, I'm sure Serina'll be fine.」

「Hmm, well, I don't think she'll get beat up.」

Sarah's way of agreeing with me is also uncomfortable.

「Meena, just make sure to warn the clan members not to jump on the bandwagon. You can do that through the leader.」

「All right, Master, I'll tell them.」

「Okay, then, I'm off to the finals. Cheer for me.」

「Good luck, Alec.」

I was sent off with a smile by Sarah and the others, and headed downstairs to the ring.

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇

「Well, here we are, the 507th Grand Sword final match! In the finals, the familiar "Mad King" versus the master of the "Black Cat of the Wind", Alec!!!」

「Uwoooooohhhhhhh!!!!」

「He's finally come out, that bastard!」

「Hurry up and die!」

「Pull back!」

「Good luck, Alec!」

「All right, I've been waiting for you!」

The crowd's cheering got even louder, but somehow I heard who's want to me die. Well, I guess it's the envy of someone who's betting against the Mad King. I don't care about that.

But the commentator on the actual situation, it's like I'm the villain.

I glanced at the live seat table next to it, and then looked back at the ring.

In front of me, the "Mad King" has been preparing himself for a while now.

He's a big guy in full plate and full face armor. In his hand is a long halberd that looks like the scythe of a god of death.

As expected, there is a sense of intimidation as he had crushed many A-rankers.

And ...... what's with this ominous feeling?

It's a similar feeling to when I confronted that dark dragon.

「Let's get begin!」

The big gong rang out, and before I could prepare myself, the match had begun.

「Grrrrr!」

The "Mad King" roared like a beast, but unlike the previous matches, he didn't charge in.

As expected, this guy seems to sense my strength by instinct.

「What's the matter, Mad King? If you won't come at me, I'll come at you.」

I held my shortsword directly in front of me and dashed in.

「Gauh!」

Contrary to my expectations, the Mad King didn't hunt me with his halberd, but he did catch my shortsword and guarded it.

I'm tempted to just keep pushing and pushing, but I don't want to have a power struggle with this guy.

No matter how resilient and hero I am, we're too different in size, and I've already seen what this guy can do.

Instead, I'll use my technique and speed to toss him around.

Quickly, I walked around to the left side of the Mad King. He's right-handed, so he can't launch a powerful attack unless he swings to the left side of his body as I see it.

So, I use my positioning to block it first.

「Gah!」

The "Mad King" reacts quickly and changes his direction. However, he is wearing this huge body and tough armor. It doesn't matter how much power he has, he can't move that easily.

「I got it! Let's make the first move!」

On the other hand, I swung my shortsword with enough swing to hit him in the waist.

Screech! My sword made a loud metallic sound, but damn, his armor looked like rough stone, but it was metal.

It was also very hard.

I was able to scratch his armor, so it wasn't so bad that I couldn't stand him, but this was a disadvantage for me.

「Guahhh!」

The shivering "Mad King" must not have taken much damage, but he showed a lot of anger.

「Whoops!」

He tried to crush me with his body without swinging his weapon, so I backed away and backstepped to get a safe distance.

「Whoaa! Alec ducked this time, after a valiant attack! This time, he dodges! He's more than a match for the Mad King. This is amazing!」

The audience and the commentator have raised the voltage even higher, but I don't think the Mad King is capable of anything like this.

The danger is his rush, so I have to stay ahead of him and not let him attack.

Even if he does, I should immediately move out of range and cut off his attack.

With this in mind, I switched to my magic attack this time.

There were many spectators watching the game. Some of them were probably planning to PK me.

So, if possible, I don't want to show my hand too much,......, but I can't be so lenient with the previous winner of the match.

「Eat this, "Mad King!" Ja, ja, ja, ja, ja, ja, ja, ja, ja, ja, ja, ja, ja, ja, ja, ja, Javelin」

Unleashes a series of magical attacks with high-speed chanting. It's a 【Super high-speed tongue Lv5】.

A furious barrage of ice spears flew from my left hand like a shooting game.

All of them hit the target.

In the blink of an eye, the body of the "Mad King" is covered in thick ice.

「Gaaaaaah!」

However, as I had expected, the Mad King was also strong against magic.

If he was a normal person, his HP would have been exhausted by now, but he didn't care, he shattered the ice wall with all his might and came out.

「Whoa! What the hell was that? Countless ice spears attacked the "Mad King" like a rainstorm! I have no idea what kind of magic this is, but it's an incredibly advanced form of magic! Is this the power of the "Black Cat of the Wind"?」

The Ice Javelin itself is an intermediate level magic, though.　

「Hmm?」

During the game, I was curious about a light that came from a completely different direction than the "Mad King".

What is that?