Chapter 103 Escaping The Past [1]

"Are you guys coming or not?"

Oooooooooo-

At my words, someone jumped down and started running toward me. Following him, more and more people came down.

'Hmm? Isn't that guy….'

The person who was first to jump down and at the forefront of the pack felt familiar. He had thick arms, thicker than my waist, and a hammer at his back.

'Taco Bell!'

He was that Taco Bell guy who tried to loot Miller and me.

(Don't you mean 'Alpanko Taco'?)

'It the same'

I used [Appraisal] and swept my eyes at the rushing crowd.

'I knew it.'

The majority of the crowd that was greedily rushing to kill me had Evil dispositions.

Then again, it would have been weird if the people, who were screaming in joy, watching the massacre that happened in the 1st round, had Lawful disposition.

Behind the oncoming aura users, mages were weaving their spells.

I tapped at the round object hidden deep inside my robes and whispered.

"Can you use [Anti-Magic Field] at my signal?"

-Gru

-Gru –Gru

"Yes, yes, I'll give a name first thing after the tournament ends."

The baby golem couldn't use [Anti-Magic Field] passively like the 3-star 'Beginner' golem and had a short range.

But in exchange, only magic above rank 3 can be used in its range.

In the novel, it was shown that it was a very big feat to be able to use rank 3 magic at Iota rank. It was impossible for Iota-rank t-

Vrroooom-

The mana in the surroundings churned, and a magic circle formed above the stadium.

I looked at the magic circle that was almost half the size of the stadium and blinked stupidly.

"W..what is that magic circle? Why is it so big!?"

"Rank 4…It is a Rank 4 magic!"

Sweating profusely, I looked at the battle slave and used [Appraisal] on her.

'Please be lower level than me.'

I sighed in relief after reading her status window and then pondered about her mentioned race.

'Half beasthuman and quarter-elf? But even this doesn't explain why she can use rank 4 magic.'

Elves have superior magic abilities, but they use spirit magic. They don't have any racial advantage with normal magic other than their large mana reserves.

"Boss, let's run."

I waved my hand, signaling Miller to get away.

The beast-human mage was Lvl.12. Her attack might be fatal for an Enma-rank, but I didn't need to worry about it.

"<Drowning Dawn>"

The giant fireball descended toward me.

At the same time, innumerable spells were also released.

VOOOSH-!

I tapped the ball inside my coat, and it thumped.

An energy pulse shot out from the baby golem and formed the anti-magic field around me.

I also activated my skill.

"[Golden Turtle]"

Immediately, a transparent golden shell, the shape of a turtle, appeared around me.

The magic barrage reached me.

BOOOOM-!

The fireball clashed against my shield, making it quake, and sparks flew into the air.

My skill started devouring my ether reserves hungrily.

I almost fell when I suddenly lost a large portion of ether at once.

Gritting my teeth, I stood straight. If I showed a weakness here, then everything will become a waste of time.

-Grrruuuu!

The baby golem was also striving to maintain the [Anti-Magic Field].

I flared my ether reserves to maintain the skill and looked at the spells.

Mana bullets, ice lance, fire bolts, and every spell that entered the baby golem's range lost its power and dissolved in itself after having their spell formula destroyed.

To an amateur eye, it would look like the spells were turning into dust.

Both of us struggled to maintain the barriers and burned our energy reserves faster and faster.

Thankfully, there were no other surprises.

A series of explosions occurred after the dozens of spell formulas broke down and defected.

Huffing, I covered us with a thin ether layer. This layer wasn't useful in combat, but it could, at the least, block the dust from sticking to us.

"Good job."

I patted the baby golem while trying to bring my breathing under control.

In response, it snuggled closer to me and, being exhausted, fell asleep.

I slowly calmed my erratic breathing control and stood straight.

My performance was yet to be complete.

"Is that all?"

The dust cleared up and everyone was dumbstruck, seeing as how I was unharmed.

Amidst the silence, I slowly walked-because I was too tired-to the group of attackers.

"Then it's my turn."

'[Domination Decree]'

I felt an intangible pressure exploding outwards from me. In a few seconds, the pressure covered the entire stadium.

"Kneel."

-Bam! –Bam! –Bam!

The people, against their will, started kneeling.

"You want to evict me from the tournament?"

I gazed around myself.

"Know your place."

Looking at the surreal scene where almost everyone was kneeling to me, I inwardly nodded.

'The skill effect after leveling up is same as when I practiced it on Caim.'

Lvl.2 Domination decree could cover the entire stadium. Moreover, I wasn't even using the skill at full power.

Satisfied with my findings, I decided to leave.

*

"That was interesting."

Sitting on a throne at the highest point of the stadium was Sword maiden.

Her blood-red hairs, contrasting with her beautiful white skin, flowed down like rivers of blood and gave her the image of a predator.

With her eyes, similarly blood red, she stared at the retreating figure of Nathan.

Behind her were standing her two most trusted bodyguards.

One was a woman carrying a katana on her waist. Despite being the personal guard of the Sword maiden, she was standing with a slumped posture. Not even bothering to fix her posture, she kept yawning.

The other one was more refined compared to the woman. His grey-white hair and golden monocle accented his black tuxedo as he stood straight.

Wooooooooo-

The three of them overlooked the crowd that started going wild at Nathan's performance.

"What do you make of him?"

"Irregular"

The old man was about to answer his master, but the katana-carrying woman interjected.

For some reason, the old man flared at her answer.

"Irregular?! Do you understand the weight of that title? He might have shown some abilities, but it's too early to judge."

The old man was berating the woman, not because of her answer, but because he didn't like her. For him, her lethargic attitude was a stain on the dignity of their noble job of guarding the young miss.

While they were quarreling- it was only the old man- the commentator finally announced Nathan.

"It seems we have another dark horse, one who might surpass our every expectation. I don't think I need to describe him after all of us just witnessed his feat that will go down in the history of mankind. The one who easily shook off the rank 4 magic and made everyone surrender to him with just one word. Mr. Pepe!"

The crowd that was shouting at the top of their lungs, the old man who was berating his fellow guard, the people who were watching the match on their devices outside the stadium, everyone shut up.

They dumbly stared at the commentator. Only a single thought popped into their mind.

Did we hear that correctly? He registered himself with the name 'Mr. Pepe'?

"Pfft-Hahahahaha!"

Sword maiden, who hadn't spoken since the beginning, burst into laughter. She was laughing so hard that tears came down the corner of her eyes.

"If he was going to show off as much as he did, why did he register as 'Mr. Pe..p-Pfft Hahahahaha"

"M-miss…"

The woman was left baffled when she saw Sword Maiden Iris, laughing her head off. She didn't remember when was the last time she saw her master smile, much less laugh so heartily.

"Miss, this is the matchup for the second round."

The old man, with his vast experience, was able to recompose himself quickly and smiled warmly at his young miss.

Iris, suppressing her laughter, took the list from his hand.

She gave the list one look and jumped down to the stadium.

The height from where she jumped was 500 feet above the ground, but the woman and old man stood collected, as if the fall of 500 feet was nothing to be afraid of.

Iris' body tore through the air and reached the ground quickly.

Tap-

At the last second, her descent slowed down considerably, and she gently landed.

-SWORD MAIDEN! SWORD MAIDEN! SWORD MAIDEN!-

The crowd started cheering at her appearance. The cheering she received easily put down the cheering every participant received- combined- to shame.

Iris grabbed the air as if gripping the handle of the sword and tapped the tip of the invisible sword on the ground.

Plop-

The drop of a water droplet falling echoed and suddenly, the noises stopped. The cheering, the clapping, the fireworks at the entry of Sword Maiden, everything became devoid of sound.

The world suddenly lost 'sound' itself.

Unbothered by the silence, Iris read the match-up list.

"1. Unmatchable Kaiser Tristan v/s Deathblow

2. Battle slave mage v/s Aestrix

3. Shooter Sie v/s Impenetrable Imora

4. Battle slave….."

*

"6. Milky Miller v/s Vile Reaper

7. Rumbling Yato v/s Silent Creeper

8. Mr. Pepe v/s Mother Mash"

The Sword maiden announced the match-ups for the second round. But I didn't, no, I couldn't focus on that.

My breathing became erratic and my chest tightened.

That face, that tone, that attitude, everything was the same as I remembered.

"L..ily?"

Unbearable pain shot out from my heart, and I collapsed.