Chapter 117: The Amazing Newcomers

◆ Liliera◆

Participating in the next qualifier match were Mina, Meguri, and Ryune, the three of them.

While surprised that all of them were called, the three looked at each other and nodded.

That was a silent signal to form a team.

And with the referee’s signal, the contestants started moving.

The aim was Mina; contestants attacked her, who was visibly a mage at a glance.

“Take this!”

However, Mina, who had sensed it beforehand, strengthened her body with Body Enhancement Magic and escaped the encirclement with a large leap.

“Wh-What!?”

“What agility!? Wasn’t she a mage!?”

Surprised by Mina breaking through the encirclement with unexpected agility, the contestants’ attention concentrated on her.

But that was a mistake.

“Got you.”

“Opening found!”

“KYAAAAAAA!!”

Meguri, who had erased her presence, and Ryune, who was pretending to target Mina, launched a surprise attack on the contestants focused on Mina.

The contestants who received the unexpected surprise attack had their consciousness reaped in a single blow.

Targeting opponents who seemed skilled first, those two are quite ruthless.

And at the same time the contestants’ attention shifted to Meguri and Ryune, Mina activated chantless magic.

“Side Burst!”

Wind magic creating a storm-like gust was released, blowing contestants out of the arena.

Knowing beforehand that Mina wouldn’t miss this opening, Meguri and Ryune immediately deployed left and right to dodge the direct hit of the magic, further thrusting their weapons into the arena stage to brace themselves from being blown away.

Ah, I see. That’s why Mina used wind-type magic with low lethality.

Thus, after the effect of Mina’s magic wore off, only 3 people remained on the arena stage.

…Ah, luckily there are 3 contestants at the edge of the stage.

Two of them are… ah, the two who spoke to us before the match started.

Remaining 6 people, now who will be the last dropouts?

“…Umm, I forfeit.”

Just when I thought that, the unknown contestant among the remaining 3 jumped off the arena stage with a pale face, trembling.

“Ouch!”

Perhaps she was in too much of a hurry, she fell when she landed, but the height difference with the arena stage is only about 1 meter, so it’s not a major injury.

“M-Match over!”

The referee, stunned by Mina’s magic, came to his senses and immediately declared the end of the match.

“Yeah, well, a result as expected.”

Looking at the arena stage, Mina and the others were high-fiving, rejoicing in passing the qualifiers.

“It’s still qualifiers, so they shouldn’t let their guard down, though.”

However, I can understand their feelings.

It’s their first martial arts tournament, after all.

“Now then, I wonder how Rex and the others are doing?”

No, well, I’m not worried about Rex even in a million years, but I’m a little worried about the other two.

“Especially that priest boy over there…”

After all, he’s the most normal kid in that intense lineup.

◆ Jairo◆

“Number 77!”

“Oh, you were called, Norb.”

“Y-Yeah.”

Called by the referee, Norb went up to the arena stage looking tense.

Geez, he’s too scared.

“Look at that kid, he’s stiff as a board.”

“Why is a priest participating in the qualifiers?”

“Who knows, but he’ll be targeted first and drop out.”

“I envy the guys fighting that kid. It’s practically one less rival.”

Nearby, other contestants are laughing at Norb.

“Those old men don’t get it at all.”

That’s right, they don’t understand Norb‘s strength at all.

“Match BEGIN!”

“Oops, almost missed the match.”

After all, this match is super important to me too.

“Hyahha! Small fry, exit quickly!”

“Hii!?”

Immediately, Norb is attacked by surrounding contestants.

Scared by the opponent’s intensity, Norb froze and couldn’t run away.

And the contestants’ weapons struck Norb.

“Well, he’s fine though.”

“Heheh, too easy, this ki… d?”

“Wh-What?”

The contestants who attacked Norb raised voices of confusion.

“I-I was surprised~”

Norb voiced his relief.

“What? Why did they stop attacking?”

Those watching the match nearby tilted their heads at the sudden stop of attacks on Norb.

“Wrong. They didn’t stop attacking.”

That’s right, the contestants didn’t stop attacking.

“They were stopped.”

The contestants’ attacks were completely blocked by Norb‘s defense magic.

“Heeeey Norb, counterattack quickly!”

“Y-Yeah!”

When I called out, Norb, remembering it’s currently a match, swung the mace in his hand and attacked the large contestant in front of him.

“Hah, a weak attack from a kid like you won’t wor- gobah!?”

The contestant who received Norb’s attack with a laugh was blown away.

And when his huge body hit the ground, he convulsed twitchily and fainted.

“S-Sorry! I overdid it!”

Panicking, Norb rushed to the fainted contestant and immediately used recovery magic.

Well, looks like he just fainted, so he’s probably not dead.

“…Tsk.”

The guys targeting Norb stepped back in confusion, but perhaps thinking it was a chance now that he was concentrating on recovery magic, they attacked all at once again.

“Die, monster kid!”

“Eh?”

Everyone’s attacks struck Norb‘s crown.

“H-How about this… !?”

The faces of the contestants who thought they got him this time distorted miserably.

“Wh-What are you doing~”

“Hiiii!? Why isn’t it working!?”

Hahaha, those guys are seriously scared.

After all, Norb’s equipment is defense-specialized, as Big Bro said.

Norb isn’t good at moving quickly like us, so he apparently consulted with Big Bro and decided to block enemy attacks by increasing defense power.

Actually, Norb‘s attribute is earth, which is suited for defense, so when using Body Enhancement Magic, he has the highest defense among us.

Norb’s clothes look like normal priest robes at a glance, but they are apparently special clothes made by mixing powder of various dragon scales and thread made from the bark of a giant tree monster called Ancient Plant.

…Or rather, Big Bro can make clothes too.

Seriously, Big Bro can do anything, amazing!

Big Bro said the priest robes, which also have magic items to increase magic defense and whatnot attached, can withstand dragon breath too.

Supposedly it’s okay even if he enters magma or something.

I don’t know what magma is, but if Big Bro says so, it must be amazing.

“This time it’s my turn! Earth Bind!”

Norb, having finished treating the fallen contestant, activated magic, and suddenly the ground around Norb began to ripple and grabbed the feet of the surrounding contestants.

“Wh-What is this!?”

“Here I go!”

Norb swung his mace, and the contestants, sensing danger, tried to escape, but having their feet grabbed, they failed to escape and were blown away by a direct hit from Norb‘s attack.

Yes, this is the killer fighting style Big Bro thought up for the slow Norb: the strategy of catching them so they can’t run and then attacking!

The contestants whose feet were sealed by Norb‘s magic were blown away by Norb‘s mace one after another.

“Th-That kid is dangerous!?”

The guys who finally realized Norb’s strength started targeting other contestants.

It seems they thought it was better to defeat other contestants and be chosen as the 5 qualifiers rather than fight Norb.

“But Norb ain’t the only dangerous one.”

“…”

“Uwah!? What is this guy!? What strength with bare hands!?”

Over there, a masked, excessively bulky contestant grabs other contestants with bare hands and throws them out of the arena.

Seriously, amazing muscles on that guy.

“Haa!!”

Over there, a bucket-helm contestant was fighting evenly or better against surrounding contestants with dual wield.

“Che, I wanted to participate in this match too.”

My match didn’t have any big shots, but this one is full of interesting guys, I’m envious.

“Especially that one is amazing.”

I look at the fourth person among the contestants fighting together with Norb.

That guy is a contestant clad entirely in black: black armor, black helmet, black sword, and black cape.

That contestant’s movement sharpness is clearly a cut above other contestants, and when he moves, the red lining of the cape flutters like flames.

Undoubtedly, that guy is the strongest here.

“Ah- seriously I wanna participate too.”

And as expected, the match ended with 5 people remaining: Norb, the mask, the bucket helm, the contestant in all-black armor, and lastly another contestant hiding their face.

“Or rather, it’s nothing but guys hiding their faces. Is that style popular?”

“With this, all qualifier matches are concluded! The main tournament is in two days! Contestants, make sure to prepare well by then!”

Thus, the qualifiers for the Dragon Emperor Rite and Dragon Princess Rite ended safely.

Well then, I’m looking forward to the main tournament!

◆ Nobles of the Royal Capital ◆

“I hear the qualifiers for the Dragon Emperor Rite have ended.”

A comrade announced the report from a subordinate hidden in the town of Tatsutron.

“So what happened? Was the Dragon Emperor‘s identity revealed?”

“No, not yet, apparently.”

“Then the probability that the Dragon Emperor is participating in the main tournament is high. How many of our assassins were able to participate in the main tournament?”

“…”

For some reason, the comrade frowned and remained silent.

“What’s wrong? How many participated in the main tournament?”

We had a massive number of assassins participate in the qualifiers.

In the unlikely event we couldn’t dispose of the Dragon Emperor in the qualifiers, we planned to fill all the contestants participating in the main tournament with assassins except for the Dragon Emperor.

For that purpose, we had only skilled assassins participate.

So that no outsiders would mix in even by mistake.

“…Three.”

“What!?”

Impossible, too few!

“Only 3 assassins were able to participate in the main tournament.”

What does this mean!? The assassins who participated in the Dragon Emperor Rite were all elites who underwent top-class training!?

There’s no way those assassins would lose to half-baked adventurers!

“Apparently, there were several ridiculously strong contestants in the qualifiers.”

Ridiculously strong contestants!?

Did the opposing faction send soldiers to protect the Dragon Emperor!?

But their subordinates shouldn’t have had powerful individuals to that extent!

“Also…”

“Also?”

Is there still something else!?

“Because the number of assassins we had participate in the qualifiers was too large, the allocation of contestants was done by lottery. And by chance, the assassins we sent ended up participating in the same matches…”

“OH…”

What a thing.

The assassins we sent were annihilated by fighting each other…