Chapter 217: Should I just forfeit, I wonder…?
The second set of matches have begun.
Probably because the first set was full of impressive fights already, there were now more people in the audience than yesterday.
For today’s first match, it was between Philia-san and another elf warrior. It was a fight between brethren, but Philia-san managed to win cleanly.
For the next match, it was between Balrath-san and Noel-kun. Both have been part of the hunting team since the early days.
“Shield Bash!”
From the qualifying rounds up to apparently now, Noel-kun have been fighting and winning by charging at his enemies with his shield.
“That gigantic shield guy, huh. Breaking his iron wall of a defense is annoying. Worse yet, he does that charging attack too.”
Raul commented so.
His analysis was based on experience. Back when he attacked the village, he received Noel-kun’s charging attack and was blown away.
The question now was how Balrath-san was going to handle this attack.
“Not every problem has to be tackled head on!”
…Balrath-san agilely ran around the ring.
“Oi! Fight already!”
“Stop running away!”
“You’re so lame!”
This rather passive way of fighting prompted a storm of booing from the audience.
On the other hand, Raul made a snort.
“Ha. It looks lame, sure, but that’s definitely one great way of countering that shield guy. If you take that charge on, never mind getting an attack in, you’ll just end up getting tackled.”
“But you have to attack to beat Noel-kun, right?”
“Not necessarily.”
“……?”
While wondering what Raul could have meant by that, I continued to watch the match. After a while it became clear: Noel-kun was gradually getting slower as he chased after Balrath-san.
“Noel-kun’s getting tired?”
“Of course, he’s tired. Look at the size of his shield, for crying out loud. An ordinary person wouldn’t even be able to walk with that thing, much less dash around like that.”
Perhaps judging that Noel-kun was tired enough, Balrath-san who has previously been devoted to evading, suddenly went on the offensive. In response, Noel-kun decided to push past his tiredness and charge once again toward Balrath-san.
“Shield Bash! …huh!?”
At the last moment, however, Balrath-san got out of the way and then positioned himself behind Noel-kun.
“Haaa!”
Balrath-san shouted like that as he swung his sword toward Noel-kun’s back.
*Gakiiiiin!!*
“““Ehh!?”””
Just when everybody thought the fight was over, we heard a metallic sound.
It was the sound of Balrath-san’s sword being stopped Noel-kun’s shield. Yes, Noel-kun managed to turn around at an unbelievable speed.
“Are you serious!?”
“Shield Bash!”
“Gah!?”
◇ ◇ ◇
Noel-kun advanced to the next set of matches.
The next one to advance was Gai-san, followed by Selen.
As for the fifth match, Gori-chan won.
After that, it was a fight between Perun-san and Alec-san.
Perun-san was a 26-year-old man who possessed the [Sword Techniques] Gift. He has been diligently training with Balrath-san. He has also been a part of the hunting team since its early days.
Meanwhile, Alec-san was an adventurer in the same party as Hazena-san. He possessed the [Greatsword Techniques] Gift. He was also among the few that were selected to participate in the exploration of the ruins the other day.
The match between the two has been the most enjoyable fight to watch thus far. After all, the two swordsmen both unleashed a flurry of slashes at each other.
Of course, due to the difference in the size of their swords, they employed different tactics. Still, their dizzying exchange of blows made the crowd erupt in a frenzy.
In the end though, Alec-san secured the victory.
After their match, they both shook hands and exchanged praises, fascinating the crowd up to the last moment.
When he left the stage, Alec-san seemed to have realized something.
“Wait…that means my next opponent is gonna be that pink macho person…should I just forfeit, I wonder…?”
For some reason, Alec-san didn’t seem to want to enter a fight against Gori-chan.
