"The prestigious Royal Capital Martial Arts Festival — in the final match, the unknown Alisa has gone missing, so... No, wait! Her opponent is the mercenary Hector, holder of the title
'Pride'!
If Alisa wins, it'll be the first time in decades that a mere commoner claims victory!"
Same sloppy announcing as always.
But he never forgets to rile up the crowd against commoners.
Standing across from me is a mercenary decked out in gaudy armor.
A contemptuous sneer played across his face —
pure mockery —
but at the same time, those sharp eyes were fixed right on me.
"So this brat is my opponent... I knew that 'Speed of Sound' Sonics guy was a premature finisher, but are the rest of these guys even weaker? That 'absolutely do not lose' order is pissing me off too. I'll beat the crap out of these nobles after this."
A sword bigger than he is tall — what do you even call that thing?
He holds a two-handed sword — the kind that would be named something like "Dragon Slayer" — in a proper combat stance.
The way he handles it casually at his side like an ordinary sword instead of hauling it over his shoulder — that's some otherworldly strength for you.
"He's a different type from Mist... seems tough."
"Mist, huh? Don't you dare lump me in with that sneaky little backstabbing weasel. He's dead, by the way."
Is there some history between them?
Well, whatever.
"Fireball!"
A preemptive strike to start things off.
I conjured a fireball large enough to engulf me and hurled it.
"!! I'll cut right through this thing!"
The greatsword came crashing down.
The fireball split cleanly in two.
Or so it should have — but the moment the blade made contact, the fireball detonated, scorching Hector.
After the explosion subsided, Hector stood there smoldering and emitting wisps of smoke.
He endured it?
I'd held back, but his mithril armor really did put up strong resistance against magic as expected.
"'Pride' doesn't work, you say..."
Hector couldn't hide his surprise, but he immediately leveled his greatsword toward me without letting his guard down.
Something felt off about that.
No matter how you sliced it, his recovery was far too fast right after taking a direct hit.
Hector's [Pride] nullified all damage from those beneath him, but he had clearly taken damage from that last attack, so it hadn't activated.
Then Hector came charging at me, swinging his greatsword wildly.
A storm of slashes that would mince me to bits was headed my way.
As I moved to counter with magic, I felt a light impact from behind.
This was... a wind magic spell? [Silent]?
It had no effect on me, thanks to my [Complete Status Ailment Resistance].
Tracing the magical traces with Perfect Research, I discovered that someone among the spectators had been disrupting me — and that the reason Hector recovered so quickly was because there was a hidden support healer.
In that case, my course of action was decided.
First, I dodged Hector's charge by floating into the air.
What let me float was the highest-tier Wind Magic, [
Clear Gale
Magic]'s "Float."
Then, using [Perfect Research] to identify the bastard who had cast Silent on me, I hit them with [Clear Gale Magic]'s "Core Silent."
Unlike the regular "Silent" that temporarily prevents someone from using magic, this one's effects last almost permanently.
That's because maintaining the effect drains the target's own mana.
Once they grow old and their mana runs low, it'll probably wear off.
They were flapping their mouth open and shut, but they could no longer cast magic.
She was a red-haired ponytailed magician with nice features, but once she couldn't use magic anymore, she'd probably end up in a brothel.
And then there was the other one.
The one who had healed Hector was a cleric in white robes.
Using [Reverse] on their
h
e
a
l
i
n
g
to
re
verse
it.
I strike Hector with magic from above—he couldn't find me after I vanished from his sight in an instant.
"Ice Ball!"
I drop a ball of ice, roughly the size of my own body, from above.
Hector noticed it, but it was already too late.
He blocks by laying his greatsword flat, but once again, Hector takes heavy damage.
◇◇◇◇◇◇
Skills: [Reverse][Divine Eye][Sword God][Gentleman Thief][Dark Magic][Rock-Iron Magic][Holy Magic][Spacetime Magic][Scorching Magic][Frost Magic][Magic Hand][Seduction][Pain Relief][Complete Ailment Resistance][Fire Spirit's Protection][Phantom Demon][Gale Thunder][Shadow Spirit's Protection][Superhuman Strength][Thunder God Blade][Good Fortune][Clear Gale Magic]
Rank: Silver (Alisa: Gold)
Thank you for reading, as always 😊