Ch.181Match (2)

Time flowed on, reaching the middle of the competition.

Out of 37 participants, 22 had dropped out, but 8 recovered and rejoined. Currently, exactly 23 people remained in the arena.

Among these 23, Lady Atra Valerie, who had never once left the arena for any reason, had just defeated 2 opponents in fierce battles and was now taking a brief rest while observing the battlefield…

From Lady Atra Valerie’s perspective, the current state of battle was, unsurprisingly, being dominated by Lord Camille de Alzar.

-Swoosh—Fwoosh!!

Specifically, by freely manipulating 12 diamond-shaped blades floating around him.

Honestly, Lady Atra Valerie couldn’t understand how Lord Camille de Alzar could handle such weapons with such proficiency.

She couldn’t comprehend the principle behind attacking by spreading these non-humanoid weapons—whose propulsion mechanism was a mystery—in all directions, as if he had eyes on the back of his head.

In truth, weapons similar to the blades Lord Camille de Alzar wielded were surprisingly common.

How many people wished to manipulate weapons without touching them with their hands, and how many warriors desired to compensate for their lack of ranged attack capabilities even if they couldn’t handle such weapons skillfully?

Thus was developed a weapon system that imbued blades with the “Dance of Blades” magic, allowing them to be remotely controlled through mental commands.

However, contrary to the developers’ confident assertions that this weapon system would present a new paradigm, the actual implementation of blades imbued with the “Dance of Blades” magic had countless flaws.

For example, the most representative issue was insufficient power. Of the aura transmitted remotely, sending 10 units would barely result in 3 units being applied. The speed and power also fell far short of what a warrior could achieve by wielding a weapon directly.

That’s not to say it was impossible to raise the performance to match direct wielding, but at that point, another problem arose: efficiency.

If one deliberately tried to control them freely, even an intermediate warrior with high combat endurance would be gasping from magical depletion after just 5 minutes.

Particularly, as the blades moved farther from the body, efficiency dropped even more drastically, to the point where one could become exhausted in just 1 minute.

Even these issues were nothing compared to the difficulty of control that would be mentioned later.

While it was said that “one could control them with thought,” these weapons, which picked up even the slightest stray thoughts with each attempt to swing them, were not the type that humans with normal brain structures could operate.

In other words, only someone who could proficiently perform different tasks with each hand might barely be able to handle a single blade…

Yet Lord Alzar was using twelve such weapons, and even engaging in close combat occasionally!

Of course, how would Atra Valerie, a war-obsessed person from the countryside, know such detailed specifics?

Rather than information that wouldn’t be particularly helpful anyway, she was more focused on the weapon’s operational mechanism and Lord Alzar’s combat style.

‘…There’s a pattern.’

First, what she could be certain of was that Lord Alzar’s blade movements contained patterns that seemed unconscious.

The movement patterns, presumably formed because it would be too difficult to individually control all 12 blades, were clearly recognizable enough that one could generally understand how to respond to each situation by watching.

Of course, he seemed to switch to manual control when opponents got close enough, but even so, analyzing these patterns was far from useless.

On the other hand, regarding Lord Alzar’s pure skill apart from his blade control…

‘…He’s strong!’

How should she put it? He seemed to be powerful across the board without any weak points.

Close combat skills armed with solid fundamentals. Elite-level physical abilities. Superior close-combat weapons. Add to that his situational judgment abilities, which appeared to be at a considerable level, and his excellent magical capacity.

The characteristic of being in the upper tier in every aspect simply meant that there were few weaknesses for her to exploit.

But in truth, Lady Atra Valerie was overjoyed at the prospect of fighting such a formidable opponent.

And around the time she was thinking this, Camille de Alzar’s unrivaled onslaught was rapidly increasing the number of dropouts…

‘Focus, focus…’

While suppressing her rising competitive spirit as a warrior, Atra concentrated on understanding Camille’s combat patterns to find a path to victory.

After all, she couldn’t afford to waste this rare opportunity to battle such an overwhelmingly powerful opponent.

※ ※ ※

—Thud!

‘…Hmm.’

After knocking out a heavily armored lance knight who had charged at me with a left hook while holding my mace.

‘About seven left, I suppose?’

Myself, Hannah—who was participating in place of Corine—along with Droop Bazilit and the remaining four knights.

As we had agreed beforehand to treat our three-way internal battle like a final match, I was turning my head to find my next target when…

“…Oh?”

I spotted a rabbit beastkin warrior charging toward me, exuding a piercing presence.

In her hands were none other than two battle axes. She wore full plate armor like other knights, but also had fur draped around her, giving her a very feral appearance.

‘Go, blades.’

Regardless of who my opponent was, being in my 12th consecutive battle, I tried to do what I always did—move my 12 separated blades to slash at her from all directions…

—Bang!!!

‘…A gun?!’

Suddenly, she pulled a trigger hidden within her fur coat, and shotgun pellets—propelled by gunpowder that was clearly not ordinary—spread through the space, hindering the free movement of my blades.

“—Interference!”

Of course, interference was just interference. The blades, though momentarily restrained, were only delayed by half a beat before continuing to target the enemy precisely.

However, even a half-beat delay by intermediate standards could have a significant impact in actual combat, which was the most critical problem.

—Clang!!

Making full use of the advantage of dual-wielding, with one weapon in each hand, the rabbit beastkin warrior fearlessly deflected the blades that were approaching her half a beat slower while advancing forward.

Although the blades, which lacked cutting power against heavy armor, mostly aimed for predictable spots, actually anticipating and parrying each one was a different matter entirely.

‘…She’s strong.’

Thus, cautiously estimating that this warrior might be the strongest I had encountered in this arena so far, I quickly combined my blades into a shield formation in the air, reducing their size to three—

—Claaang!!

“Hahahahaha—!!!”

With a burst of laughter, she swung her twin axes, nearly matching the size of two-handed axes, and I naturally deflected her consecutive attacks with my arming sword while looking for an opportunity to counterattack.

But… something felt unusually light?

‘…Hmm?’

For someone who appeared to be a power type by all accounts, her strikes felt oddly light and empty. The force behind them was so minimal that they could be deflected effortlessly without much skill.

As I pondered this clearly abnormal situation with growing suspicion…

I finally realized I had been making a fundamental mistake.

Yes, that was it. I hadn’t recently experienced the effects of my own strength, but looking back, I had physical prowess that far transcended human limits.

Since acquiring this overwhelming strength was relatively recent, I hadn’t adjusted my combat approach, but in reality, the fighting styles required for the strong and the weak are naturally different.

So, I moved without hesitation.

“—Get lost.”

—Boom!!!

I stomped the ground hard with my foot, shaking the steel floor through a “true stance,” and since her posture was already unstable, she completely lost her balance.

—Whack!!!

The subsequent close-range attack with my mace struck her body directly. After coughing as if expelling air from her lungs, she collapsed to the ground, losing all strength.

And then—

‘…Huh?’

As I was secretly pleased about defeating one warrior and preparing to start the internal battle, I suddenly noticed my instincts sharply warning me of something.

A warning, an overwhelming warning. A clear and distinct warning of an approaching “enemy.”

Despite the intensity of this warning, there was no signal of mortal danger in the current situation. Realizing that someone among the participants in this competition must be hiding their true strength, I turned my head.

‘…Is that, a person.’

The person who entered my field of vision was someone I had encountered and seen several times before, yet had somehow remained outside my awareness, as if using some special technique.

And now, noticing my gaze, he pulled out a short single-edged blade from his breast—

‘—Huh? Advanced level?’