Chapter 195 :

Episode 38 : Semifinals (1)

Back to where the tournament was held, every member of ‘The Rebels’ Guild, except clone HwanGi who was staying at the ice ship with an excuse of a test to protect the ship as to not let his identity of a clone be revealed.

Minus the real HwanGi who no one knows where he is.

Fluttering..

Alaine, who was sitting on an ice platform with the eliminated contestants, shifted her glance at the judges' direction. 

Before long, Raiden noticed his pupil's gaze as he turned to look immediately which startled Alaine a bit.

"Geez, sensei. Doesn't it hurt to turn your head that fast?" Uneased, Alaine groaned.

With a dynamic grin on Raiden's face, he waved his hand at Alaine. "Not really. I get to see my disciple after all!" 

"Boo. I wanna sit up there too."

"As much as I want you here, you're too curious sometimes, Alaine Kun."

"That..! I can't deny it since I'm a nosy person who wants to know everything about this place!"

"Haha, of course, you are. But you're also talkative just like me."

"You mean you're too enthusiastic?"

"I guess you could say that, yeah."

Nothing to say, Alaine thought for a second before taking a peek at the contestants below.

"Ah!" A curious question popped up. "Who is going to fight against Louis? Please tell me, sensei!"

"Well.. That's a bit of a no." Raiden sneaked a gaze at JoonChul for a little.

"Oh, oh! I get it! It wouldn't be exciting if you told me and then I told Louis about it? Right, right?"

"Ah, yes! That's what I meant to say!"

Chattering~

Raiden and Alaine, seemingly having a great time talking to each other, were interrupted by a third person.

"Rai, Rai~! It's time~! Stop getting distracted by your disciple." Mirai informed Raiden after nudging her elbow onto his.

"Sorry about this, Alaine Kun. I got to do my commentary." Raiden said with a faint frown hiding behind his grin because he couldn't talk to his pupil anymore.

Alaine, not noticing that, smiled. "Do your best, sensei! Make it sound as epic as possible!"

"Oh? Of course!" 

No more frown, Raiden had a full grin on his face as he stood up from his seat and began his commentary.

"Is everyone ready for the semifinals of our tournament?!" Raiden bawled out with exasperation. 

"The four people who were the winners from the quarterfinals, are Louis Antoine, Mya Rose, Noel Absolute and Noelle Absolute!"

"Who is going to fight who? We'll get to see once the match starts!"

Obviously, Raiden reminded the contestants about the rules again just to keep things straight.

"Unlike yesterday where we judge you through your actions, these will be just normal matches for today and tomorrow!"

"So there won't be any interruptions if you're fighting! Enjoy yourself and don't be aware of your surroundings! Just fight and battle until your opponent surrenders!"

"Also, one more thing. You cannot surrender without a fight. Either fight or get punched by me!"

That seemed like a threat to Louis..

And Louis knows that.

‘Did Alaine tell Raiden about the part where I was thinking about surrendering if I were to fight Mya?’ Louis groaned.

A bit anxious, Louis keeps his cool while peeking at Alaine who was whistling away as if she wasn't the one telling Raiden. 

Eventually, Louis sighed. ‘I'll never say anything about my plans to her ever again.. I should have known she would utter everything even if it's a secret.’

Splash!!

"Am I late?!" Someone shouted.

"Who..?" Everyone confused by the unexpected guest, except JoonChul and his comrades looked toward where the voice originated.

In the end, JoonChul was the one who spoke. "Stay there, I'll come pick you up, Ethel." 

"Savior! I'm glad to see you again and that you agreed to meet me!" Etheldreda exclaimed with a satisfied smile.

"Drop the savior nickname. Call me JoonChul instead." 

"But I can't do that to the one who saves my people from the invasion!"

"Drop it or I'll let there be an incursion to your kingdom."

"Eek..! Yes, I'll do my best, Sav—uh.. JoonChul."

"Excellent." 

Once they were done conversing, JoonChul had gotten to Etheldreda's side and had lifted up the turtle that carried Etheldreda, the mermaid.

‘No way I would carry her in a princess style.’ JoonChul scowled from his imagination.

Watching JoonChul and Etheldreda coming up the judges' place, Raiden continued where he left off.

"Okay! No more disturbances! Time for the match to proceed as planned! If I call out your name, please step forward while the rest whose names weren't called, get back to their ice containers!"

"Now then! First off, the starting contestants of this semifinals will be.."

Raiden made it sound so tense that the contestants beneath were on pins and needles.

Rustling…

After taking his sweet time, Raiden finally called out. "..Louis Antoine!!"

‘Please don't let it be Mya.. Please.. I really don't want to fight against her.’ Louis prayed inwardly as his body was stiff from the tension.

Louis' prayers were..

"Vs Mya Rose!!!"

..not granted.

"Mya..?" Devastated and couldn't believe it, and as the stiffness of his body felt rigid, Louis cried out. "Mon dieu!" 

* ( "Mon dieu" French → English "My god" )

Unbeknownst to Louis' dumbfounded expression, Mya came up to Louis with an eager smile. "I'm looking forward to it, brother Louis! P-Please don't hold back against me because I want to show you how much I've grown!"

"Uhm.. Right, I won't.." Louis awkwardly said, thinking along the line of. ‘If I surrender, I'll get smacked. If I fight Mya, I'll end up hurting her.’

‘And I don't think I'll actually survive a punch from Raiden.. Nope, definitely not.’

‘Then, there's really no backing out of this..’ Louis clenched his hands before sending a quick glare at JoonChul. ‘Did he plan for this? For me to hurt Mya?’

When Louis laid his dagger eyes at JoonChul, the latter etched a villainous sneer on his face, causing the former to realize his question was right after all.

Undoubtedly, Louis bites his lip. ‘So he did this to make me feel unsettled.’ 

‘I should have known that he was going to do this. Why didn't I figure it out sooner? I would have traded places with HwanGi if I had known.’

‘But..’ With a thought, Louis released the tension in his clenched fists. 

‘Why didn't I switch places with HwanGi earlier? I knew the contestants were just the twins, Mya and me. I should have considered the fact that me and Mya could have been put into a match.. Why didn't I think this through?’

Because of this realization, Louis noticed how dumb he was this entire time, it wasn't right to blame JoonChul when Louis, himself couldn't even be smart enough to catch on. 

‘I'm an idiot.’ Louis frowned when he was watching Mya preparing for her match with him. 

———

Soon..

BOOM!!!

A strike to the sky was lightning penetrating through the air to bring forth the start of the first round of the semifinals.

The contestants who were standing far, were facing their opponents up front with their weapons clutched.

With a shout, Raiden stood up from his seat, resounding the excitement he felt through his exasperated voice. 

"A mid-ranged weapon for a trident and a long ranged weapon for a bow, who will reign victorious? We'll see about that soon!"

And that 'soon' was now.

[Player ‘555’ had activated the Skill, ‘Wall of Thorns’ Lv. 4 (+4)!]

[Player ‘555’ had activated the Skill, ‘Wall of Thorns’ Lv. 4 (+4)!]

[Player ‘555’ had activated the Skill, ‘Wall of Thorns’ Lv. 4 (+4)!]

‘Is she planning to entrap me in just like she did with that bunny?!’ Alerted, Louis stayed firm.

‘Wait.. Wouldn't that be good if I fall asleep from her skill? Then I wouldn't have to hurt Mya from this battle..’ 

As Louis pondered in the middle of the match, Mya had already gotten herself ready.

The strategy Louis was expecting Mya to do like she once did, wasn't what he predicted.

"Huh?!" Louis gasped, noticing nature's walls building up everywhere. "What is this?"

At that moment, it wasn't a box that Mya made to enclose Louis with..

..It was a maze from what Louis witnessed.

Whoosh~!

"Brother Louis, I won't let you find me!" 

Mya's voice coming from every direction in the maze echoed toward Louis, extremely confusing to him because he couldn't distinguish where Mya was.

"Mya, where are you?" Louis stupidly asked.

Obviously, Mya purposely didn't respond since she didn't want her location to be compromised just yet.

Shaa!

Out of the sudden, Louis noticed the walls had an opening to each one, looking like a window.

At first, Louis didn't understand what it meant until he witnessed leaves fluttering out to get him.

[Player ‘555’ had activated the Skill, ‘Scattering Leaves’ Lv. 4 (+4)!]

[Player ‘555’ had activated the Skill, ‘Scattering Leaves’ Lv. 4 (+4)!]

One by one, the leaves with sharp edges flew with the target being the startled Louis before he settled down and started to focus on the situation at hand.

[Player ‘414’ had activated the Hidden Skill, ‘Extraordinary Multitasking’ Lv. 5!]

[Player ‘414’ had activated the Skill, ‘Marine Javelin’ Lv. 4 (+3)!]

In the end, the javelins that were controlled by Louis, were sent out to trim the leaves until they were sliced and diced into tiny pieces.

Wooosh!

All of the sudden, Louis got badly hit by a thorn dispersing toward his hand which prompted him to loosen up his grip on his trident. 

"Urk.." Louis groaned before wielding the trident with his other hand. "There's poison in this?"

Once asked, he became aware of it when his skin was turning a bit green from where the thorn slashed, and it wasn't looking very good.

The poison spread far and wide enough to cause veins bulging out as his skin screamed in the agony of pain worse than sunburn.

"Uarghh!" 

At that point, Louis gazed at his injured hand as he sensed an unexpected realization underneath the poison. 

"Am I weak?"

‘Weak that even poison harms me? Then.. What were all the things that I said to protect Mya?’

‘If she's stronger than me, then why did I say those meaningless things as if I was the knight in shining armor when I'm just a damsel in distress?’

Swissshhh!!!

Not the time to be having a second realization, the surrounding walls had its thorns launched out of its spot, piercing itself toward Louis who stood there in a predicament. 

..Quietly and stunned by the realization, Louis stayed like that even as the thorns were inching closer and closer to his unprotected body.

[You have obtained the Hidden Skill—

Out of the blue, the system message that appeared, was clouded by the thorns brutally sticking into Louis' body..

But it was in this moment that Louis was bestowed with a once in a lifetime chance to showcase his might once more.

[Player ‘414’ had activated the Hidden Skill, ‘Oceanic Orchestra’ Lv. 1 (+3)!]

In no time, the ground that once experienced devastation, was now masked away by the ocean swirling from Louis' position.

Before long, instruments in the form of water floated off the ground as it rose with its instruments, awaiting for the conductor to begin.

"I can't be weak..!" Louis uttered with the conducting baton emerging in his poisoned hand.

———

In the meantime, there was me who was utterly speechless by what Louis received from the system. 

"Truly unbelievable." Frostina commented from what she laid her glance on. "Why does a fool like him acquire such a skill in the midst of a match?"

Hearing her say that, I could understand why Frostina asked that because there wouldn't have been a way nor a chance to obtain a skill much less a hidden skill at that.

"His luck is through the roof~!" Mirai added, watching the show below unfold.

Raiden also guessed. "Maybe his realization gave him enlightenment?"

"Baka~ There's no way~!"

"Still boring.." Behemoth yawned, having drowsy eyes already.

"Captain, that scaredy cat isn't doing his job as a judge!" Mirai called Behemoth out to me, sliding her hand into my arm and hugging me tight.

Eventually, I smiled at Mirai and patted her head, redirecting my gaze at Behemoth to give him a warning in which Behemoth flinched and got back to doing his role.

"My liege." Frostina said, turning her indifferent glance at me. "Has he proven himself useful?"

"Him? Useful?" I raised my eyebrow as I couldn't accept the part about Louis being helpful at all. "If he wins this match, then he may be."

"I see."

"Though, Louis is too worthless for now."

By that, I meant that Louis has water element skills, and we're in the ‘Atlantic' World. 

As clear as it was, Louis wouldn't do much against water, so he is literally a neutral in this world where his skills wouldn't do a bit.

For the most part, the only ones who are effective within this world are Raiden, Mirai and Mya.

Ice is just solid water, wind is pointless underwater, water is water, and explosion is literal death to the lungs of anyone's body.

If anything, I must think of a backup plan when something bad arises unexpectedly.

If not, my guild will be doomed.

"Should I awaken that creature?" I mumbled which caught Frostina off guard as she immediately understood what I spoke about.

Laying her hand on mine, I shifted my gaze at her as she gave me a look that meant no. 

"Why? Do you think it's dangerous?" I asked Frostina.

Genuinely worried about me, Frostina still looked as cold as ever with her glance, but I can see through it easily. 

And I can also feel the tight embrace Mirai was giving me, glancing at me with a concerned expression.

‘What am I going to do with you two?’ I grinned since I'm glad to have such nice comrades.

Meanwhile, Raiden and Behemoth figured out what I meant as well, yet they remained composed and pretended that they didn't hear what I said.

I can't blame them since they're smart enough to not show visible emotions, and if they did, the ‘Helpers’ may actually understand what the 'creature' I mention truly is.

Nonetheless after seeing how passionate my comrades were in not allowing me to proceed with my plans, I gave up on my idea of using that creature as a backup plan. 

Eventually, I spoke. "Alright, I won't wake that being up." 

"Promise?" Mirai asked for reassurance.

"I promise, I promise. I won't ever get near that creature even if we're in a bad situation."

"Good boy~" 

I chuckled at how Mirai was patting my head when I'm usually the one caressing her head.

Engraving a blissful smile on her face, Mirai nuzzled her cheek on my arm while Frostina removed her hand from mine, averting her glance away from me to the battle underneath.

BANG!!

"Ah." Slowly but surely,my expectations were as expected.

"I knew this would happen." I spoke, finally putting my attention toward the match between Louis and Mya.