In those three days I did various things. For example I plucked the grass near my house in the small world to make a field where I planted the seeds. I also fought with my new sword in the dungeon against the B rank monsters on the higher floors. What was new was that every next floor from floor fifty and onward felt like a boss room. There was only one enemy on the floor and as the floor is quite big I had to find the boss first. Although I had to find the boss it wasn’t that hard thanks to my map skill which showed me it’s location. There were literally no other monsters besides that one.
I had my doubts so I killed one of the monsters on those floors. After killing it, another one spawned in a different location. I started defeating monsters on the fifty fourth floor, which were quite hard opponents. It felt like I was fighting a guy with better physic stats than mine, it also uses a hammer instead of a sword. Especially because it’s weapon of choice was a hammer I had a hard time. I could parry it’s attack with my great sword but I had to put much more force to fling it away from me. I also worried that my sword would break.
The juggernaut looks were quite disturbing. It was like a two meter muscular human with an orc’s head and many big spikes protruding from it’s back. Because of them my attacks on it’s back weren’t as effective as attacks on any other body parts. Every time it swung down its hammer it created a dust cloud that obscured my view. When I used magic to attack him he actually protected its head with it’s arms. Seeing that I tried to focus my attacks on it’s head and but I couldn't deal any significant damage because it always managed to block my attack. I decided to use my new learned skill magic weapon creation and created a second great sword. It didn’t expect me to get another weapon while I made an attack at him so he failed to defend my next attack and my sword finally connected. It made a clean cut through its neck.
Grinding like that I managed to max out my magic swordsman job and even was near maxing out my next job which is charge master. After picking this job my charge ability grew to instant charge. With it I could unleash any amount of mana in a spell or ability which is very convenient. As for the matter of the dungeon outbreak I contacted the guild master that it will probably happen in the near future. He didn’t seem to believe me so all what he said was that, he will double the guards near the dungeon. I left the room and wondered what should I do. I knew that it wouldn’t do much even if I notified the guild master because he wouldn't believe me. Also when I appraised him I noticed that he is quite strong. Probably around an A rank adventurer.
Finally the day of the battle festival came. I woke up and prepared myself after eating my fill. I decided to fight with my double swords as I was more used to this style. We left the inn pretty early and came to the arena. I looked at the participants list and I was listed under number 396. The first phase is a free for all battle, there are around five hundred participants so there will be ten rounds for fifty people each. You might think that that’s too many but the arena is huge. It might be even larger than a Colosseum, not that I’ve ever seen a real one.
I was in the seventh round so I secured some good seats for Lisa and me first. We watched the fights but they weren’t as exciting as I thought. While there were some good contestants the matches weren’t all that exciting. Just when I thought that the next group will be boring to watch as well I saw the second princess coming onto the arena with the rest of her group. The second princess made quite an impression on me on our first meeting. The crowd seemingly excited to see her performance cheered loudly.
The fight started and everyone attacked the person next to them. Some of the fighters went to attack Alexia but they were avoided our quickly defeated. The announcer was heated when he saw her brilliantly defeating her opponents. The rules for this tournament’s first round are simple. The ten people last standing advance to the next stage. After seeing that many people lost to Alexia they didn’t challenge her anymore. They wouldn’t charge at her knowing that they will lose and most likely get disqualified. I watched her dealing with the other participants so I got a good look at her moves and style. Every action matched her movement almost perfectly. Her style is quite similar to the first style that I used but is more refined. As expected, a person who fights with other people would have better techniques.
After the battle ended I watched two more rounds before going to the waiting room. When I entered there were many people that moved their gazes to my direction. Some of them stared at me with mocking eyes and some of them only glanced at me before closing their eyes again. There also were people who didn’t look my way. I found a free space near the wall, leaned on it and patiently waited for the seventh round to start while appraising the participants.
After five minutes or so a guy from the reception came in and told us to go onto the stage. I took my two swords out of the item box and followed him. When we came onto the stage I could hear loud cheering just like in the earlier rounds. I didn’t feel particularly excited and even felt a little annoyed by their loud behavior. I looked at the seats and saw Lisa waving at me. I felt a little embarrassed so I only gave a thumbs up to her before focusing on the stage.
[This time around there is a couple of people that are expected to go into the next round such as the Redaxe’s leader Leon, Speedy Sam and Destroyer Louis. Now let the seventh round begin!](Announcer)
Each one of the people who’s name was told by the announcer raised their hand when their name was called. When the announcer confirmed the start of the round so I readied myself and watched out for any attackers. I didn’t really have to worry about losing the first round because the rest of the group wasn’t very powerful. Maybe because I was the youngest of the participants there I had more attackers than others.
[Get him! It’s such easy money for taking care of a brat.]
(Actually no I take that back, something smells fishy here. Why are they mostly focusing on me? Is there a person targeting me specifically? Buy why?)
I then remembered that Alexia also warned me to be careful. I quickly guessed who is the one behind it. It is probably that shitty noble kid that wanted Lisa in his party. I didn’t bother any longer and dashed right at them. The first on got punched in the face and was launched a couple meters behind. I controlled my strength because if I hit him with all I have got his skull could probably get smashed. When he fell to the ground the audience went out with an uproar and even the announcer talked about it.
[Defeating an opponent with one hit! A beautiful blow to the face done by a black haired swordsman! He may be a black horse of the tournament!](Announcer)
I deal with the next ones by hitting them both with the back of my blade in the stomach. In result they fainted on the spot. Seeing that the rest of the people were cautious and instead of attacking me they tried to encircle me. Seeing that the people who target me are only five I didn’t wait for them and instead attacked them one by one. Small fries like them aren’t very powerful so then can only win with numbers or a tactic. They fell one by one and the last guy even surprised me a little, he managed to block to of my blows before his hands got numb and didn’t manage to repel the third strike.
After taking care of these two there weren’t really any more opponents for me. The same was for those guys that were favored by the crowd. The rest of the round was just low level people fighting each other. The round ended after another ten minutes or so when the last person fell to the ground. I along with the other nine people stood on the arena and waited for the announcer to confirm the end of the round.
[The seventh round ends with those ten people who proceed to the next stage! A big applause to the fighters that managed to advance and to those who weren’t lucky enough to proceed to the next round! The eight round will begin shortly after the fighters get off the stage!](Announcer)
When I heard the round ended I followed the other people back to the corridor which we came from and went back to where Lisa was. When I arrived Lisa congratulated me on advancing onto the next round. I asked her if she wants to watch the rest of the matches but she said she didn’t want to. I made a suggestion to go to the stalls to get some food if she didn’t want to watch the rest of the rounds which she readily agreed to. The rest of the day was free so I could do what I want. The next stage starts tomorrow so I could take advantage of the battle festival and tour around the city.
When we left the arena I saw a person near the exit of the arena.
