The New Gate

Neither Milt nor Elamella were in any danger in the fight. Thinking that both had made it through the block, Shin watched the match with relief.

However, an unexpected pairing was announced at the end.

“Is Elamella’s opponent Milt?”

“I wonder what will happen?”

Shin was a little surprised because he hadn’t seen the matchups for the tournament within the block, but he thought to himself that these things happen, so he decided to watch the match.

It’s not like they absolutely have to win. But the battle between Milt, with a restriction, and Elamella would be interesting, and the clash between his own battle axe and Kluck’s spear, even if it was a makeshift one, would also be interesting.

Thinking that this was something to behold, Shin focused on the battle between the two.

“Start!”

The referee announced the start of the match.

Elamella aimed her spear at the approaching battle axe, letting out a roar. She slammed the tip of her spear into the sideways slash from the right, as if thrusting.

By holding the spear closer to the base, she was able to increase the distance and make contact before the battle axe reached a position where it would be most effective. The tip of the spear precisely caught the battle axe’s blade.

However, despite being attacked before its full momentum had been fully realized, Milt’s battle axe barely lost any momentum.

“Ah!!”

Both of their expressions changed. Elamella was surprised that she had been pushed back despite having taken the initiative. Milt was interested in Elamella’s attack method.

The battle axe pushed back the thrusted spear and swung with enough force to slam it into Elamella. Elamella quickly realized that she couldn’t push it back, so she pulled her spear back and put some distance between them.

Following her, Milt attacked.

Elamella changed her strategy to hit-and-away while keeping her distance. She seemed to have judged that she would be overwhelmed by power if she was in a close range.

Instead of avoiding the spear cleave, Milt dared to take it with her battle axe. She was trying to catch it by wedging the spear between the blade and handle of the battle axe.

Elamella, realizing her intention, quickly pulled back her spear and switched to a thrusting attack.

After several attacks, Milt, reading the timing perfectly, dodged the tip of the spear and moved inside the gap.

Milt stepped forward faster than the spear could be pulled back. She held her battle axe short and made a compact swing to slam Elamella.

Elamella, on the spur of the moment, let go of her spear and jumped away from the battle axe. The spear left in its place made contact with the battle axe and bounced.

Elamella dodged the attack at the last moment, and then jumped again, grabbing the spear that had been deflected by Milt and was flying towards her.

“Not bad,” muttered Filma, who had somehow ended up next to Shin.

It seemed that the girls had approached him since Shin and Kluck had gone into spectator mode.

They were all paying attention to the fight between Milt and Elamella. Everyone, including the other spectators, was holding their breath as they watched the outcome of the battle.

It was unclear if the other people were aware of this, but at the very least they did not seem to be as Shin and the others observed.

As a Chosen One, Milt’s stats were probably higher.

However, since she was currently fighting with her stats restricted, the difference in ability wasn’t that great. If she let her guard down, she could lose.

The two of them glared at each other, keeping their distance. Inevitably, the tension rose.

Elamella was the first to attack.

She was probably activating a skill. The tip of her held spear was wrapped in a bright red light. Milt, who was waiting, also had a transparent green light emanating from her battle axe.

As one would expect from a tournament where skilled fighters gathered, there were quite a few who used Arts. However, not many could use Skills.

The glow emanating from Milt and the others’ weapons was clearly different from that of Arts. The light, which seemed to be that of techniques from Dusk of Majesty, even fascinated the other fighters fighting in other rings.

The match would be decided with the next blow. Everyone watching the match was convinced of this. Without slowing down, Elamella ran like a meteor across the ground. She accelerated with such force that it seemed as if she would smash through all defenses together.

On the other hand, Milt held her battle axe with half her body, ready to intercept. She was planning to swing it down with all her might, holding it as if slung it over her shoulder.

Before Elamella could get within range, Milt moved.

However, considering Elamella’s speed and weight of the axe, it was actually rather slow.

Did she misjudge the speed? A cry of disappointment escaped from one of the spectators, thinking this, but the tip of the battle axe displayed a terrifying acceleration, drowning out such a voice.

The spear and battle axe clashed between them.

As if by chance, the spear was thrust into the place where the tip of the battle axe would be most powerful.

It made a loud sound and impact that made one flinch.

The battle axe came from above, and the spear from below. They were pushing each other in opposite directions.

Red and green lights flickered violently, trying to drown out each other.

Although neither weapon should have come into direct contact, a crack appeared in the arena ring, centered on the spot where the two clashed.

The standoff lasted for about ten seconds, then Shin heard a snapping sound.

As if that was the signal, Milt and Elamella drew their weapons and jumped back. The entire venue fell silent.

The source of the sound that sounded like ice cracking was Elamella’s spear. Fine cracks appeared from the tip to the handle, and a few seconds later it broke into pieces.

“What’s that?”

The moment the spear broke, Shin’s eyes caught a black mist-like thing moving from the hand that was touching the handle to Elamella’s body.

The mist moved quickly, and disappeared in an instant, so it’s unclear how many people noticed it.

Elamella didn’t seem to notice the mist, and after gazing at the spear fragments scattered across the arena for a while, she took up her stance again.

The festival included both unarmed and combat participants, so there was no rule that said you lose just because your weapon was broken.

It was clear from her expression that she hadn’t given up yet.

“It couldn’t withstand it…?”

It was Kluck, the creator of the weapon, who was most shocked when it shattered. Even though it was just a real-combat test, he must have been confident.

However, Shin couldn’t help but be concerned about the black mist.

He called out to Kluck, saying that there was something more important than that right now.

“A black mist, you say? No, I haven’t given it any powers that would affect the body.”

After hearing Shin’s story, Kluck said he had no idea what it was.

The mist only appeared for a very short time. It’s understandable that he thought he was mistaken. However, in this world, Shin’s kinetic vision had improved significantly. Even though it was a little hard to see, Shin himself didn’t think that he would mistake the mist for something that wasn’t incredibly fast.

It didn’t bode well, but for the time being there was nothing unusual. The referee didn’t seem to want to stop the match, so he couldn’t interfere.

Shin asked Kluck if he could examine the weapon after the match was over.

The match continued while they were talking.

Elamella tried to approach Milt while using both arms as a shield.

Milt mercilessly swung her battle axe.

Elamella dodged the horizontal slash by lowering her body so low that she was almost touching the ground, then jumped close the distance and thrust out her fist. She must have been using a skill or an art. Milt blocked the fist with the handle of her battle axe, but the impact caused her body to slide back several steps.

The ground of the arena still bore fresh marks from Milt’s shoes.

“You’re good.”

Grinning deeply, Milt thrusts out her battle axe. Even if the shape of the axe meant it couldn’t stab, the long reach was a sufficient advantage.

Elamella stepped forward, deflecting the battle axe that cut through the air with her arm. It was as if her body from elbow to fist had hardened, deflecting the battle axe. It must be a skill or art that boosts defense or reflects attacks.

Perhaps she was not able to kill the impact momentum completely, Elamella closed the gap between her and Milt while slightly losing her stance. Then she caught Milt again in fist range.

With the momentum of dodging the thrust, Elamella threw a punch.

Milt’s reaction was delayed and it’s too late to pull back her battle axe and block the punch.

All she had left was to either drop her battle axe and defend herself, or jump out of the way to dodge the fist. Anyone who was following the fight between the two would have thought so.

However, Milt didn’t throw away her battle axe. While pulling back her left foot, which had been stepping forward along with her battle axe, she rotated her body half a turn to the left, using her right foot as the axis.

Suddenly, Elamella’s momentum towards Milt decreased, as if she was being pulled by something.

As Milt spun her battle axe around and Elamella’s body flew into the air.

Shin squinted his eyes and saw a translucent light extending from the battle axe connecting with Elamella’s waist. It was probably the skill 【Sky Thread】 that one learned when they obtained the Magician job.

Milt spun her battle axe once and stopped it just before it touched the ground.

Naturally, Elamella, which was being pulled by the battle axe, came flying as well. However, she was slammed into the arena without stopping.

It seems that being pulled so forcefully was not enough to properly ward off the attack, and she tried to get up, but she ran out of strength and collapsed.

As Milt pointed his battle axe at her, the referee stopped the battle and checked on Elamella’s condition.

Then, judging that further fighting was impossible, he declared Milt the victor.

“The contest is over! The winner is Milt!”

Immediately, men dressed in white and red who appear to be medical staff rush over to Elamella.

They handed her a recovery potion. It was a quality product that was widely available in this world. The recovery amount was small, but in an instance like this, drinking it would at least enable her to move.

Elamella uncorked the potion herself and drank the contents, then stood up after a while. There was no awkwardness in her movements. Even though there was injury, there seemed to be nothing wrong with her bones.

The two exchange a few words and then each head to the entrance for the participants.

However… when they reached the stairs leading down from the arena, something strange happened. Elamella stumbled and began to clutch her chest in pain.

Her scales turned black, and something like red-black flames erupted from her horns. Seeing her screaming with her face contorted in pain, it was clear that she was not in her right mind.

The medical staff walking next to her were also shocked and kept their distance, but were unable to react to Elamella’s next action. Then, a grown man flew through the air.

Even after landing in the arena ring, his momentum did not stop, and he fell outside, trailing a trail of blood.

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