Chapter 65
Chapter 65
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 65
Chapter Title: The Tournament Favorite
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Four matches remained.
When Do-jae returned to his seat, the perverted old gray elf was in the middle of his match.
"Why is he just standing there?"
"Hey! Do something!"
For some reason, his opponent was frozen stiff, unable to do anything.
The old gray elf diligently pushed his incapacitated opponent out of the ring.
Group 5 thus ended anticlimactically. The matches for Groups 6 and 7 unfolded much like the first, with fierce exchanges of blows.
Do-jae was able to learn a great deal from these two matches.
‘Strength and speed aren’t everything. Attacks that look like wasted movements are actually confusing the opponent.’
The matches of the four fighters from Groups 6 and 7 were varied.
They used feints to deceive each other, thrusting their swords in between the false movements.
Such feints would be unnecessary when hunting less intelligent monsters, but against an opponent who could predict incoming attacks, they could make it difficult to distinguish real attacks from fakes.
‘A spear could be a far more advantageous weapon than a sword, if you know how to wield it.’
In particular, a gray elf from Group 7 named Hukun used a spear as tall as he was. While his physical abilities seemed somewhat inferior to his opponent's, he overcame this with the overwhelming difference in reach.
His opponent struggled just to get close, and even when he managed to narrow the distance to where his sword could reach, Hukun blocked with the steel shaft of his spear.
Moreover, even when a sword is held with two hands, the grip is off-center, dispersing the force. A spear, however, allows for the balanced transfer of power from both hands, making it better for exerting force.
‘I’d like to experience that spear for myself. But the next group has the tournament favorite…’
All that was left was the Group 8 match.
Katania had said they were both dangerous.
After seeing Salreuta in the waiting room, Do-jae also sensed he would be a tough opponent.
Strangely, however, he felt nothing from the skull-masked man.
He couldn't predict whether the man was strong or weak.
But he would soon find out in the upcoming match.
Do-jae eagerly awaited the start of the final match of Group 8.
***
"I'm sure many of you in the audience have been waiting for this very match!"
Woooooah-!
As if they had been waiting for this moment, the crowd erupted in a tremendous roar.
The already packed stands were now filled to the very stairs with late-arriving gray elves.
Most of them had come to see Salreuta fight.
"Now, would the fighters please enter the arena!"
Waaaaah-! *Clap, clap, clap, clap-*!
Thunderous cheers and applause echoed through the stadium.
The crowd's excitement was reaching its peak.
Finding the crowd's reaction strange, Do-jae asked Katania, who was sitting next to him.
"Why is everyone so excited? You said he was dangerous."
Katania replied without taking her eyes off the arena.
"They don't know. They don't know how crazy he is. He's become a completely different person from who he used to be."
"Used to be?"
"This is his fourth time competing. The first time, he placed 15th. The second, 7th. The third, 2nd. Everyone was captivated by his growth, and his name began to spread to even the most remote villages on the continent. But an incident ten years ago drove him completely mad."
"What happened?"
"Well…"
Katania paused.
Her face contorted as she bit her lip.
"You don't have to talk about it if it's difficult."
Do-jae took out a snack he had placed beside him and offered it to Katania.
It was a bread-like snack that Sari had bought for him during the Group 6 match.
"No, I feel like I should tell you. There's something special about you."
"...So? What was the incident ten years ago?"
"You know about the spatial annihilation events that have been happening across the continent since the Great Cataclysm? Oh, maybe you don't. Anyway, many of our people have suffered because of these mysterious incidents. And Salreuta was one of the victims."
"He lost his village…"
"You knew? That's right. He lost his entire village, except for himself and one other person. Not just the residents, but their homes too."
"It's a tragic story, but there must have been more than one or two villages that disappeared like that."
*Nod-.*
"Right. That's why he's mad. He can't accept it. The fact that his village is gone, that his beloved older brother is gone."
"His brother…"
"Since we're on the topic, I'll tell you one more thing. The one other person I mentioned... that was me. And Salreuta is my husband."
"Hmm… a complicated family matter…"
"We were newlyweds. Salreuta and I were traveling, so we escaped the spatial annihilation. When we returned to our village after our trip, there was nothing left. We sat there for days, mourning. And then... he changed. Salreuta. He erased all his memories and started wandering, thinking only of his brother."
Katania still couldn't take her eyes off the arena.
Salreuta and the skull-masked man were on the stage, performing the Oath of the Forest.
But Salreuta just stood there, motionless, not taking the oath.
Do-jae wondered if it was because he had no forest to swear to.
"I don't know why Salreuta suddenly decided to enter this tournament."
"Did he come to his senses?"
"No. He still doesn't recognize me. In any case, I'm worried. Until now, he's been destroying anything and everything in search of his brother. The reason rumors about him haven't spread is partly because I've been stopping them, but also because he hasn't left a single opponent alive. For him to suddenly enter a tournament... I just don't know what's going on!"
As Katania shouted, the gazes of the surrounding crowd turned to her.
But it was only for a moment. They soon turned back to the arena, chanting Salreuta's name.
"Lee Do-jae, please stop Salreuta. It might just be a feeling, but you're different. It's like you're not of this world. I feel like someone like you would have the power to stop my husband."
Katania's eyes grew moist.
*Scratch, scratch-.*
Do-jae thought he had gotten himself into unnecessary trouble, but he nodded anyway.
"Alright. If he wins this match, that is."
Do-jae pointed to the arena.
The fight between Salreuta and the skull-masked man was about to begin.
***
"What? What happened?"
"What just happened? Someone explain!"
Among the countless gray elves, only a few shouts filled the venue.
The other gray elves were so stunned by the scene before them that they couldn't even speak.
"...It's over! The match is over! Medics, quickly...!"
Before the referee's shout could even finish, the skull-masked man's body was engulfed in light and vanished, leaving only Salreuta's sword stuck in the ground.
"Th... The winner is Salreuta!"
...
...
Waaah-!
Waaaaah-!
Waaaaaaah-!
The crowd's cheers spread like a wave.
Very few of the gray elves had clearly seen what had just happened, but the winner was Salreuta nonetheless, so the cheering didn't stop.
"Did you see that?"
"Yeah."
Katania asked, biting her nails. Do-jae gave a short reply.
From the start of the match to the moment Salreuta's sword pierced the skull-masked man's back, only two seconds had passed.
The moment the referee signaled, Salreuta vanished as if he had teleported, reappearing behind the skull-masked man and thrusting his sword into his back.
"You said I'd know when I saw him fight. The skull-masked man didn't even get to show anything."
"I didn't know either... that Salreuta was that strong…"
Salreuta pulled his sword from the ground and descended from the arena.
The crowd grew even more excited at Salreuta's aloof demeanor.
"But Katania. Don't you feel something strange from Salreuta?"
"Strange? I'm not sure."
Do-jae stared at Salreuta as he headed for the waiting room.
In that fleeting moment when he drove his sword into the skull-masked man, Do-jae had felt something.
A sticky, viscous feeling.
It was the same feeling he had gotten from Kang Young-chan and the red orc shaman. For a very brief moment, he had felt it from Salreuta.
"Are you going to the waiting room? My match is next."
Katania stood up from her seat.
The tournament would proceed to the quarterfinals today, so she was going to prepare for her next match.
"Yeah, let's go together. There's nothing else to do anyway."
Do-jae stood up and followed Katania.
They had announced that there would be a sort of talent show from the various villages until the next match, but he wasn't interested.
It was better to go back to the waiting room and read the atmosphere of the other fighters.
***
After the round of 16.
A poster showing the results of the participants' matches was hung in the waiting room.
[Match 1, Tarutan vs. Hauka] [Winner: Tarutan]
[Match 2, Katania vs. Kurahaten] [Winner: Katania]
[Match 3, Detun vs. Sitah] [Winner: Sitah]
[Match 4, Tuvartan vs. Lee Do-jae] [Winner: Lee Do-jae]
[Match 5, Sibatag vs. Tahul] [Winner: Tahul]
[Match 6, Hikan vs. Salinian] [Winner: Salinian]
[Match 7, Tisokan vs. Hukun] [Winner: Hukun]
[Match 8, Salreuta vs. Itol] [Winner: Salreuta]
Do-jae quietly looked around the waiting room.
The atmosphere had been tense even with sixteen people, but now the tension was so thick it was suffocating.
‘The one I need to be most wary of is…’
Do-jae slowly shifted his gaze.
He had seen the first and second matches himself, so he could somewhat gauge the skills of Tarutan and Katania.
He had also watched the sixth and seventh matches closely, so he had a grasp of the levels of the fighters named Salinian and Hukun.
The problem was the third, fifth, and eighth matches. He hadn't been able to properly watch the third and fifth matches in particular, as he had been waiting in the waiting room to prepare for his fight with Tuvartan.
‘Tahul… so that old man’s name is Tahul.’
Do-jae was looking at the old gray elf named Tahul.
This time, Tahul was flirting with a female gray elf tournament official. He was the most enigmatic of the bunch.
Fortunately, since it was a tournament format, he would only face Do-jae in the finals, if at all. But that was assuming he could even get past Salreuta.
Of course, if he lost to the one named Salinian, he wouldn't be worth worrying about at all.
‘That Sitah fellow uses a very long sword.’
The gray elf he would be facing in the next match was Sitah.
His weapon was truly unique—a long, awl-like object that was difficult to classify as either a spear or a sword.
Do-jae grew curious about how he would fight with such a weapon.
"Your attention, please!"
A new official entered the waiting room.
In his hands was a transparent jar, just like the one used for the bracket drawing.
"Everyone, congratulations on your first victory in the main tournament. Before the next round, we will be drawing for the arenas. Please come up one by one and draw a slip of paper."
Another spectacle of the fighting tournament.
From the quarterfinals onward, matches would not be held in a simple, square arena, but in magically created environments.
And the drawing for those arenas was about to begin.