Chapter 277 Part 2
The matches proceeded without disruption.
How are they going?
There are a lot of close matches
It’s not common, but sometimes a match is ended with a single daring blow.
It’s obvious from the battle logs that every player has a limited number of moves.
Most of the players who go into a match with a singular focus are class-changed players.
The players who haven’t changed classes yet seem to have more options.
That’s why the matches are so competitive.
Is it interesting?
Well, yeah, this is interesting.
The higher the level, the more restrictions there are.
Even if you’re low level, you can have many potential moves up your sleeve.
If I’d been participating?
I’d have to give up most of my skills.
「Do you mind?」
「Huh? Hyodor-kun?」
「I’ve finished up my business」
Next to him was Heraclius, who gave me a nod.
We’ve become a rather strange setup, haven’t we.
To my right is Lambda.
To my left, Hyodor.
And next to him, Heraclius.
Not to mention the summoned monsters.
I’m sorry, spectators.
I can’t help it!
I won’t say that out loud, though.
That aside, I give a glance in Lambda’s direction
Hmm?
Lambda’s pointing a serious gaze towards the fighting grounds.
On the field, there he was.
The semi-solo bard, I assume.
I’ve received a whisper request from Lambda, which I’ll approve.
「Is that him?」
「That’s the guy」
Without responding to that, I watched that player’s behavior.
Like I’m looking at a forest.
Like I’m looking at each individual tree in a forest.
But as if I’m watching the whole forest at the same time.
??? Lv.2
Principal Bard Standby
Of course, I used【Identify】, but within the venue you can’t see player names..
I have a virtual window that can display the battle log, but I’m sure Lambda is watching that.
I’ll leave that to you.
The weapon is?
The foil on his hip, I guess.
It looks like he’s carrying a lute on his back.
「A rapier, is it」
「Uh huh. Speaking of which, I heard that you use a foil as well?」
「Yeah. From the same source as the one that player’s got」
「Ooh」
「This is mine」
What did Hyodor show me?
It’s a Lion Sage’s Foil.
The handguard does seem to be the same.
Compared to the makeshift one I made, it does seem considerably neater.
I’m told it was made by a production worker in the Grey Forest to the south.
Apparently he also tried to make one himself, but the quality was no match.
「What’s this part that’s guarding the handle?」
「It’s called a cup guard, is what he said. It’s made of materials from beetle-type monsters」
「Oh, that sounds light」
「And there’s no penalty to magical skills」
While conversing I continued to watch the game.
How’s the half-solobard?
He doesn’t look like an elf.
His face could be described as dignified, but it’s also generic.
I guess the fact that he doesn’t look skinny could be partly due to his equipment?
When the match starts, he pulls out his foil.
What’s his stance?
He holds the foil lightly in one hand as if it’s floating, and thrusts his right hand forward placing himself at a 90 degree angle to his opponent.
Oh?
I don’t know much about fencing, but I guess that makes sense?
Although I’m not sure what the point is of taking a stance when you’re still at a distance to your opponent.
This kind of stance is also used in swordsmanship.
When you handle a dagger in one hand, you take a stance similar to that one.
From the opponent’s point of view, the projected width of the torso becomes narrower.
In other words, it gives you an advantage in defense.
It is easier to evade, block, and handle attacks.
On the other hand, you have to be careful with your footwork.
Unlike the Natural Stance, you can move back and forth, but not left and right.
The theory is that instead of using lateral movement, you should rotate your body to get by.
The opponent’s weapon in the match is a spear.
Makes sense.
I guess that puts the foil at a disadvantage.
Now, how will you fight?
「Let’s say you’re fighting a spear with a foil. What would you do?」
「With a distance like that, it’d have to be spells」
「Right?」
「Besides that it’s up to the rapier martial art skills」
「The martial art skills?」
「Even at level one you can close the distance instantly with a martial art skill. I’m sure the effect will be great if you have【Jump】as well】
【Jump】, huh.
I have it activated, but I haven’t really been aware of it.
I’ve been doing that a lot, closing the distance in one risky move.
But it’s not like I’ve been looking at it from an objective point of view.
What about magic skills?
They’re definitely being used.
Even without using Sense Magic, I can see it from the effect.
I’ll check what he used later.
If it’s on himself, it must be some kind of enchantment.
??? Lv.1
Lancer In Battle.
The opponent is also class changed.
And judging from that effect, he probably has enchantments activated.
He doesn’t falter in his movements.
Before they come in range of each other’s weapons, their spells clash.
Attack spells.
They hit each other.
But.
The next move caught me off guard.
He had suddenly closed the distance, leaping into the spear’s range.
A few more thrusts seemed to have hit.
But they don’t look fatal.
This time, the Lancer counterattacks.
He unleashes a sharp thrust.
Probably, a martial art.
He uses a consecutive attack that seems to create an afterimage of the tip of the spear.
A two-stage thrust?
But.
The opponent isn’t where those attacks land.
It looks like it missed.
A backstep?
No, it’s too fast for that.
「He’s using martial arts consecutively. What a reckless method」
「Consecutive?」
「I think he used the martial art Bond en Avant repeatedly to close the distance」[1. TN Note: Bond en Avant is a fencing move, french for “leap forward”]
「Ooh」
「I think he uses Bond en Arriere repeatedly to evade attacks」[2. TN Note: Bond en Arriere is a backstep in fencing]
「Why do you say reckless?」
「Because I’ve tried it myself. I simply can’t keep it under control」
「Is it hard?」
「There’s a high chance that the martial art will be wasted. And the recoil from using the martial art often throws me off balance.
What about the half-solo bard?
He’s positioned in the corner of the playing field.
His stance remains unchanged.
And the Lancer?
Same thing.
Unchanged stance.
It’s just the damage from each other’s spells, but.
The semi-solo bard seems to have taken slightly more damage?
But they’re both still above 80% HP.
I still don’t know what the outcome will be.
「That lancer is in danger, eh」
「He’s in danger, I’d say」
「If this exchange continues, he’ll eventually be paralyzed or poisoned」
「That’s right. He should finish them off while they’re in the corner」
「But after seeing that exchange, I think we might not be in that much of a pinch」
I’m sure Lambda is listening to the conversation between me and Hyodor.
The whisper function is still connected, but this is good enough for our purposes.
「You’d want to keep him stuck there with the spear, but sweeping him over is risky」
「What would you do, Keith?」
「I’d go for the legs. Not with a sweep, but by thrusting」
「You’d thrust?」
「I’d use a thrust as a feint and use a different method」
「What do you mean?」
「I’d just let go of the spear and go for a grapple. I can’t keep up a safe distance with martial arts. If I don’t keep my options open I wouldn’t stand a chance」
Hyodor gave a bitter smile.
「Well, that works for you, but. If you were stuck with the spear, what then?」
「I guess I’d just go brute force」
Hmm.
If you ignore martial arts skills, then definitely brute force.
You could also use the two-stage thrust martial art while keeping a distance.
Just make a pseudo-wall out of spear strikes to keep him from moving.
As long as you can stop him, you can maintain a distance.
But.
The Lancer didn’t do that.
He goes for a sweep at the feet.
During that preliminary movement, the distance was closed.
No, wait.
It seems like the Lancer used a spell in conjunction with the sweep.
He’s getting creative.
What’s the damage?
Judging by the remaining HP, the Lancer clearly has the upper hand.
But at a great price.
Poison.
And an Abnormal Status marker has popped into sight.
Now, who paid the larger price?
The match went to the judges in the end.
The semi-solobard won.
Very solid.
You could call it unfair.
You could call it logical
Of course, the Lancer had been using recovery spells.
But that also meant that he lost the opportunity to use other spells.
In the meantime, his opponent could use both attack spells and support spells.
When he caught paralysis, the tables turned immediately.
The Lancer managed to recover from the paralysis, but the damage that had piled up was too high.
Recovering the damage from damage was all the effect of the recovery spells could manage.
「He was amazing huh, that Principal Bard.」
「Well, that’s natural. He’s that semi-solo bard, right?」
That was Heraclius.
Do you know of the bard perchance?
The victorious player had removed his leather helmet.
I can see a guild employee repairing a part of the helmet that was damaged.
Yeah.
Maybe it’s because of the distance, but he really doesn’t look like an elf.
I wonder how he’s hiding it?
「Yes. That’s for sure. I believe the player’s name is Drachma」
「Believe?」
「He’s more famous by his alias. The Half-solo bard. He’s kind of famous for only joining parties temporarily」
I’ll just stay out of Hyodor and Heraclius’ conversation.
I give a look to Lambda.
I can feel it.
His wrath.
He starts talking to me with whisper.
『What do you think, Keith?』
「He’s fundamentally a speed-based fighter. The problem is definitely that foil」
『Right?』
「And the way he keeps fighting consistently in tune with his opponent’s movements」
『Consistently?』
「You could call it unfair. If you could limit his actions with the foil it’d be a lot easier」
『Does it seem like there are other problems?』
「He’s got his bard abilities too right?」
『Songs, huh』
「Obviously we should use the space-time magic spell, Psycho Pod to resist them, but that’s not perfect, so」
But.
From a different angle, it could also be a weakness.
The reason why that player fights consistently.
In terms of stats, he’s not great on STR and VIT.
From the fighting style he switched to in the middle I have to assume that.
Well, as an Elf that does make sense.
And there’s a weakness built into the stance itself as well.
It’s well designed to handle forwards and backwards movement.
But other than that, it’s weak.
It’s simple; just outnumber them.
It seems like you have allies, so isn’t it that easy?
「What stands out to you, Lambda?」
『All I could tell is that he was skilled at combat』
「Well, with this tournament’s rules and all, that might have been easy to tell」
『Yes. I’m sure that in addition to that, he must also have outstanding non combat skills』
「Probably」
Yeah.
There’s something else bothering me.
As I was looking around the venue, I noticed the markers of some players and NPCs changing color.
My【Insight】is at work.
Same for the game fields.
The players participating at the field over must be PKers or PKKers.
For a brief moment, their marker color changed.
But.
There was none of that on the Half Solo Bard.
If it’s in accordance with the rules of the tournament?
He must be participating with the support skill【Camouflage】.
That should put him at a disadvantage.
And yet, he won.
And【Insight】doesn’t work at all.
He’s definitely not an opponent you can afford to take easy.
『There’s no sign of the target having left the grounds so far』
「Are you monitoring them?」
『Yeah. We’ve got multiple PKK teams covering all the venues』
「That’s very thorough」
『This is the forte of the PKKers. I hear the PKer’s also have an ally organization, but apparently they have a lot of infighting』
「Huh」
『Actually, the PKKs have been infiltrating to sow the seeds of discourse』
「So they’re being very thorough about it」
The number of PKs is apparently almost ten times the number of PKKs.
In that, the PKKs have a small organization.
From that, the group coordination is going well.
I feel sorry for the PKers in that respect.
And trying to divide them up on top of that- scary!
「The next match is also worth watching, huh」
What’s Hyodor gazing at?
Is it Yosaku?
I think that’s Yosaku.
He has a two-handed axe.
I feel like it’s even bigger than his old weapon.
I guess he’s doing a single-minded focus build.
『Can I get you to keep this up until his second fight?』
「Sure. Then I’ll just keep watching the game」
「Understood」
Okay.
Then let’s just enjoy the game, shall we?
NEXT CHAPTER
RELEASE RATE
Summoner is Going
Speed up schedule by 10 hours
Current schedule: Every 80 Hours
Thanks.