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Chapter 265 -

"Oh dear, Yuglia's definitely the hot target for everyone, isn't it? ...And just to be clear here, we haven't orchestrated this or anything. So, don't try to think we have any hand here."

Katalina took her stance, her tone reserved. Mujikka shook her head, her unsparing gaze glaring at the display.

"......I can see that. There's no attempt of conversing with other participants of the other team, no cue, and no movement indicating so. Its obvious weaks are the first one to be eliminated, and besides, even if anyone orchestrated it, no one is going to blame you or anyone else as long as they've acted within rules."

The entire format of the second day's competition was a team royal battle. Even if they're not colluding, it wasn't far fetched to assume how some would react. Besides, it was a common scenario that some teams might tactically act in the same direction, to eliminate a particular opponent, before eventually fighting for the ranking. Consequently, it all depends on the individual’s perspective, like how they would like to interpret the standalone competition on the first day, and team battle on the second day.

Sometimes, some participants would ignore the bond between fellow nations, and try to eliminate the big names from other teams to shwocase their skills. Then, some choose to show their might by turning tables on them.

Among the team royal battle involving three-person teams from eight nations, Rosemieur Empire was the fan favourite for winner, and with Arichi abruptly kicking off the battle, it was clear the match wasn't going to last longer. So far, current status quo was—

Yuglia Kingdom: 5 Points (3 team members left)

Rosemieur Empire: 7 Points (2 team members left)

Starlight Theocracy: 0 Points (0 team members left)

Kukora City Commonwealth: 0 Points (0 team members left)

Justeria: 1 Points (1 team members left)

Kuwol Republic: 0 Points (1 team members left)

Fatora Kingdom: 0 Points (1 team members left)

Bearentz Archipalegao: 0 Points (2 team members left)

Given the scoreboard, unless any miracle occurs, hope was lost for anyone not named Rosemieur and Yuglia. The only way they could even win was by fishing for chances while Yuglia and Rosemieur duke it out, and eliminate the rest of the participants.

With Purim now jumping into the chaotic situation, the other participants gained more prudency, and slowed down in their chase against Allen. Before long, the battlefield was switched to the forest.

Allen and Purim made their narrow escape under the cloud of dust, shuttling through the trees to meet Dol.

"Pfft," Katalina let out a sarcastic laughter as she watched Allen controlling the appearance and disappearance of sand clouds at the snap of his finger, each time he would shout "Genome."

"Frankly, I was expecting quite a show when he spoke of the Le Genome, one of the pillars that made four Great Spirits... or something. Well, but as I can figure it out, he's simply using wind to kick off the cloud of dust. It's truly impressive how easily he can control the wind at that scale, but... I wonder, just what is the purpose of that cringe acting?"

This sentiment was prevalent not only in Katalina, but even among the audience. Their eyes wore a tepid expression as they followed Allen Rovenne's movement.

Mujikka, however, simply glanced at her, and uttered a dry chuckle.

"...What swirls within Allen Rovenne's mind is something no one has ever managed to figure out. However, I have picked one thing. Anyone, who has brushed him like this, has never managed to keep that smile until the end."

"......Oh? Then I look forward to that time."

Katalina scoffed at Mujikka's advice.

◆◆◆

The paused timer on the match had begun to tick again.

«Bearentz Archipaelgao: Desuha Eliminated. 6 Points to Yuglia Kingdom.»

In the corner of the field, just as a chase against Allen and his team was being led against, a tremor ran across the face of participants.

It occurred out of nowhere, with no premonition of anyone's presence, or of magic activation. Just that the ground beneath burst apart abruptly, taking down one of the participants with it.

To some of the participants, it was a familiar sight to what they'd seen a while back, however they still couldn't resist from being rocked apart by the shock.

"......Arichi-sama...... Just now......"

"......It's indeed unthinkable, but.... they have somehow managed to put up magic as traps. Perhaps it's been done by Rudolf Austin, who just joined Allen-san. I did have a vague hint that we're being intentionally led into a certain direction, still..."

"......We can't continue like this. I think we should pull back, and get through it again?"

Eclair prompted the suggestion, but Arichi shook that idea.

"It would be a fool's errand to pull back here. I had said it earlier, but you should never want to leave Allen-san out of your sight given his out of norm scouting ability. Well, the trap magic is quite dangerous, too, but we can't let ourselves stop here."

Once she saw Eclair had understood the gist, Arichi remarked further.

"...That said, the explosiveness of traps isn't that unbearable. I think we can endure through it by constantly keeping up mana guard. And then, once we have chased them to the marshland, there will be no place for them to hide. We just need to keep up until then."

◆◆◆

"...As they say, an apple never falls far from the tree. Truly, Princess Arichi is quite a warrior to bruteforce the chase. Uh-huh, this also meant we were now trapped out of putting more traps. And I had been dreading this direction the most... We're in a pickle now."

As Purim-senpai lamented over the current situation, Dol added his piece as well. We had joined him just a while ago.

"I bet. If she's not deterred by the landmines, then there's nothing more I can do. But it doesn't bode well to fall into the enemy's pace without exhausting ourselves at least. Hey, Allen, don't you have any surprise plans to make a turn around?"

He looked at me with an expectant gaze. I nodded.

"I have."

" "You have?" "

The two's mouth flapped like a goldfish when I smugly remarked—though it was hidden behind a mask—and raised a thumbs up.

"Well, it's not exactly something that would completely turn the tables. However, this would have everyone jumping around like they've ants in their pants, and create an opening for us. It would be on us then to earn points taking advantage of the confusion, and switch the ranking."

"...And how exactly will you do that?"

"We're out of time to explain it. So just watch and have fun. Kukuku."

As I chuckled nefariously, Dol and Purim-senpai's shoulder dropped in disappointment at once.

"......If we're to target their weakness, and break through the siege, then... that should be the target to earn the most points."

After earlier conversation, Dol switched his mindset, and pointed at the two participants of Justeria. They'd been following behind Arichi-san, but it was clear they're struggling to even keep pace with ours. They're not close, but they're not leaving either.

Arichi-san should be aware of their presence undoubtedly, but given that they still contributed in cornering us, it was only a plus for her. So she had ignored them.

Slowly, but gradually, tension ramped up inside the battlefield. They must have felt we're fast approaching the turning point—the final cadence of the performance.

The gap between each participant's position shortened.

We then talked off the precise action we must take, and then acted before the others could.

"You can stop now, Genome."

At the verge of hitting marshland, I snapped my fingers, and cleared off the Sandstorm.

"Let's settle this once and for all, Arichi-san!"

I declared as soon as the field of view cleared up.

"Just what I prefer."

Arichi-san had a fearless, yet refreshing smile on her face as she returned the reply.

The opening act began with Purim-senpai, one who had surplus mana among us. He began constructing a spell of grand scale.

"......O' the mighty beast of lightning, the servant of heaven. Behold the enemy in your azure maw, and take them to heaven...haaaaaaa!"

"B-beast of lightning? Is he seriously trying to activate a grand magic in this cramped space...?"

A perplexed voice broke out from Arichi-san.

"......I have your back, Arichi-sama."

Once others caught up with our action, they also sprang to take measures. At first, the two participants from Justeria, who had been behind the Empire's duo, began conjuring their own spell. Registering that they'd begun with their measure, Eclain-san then took a stance to intercept whatever was coming.

The other followed similar suit, and eyed the situation cautiously. The entire situation was like a powdered keg, just awaiting that spark to blow it up.

Just as everyone had finished taking their stance, I began my chanting, deliberately  keeping my voice clear and loud for everyone else to hear.

"O' the pillar of the Four Great Spirit, Le Undine. The mother ocean. Abide by the law of wind, and bestow thine rain of compassion. —Misty Forest!"

Abruptly, a veil of mist emerging from marshland covered the entire surrounding, clouding everyone's field of view in white.

" "Whaaa!!!" "

◆◆◆

«O' the pillar of the Four Great Spirit, Le Undine. The mother ocean. Abide by the law of wind, and bestow thine rain of compassion. —Misty Forest!»

As soon as Allen held his hand above the marshland at the end of his chant, a cloud of white mist suddenly sprang up, and veiled even the monitoring camera.

" "Wh—What just!!!" "

It was unbelievable scenery. So much so that even certain two audiences—for some reason, their silhouettes were covered in hood—who had been passing their commentary, jumped from their seats out of reflex.

When it comes to «Sandstorm», it wasn't hard to guess Allen Rovenne had most likely kicked off a cloud of sand using wind. But, «Misty Forest» was different. They couldn't guess how he made it possible, and that's what made it a shocking sight to them.

The only way it could be explained was if Allen Rovenne was... capable of converting his mana into water attribute. However, the tournament staff had earlier cleared Allen Rovenne held no such talent, and it was for everyone to check.

If one were to just believe in the sight before them, then that only meant Allen Rovenne had somehow surmounted the unclimbable wall—"It's impossible to use Emission Magic without a talent for attribute conversion"—that countless researchers had tried to surpass, yet never been able to in all the records of history. ...Atleast, this was the impression for now.

Mujikka glanced at Katalina beside her. Just until a while ago, she had been giggling at the sight of Allen's action, like she was looking at a child writing his embarrassing history live, but now replaced by a grim look as she intensely stared at the monitor, as if she had wanted to bore a hole in it.

Mujikka slipped out a chuckle.