Chapter 162
Jingai Musume 162
The Main Event Begins: Yuki’s First Match
Editors: Speedphoenix, Joker
I stepped back onto the stage the day after my preliminary match . It was time for my first real match . And I was ready . My mask was on, my hair was dyed, and my trusty sword was slung over my shoulder .
“First up, we have the man that single-handedly ended his preliminary match without even drawing his weapon, a mysterious cutthroat sent by the king himself to eliminate everyone in his way! Ladies and gentlemen, I present you a man whose abilities have yet to be unveiled . Please give it up for Ypsilon!”
The MC’s intro led the crowd to break into cheers .
“And up against him is a giant of a man who uses his large frame to deliver all sorts of different attacks, one that always surprises us with a series of new moves . I would like to extend a warm welcome to a man that has participated in Destia Trome a total of ten times! To Paragrowe!”
“Paragrowe! Paragrowe! Paragrowe!”
“Kick his ass, Paragrowe! You got this!”
The crowd broke into a much louder set of cheers the moment my opponent stepped in from the opposite side of the area . Wow, okay . Fuck this guy . I’mma totally murk his ass .
Paragrowe was just about as big as the master of ceremonies had described . He was a hulking mass of a man dressed from head to toe in nothing but pure muscle . The way he lumbered onto the stage almost made me think that he was some sort of gorilla .
“Winning . The . Preliminaries . Like . That . Must . Have . Felt . Good . ” He spoke in a deep, throaty voice . Listening to him seemed like more of a pain than not given the fact that his speech was distorted . He had to take a moment to inhale after each word . “But . Don’t . Get . Cocky . ”
“…”
“All . You . Did . Was . Crush . A . Bunch . Of . Weaklings . Any . Of . Us . Regulars . Can . Do . That . With . Ease . ”
“…”
“Hah . You . Scared? How . About . You . Say . Something?”
“Oh, my bad . I wasn’t really paying attention since I can’t speak gorilla . You’re probably going to need to learn to stop snorting each time you say something if you want me to actually understand you . ”
The gorilla’s veins began to bulge as his face twisted in anger . The look he had on his ugly mug clearly conveyed his thoughts in a manner that his dysfunctional mouth couldn’t . My taunt seemed rather well-timed, as the gong signifying the start of the match rang throughout the arena the moment I pissed him off .
Spurred on by the bell, the Gorilla charged right at me . Each of his steps was accompanied by a tremor; he was so swole that the earth shook in response to his actions . He pulled his fist behind him and launched it with all the force of a cannon as he loosed an angry battle cry . The oversized monkey turned out to be exactly what his gear, or rather lack thereof, suggested . He was the type of fighter that preferred the use of his body to any sort of artificial weapon .
“I! Will! Shred! You! To! Bits!”
The cannonball that was his fist flew straight for my face . But it stopped in its tracks before it could reach me .
“What!?”
King Kong screamed in surprise as he realized that his full force punch had lost all of its momentum the moment it came into contact with my open palm .
“You know, that wasn’t a bad punch,” I said as I began to grin (not that he could see it given my mask . ) “Well . My turn . ”
I smashed Zaien, sheath and all, into the side of his gut . I would have loved to draw the blade I thought of as my daughter, but I couldn’t . He was too weak . Tanking a hit from her was sure to end his life .
The tournament was freestyle, so most things were allowed . Killing one’s opponent, however, was not . Doing so was considered foul play and would result in immediate disqualification . In other words, I was probably going to have to keep Enne in her sheath for quite a few fights unless I wanted to get myself booted out of the tourney . I wonder if anyone’ll actually be strong enough to force me to draw her?
Fortunately, my sheath strike wasn’t heavy enough to flat out kill my enemy . That wasn’t to say it was weak, however . The tap had not only knocked the wind out of him but also sent him skidding across the arena . He kicked up clouds upon clouds of dust as he slid .
And that was only the beginning . I wasn’t about to be done just yet .
I dashed past him and moved behind his needlessly large frame before he could so much as fully hit the ground . There was only one thing any reasonable person would do from such a position: smash his fucking head into the ground . And I did exactly that . I placed a foot on the back of his cranium and pushed hard enough to slam his face against the arena’s floor . I wasn’t a hundred percent sure he was out, so I gave him another stomp for good measure .
When the dust cleared, it revealed that the match was over . His eyes had rolled back into his sockets; he was out cold .
“W-what!? What just happened!? I couldn’t even see what happened! Paragrow was supposed to be the one on offence, but it looks like his attack didn’t connect! The ten-time participant is on the ground, down and out for the count!”
The MC immediately described the situation to the audience, which promptly responded with a series of boos . They didn’t seem to like the fact that I was using my foot to grind the gorilla’s face into the dirt . Well, fuck you too!
I raised my free hand and gave the crowd the finger, an action that only led to even more booing .
“W-what a display of arrogance!” Apparently, the MC wasn’t quite done shoutcasting, as he continued to narrate the events that occurred . “Ypsilon has not only disrespectfully stepped all over his opponent’s face, but also agitated the crowd!”
Wew . This is fun . You know how wrestling has heels? Fighters that like playing the part of the big bad evil guy? Yeah, I think I’m starting to get why they act the way they do . Like, holy shit . Doing whatever the fuck I want is so fun I think I might already be hooked . Woo! Plus one to being a fucking villain, and plus one to doing whatever the fuck I want!
On a related note, I know I’ve said this already, but I would have made a terrible hero . Thank god I didn’t end up stuck as one of those, right?
With my first round won, I casually began waltzing off the stage . The crowd was still booing me, but I didn’t care . If anything, their jeers only made me feel all the better .
***
The first thing I did after getting back to the waiting room assigned to me was to reach into my inventory and grab the bell that the demon king had given me . Unlike the room I had sat around in before my preliminary match, the room I was currently in was private . I was the only person in it, so I was safe to more or less do whatever .
“Welp . Time to summon me a CIA agent, I guess . ”
I gave the strange, silent apparatus a quick shake . A series of magical waves emerged from within it and spread throughout my surroundings . One of Haloria’s coworkers responded to my summons immediately . One of the room’s corners rapidly distorted . Everything within a predefined space seemed to contort before coming together to form a single hooded man .
“Huh, never seen that before,” I said . “Was that spatial manipulation?”
“Wow, colour me impressed,” said the hooded man with a wry smile . “I didn’t think you would be able to see through me that easily . You even seemed to know exactly where I’d appear despite never having seen the spell before . ”
“Ehhhh, yeah, I’m pretty good with that kinda stuff . It’s no big deal . ” I shrugged .
Magic Eye allowed me to perceive anything that happened to involve mana . Seeing through a teleport or two was a piece of cake . You know, now that I think about it, that skill sure is batshit broken, isn’t it? It’s probably the most OP thing I’ve got . Man, I should preach this shit . In fact, I might as well start going door to door and asking people if they’ve got time to talk about Magic Eye, my lord and saviour .
Speaking of looking at things, I decided to analyze the secret agent as he appeared . His stats were as follows:
***
General Information
Name: Lunogill
Race: Guardian Devil
Class: Silent Assassin
Level: 119
HP: 3996/3996
MP: 9690/9690
Strength: 1001
Vitality: 992
Agility: 886
Magic: 1002
Dexterity: 1851
Luck: 199
Unique Skills
Space Magic
Sound Magic
Skills
Stealth VI
Sword Mastery VIII
Crisis Detection VI
Enemy Detection V
Titles
King’s Right Hand
Assassin
Inaudible
***
The assassin that had appeared before me was incredibly strong . Monsters and dragons aside, he was undoubtedly the strongest individual I had ever analyzed . A part of his strength stemmed from his particular skillset . How the hell are you supposed to stop someone capable of manipulating spacetime? Shit dude, I can’t even begin to imagine how you’re supposed to deal with that kinda bullshit . Sound magic seems pretty useful too . I can swear I didn’t hear jack shit when he first showed up . Dude was totally dead silent . Looks like the demon king’s got some pretty competent men working under him, huh?
“So? Did you need me for something?”
“Yeah . Iunno if you know already, you probably do, but I just wanted to tell you that it seems the enemy’s got a few guys in the crowd . They were obviously trying to find a chance to attack me . I’d like you guys to do me a favour and take ‘em out whenever you get the chance . ”
As far as I could tell, the individuals in question either were fiends or were working for them . They were standing by with spells at the ready . My ability to see mana had clearly informed me that they were looking for a chance to strike, but the battle had ended before such an opportunity had reared its head .
“You were able to notice them despite being in the midst of a fight? Impressive . I should have expected nothing less of the man the king deemed a necessary ally,” said the agent . “Would you happen to recall their positions?”
“Uhhh… let’s see…” I looked outside the waiting area and turned my gaze on the audience . “You can actually see them from here . You see how there’s a guy with a buzzcut sitting in the third row from the top in the section right across from us? He was the first guy . The second guy’s to the first guy’s right . He’s in the next area over . He’s the guy with the glasses in the front row, and he’s seated right next to the couple with the kid . ”
I pointed out the first two I recalled before putting a hand on my chin .
“I feel like there were a few more, but I can’t remember where they were off the top of my head . Sorry . ”
“No need for any apologies . You’ve already provided us with more than enough information . I’ve already been informed of where all the others are located . We’ll have them taken care of shortly,” said the assassin . “And thank you once again for your cooperation . You’ve been very helpful . ”
“Don’t worry about it . Getting rid of them helps me as much as it helps you . Anyway, good luck . ”
I dismissed the man with a wave of my hand . He bowed to express his gratitude before using the power of spatial manipulation to vanish into thin air .