Chương 205: Chapter Two-Hundred-and-Five

The audience roared and stomped as the two fighters pulled out their weapons. Natalia immediately double-activated her cloud skimmer jacket and flew through the sand, leaving behind a long furrow in her wake as she cleared the distance between her and the duellist in the blink of an eye.

To her credit, the duellist reacted fast enough to swing her rapier out to meet the long sword, but just before her thin rapier struck the katana's edge, Natalia jumped over her to land in the sand behind her, driving the tip of her blade down the duellist's back. The blue shirt presented no defence against the katana's sharpness, and Alicia's blood spattered down onto the sand. The spectators were stunned for a full second, before erupting into whooping and clapping." What astonishing speed!

The Traveller wins by first blood!" the announcer exclaimed, his booming voice echoing out of the magical megaphone in his hand. The duellist sheathed her rapier as the healers came running out of the nearby tunnel. Natalia put her katana away as well, and the pair shook hands, before returning to their respective exits.

"That was quick," Diwa remarked as the crowd murmured loudly about the loss of the city's young hope.

"Told you," Adam said. The next few fights showcased a lot of clearly untrained citizens and hopeful travellers being easily bested by their opponents. They got to see the fighting styles of all of Natalia's future opponents as a result, but there were also other fighters that she wouldn't end up against despite them easily winning their opening fights.

One of them was an Elphin with a longsword, another was a guard from Moonport, there was also a knight in plate armour, a fisherman with a multipronged spear, and a bearded man with two axes who wore animal hides. That guy is probably from stage thirteen, Adam guessed. It was a stage covered in snow called the Valley. When it was Natalia's turn to fight again, the crowd cheered excitedly. Out of everyone who had won the other matches, she had by far been the quickest to defeat her opponent.

None of the fighters had died so far, but one guy had lost a hand, and a woman using a sword and shield had sustained a brutal cut to the face, leading to her being rushed out of the arena by the healers. The tower guard had also defeated his opponent by punching him with his shield and knocking him out cold, and it was possible it would lead to a deadly concussion. As Beck had promised, her second opponent was an Elphin with a spear.

He looked very similar to the statues in stage five and his body was lithe and graceful, without any flashy muscles. He wore the airy and light cloth armour that the sanctuary defenders in stage four had worn, and he was naturally quick on his feet. In his first fight, he had rushed his opponent before he was ready and stabbed him in the arm. Still, Adam had no doubts that Natalia would win a second time." Begin!" the announcer exclaimed. Natalia knelt as the Elphin predictably rushed across the sand towards her.

He seemed almost weightless given how none of the sand compressed under his bare feet. When he was five metres from Natalia, she activated her mongoose chargers and shot forward with her knee lifted, jumping off from the ground while her katana swept out to the side to cut her opponent's wooden shaft in two before he could respond. A loud smack echoed across the arena as her knee met his lower jaw and his head was knocked back along with the rest of his body.

Natalia landed back on her feet in the sand and stepped down on his right hand while placing her blade's edge against his neck. The Elphin was knocked out cold though, so he couldn't verbally surrender. Thankfully, the announcer noticed and exclaimed, " The Traveller wins by knock-out! Once more proving her ability to win with a single strike!" The crowd cheered loudly as Natalia left the arena floor. She was quickly becoming a fan favourite.

"Why didn't she use the same strategy as before?" Diwa wondered as the Elphin was carried out of the arena and Natalia walked to the exit.

"Do you eat all your meals with a spoon?" Seo-Yoon asked.

"What?"

"The same strategy won't work for every enemy," Adam translated. Seo-Yoon grinned.

"It may also be unwise to become predictable," Chien chimed in.

"We do not know how much information the other fighters have on their opponents, but she may easily be countered if she stuck to the same strategy." The match right after Natalia's featured the guy with the lantern shield, who the announcer called ' the Nightfarer'. He wore the same dark cape as Natalia, and the rest of his outfit was black. Since magic was not allowed, using the cape would likely lead to a disqualification, but the Nightfarer didn't need its protection.

His skill with the strange weapon was more than sufficient for his opponent, the bearded man with the two axes. Although Nightfarer had a longsword on his belt, he relied entirely on the lantern shield strapped to his left arm. Two claw-like blades emerged from the gauntlet the shield was attached to, and there was a spike in the middle of the shield, with a sword blade protruding below the gauntlet.

Using the claws, he wrenched one of the axes out of his opponent's grip, before pivoting to absorb and deflect the strike from the other. Nightfarer shoulder-checked him, knocking him back to give himself space to bring the sword blade to bear. The bearded man moved around the strike, ending up on Nightfarer's left side, and at that moment he activated the unique effect of his weapon: the lantern.

Light exploded out from the top of the shield, briefly blinding the axe-wielder and allowing Nightfarer to stab him in the leg with the spike protruding from the middle of the shield. The next fight was between the tower guard and the longsword Elphin. The tall man stood his ground as the swordsman came at him, and after shrugging off several killing blows, the tower guard struck the Elphin in his throat with a sudden pommel strike.

As his opponent staggered backwards, his larynx destroyed, the big man swung his sword in a lazy move, beheading him." Alexander's Tower Guard wins by elimination!" The crowd was almost silent as they watched the armoured mountain leave the arena.

"That was unnecessary," Chien remarked sourly.

"I told you he's trouble," Adam said.

"Even if the swordsman had attempted to surrender, the announcer may not have seen it, since the big guy was blocking his view." The following match featured guard captain Tabian from Old Town taking on the guard from Moonport. He made his opponent look unfathomably predictable, since he parried every attack with ease until he reached exhaustion, and then with a slash, Tabian cut the back of his opponent's hand and won.

"That one might be trouble," Seo-Yoon guessed.

"Natalia will have to strike faster than he can react," Chien commented. Once the rest of the matches were done, the remaining eight entered the semi-finals. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

"Isn't this format kind of unfair?" Diwa asked, realising how the tournament was designed.

"They all have to fight five matches to be able to take on the champion, who only has to fight one fight to keep his spot on the podium."

"Maybe they want new challengers to prove they have the endurance required to become the champion," Chien guessed. In the first fight, the tower guard took on the knight in plate armour, winning by knocking him down and cutting off his right foot with three brutal chops that had his opponent screaming in surrender. The crowd booed as the announcer declared his victory. They had clearly caught on to Alexander's challenger having an unfair advantage. They'll be excited when Natalia takes him down.

She hadn't needed to use her weapon skill yet, and Adam had already seen how powerful it was and knew it could clinch the fight, so long as she didn't balk at the idea of killing the big man. If she hesitates or goes easy on him, she'll lose. Adam knew she had what it took to win, but her mental state made him a bit uncertain. He was ready to intervene if it looked like the tower guard would win, because the big man would not let her go with a simple injury.

Natalia's fight was third in line, and she was up against the Nightfarer. Good, the order remains unchanged. The moment her opponent stepped out onto the sand, he also pulled out his longsword, acknowledging her as a worthy opponent." Begin!" Natalia switched to her Nimble Prince sword, which was a fair bit shorter than the katana, and then she loped across the sand with long strides that kept her body low to the ground.

It looked absurd, but she was able to move across the arena with tremendous speed, throwing herself up above the Nightfarer with a spin of her body and the blade of her sword extended outwards, turning herself into a deadly spinning top. Nightfarer's shield and right-handed longsword lit up with a flurry of sparks, and he quickly spun to react to her follow-up attack from behind.

But it never came, because she immediately leapt sideways past him, following the direction he was turning and slashing him across the upper arm, sending his blood spattering across the sand.

"Uh…" Diwa muttered, mouth agape and brain struggling to understand what Natalia had just done.

"I didn't know she had moves like that," Adam said with a laugh." The Traveller wins by first blood! Once again she shows us an astonishing display of skill!" The crowd roared and stomped the floor, shouting her name in unison. Natalia shook hands with the Nightfarer and they exchanged a few words. From their melodies, Adam assumed her opponent was praising her skill and perhaps commenting on the cape she wore. She gave the audience a wave as she returned to the tunnel.

Adam had hoped that Natalia possessed moves like these hidden up her sleeve, since he'd noticed her restraint while they'd been fighting the Red Scarves. It was a shame that many of their strongest opponents in this stage were naturally impervious to simple melee attacks, but she'd been able to seal the victory against the ritualist the moment there'd been an opening. If she makes it to the Wandering Forest stage, then she'd definitely be able to befriend the Weaponmasters.

Maybe I should tell her about Tisa and the Challenge Stone, Adam considered. After Natalia's fight, captain Tabian was up against the man with the fishing spear. The fisherman had made it quite far despite his simple weapon, mainly due to his quick reactions and unpredictable attacks. These were, however, no challenge for Tabian, who deflected and parried them all, before suddenly sliding in an attack to lightly injure his opponent and win.

The bracket moved to the semi-finals, and the first fight was between the tower guard and a man with a shield who, despite not being particularly proficient, had made it through this far thanks to lucky match-ups. The tower guard grunted in amusement as his opponent's sword broke against his armour, and then he picked him up by the chin, before walking to the edge of the arena and slamming him into the wall with an echoing crunch." Uhh… Sir Tilth touched the arena wall and is disqualified as per our new rules.

This means that Alexander's Tower Guard wins the match and advances to the challenger finals!" The audience booed at the unsportsmanlike way the armoured brute fought.

"I can't wait for Natalia to kill him," Seo-Yoon said eagerly. For once, Chien said nothing about the idea of killing other humans, which in itself was quite a sign of how much he also disapproved of the tower guard's way of fighting. The next fight was between Natalia and Tabian. The guard captain wore a yellow belt over plate armour that covered a yellow tunic. His face was hidden by a metal helmet and he held his sword in a loose grip of his right gauntlet, his posture very relaxed.

His apparent lack of tension was quite intimidating, and it almost seemed like he was having fun frustrating his opponents." Begin!" the announcer yelled, and the audience roared in response. Tabian was quite popular amongst many of the spectators, although Natalia was clearly the favourite to win. Unlike the previous three fights, Natalia didn't rush down her opponent. Instead she stalked around him, looking for weaknesses.

She switched to her katana and suddenly lunged forward with a stab, but as Tabian's body shifted at lightning speed to react, Natalia pivoted and turned the stab into a slash, following it up with a forward dash of her cloud skimmer jacket. She switched from the katana to her shorter sword and used a minimal charge of her mongoose chargers to kick Tabian on the inside of his thigh, ruining his stance as he spun to counter her stab.

He was still fast enough to put his blade in the way of hers, but Natalia once again pivoted before their weapons touched, shooting herself through the sand and around him with another activation of her jacket, before leaping over him just as he'd spun to her new position, and managing to slice her blade through the tiniest gap between his helmet and shoulder plate from above, scoring a hit that cast a few droplets of blood onto the sand.

As she landed on the other side of him, Tabian paused and looked down at the red droplets next to him. Nobody except Adam, Tabian, and Natalia had noticed, but the guard captain was an honourable man, because he raised his free hand to stop the fight.

"What happened?" Diwa asked.

"Did she draw blood?"

"She did," Adam replied.

"It was only a few drops though."" Guard Captain Tabian is indicating that he was struck and his blood was drawn, which makes the Traveller the winner of the match by first blood!" The crowd exploded into cheers and shouting, once more chanting Natalia's tournament title.

"I don't really understand what happened," Seo-Yoon admitted.

"Me neither," Diwa said.

"She was testing his reactions," Chien told them.

"He was quick to respond to attacks on his right side, but slower on his left, which it seems caused him to overcommit at the end, allowing her to get above him before he was ready to deflect her strike."

"Now it's just the tower guard left," Adam said." Ladies and gentlemen, there is now only one match remaining before we find out who this year's challenger will be!" The audience cheered." Once this year's challenger has been decided, they will take on the champion for a chance to claim the title for themselves!"

"Is there a prize for being the challenger?" Diwa asked. Adam shook his head.

"Only the champion gets a prize."

"That's unfair," Seo-Yoon said. A team of attendants ran across the arena floor with rakes, returning the sand to a somewhat even field. The moment they withdrew, Natalia emerged from one tunnel and the tower guard from the other. A sinister melody pulled Adam's attention to the wise men's booth and he was unsurprised to discovered that it originated with Alexander Tobias. The announcer was looking back at the fat collector and Alexander nodded once. They're not even trying to hide it…"

Our finalists need no introductions! Give it up for the Traveller and Alexander's Tower Guard!" The response was a mix of cheers and boos. Almost everyone wanted Natalia to win, given their hostile emotions targeting the armoured mountain she was up against.

"Every good fight needs a heel," Chien muttered." Now then, are you ready!" The crowd roared furiously and stomped their feet." Fighters! Begin!" The tower guard rushed forward, showing speed that he'd kept hidden until now. Natalia strode towards the middle of the arena to meet him, her katana held close to her body. As the giant man swung his shield and cartoonishly-large sword, Natalia leapt from the ground on a trajectory that would surely see her cut in half.

Then a warm breeze rolled across the arena seats as Natalia moved past her opponent at a speed that was impossible to follow. She landed on her feet in the sand and continued walking towards the exit tunnel, her katana held out to the side. Behind her, the tower guard stumbled forward a few steps. A droplet of blood fell from the katana's edge and onto the sand. The tower guard fell to his knees as his head left his shoulders and rolled across the sand, drawing a line of red connecting it to him.

With a flourish, Natalia shed the remaining blood from her katana before sheathing it. Then the crowd seemed to finally realise what had happened, and the volume of their uproarious cheers were enough to shake the entire arena. < < Quest Complete > > < A Friendly Wager > < Defeated Alexander Tobias' champion > The announcer seemed to be consulting the four members of the council in the VIP booth, but after a few seconds, he finally exclaimed, " The Traveller wins by elimination!"

The cheering grew even louder and her name was chanted once more as she left the arena. Attendants came to pull the large corpse away, but before they could get far, Adam sent a small glop through the air and into it, wanting to know where it went. After all, with the Forlorn Shadow on their doorstep soon, dead bodies were a liability.

"Just the champion now," Diwa said.

"Get ready," Adam told them.