496 The Next Match
The next day, the second day of the preliminary rounds of the annual Imperial Battle Tournant, was still being held outside the walls of the Imperial Capital. The sky was a bit cloudy, but it was ideal for the fights today. The number of participants was so unexpected that not all warriors got the chance to fight yesterday. The first half of the day would be finishing the remaining first-round matches, and then the next round started in the afternoon.
The number of participants might have been drastically reduced from yesterday's around a thousand matches, but the camp was still congested with warriors and citizens alike to watch today's fights. So of them were here to evaluate each of the participants so that they could pick a better card when the betting started. Aside from the official betting of the arena, there were small-ti betting operations operating in and out of the arena. A few of them were in the camp to rake money. "Damn, there are so many new faces this year. It's hard to know who to throw my coins at."
"I know, right? But thankfully, I watched a few matches yesterday and made note of the ones who looked powerful."
"Well, I heard that this one is strong..."
It was currently afternoon, and the matches of the next round had started not long. Erik was standing in one of the betting boots in the camp and listening to the n's conversation while he waited for the next fight. Erik was not going to bet; rather, he was here to hear what people thought of the participants as well as gather information regarding this year's big nas. From what he could see from the list on this stall, many of the odds were sowhat equal, as not anyone knew how powerful the new fighters were. Then his eyes focused on a particular match with heaven and earth odds. The match involved a participant nad Rogcal the Destroyer, a famous supre-ranked adventurer, specifically an SE-ranked adventurer, who was based in the Imperial Capital. Rogcal was the leader of his own party and one of the strongest adventurers in the empire with his level five hundred strength. With Rogcal involved, no wonder people were putting their bets on him. In addition, he finished as a semifinalist last year, making him a top contender in the tournant. On the other hand, his unfortunate opponent was a male archer who knew where.
There were a handful of big nas to bet on, such as the S-ranked adventurers from other nations. Erik could see the nas of so adventurers and warriors from the Queendom of Raevender, especially the only Supre Rank adventurer in the forrly Raevender City. "On Asbal? Didn't he fail to reach the top sixteen last year? But he is still strong. However, I have no idea who his opponent is, so I could not tell if he is worth betting on."
"I think so too."
(Asbal? Isn't he the one from the other day?)
What Erik ant was that Asbal was the man who engaged in a confrontation with Prince Edward. Asbal had a strength of around Level 400, and he was a regular in the annual tournant for years, if not decades, so many had known and recognized him. Even so, he had passed his pri and could not keep up with the younger ones anymore. Curious, Erik scanned the match lists to find his na to see if anyone had recognized his strength. But as he expected, he failed to find his na or even his number. It looked like he was not a popular pick right now, but it was not like that was his intention. Erik strolled around the camp for a while before he headed to his platform for his next fight. It was around three o'clock when he heard his number and na being called by the official. He got up to the platform where he faced his opponent. This ti, his opponent was one of the few female fighters in the tournant. The one he would be fighting was a toned woman in full plate armor. Her head might be under her helt, but Erik sensed she had a pair of hazel eyes and auburn hair in a Joan of Arc haircut. He also noticed that her skin tone had a dium shade, implying that she ca from a tropical or subtropical region. He did appraise her and found out that she was around Level 300 with a remarkably good proficiency in sword arts. Erik was not putting in much effort in his last fight, so he decided to show off a fraction of his strength this ti. "I haven't seen these two before. Are they new to the tournant?"
"It seems so. The woman in armor really looks strong, but I can't say the sa thing to that guy. Did he think this is a masquerade?"
"But if he reaches this round, it ans that he has won before. Unless his last opponent was one of those overconfident newbies. But who knows?"
The crowd began sharing words about the fighters on the platform. They had their own opinions and speculations on the two, but the majority of them thought the armored woman would take the win. On the stage, Erik and his opponent drew out their blades from their scabbards. While Erik wield a slender rapier, the woman gripped a long sword with both hands. The referee followingly stepped between them. "The match between Erik and Tina begins now!"
When the referee officialized the match, the two of them did not make a move and slowly circled the makeshift arena instead. They were cautious of one another and decided not to make mistakes. After a few seconds of walking in circles, one of them finally took the initiative to move. Erik lunged himself toward Tina with his blade pointing to her. Clink!
Tina imdiately parried his thrust attack, but Erik imdiately recovered and tried to stab the shoulder joints of her armor. Despite being equipped with heavy gear, Tina was surprisingly agile and evaded his blade by twisting her body. She then utilized the montum and swung her sword horizontally with great power.
Erik hopped back to avoid the powerful blade. Tina shifted the trajectory of her blade and brought it overhead. Her blade suddenly glowed, and energy kept channeling within it. Knowing that she was about to execute a technique, the crowd began to cheer up. "Sword Wave!"
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