Ciara’s PoV:
The frozen landscape stretched across the horizon. Icicles high enough to rival two-story buildings. Roads covered in ice. And creepy statue-like iceblocks littered the landscape... At least I really hope they are statues.
Yamatai Grand Festival
Event 2-C: Recovery of Luxuria North
Event Description:
The poor sight of Luxuria North...let us give them a hand!
Clear up the ice and frost that originated from the vain and poor heart of the eternal child that once governed this land, only to beco the first victim of his own foolishness.
Event Content:
Over the course of the event period, obtain at least 100,000 Prize Points by clearing up the scars left behind by the Disaster of Ice:
Remove the ice that covers Luxuria North.
Exterminate the Frost Dread Spirits, the remnants of the Disaster of Ice.
[Extra]: Crush the Empty Hearts of Ice. 10,000 Points for each.
It’s the fifth day of this event. The contents are, in short, clean up after the Disaster of Ice. This extends to the layer of ice that covers all the land here, plus-
"Careful, people! There’s a Frost Dread Spirit here!" shouted one of the other competitors.
Speak of the devil, there it is. The second type of "trash" that we need to clean up.
The Disaster of Ice, also called the "nightmare of Luxuria" or sothing, was a massive negative source of life and heat...I think. The detail’s unclear even for the workers that are clearing up the ss it left.
Basically, it was a "negative sun" created by so idiot ssing with things he shouldn’t have touched. What does that an? It ans that instead of bringing heat and encouraging life, this "negative sun" covered everything in a layer made of supernatural ice, plus it birthed things that are living, yet not living.
People call these things "Frost Dread Spirits", but they are different from the original creatures, so I’ve heard. Physical attacks alone are useless against them, and they can freeze you to death with a single touch. And they are simply strong and fast too. Luckily, they have quite the weak defense, making them "glass cannons", no, "ice cannons" may be a better way to describe them.
Proving my point, the Frost Dread Spirit from before is already taken care of. With almost literal lightspeed, considering it was Mira who did the deed.
"Thanks again, missy!"
"Sure, no prob~." - Mira
Seeing that the situation was under control, I continued with my job of breaking the ice-layers. This ice does not emit cold, yet it doesn’t lt from the sumr heat. Maybe so of its properties as a type of ice were lost by the destruction of the Disaster that created it?
Nonetheless, it does not change the situation. Mira and I have stayed at the outmost rim of the ice region, working on removing the ice with the participants of the event who are too weak to go deeper into the frozen wasteland.
Iron, Alf, and Noire went deeper into the frozen wasteland to look for those "Heart"-thingies that give ten thousand Points each. Mira and I stayed behind since my Water skills are not so effective against this ice. Mira only stayed behind to look after . Aww, I’m such a lucky girl~.
Except that the real reason she’s here is to prevent from continuing my great success from the first event. Probably by Garami’s orders. Tch.
Why are they so against giving so "care" to people? They feel good, and I feel good. Everyone’s okay with it! Especially ...*slurp*.
Sure, we don’t get any Prize Points from it, but that’s why the other three are working so hard to look for hearts to crush! Let at least nurture so to compensate!
"Hey! That blue-haired woman over there!" - ???
Geez, who’s so rude-"HUGE!?!?" - Ciara
I turned around and was greeted by the sight of a man so big that I couldn’t stop my voice from leaking out. He must be over 2.5 ters high! Not to ntion stacked!
And I could guess the reason why he’s so buff. Sharp horns could be seen pointing out from his brown hair. Ogre horns.
...plus I used [Clairvoyance (Fairy)] to secretly look at his status. Which confird that this guy is a "Ground Ogre".
"My na is Grangron! I’m here to challenge the Dark Knight known as Mira Aureola!!" - Grangron
"...and what does that have to do with ?" I replied, seeing that Mira had already left to hunt down more Frost Dread Spirits.
"...that is not you?" - Grangron
"No, my na is Ciara. Ciara Tritonia." - Ciara
"Damn it! I an, excuse . I heard that Mira Aureola was a blue-haired woman wearing a strange jacket, so I mistook you for her." - Grangron
Now that he ntioned it, I and Mira do share those traits, except that Mira has sky-blue hair and mine’s dark-blue. As for the clothes...I did design everyone’s new outfits, so I guess there is so resemblance between them...perhaps? Maybe?
While on the subject, my outfit consists of a dark-blue dress with a dark-green/black jacket over that again. The dress has black-and-white wave patterns at the bottom and lacks sleeves so it shows my armpits...and so sideboobs. Plus an opening in the middle to show so cleavage. I’m still a Courtesan, you know! Oh, and I added a dark-blue tie to make the outfit look kind of like a high school uniform if you ignore the fanservice.
The equipnt’s effects are also sweet. Not touching on the better effects, both the dress and jacket have magical enhancents to let my fairy-wings stick out the back and the pockets of the jacket work as Item Bags, albeit just for painting tools and paintings.
"So she’s not here then. I could swear I heard people talking about her just now." - Grangron
Mira is fast on her feet after all. She must have run off to look for more Frost Dread Spirits...
"Wait a sec, you said your na was Grangron?" - Ciara
"That’s right! The one and only!" - Grangron
"As in the guy who got the first place of the first event?" - Ciara
"Indeed!" - Grangron
"...how did you do it? And where is the rest of your party?" - Ciara
"Hmph! For soone like , crushing all the bugs in that C-arena was plenty! As for my servants, I’ve left them behind! They are not capable of standing on the sa stage as ! A-hahahaha!" - Grangron
Ugh, what a loudmouth. But was that really everything? I don’t think people would subconsciously vote for him.
"And then? Why do you want to et Mira?" - Ciara
"Obviously! To challenge her to a fight!" - Grangron
"...why?" - Ciara
"Do I need to spell it out? She is rumored by the locals to be the strongest mber of your group! Being strong is enough of a reason to challenge her!" - Grangron
"...and you are not after, I don’t know, soone like Alf or even Garami who actually fought?" - Ciara
"I have already seen the power of the vampire, so I am not interested!! And what honor would it be to challenge a magic caster to a fight? There must be sothing wrong with your head if you think that is worthy of a warrior!" - Grangron
Okay, definitely a muscle brain. Still unsure if I should let him et Mira. He could be an assailant like that bull-demon Mira talked about-
*BZZZ-ZAAAP!!*
...there goes any ideas of keeping Mira a secret.
"She’s back there," I said while pointing at the large block of ice that the ground-to-air lightning storm just occurred behind.
"Really?! Thanks a lot!" - Grangron
...he didn’t think that was related to her? Is he really part of the Solomar-group??
There has to be trouble going on if Mira uses such a big move...let’s observe the situation. I am no fighter. No going straight into the middle of the battlefield for . No, not at all.
The ogre sprinted around the large iceblock, probably so building before the Disaster struck, and I flew above it while keeping a low profile. After landing on top of the iceblock, I spied down and saw Mira facing off against an armored opponent. Black armor. What irony...
Mira doesn’t look wounded, but she’s breathing heavily. On the other hand, the armored opponent is acting fine. No signs of exhaustion are visible on that guy, except that he’s missing one of his arms...and those bull-shaped horns...
No way. A sudden rematch with the ox-demon that attacked Mira and the others before? In the middle of the festival? What a mood-breaker this ox is!
"HEY! Which one of you is Mira Aureola?" - Grangron
"......"
Hey, you should at least figure that out when only having those two options to chose from.
"That’s ..." replied Mira with an unsure voice, but Grangron couldn’t do anything with that info.
I an, doing anything is sort of impossible after you’ve taken an ox-demon charge in your gut.
That’s right. The ox-demon attacked the ogre! Headbutted him with those nasty-looking armored horns of his! If he had tried to put his dirty hands on Mira, I bet we would see more of that lightning-show from before, so he went for the party who looked like the easiest mark...
Isn’t that weird? I was half-expecting that Grangron was connected to the assailants from Solomar, but for to be this wrong?! Give back all that suspicion from before!!
Still, why attack the ogre? Maybe the ox-demon concluded that Grangron was part of our gang because he was looking for Mira? Or is this "leave no witnesses alive" thing? I think it’s the latter.
"Ho-ho? Aren’t we feisty here?" - Grangron
...excuse , why’re you acting so nonchalantly?! Don’t those horns hurt? But then I took another look at Grangron’s stats...they are heavily focused on STR and VIT. Almost no HP had gone down with that charge.
The ox-demon distanced himself from Grangron and looked with horror at the minimal amount of damage that Grangron had sustained. It’s already healing as we speak...
"Tsk! Anima Drive!!" - Ox-demon
Now the gloves are off! The ox-demon is getting serious!
The blood-red aura in the shape of a bull appeared around the ox-demon, just as Mira had described it when she told about their first eting.
...Doesn’t this an the ox-demon is stronger than before? Mira looks exhausted, and this guy’s just started to use the aura. Albeit, he only used it to escape, so maybe it’s just the armor he’s wearing that’s lightning-proof?
"NOW things are finally getting interesting!" shouted Grangron as he proceeded to produce a light-green aura of his own...?
I looked at Grangron with a stupid expression on my face, one that was shared with Mira, and probably the ox-demon too, even if I cannot see his face because of his helt.
And not long, a Tyrannosaurus Rex made of aura was standing behind Grangron..., look, I don’t know what is going on either! What is that thing?! Is it going to do sothing, or is it there just for the looks?
In any case, Grangron is giving off so intense pressure after being enveloped in that aura. And that is coming from , a hobody that shouldn’t know about stuff like "intense pressure"!!
"H-hey..., wait for just a-" - Ox-demon
"Bwa-hahaha! Waiting is for weaklings!" - Grangron
And with that, the ogre launched himself at the ox-demon and hit him with a fist. One that had so much power in it that an explosion occurred when it hit the ox-demon. And another one occurred when said demon collided with the iceblocks after being sent flying like a rocket due to explosion #1.
I couldn’t believe my eyes and was just staring at the miserable sight of the ox-demon, now collapsed on the ground. It is a small blessing, but at least his body is in one piece...
Mira ran over to him, ignoring the ogre who’s laughing like he did the joke of the century. I flew over to Mira who’s busy checking the vitals of the ox-demon.
"No good. He’s knocked out cold." - Mira
"...this place lacks so heating after all." - Ciara
I was so confused that a stupid joke left my lips. Please forget about that.
What am I confused over? That the ox-demon was defeated so soundly? That despite eating that massive attack, he’s just unconscious? That Grangron turned out to be a bigger muscle brain than I first expected?
Honestly, I don’t know myself. And didn’t I tell you guys to forget about that!?
"Bwa-hahaha! Now, Mira Aureola! Accept my challenge to a duel!" - Grangron
"Why the f*ck should I!!??"
Yes! That is honestly the only answer anyone except an idiot could think of! And as I waited for Mira to utter those words-
"...what kind of duel?" - Mira
Eh-eeehh? She’s up for it?
"Hmm? Obviously, a fight with our fists and weapons!" - Grangron
"Despite you being Grangron the stall-crusher?" - Mira
Huh? What-crusher?
"Oh, so you’ve heard about ! Ga-hahaha! Yes, my servants always complained about wanting to go around and enjoy the festival, so I did! A man has to live 120% or else they’re no better than waste! True words from my master!" - Grangron
...okay, that could explain why he got so popular at the first event...I guess?
"Then what if we make this duel of yours sothing 120% interesting then?" - Mira
"O-ho? As in?" - Grangron
"This event is all about crushing this ice that surrounds us, no? And it is the handiwork of a freaking Disaster even." - Mira
"Hmm, I’m listening." - Grangron
"The idea is simple: the one who’s group gets enough Points from this event, which is essentially crushing what a Disaster has created, will be the winner of the duel." - Mira
"...I like it! A truer test of strength couldn’t have been invented!" - Grangron
Ehhh?
"Then if you would excuse -" - Grangron
"No, I won’t. What is it in for if I win this bet?" - Mira
"Huh? Oh, uhh...I don’t know?" - Grangron
"Geez...I’ll let you off the hook easily if you can tell more about that T-Rex from before." - Mira
"Just that? Sweet! I an, you drive a hard deal, but I’ll accept. Now, wait for , you popsicles!!" - Grangron
"...Ciara, help here. Ciara? Hey?" - Mira
*Snap*
"Gah! My mind flew off sowhere." - Ciara
"Can’t bla you. You’re still not experienced enough with these sorts of things. Now, help get this guy gagged and ready for delivery. He doesn’t look like he’s going to wake up in a while, so let’s throw him into the cells back in Damavand-Mansion." - Mira
Huh? Oh, the ox-demon. Yeah, I wouldn’t have been in better shape if I was on the receiving end of that attack, so I can’t bla the guy for not waking up. If we call on Jeeves, he could send soone over with a Floatship to retrieve the demon...
"Then...what about the ogre?" - Ciara
"What about him?" - Mira
"Did you not promise him about that duel?" - Ciara
"Sure, but I never said I would do anything for him if I lost. Plus, it’s the Points our respective groups have amassed, not what we have racked up on our own. And from his personality, I would say that ogre must have ditched whoever he’s working with, plus not having focused too much on the event if he’s been looking for all the while." - Mira
Ugh! And the worst part is, I can’t deny her! Wait, is that so bad? Wouldn’t we get information about what appears to be the Anima Drive skill from a real practitioner?
"That’s why we’re going to continue breaking the ice in this place and leave Jeeves to break the ice with this guy," replied Mira while lifting the ox-demon, armor and all, over her shoulder...
---
And on the final day, the results were an overwhelming victory for Mira. 495.000 Points compared to Grangron who had amassed 101.000 Points after the event with the ox-demon on his own...
Yes, he’s got so mad skills, but is it safe to believe the information obtained from this muscle first, brains never-guy?
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