0% Adelaide wasn’t sure if her teacher, the Tin Knight, prioritized efficiency or romance.
At tis, it seed he prioritized efficiency above all else—like when he rcilessly ground enemies down or tried to take their heads before assessing the situation, yet, his actions and words showed a strong emphasis on romance and ideals.
The witch described him as “a guy who lives for the mont,” and “you shouldn’t expect consistently from a madman,” but Adelaide didn’t quite see it that way.
However, it was difficult to know how the Tin Knight would react to the action of “seeking guidance from soone other than the master to win a match.”
The usual Adelaide would have hesitated, fearing the Tin Knight might beco displeased, but the current Adelaide was hungry for victory.
Therefore, she asked the Tin Knight, “Um, would it be okay if I asked Mr. Peter for so advice?”
The Tin Knight stared at Adelaide for a mont, then for so reason gave a thumbs up.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ praises the attitude of seeking knowledge beyond his own as excellent!]
[The ‘Tin Knight’ expresses joy at his pupil’s proactive attitude!]
Fortunately, the reaction wasn’t bad.
No, if anything, the response was almost too good to the point that she was slightly suspicious that he might be being sarcastic.
Though, considering the Tin Knight’s usual words and actions, he probably wouldn’t speak in such a roundabout way.
With her teacher’s permission secured, Adelaide went to Peter, who was downing beer like an old man despite his young appearance.
“Hmm? Things to be careful of when fighting Kalidahs?
“Haha, listen, young lady, you shouldn’t try to use an adventurer for free. If you want sothing, make a request. The request fee is quite expensive, though.
“No, wait, don’t hand over your whole wallet just because of that. It’s making things look weird! Hey, you there! Stop with those ‘Wow, what a trash bastard,’ look!
“Damn, it’s better than the self-proclaid vampire lady, but this is tricky to deal with in its own way. Fine, let’s just consider it paynt for the al I got,” Peter scratched his head, then took a big bite out of an apple on the table before speaking, “First, you know not to cross swords, right? But before that, you need to be careful of Kalidahs’ entire body, not just the sword. Considering that ridiculous physical ability, even if you just get lightly hit by a retreating foot, it’ll probably be like being kicked by a horse’s hoof.
“Also, abandon the prejudice that the parts of the armor that look like leather will be weaker than the tal parts. Seeing that it didn’t get cut instantly even when slashed with sword energy, it’s definitely not just wild animal leather. It’s likely magic beast hide. If you focus on attacking only those parts thinking they’re weaker than other areas, you might end up having your attack pattern read and get counterattacked.
“On top of all that, Kalidahs is the champion of the arena. They probably know the rules of the martial arts tournant and how to fight in the arena better than anyone. Be especially careful of that arena smashing they used when fighting , it’s quite troubleso.
“Lastly, that guy. What they’ve shown so far probably isn’t their full power. Do your best, little miss.”
***KWAANG! CRASH!
The stage crumbled and shrank with each passing second.
Adelaide charged straight towards Kalidahs, who was like a literal natural disaster.
Kalidahs welcod her with a swing of their greatsword.
In so ways, it was a similar developnt to the beginning, but there was one clear difference.
Whoosh!
Kalidahs swung their greatsword not with the edge—but the flat of the blade.
It was an unreasonable, forced attack only possible thanks to their ridiculous physical abilities, but the effect was certain.
Unlike last ti, there was no gap to avoid the attack by lowering her body, and the escape options were limited to retreating or moving in the opposite direction of the sword swing.
However, the opposite direction of the sword was already a place Kalidahs had smashed.
The audience thought there was nowhere to dodge except backwards.
Whoosh!
Adelaide launched her body.
Landing on the debris of the arena that Kalidahs had destroyed.
Flinch.
Kalidahs’ movent stopped for a mont.
They had to forcibly twist the attack they were preparing, thinking she would naturally retreat backwards.
Naturally, Adelaide didn’t miss this gap.
Slash!
A slash with the montum of her entire body pierced through the beast armor for the first ti, wounding the champion’s flesh.
A counterattack ca a beat late, but by then, Adelaide had already pulled herself away.
Murmurs grew louder in the audience seats.
There were questions whether Adelaide’s actions violated the out-of-bounds rules.
However, the referee didn’t disqualify her.
《...Surprising. Did you check in advance?》
While muttering as if surprised, Kalidahs didn’t express anger or bewildernt at this judgnt.
Peter’s advice was truly worth its weight in gold.
Normally, the way to deal with a greatsword was to get inside the opponent’s range, but in Kalidahs’ case, getting too close could result in severe injury, even from light body contact, not to prejudge the strength of the armor based on its appearance, and even to check the detailed rules of the martial arts tournant.
People thought one couldn’t step on “places Kalidahs had destroyed” after seeing the match with Peter, but in fact, the out-of-bounds criteria were even more strict.
Stepping on debris or fragnts of the arena wasn’t considered out of bounds, and even on bare ground, it was considered invalid unless both feet or the upper body touched it.
It wasn’t for nothing that Kalidahs didn’t just push Peter or guide him to the broken parts, but actually grabbed him and planted him there.
“...”
Adelaide didn’t answer Kalidahs’ question or boast about how thoroughly she had prepared.
Such leisure was only allowed for the strong.
She simply observed the state of the arena and Kalidahs’ appearance.
While the arena was in ruins, in truth, there weren’t many places where the ground was completely exposed.
If Adelaide thought she couldn’t step on all the places broken by Kalidahs’ attacks, she would already be trapped in an encirclent, but adding the condition of complete destruction, there were more places she could step on than expected.
Of course, it wasn’t perfect footing, but Adelaide had more experience fighting on uneven ground than on flat to begin with.
She judged that Kalidahs’ arena destruction was more of a performance and an attempt to psychologically intimidate the opponent, rather than having much pure tactical rit.
However, Adelaide couldn’t be so readily pleased.
The wound is too shallow.
The place Adelaide aid for this ti was the part where the armor was damaged in the previous fight with Peter.
Although there wasn’t much difference in appearance, perhaps because Kalidahs had touched up the exterior after the last match, it was certainly weaker in strength compared to other areas.
Even though she caught the opponent off guard and attacked a soft spot, the result wasn’t satisfactory.
Realizing the reason, Adelaide tightened her grip on the sword handle.
Pure lack of ability.
The skill in handling a two-handed sword, the skill in handling mana, footwork, body techniques—everything was lacking.
But that wasn’t a reason to give up.
If attacks can work, there’s a chance of winning!
Adelaide charged once more.
Using the uneven ground as an advantage, she circled around Kalidahs in irregular trajectories while swinging her sword.
Clang! Clang! Slash!
The extre situation where it would be over if she received even one proper hit, and the intense desire for victory continuously elevated Adelaide’s concentration.
At so point, golden mana began to overflow from Adelaide’s entire body.
All senses were honed to the extre, and the surrounding noise was drowned out.
Adelaide fought on, reading and re-reading Kalidahs’ movents, the gaps in their armor, where they placed their feet, the direction of their sword.
The reflexive movents that originally only functioned when avoiding soone’s attacks gradually expanded their scope, perating every action.
The warriors who had participated in the martial arts tournant looked at her appearance and marveled or clicked their tongues.
They realized that the girl on stage was growing in real-ti in the midst of actual combat.
It was undoubtedly talent.
Adelaide was clearly a genius.
But even so, it wasn’t enough.
Whoosh!
Before Kalidahs’ greatsword, Adelaide’s body greatly staggered.
It wasn’t a direct hit.
The hem of her clothes, or part of her armor, was just barely grazed, just by a fingernail’s width.
But even with just that, large bruises ford around the area, and in severe cases, flesh was torn off along with the clothes.
Thump!
Blood burst from Adelaide’s head.
She had retreated a beat late, resulting in the light collision of Kalidahs’ elbow as they turned their body backward.
Adelaide’s legs montarily buckled, but she rolled on the ground and escaped just before the greatsword fell on top of her.
Just as Adelaide’s sword pierced Kalidahs’ armor and inflicted wounds, Kalidahs also seed to gradually adapt to Adelaide’s movents, increasing the precision of their attacks.
Kalidahs remained steadfast, yet Adelaide’s complexion gradually worsened.
It was clear as day which side would reach their limit faster.
In a state of selflessness, Adelaide thought.
This won’t do.
This isn’t enough.
A little more, just a little more.
— [The ‘Tin Knight’ says there’s no teacher who doesn’t rejoice in their pupil’s victory!]
Because I was cheered on!
Crackle.
Within the golden mana surrounding Adelaide’s body, sothing heterogeneous began to mix in.
That thing, with a vivid violet color, announced its presence by sparking up like lightning.
Almost no one noticed this anomaly due to its scale being so small and weak.
Even Adelaide herself didn’t realize what was happening to her body now.
Except for one person—only Kalidahs, who was dealing with Adelaide, noticed.
The violet lightning that blood amidst the flas of gold.
Slash!
The next mont, the strike Adelaide unleashed clearly surpassed her original capabilities.
Sothing flashed, and imdiately after—blood spurted from Kalidahs’ body.
Thud.
Adelaide fell to one knee.
Her whole body felt as heavy as lead, and drowsiness suddenly poured over her.
Nevertheless, a faint smile ford on her lips.
She didn’t know exactly what had happened, but she was certain, not by reason but by instinct, that she had won.
Not only that, but that she had grasped a clue to reach a higher place.
So—
《─Geisel.》
—for a mont, she was late to react to that boiling resentnt that reached her ears.
A dizzying impact. A feeling of floating. Spinning vision.
Realizing she had fallen to the ground, Adelaide tried to get up, but failed.
It felt like all sensation had disappeared from her entire body.
The best she could do was sohow move her neck to turn her gaze.
What filled Adelaide’s vision was...
...a dark red monster, bleeding profusely from its wounds, spewed an even more ominous aura rather than weakening,
Click.
Click.
In that figure walking towards Adelaide, there was not even a trace of the previous leisurely and cheerful air.
It wasn’t simply that their true colors were revealed because they had received a major injury or had been driven into a corner.
The martial arts tournant champion Kalidahs and the dark red monster before her eyes now were different entities.
Adelaide didn’t know the reason.
Why Kalidahs’ appearance had suddenly changed, why they were emitting such a desperate grudge, and why they looked at her with such hateful eyes.
There was only one thing Adelaide could understand—Kalidahs was going to kill her.
“Hik...!”
A strangled scream like being squeezed out leaked from her throat.
The sense of omnipotence and fulfillnt she had felt just monts ago was gone without a trace, and endless fear consud Adelaide’s heart.
She tried to run away, but couldn’t move.
Only then did Adelaide realize that her arms and legs were bent in strange directions.
“W-wait a mont! Kalidahs! The match is already over! The opponent is out of bounds—“
Splat!
Like squashing a tomato, the referee’s upper body burst.
At Kalidahs’ sudden action of instantly killing the referee who blocked their way, confusion and uproar grew in the audience seats.
The helt that had cracked from Adelaide’s attack seed to have reached its limit with that movent, as part of it fell off.
The woman with beautiful red hair and violet eyes distorted her outstanding appearance like an evil spirit as she raised her sword.
The enormous greatsword, like a guillotine, ca down upon Adelaide’s head.
The grudge and weight contained in that strike were so imnse, it seed unstoppable.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ roars with rage!]
Except for one person—him.
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