Chapter 67: Giant Bear’s Roar |
In the blink of an eye, the second day arrived.
Having eaten his fill, Baruk once again donned his heavy armor and sat in the arena’s preparation room, waiting for the match to begin.
This time, the spectator stands were completely packed. Even the VIP boxes were overflowing with people.
Even the president of the Adventurers’ Guild, Gann Cole, personally presided over the event.
On one side was the newly rising, unstoppable giant bear warrior. On the other was the previous powerhouse who needed to defend her honor and prove herself once more.
Before the match had even begun, supporters from both sides were already at daggers drawn. If not for the deterrence of the organizers, they might have started fighting long ago.
Amid the anxious anticipation of the crowd, finally—
“The first battle of the second round! The competitors are—”
“On the left! From the Blackstone Wasteland, elder of the Blackrock Bearman Tribe, the Stone-Sunder Watcher—Baruk·Blackrock!”
“Stone-Sunder Watcher!”
“Baruk!”
“Storm Giant Bear! Crush her!”
“Tide Whisperer!”
“Goddess of Ice and Snow!”
……
The stands erupted completely, cheers and shouts deafening the air.
Marco rode atop Mino’s shoulders, the two of them raising a flag emblazoned with a roaring giant bear as they bellowed at the top of their lungs.
“Roar——!!!”
Mino could not contain his excitement and let out a bear’s roar directly, shaking the surrounding crowd until they felt dizzy.
Many people were drawn to the roar.
Mino was now something of a celebrity in Coral Thorn City, and many recognized him—but they had not expected that his strength also seemed rather formidable.
Marco, perched on Mino’s shoulders, had his ears ringing from the roar.
Fortunately, he still had his wits about him and quickly patted Mino’s big head to rein him in. Didn’t he see that many low-level professionals around them were already foaming at the mouth!
***
“Begin!”
On the arena stage, Baruk calmed his mind and did not charge rashly.
His perception spread out completely, carefully sensing every subtle change upon the arena.
Alexia, on the other hand, rose directly into the air, rapidly condensing large amounts of ice crystals and frost mist around herself.
Against Baruk, she no longer harbored thoughts of winning. Instead, she focused on how to produce the most dazzling performance possible without exposing her trump cards.
The best method she could think of was to bombard this giant bear from the greatest distance possible with high-powered spells.
As long as she dealt him enough damage, even if she lost, no one would say she was weak—they would only say that the giant bear was monstrous!
Although the idea was good, her understanding of Baruk was far too limited.
When the dozens of enormous ice crystals she condensed shot toward Baruk in continuous succession,
Baruk bent his knees slightly, sank his waist, lowered his stance, let his arms extend naturally, and took a deep breath—then unleashed an enhanced version of “Giant Bear’s Roar.”
Originally, Baruk had assumed she would conceal herself as she had in the first round and had already prepared to disperse the force of his roar across the entire arena.
But he had not expected her not to hide—instead she was charging power high in the corner?!
It was practically a perfect target placed before him!
He concentrated all his strength into his chest. A faint ripple of air appeared from his mouth, yet not a single sound was produced.
The several-meter-long ice crystals shattered into powder the instant they collided with the air ripple, while the ripple’s force did not diminish in the slightest as it continued expanding toward Alexia.
With her vision obstructed by frost mist and ice crystals, she failed to notice the incoming ripple in time.
Only when the danger was upon her did she instinctively shift position in haste, narrowly avoiding being struck head-on.
Even so, a large portion of her priestess robe was torn apart, her azure hair left in a mess as if gnawed by a rabid dog. She looked utterly disheveled.
Boom!!!
After crashing into the protective array, the air ripple rapidly rebounded outward.
Alexia, who had just evaded a fatal blow, had no time to process what had happened before the rebounding soundwave struck her, blanking her mind and sending her plummeting straight from the air.
“W-What just happened?”
“What was that? Did any of you see it clearly?”
“I didn’t even see the Storm Giant Bear make a move! How did the Goddess of Ice and Snow fall?”
“Did something just hit the protective array?”
***
Gasps and exclamations erupted across the stands. Countless low-level professionals stared in confusion, having no idea what had occurred.
Only the high-level professionals had clearly seen how that terrifying soundwave had decided the match in a single strike.
“The Tide Whisperer—Alexia Nash has fallen unconscious. The Stone-Sunder Watcher—Baruk Blackrock wins!”
The referee’s voice resounded across the arena, finally pulling everyone’s thoughts back.
Immediately, an explosive uproar of noise and doubt burst forth like a volcanic eruption!
“Cheating! That’s definitely cheating!”
“I didn’t even see him lift a hand! How did he win?”
“Fixed match! Refund our money!”
There was no need to look—these were gamblers who had placed heavy bets.
Those who had bet on the winner aside, those who had wagered on the match duration had basically lost everything down to their last coin.
No one had expected that a clash between two hot favorites would end in an instant defeat.
“The match was fair and did not violate any rules.”
Gann Cole’s voice carried immense pressure as it swept across the stands, forcibly suppressing all commotion.
He offered no explanation. He merely cast an appreciative glance at Baruk, who stood quietly upon the arena, before turning and leaving.
The referee’s voice rang out once more:
“If there are doubts regarding the match process, you may purchase the battle recording and professional commentary provided by the organizers.”
The spectators revealed speechless expressions. That thing was outrageously expensive—and single-use at that. Who would be crazy enough to buy it after already watching the match?
Inside a VIP box, Dean stared at the arena in confusion.
He had only seen the merman priestess condense ice crystals to attack. Then the protective array had suddenly flickered, causing him to blink a few times—and the battle was over.
“Teacher, what just happened?”
Mills, equally bewildered, also looked toward O’Brien. He had come specially today to show support; after all, Baruk was an important future investment target for him.
“It was a soundwave-type skill. To compress and control power to such perfection—the priestess did not lose unjustly. The two were simply not on the same level in terms of control.”
“If she had compressed her ice element to the same degree, she would not have been unable even to weaken the attack.”
“But Teacher, aren’t they both at the high tier of Grandmaster level? How could the gap be so large?”
“That judgment is based only on their performance just now. In reality, their areas of expertise differ. If the priestess had adopted a roaming strategy as in the first round, she would not have been defeated so quickly.”
“It can only be said that she lost due to insufficient intelligence and her reaction in battle. She neither understood her opponent’s attack method nor detected the danger in time, which led to her instant defeat.”
“So that’s how it is…”
Dean suddenly understood. He was growing more and more excited for the matches to come.
He secretly glanced at his teacher.
Unfortunately, his teacher would never participate in such competitions. Otherwise, the champion would certainly be his teacher.