CH 90

90 – If There Is a Big Reason as to Why You Cannot Win, Then You Should Do as Many Small Measures as You Can to Win

It’s a common thing in the Adventurer industry.

The withdrawal or entry of members and also the dissolution of a party.

This depends on their policies and contracts with the Union, but in the case of a dissolution, the videos that the party posted in the past are often deleted.

Usually, they would part ways, but sometimes some of them would go straight into a new party, like Nicola and Leila, and Philip and Ruri.

「…」

Mark, who is confronting me, starts running silently.

I couldn’t find the videos of the Holy Paladin Mark’s previous party.

So, the information I can gather is only from his current Party and from Nicola.

By the way, the videos of Nicola’s and Philip’s previous Party are also no longer available.

The video that I saw is something that she personally saved.

Mark is tall. His body is slender but also toned.

There is a theory that a Job is a combination of Aptitudes and I think that this is mainly correct.

For example, a shield-bearing vanguard is blessed with height, the sword attack launched from his long arms has a wide range, and his well-trained body with a shield makes it so that he can respond flexibly to enemy attacks.

These sorts of factors are common.

It’s because there are such and such factors, that he is judged to get that Job, if someone works hard in that way, he will be rewarded.

A world where God informs the people which Job is suitable for them.

A world where people can find out what they can be at the age of ten, regardless of what they wish to become.

I wonder what he wanted to become.

「Fast-!」

The flash that was released from stepping so deep into the ground in a trajectory that is going to split me vertically in half.

This is one of his basic attacks which I had thoroughly observed in the video.

However, the intensity of this attack is incomparably different when seeing it right in front of my eyes. It’s an extremely accurate slash with no deviation at all.

That’s why the only thing I’m worried about is my movements.

「…!」

His expression twitches when he senses my Black Magic.

To explain Resist in simple terms, by covering the entire body in Magical Energy, it can keep away Black Magic that has a negative effect on the body.

I guess I could say it’s like an image of wearing a raincoat on a rainy day?

However, similarly, you can still get soaked if you get exposed to heavy rain. If a storm were to hit, there would be no way to endure it.

For Black Magic, Resist is something basic, and exactly because it’s basic, I’ve gotten used to it.

This is because the force and duration of rain are known.

The rule of thumb is that if you are clad in something like this, it’s possible to neutralize the magic.

But he’s not foolish. Rather than the usual amount of Magical Energy, he used more to match the estimated effectiveness of my Black Magic that I have shown from the previous matches.

However, there is a limit to the amount of Magical Energy that he can use to cover his body due to output problems since he also needs to maintain the White Magic that he had cast on Philip just a moment ago.  

Still, he must have calculated that the amount would be enough to disable the Black Magic and then slash me.  

However, it’s not enough.

「…」

I pushed the effect of the magic to the limit in exchange for limiting the duration to just a moment, what I cast was Speed Down.

Generally, when you try to strengthen a part of the magic, another part would become weaker.

For example, if you try to increase the offensive ability, the range would be reduced.

Conversely, if the range is set to the minimum point, then that amount can be used to strengthen the offensive ability.

If the Magical Energy of a Black Sorcerer, who has the ability equivalent to one of the 4th ranked party, is applied through the wand and used only to cast one Black Magic to one target for only a moment.

The effect may be tremendous.

The movement of his body became slow. There is a delay in the slash attack.

Still, I just barely managed to avoid it.

I managed to move half a step to the side and hold my sword so that the hilt is pointing to the sky. 

At that moment, a lump of metal that can easily cut a person glided along the sword.

His downward swing was parried.

The arm of my Avatar, which has no sense of pain but does have sensation, begins to go numb. I couldn’t completely stop the impact.

And when the Speed Down is broken, he swings the sword, which had struck the ground, towards me.

Perhaps because he was focusing on speed, the attack was not with the sharp edge of the sword, but instead with the dull edge, so it’s more like a slam.

It hits my sword and my body gets blown off, just like a ball that was kicked.

OK.　

There are cheers all over the place.

The Black Sorcerer that is getting cocky got himself beaten by a powerful person.

After all, I’m someone who is disliked, so it would be strange if everyone instantly starts to cheer for me.

This is fine.

「Finish him off!」「There’s no way he can win without his partner.」「After all, a Black Sorcerer is just a Black Sorcerer.」「There’s no way he can match an actual fighting expert with just a little training.」「Don’t underestimate Adventurers.」

Mark’s expression is unpleasant.

Only he and I can understand.

「Ooh! Lem successfully managed to parry the first attack. However, he was blown away by Mark’s prompt second attack. He somehow was able to get up, but he should have received quite a substantial amount of internal damage.」

「…Yeah, without getting unfazed by Lem’s response to the first attack, he immediately swung his sword upwards. What a splendid response. A normal Black Sorcerer would’ve received severe damage.」

…Yeah, that’s right. Aerial is here. Fenix is also here. They must have noticed.

I didn’t receive as much damage as the audience thinks.

Rather than being blown away, I jumped while avoiding the impact.

From his point of view, on top of his slash being parried, I read his second attack and received almost zero damage. However, the audience did not notice this and made a fuss as if he had the advantage.

Most people would be uncomfortable with the discrepancy between the evaluation of others and their own.

Aside from unfair evaluations, many people are also reluctant with being evaluated more highly than they actually are.

Now, there is a discrepancy between his and the audience’s evaluation of the earlier offense and defense.

If he is someone who is overly confident and also inexperienced, not only will he agree with the evaluation, but he won’t even be able to notice my actions in the first place.

But Mark is different.

He should have noticed what I did and felt that his actions are not worthy of their cheers.

That said, no Adventurer would actually explain it here. What kind of entertainer would dampen the excitement of the audience?

If they’re a serious person, maybe they would try to match the evaluation.

A compromise derived from their work and their personal disposition.

Win against me and finally reconcile the audience’s evaluation with his own.

No matter how much he tries to remain calm, this will definitely affect his movements slightly.

「…Is this how you choose to fight?」

「Do you think it’s pathetic?」

Some people may think it’s shrewd.

But he shook his head.

「No…but, I can’t lose.」

Even under normal circumstances, Holy Paladin is often considered to be the inferior version of Paladin. This is because the attribute of White Magic Aptitude is not desired in this current era.

That is why the current situation of being able to contribute to the 99th rank Party is the best result.

Even with the support of Berith, who used a considerable amount of Earth Magic equivalent to a Hero, the defeat will have a lasting effect.

Getting defeated by a Black Sorcerer in a one-on-one fight can lead to a significant decline in his evaluation.

A match is always something that people challenge in order to win, but this is a special match that he cannot afford to lose.

「It’s the same for me.」

「…Yeah.」

But one of us will have to lose.

「Contestant Mark is starting to move! On the other hand, contestant Philip will unveil「Diamond」for the first time in this tournament! This is hard, if they fight separately in a tag battle, I’m in a bind on where to look and what I should talk about.」

「After all, in a Dungeon Clear, the「Hero party」has the leading role, and from there it is a system where they focus on their own individual activities. The recording is edited and the voice is applied later. However, in a tag battle, everyone plays a leading role and there is also the audience that witnesses the battle in real-time. It’s certainly difficult.」

Mark holds his shield and charges forward.

He’s planning to stop me from whatever I’m trying to do with my sword by blowing me away with that shield.

He might have thought that a simple, high-powered attack of hitting me with a shield wouldn’t lead to a big mistake even if he was exposed to all sorts of Black Magic for a moment.

In response to that, I…start running away from him.

「What?! Eh, uh… Contestant Lem is trying to gain distance…rather, this looks more like he’s running away. It looks like he’s sprinting with all his energy. 」

The commentator’s voice sounds troubled.

「Haa!?」「Stop running away, you coward!」「Just fight fair and square and die!」「If you’re that scared, then just withdraw from this battle.」

The audience seats are somewhat noisy.

「Ahahaha! So that’s it! Since a shield holder’s equipment is heavy, the other members will adjust their advancing speed to them during the Clear. Compared to the lightweight equipment of a Warrior, they are slower. This just can’t be helped. Lem is now using that point to gain distance.」

「I, I see…. but what does that mean? …No, maybe…」

「That’s right. The Adventurers in the audience seats would have realized this, right? Lem is generating his Magical Energy and putting it into his wand. It’s like a temporary retreat in order to get ready.」

「I see…! However, if you think about this as an Adventurer, running away from the enemy is…」

「Yes, part of what makes him interesting is that he doesn’t get caught up in such preconceived ideas. It’s a big premise, but this is not a Dungeon Clear.」

「Ah. Certainly, that’s true. In a Dungeon Clear, it is not recommended that the Hero party, who is an ally of justice, do acts such as turning their backs on the Monsters. However, this is a tag battle that pays no attention to whether they are Humans or Demi-Humans. All that they pursue is victory.」

「Increase their options according to the circumstances. Think and prepare what they need in order to win. Wielding a sword, showing his best cooperation with the Demi-Human, and being willing to turn his back in order to prepare his next spell. All of his actions are for the sake of achieving victory.」

Mark is pursuing me.

I pour Magical Energy into the wand.

Next I…