Cthulhu Gonfalon

Chilly gleams were twinkling as a strong wind howled. Traverser Sui Xiong, who used the nickname “Halo,” was dodging to the left and right, jumping up and down.

He looked just like a monkey that was running on treetops. He was trying hard to dodge among the reflections of the sword slashes.

It was not that he hadn’t thought of a counter attack, because he obviously knew that attacking was the best defense, but it was that he had no way of countering or attacking his opponent at the moment. This was because his opponent was way too strong!

His opponent was a swordsman, who was around the age of forty. He was slightly plump, which you could tell by looking at his rather tight outfit.

He deduced that the swordsman was probably one of those adventurers who had retired abruptly, once they had earned enough money. This type of a person usually had great skills and had fought hundreds of battles in their heydays. In fact, this made them one of the most difficult enemies to deal with. Even though he might be a little rusty at fighting, due to years spent in retirement, he still could not deal with him.

As a traverser, he came from a peaceful world. He did not possess any special powers. It seemed that he had gotten some sharp intuitions, allowing him to foresee danger. He also had far better reflexes, due to his unique background of traversing. But his skills and speed were still far inferior, as compared to the majority of the adventurers in this world.

During the mixed battles, he could still fudge his way out, using his sharp intuition and quick reflexes. However, in one-on-one battles, there was no way that he could go around for a quick victory. In those situations, he was at a total loss for what to do.

Moving sideways, he avoided a cut by only a few inches. He couldn’t be bothered to imagine the horrific image, if his nose had been cut off! So, he ducked immediately, letting the sword sweep above his head. He then lunged forward at top speed, aiming at the left-hand side of the swordsman, which resulted in his opponent’s being unable to turn his blade immediately.

In the meantime, he drew a dagger with his left hand, then swiped it across his opponent’s body. He didn’t count on the cut hurting his opponent. Instead, he was only hoping that it could make it troublesome for his opponent, enough at least for him to have a slight chance of winning.

Meanwhile, on the viewing stand, Frost, who was eliminated during the preliminary round, was very unhappy. She grudgingly complained, “How could a person without basic training skills pass the preliminary test, whereas I was eliminated? All he had was his quick reflexes! Fate is really unfair!”

“If fate could be fair to all, then it would not be fate.” Snowflake gave a warm smile. “Why don’t you think of it from another point of view? Fifty or sixty years down the road, this person will just be a pile of bones in his grave, while you are still enjoying the marvelous years of youth. Isn’t that just as unfair?”

“I am a Giant Dragon, so it’s natural that I should have longer!”

“When it benefits you, you say that it is meant to be. And, when it does not benefit you, it then becomes unfair! The Goddess of Fate would criticize you for such logic!”

Frost was quiet for a while, before she nodded, taking her sister’s advice. Snowflake smiled, then looked towards the battle ring again. But she was no longer looking at the two contestants fighting, but the golden hair commentator, who wore magic glasses!

The commentator’s style was slightly different today, as compared to the past few days. He was not as noisy or chatty as he usually was. He spoke politely, without provoking the contestants, at least not like he had in the past. He was just being an honest commentator.

But this is really abnormal!

She knew who that commentator really was. As the unreliable clone of the jellyfish God, she would not be surprised at all, if he talked nonsense, told vulgar jokes, or even ran naked across the stage! And yet, he was just commentating the events, exactly as they were?!

This must be a joke! Or, the sun must have risen from the west today!

She stared at the commentator curiously, hoping to see through his inner thoughts, right through his sunglasses. She was hoping to find out what this clone of the jellyfish God was actually thinking.

That obviously did not work. Even at the end of the battle, and even when the next battle was beginning, she still could not find any inkling.

During the next battle, the commentator returned to his normal self again. He was jabbering on, conversing with unsuitable or unrelated comments, making the spectators laugh hilariously. She started to wonder if he was there to commentate the martial arts competition, or to conduct a comedy show!

____

Sui Xiong lied down on the long bench at the theme park, feeling an overwhelming wave of melancholy wash over him. The injuries that he had gotten from the battle had been treated, but the lethargic feeling in his body could not be cured so easily. He was so tired. In fact, he wished very much that he could find a place to sleep.

However, his distress kept him awake. He laid down on the bench for almost half a day, but could not rest. Although he persisted at the attempt for a very long while, until his opponent was even tired out in the end, he still lost the battle anyway.

Alas, he had lost the battle, bringing his journey into the Very First Martial Arts Competition to an end. At first, he was hoping to ask around for some insights from the Void Mask Theme Park, but he decided against the idea eventually.

As he was thinking to himself, sleepiness crept upon him. Then he fell asleep.

The invisible jellyfish, which was floating in the air, was frowning at him. Having two traversers in the same world, of course that would have given him ideas!

Although… Complicating matters, these two traversers were actually himself! He thought about this for a while, then finally figured out a solution. He gave his clone a hint!

The instructions of the hint allowed the traverser to ignore all of the global cultural effects that he had brought into this world, in order to avoid him causing any more amusing incidents. That was not a good idea in theory, but given such a short time frame, he could not think of any better ones!

On the next day, Traverser Sui Xiong MK5 left the Void Mask Theme Park, returning to the Gold Coin Federation with the cash prize. Then, he went back to the place that he called home.

Despite being eliminated during the first round, he still had received quite a large bonus sum for passing the preliminary match. On top of that, he was pretty lucky, as he also won a small fortune, while gambling in one of the gambling houses in the theme park. As such, his wallet was pretty thick!

Sui Xiong believed that this would improve his conditions of living and that it would also be beneficial for him to be able to delve deeper into the lives of the commoners in this world. He desired to do this, in hopes that it could help him further understand the thoughts of the people.

Sui Xiong deeply wished to find out why he just didn’t seem to fit in this world…

Maybe this clone could not accomplish this mission, but it didn’t matter, as he could make more clones. He had the time and energy to do so, so he could wait. Eventually, he believed that he, and one of his clones, would succeed!

The fierce martial arts competition was still going on relentlessly inside the Void Mask Theme Park. Among the sixty-four contestants, who had made it past the preliminary round, there were many more inferior mage contestants than there were warrior contestants.

They seemed to take up about one-third of the group. These mage adventurers, who had survived the mixed battle, were generally strong. After the first round of battle, only a few of them had been eliminated. During the second round of battle, among the thirty-two contestants, the numbers representing both parties had finally evened out.

If those, who were good at fighting and casting spells, like the bards and magic assassins, weren’t taken into consideration, the mage and warrior contestants numbered exactly fifteen each. So, it happened to be a one-to-one ratio.

“Ha!” A female mage with superb long pink hair exhaled. She was holding a futuristic magic staff that was beaming with blinding rays. A huge burning flame spurted, almost covering the entire battle ring.

The mage was from the Commonwealth of Mifata. Her name was Felix. She was a very unique type of mage. Her performance was clearly different than any usual mage, and besides that, she was pretty eye-catching!

While dealing with the spurted flame, which covered a large range and was inevitable to dodge, Felix’s opponent, who was a martial art monk named M​ahan, smiled coldly, while he charged directly towards her. He was brazing through the burning flame spray, without dodging the flame at all!

As a mysterious martial art practitioner, who had gone through tough training to master “qi,” the martial art monk had a terrifyingly high resistance towards magic. To defeat them via magic attack directly, was simply a mission that was impossible!

Besides, these martial art monks were good at moving fast, the speed of their steps being the fastest of all. Any martial art monks that entered higher orders, like Mahan, their speed wouldn’t be any slower than the speed of an arrow! A normal spell caster would not even have time to blink before him, let alone cast a spell!

However, his opponent was no common spellcaster. This uniquely dressed woman’s boots beamed with pink rays, as they grew wings on each side! The winged boots then sped off, slightly above the ground. She moved swiftly in her boots, as fast as the wind, and as quick as lightning.

In order for the contestants to battle heartily, the battle ring was built rather big. Relying on the magical boots that could either be considered as flying or gliding, the female mage with superbly long pink hair maintained her distance steadily, flying at a speed that was not much slower than her opponent’s terrifyingly rapid pace.

At the same time, she displayed a remarkable response speed that a normal mage would not have. Her magic staff twinkled, casting rays of magical light across the air, while it landed hits on Mahan continuously.

Even though each of her magic spells was not very effective, after being hit continuously more than ten times, Mahan was beginning to feel dizzy. His dizziness then caused him to begin to wobble.

Even though Mahan was a martial arts monk with a profound cultivation, he could not help but feel furious, having to fight against such a strange spellcaster. He roared, and there was an aura that even a commoner could see, which soared up and wrapped around his body, just like a giant snake!

In the blink of an eye, his speed increased again. He lurched in front of Felix with a speed as fast as a pulled arrow leaving its bow. He then swung a punch, exerting all his effort, striking out as hard as possible.

Yet, he landed an empty punch. The wings on Felix’s boots grew bigger all of the sudden, and a pair of pink halo wings suddenly grew from behind her top. She soared up, then flew into the sky.

The audience burst into an uproar. Some were shouting, “She’s out,” while some were shouting, “She’s exposed!”

Why would they say such things? To explain the situation, we would have to illustrate Felix’s outlook first…

On the contestant entry information, the female mage claimed to be twenty-four years old, but she only looked sixteen or seventeen. Her superbly long pink hair hung low, near her knees. Her black top was so short, it barely reached her belly button.

Her plaid mini skirt made everyone wonder if her underwear would be exposed, whenever she ran. Her boots were also so very peculiar!

She also had a weirdly shaped pendant that was hanging from her neck. If she were on Earth, she would be very suitably dressed for a comic-con event! Not to mention that wearing such an outfit, she would definitely expose herself as she flew up into the sky!

Looking at the scene, even Sui Xiong was curious. He looked out, seeing that there was a special magic spell that was attached to Felix’s skirt.

Looking up her skirt, they wouldn’t be able to see the supposed “view,” but only countless rays that were quite like the Milky Way! Yes, indeed, such dazzling rays were bright enough to blind most of the perverts’ eyes!

In that instance, the stadium was swarmed with wailing victims. In fact, there were many of them that cried, “My eyes!”