Dual Cultivation

After I got a free win in my first match, I was given a room to wait in until my next match. I still have two matches to go for the day. Maybe I should have the big poison slimes and the electric slimes come out in the next match since they weren’t able to come out in the last match.

There aren’t a lot of people participating in the match, so apparently I can go outside so long as I’m willing to go through a search again… It’s a bit early, but maybe I should go out.

Someone knocked on the door.

“Please enter.” [Ryouma]

“Excuse me.” [???]

Might be related to the big poison slime… I replied while being a little wary, and a man about 20 years old opened the door. As soon as he entered the door, he paused in his tracks. The room’s full of slimes, so I can understand. That aside, what is he up to? Hmm?

“If I’m not mistaken, you should be my opponent for my first match.” [Ryouma]

“Yes, my name is Podro. I am truly sorry for what just happened!” [Podro]

What is he going on about?

After talking for hi m a bit, I found out that he came here to apologize because of all the booing in the stage. I don’t really mind though…

“Don’t mind it, after all, it’s because your slave demon got sick. And besides, it’s not like they said anything to me.” [Ryouma]

The ones they were booing at were the management and Podro-san. It’s not like I was a target or anything. Podro-san looked relieved when I said that, although he also looked tired.

“That aside, how’s your side doing?” [Ryouma]

“I’m fine. Riguris should also be able to move again after a little rest.” [Podro]

By Riguris he probably means the reindeer. If he’s already feeling well then that’s good. Podro-san mentioned he’d be leaving for home tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, and when I asked him, “Isn’t that a little quick?” his face darkened.

From thereon, Podro-san started explaining why he joined the tournament in the first place.

Podro-san comes from the northernmost areas of the country, high up in the mountain ranges where the lands are always covered in snow and ice. Ice-attribute magic jewels could be mined there, so despite it being remote, there’s a trading network connecting their village to a lot of other villages.

Podro-san works as a courier with his slave demon, travelling to different villages all the way to the foot of the mountain.

“I’ve been working as a courier with my dad ever since I was kid, but two years ago after I contracted with Riguris, the area I’ve been covering has grown bigger. So I thought I’d try going down the mountains.” [Podro]

So he doesn’t just look young, he also thinks young… Or rather, the farthest he’s gotten to all his life was actually the base of their mountain?

“So you decided to go to Gimuru?” [Ryouma]

“Yes. When I heard there was going to be a magic beast tournament, I thought it was a good opportunity. But it was a lot hotter here than what I’ve heard, and my body got worse and worse ever since the preliminaries ended… This morning, I decided I couldn’t continue with tournament… I’ve unnecessarily pushed Riguris too far.” [Podro]

I think I heard from somewhere before that the temperature drops by 0.06C every 100m ascended. Since it’s winter all year, the mountain might be as high as Mt. Fuji. I don’t know how big the difference is, but there should be a huge difference compared to Gimuru.

Yeah~ It’s definitely better for him to go home as soon as possible. But at this rate, he might faint along the way, and more than anything, he’s in no condition to fight if he were to encounter some bandits or magic beasts. He’s a bit reckless, but he seems to be a good person, I can’t just leave him alone… Oh, I know!

I took out a memo paper and pen from my luggage, and wrote a request to the training facility asking for a bed and help from an ice magician. I’m in the middle of the tournament right now, so I can’t help directly, but I can at least introduce him to someone who could help.

As I explained that to him and handed the letter, Podro-san bowed his many times, thanking me. When he first heard I was a tamer, he had immediately thought of the ruffians of the tamer guild. The tamer guild Podro-san comes from has a completely different atmosphere from the one in Gimuru, so he was a bit prejudiced.

I asked him if it was really that different and he said that in the tamer guild he comes from, no one would make fun of you just because you have a weak slave demon. Of course, there were also the guild master’s policies, but it was in a remote place after all, so if you were to do something like that your life would become difficult. They had a strong sense of camaraderie.

After that, an official informed me that there are some people wishing to talk about the big slimes, but I couldn’t talk on just my own discretion, so I had her inform them to talk to the research facility instead.

I left the arena later to pick out the slimes I will be taking with me, then after going through the inspection again, I went back. I drank tea and sat cross-legged to focus my mind while waiting for an official to call me.

My opponent this time went up the stage before me. He was a pretty boy named Jano, who practiced conjuration and is popularly known as the “Heavenly Noble”. I’ve also heard of him before. He only uses flying-type magical beasts. In the preliminaries he used the C Rank bird-type magical beast, Nip Bird. This time, on top of his Nip Bird, he also has a wyvern with him. It’s currently arching over him as if to protect him.

I’ve seen wyverns before, but it’s my first time seeing the nip bird. Its beak is sharp like a dril, and it moves like a kingfisher. It fights by rushing to its foe and piercing it with its beak. According to the analyst, it has a kind of poison in its saliva that prevents blood from coagulating. Wild nip birds apparently feast on the bled carcasses of their preys.

Aside from the bleeding there’s no other effect. It’s enough to use healing magic to block the wound so as long as one takes care not to get wounded again. So it’s not too hard to deal with when there’s a healer.

<<Our next participant had a free win in the first match, so who knows what kind of power he has in store for us! How will the slimes fight against the flying magical beasts of Participant Jano! Participant Ryouma Takebayashi enters!!>>

Taking the 20 big poison slimes with me that I intended to showcase in the previous match along with 10 electric slimes, 10 flame slimes, and 10 wind slimes, all of which was wrapped with an iron slime, totaling to 80 slimes all in all, I entered the stage.

Our opponent this time is flying, so we’ll have to focus on using magic attacks. The big poison slimes are here just in case it becomes a melee, but I doubt they’ll have much of a role here.

The analyst and the host grew noisy when I entered, but I already knew that they’d react to some extent considering how many slimes I have with me, so I didn’t really mind. Like that I took my position, and readied myself for battle.

My slimes were arranged with the magic-using slimes at the center, while the big poison slimes have them surrounded, forming a circle around them. With this, the poison slimes will become a wall, protecting the magic slimes from all direction except from above. The magic slimes are being defended by the iron slimes, so I’ll just have them use magic to protect themselves from above.

As the host’s voice resounded throughout the arena, the time for the battle to begin neared. The wyvern of the enemy flapped the wings attached to its forelegs, blowing the wind as it hovered up in the sky. Flying beasts are limited to flying only as far as the arena goes. They’re not allowed to fly over the spectators, so the place might be a bit narrow for it. I wonder if this counts as an advantage… Hmm, or is too minor? Oops, the match is starting.

<<Round 2 –––– Start !!>>

Immediately after the announcement, several nip birds flew to restrain my side. Before I could even give out commands, the big poison slimes swung their spears, but the nip birds were able to dodge, and hit them. After stabbing through the big poison slimes, the nip birds returned to the sky. As for the others who tried to penetrate the magic slimes, they couldn’t get pass the iron slimes’ armor, so they also returned to the sky.

<<The first to attack are the nip birds!>>

<<Their speed is really hard to follow. They should be able to kill the slimes so long as they’re able to hit their nucleus. It appears, they missed this time around.>>

Just as the analyst said, the nip birds were about to be hit by the spears, so they had to change the directions to attack. The big poison slimes were able to avoid a fatal hit by moving their nucleus inside their body, but they weren’t able to counterattack.

“But you know…” [Ryouma]

A few seconds after I mumbled to myself, the nip birds that attacked the big poison slimes all suddenly lost momentum. In the next moment, they fell to the ground, one after another.

<<What’s going on? Some of the nip birds are suddenly falling!>>

Well yeah, because… you know~

“The ones they hit just now are the big poison slimes.” [Ryouma]

They’re slimes that generate poison, so in essence, they’re actually lumps of poison. Attacking them with magic or poison aside, piercing into them with your head is bound to hurt. I did order them to only use paralyzing poison beforehand though, so I don’t think the birds are going to die.

“Guo!” [Wyvern]

The sound of wings being flapped resounded as the wyvern dived for the magic slimes. Immediately, I ordered the sliems to fight back with magic.

“GyA!?” [Wyvern]

<<This time the slimes are firing fire and electric magic! Shocked, the wyvern could only retreat! Both sides seem to be waiting for each other.>>

<<Just like the portion slime in the preliminaries, it would appear that in this match, there are flame slimes and electric slimes hidden. With this, even if the birds and the wyvern fly to the sky, they won’t be safe. Hunting flying-types from the ground with magic is a common practice amongst adventurers.>>

Just as the analyst said, the other side is waiting for us… But if this keeps up, we’ll end up glaring at each other the whole time. It can’t be helped, we’ll be the first to attack.

I put the wind slimes that haven’t attacked yet on standby as I ordered the flame slimes and the electric slimes to attack. Their targets are the wings of the nip birds and wyvern nearby. The magic slimes moved around as they shot magic, making it impossible for the enemy to figure out which slime was casting which magic.

<<Participant Takebayashi’s slimes are making a move! Magic is being shot one after another! No matter how you look at this, over 10 slimes are attacking Participant Jano’s magical beasts!>>

<<Magic-using slimes are really rare… He did an amazing job being able to gather so much… Participant Takebayashi is indeed worthy of admiration.>>

Except, I evolved them. For people who don’t know that, they could only see the slimes as something I searched all over for.

After suffering some losses, Participant Jano finaly made a move. The nip birds flew from all directions. From the side, from above, they surrounded the slimes completely. And in between opening of that formation, the wyvern attacked the magic slimes covered by iron slimes.

<<An exchange of offense and defense between the wyvern and the slimes is unfolding!>>

<<The nip birds are ill matched with Participant Takebayashi’s slimes. But the slimes also have a hard time dealing with the nip birds’ speed. There’s just no telling who will win.>>

We can just leave the nip birds alone. As for the wyvern, the slimes are hitting it with magic, but it’s being careful and not attacking. It’s only skillfully dodging the slimes’ attacks. If this keeps up, this battle will never end.

The slimes will have to use up a significant amount of magic power, but it’s necessary for this battle to be concluded before they run out of magic power.

So I ordered the flame slimes and the wind slimes to match their timing, and use their magic. The magic I want them to use is the intermediate fire magic, ‘Flame Bomb’, and the my original wind magic, ‘Sound Bomb’.

As for why I want them to use these two magic at the same time, that’s because ‘Sound Bomb’ can easily suppress the enemy when properly used. But it’s easy to misuse, so I don’t plan on spreading it. It could easily catch on, so I have to be prudent with using it. That thought grew stronger in me as I continued to use it against bandits. When I’m using it before people, I make sure to hide it behind the explosive noise of ‘Flame Bomb’.

At my orders, one of the flame slimes used ‘Flame Bomb’, aiming for the wyvern up above. The wyvern tried to dodge, but the wind slime casted ‘Sound Bomb’ at the same moment the ball of fire detonated, giving rise to a thunderous roar that resounded throughout the arena.

<<What a powerful attack! You can tell just from the sound it makes. Participant Jano’s wyvern managed to doge the attack, but got caught up in the explosion! And what is this? The wyvern is falling!?>>

<<It’s only falling, so it should’ve been able to escape the attack. But it’s movements are clearly odd. It might have incurred some damage in the attack just now.>>

Good! It’s a success!

Participant Jano called out to the wyvern, but the wyvern couldn’t move as it wanted to. Nothing letting this opportunity pass, I ordered the big poison slimes to pursue.

<<The wyvern is frantically moving its forelegs and tail, but its movements are too wide! It can’t catch the opponents like this. The big poison slimes easily dodged the wyverns attack as they struck back with their spears!>>

<<The wyvern was by nature unsuited for battle on land after all. It’s a C Rank magical beast, but once it’s unable to fly, it’ll have a hard time even against D Rank advneturers.>>

Exactly as the analyst said, the wyvern was now moving poorly. The big poison slimes were making full use of their flexible body. They bent down to the ground like a puddle of water, they changed their shapes, and dodged the enemy wyvern’s attacks.

And the slimes that doged the wyvern’s attacks immediately struck back with their spears. The wyvern’s scales blocked the spear, but the slimes kept hitting. Once, twice, thrice… Enraged, the wyvern lashed out and broke free from the combo, but the slimes readied their spears once again.

<<Looks like the wyvern is having a hard time. If this keeps up, the wyvern would undoubtedly lose! Will the wyvern be able to counterattack?>>

The host’s voice resounded throughout the arena, hyping the crowd, but as the slimes continued their attacks, gradually, a crack started to form at the wyvern’s scales. Wyvern scales were light to begin with for the sake of flight. They were not like the dragons, their scales were brittle. If they were to be hit in the same spot over and over again, the spear would eventually reach the flesh. But even then, it wouldn’t be easy to defeat the wyvern.

The deadlock continued for about two more minutes. And as everyone was focused on the movements of the wyverns, the big poison slimes, and Participant Jano–––

<<The wyvern fainted!>>

After the spear struck at the wyvern relentlessly one after another, the poison entered the wyvern’s body, and eventually it fainted. When the wyvern fainted, Participant Jano immediately raised his hand and resigned.

<<Winner, Ryouma Takebayashi!>>

The host quickly announced my victory, and the crowd showered me with cheers. After I waved back to the crowd, I walked over to Participant Jano and shook his hand.

We exchanged a few words, but Participant Jano was not a disagreeable pretty boy. After we shook hands, I returned to the waiting room and prepared for the next match.

And then the third match came.

<<Third Round ––––– Begin!>>

Before me were 40 ghouls and 20 wraiths. My opponent for the third round utilized a large number of undead-type magical beast. He was the type to use his advantage in numbers to bulldoze his way to victory. I got information beforehand that he was an undead user, so I had already prepared 20 big grave slimes for him.

<<Participant Takebayashi against an army of magical beasts three times his own camp! How will he get through this!?>>

How? Eh… Against the grave slimes all these undead are just sitting ducks. Ghouls attack with their nails or with their teeth, melee, in other words. Wraiths on the other hand are immune against physical attacks. The wraiths flew over my slimes, but as soon as they did, my slimes just swallowed them.

My opponent panicked and seemed to want to order them to stop, but my big grave slimes were using the Attract Ghosts skill. The contracted ghouls didn’t gather around the sliems, but it did have some effect, causing their movements to become poorer.

I guess they want to gather around the slimes, but they can’t because of the order – that sort of feeling? The ghouls now were no faster than zombies because of the grave slimes. That was more than enough for the big grave slimes to start hunting the ghouls.

With their numbers largely reduced, my opponent panicked, and he had the B Rank magical beast, dullahan, enter the fray, but it just had its weapons taken away from it, and then its legs, waist, torso, neck… were all swallowed one-sidedly.

The magical beast, roam weapon, was mixed in with the dullahan’s weapons, and it tried to take the slimes by surprise, but it too was one-sidedly swallowed by the grave slime. The only things left were the dullahan’s unmoving armor and the few surviving wraiths that managed to run away to the sky before being swallowed.

The spectators, the host, everyone was shocked. They never expected this sort of development. Suddenly, the big grave slime made a ‘pe!’ sound as it spit out the roam weapon. The roam weapon was no longer able to move.

At this point, my opponent just collapsed to his knees, and the match ended.

<<Ahh, it’s a complete domination!! How far will the slime-user’s smooth sailing continue!? Participant Takebayashi is proceeding to the semifinals!!!>>

After collecting himself, the host announced my victory. While bathed in the cheers of the crowd, I left the stage. My opponent this time was completely shocked and didn’t look like he was in the mood to shake hands, so I just left.

When I got back to the waiting room, I casually mumbled.

“…I knew I was fighting with an advantage, but who would’ve thought it would be this one-sided…” [Ryouma]

When I think about it, aren’t the slimes the strongest when it comes to tournaments?

Getting information became a cinch after passing through the preliminaries. And the slimes themselves have such great variety. Unless my opponent hides their cards, I could just easily use the information to pick the best combination of slimes, and use that to win… but am I the only one who can pull off that sort of fighting style?

Well, whatever. In any case, the point is that I managed to win. With this, the tournament for today is over. Next is the semifinal tomorrow. I won’t be able to have as big of an advantage as I did in the last match where I was able to take advantage of the opponent’s affinity, so this last fight will be a head-on confrontation.