103 103 – Chunks of Wood
Olga continued to attack the joints of those creatures using hand chops. Because her movement was so fast, her enemies didn’t have time to counter-attack.
“She really isn’t an ordinary woman.” Raymund used a serious tone. “Her movement speed is almost incomprehensible.”
A male official came to Elise. “The rules for this stage are easy, Miss. You have to get to the next end of the monster area.”
“So, almost the same as before, huh?” Raymund yawned.
There was the sound of the wood shaking. Olga looked back to find those chunks starting to recombine to form more creatures.
“Shit!” The red-haired woman sped up her movement to destroy her enemies, then jumped from the area.
“What do you want to do, Elise?” Raymund asked with a chuckle. “Your dog is quite strong, right?”
Elise, who was about to come down, spoke to the dog. “Errr…. What do you think, Mona?”
The dog nodded to her master.
“Aren’t you going to feel pain?” Elise still wasn’t sure.
This time Mona barked and shook her head.
“Those monsters are easy to destroy, Elise. Your dog will be fine.” Raymund assured.
Taking a deep breath, Elise rubbed Mona’s back. The dog ran again at full speed while her master ducked.
The wood monsters, who were numerous in number, prepared to attack Elise and her pets. However, they could not get out of the designated area.
Mona barked and increased her acceleration.
As Mona crashed into the monsters, loud noises combined with chunks of flying wood became a spectacle. As Raymund said, they could be destroyed easily.
“Holy shit.” Olga hissed. Meanwhile, an official who was next to her frantically avoided the chunks of the wood.
Mona stopped near Olga as the dog came out of the monster’s area. Elise raised her head and looked at Olga, sweating and slightly gasping for air. In stark contrast to Elise, who is still in good shape.
“No comments.” Olga shrugged.
“Sorry.” The female warrior gave her signature awkward grin.
Olga sighed. “You’re not disqualified, which means you can use your dog in this competition. I can’t complain.”
Elise went down and examined Mona’s face. “Are you all right, Mona?”
Mona licked her master’s face to tell her that she was okay. There was no visible wound on the dog’s face.
“You are asked to wait here.” One of the officials came to Elise while rubbing her forehead, swollen from being hit by a wood chunk.
Olga folded her arms across her chest, shaking her head. “If in the end we were told to wait, why would I run at the front?”
“Well, there’s a time limit. The participants have to get to this point before the allotted time.”
“And they didn’t tell the participants in the first place.” Raymund reproached. “The organizers of this tournament are incompetent.”
***
Yua stopped next to a tree, caught her breath, wiped her sweat, then held her knees.
“Oh, fuck me.” She stared at the horde of wood monsters in the distance.
“Don’t you like a challenge?” Raymund mocked the kunoichi. “Well, I can help you by sending lightning to those monsters.”
Raymund wouldn’t really use his lightning power. He can only do that once a day. Better to save it for the last mission.
“No, sir.” The woman insisted. “I can do this on my own. This isn’t a mission that involves the lives of a lot of people. This is just a competition. As I said before, I want to win it on my own. I just need a little rest for a while.”
“Didn’t you listen to your engineer’s advice on the radio during the races?”
Those words made the kunoichi pause for a moment. “But I don’t appreciate direct help, sir. That’s different than listening to advice.”
“Well, I can give you a little advice, so you don’t have to worry about fighting those monsters. Step one, wait there for a while.”
***
Renee and Leonov pushed each other while running towards the area full of wood monsters.
“Get away from me!” Leonov, with his clothes and face so dirty, elbowed the blonde woman. “You’re bothering me!”
“You’re the one who got in my way!!!” Renee stepped on the man’s feet.
Screaming in pain, Leonov pranced on one leg while holding the other. Renee laughed and left the man. However, she stopped when her distance was only a few feet from the monster area. The woman didn’t look surprised or frightened.
She is assessing the situation.
“Huh, what’s wrong with you, Renee?” Leonov ran past the woman, flashing a sneer. “Are you scared!?”
The bald-haired man ran and attacked the monsters with his spear. He was overwhelmed by so many enemies. In no time, he was picked up and thrown out of the arena by some of the monsters.
“Seriously?” Raymund snorted. “This concept is the same as the previous stage. Only the monsters are different.”
Meanwhile, Renee took a deep breath, then walked backward with full focus. She paid no heed to Leonov, who lunged a second time like an idiot.
Renee took the war hammer on her back, pointing its upper end downwards. The weapon started to emit a kind of white vapor.
She then ran fast, made an ice path with her weapon, then moved like hitting a golf ball while jumping. An ice ramp with an upward curving shape was instantly formed.
Leonov, just thrown by the monsters again, was speechless. He couldn’t understand how a melee fighter like Renee could do magic like that.
Renee returned to her original position, ran again, then slid down the icy path she had created.
However, she felt something strange. The woman looked down. Her stomach was already tied with rope, and when she looked back, she found Yua. The kunoichi held on to the rope that connected to Renee’s stomach.
“Hey, what the heck are you doing!?” Renee was irritated that Yua was using her body to join the slide.
“Don’t mind me! Just keep sliding! If you delay, maybe Leonov or some other adventurer will destroy this ice ramp of yours.”
Renee was about to untie the rope in her stomach, but Yua made a very complicated knot. The blonde-haired woman really wondered when the kunoichi did that.
Sighing in annoyance, Renee had no choice but to increase her glide speed to accommodate Yua. She couldn’t attack the kunoichi without hampering her glide. And just like Yua said, if Renee delays this, maybe someone else will obliterate this ice ramp. She needed to rebuild, and there was no guarantee the other adventurers wouldn’t destroy it.
So, Renee looked ahead again. Soon she and Yua will reach the ramp.