Radiant Dragon’s Otherworldly Reincarnation

Chapter 117. If you were frustrated enough to cry, get stronger (1)

“Begin!”

With the referee's shout, the match began. And Patrick watched with interest the fighting style of the elves that unfolded.

“Hoh… So they fight like that, huh?”

The elf used a light, thin saber instead of a thick, heavy longsword, and did not carry a shield. Their armor was also light leather armor, showing off movements that maximized their mobility. With such fast and agile movements, they circled around the opponent, sharply closing in to attack the enemy.

SPLAAASH!

The opponent blocked the attack with a shield. But when he tried to counterattack, the elven warrior had already moved far away.

At the same time, something came flying towards him, cutting through the wind. He hurriedly raised his shield again and…

Kaang!

A small knife that hit his shield fell to the ground. While creating distance, they had also checked the enemy to prevent them from rashly closing in. Seeing this, Patrick nodded his head and muttered.

“They're fighting exactly as I thought.”

From the moment he saw the equipment they wore, he had thought they would fight in such a way.

‘Is it because their clothes look like an assassin's? Their fighting style also seems to be of that type.’

Anyway, the battle dragged on. An elf who capitalized on mobility to hit and run, and a defensive knight who stood firm with a large tower shield and a broadsword. Since two fighters with such extremely different styles clashed, it didn't seem like the match would be decided easily.

‘Will the one who makes a mistake first, gets impatient, or runs out of stamina lose? By the way, what a shame. With that kind of movement, there would be a much more suitable combat style than a straightforward one-on-one duel.’

In fact, the elves' main weapon, the bow, is famous. But it seemed they weren't using it because it wasn't a suitable weapon for Arcana. Instead, they utilized their light movements to fight with sharp swords and throwing knives. Even with that, they were fighting well against the representatives chosen from each country.

‘To have that skill with only a secondary weapon, not their main one.’

From Patrick's point of view, the elves' skills seemed considerable. Because they had a different training system from humans, he couldn't exactly distinguish what star-level they were, but that was the same for Patrick.

‘At that level, they're at least 4-star, and even in Jianghu, they'd be somewhere between a first-rate and second-rate wandering warrior.’

It was surprising that they had that level of skill fighting with a secondary weapon, not their main one. But perhaps the problem was that it wasn't their main weapon? The fast-moving elf's stamina ran out, slowing down their feet, and eventually, they allowed the opponent to close in.

“Haaaaap!”

And when the opponent pushed with force at close range, the elf was helplessly pushed back and defeated.

“Eint Nova, wins!”

In the end, in the first round, three out of the five elves were defeated, and only two advanced to the second round. But whether they won or lost the match, they didn't seem to care much. Seeing them neither frustrated nor happy, it seemed they didn't place much importance on this tournament.

Anyway, in that way, on the first day of the tournament, out of 50 contestants, 28 representatives, including six who won by default, advanced to the second round.

The fact that four representatives from the Atronia Kingdom, which was classified as one of the weakest nations, were among those 28 was very encouraging.

At least in this Arcana, the shame of the past had been definitively washed away at this point. But…

‘This is far from enough. Shall I start getting serious from tomorrow?’

The first day of Arcana. Patrick had not yet shown even a little of his skill.

* * *

To allow for the treatment of contestants' injuries and recovery from fatigue, the tournament is held with a one-day break in between.

During that time, priests were said to personally visit and treat the contestants' injuries, but the Atronia Kingdom did not have any seriously injured members.

The only one who was wounded was the defeated Gerard, and even that was not very serious.

And the next day. The 28 strong warriors who had passed the first round began to fight fiercely.

“Haaaap!”

“Not a chance!”

Kaaaang!

The representative from the Harbor Kingdom and the representative from the Flame Kingdom clashed fiercely. Their realms were both around the mid-4-star level. But the representative from the Flame Kingdom was burning with more determination. Of the five colleagues who had entered from his country, the other four had all been eliminated in the first round. So, he felt that if he could at least make it to the third round, it would save his country's face.

‘I absolutely cannot lose!’

To meet the expectations of his colleagues who were watching him eagerly from behind, he did his best. And…

“Billius Maple wins!”

“I… I won.”

It was a close call, but he was able to win. Blood was pouring from all over his body, and it was a state that would be serious if not treated quickly, but he had somehow managed to win.

“Ooh…, excellent.”

“He won with grit. With grit.”

“This year's Arcana is definitely at a high level. For a 4-star level warrior to struggle like that in the second round.”

“I know, right. In the past, a 4-star could aim for the semi-finals.”

As the audience said, this year's Arcana was particularly high-level. Geniuses who had been showing their prominence from all over the continent for several years had participated in large numbers, and the average level of those who had trained for the same years as the geniuses was also quite high. And the top contender for this high-level tournament finally appeared.

“Garcia Reynardo!”

“Sir!”

When the referee called his name, he answered with a heavy, powerful voice and climbed onto the stage. Blond hair and light green eyes. His impression was more kind than strong. If he hadn't been wearing armor and holding a sword, it would have been difficult to think of him as a knight. But this very man was the genius currently receiving the most attention on the continent and was a strong contender for the championship in this Arcana.

“Garcia… Let's see your skills.”

Antorius, the championship contender from the Holy Theocracy, focused his gaze on the stage, even though his turn was not for a while. Garcia Reynardo. It was the first time he had seen him in person, but he had often heard his name since he was a child.

[This child might be able to defeat Garcia.]

[You must defeat Garcia. If you cannot overcome that wall, the future of the Holy Theocracy will be dark.]

[Try harder. Otherwise, you will not be able to defeat that monster.]

Antorius, designated as the youngest paladin candidate of the Holy Theocracy, and Garcia, the genius chosen as the successor to the Sword Saint. Considering the relationship between the Empire and the Holy Theocracy, which competed for hegemony on the continent, the two were bound to be conscious of each other.

“I hope a decent opponent comes out. Otherwise, it will be hard to gauge his skills.”

Did he hear Antorius' words? The referee called Garcia's opponent.

“Alex Rowensky.”

The one called as the genius' opponent was Alex from the Atronia Kingdom.

“Huuuuuuu…”

Alex let out a deep sigh. Then he spoke to Professor Leyte who was behind him.

“I will go and do my best.”

“Mm, yes.”

Professor Leyte sent Alex off with an expression mixed with anxiety and apology. Chance of winning? Honestly, he couldn't hope for such a thing. But he only hoped that Alex could do his best.

“Don't be nervous and do your best. All of this will be your experience.”

“Yes. I understand.”

And as Alex went up to the stage, Leyte, who remained behind, spoke to Patrick.

“What do you think?”

“About what? The match?”

“……”

“You're not asking because you don't know, are you?”

At Patrick's words, Professor Leyte let out a deep sigh.

“He can't win, can he?”

“Hey, it'd be shameless to hope for a win when the skill gap is that wide.”

Patrick smirked. In fact, under normal circumstances, he would have told Alex, 'Don't be a disgrace. Don't think about losing and stick to him tenaciously,' but…

‘This is a bit surprising.’

The skill gap was not one where he could say such things. Alex was also a genius who had pioneered the 4-star realm on his own, but that one was beyond comparison.

“The Sword Saint's grandson… If the grandson is that good, I wonder how strong the grandfather is.”

It was Patrick, who had begun to reassess the martial arts level of this world, thanks to the power emission shown by Antorius from the Holy Theocracy and now this.

“Begin!”

With the referee's starting signal, Alex firmly set his stance. He held his kite shield in front and held his longsword at an angle with one hand. And he stared intently at his opponent.

The opponent's armament was a single bastard sword. He had no shield, and his armor was just light armor. Towards him, who was holding his sword politely with both hands, Alex slowly approached.

‘There's no particular sense of pressure. On the contrary…’

He seemed a bit of a pushover. Lacking the unique pressure one feels when facing a strong opponent, Alex began his attack, sticking to the basics.

“Hap!”

A thrust that cut through the wind with a sharp voice. The opponent parried it with a textbook defensive maneuver and thrust his sword in return.

Alex quickly raised his shield to deflect the attack and tried to close the distance. The opponent took a half-step back against Alex and swung his sword again, and Alex swung his longsword to block the sword.

A struggle for strength ensued. With their swords locked, Alex and Garcia pushed against each other, their centers forward, in a struggle for strength.

“Huuuumph!”

Judging that he was not being pushed back much in the struggle for strength, Alex forcefully pushed his opponent forward.

SHWAAAANG!

With a sharp sound of scraping metal, Alex, who had pushed back his opponent, had a glint in his eyes.

‘A chance!’

A golden opportunity seized against a big shot. To capitalize on the chance, Alex moved forward and quickly swung his sword. His longsword, heavily imbued with aura, attacked Garcia, and Garcia also coated his bastard sword with aura and responded to the attack.

BANG!, BOOM!, CRASH!

A full-fledged exchange of offense and defense using aura unfolded, and the audience stirred.

“What is this? It's better than I thought…”

“He's fighting well.”

“Is his opponent strong? Alex Rowensky? I've never heard that name before.”

“But he's fighting on par with Garcia.”

“It seems he has a slight advantage. He's pushing forward.”

“Come to think of it…”

The audience was quite surprised. To them, Garcia was the Sword Saint's grandson and the continent's greatest genius. For such a Garcia to be engaged in an equal exchange with an unknown young man from the minor nation of Atronia? This was one of two things. Either this young man named Alex was very strong, or…

“Is he weak?”

“He doesn't seem much different from the other contestants.”

“No way. That young man was said to have talent surpassing the Sword Saint in his youth.”

“Isn't that a false rumor? Something the Empire's side spread by mistake…”

The audience stirred greatly. The exchange unfolding before their eyes was very thrilling and fierce, but this was not what the audience had expected.

They had been expecting to see just how overwhelmingly dominant the Sword Saint's grandson, hailed as the continent's greatest genius, would be. But for it to be only this much? In particular, Antorius from the Holy Theocracy, who had been paying close attention to Garcia, was trembling with his fists clenched.

“Just… is that all?”

How much blood and sweat had he shed since he was young to defeat this man? Although he had never seen him in person, in Antorius' mind, Garcia was a powerful wall he had to overcome, a goal in life. But now that he saw the reality of his goal, he felt a sense of betrayal that went beyond disappointment.

‘What was the asceticism of the past years for? To think I spent such harsh years to overcome a person of just this level…’

Antorius squeezed his eyes shut. The scene before him was so disappointing that he couldn't bear to watch.

“That… son! of! a! bitch…”

And there was another man trembling, and that was…

“Calm down, Sir Schneider.”

“Calm down? Is this something to be calm about?”

“……”

“Aargh, I'm so pissed off… I knew the kids these days were rotten, but that bastard is on another level. He's a whole rainbow of rotten.”

The enraged Patrick and Professor Leyte trying to calm him down. The colleagues from the Atronia Kingdom, who had been clenching their fists at Alex's good fight, looked on with incomprehension.

“Senior is fighting well, so why are you like this?”

When Isabella finally asked for the reason, Patrick snapped.

“Fighting well, my ass. He's being completely toyed with.”

“Toyed with?”

“Yes. That bastard Garcia or whatever his name is, is just playing around. He's just playing around with Senior Alex, who's fighting tooth and nail with all his might.”

“What did you say?”

“No way…”

“It can't be that much…”

“Look. Just watch and you'll see!”

As Patrick said through gritted teeth, their gazes turned back to the arena. And slowly, a difference they could also notice began to appear.

“Keut!”

A horizontal slash swung with all of Alex's might. The opponent narrowly dodged the sword that was swung sharply to cut his waist. And the ensuing counterattack. A horizontal slash, no different from Alex's attack, grazed past Alex's waist.

“Ugh…”

Alex gritted his teeth again and thrust his sword. A thrust aimed at the face.

After the opponent lightly parried it, something sharp cut through the wind, flew towards his face, lightly touched the tip of his nose, and returned.

It was the same after that. Head, legs, wrist. All the attacks he aimed were nullified, and then the exact same attack came flying back, retreating without inflicting a wound.

Since when? All his attacks were being completely countered, and he was immediately being hit with the same attack. As if he were being taught, 'No. Wrong. Look. This is how you do it.'