CH 99

Chapter 3 — Dry scrape, burn and perforate! • Episode 3–4 — Witch Cup ④

Translated by KaiesV

Edited by KaiesV

『Suddenly a battle breaks out! The first matchup on the card will be Contender Tyrant Sylph vs. Contender Extend Traveler, anh～～nd Contender Dragon Call!』

『In a normal competition, the theory is to secure a certain amount of small crystals before starting to fight, but they dared to ignore this theory and created a favorable situation of one against two.』

『Contender Tyrant Sylph, will this be a tough one for you!?』

The stadium’s big screen showed Dragon Call that suddenly appeared at tremendous speed and began to assault Tyrant Sylph, and a small, wiry play-by-play fairy was bustling about in the upper right corner.

『Here it is! It’s Contender Tyrant Sylph’s deepest, stormiest Field Magic! However— what!? It was obliterated by a sudden, massive explosion that canceled it out!』

『I have heard rumors that Contender Dragon Call is a rare Magical Girl of the phantom type in the Life Lineage, and that her firepower is close to that of the Natural Lineage.』

『It seems to me that if it is such a powerful blow, it should’ve been used at the beginning of the encounter!?』

『The distance was probably too close. I don’t know if it affects Contender Dragon Call, but if Contender Extend Traveler player gets caught up in it and falls, it ends up being a one-for-one exchange and the advantage is weak!』

「Good luck, Syl-chan, good luck too, Paisen!」

「It’s not fair that you two attacked Sylph-chan! Ahh!? Run, Sylph-chan!」

「The teams have the same number of members, so Extend-san will won the battle. But Sylph-san is also amazing. I can’t believe she was able to hold her own against two Witches.」

Elephant and others are on edge as the Red Team duo is in hot pursuit of Sylph, who are using magic to check them in order to somehow shake them off, and she let out a high-pitched shriek whenever something happens. Blade marveled at such Elephant while rebuking them. Although she was clearly outnumbered, it was nothing short of quintessential that Sylph, who had just become a Magical Girl, could fight two Witches at the same time and still survive.

『I don’t see the Red Team duo after the storm clears, is this…? Ah—! From below! They’re popping out of the woods!』

『It seems that they dared to hide themselves in the woods to catch the Contender Tyrant Sylph off guard. Whether it was meant to be a surprise attack or not, it seems that Tyrant Sylph wasn’t aware of the fact that the attack was coming from directly below. She have been slow to respond.』

But even so, the situation is getting worse and worse, and at last Sylph is struck with a painful blow that takes down her specialized weapon, and while she is unable to move back and forth, the fatal blow is imminent.

「I can’t watch this anymore!!」

「Wait, Ele-chan! It’s Rabbi-chan!」

「I see, so Sylph-san wasn’t just running away in the dark either…」

Elephant closed her eyes tightly, not wanting to see any more of the deadly blade closing in on Sylph, but when she opened her eyes in horror at Press’ words, before she knew it, Rabbitfoot was being carried by Sylph in a princess’s arms and talking about something.

「That’s not fair!」

『Contender Rabbitfoot, the Lucky Rabbit, is in here! But, but, but! Contender Rabbitfoot is on the Yellow Team! Why did she help the Blue Team’s Contender Tyrant Sylph!? She could’ve surprised her after she did it!?』

『Witches who can win even one-on-two, say on the Yellow Team, would have had that option if it were Contender Red Ball, for example. However, Contender Rabbitfoot didn’t think she could beat Contenders Extend Traveler and Dragon Call at the same time. In other words, she would end up following the example of Contender Tyrant Sylph. If that’s the case, then one way to do it is to fight together just now, although they are on different teams.』

『I see! So she’s trying to prevent them from destroying them individually and, on the contrary, turn the tables on the two!』

『Perhaps Contender Tyrant Sylph saw this coming and ran in the direction of the Yellow Team. Anticipating that the lead pair must be nearby, she fished the Red Team duo out to a distance that was too close to ignore, and successfully pulled Contender Rabbitfoot out of the race. I had heard that she had only just become a Magical Girl, but she seems to have an excellent eye for tactics.』

In fact, Sylph was just running away in the dark, not thinking deeply, but her words of explanation, which sounded very much like that, elicited impressed voices from many places in the hall.

「I knew you were smart, Syl-chan～」

「Of course! Sylph-chan is awesome!」

「She was squealing a while ago, but she’s doing great.」

The battle between Dragon Call and Tyrant Sylph, split by Rabbitfoot’s blow, and then Extend and Rabbit Foot began in the air and on the ground, respectively, and the battle was over so quickly that it was hard to believe that the fierce battle that had just begun had ended in a flash.

『It’s settled! It’s settled! Contender Tyrant Sylph’s Tornado Mixer bites Contender Dragon Call like a living creature and defeats her!』

『Contender Dragon Call must’ve tried to use Area Magic at the end, but didn’t make it in time. Since she doesn’t have a large amount of magic power compared to other Witches, it’s thought that she wanted to conserve it and not use it on Contender Tyrant Sylph, who is lower in the pecking order. But the pecking order is only a pecking order of strength against external enemies. She shouldn’t have been so generous.』

『And more! Looks like the ground battle is settled as well! Bouncing around like a diffuse pinball too fast for the eye to follow, Contender Rabbitfoot kicked Contender Extend Traveler to the ground! It looks like Contender Extend Traveler was almost on sticks, why she didn’t resist!? Or was it that so fast that even the Witch couldn’t react!?』

『This is a difficult point. Contender Extend Traveler has Time Dilation Magic, so it’s possible that she could’ve used it to resist, but as far as Live-san is concerned, it’s also possible that she couldn’t have resisted. As you can see in the video, the injury effects were quite apparent, so perhaps she was already at her limit. Either she was twisted by Expansion Magic, or it was so fast that she couldn’t even allow herself to resist. Either way, Contender Rabbitfoot, who is also called the fastest, lived up to her long name with this victory.』

『Will the Red Team be okay with two people having to restart at once!?』

『The strategy will have to be changed, but the game has only just begun. Besides, the Red Team has only secured one small crystal at present, so it won’t take long for them to recover. It will still be possible to recover.』

「I thought Extend-san was a pretty strong person, but…」

「Ele-chan, did you see that earlier?」

「No, I couldn’t follow it with my eyes at all.」

Elephant, a Magical Girl in the Life Lineage, is the most visible of the Sakira Town teams. The same is true for dynamic vision, as well as for distance vision, and when that Elephant is so fast that it cannot be followed at all by the eye, it means that even Sylph can’t capture Rabbitfoot in that state.

With each battle over and only Tyrant Sylph and Rabbitfoot remaining, Elephant stared at the screen with bated breath, nervous that the two would start fighting next.

『Hey there!? I thought the two survivors were going to collide, but apparently the Contender Tyrant Sylph has started moving southeast, in the direction of her own camp! Conversely, Contender Rabbitfoot is heading west, towards the border between the Blue and Red Teams!』

『It appears that each of them will act in accordance with their initial operational priorities. The Blue Team is solidly southeast, closer to the base, and will probably head southwest next after securing this spot. The Yellow Team, on the other hand, is planning to expand their position ahead of the Blue Team.』

『The Yellow Team has already secured four small crystals! It seems that while Contender Rabbitfoot was moving and fighting, the remaining two were steadily dyeing crystals! Contender Red Ball is going straight from their base in the northeast to the Red Team’s base in the northwest! Contender Permafrost have secured one crystal each in the outer and middle layers near their base!』

『Only Contender Doppelganger that could possibly defeat Contender Red Ball, so it’s only natural that she would target the Red Team’s base of operations. They don’t even know that Contender Doppelganger was guarding the Blue Team’s base, but of course she understand that possibility, so.』

『That means they’ve come for the big crystals, which they’re sure to get! Meanwhile, the Blue Team now has three small crystals up for grabs! It appears that while Contender Tyrant Sylph was involved in the battle, Contender Ex–Magna was securing the crystals in the inner layer on the southeast side!』

『She was covered by the direction because she was fleeing to the Yellow Team’s side, i.e., east, in order to destroy the Red Team’s duo. The southeast side will be held back, but going back to the southwest side will be a bit of a loss of time. Contender Doppelganger is still seem to be waiting in the wings, so I would say that the Yellow Team is currently one step ahead.』

『Two members have been dropped, and the Red Team has Contender Wigs Crosseau up to mid-tier!』

『Was Wigs Crosseau’s strategy originally similar to that of the Yellow Team, which was going up and up and up, or did she change her strategy and decide to go on the offensive herself when she had originally planned to defend the outer to middle layers like the Blue Team, we don’t know the process, but she certainly cannot afford to wait too long for them to come back under the current circumstances.』

『Oya? Oya-oya-oya!? If this keeps going, it looks like Contender Wigs Crosseau and Contender Rabbitfoot’s directions of travel will overlap! Contender Rabbitfoot won the first battle with a great victory, but will she be able to keep the momentum going and get her second white star!?』

『The earlier battle was probably won in part because Contender Extend Traveler was injured and the terrain favored Contender Rabbitfoot, but the same is true of Contender Wigs Crosseau, who excels in intricate terrain. In addition, she was clearly a superior opponent, so if she can win, it won’t only be a white star, but a big win, but it will be a tough match.』

『After the hotly contested battle, we still can’t take our eyes off of them!』