Volume 2 - CH 21
Act 2-21: Tournament Final 1st Round
After advancing to the tournament final, I received detailed rules from the tournament management.
If a win came through foul play on the usual tournament rules, the reward would be confiscated. Therefore, all the prize money would be consolidated and distributed after the result of the match of each player was confirmed.
In this situation, abstaining inside or outside of the match was allowed; it was also possible to receive the prize money one got until this round.
However, this final round could be said as the flower of the tournament, its best part. None of the participants in the final round were willing to abstain. Thus, it became an unspoken rule that the participants of the final round mustn’t abstain before the match.
But, in the end, a participant could still abstain from the match right after the start of the match. Since abstaining by going out of the arena wasn’t prohibited, the medical staff members were on standby outside the arena to prevent any accident.
Well, I was bored to death since I had nothing to do until my turn. I did try to see the other participants of this final round, but, honestly, they were nothing but novices.
The only one who piqued my interest was Zack Prower and the one called Bri.
Unexpectedly, the first match was Zack vs Riku. Naturally, just like the difference between their martial arts style, there was a huge gap of power between Riku and Zack. It was just like the comparison between an adult and a child. I had thought that Riku would be abstaining right at the start of the match, but despite being bruised all over his body, he kept coming at Zack until losing his consciousness. Maybe, Riku had what it takes for him to carry martial arts-style pride. Well, Riku was still young. Whether he was going to fall or rise as a martial artist completely depended on himself.
With this, Zack advanced to the second round of the final. Let’s abstain from the match after I manage to rope in Zack into becoming Rose’s royal guard.
Now, I walked toward the match venue since my turn had come. Even now, I can still hear the spectators making distasteful remarks about me. They never get tired, huh!
Right after the finals of the preliminary round, the assistant instructor Shiga had brought his disciple along with him to make a claim about me using underhanded means. Well, that might have been some form of their retaliation. They claimed that the incompetent me was advancing to the final round by using prohibited items during the matches. Thanks to that, the rumor about me spread around the city like wildfire and made the people aware of me.
""
Due to that, maybe because the management of the tournament also couldn’t ignore the problem anymore, another rule was added to their rules list: participants were banned from wearing accessories like bracelets or rings, and they had to wear the clothes provided by the tournament’s management committee.
To be honest, I don’t care about such trivial matters, but Rose, who was getting irritated due to such a rule, was far more troublesome.
I arrived at the venue, wearing the clothes designated by the management committee and put up in the locker room. I threw everything I was wearing before into my item box.
「Hou, this is an item to restrict my ability, huh!」
The clothes which I wore could randomly lower 【Strength】, 【Stamina】, and 【Agility】 to around 5-15 points. What a useless item! Such a restriction was useless for me.
But, is it really okay for me to go out in the open without restricting my ability at all? I mean, I know that the gap between weak and strong in this world is severe. I trained myself to adjust my strength along the way to Luserhall so that even when I fight against a weak opponent, I wouldn’t accidentally kill them.
Rather, seeing that I’m pretty much amongst the strongest in this world, it would be troublesome if I made a mistake in my judgment, like when I was about to kill Asta on the final floor of that dungeon.
Anyhow, as the management went as far as to prepare these clothes, it seems they really don’t want me to win this tournament! Originally, I was thinking about abstaining during the match, but I’ve changed my mind now. I’m gonna advance to the grand final and win this tournament. Let’s show them what they don’t want to see the most.
The moment I stepped into the arena, which was surrounded by spectator seats, I could hear the loud jeering from the spectators.
In stark contrast, those noisy spectators fell into silence when a man with spiky hair, who is most likely my opponent, entered the arena.
Uhm, this spiky head fellow made me speechless for a different reason. I’ve never seen any of his battles, but guessing from the medical staff members closing in toward the arena, I could pretty much guess that this fella’s combat style should be quite violent.
Uhm? They even replaced the original emcee, the blonde woman who had accidentally revealed my gift before, with a man in a black suit. I see! It seems everything is the arrangement of the tournament’s management committee.
『LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, introducing the contestants of the fifth match of the final round. From this side is 【the most incompetent in this world】’s gift holder, Kai Heinemaaaaaaan! It’s not the most incompetent in the world, it’s the most incompetent in this world! There’s a suspicion that he advanced to the final round by using a cheat item!!』
An even louder jeering poured over me from the entire spectator seats. Since the new emcee went as far as to bash a participant at such a timing, it was gonna cause more problems in the distant future. I’m pretty much sure that this arrangement might have something to do with the rivalry between Rose and that Prince Gil… something.
「But worry not! The management committee of the tournament isn’t stupid. The attire worn by all the participants in the final round has been prepared by the management committee. NO ONE CAN CHEAT THEIR WAY THROUGH THE TOURNAMENT ANYMORE!」
The spectators let out deafening cheers upon hearing that. The man in the black suit nodded with a satisfied expression, then he pointed at the spiky-haired man with his right hand.
「Facing the incompetent is the man with a seventy percent destruction rate. A FLAME-TYPE GIFT HOLDER, the true crusher Dick Ba…lm. There is no doubt about his strength!
We~ll then, let’s see how he’s gonna crush the cheating incompetent!」
An even louder exclamation resounded in the venue when the spectators heard the emcee’s introduction of that spiky head.
So, crushing the opponent has been allowed by the emcee, huh! It seems these fellas are just prideless emcees. And the spectators actually approve of such an unreasonable event in this tournament. Honestly, these disgusting people belong to the type I hate the most.
I walked to the center of the round arena.
「Wow, this is the first time I met someone hated more than me.」
The spiky head, Dick Balm, also stated his opinion as he approached me with a faint smile on his face.
「Is that so? I guess this will become a nice experience.」
「You… aren’t afraid of me?」
Dick raised his eyebrows, asking that question while glaring at me.
「Afraid of what?」
「Afraid of me? I’m far more powerful than you, you know?」
「Uhm, I wonder about that. We won’t know unless we try. But since you claimed so, I guess I can at least look forward to seeing your skill.」
Although my instincts told me that Dick’s strength was even less than that of a bug, I guessed I should set some expectations since the other party was a human. Anyhow, stats weren’t everything for a warrior’s strength, after all. As long as one’s mastery surpassed a certain threshold, killing an overwhelmingly stronger monster, stats-wise, in that dungeon was easy-peasy. This was something I had realized when I was trapped inside that super easy secret dungeon.
「YOU’VE DONE IT NOW, SMALL FRY! Now, I’m gonna make a blood festival of you! Oi, referee, give the signal quickly!!」
The emcee in the black suit nodded, then descended from the arena. After that, the skinhead man wearing referee clothes walked up into the arena and crossed his arms.
「FIGHT!」
He swung his arms to the sides as he signaled the start of the match.
「BURN TO ASHES, SMALL FRY TRASH!!」
Flames wrapped Dick’s arms and legs as he shouted and rushed toward me.
I dodged his right-fist with ease, then stepped back to avoid his low kick with a paper-thin margin. I then stepped back a little bit further, just enough to barely dodge his flame-covered left backhand. This is beyond awful! His skill is even lower than that of the greenhorn Riku. Moreover, he lacks the most important factor for a martial artist, stamina. That short exchange was enough for me to see that this Dick had never trained properly. His attack couldn’t even be called martial arts; it was just street performance.
Even though it sounded unbelievable, if what that f*cking emcee had said was true, this retard’s street performance had crippled many martial artists.
「Dammit, why ain’t you get hit?」
Dick glared at me while breathing heavily.
「Because the thing you’re using isn’t martial arts at all.」
I pointed out the most obvious fact, which didn’t have to be pointed out as it was laid bare for every martial artist to see.
It didn’t mean that I was looking down on Dick just because he used his natural gift to create a flame in the fight.
If that gift was used with a proper martial arts’ move set, that would’ve been it. I would never approve of wildly swinging around those limbs while uselessly utilizing a gift like this retard before me as martial arts.
「I AM the general instructor of the Wicked blazing horizon style!!」
「Wicked bla… what? Sorry, but I don’t know a school with such a joke-like name. Let me make one thing clear: every single attack you used on me isn’t martial art at all.」
I declared so while walking toward him.
「Don’t joke around, I’m―」
I closed in at once with my original footwork and grabbed that retard’s face with my left hand. I lifted him before he could even finish his sentence.
「N-NHAAAAAA!?」
When I put more power into my grip, it resulted in the retard screaming in pain.
「GIGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH! H-HOW CAN IT BE!!」
Dick frantically rampaged, throwing his prided flames toward me. But, it was ineffective against me as I had flame assimilation. I ignored his attempt and kept increasing the strength of the grip of my left hand.
I already had a clear grasp of this retard’s power. His real strength was not that much different from that of those trashes of society who had tried to rob me after I had registered as a hunter. I wouldn’t kill him even without 【Glove of Sealing God】; it was below me to bully the weak.
「Worried, huh! Rest assured! I won’t break your skull. Lately, I’ve been training really hard to control my strength using animal skulls or nuts so that I won’t make a mistake in controlling my strength.」
I looked up toward the retard, who opened his mouth wide.
「IHIIIIII!」
The retard screamed like a girl, his face painted with fear.
「Now, listen to me. In my eyes, what you were doing just now isn’t martial arts. It’s just a show of power that even an amateur like you can do. In short, it’s just worthless violence. But crushing you with martial arts will only stain my pride. Using pure strength alone is enough to crush a piece of trash like you.」
I pulled back my right elbow, ready to deliver my right fist.
「W-Wa―」
「I’ll give you one last chance. Now use this last chance properly!」
I punched his entire body as I whispered that remark.
After I was done with him, I let go of Dick’s body, which had already swelled up all over the place to the arena’s floor.
「Referee!」
I looked at the referee, who was still flabbergasted, from the edge of my line of sight and called for his attention.
「W-WINNER, KAI HEINEMAN!!」
He raised his right arm toward me as he declared me as the winner.
Yup, that’s the end of this farce! Now I have no more reason to stay in this place.
The entire venue was enveloped by silence even after I left the venue.
After advancing to the tournament final, I received detailed rules from the tournament management.
If a win came through foul play on the usual tournament rules, the reward would be confiscated. Therefore, all the prize money would be consolidated and distributed after the result of the match of each player was confirmed.
In this situation, abstaining inside or outside of the match was allowed; it was also possible to receive the prize money one got until this round.
However, this final round could be said as the flower of the tournament, its best part. None of the participants in the final round were willing to abstain. Thus, it became an unspoken rule that the participants of the final round mustn’t abstain before the match.
But, in the end, a participant could still abstain from the match right after the start of the match. Since abstaining by going out of the arena wasn’t prohibited, the medical staff members were on standby outside the arena to prevent any accident.
Well, I was bored to death since I had nothing to do until my turn. I did try to see the other participants of this final round, but, honestly, they were nothing but novices.
The only one who piqued my interest was Zack Prower and the one called Bri.
Unexpectedly, the first match was Zack vs Riku. Naturally, just like the difference between their martial arts style, there was a huge gap of power between Riku and Zack. It was just like the comparison between an adult and a child. I had thought that Riku would be abstaining right at the start of the match, but despite being bruised all over his body, he kept coming at Zack until losing his consciousness. Maybe, Riku had what it takes for him to carry martial arts-style pride. Well, Riku was still young. Whether he was going to fall or rise as a martial artist completely depended on himself.
With this, Zack advanced to the second round of the final. Let’s abstain from the match after I manage to rope in Zack into becoming Rose’s royal guard.
Now, I walked toward the match venue since my turn had come. Even now, I can still hear the spectators making distasteful remarks about me. They never get tired, huh!
Right after the finals of the preliminary round, the assistant instructor Shiga had brought his disciple along with him to make a claim about me using underhanded means. Well, that might have been some form of their retaliation. They claimed that the incompetent me was advancing to the final round by using prohibited items during the matches. Thanks to that, the rumor about me spread around the city like wildfire and made the people aware of me.
""
Due to that, maybe because the management of the tournament also couldn’t ignore the problem anymore, another rule was added to their rules list: participants were banned from wearing accessories like bracelets or rings, and they had to wear the clothes provided by the tournament’s management committee.
To be honest, I don’t care about such trivial matters, but Rose, who was getting irritated due to such a rule, was far more troublesome.
I arrived at the venue, wearing the clothes designated by the management committee and put up in the locker room. I threw everything I was wearing before into my item box.
「Hou, this is an item to restrict my ability, huh!」
The clothes which I wore could randomly lower 【Strength】, 【Stamina】, and 【Agility】 to around 5-15 points. What a useless item! Such a restriction was useless for me.
But, is it really okay for me to go out in the open without restricting my ability at all? I mean, I know that the gap between weak and strong in this world is severe. I trained myself to adjust my strength along the way to Luserhall so that even when I fight against a weak opponent, I wouldn’t accidentally kill them.
Rather, seeing that I’m pretty much amongst the strongest in this world, it would be troublesome if I made a mistake in my judgment, like when I was about to kill Asta on the final floor of that dungeon.
Anyhow, as the management went as far as to prepare these clothes, it seems they really don’t want me to win this tournament! Originally, I was thinking about abstaining during the match, but I’ve changed my mind now. I’m gonna advance to the grand final and win this tournament. Let’s show them what they don’t want to see the most.
The moment I stepped into the arena, which was surrounded by spectator seats, I could hear the loud jeering from the spectators.
In stark contrast, those noisy spectators fell into silence when a man with spiky hair, who is most likely my opponent, entered the arena.
Uhm, this spiky head fellow made me speechless for a different reason. I’ve never seen any of his battles, but guessing from the medical staff members closing in toward the arena, I could pretty much guess that this fella’s combat style should be quite violent.
Uhm? They even replaced the original emcee, the blonde woman who had accidentally revealed my gift before, with a man in a black suit. I see! It seems everything is the arrangement of the tournament’s management committee.
『LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, introducing the contestants of the fifth match of the final round. From this side is 【the most incompetent in this world】’s gift holder, Kai Heinemaaaaaaan! It’s not the most incompetent in the world, it’s the most incompetent in this world! There’s a suspicion that he advanced to the final round by using a cheat item!!』
An even louder jeering poured over me from the entire spectator seats. Since the new emcee went as far as to bash a participant at such a timing, it was gonna cause more problems in the distant future. I’m pretty much sure that this arrangement might have something to do with the rivalry between Rose and that Prince Gil… something.
「But worry not! The management committee of the tournament isn’t stupid. The attire worn by all the participants in the final round has been prepared by the management committee. NO ONE CAN CHEAT THEIR WAY THROUGH THE TOURNAMENT ANYMORE!」
The spectators let out deafening cheers upon hearing that. The man in the black suit nodded with a satisfied expression, then he pointed at the spiky-haired man with his right hand.
「Facing the incompetent is the man with a seventy percent destruction rate. A FLAME-TYPE GIFT HOLDER, the true crusher Dick Ba…lm. There is no doubt about his strength!
We~ll then, let’s see how he’s gonna crush the cheating incompetent!」
An even louder exclamation resounded in the venue when the spectators heard the emcee’s introduction of that spiky head.
So, crushing the opponent has been allowed by the emcee, huh! It seems these fellas are just prideless emcees. And the spectators actually approve of such an unreasonable event in this tournament. Honestly, these disgusting people belong to the type I hate the most.
I walked to the center of the round arena.
「Wow, this is the first time I met someone hated more than me.」
The spiky head, Dick Balm, also stated his opinion as he approached me with a faint smile on his face.
「Is that so? I guess this will become a nice experience.」
「You… aren’t afraid of me?」
Dick raised his eyebrows, asking that question while glaring at me.
「Afraid of what?」
「Afraid of me? I’m far more powerful than you, you know?」
「Uhm, I wonder about that. We won’t know unless we try. But since you claimed so, I guess I can at least look forward to seeing your skill.」
Although my instincts told me that Dick’s strength was even less than that of a bug, I guessed I should set some expectations since the other party was a human. Anyhow, stats weren’t everything for a warrior’s strength, after all. As long as one’s mastery surpassed a certain threshold, killing an overwhelmingly stronger monster, stats-wise, in that dungeon was easy-peasy. This was something I had realized when I was trapped inside that super easy secret dungeon.
「YOU’VE DONE IT NOW, SMALL FRY! Now, I’m gonna make a blood festival of you! Oi, referee, give the signal quickly!!」
The emcee in the black suit nodded, then descended from the arena. After that, the skinhead man wearing referee clothes walked up into the arena and crossed his arms.
「FIGHT!」
He swung his arms to the sides as he signaled the start of the match.
「BURN TO ASHES, SMALL FRY TRASH!!」
Flames wrapped Dick’s arms and legs as he shouted and rushed toward me.
I dodged his right-fist with ease, then stepped back to avoid his low kick with a paper-thin margin. I then stepped back a little bit further, just enough to barely dodge his flame-covered left backhand. This is beyond awful! His skill is even lower than that of the greenhorn Riku. Moreover, he lacks the most important factor for a martial artist, stamina. That short exchange was enough for me to see that this Dick had never trained properly. His attack couldn’t even be called martial arts; it was just street performance.
Even though it sounded unbelievable, if what that f*cking emcee had said was true, this retard’s street performance had crippled many martial artists.
「Dammit, why ain’t you get hit?」
Dick glared at me while breathing heavily.
「Because the thing you’re using isn’t martial arts at all.」
I pointed out the most obvious fact, which didn’t have to be pointed out as it was laid bare for every martial artist to see.
It didn’t mean that I was looking down on Dick just because he used his natural gift to create a flame in the fight.
If that gift was used with a proper martial arts’ move set, that would’ve been it. I would never approve of wildly swinging around those limbs while uselessly utilizing a gift like this retard before me as martial arts.
「I AM the general instructor of the Wicked blazing horizon style!!」
「Wicked bla… what? Sorry, but I don’t know a school with such a joke-like name. Let me make one thing clear: every single attack you used on me isn’t martial art at all.」
I declared so while walking toward him.
「Don’t joke around, I’m―」
I closed in at once with my original footwork and grabbed that retard’s face with my left hand. I lifted him before he could even finish his sentence.
「N-NHAAAAAA!?」
When I put more power into my grip, it resulted in the retard screaming in pain.
「GIGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH! H-HOW CAN IT BE!!」
Dick frantically rampaged, throwing his prided flames toward me. But, it was ineffective against me as I had flame assimilation. I ignored his attempt and kept increasing the strength of the grip of my left hand.
I already had a clear grasp of this retard’s power. His real strength was not that much different from that of those trashes of society who had tried to rob me after I had registered as a hunter. I wouldn’t kill him even without 【Glove of Sealing God】; it was below me to bully the weak.
「Worried, huh! Rest assured! I won’t break your skull. Lately, I’ve been training really hard to control my strength using animal skulls or nuts so that I won’t make a mistake in controlling my strength.」
I looked up toward the retard, who opened his mouth wide.
「IHIIIIII!」
The retard screamed like a girl, his face painted with fear.
「Now, listen to me. In my eyes, what you were doing just now isn’t martial arts. It’s just a show of power that even an amateur like you can do. In short, it’s just worthless violence. But crushing you with martial arts will only stain my pride. Using pure strength alone is enough to crush a piece of trash like you.」
I pulled back my right elbow, ready to deliver my right fist.
「W-Wa―」
「I’ll give you one last chance. Now use this last chance properly!」
I punched his entire body as I whispered that remark.
After I was done with him, I let go of Dick’s body, which had already swelled up all over the place to the arena’s floor.
「Referee!」
I looked at the referee, who was still flabbergasted, from the edge of my line of sight and called for his attention.
「W-WINNER, KAI HEINEMAN!!」
He raised his right arm toward me as he declared me as the winner.
Yup, that’s the end of this farce! Now I have no more reason to stay in this place.
The entire venue was enveloped by silence even after I left the venue.
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