Pick Me Up!

In less than 10 minutes, I arrived at the venue for the individual preliminaries.

The place for the individual matches was also a dome-shaped giant stadium. After having my identity checked at the entrance, I entered. Inside, eight square arenas were set up, and the preliminaries were in full swing.

I spotted Velkist sitting in a corner of the stadium.

“Hey!”

“Wha! Who”

Velkist turned to look at me.

“Senior? How did you get here? Weren’t you busy with the preliminaries?”

“It’s already over, man. How’s it going?”

“My turn’s all done. Just watching now.”

“Is there a need to say it?”

Velkist grinned.

Well, that’s expected. I plopped down next to Velkist on a steel chair.

“Any decent ones?”

“Somewhat.”

Velkist’s gaze swept over the arenas where battles were happening.

Most were too poor for me to bother watching, but a few caught my eye.

“That senior, he’s grown quite a bit.”

Velkist crossed his arms.

His gaze was directed towards the left corner of the arena.

There…

‘Aaron.’

Aaron, dressed in Niflheimr’s uniform, was pressing his opponent.

With each clean thrust of his spear, his opponent staggered back.

“His growth exceeds his talent. It’s surprising.”

“He wouldn’t have gone to Niflheimr for nothing.”

“He must have worked himself to the bone, maybe even more than me. But that’s all.”

Velkist dismissed his once fiercely fought opponent as ‘that’s all’ and moved his gaze to the next arena.

‘…’

This guy’s standards had risen too.

Day in and day out, he fought me, and after Kishasha joined, he had one more opponent. His skills were incomparable to those times.

Velkist, like me who had obtained Ascend, and Jenna who obtained Sidewinder, had awakened his own unique combat style using his wildness.

His talent was outstanding, and apart from missions, he spent almost all his 24 hours training, so the results were somewhat expected.

‘Aaron.’

Aaron helped his fallen opponent up, bowed, and then descended from the arena. As Velkist had said, what was once low-level spear skills at levels 3-4 seemed to have advanced to intermediate.

But that was it for now.

Maybe more could be seen in the finals.

It was possible that he would face Velkist in the main matches.

I shifted my gaze to where Velkist was looking.

The central arena. Another participant from Niflheimr was standing there.

“Yaaaah!”

A female bandit’s twin swords swirled fiercely.

He smoothly deflected every sword strike with a single dagger he held.

“Are you making fun of me?!”

The bandit shouted as if possessed.

“No, I’m just matching you with a suitable weapon.”

The young man spun his dagger as he spoke indifferently.

There was no look of underestimating the opponent in his eyes. He truly believed what he said. Realizing this, the bandit’s expression turned pale.

‘That guy…’

A bright white cross symbol was drawn on the chest of his uniform.

It was the mark of the top trainee from the academy.

“Heh… interesting, very interesting.”

Velkist’s lips curled up.

“Do you know? That guy used different weapons in each of the four preliminaries. The first was a spear, the second an axe, the third a bow, and the last a dagger.”

Fire lit in Velkist’s eyes.

The kind of look he only showed when he was about to fight me.

It seemed something had truly sparked his competitive spirit.

‘Hmm.’

Certainly, a face I didn’t recognize.

It seemed he was summoned while I was away.

‘Using different weapons.’

From Velkist’s expression, it seemed like the proficiency in each was top-notch.

“So there was such a monster… As expected of Niflheimr?”

People nearby were murmuring about that guy.

“From what I hear, he’s the top trainee of Niflheimr.”

“Do you know what his nickname is? The Second Coming of the Sword Demon!”

“Sword Demon? If it’s the Sword Demon…”

“That’s right. Loki’s left arm. The strongest swordsman of Mobius.”

Sword Demon was the nickname of Ridigion.

I sort of understood. That guy’s ability and why Velkist’s fighting spirit was ignited.

‘A talent freak greater than Jenna.’

He could use most weapons at an expert level.

His main weapon, the sword, was naturally beyond that.

‘Is it already advanced?’

If that guy had learned it…

Including me, no one here could match him with pure technique. Advanced weapon skills were typically mastered at the very end of 5-stars.

If the rumors were true, it was quite the catch.

I wanted to ask Yurnet, but I suppressed my urge and waited. It would reveal itself eventually.

The match was decided.

The guy passed by the bewildered bandit and descended from the arena. Aaron was waiting.

“Amazing skills. I learned a lot by watching…”

The guy ignored Aaron’s friendly words and left the stadium.

“…”

Stunned, Aaron shrugged and followed him.

Velkist laughed coldly.

“They seem to get along worse than expected.”

“Indeed.”

Aaron had called himself a parachute.

It seemed quite a complicated situation that was intertwined.

‘The Second Coming of the Sword Demon.’

My hands itched.

If it weren’t for the Advent Stone and the ticket, I would have thrown everything and participated in this individual competition.

I didn’t understand why Myudun had sent Aaron here.

I believe it wasn’t the right time to send him out.

‘We’ll see.’

No matter who it was, it didn’t matter.

Because Townia would take the win.

I'm currently Translating the following novels: Pick Me Up! | A Frontline Soldier Awakened as a Gamer In The War! | The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player. If you want to support me and read more chapters please subscribe to my Patreon!