“Now then—Day Two of the preliminaries, First Match… begin!”
“““Woo!”””
At the referee’s signal, the crowd erupted into cheers all at once.
At the same moment, Sylvia-san began gathering mana into the staff she held.
“Oooh, Sylvia-senshu is already channeling mana into her staff! Meanwhile, Ao-senshu seems to be keeping her distance, still observing!”
What Sylvia-san was charging was wind magic. Ao, on the other hand, was already preparing so she could fire off a spell at any moment.
“Here I go—take this!”
BOOOOOM!
“““Uoooooh!!”””
“What—?! Ao-senshu instantly intercepted the spell Sylvia-senshu launched!”
Ao shot down Sylvia-san’s magic in the blink of an eye.
Sylvia-san’s eyes widened in surprise, but she quickly pulled her expression back into something sharp and focused.
“Then… how about this!”
Shu, shu, shu—!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
“This time Sylvia-senshu fires a rapid barrage without any charging, but once again, Ao-senshu swats them aside with ease!”
“Whoa… that slime’s seriously amazing.”
“That little miss isn’t half bad either.”
Even after that, Sylvia-san tried every tactic she could—mixing large and small spells together and launching them at Ao—but Ao intercepted every last one.
To the spectators, it looked like a dazzling exchange of magic, and the arena was roaring with excitement.
“They’re doing pretty well, but… their fundamentals still need a lot of work, I’d say.”
“I’ve heard that the dwarves rarely produce magicians. She probably studied on her own.”
“In other words, she’s accomplished quite a lot through self-study. If she receives proper training, I’m sure she’ll become an excellent mage.”
“Hm. In that case, could you speak to her for me after the match?”
“Understood.”
“I’ll talk to her as well.”
It seemed Sylvia-san had managed to catch the interest of Fina-san’s older brother as well.
Sue said she’d speak to Sylvia-san too, so even if I didn’t get the chance myself, everything should be fine.
And then, something changed on the stage.
Until now, Ao had only been intercepting Sylvia-san’s spells—but suddenly, she shifted into a counterattack.
“Eh—? Kyaaa!”
Boom!
“And there it is! Ao-senshu launches a counterstrike! Sylvia-senshu fires three spells, but Ao-senshu answers with four shots!”
“Ohh, so it finally begins.”
“Damn, so everything up to now was just her testing the waters?”
Sylvia-san was completely caught off guard and took Ao’s air bullet head-on.
Ao had carefully toned down the power, but even so, it dealt a fair bit of damage. And then, without giving her a moment to breathe, Ao unleashed three more air bullets straight at Sylvia-san.
Boom, boom, boom.
“K-Kuh…!”
“Ao-senshu continues to press the attack! Sylvia-senshu can barely keep up! Her magic barrier is the only thing standing between her and defeat!”
“Go, Ao!”
“Finish her!”
“Hang in there!”
Ao kept firing air bullets, each one deliberately weakened but still relentless.
Sylvia-san was completely on the defensive now. All she could do was throw up barrier after barrier, struggling just to keep them intact.
And then—Ao moved in for the finishing blow.
Thud.
“Eh? W-what?”
“Oh? Ao-senshu has deliberately fired a spell in front of Sylvia-senshu, kicking up a cloud of dust! Now, where did Ao-senshu disappear to?”
“Hey, did you see that slime move just now?”
“N-No… not at all. One moment it was there, the next—gone.”
For an ordinary person, Ao’s body-enhanced movements would look like she’d simply vanished.
Sue and I could track her, of course, but Sylvia-san—caught in that dusty smoke screen—had no chance of knowing where Ao had gone.
Tap, tap.
“Eh—ah!”
“Oh! Ao-senshu has somehow slipped behind Sylvia-senshu without anyone noticing! She’s poking at Sylvia-senshu’s boots with a tentacle!”
“Incredible… she crossed that distance in an instant!”
“My whole understanding of what a slime is has completely collapsed…”
Realizing Ao had slipped completely behind her, Sylvia-san seemed to accept that she could no longer win.
“Haah… I can’t compete with that. I surrender.”
“Sylvia-senshu has declared a surrender! The winner: Ao-senshu!”
“What an amazing slime!”
“And that little miss was incredible too!”
Amid a shower of applause from the crowd, Ao and Sylvia-san shook hands once more.
And with this, Ao officially secured her place in the main tournament.
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.
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