Chapter 51
A short while after the event begins.
「—Heavy Strike!」
「Power Shot!」
「Rain of light, pour down! Shine Squall!」
Kaito and the rest of Agreable are engaged in battle with a King Giant Rat—a bipedal rodent more than ten times the size of a normal Giant Rat.
「Uoooh! Double Slash!」
「Come forth, fire bullet, and burn! Fireball!」
「Heavy Strike!」
「Burst forth! Popping Bubble!」
「Impale!」
Following Kaito, Leon, and Emi, the other members unleash their combat arts and magic.
They should have already dealt considerable damage, but the King Giant Rat still hasn’t fallen.
As if preparing to counterattack, it lowers its body deeply.
This is a movement they’ve never seen before.
「Something’s coming!」
「Dodge it!」
Kaito and Leon shout while retreating.
Immediately after, the giant rat starts running and then leaps high.
It spins once in mid-air and stomps on a man and woman who were too slow to escape with its massive feet.
It’s the second combat art of its foot techniques—Foot Stamp.
「Taichi! Saki!」
Kaito calls out to them, but there’s no response.
As the rat leaps back, the two are nowhere to be seen.
「Tch! They got taken out!」
「Kaito, that thing is insanely strong! We might not be able to afford conserving MP!」
「You’re right. Can’t be helped! Leon, let’s go all out without holding back!」
「Alright!」
「Alright! Leave this to us, the rest of you fall back!」
After giving instructions to the lower-level members, Kaito kicks off the ground.
When he’s about ten meters away—
「Fatal Charge!」
「Giga Arrow!」
Kaito activates the fourth combat art of the great sword, while Leon uses the fourth combat art of the bow.
Kaito closes in on the rat at a speed that makes it seem like he teleported, slashing through it.
Immediately after, the arrow Leon shot grows gigantic and pierces the rat.
In that instant, the rat disintegrates into particles and vanishes.
「…Phew.」
「Wow! Kaito and Leon are really strong!」
「Yeah! As expected of our top duo!」
「You did it, Kai-kun!」
「Nice one, Kaito!」
As Kaito lets out a sigh of relief that they somehow managed to defeat it, the other members rush over to him, praising him one after another.
「Well, yeah! But man, that huge rat was stronger than I expected. Because of that, Taichi and Saki got taken out, and we used up quite a bit of MP.」
「I know, right? The large monsters in the preliminaries weren’t this strong.」
「Maybe they’re set to be stronger because this is the main tournament.」
「Could be. Well, it’s a shame for those two, but we should be glad we didn’t get wiped out. Now, about the medals…」
Kaito looks at the [Guild Total Medals Acquired] displayed on the right side of his vision, which has increased from 5 to 25.
Accordingly, the [Guild Average Medals Held] below it has been automatically calculated to 2.
「Oh! It dropped more medals, fitting for how strong it was.」
「You’re right! The risk is high, but it’s definitely worth defeating them!」
「Indeed! Ah, I’ll hand over the medals we acquired to you, Kaito.」
Leon says this as he opens his menu window and uses the gift function to transfer the acquired medals to Kaito.
In a strategy meeting beforehand, they had concluded that 「it’s better for the strongest person to hold them since they’re less likely to die,」 so they decided to concentrate the medals with Kaito.
After the transfer is complete, Kaito claps his hands to gather everyone’s attention and begins to speak.
「Alright, let’s continue hunting large monsters! But be careful not to let your guard down this time! Also, Leon and I have used up quite a bit of MP, so it’s your turn to shine next!」
「Leave it to us!」
「We’ll knock ’em dead next time!」
「We’ll do our best to match Kaito and Leon!」
「Alright! Let’s go then!」
☆
Elena and her guild Strawberry Montblanc are steadily collecting fallen medals.
「This makes eight! We’re making pretty good progress, aren’t we?」
「Yeah! One more and our average will be up to 3!」
「Alright! Let’s keep up the good work collecting medals!」
「「Yeah! 」」
Just as they’re about to move on after psyching themselves up—
「Ah, we found her!」
Suddenly, a man’s voice is heard from behind.
The three girls flinch and immediately turn around.
They see two young men, probably in their early twenties, running towards them from a short distance away.
Spotting the enemy, Elena and her friends ready their weapons and prepare to use their combat arts.
Just as they nod to each other—
「Elena-chan!」
The two men call out Elena’s name as they approach.
「…Huh?」
Surprised at suddenly hearing her name called, Elena freezes with her eyes wide open.
As the men finally reach them, they speak while catching their breath.
「E-Elena-chan! We… we finally found you!」
「W-w-w-we’ve been looking for you all this time!」
「Huh? …Um, are you two perhaps my viewers?」
「That’s right! Ah, sorry, just a moment! I need to let the other EleKnights know to come here right away!」
Saying this, one of the men opens his menu window.
Still unable to grasp the situation, Elena and her friends remain standing there. After a short while, the man closes his menu window and continues talking.
「Alright, that’s done! Now, Elena-chan! First, please defeat us and take our medals!」
「P-p-please do!」
Hearing these words, Elena finally understands the men’s actions.
She almost lets out a sigh of exasperation but manages to hold it back.
Forcing a smile, she addresses the two men.
「…Hey, you two. Have you been watching my streams recently?」
「O-of course! I watch every single one!」
「M-m-me too! I always watch them twice, live and archived!」
「I see, thank you! …But that’s strange. If you’ve been watching, you should know that I’ve been saying not to do this kind of thing because it’s cheating, right?」
As Elena says this, the men visibly flinch.
After a short pause, one of them speaks while looking down.
「Y-yeah… But we really want you to win, Elena-chan…」
「I see. I’m happy you feel that way, thank you! But I still think this isn’t right. So, I can’t accept the medals. I’m sorry.」
As she finishes speaking, Elena bows her head to the men.
The men, flustered, quickly respond.
「E-Elena-chan, you haven’t done anything wrong! It’s all our fault! S-so please, raise your head!」
「W-w-we’re sorry!」
「…You’re both so kind! Thank you!」
As Elena raises her head and smiles, the two men beam with joy.
However, their faces cloud over shortly after.
「B-but what should we do with these medals then…」
Elena thinks that these two probably worked hard to collect medals to give to her.
Considering this, she puts a finger to her chin and ponders what to do.
Soon, as if struck by an idea, she exclaims, 「Ah, I know!」
「How about you two aim for victory yourselves? Look, I’d be proud if EleKnights won too! Of course, we’ll be aiming for victory as well!」
Hearing these words, the men’s eyes light up.
After a moment, they look at each other and nod simultaneously.
「O-okay! We’ll do that!」
「I-if that’s what Elena-chan wants!」
「Yay! I’m glad you understand! Can you tell the other viewers about this too? Y-yeah! We’ll do that!」
「W-we’ll do our best! So, we’ll be going now so we don’t get in your way anymore!」
「G-good luck!!」
With these parting words, the two men hurriedly leave.
Once they’re out of sight, Elena lets out a big sigh.
「…Elena, good job.」
「Well done!」
Immediately after, Cocono and Mew, who had been silently watching the exchange, offer words of encouragement.
「Thanks, you two! Man, it’s really hard to get people to listen to requests, isn’t it?」
「It sure is. But Elena, you were amazing! The way you handled that situation!」
「Yeah! As expected of Elena! Mew learned a lot!」
「Ahaha, you think so? I’m glad then! Well, shall we get back to collecting medals?」
「Okay!」
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