“Withdraw! We’re withdrawing, meow!”
“Don’t hurt my boss or Alice, and I’ll do whatever you say, meow!”
Seeing his teammates struck down by Arlette one after another, the cat-man, Alu, immediately surrendered.
That was the nature of the adventurer profession.
Just because the Monster Hunter team could descend to the seventh floor didn’t mean they were significantly stronger than Arlette, who usually reached the sixth. Precision planning, rich experience, a solid mindset, and a fair bit of luck were all necessary factors for progress.
Clearly, the Monster Hunter team had been too arrogant this time.
Despite having a perfect plan and ample information, they had been overconfident when facing Arlette alone. They hadn’t accounted for variables at all.
Ultimately, they fell before Arlette’s new ability. A great dike could collapse from a single ant hole.
“Is that so? Then stay quiet,” Arlette said. “This match is being filmed and broadcast live. Everyone heard you say you were withdrawing. If you want to keep working in the adventurer circles, don’t think about trying any more little tricks.”
With that, he let go, tossing Nolan—whom he had been holding by the throat—carelessly to the ground.
“Your item master was hit in the head by my shield. I held back, but I can’t guarantee she’ll be fine. If you want her to live, emergency treatment won’t be enough. You’ll need to take her back to the surface for further care.”
Arlette gave them a casual warning before turning around to crouch down. He opened the item box belonging to the item master named Alice and began rummaging through it.
“You damaged my armor and tried to kill me. In exchange, I’m taking a few of your things.”
After a moment, he pulled several items from the box. One of them was the Acceleration Dust the Monster Hunter team had used earlier when chasing the Crystal Sting.
Just as Arlette prepared to turn and leave, Nolan, whom he had just tossed aside, shouted at his back.
“Hey, Knight! You’re clearly this strong, so why are you willing to be that woman’s dog?! She’s in perfect condition, yet she chose to leave you here alone! With your strength, if she had just given you a little support, we wouldn’t have even been able to touch you! She clearly doesn’t care whether you live or die, so why do you insist on being loyal to her?! That woman doesn’t see you as a comrade at all!”
“Boss, stop talking, meow!!” Alu cried out. Halfway through Nolan’s shout, the cat-man rushed over to stop him, terrified the Knight might get angry, change his mind, and come back to finish them off.
Arlette’s footsteps paused at Nolan’s anger-filled questioning. He slowly turned his head and glanced at the two behind him.
He saw Alu supporting Nolan as the man slowly stood up, while the cat-man nervously checked Nolan’s injuries.
Arlette opened his mouth as if to say something but ultimately remained silent. A moment later, he didn’t spare another glance for the losers he had defeated. He turned and left to chase after Mello and the other two.
Although he didn’t care much for words meant to drive a wedge between him and his teammates, the scene from a moment ago involuntarily flickered through his mind.
Back then, when he was threatening Nolan, the cat-man had surrendered without hesitation to protect his comrade.
‘If I were the one whose life was on the line, and Miss had to make the choice…’
‘What would she choose?’
***
“It’s happened!!”
“The first team to defeat another team tonight has appeared!”
“What’s shocking is that the first battle between teams in this Dragon Slayer Competition wasn’t a group fight, but ended with the Heavy Knight player successfully winning a one-on-three!”
“This player has shown various amazing feats since the start of the match. Without a doubt, Crystal Sting is the biggest favorite to win this competition!”
Using the characteristics of monsters to break a deadlock with fluid movements. Reversing the situation in one fell swoop by relying on an information gap. Finally, using the mist for concealment to launch a targeted assault, directly overcoming a numerical disadvantage.
The combat awareness displayed resulted in an aesthetically pleasing battle that made people want to cheer. However, while most were applauding his powerful feat of defeating multiple opponents alone, some of the audience noticed something else.
“Look, aren’t his injuries a bit serious?”
It was true. Although Arlette had successfully achieved the feat of winning a one-against-three, there was still a fatal problem he had to deal with—battle damage.
The competition had only just begun. The course through the Molten Heat Realm was divided into multiple zones. The Lava Lakeside where they were attacked by the Thermonuclear Lizards and the Smashed Canyon where they were now only accounted for two zones. They hadn’t even reached the halfway point.
Ahead, they still had to cross even more dangerous areas like the Sea of Gold before they could reach the Fire Dragon’s nest.
Currently, while Arlette’s fight looked impressive and he had successfully eliminated a group of competitors, the battle damage he sustained was very real.
Setting aside the physical damage, there was his armor. While only parts of Arlette’s armor were damaged, the important part was that the magical circuits inside had been destroyed as well. It might look like only palm-sized patches of skin were exposed, but he had lost the multiple resistances provided by the armor.
Furthermore, his Quartzification ability consumed MP and couldn’t be maintained indefinitely. In the hellish heat of the sixth floor, this was undoubtedly fatal. For all subsequent actions, Arlette would have a dire need for a Mage’s cooling protection or water magic.
Moreover, his body had sustained significant damage. During Nolan’s frantic slashing earlier, one blade had struck a gap in his armor. At that time, he had stopped using Quartzification to conserve MP. This resulted in a long, deep wound on his lower arm.
Arlette’s condition was already poor. His mana reserves were depleted, and the combination of old internal injuries and new external ones, plus the damaged armor…
His future progress might become extremely difficult. Currently, Arlette was using healing magic to urgently treat his wound while trying to catch up with Mello.
“That’s true, but we’ve only seen three classes in their team so far.”
“He’s a Heavy Knight, the Elf is a Bard, and the half-dragon girl is a Mage. Based on a comprehensive assessment, their Vampire leader should be the medic or logistics support.”
“If they have logistics, these injuries won’t be a problem. They can even repair the armor.”
An audience member offered his insight regarding the others’ concerns. It was common knowledge that healing magic couldn’t fully heal complex injuries; it could only provide emergency treatment. To recover further, one needed a specialized medic using medicine and surgical methods.
The difference was as vast as a layman wrapping a bandage versus a professional doctor performing a targeted surgery. While the former could have some effect, it couldn’t compare to the latter.
However, they were wrong. Mello’s class wasn’t logistics. She was a Magic Swordsman.
From beginning to end, Arlette was practically the only one in the team with healing abilities.
“Hah… hah…”
“I can… still hold on…”
After using the Acceleration Dust, Arlette began to move quickly near the scalding rock walls. The air was filled with flickering sparks and the pungent scent of sulfur; danger could be lurking anywhere.
Earlier, when he was rummaging through the item box for loot, he had also taken some healing items. But when he wanted to use them, he realized he didn’t know how to use such things at all. And the only person who knew how to use the items, Alice, had been knocked unconscious by his own hand.
‘A poor move. I didn’t think it through enough.’
Finally, the figures of Mello and the other two appeared in his increasingly blurred and doubled vision.
Upon hearing footsteps, Fluff immediately turned around. When she saw Arlette, her eyes brightened instantly, and she began to wave at him.
Mello, however, had no intention of looking back at him. She simply continued forward, pushing their progress.
Looking at Mello’s back, a bitter smile appeared under Arlette’s charred visor. Now, the only thing keeping Arlette going was his will.