Shujinkou Janai! - CH 59

[ [ [ ———–Nirva! Nirva! Nirva! Nirva! ] ] ]

The arena shakes as the calls for Nirva’s name echoed all around the Arena.

(He’s as popular as usual.)

I sat in a corner of the Arena’s spectator seats, watching everyone’s excitement as if I were a stranger, and chuckled to myself.

———–.

He’s the Champion of Champions who has never lost and has always reigned as the Champion ever since he appeared like a comet in the world of tournaments and had beaten the Ranker of that time in his first match.

And……

(I can’t believe I had actually beaten such a guy.)

……He’s the guy with whom I had a duel a few days ago and won.

Of course, the opponent isn’t just the strongest “in the early game” and was a true “strongest” warrior.

He was a Lv 70 Sword Saint with the Status that would literally destroy me.

I was able to win because I used a strategy that, in every sense of the word, can only work once: we fought in a that would limit the other party’s strength, created an opening that would prompt him to activate his offensive skill , and sacrificed the Unique Boss drop to defeat him.

Nirva’s acknowledgment allowed me to Class Change to .

(Well, it made me start to lose all interest in the tournament, which I never was interested in.)

What is taking place in front of my eyes right now is the world’s largest tournament festival in the world of B&B, .

Radd’s party had repeatedly encouraged me to participate, but the greatest merit for winning the is that you can fight against , and where victory could allow you to obtain the Class .

Now that I had obtained the Class through an unexpected encounter, I had no motivation to compete anymore.

Though I say that, this was still a big day for Radd’s party, who were supposed to be my disciples.

I had been watching the tournament as a spectator, but that too is also about to end.

Now that the finals were over, all that remained was the final Exhibition Match.

This is where the winner of the tournament could face Champion Nirva.

Incidentally, Radd and his party’s results were that they all passed the qualifying round.

The magic-user duo of Nuku and Mana unfortunately lost in the second round.

Prana put up a good fight, but she wasn’t blessed with a good matchup and regrettably lost in the quarterfinals.

As for the last remaining Radd……

[……Nii-san.]

I looked up when I felt the nearby Resilia tugging my sleeve, and saw that Radd had come to our side before I knew it.

Radd looked at me somewhat blankly, but eventually bowed his head.

[My bad, Master! Even though you taught me a lot, I still lost……]

I don’t know if his defeat really hit him hard or not, but as he lowered his head, going as far as to call me Master, which he wasn’t accustomed to doing, I mercilessly slapped his back.

[The heck are you talking about. Be proud, you’re Rank-3 in the world.]

……Yes.

Radd, the last remaining member of the Brave Blades, was making his first appearance in the tournament, but he won against the best of the best and made it to the finals

Unfortunately, he was one victory short of winning the tournament, losing in the finals, but it was more than enough for a boy who had become an Adventurer only a couple of months or so ago.

Rather, I was instead frightened of how he wasn’t satisfied with this performance.

It may have a name that sounds as stupid as , but in this world where entertainment is scarce, this event has more prestige and buzz than the Olympics in the real world.

If word of his success spreads, there will no longer be anyone who doubts Radd and his party’s abilities.

[T- That’s right! I think you have done well enough, Radd-kun!]

Mana, perhaps feeling the same way as I did, gave powerful words of encouragement……

[……Just because you advanced farther than me, feeling down for being defeated here makes you look so brazen.]

—–and Prana followed up with encouragement (?) of her own.

On the other hand, Nuku firmly looks at Radd and gives his calm assessment.

[Looking at the battle from the side, it does seem like defeating your opponent isn’t impossible, so I can understand your frustration. However, I still felt that the other party was a step better…… Next time. We will be stronger than today, so let’s just try it out again next time.]

I guess Radd felt it when it was his best buddy who said that.

[……I guess you’re right. I need to be stronger than this.]

Nodding in agreement, Radd sat down on the vacant seat next to me.

At the other end of our line of sight was General Sergen, known with his alias , Radd’s opponent in the finals who had defeated him.

[……Well, it was just as Nuku said. The you right now are still not ready to take on that guy.]

Saying this, I casted on the General standing on the Arena stage.

Although he isn’t as strong as the Force of Nature Nirva, he has a high Status that easily overtakes Rex, who was considered the strongest in the early-game, both in terms of level and ability value.

I thought generals would need to be brighter in strategy than in individual strength, but well, I guess thinking about it doesn’t really matter that much.

Generals in RPGs are usually the strongest in the military after all.

Sergen was a Unique Character that appeared in the game when a major battle event occurred, and he was often involved with the player, so I remembered his appearance well.

[However! If it’s just our ability values, I’m not that far off……]

While he vehemently argued, I used on Radd.

In fact, Radd’s ability values are high.

He currently doesn’t have her equipment equipped, but if he were to pump up those stats with Enchanted equipment, he would surpass Sergen in terms of simple ability values alone.

However, in terms of the quality of their equipment, Radd is completely outclassed, not to mention the general’s combat experience.

Besides, there’s one more important factor for his loss.

[Even if your ability values are the same, your levels are just different.]

[Our levels?]

Radd tilted his head.

I suppose it’s not strange that he’s confused.

In the way of battling against monsters, I had been teaching them that “the most important thing is to have a high ability value in relation to their level”.

Considering it with common sense, you would think that even if their level is higher, it would be meaningless if you have around the same ability values.

[……Look at that and you would be able to tell why.]

They would better understand it if they see the reason themselves.

When I shifted my gaze to the Arena stage, General Sergen’s was just about to emerge from the entrance on the other side.

At the same time, earth-shattering shouts echoed in the arena and the swordsman I had met only once a few days before, but whose presence I couldn’t forget, entered my line of sight.

Just as usual, his Status is so high that it gives one the chills.

General Sergen was also strong, but this guy was just of a different caliber.

However, General Sergen wasn’t intimidated by Nirva’s appearance, but rather, he bared his fighting spirit and shouted.

[Sword Saint! I acknowledge your power! However, as the Chief of the Army, today is the day I will wrest the title of the strongest from you! Kraaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!]

That is a tremendous fighting spirit that’s hard to believe in a person who’s already past their 40s.

Moreover, it’s not just his fighting spirit.

[W- What the heck is that……]

The fighting spirit overflowed from Sergen’s body, so much so that Radd was unintentionally shaken……

[———–!!!]

——and became a visible aura that covered Sergen’s body.

This was his secret move, which Sergen has been preserving.

This is a skill that can only be acquired by Unique Characters through level-ups, .

[An increase in level doesn’t just raise a person’s ability values. Some select humans and purebloods of certain races learn their own Unique Skills as their level increases.]

An example of this is that offensive skill with the worst usability that Rex had learned, Dark-attribute Skill: .

However, the most highly regarded Unique Skills are Buff Skills like the one Sergen just used, rather than offensive skills that can just be substituted by Arts.

Sergen’s Unique Skill: can be activated only once a day for only a minute, but it has a simple yet powerful effect of “increasing one’s ATK by 1.5 times and DEF by 3 times”.

It’s such a powerful effect that it can even overturn the difference in Status that would normally make it impossible to compete.

[He wasn’t even serious when he fought me!]

Radd frustratedly said, but in the event in-game, Sergen lamented that as a man of the military who prides himself on being the shield that protects the people, he sometimes lags behind adventurers and other fighters.

He had probably put his all into this match from the beginning.

Once the match began, he was truly determined to move forward aggressively and unyieldingly.

And that choice of the way of fighting was probably the right one.

The effect of his Skill: is tremendous.

On the contrary though, without the effect of his , Sergen’s chances of defeating Nirva are almost nonexistent.

How close can Sergen narrow down the distance between him and Nirva while under the effect of

Nirva, who had closed the distance between them at a tremendous speed, swung both of his greatswords.

———–And then, that was the end.

With that, Sergen’s body, which should have gained three times the defense from was blown away and crashed to the ground……

The General collapsed in the center of the stage and didn’t get up again.

The loser’s figure disappeared from the stage, as if melting into the floor, and Nirva quietly sheathed his sword, as if this was something he had expected.

Nirva then looked at the referee, who finally remembered his role and declared.

[M- Match over! The winner, Champion Nirva!]

There was a moment of silence.

After that, explosive cheers filled the Arena.

[ [ [ ———–Nirva! Nirva! Nirva! Nirva! ] ] ]

Once again, the unquestioned Champion of the Arena showed his overwhelming power and grabbed the victory.

To the average spectator, it would have seemed that way.

But for those who know a little bit about fighting, there’s more to it than that.

[H- Hey. Just now……]

[Y- Yeah.]

Amongst the cheers that erupted, soft whispers faintly reached my ears.

In any case, I myself am also surprised.

I’m sure that the average Adventurers who know nothing about its existence would be even more surprised.

[P- Please wait!]

As if to prove my point, the commentator, who was broadcasting the match, hurriedly stopped Nirva, who was about to return to the entrance.

[F- First of all, congratulations for the magnificent victory!]

[That was the result of my hard work. It’s a natural conclusion.]

A blunt response.

However, the commentator didn’t blame him.

[A- As expected of Sword Saint-sama. However, ummm, please accept my apologies if I was just mistaken. That attack just now……]

Thereupon, seemingly having gathered his determination, he asked.

[———–From how I saw it, it looked as if you used different Arts with your right and left hand at the same time.]

Handling two Arts at the same time is a privilege originally reserved for players.

I had never seen an NPC do it.

However……

[Yeah. That’s right.]

Nirva calmly nodded.

He actually said that so straightforwardly.

At that moment, Nirva launched different Arts with his left and right hands, breaking through Sergen’s defenses.

No, that’s not all.

[M- Moreover! Those Arts you did before were activated at a different angle than normal Arts! H- How is it that such a thing is……]

The commentator forgot his position and excitedly approached Nirva.

However, Nirva just shook him off, seemingly finding explaining things to the commentator troublesome.

[I didn’t invent this swordsmanship technique, and I myself had just learned it. If you want to ask, go ask him.]

[E- Eeehhhh!? T- There’s someone who had the skills to teach Sword Saint-sama a swordsmanship technique!? That is……]

At that moment, I wondered why……

I thought I just saw Nirva standing in the distance, his mouth twisting into a teasing grin.

[R- Resilia! Let’s leave this place right now……!]

[The one who taught me this swordsmanship technique was that man.]

But before I could get up from my seat, a bad premonition coursing through my back, Nirva’s finger was precisely on me.

[———–The only man in the world who has ever defeated me in a one-on-one duel.]

At the bombshell dropped by Nirva, the eyes of everyone in the arena were fixed on me.