A Wonderful Aspect of Autumn: Action (28)

Jigoro's first match ended in an easy victory for him. His opponents were clearly a terrible matchup for him: they were a human party calling themselves the 'Magic Research Club,' an unusual party consisting entirely of mages.

Their strategy was to blast away with magic from long range and finish things in one fell swoop, but... I have sparred with Jigoro countless times, so I know. Even if the brothers use speed-focused magic, they will react and dodge unless they put some thought into making it hit.

Do you think you can beat someone like that just by repeatedly firing random spells? I certainly don't. And just as I had imagined, they were beaten down by sheer violence. I could not help sympathizing with the despairing expression on the last one's face, as a fellow mage player.

The second round was proceeding smoothly as well. Rook-kun's party, which had defeated Nanako and the others, won without much trouble. Although they had taken damage, not a single member was missing. Their second-round opponents seemed to have been weaker than Nanako and the others.

"So next is the battle between the post-apocalyptic thug gang and Jigoro... If we're only talking about Race, they're practically relatives."

"The arena's going to have nothing but Ogre-type monsters."

And then we reached the final match of the second round. Fighting would be Jigoro and 'Ogre Heart-Pounders.' They were probably players who, like Jigoro, had continued evolving from Goblins. In other words, they had started as the same Race. Thinking about it that way made me realize just how many paths evolution could take.

While I was thinking about that, the thug gang and Jigoro appeared in the arena. They both walked toward the center. I was intensely curious about what sort of exchange would take place before the fight, so I watched through the glass.

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At the center of the arena where the tournament was being held, two parties—or, more precisely, one party and one player—were glaring at each other. The party was 'Ogre Heart-Pounders,' a group of Ogre-type monsters all dressed in punk fashion reminiscent of the inhabitants of a ruined world...