Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

Vouves shook his head seeing just how unaware the boy was of his surrounding gazes. But it couldn't be blamed on him since he knew that his master had completely ignored teaching him all these aspects and only drilled him with what was necessary for a battle.

"[Howling Beast Roar] to think that a young man like him could master such a difficult skill, it seems Brutus has drilled all his skills onto his son".

Henry Alaric Ellesmere, the king of Ellesmere kingdom commented. The young man beside him named Erwin, nodded his head and said with a solemn tone.

"Even if it was me, I would have also got caught off-guard by that skill. It seemed that he was holding onto it all this time but had to use it because of the persistence of his opponent".

"Haha, it was a good thing that he did. Now with this additional information, third brother can take precaution if he comes across Marcus in the future rounds" Alstin laughed and commented off-handedly.

Cynthia on the side, sighed at those words of her big brother. He was underestimating the top five guilds too much. Since they have shown one of their skills, they would naturally have some preparations for the future rounds and Erwin was yet to fight a single battle.

Each participant had to fight a total of three battles out of which the top ten would be selected to participate for the final day. These top 50 participants were selected after sifting through thousands of participants and were a genius above a genius.

It wouldn't be easy to grab three victories against them without revealing some of your hidden cards.

After the first battle, a few more participants came up the stage, some of them were even from the top five guilds. While their battle cannot be said as very enthralling, it was still very eventful for the audience.

The star participants of their guilds and factions also went up to the stage.  Erwin Curtis Ellesmere, Alice Alma Sanguine, Hallie May, Graydon brown each of them participated in a series of breath-taking battles.

In the case of Erwin, Alice and Hallie, they each met a difficult opponent in their third battle forcing them to reveal some of their hidden cards. The crowd was taken aback by their mastery of skills, the level of this year's tournament, had completely preceded all the previous tournaments.

Vouves in particular, was amazed by the skill level of Hallie May from Magician's Guild. Her mastery in magic and her rare class that made her able to use powerful frost magic, made even him surprised.

Alice and Hallie were both around level 400 although the latter was a few years older than the former, her talent still couldn't be denied. Vouves couldn't help but look forward to the final day where these two might come face to face in one of the matches.

After his first Match, Marcus stopped holding back and swiftly disposed all his opponents no matter if they were from the top five guilds or any other faction. Of course, he wasn't foolish enough to display all of his cards; nonetheless, his opponents weren't easy enough to allow him to win without giving his all.

With that Marcus, secured his three victories and a spot in the top ten. The next ones to move up were Erwin and Denzel, the prince from the Sanguine empire whose level was by far the highest amongst all the participants and who made his fights seem all too easy.

Though the same cannot be said for his opponents who seemed to be in a state of shock and self-contemplation after their battle.

"Ah! Rival" Seeing that Marcus was looking at him, the boy gave an energetic smile.

"Hmph" Marcus snorted before shifting his gaze. With those three as the start, more and more people started moving up.

Obviously, it also meant that more and more participants were also being eliminated. Members from the top five guilds other than their star participants, were dropping out one after the other unable to keep up with the skill level of their opponents.

By now most of the participants from the big guilds and other various factions of the kingdom were all eliminated or became the stepping stones for others. Most of the 50 participants had all gone through their three battles with only a few remaining.

"Next battle, Connor Rees from Crimson Demolition Guild—Vs – Ivan Mavis Blackthorn from the kingdom of Blackthorn".

The audience who thought that they could take this chance to breathe after witnessing one spectacular battle after another, planted their buttocks on the seat once again. The opponents who were walking up to the stage, were participants whose powers were already proven and known by most of the people. Hence the enthusiasm level of the people was also high.

"The kingdom of Blackthorn huh… it seems that those peculiar weapons are about to come up again"

"You are right, although most of the participants from their kingdom are eliminated, those peculiar artifacts and weapons of theirs did give a lot of trouble to others"

"Well, even if that was the case, they cannot win against one of the two youngest genius of Crimson demolition guild"

"Right, right… I heard Connor and Tyler are both brothers and the guild master of the Crimson Demolition guild is trying to groom one of them as the future guild leader".

Murmur and hubbubs of the audience could be heard from every corner of the coliseum making the members of the crimson Demolition Guild proudly puff their chest. Although they did not have a super genius like Marcus or Hallie May, they still had the two young brothers whose age did not exceed thirty years.

"Guild master, do you think he can win?".

Kenan Lantz who was eliminated on the second round by a participant from the Kingdom of blackthorn holding those peculiar weapon, asked.

The guild master of the crimson demolition guild deeply glanced at Connor on the stage, and said with confidence.

"While his level may be lower than his opponent, Connor and Tyler have exceeded all of you in skills. Not only are they a genius, but they are also more hardworking than anyone else. What they are lacking in, can be made up with their skills and this tournament will allow them to grow and reach new heights".

"Though it will be good if he can get into the top ten, that way we will be the only guild occupying two spots which no other factions, and the top guilds were able to do. At the very least, I know he can do it".

Seeing their guild master speak with so much confidence, the members from the Crimson demolition guild couldn't help but get excited.

"Whew, look at how the crowd is going crazy. I didn't think so but it seems you really are popular" Ivan whistled and lightly remarked.

"I will win" Connor laid down his conviction.

"Hehh, are you that type of person, the type 'No nonsense and always serious'. Ahaha, am I being ignored now? Well it can't be helped I guess … let us have a good match then".

The two of them exchanged a few words before the referee blew the whistle. The no-nonsense type Connor, immediately opened up a distance between his opponent and started casting one spell after another.

His class was a rare mage class called [Rapid Spellcaster] while his opponent clearly had some rare warrior class. In which case, he would be at a disadvantage if he let his opponent freely cross the distance and utilise his skill.

Other than that, he also had to be careful of those peculiar artifacts these people from the kingdom of blackthorn possessed.

"Flame Magic Mastery- [Flame Bullet barrage]"

With a spirited shout from him, multiple flame balls the size of an egg, materialised before spinning at a rapid speed. With a single thought from Connor, the hundreds of flame balls started flying towards his opponent with the speed of a bullet.

Ivan who was the target of this attack was yet to move away from his spot, his lips held that small smile from start to end.

<strong>BOOM… BOOOM… BANG…</strong>

A rain of flame bullets wreaked havoc in one area of the stage and completely devastated it. The whole stage trembled and the vibration could be felt even from the audience stands.

GULP… the crowd involuntarily gulped, it hadn't even been three seconds since the battle started however, it was already so heated.

After the barrage ended and the dust settled, a figure could be seen standing still at that exact same place. When the spectators looked carefully, they saw he was holding a black shield that looked very grotesque.

All the attacks earlier from Connor was easily defended by that shield.

"Tch" Connor clicked his tongue and started casting new sets of spells. His opponent having a defensive artefact rather than an offensive one made him all the more troublesome to face.

One magic after another came targeting at Ivan, however, none of them managed to even touch the edges of his clothes. The shield in his hand, defended him from every attack.

"These people from the Kingdom of Blackthorn do really possess some peculiar weapons. That shield, possesses the same energy as the sword your opponent had used but it is much more stronger than that sword".

"That young man from the Crimson demolition guild made a right decision to open up the distance between them considering the other guy was higher level warrior. Nonetheless, the existence of that shield changes everything"

Brutus commented locking his brows. Beside him, Marcus was intensely observing the match.

"Hehe" Ivan laughed, now that he has shown the other party that using long-distance attack was useless, that left only one other path for the latter open.