The quarterfinals of the main tournament, the morning of the fifth day of the Birth Festival.
The participants’ waiting room was terribly noisy from early morning.
“No, this is her first match, so where the hell did she go?”
Because even though the match time was drawing near, there was still no sign of Ian.
Veronica, who used the same lodging as her, sighed as well.
“Exactly. She hasn’t come back since yesterday, so where has she been wandering around?”
If she was going somewhere, she could at least have said she was going, or where she would be, but Ian had vanished without a word.
As if she had never been there to begin with, she contacted no one.
At that moment, Veronica looked at Naira with suspicious eyes.
“Could she have gotten herself a lover or something?”
“Ah, yes…”
At least say something that makes sense. A lover, in a place like this?
Naira looked at Veronica with weary eyes and shook her head.
‘Or not? No way, could it really be?’
But it was too suspicious to insist that it was absolutely not the case.
Vanishing without telling anyone for fear of being caught.
It reminded Naira exactly of when she had just become an adult in reality and used to sneak around to meet her boyfriend.
Of course, she didn’t know what kind of person Ian was in reality.
She could be a man, or she could really be a woman. She could be someone who only played games, or someone who had somehow gotten swept into this.
But if someone had Ian’s level of looks and figure, wouldn’t anyone take an interest?
After all, living even a single day with a face like that was something people dreamed of.
Just as Naira swallowed a groan and tilted her head, it happened.
“What’s this? Why is everyone gathered here?”
At Ian’s voice from behind them, Naira, Veronica, and the players waiting for her turned their heads.
“Hey! Why are you only coming now?”
Naira immediately approached Ian and poked her in the chest.
At the sudden attack, Ian’s face flushed red.
“Wh-what are you doing?”
“No, you should at least keep in touch when you go somewhere. Do you know what time it is? Don’t you know you’ll be disqualified if you’re late?”
“But I got here on time. What’s the problem?”
“What’s the problem? Are you seriously asking because you don’t—”
Naira could not finish.
Just as she was about to raise her voice in earnest, a staff member entered the waiting room.
“Lady Ian, it’s time for you to go in.”
“It’s already time?”
Like a believer who had found salvation, Ian quickly moved away from Naira.
Then she waved playfully.
“That’s how it is, so I’ll be going now.”
“What? Hey, hey! I’m not done talking yet—”
Ian slipped out and shut the door quickly, like a child refusing to listen to a scolding.
Naira snorted as she stared at the door through which Ian had disappeared.
“Just you try not winning this.”
The first match of the quarterfinals.
Ian’s opponent was Mage Commander Damar, who had defeated Mugi.
Twenty minutes remained until the match began.
***
“My head feels a little heavy.”
Before entering the arena, which was packed with spectators.
I leaned against the passageway and closed my eyes.
It had only been two days since I’d properly slept, but the aftermath was rougher than I had thought.
In the darkness behind my eyelids, I let out a deep breath.
‘It’s a problem when a game is too realistic, too.’
It’s an avatar anyway, so I should be able to go a few days without eating or sleeping. But they’re strict about things like this.
However, that was not the problem right now.
“To think I have to hold out for two more days like this.”
Could I do it? Wouldn’t I collapse before then?
Such worries flashed through my mind.
“No. I have to.”
I shook my head hard and drove away the rising idle thoughts.
Just then, a voice came from inside the arena.
“Quarterfinals of the Birth Festival’s main tournament. Welcome, everyone, who has come here today to witness these sacred matches!”
The host’s voice announced the opening.
A moment later, my opponent, a tall dark elf, appeared from the opposite side.
“Mage Commander Damar…”
A mage who used 4th Circle magic.
I had seen its power clearly in yesterday’s battle against Mr. Mugi.
But was that really all?
A sense of foreboding rose in me in many ways, as if he might have something he had not revealed yesterday.
In the meantime, my name rang out from the arena this time.
“His opponent is the human swordswoman who has captivated everyone with her powerful swordsmanship, Ian!”
What an exaggerated introduction.
I stepped into the arena.
A thunderous roar of cheers poured down in time with my appearance.
Soon, an arrogant gaze stabbed down at me from above.
It was a look that only those brimming with confidence in their own skill could have.
Even so, I stared back at him indifferently.
Damar’s lips twisted.
“You are an insolent human.”
“What are you saying, when all you can do is use magic?”
“Hmph. So you are not insolent, but arrogant.”
His staff growled toward me.
“Do not think you will leave here unscathed.”
I drew my sword.
“That’s my line.”
I had no personal grudge, but I did want to repay the debt for what he had done to Mr. Mugi.
After a brief silence, the host shouted.
“From this moment on, the first quarterfinal match between Damar and Ian, Ian and Damar, will begin!”
At the starting signal, I immediately ran forward.
***
Staria’s level 1 player, Erik, was clasping his hands together as he watched Ian’s match again today.
Seeing her friend like that, Rosa clicked her tongue as if she found it absurd.
“Why are you watching so nervously? I told you she’ll probably win this match.”
“B-but you never know. He’s a mage who made it this far, so he might use something special.”
“Come on, still, how is a mage supposed to beat a swordsman?”
Magic? Of course it was threatening.
But if a swordsman could somehow close the distance, a mage had no means of shaking them off.
And from what Rosa had seen of Ian so far, Ian was someone fully capable of doing that.
However, Erik still looked at Rosa with distrustful eyes.
“But you’ve been wrong a lot up until now.”
“…Th-that’s because we didn’t have much information until now. This time, you can really trust me.”
“Really?”
“Really. And you have to trust her anyway. Or do you have some other way?”
“That’s… true, but.”
Erik was someone who had bet that Ian would win the tournament.
No matter how strong her opponent was, he had to believe she would win.
So all he could do was cheer for Ian’s victory.
The moment she kicked off the ground, Erik’s heart lurched hard as well.
Damar’s staff pointed toward the arena floor.
“Firewall.”
A wall of scorching flame rose before him.
And then.
“Frostbite.”
A wind of dense cold wrapped around Ian’s body.
It was Damar’s combination, meant to hinder her charge and movement.
Taking advantage of the moment Ian floundered, a giant spear of ice appeared above his head.
“Frost Lance.”
And the magic rushed toward Ian.
Kwa-gwa-gwang!
A thunderous roar erupted from the spot where she had been moments before.
Tu-hwak!
However, Ian’s body, which burst through the vapor, bore not a single scratch.
She leaped straight over the wall of flame.
“She got over it?”
Damar’s eyes widened.
He had clearly seen with his own eyes that she was affected by frostbite.
Putting aside how she dodged the magic, she should not have had enough speed left to jump over it.
But how?
While he was flustered, Ian had already come right up to him.
And at this distance, landing a sword strike on a mage was as easy as breathing.
“It’s over.”
Ian’s sword slashed at Damar.
At that moment.
Pajijik!
Purple electricity wrapped around Damar’s body.
“What?!”
Ian’s sword cut through empty air.
Damar’s body was already far away from her.
But as if he did not like the situation, he bit his lip.
“To think I would have to use it this soon.”
Lightning-attribute magic.
It was his secret weapon, one he had originally planned to use starting from the semifinals, but because Ian’s ability was better than expected, he had no choice but to reveal it to the world early.
And now that it had come to this, he absolutely had to win.
Damar’s eyes flashed.
“From now on, I shall show you a true mage’s battle.”
Lightning began to whirl in earnest around Damar.
He thrust his staff toward Ian.
“Lightning Bolt!”
1st Circle lightning magic, a single-shot projectile.
A bolt of lightning fired from the tip of his staff toward Ian.
Ian kicked off the ground to avoid the lightning approaching faster than an arrow.
Without killing her speed, she closed the distance to Damar.
But.
“Lightning Field!”
3rd Circle lightning magic, an area-of-effect field.
This time, currents of electricity spread beneath her feet like a spiderweb.
“Tch.”
Before she could be caught in the lightning, Ian leaped into the air.
And then.
“Sword Rush!”
Her sword, twisting her body’s direction by force, drew a long tail behind it.
Lightning poured down toward Ian.
Several strands of lightning struck her, but Ian ignored the pain and did not stop her charge.
This time as well, Ian slashed her sword right beside Damar.
However, just like before, his body, engulfed in lightning, had already moved to the rear.
Flash Step.
Stage 2 lightning support magic, a high-speed movement technique.
Ian’s brow twitched as she cut through empty air again.
‘What kind of ridiculous cheat skill is that?’
A magic that changed his position every time she timed a slash was more than annoying—it made her angry.
Angry enough that she seriously wanted to land a blow on that unlucky face.
Just then, mana gathered densely in Damar’s staff.
A powerful magical aura, strong enough to make her skin prickle.
He thrust his staff toward Ian.
“Thunder Ray!”
4th Circle lightning magic, a wide-area piercing technique.
A high-heat straight-line laser swept over Ian’s form.
Goooo…
Amid everyone’s silence, dust rose into the air.
The arena floor where the laser had passed was completely devastated.
Within it, Ian’s figure emerged.
She had blocked the magic using her own coat as a shield.
‘If not for the Blessing of Wind and Waves, I wouldn’t have come out unharmed.’
Of course, her condition was not good.
The once pure-white coat had been scorched by lightning, and her body was covered in soot.
But it was not enough for her to give up the match.
Ian ran forward again.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
Damar’s lightning struck down above her head.
And at that moment, Ian pulled out a staff.
Basic magic skill, Stage 1 wind support magic.
Single-target acceleration technique.
“Haste.”
Ian became a gust of wind and sprinted.
“M-magic?!”
The distance between the two shrank in an instant.
As the flustered Damar hurriedly used magic, Ian’s sword rushed toward him.
Slash!
He barely succeeded in moving away, but his brow twisted in pain.
Blood was gushing from a deep wound on his arm.
However, Ian did not give him an opening and continued her charge again.
Each time, Damar had to hastily use movement magic, and his wounds continued to increase.
Damar chewed his lip.
‘How long is this going to continue?’
He did not think Ian’s speed would last forever.
No matter how strong the magic, it would eventually end.
But Damar’s mana was also nearly bottoming out from his continued use of magic.
In particular, the movement magic consumed an enormous amount of mana.
At this rate, Damar’s defeat was only a matter of time.
‘I’m going to lose?’
No, that could not be.
The enraged Damar roared.
“As if I’ll lose like this!”
Damar’s staff struck the ground hard.
A field of lightning spread out from him at the center.
All of Damar’s mana gathered into his staff.
‘If she wants to swing her sword, she must inevitably come inside this field.’
And he would take advantage of the moment she was slowed to fire magic at close range.
Of course, if that happened, he himself would be caught in it as well, but right now, more than victory or defeat, all he wanted was to erase the human before his eyes.
However, Ian did not close the distance with Damar and instead leaped high into the air.
“The sky…?”
Damar’s eyes went wide.
At the same time, she threw her sword toward Damar.
“Kuh!”
Damar’s body staggered as he dodged the sword.
What she drew out in that opening was a staff.
Wind whirled at the tip of the staff.
It was a new magic obtained when her magic proficiency had reached 200.
The result Ian had achieved over the past two days.
Basic magic skill, 2nd Circle wind magic.
Area-of-effect control technique.
“Strike Air!”
A mass of wind extended toward Damar and exploded at the center of the field.
“Gaaah!”
A wind magic that did not deal much damage itself, but had the effect of breaking formations.
Damar’s body was knocked out of the field.
In the meantime, Ian landed in front of the Mage Commander.
She could not use her sword, but her fist was already rushing toward Damar.
Thud!
Ian’s fist struck Damar squarely in the face.
The body of the lofty mage rolled across the ground in a miserable state.
Soon, he struggled to extend his staff, but Damar’s consciousness was cut off just like that.
At the result before their eyes, everyone in the arena fell silent.
“Hah, hah…”
The only sound to be heard was Ian’s ragged breathing.
The moment the winner of the first quarterfinal match was decided.
In the audience seats, Erik could not easily close his mouth.
“Holy crap… She’s so damn cool…”
Everyone, including him, was staring blankly at Ian.