(Wn) Chapter 198 (1/2)

Vs Colbert

Two days passed in the blink of an eye Fran and I found ourselves staring the third round in the face before we knew it

We were up against Colbert, the exact person that we'd been expecting to have to fight We'd known that our confrontation with hi a bit nervous regardless It wasn't so I could really help

Fran, on the other hand, was calaging in meditation, specifically zen ht her the concept, but honestly, I barely knew anything about itbut scratch the surface I was only able to tell her the concept and the fact that it involved closing her eyes and concentrating She really seeured the rest out all on her own

Her current session had spanned just over ten minutes Urushi+ hadn't wanted to disturb her, so he ended up laying down beside her instead of atte for the tourney's second round

It seemed that the opponent Goldalfa faced in the third round was er than the ones he'd faced in the first two, as he hadn't actually done his usual thing and won the round in a matter of moments We would've had to leave the roo it if he had We instead had to wait for about another five in called for

「GoodIt’s time for your match Please follow me, I’ll lead you to the arena」

Fran’s eyes shot open the moment the clerk said her name

「Go time」

Her lips curved into a sot back onto her feet

She didn’t seehtest bit nervous, nor did it seem like she'd be off because she ay too hyped up

Today, Fran was in perfect condition

（Master, will go all out this time）

『Want ht off the bat?』

（Nn Will try to go for quick win）

Like most battle maniacs, Fran normally tended to prefer a bit of a more wait-and-see type attitude, but today, she decided that it would be best to go full throttle right off the bat Her decision to treat this battle differently froreed with

That tendency to allow one's opponent to go all out wasn't what I'd call wise We couldn’t really afford cutting our opponent any slack given that we had to live up to the Beast Lord’s expectations if anted hi to us, especially because said opponent happened to be Colbert

Another factor that played into her shi+ft in attitude was that she no longer had to worry about antagonizing the Beast Lord The possibility of hi us had basically been shrunk all the way down to zero, so ouldn't need to pull our punches nor keep a few tru

Fran passed through the usual dark corridor and entered the ring, only to be greeted with cheers and shouts even louder and more passionate than the ones she’d heard just two days prior

「And there she is! Our first contestant today is the girl that’s overwhelht so far despite all expectations, a Black Catkin, Fran! I can’t wait to see just how far her strength can take her!」

Colbert had yet to arrive, but the crowd had started to roar regardless

The screaroups The first, were the angry folk that’d bet on her opponents in the first and or second round The next type cheered in a eneral, to have taken a liking to Fran because of how cute she was The final group was a bit different from both of the first two and mainly consisted of adventurers

At first, I was a bit surprised that there were sofor us, but I soon realized that they were mostly members of Erza’s faction I kind of suspected that he’d probably ordered them to cheer for us, as the extent of their motivation almost seemed a bit unnatural I apparently wasn’t the only one to feel that way, as uests also seemed a bit shocked

Seeing the crowd caused Fran to recoil a bit in embarrass for her regardless The audience as a whole i even rowdier It seemed she was really popular

Even so, the noise was soon overwhelreeted her when she entered the ring

「And there's her opponent! This round’s second contestant is no less popular than the first Ladies and gentle but his fists to defeat even the most powerful of foes, B ranked adventurer, Iron Claw Colbert!」

I appraised Colbert and confirmed that his stats were basically the same as what they’d been back e iven that the stats that shoeren’t actually his real stats

「hello Fran I can’t say I was expecting to see anyone else」

「Nn Colbert too」

「Hahahah As a B ranker, I won’t lose that easily, especially not to anyone weaker than me」

「Including me?」

「Well, I don’t think you’re any weaker than I am… but I will have to win anyway if I want to keep face」

「Can’t lose」

「I feel the same」

Sparks almost seemed to fly as the two narrowed their eyes and looked at each other The fighting spirit that eh the entire venue and shrouded it with an intense pressure powerful enough to silence the crowd The spectators instead gulped as they observed the tense atmosphere that'd broke out between the tarriors

「Let the third round’s second in!」

「Now come」

Colbert was doing e expected He took on the typical wait-and-see type approach, not because he was going easy on us, but because he was confident he could handle anything we threw at him

We, on the other hand, had already turned the dial to 11

『Stone Wall』

『Fire Wall』

『Wind Wall』

The three spells I casted worked to form a sort of tunnel around Fran and Colbert

He i in order to escape, but he was too late The fact that he allowed us to take the initiative meant ere already a full step in front of him

「Inferno Burst」

『Inferno Burst』

Both Fran and I immediately cast a flame-based spell and flooded the tunnel with fire before Colbert could escape it The attack’s heat was so intense that it caused the stone we created to start ht away The fla for a few seconds by regulating its temperature

In other words, the other talls attempted to feed heat back into the interior as opposed to allowing it to leak outside, which in turnColbert, but also providing a bit of a boost to our Inferno Bursts'

We knew our attack was a fairly sound one, but we didn’t let up We trusted that Colbert was too strong to fall to just that, and so, we threw in a follow up