Chapter 86. Seaborn Martial Tournant (2)
Yul was mingling in the Seaborn area in human form.
His imdiate thought,
‘They’re all small fry.’
In terms of sheer physical ability, there wasn’t a single creature on the level of Gehenna or Yalmuka—none of the Great Powers of the Great Azure Ocean.
However, there was the peculiar variable known as skills, so that had to be taken into account.
There were countless types of skills, many of them unknown. Once that variable was confird, victory would be assured.
‘Hiding my abilities is going to be important.’
He had heard that the martial tournant used a tournant-style bracket. That ant he would inevitably have to fight at least once, and using skills would reveal his strength.
“Oh. Hey, you there—pretending to be a carbuncle.”
Huh?!
At Yul’s words, the Seaborn beside Yera Mul shuddered violently.
“What’s your na? Co to think of it, we never even introduced ourselves, did we?”
Yul crouched down in front of the carbuncle and beckoned with his hand.
“Co over here.”
The one pretending to be a carbuncle trembled as it approached Yul.
He looked a bit like a punk, but anyway, he wasn’t actually one. Yul was just intrigued by this creature’s body.
-I, um, excuse , d-do you need sothing from ?
“Your magic signal is well controlled. Why were you hiding it all this ti?”
-I, I’m not tasty. P-please don’t eat .
“Relax. Why would I tear you apart and eat you? But why are you participating?”
-Because Yera is participating…….
Yul used divinity to glimpse part of the truth. Behind that form was so other kind of sea creature.
Its shape resembled a jellyfish. Beneath translucent crystal scales, a heart was visible, and several tentacles with a soft, jellyfish-like glow extended from it.
“You’re a species I’ve never seen before. Were you able to polymorph from the start?”
-Y-yes.
“Sounds like you’ve got a story. I won’t attack you, so go on—tell .”
-W-well, um. M-my na is Pinky. Yera gave it to . And our species was originally called Midora.
The Midora were, by nature, creatures that lived in the Deep Sea.
They were deep-sea beings with crystal scales and multiple tentacles. But there was a problem.
-I-in the Deep Sea, there are too many strong ones, so our species was always in danger.
“Yeah. I get what you an.”
While roaming the Deep Sea as a jelly octopus, Yul had encountered both countless tiny creatures and overwhelmingly powerful beings.
It was a place where the power balance gap was extre.
“Your species were prey?”
-That’s right. Ever since I was young, I almost got hunted so many tis. S-so I fled to the surface, polymorphed, and wandered around.
But he hadn’t fully learned polymorph from his parents, so he couldn’t use it properly.
-A-at first, it was hard.
When he ca up to the surface and tried to polymorph into sothing close to a human, he ended up as a horrifying mix—half true form, half human.
-I transford into all sorts of things to survive, but pretending to be a carbuncle worked the best.
“I see.”
That was how he ended up eting Yera Mul.
Piiiiiik.
At that mont, the sound of a whistle rang out in the distance, and as if it were a signal, the Seaborn began moving in that direction.
‘Why do these guys engage in Communion?’
For Yul, he needed to reach max Communion level to lift the seal, so that made sense—but why did the other Seaborns do it?
“Pinky, why do ordinary Seaborn engage in Communion?”
-I-isn’t it to raise their rank? During Communion, all abilities increase, experience gain goes up, and you can even learn new skills.
“And what do they want from that?”
-W-what do they want?! Obviously, to beco stronger—what else could it be?
The one who cut in was a massive creature resembling a horseshoe crab. A red ruby was embedded in its forehead, its back shaped like a horseshoe crab’s shell, while its lower body resembled a crayfish.
-To beco strong. Stronger and stronger, until one day I ascend as a Transcendent creature!
“Really? That’s it? No aning of existence or anything like that?”
-That’s right. For that purpose alone, I’m responding to the arrogant demands of those human bastards. aning of existence? Instead of wasting ti on that, I’ll smash more Seaborn and gain more experience!
Its appearance and words were like a manifestation of fighting spirit. An extrely belligerent one.
-Lostura! Gideon! Ahramad! I’ll crush all of you! Uooooooh!
And as if it were the first match, it imdiately barged into the arena.
“What was that guy?”
-Oh, just one of those who only want to get stronger. I heard it’s a Seaborn in Communion with the child of so ducal house, but I can’t rember the na. Ah, I think it was called Rafatum.
“Hm.”
It seed that the Seaborns of the Departnt of Communion were conscious of one another and treated each other as rivals.
Yul had thought the smaller ones might be less aggressive, but that wasn’t the case either.
-Kyaaaaak!
-Ptueeeeeh!
The small ones were locked in their own little standoffs among themselves.
“Truly a jar of small poisons.”
Yul had his match confird by Lucian, who had approached him. Shall he go and smoothly secure his first win?
* * *
Bubble… bubble.
The sea near Weimar Wigma Academy.
Gas bubbled up to the surface, and soon after, a colossal beast revealed itself.
An asymtrical face. A creature with a twisted spinal fra.
-Multiple Seaborns detected. A perfect place to absorb their vitality. And that presence is…… still not detectable. Is it because there’s no terminal? Well, it doesn’t matter. I’ll make it co out soon enough.
Beneath it, a writhing mass of Sea Horrors erged in great numbers.
* * *
The martial tournant was a full mobilization of all kinds of bizarre sea creatures.
Just watching the Seaborns alone was more than enough to satisfy the spectators.
A duel between a colossal shrimp clad in iron armor and a flying fish firing sunlight from its forehead like a laser. If a man could resist that, he wasn’t a man.
Naturally, fights like this had money riding on them behind the scenes, so Wigma Academy went ahead and legalized betting on the duels.
Instead, they cracked down hard on illegal gambling.
No idea whose brainchild it was, but it was a damn brilliant idea.
“Since it’s a newly established legal betting system, there are loopholes.”
Yul put all twenty ducats he had on himself.
Normally, competitors weren’t allowed to bet, but there was no explicit rule prohibiting it.
“I’m winning. No question.”
Just then, Lucian ca running up to Yul in a panic.
“Yul! Your match is about to start!”
When Yul hurried up onto the arena, a massive mantis shrimp appeared on the opposite side, accompanied by a man who looked like soone from Earth’s Middle East.
Maybe because it was such a huge crustacean, it was grotesque beyond words.
[Now then, match fourteen! The terrifying supersonic puncher, Rokait! And his Sinker, Abudabi of the Departnt of Communion!]
[And…… on the other side, the Sinker Lucian, and…… uh…….]
At that mont, voices rang out from the spectators.
“Hey! Bring out a Seaborn!”
“Mom, Mom, this is a Seaborn martial tournant, so why is a human up there?”
“We ca to watch Seaborn duels!”
The announcer shouted through a voice amplification spell.
[The man on the right is Yul, a Seaborn. He is rely using a Polymorph skill to take on human form. Um, according to his request, he says he will not revert to his original form unless he encounters an opponent strong enough to force him to. Rumor has it that his true body is imnsely powerful and enormous. So even claim he is the first Unique rank Seaborn.]
At those words, the man on the opposite side shouted.
“He won’t return to his original form? I’ll smash him to pieces right now, so start the match already!”
[Ah, understood. Since both sides seem to be in agreent, we will now begin the Seaborn duel!]
The mont the start signal sounded, the mantis shrimp charged forward like a mad beast. Dozens of legs churned as it launched into a frenzied sprint.
And the instant it reached Yul—
Yul raised his hand.
Goooooo! Kuguuuuuung!
The charging mantis shrimp was slamd straight into the ground.
The skill was Telekinesis.
Normally, Telekinesis would be invisible, but this ti it was different.
The water covering the entire arena floor was crushed and distorted under overwhelming pressure.
-M-my goodness. What is this trendous Telekinesis?
Yul stopped pressing down and lifted it as is, then flung it aside.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
As if swinging it by the tail, he used Telekinesis to smash it alternately left and right.
“B-break free, Rokait! Golden Shell Shedding!”
“Oh?”
Yul saw the mantis shrimp slip out of his telekinetic grip.
What he was holding now was nothing but an empty shell.
‘How did it shed its shell?’
Normally, crustaceans that had just molted would be soft and weakened, but this mantis shrimp seed even stronger as it rampaged.
“Explosive Punch!”
-Oooooooh!
When the mantis shrimp drove its claws into the ground, the arena floor exploded, stones flipping up into the air.
‘Is this a skill too?’
A technique that imbued the fists themselves with trendous explosive force, yet inflicted no damage on the user—it had to be a skill.
Then, through the gaps in the debris, the mantis shrimp charged in again.
“It’s over!”
Yul clenched his hand around the rising debris. Grabbing the shattered arena floor, the muddy water, and the mantis shrimp all at once, Yul immobilized everything with overwhelming force.
Then, as he slowly clenched his fist, the space held by Telekinesis began to compress.
Squirm, thrash.
Yul watched the struggling opponent with an indifferent expression.
Seeing that, the opposing Sinker panicked. Realizing that no Seaborn could endure this, his earlier confidence vanished, leaving only terror.
“I, I surrender! I surrender!!!”
[Ah! Abudabi declares surrender! Without revealing his true body, he completely overwheld his opponent using only skills! That was astounding Telekinesis!]
It was an absolute victory. From start to finish, he simply pinned down a flailing opponent with Telekinesis.
Yul imdiately released it. The compressed arena debris and the mantis shrimp fell back to the ground.
“Healers! Call the healers!”
Recovery mages rushed in to regenerate the fallen mantis shrimp’s injuries.
“Whoa! A Seaborn nad Yul? The opponent didn’t even stand a chance!”
“Mom! Mom! I want a Seaborn that can transform into that person, too!”
“What? He beat a Heroic rank Seaborn nad Gideon at the start of the sester? You should’ve told us that earlier!”
“Damn it! I lost everything! My money!”
One by one, exactly the reactions Yul wanted followed.
‘At this rate, I’ll smoothly take first place.’
He did want to cross paths with that so-called strongest Seaborn, Lostura.
‘If it’s Heroic rank, I’ll probably need to reveal my true body.’
When he turned around, Lucian was staring at him with sparkling eyes.
“S-so… we’re really getting a thousand ducats soon, right?”
“That’s right. They’re all just small fry.”
“Should we buy at once we get the prize money?”
“Not a bad idea.”
Yul snapped his head around. He had sensed a strange presence.
“Sothing is coming from the sea. Lucian, be careful.”
“Huh?”
The tournant was still in the round of sixty-four. Yet sothing was intruding from outside.
Far away, beyond the surging edge of the sea, a mass of dark seaweed rolled in.
No—more precisely, they were amorphous creatures known as Sea Horrors.
“Ergency! Ergency!”
A mage who had detected the enemy’s approach shouted.
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