Chapter 437: Quicker time
Ray had arrived outside the arena. He had gone to participate in today's event just like the other two had told him, but while he was inside preparing himself, he couldn't help but feel a little guilty inside.
He was here, while the others were busy looking for the girls who could very well be in trouble. For some reason, he just couldn't get everything off his mind and worse of all, the last memory he had of Slyvia was a bad one.
If Slyvia did really disappear and he never saw her again, did he want that to be his last words? Before the event would start, Ray decided to send one more message again, seeing if anything would get through. He waited and waited and even sent a message to the guys.
They had replied but with no update on the situation, wherever they were it didn't look like it was going to be easy. Eventually, Ray's name had been called into the arena with no response from the girls.
The event was set up the same as last time. With each contestant going through the different rank beasts starting from the lowest. Just like before there was a large betting pool going on between the contender Nes and Roki.
Each time Ray fought he used his sword to kill the beast, but for some reason, it was taking him longer than usual, even for the low tier beasts.
"He's being hesitant, as if his mind is stuck or lost somewhere else." Roki thought looking at him.
There was a clear difference in clear times between the two today, unlike the days before. This caused an effect in the betting booths. Far more people were betting on Roki this time to defeat the king tier beast faster.
Even the arena crew could see this so they had to alter the odds, giving Ray a better chance if he was to win, to allow more people to bet on that.
The large man who had lost a lot of his money the first time Ray was there had come back today, and he too had decided to put everything he did on Roki winning. Roki was the favorite to get a faster clear time, anyway. Now with the way Ray was, many believed he had no chance.
Eventually, it had reached the advanced tier level beast, and what surprised many people was Roki himself was still improving. He was a middle-aged man, and past his peak, some would say. But they could tell with each fight he was getting better. Avoiding more strikes and more blows.
While Ray was having his worst day, Roki seemed to be having his best day and he had managed to defeat the advanced tier beast without taking a single hit.
"Do you think today's going to be the day?" Someone from the crowd asked.
"You mean, you think he might try to take on the emperor tier beast today?" Another asked.
It seemed more and more likely. After all, he wasn't hurt and in his best condition. A contestant didn't need to defeat an emperor tier beats. They could always just try to fight it and forfeit in the middle of the fight.
Moving on, it was Ray's turn to take care of the advanced beast. He still decided he would use his sword, in the end it was one of his goals. To get better at swordsmanship while obtaining crystals, but he was unfocused and eventually took a heavy blow from the three-tailed creature in the chest.
It had sent him a few feet back and cracked his armour a little. His chest piece had seen better days, and it was probably time to use one of the king tier equipment he had to make something better out of it.
It was a struggle, but Ray eventually managed to cut the tails off and striked the beast's head off with a couple of strikes as well. It was Ray's worst performance of the day.
It was time for what everyone had been waiting for, to see the two contestants compete again for the best time against the king tier beats. However, the fanfare and excitement that was there yesterday, just wasn't there today.
If anyone was to take a look, there would be a clear winner, but when Roki's fight had started, the excitement was won back a little. For he was doing better than ever. Even now he still hadn't been hit and was blocking blows from the beast perfectly.
It was a fairly large, Fox like creature, that had an elemental ability of fire. Using Ki in his sword, Roki was able to deflect the attacks hitting the flames back at it.
Even if it could produce fire, it didn't mean it was immune to its attacks. Finally, Roki had managed to finish it off after hurting it enough with its own attacks and slamming his sword in its head.
Seeing such a perfect performance, the crowd wasn't excited to see Ray now, but were excited wondering if Roki was going to take on the emperor tier beast.
"Sir, should we allow Roki to move onto the next stage, or proceed as planned with the alternate style. The contestant known as Nes hasn't been doing the best today." The man said.
Two men were in the glass booths watching the arena. It was the owner talking with one of his men. It was true that now the excitement had moved on and the owner was trying to decide what to do. He too could tell Ray was strange today, but what could be the reason.
It took a long time for him to decide, but in the end, he had chosen to go with his gut.
"Let's stick to the normal schedule, besides it will give time for Roki to rest if he does choose to go against the emperor beast."
Finally, it was time for Ray to go against the king tier beast. He walked out onto the arena floor and there weren't the usual cheers as they were yesterday. It wasn't quite, but it was as if they were just watching some in-between entertainment until they got to the real show.
The gates were opened and Ray was to wait for the king tier beast to appear.
'What am I doing here?' Ray thought. 'I need to get stronger, yes, but why am I messing around with this stupid sword. I'm just waiting time.'
The fire Fox had entered the ring, and Ray had placed his sword away. Seeing this the crowd felt like his actions were odd. They could then see him walking towards the fire fox, slowly.
'No more playing games, I need to get out of here.' Ray thought.
A fire ball was shot towards him and everyone there including Roki was expecting him to move, but he did nothing. Allowing the flame ball to hit him completely, for a second they could see a human figure covered in flames, but moments after a man walking out of them. He had burn marks over his body and such, but was hardly hurt and was walking as normal.
Ray had recently gained the fire resistance skill and due to his high amount of stats in the fire element, the Fox's attack hurt, but he knew it wouldn't kill him.
Then when Ray was close enough, using the Ki in his legs, he leapt forward, readied his fist as hard as he could and slammed it right into the Fox's face. The Fox was a large beast, and the audience couldn't believe what they were seeing, how could a human have such strength, to fling something so large to the other side of the arena.
Ray wasn't done there. He continued to move forward, hitting the Fox over and over. It tried to swipe its paws at Ray, but using his strong gauntlets and strength he was able to block the attacks. Hitting them away and his gauntlets remained unscathed.
Another fire ball was shot at Ray, but he took it head-on once again. Hurting him but not enough to do any real damage and with it, he was able to deliver the final push, slamming the Fox's head into the side of the arena wall and forming a large crater at the same time.
At that point, Ray had stopped hitting the Fox and started to walk away. He knew the match was over. And it was with a time, that was far faster than Roki's.
*****
Hey guys, I will be making an MDS Manga. I will be posting it on Patreon and discord: Jksmanga