Chapter 336 Mage Handball Tournament Round 1 1
As the time came for the Mage Handball Tournament to begin, the large display board in the center wiped itself to show 5 blank spaces.
Below it, the information about 5 rounds was written, while there was also a table labeled with 'Wins' and 'Losses' beside the blank spaces.
"I'm back, everyone! It's time for the event you've alllllll been waiting for-the Mage Handball Tournament! First, let me explain the rules! No, no, don't worry, I've already learned from my previous mistakes; my mama always told me I was a quick learner. I can summarize them in one sentence: they are the exact same! Just get the ball to the other end, and you can use magic! Only teleportation is banned, and there are space lock trinkets on the ground! Let's see how the creative mages of this continent use this opportunity to awe us all! The tournament is, however, different. Instead of the double elimination before, this will be a round robin tournament and all of you can see the pairings in the display board. The final winner will be the one with the most wins! Again, the winner stands to win 50 points, and the runner-ups have 30 and 10 points up for grabs. Of course, you can't see the names right now because they have to be drawn! There are 5 names to be drawn, so the commanders of the Mage Handball teams of the 5 kingdoms can now walk up to the stage to pick the names out of the ballots. Please walk up here!"
During the speech, the teams had already made their way onto the ground.
The mind-blowing performance of the black-robed men and women from Lanthanor in the duel had really been riveting, and people had begun to talk that it was Lanthanor's secret force that would blow all the competition out of the water.
Hence, when the crowds saw that there were only regular Lanthanorian soldiers on the ground right now, they were slightly disappointed but they still showed their support.
Of course, this was noticeable by Cassandra who had just walked up to pick the first name.
When it turned out that the name she picked belonged to her own Kingdom, the cheering intensified as the name "Lanthanor" appeared in blazing red letters on the central display board.
After walking back to the line of soldiers, she spoke to the one in the lead.
"The crowd think that those black-robed soldiers are the true force of Lanthanor. Are all of you pigs that were hand-picked and trained by me? Let's show them our worth. If we lose our first match, no matter against whom it is, all of us are going for hell training in the woods."
This sent a shudder through the body of the soldier first in the line.
Even though he was a seasoned veteran who had spent more than a decade in the army, the words "hell training" invoked so much fear in him that he felt that he would rather face anyone on the battlefield.
Resolving to do everything in his power to make sure that it wouldn't become reality, he passed it to the soldier behind who similarly shook with unctonrolled emotions.
In this way, a wave of shaking passed through the line of the Lanthanorians, making those watching wonder just what kind of news they must have heard.
Meanwhile, the commanders from the other Kingdoms had already picked out the names of the other Kingdoms, so the pairings were now set.
When the crowd saw that the Black Raven Kingdom had once again received a bye, they didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
However, from the fact that no performance from the Black Raven Kingdom had really shown their worth as one of the strongest Kingdoms in the continent, almost everyone felt that it didn't matter.
As for the citizens of the Black Raven Kingdom, their morale was at an all-time low, and they weren't even cheering properly. Instead, most of them were sitting and watching, as if their very presence was only due to the fact that they were still hoping against hope that some miracle might happen.
Round 1 had two matches, with the first one being between Lanthanor and Arafell.
This would be followed up by the match between Eldinor and Axelor.
As the other teams left the ground, the two teams of Lanthanorans and Arafellians looked at each other with burning eyes before retreating to the waiting area.
There was a pause of an hour, and this was mainly to benefit the betting stands, as the people could place their bets now that the pairings were decided.
While Daneel watched odds change with each bet, a smile came on his face while he sat back leisurely in his own booth.
Indeed, for once, he was in the booth assigned to Lanthanor.
Beside him stood Eloise, and she was watching the proceedings with excited eyes.
"King-"
"Eloise, I can't believe you still haven't gotten used to it."
"You're spending time with me after so long! I can't be blamed. Should I go back into a coma to get you to talk to me more?"
Hearing this bold statement from someone who was always meek, Daneel turned around with surprise to see Eloise who had actually turned a deep shade of pink.
It was only now that he realized that she had put on a green gown carefully embroidered with flowers. With her hair let down, she looked gorgeous, but Daneel noticed something different about her.
Her dress seemed to be tighter at 2 specific places, making them stand out brilliantly.
This sight would have sent any man's heart and…another organ racing, as Eloise was truly a beautiful woman who was also quite well endowed.
However, Daneel still only saw her as a sister, but the act of noticing this didn't stop him from feeling the intended effect.
Hurriedly looking away, he sighed with relief when he saw a message come from Cassandra requesting his presence.
Hastily saying "Cassandra is calling," he teleported away, leaving behind Eloise who looked shocked for a moment before blushing even deeper and letting out a small laugh.
The King had been…flustered!
Thanking her mother inside her heart for her tips which were obviously very effective, she called for a mage to teleport her too, as this dress really was uncomfortable.
…..
Teleporting to the waiting room, Daneel first took a deep breath to calm himself before looking up to see Cassandra whose gaze was fixed on a spot below him.
Looking down, he immediately turned around before stoically striking a pose with his hands behind his back and saying, "You called?"
Cassandra had indeed thought that she had noticed something, but she was in no mood to think of such things what with the match so close.
Shelving it, she said, "Sir, I need permission to go all out and use Strategy A in case we are on the verge of losing. The soldiers need a boost in morale. Some think you may not trust them to win. I think this would be the perfect opportunity to show them that you do."
Daneel, who had been hoping that his commander hadn't seen…that, put on a pondering expression on his face as he heard these words.
Indeed, when he had introduced them to the Domination Corps, the elite units of soldiers had definitely had thoughts along these lines.
However, they were just going up against Arafell, and Daneel didn't expect them to pull out anything new that could have an impact on the match.
Still, this decision wasn't an easy one to make.
Turning around, he was just about to tell Cassandra that it was not possible, but he stopped when he saw the expression of yearning on her face.
Here was a renowned commander who had had to give up her score so that Lanthanor could win in the end in the Mage Archery phase. She had trusted him and followed his orders without asking anything so far, and this was actually the first time that she was requesting something, and that too for her soldiers.
Thinking for a while more, he only nodded and teleported away, as it was time for the match to begin.
With this in hand, Cassandra changed the entire strategy, and when the match started, everyone stared in awe at the unique formation of the Lanthanorians.
Everyone had thought that the victors would be Lanthanor, but they could never have expected that victory could come in this way.
The Arafelliian team only had humans, but even giants couldn't possibly have made a difference.
As soon as the ball was taken into the possession of Lanthanor, 15 people would make a tank that was impregnable.
Fire magic, lightning magic, ice magic-no matter what spell was used, a breach couldn't be made before the tank was already on the other side.
The only times this failed was when the ball wasn't in Lanthanor's control.
As the points racked up one by one, Daneel, who was sitting in the Black Raven Kingdom's booth again, sighed and said to himself, "What the hell happened to only using Strategy A on 'the verge of losing'?"