Chapter 63

Chapter 63

“The pride of our village! Hauka, win!”

“Tarutan! Show that tall guy your bravery!”

Dojae moved to the spectator seats prepared for the participants.

The first match between Hauka and Tarutan was about to begin, allowing him to gauge their skill level.

Indeed, how do the Grey Elves fight? And what sets them apart from humans?

“Both fighters, please take the Oath of the Forest!”

Standing on the arena, Hauka and Tarutan raised both hands above their heads as instructed by the referee and began to murmur.

Later, he learned the meaning of this act. The Oath of the Forest was a noble custom, common to all elves, pledging to uphold their vows to their forest and their gods.

“Now then, let us begin the first match. Start!”

Waaah-!

With the referee’s signal, an explosive roar erupted from the stands.

Simultaneously, Hauka and Tarutan charged at each other, swinging their swords.

Clang! Clang!

Their blades clashed, producing a sharp metallic ring.

The spectators trembled as they watched the two clash swords with full force from the very start.

“That Tarutan guy, his strength is no joke!”

“Hauka’s no pushover either. He’s not just tall!”

Both Hauka and Tarutan wielded swords.

Thick, heavy, massive swords.

Gray Elves, with their superior physical condition compared to humans, preferred swords with that kind of thickness.

Clang!

Clang!

Their skills were evenly matched.

Their swordsmanship was equally matched, and they displayed a dazzling battle with the light, swift movements characteristic of Grey Elves.

Dojae watched with envy the physical prowess of the Grey Elves, who could move so freely even wielding such heavy swords.

Meanwhile, Hauka and Tarutan continued their fierce exchange.

Their fierce battle brought the crowd’s excitement and cheers to a fever pitch.

Clang!

“I… I lost…”

After nearly 30 minutes of close combat, Hauka declared his surrender.

Both were exhausted and wounded from the prolonged battle of stamina, but Tarutan’s final burst of focus sliced through Hauka’s thigh. This caused Hauka to lose his balance and drop his sword.

Tarutan immediately thrust his sword at Hauka’s throat. Ultimately, the victor of the first match was Tarutan.

Waaah-! Wooo-!

The crowd roared in response to the magnificent duel the two had fought.

When Tarutan reached out a hand to help Hauka to his feet, the crowd cheered even louder, their voices nearly splitting the air.

“Khlhhlh, youth indeed, youth.”

The elderly Grey Elf had quietly approached and sat beside Dojae.

He addressed Dojae.

“Nothing to see here, just kids playing, right? Come on, let’s go over there and have some tea. I’m curious to see the young lady’s face too.”

The elderly Grey Elf chuckled and tried to pull off Dojae’s robe.

Dojae slapped his hand away and said.

“No thanks. This match has more to teach me than I expected.”

“Heeek! So you’re a man? Ugh, tsk. Well, that’s that then.”

The elderly gray elf frowned upon hearing Dojae’s voice and walked away.

Watching him leave, Dojae thought that even though he was a pervert of an old man, he couldn’t be taken lightly.

Seeing how he’d advanced to the main tournament despite his old age, and how composed he seemed, Dojae sensed he wouldn’t be an easy opponent.

***

The second match was Catania’s turn.

Dojae watched her fight with interest.

“Haah!”

Catania wielded two daggers as freely as if they were extensions of her fingers.

Her fluid, dance-like swordplay deflected every swing her opponent threw.

Her opponent was certainly no weaker than the two before her.

Particularly strange were his unusually long arms; if he let them hang down, his palms would reach his knees.

Using those long arms like whips, he launched attacks with deft skill.

Swish-!

Yet Catania’s agility far surpassed the opponent’s expectations.

Though the opponent swung their arms as if bone-less, attacking at incredible speed, Catania parried every strike before diving into their embrace, ultimately aiming two daggers at their throat and heart.

“The winner of the second round is… Catania!”

Waaah-!

The crowd, who had been watching with bated breath, finally erupted in cheers.

If the previous match was a heart-pounding clash of men, this battle was one strike, one kill.

It ended in an instant with one blazing blow.

The arena’s atmosphere grew even more heated, and the third match began with that same intensity.

Squeak-.

‘Of all opponents, it had to be him first. I’ll have no face left before Sari.’

Returning to the waiting room, Dojae looked at the young Grey Elf sitting far away.

He didn’t need to try hard to tell that the elf was extremely nervous.

He was Tubartan, the warrior from Nightingale Forest that Sari had mentioned.

‘A one-on-one with an archer. Good for me, but bad for him.’

Beside Tubartan lay a steel greatbow.

During the second preliminary round, some participants were hit by arrows and eliminated—all thanks to Tubartan’s skill.

In the chaos of battle, no weapon was as efficient for killing enemies as the bow.

Even skilled fighters find it difficult to dodge arrows while focused on combat.

Especially a swift, skilled Grey Elf could shoot arrows even in the thick of battle.

But one-on-one is different.

Moreover, if the fight takes place in a confined space with no obstacles, the archer is at an absolute disadvantage against the swordsman.

They can’t leverage the bow’s advantages at all.

‘Still, choosing to use a bow means he’s confident. I’ll have to see how he plays this.’

Waaah-!

The roar of the crowd echoes all the way into the waiting room.

Soon, the referee used a megaphone spell to announce the end of the match, and Tubartan rose from his seat.

Now, the fourth match.

The match between Dojae and Tubartan will begin shortly.

***

“The players are requested to come onto the field.”

Following the referee’s instruction, Dojae stepped onto the field.

From the opposite side, Tubartan also ascended, bow in hand.

“Both players, please swear an oath to the forest that you will compete fairly and justly.”

At the referee’s words, Tubartan raised both hands above his head first and swore the oath.

He murmured as if chanting a spell, and words like Nightingale and Kuran could be heard.

Seeing this, Dojae felt he couldn’t just stand there. He raised both hands above his head like Tubartan and pretended to murmur.

“Now, introducing the fourth match contestant! Despite being a young archer, he’s made it this far. Handling that massive bow like a toy, he eliminated 17 competitors in the second preliminary round. The Forest Nightingale, the Forest’s Master Archer! Tubartan!”

“Wow! Tubartan is so handsome!”

“Crush them, Tubartan!”

The referee’s introduction drew enthusiastic cheers from the stands.

Even to Dojae’s eyes, Tubartan was a handsome young man, standing out distinctly among the many burly warriors who had advanced to the finals.

“Next up is this mysterious man! I haven’t even seen his face yet! The summoner from Nightingale Forest who summoned a golem and advanced to the finals effortlessly! Lee Dojae!”

“Lee Dojae? What kind of name is that?”

“Referee! Strip that guy’s robe off! We can’t tell who he is at all!”

The audience’s reaction was frosty.

No Grey Elf cheered for Dojae, whose face remained hidden and whose name itself was peculiar.

Some even booed or hurled insults.

But, just one.

One person cheered for Dojae with a booming voice.

“Master, win! Master, this Osun Ironhammer is cheering for you!”

Osun stood atop a chair at the very front of the stands, waving his hands.

“What the hell? That dwarf? How did a dwarf even get into the arena?”

“That guy must be the master? How do you manage your slaves?”

The gray elves spotted Osun and muttered among themselves.

Of course, Sari came running over with an embarrassed look and took Oson away, but the crowd’s reaction toward Dojae grew even colder.

“Thanks, Osun.”

Dojae grinned.

One word of encouragement changed Dojae’s mood completely, more than a hundred curses ever could.

Even if he had no choice but to wear a robe to hide his identity, being booed by tens of thousands of spectators wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience.

But thanks to Ohson’s encouragement, Dojae could now face the fourth match in good spirits.

“Alright, then, the fourth match…! Let’s begin!”

***

Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo

The fourth match began amidst the roar of the crowd.

Tubartan quickly put distance between himself and Dojae, drawing his bow.

‘From Nightingale Forest? That’s a lie. Only I participated from our village. He wrote down a fake village.’

Tubartan glared at Dojae.

He wanted to punish Dojae for impersonating his village.

‘That guy controls golems. He shatters the golem’s core the moment it appears.’

Tubartan drew an arrow at incredible speed and aimed it at Dojae.

His specialty was rapid-fire archery.

While most Grey Elves excelled with bows, Tubartan’s lightning-fast archery was unmatched.

‘That bastard commands four golems total. I’ll finish him off with five arrows.’

Tubartan planned to end the match with just five arrows.

That was how confident Tubartan was.

After humans vanished, the Grey Elves began descending to the land and grew to prefer swords over bows.

Accordingly, Tubartan’s father had him learn the sword, but he stubbornly insisted on the bow until the very end.

Tubartan knew.

He knew he had talent with the bow.

As a result, despite his young age, Tubartan became such a renowned marksman that his fame spread to other villages.

‘Bring it on. I’ll destroy it all. You’re just unlucky to be facing me.’

However, Dojae did not draw the golem, even as time passed.

Instead, what he drew was a black-scaled sword.

‘A sword? A summoner wielding a sword in battle? You fool!’

Tubartan smiled in triumph.

Though archers are said to be at a disadvantage in close combat, Tubartan had trained his lower body intensely to overcome that weakness.

He moved faster than anyone and could fire arrows at incredible speed.

‘Thanks to that, I saved four arrows. Take this!’

Tubartan released the taut bowstring.

The arrow’s thickness was monstrous, matching the size of his bow, so much so that the sound of it cutting through the air could be heard.

Thwack!

‘What?’

The arrow, which he thought would plunge into his shoulder, was deflected feebly by Dojae’s sword.

‘Blocked that easily?’

Tubartan couldn’t contain his astonishment.

He hadn’t shot with all his might, to the point of snapping the bowstring.

He’d fired lightly, assuming Dojae’s physical abilities would be lacking as a summoner, but his worries proved unfounded—it was blocked far too easily.

Thwack-.

Pwoosh-!

Thwack- Thwack-!

Tubartan fired four arrows in rapid succession.

The speed was incredible.

It was so fast that it seemed impossible to fire one arrow after another; the next arrow was already released before the first even reached Dojae.

However, all four arrows were blocked by Dojae’s sword.

‘Is he not a summoner?’

His plan to end the match with just five arrows was completely ruined.

That left 25 arrows remaining.

Once inside the arena, he couldn’t receive additional arrows, so he had to finish within those remaining twenty-five.

‘Damn it…’

Tubartan fled to the far edge of the arena, dodging Dojae who was slowly closing in.