Chapter 67

Chapter 67

The first quarterfinal match concluded.

The winner was Catania.

“Haah… Haah…”

Catania stood barely upright, her body covered in wounds, gasping for breath.

Most spectators had expected her to lose.

Physical condition, stamina, speed.

Everything was stacked against her. While Tautan was well-known, she was a first-time participant, so the crowd’s expectations were low.

But she was tenacious.

She kept annoying her opponent and making things difficult for her.

Finally, Catania plunged a dagger into Tautan’s side. Bleeding heavily, Tautan’s reactions slowed until he collapsed unconscious.

“I won…”

Catania lowered her head and descended from the arena.

She was happy to have won, but the match itself had been incredibly taxing.

She had lost a considerable amount of blood herself, and fatigue had accumulated until her entire body felt numb.

Thud.

Catania’s head bumped into someone.

She slowly raised her head.

Sunlight streamed toward her, making her squint involuntarily.

But soon she recognized who stood before her and couldn’t hide her bewilderment.

“Sal… rta?”

“You’ve been through a lot, Catania.”

The one before her was Salta.

He stood before Catania with a warm smile.

“This can’t be real, right? I’m just so exhausted right now that I must have misheard… Right?”

“I’m sorry. You’ve been through a lot, haven’t you?”

Salta gently embraced Catania.

It was exactly the warmth and touch she remembered.

“Really… it’s you?”

Tears welled up in Catania’s eyes.

Her voice trembled violently.

“The Salta I know… my husband, Salta, right?”

“Yes, it’s me. It’s me.”

“How… how did you regain your senses…?”

“The screams filling my head vanished. The fog that had obscured my vision cleared. Only then did your face and name come back to me.”

Thud.

Katania’s legs gave way, and she collapsed to the ground.

Salta caught her and held her close.

Overwhelmed by a flood of long-buried emotions, pain, and exhaustion, Katania couldn’t stand properly.

“Thank you… Thank you for coming back…”

“Thank you? When I think of what I’ve done, I don’t deserve gratitude for the rest of my life. So thank that man. He pulled me out of the abyss.”

Salta pointed toward the figure walking toward the arena.

The figure trudging along, cloak draped over his shoulders, was Dojae.

“Do Jae… Yes… My hunch was right. Go and express your gratitude…”

Salta held Catania tightly, preventing her from slipping from his embrace.

Then he spoke to Dojae instead.

“Lee Dojae, win this. I have no intention of giving up here. I need that championship title for various reasons. I’ll save my thanks until the finals, so be sure to come collect it.”

“Alright.”

“Hang in there, Lee Do-jae… We’ll see each other after it’s over.”

“Go get treated first. I’ll win and come back for you.”

Katania watched Dojae’s back as he climbed the stadium steps.

How enormous that small man seemed.

Catania silently conveyed infinite gratitude to Dojae and embraced Salta.

“Tell me what happened.”

***

“Sithah of the Speckled Frog Forest! And on this side… a mysterious rookie so shrouded in secrecy even our referees don’t know his face! The one with the unique name! Lee Dojae!”

Waaah-!

This time, not only Osun but a significant number of Grey Elves cheered for Dojae.

‘It’s pouring down, isn’t it?’

Whoosh-!

Rain is Dojae’s greatest weakness.

Once, on a rainy day, he had cast Golem Armor.

The feeling of soggy mud clinging to his body, soaked through with rainwater.

And the sticky mud clumps left behind.

It’s a feeling I can’t even bear to imagine.

Not only that, but his defense drops too.

It wasn’t just a feeling; I confirmed in the status window that not only defense, but all stats were lower.

‘That’s why I chose it deliberately.’

The reason I deliberately chose the Typhoon Field in the field decision with Sithah was because I wanted to set the field aside beforehand.

In the remaining two matches, I’d face even stronger opponents, and I planned to use both the Golem Armor and the Golem then.

But if this Typhoon Field gets activated, wouldn’t I be unable to exert my full strength?

“You bastard! Is the warrior of the Nightingale Forest so weak he can’t even reveal himself?!”

As the match began, Sithah shouted in a voice laced with anger.

Feeling somehow responsible for the village’s damage, Dojae glanced at the spectator seats where Sari sat, but she merely smiled brightly.

If Sari was fine, Dojae had nothing to hold him back.

“Isn’t this better than falling flat on your face?”

“You bastard!”

Dojae cast his Golem Armor.

Only on his arms and legs.

He had gathered stones separately before entering the arena, but the quantity was insufficient, leaving him no choice.

Opening his pocket dimension to retrieve more stones was impossible with the heavy rain pouring down.

Then he drew the Black Scales.

The aura of the Black Scale was sharp enough to slice through raindrops.

‘The black scales grew sharper after tasting blood. What exactly is this sword?’

Dojae stared at the black scales.

The sound of raindrops splattering against the blade’s surface sounded eerily sharp.

Its sharpness seemed capable of slicing through anything just by looking at it.

Dojae aimed the black scales at Sithah with satisfaction.

“Be careful not to die. From now on, I won’t go easy on you.”

“Nonsense! I’ll finish you with a single stroke!”

Sithah thrusts his needle-like blade forward.

Dojae sidestepped, evading the blade.

Swish.

‘I need to be careful.’

The rain-soaked floor was extremely slippery.

Even the golem armor on his legs had absorbed so much moisture it turned to mud.

‘Wait, this…’

An idea flashed through Dojae’s mind.

Dojae tried rolling his foot.

Swoosh!

The slippery surface slid very smoothly.

‘If I do this right, I could move fast?’

The smooth stadium floor, combined with the slippery mud and rainwater, made his feet move as smoothly as if they had wheels.

Dojae began circling the stadium to get used to this movement.

“Running away? Let’s see how long you can keep running.”

Sithah pursued Dojae.

But he couldn’t keep up with Dojae’s speed.

“You bastard!”

Suddenly, a game of tag began. At first, his robe seemed to almost touch Dojae, but as Dojae grew more accustomed to the movement, Sithah couldn’t catch him. His increasingly frustrated expression was visible.

‘I didn’t mean to tease you.’

After circling around for a while, Dojae seized a moment when Sithah let his guard down and thrust his sword in.

Shh-!

The blade sliced past his side.

Black blood flowed from Sithah’s side, washed away by the rain.

“You… you rat!”

Sithah thrust his needle-like sword toward Dojae.

It was a tremendous speed, enough to crack the air, but what good would that do?

Swish-.

Dojae dodged every attack, stepping backward like he was doing a moonwalk.

Then a kick.

Simultaneously, he deactivated his golem armor, sending a chunk of mud flying along the trajectory of Dojae’s kick.

“Gah!”

The mud chunk hit Shitah’s face squarely.

Sithah hurriedly wiped the sticky mass off with his arm, but Dojae’s black blade was already pressed against Sithah’s throat.

Gurgle-.

Dark blood washed down his neck.

Dojae swiftly retrieved the black scales to prevent them from soaking up the blood, washing away the remaining blood in the rainwater.

‘What a mad sword.’

Dojae asked Sithah.

“Want to keep going?”

“Of course!”

Sithah thrust his sword forward.

Dojae dodged slightly to the side, catching the blade with his hand clad in golem armor.

It was the hand hidden inside his robe, untouched by the rain.

Clang!

The black scales sliced Sithah’s sword clean in half.

The blade was so thin it snapped easily.

“Still want more?”

“Eeeee…!”

Sithah flung his sword aside and charged forward.

But perhaps his enthusiasm got the better of him.

He stumbled, slipped, and lost his balance.

Dojae grabbed the falling Shitah and threw him.

Then, pressing his knee into her back, he thrust the black scales into the space before her eyes.

“You really want to keep going?”

“Guh… I lose…”

Only then did Sithah declare his surrender.

And so, the first day’s match ended.

***

A bustling tavern in the kingdom.

The tavern, named Red Dew, was packed with gray elves who had come to watch the match.

“Hey, how much did you win?”

“Heh, I think I made ten times my money.”

“What? Who did you bet on?”

“On a woman named Catania. If you bet on Salta like you did, you wouldn’t have made a penny.”

The gray elves were boisterous, bragging about who they bet on and how much they won at today’s match.

And in one corner, Dojae’s group had also found a spot and were drinking cold beer.

“This is incredibly weak?”

Dojae took a swig of beer and was shocked at how little alcohol flavor he could taste.

It felt almost like barley tea with carbonation added.

“The kingdom’s beer is on the weak side. If it were beer from our village, it would have been much tastier.”

Sari said, sipping her beer.

Wearing a robe he’d pulled from somewhere, Osondol guzzled his beer down.

“Dojae, how did you pull off that move?”

Katania asked.

The reason they ended up at this tavern was Catania.

He dragged Dojae along, saying that even though there was a game tomorrow, one beer wouldn’t hurt, and brought Sari and Osondo too.

Even Salta was sitting right next to Dojae.

“So, about that… I’m thinking of withdrawing tomorrow.”

“What?”

Katania’s shocking declaration.

He said he’d already discussed it with Salta.

“I didn’t enter for wealth or glory. With Salta back, there’s no reason to compete anymore. Besides, I don’t want to fight my husband in the finals.”

“Does that mean I’m going to lose to you?”

“Heh heh. That’s why I’m withdrawing. Go for second place or something.”

“That doesn’t sound much better either.”

Dojae shook his head, and Catania and Sari laughed.

“Thanks for letting us advance by default, but just so you know, there’s no chance we’ll lose to Salta.”

“You saying that just makes me feel sulky. Are you just going to participate?”

“Forget it. If I so much as touch you, Salta might try to kill me.”

“Ha! That’s hilarious. Whew… How long has it been since I felt this peaceful?”

Catanian wore a happy smile.

Her face looked as if she truly possessed everything in the world.

“But tell me something. How did you get your husband back to normal?”

“Ah, um… Ohson!”

Dojae called out to Osun, who was already emptying his sixth beer.

Osun, who had been drinking frantically, jumped up in surprise.

“Yes? Speak, Master!”

“Do you have any talents? Like dancing or singing?”

“A talent, you say! This Osun Ironhammer was a renowned dancer in the village!”

“Alright. Then go over there and dance for me. If you dance well enough to capture the attention of every Grey Elf here, I’ll give you a gift.”

“Ooh…! Understood!”

Osun tossed aside his robe and strode into the center of the tavern.

“Everyone, focus on Lord Osun Ironhammer!”

The boisterous chatter of the Grey Elves fell silent as all eyes turned to Osun.

Some frowned, others looked at him strangely.

But when Osun began to dance, everyone burst into loud laughter.

“Heh heh, what the hell is that?”

“Ha ha ha ha! That dwarf is hilarious.”

Once Osun had properly captured their attention, Dojae called out to Catania.

“Katania, I have something to show you.”

Dojae took off his robe.

Katania gasped in surprise at Dojae’s appearance.

“You were a High Elf?”

“No. Wait a moment.”

Dojae removed his gloves again and slowly slipped off the ring.

This time, Catania was so shocked she covered her mouth.

“You… a human?”

“I’ll tell you how I turned back Salta from now on.”