Chapter 102: Fight of Comrades

"Alright, I'll go now, meow."

"Yeah, go do a one-hit kill."

"Good luck."

Ryuushin and I pushed Merdie on.

I knew Merdie could do it.

The surrounding beastkin started to become noisy when Merdie stood in front of the target.

"Hey, look!"

"I, if it's not Merdie-sama!?"

"When did she return?"

"Participating at the tournament while at it…"

Everyone was flabbergasted at Merdie's appearance.

Merdie stayed with the beastkin king while Ryuka, Tina, and I treated the soldiers, so news of her return didn't spread among them that much.

Moreover, it was Merdie’s first time to join the Martial God's Warrior Tournament.

"However, Merdie-sama got magic, if I'm not mistaken?"

"Yeah, her physical attribute is slightly stronger than average."

"Can she proceed to the main fight without using magic?"

I also heard some of them mocking Merdie.

Wasn’t her strength that was slightly above average in this country more than enough for this battle that didn’t use magic, even though she was a magician?

Moreover, Merdie could use both magic and undetectable magic.

Alright, go beat 'em, Merdie!

Merdie ignored the voices of the surrounding beastkin as she concentrated.

She released mana from her entire body.

She already used body-strengthening magic since it was allowed. Merdie, a high-level magician, strengthened her physical ability with magic using all she got.

At this point, Merdie already possessed a physical attack power that was on par or possibly surpassed the beastkin people with physical ability occupations.

However, this much was not enough to destroy the target.

The hide of a Crenu, a cow-like monster that had Slash Attribute and Thrust Attribute, was used on the target's surface, while the interior was filled with steel sand that could absorb impact easily.

Given this structure, even if one slashed it or stabbed it, it would be difficult to tear it. Besides, it also had a high Damage Attribute to it.

That was why Merdie had to raise the level of her technique in order to destroy the target.

She gathered the mana she released around her. She was still a noob in convergence; however, though it wasn’t perfect, it did have the shape of a magical suit.

She faced the target and raised her hands in a fighting pose.

She then thrust her right fist towards the target.

The moment her fist collided with the target—

Merdie moved the mana, wrapping her whole body, and moved them with ultra speed into her fist.

Without a second delay, her fist and battle aura simultaneously reached the target.

When Merdie’s fist connected, steel sand burst out of the backside of the target.

The steel sand was unable to absorb the shockwave's impact coming from Merdie’s fist, and it destroyed the Crenu hide-covered target, bursting from within.

“Whooooooaaaaaa!”

“A, amazing, Merdie-sama is so amazing.”

“Hey, did you see that? The magical detection crystal balls did not react, right!?”

“Y, yeah! It didn’t react!!”

“Without noticing, Merdie-sama had become strong to this point without magic.”

The beastkin were in an uproar.

Even the reactions of those who had mocked Merdie earlier turned 180 degrees. As expected, the beastkin had a personality that revered the strong, so the fastest method would be a display of power.

By the way, what Merdie did was a practical use of a magical suit. Applying magical force on the physical attack at the moment of assault would result in shockwaves.

It was different from punching with mana wrapped on your hand. It was necessary to move mana so it would hit the target, but the timing of that strike was challenging.

It took me two years to acquire this skill, but it only took Merdie around two days to have the ability after I taught her.

A beastkin girl’s battle sense… was awesome.

“Halt, I did it, meow!”

“Merdie, good job, it was perfect.”

I patted Merdie on the head after she returned happily.

“Ehehehe.”

I found Merdie quite adorable as she squinted her eyes in satisfaction.

“Alright, it’s my turn now.”

Ryuushin strode toward the target after saying that.

“Do your best.”

“Ryuushin, fight, meow!”

Ryuushin didn’t turn around and just waved his hand.

Well, Ryuushin won’t have any sort of problems, probably.

Ryuushin could legitly defeat my flaming knights without magic.

Ryuushin was led to a target that was different from the one Merdie destroyed, and while being guided, he already dragonized a few spots in his body.

He didn’t transform his arm completely, unlike last time. Dragon scales appeared in small quantities on his fist, his elbow, shoulder, hips, knees, and different parts of his feet.

Ryuushin couldn’t dragonize his whole body yet.

Apparently, it would take time for him to grow into it.

However, since the time he lost against the warlock, he thought it would be imperative to devise a method so he could fight without having to dragonize his entire body.

While fighting the flaming knights during our training, Ryuushin had managed to invent [Partial Dragonize], dragonzing the body parts that he would use to move, and it would elevate his Physical Ability rapidly.

In the first palace, Ryuushin, who was part of the Dragonoid race, possessed a racial skill called Dragon Skin, and it had relatively great protective power.

And so, he didn’t use Dragonize for protection. Instead, he used it on the parts necessary for attacking.

The results—

“Dragon, Destruction, Fist!!!”

Ryuushin obtained the power to easily blast the target that most of the beastkin, the race who excelled in physical attacks, could not destroy.

The surrounding beastkin all stood rooted to the spot, utterly dumbfounded.

But even though you are a Dragonoid, using [Dragon Destruction Fist] as a skill name was a bit too much. Wasn’t that kind of name used by Dragon Slayers?

If you use that, then weren't you killing your own kin….

According to the person himself, the sound was good, and it was easy to pronounce, so he did it this way.

If Ryuka heard about it, she would probably get mad.

I advised him to change the technique name to something else during the main battle since Ryuka would watch it.

Finally, it was my turn.

“Alright, gotta go!”

“Halt, good luck, meow!”

Merdie cheered for me.

“Hey, Halt… Are you really using that?”

“Of course! My Physical Ability isn’t as strong as the beastkin, and I can’t dragonize like Ryuushin. I’m just a mere human. So let me use a weapon, at least.”

Ryuushin seemed to be concerned about something, so I answered his question, then I headed toward the target.

I carried Hakoku, the treasured sword I got in the Alheim, Kingdom of the Elves, on my back.