Chapter 665: Jola: This lineup is really too difficult for me
The water in the artificial lake used for the competition was unexpectedly clear. Even though Kira was standing in the audience seats, he could still clearly see the white-grey bricks on the bottom of the water. Hundreds of stone pillars of various shapes were scattered in the lake, looking like reefs that had been eroded by sea water for many years.
The shape of the lake is circular, so the staff cut the circle into eight equal parts with irregular shapes but almost the same area, and then let everyone stand at the center of gravity of one of the pieces. This resulted in their positions when the battle started being very special, and looking from above, there was a very comfortable sense of uniformity.
This is much better than simply cutting it into eight identical sectors and then arranging them to form a perfect octagon.
This seemingly evenly distributed position forced the contestants to be extremely alert, paying attention to enemies in all directions during battle and being wary of their sneak attacks.
It's okay for those standing in the circle outside, they only need to pay attention to the 180° fan-shaped area in front of them. Those standing in the center are in trouble, as there are people in 360°. Although some of them are far away, they are still not beyond the reach of attack.
A magician is a profession that excels at long-range attacks!
"Who came up with this kind of standing position? It's really hard to like it!"
Urrutia was complaining at this time.
Looking around, the one closest to me is Jura in front of me, followed by Inberl on the right, Erza in front of me on the left, and the other four are standing a little further away, but also in several directions. I can see the positions of everyone by turning around in a circle.
In fact, the positioning is clear to the bystanders, and the audience is the bystanders. Looking from above, they can clearly see the intention of the competition to let the eight players stand in this way - the stronger ones stand inside, and the weaker ones stand outside!
In other words, this is a state of 'four inside and four outside'.
As for how the organizers determine the strength of the contestants, it mainly depends on their past records and current achievements.
Among these eight people, Jura is ranked in the "Holy Ten". On the surface, he is the strongest, so he should be the unlucky guy closest to the center of the lake. However, based on Urrutia's magic and resume, the organizers gave her a position alongside Jura.
(Urrutia: Someone must have framed me! And it's probably the old man sitting up there!)
(Yakima: Oh hehe~ This is such an exciting match!)
After that came the infamous 'Fairy Queen' Erza, and Inbel who froze the stadium instantly yesterday. Both of them were stronger than Urrutia.
So the real position of this scene is actually: four people are surrounding outside, while Jura, Erza and Inbel are in a three-way competition inside, and then Urtia intervenes, turning it into 'Three Demons (Wizards) vs. Jura'.
In this game, the one under the most pressure is actually Jola!
In the entire venue, only people with sufficient intelligence like Kira and Mavis could see this. Then there was Jura who was in the middle of it. He might not be able to see the purpose of standing like this, but he could definitely feel the pressure coming from seven different directions.
On top of the stone pillar, Jura's eyes kept wandering between Erza and Inbel, watching their every move warily. He could see that among the seven opponents, they were the strongest.
'Ms. Erza is strong in close combat, and her versatile armor and solid fighting skills are the weight that makes her famous.'
"This wizard named Inbel is strong in magic. He easily defeated Ang yesterday, but he obviously didn't use his full strength. Now it seems that his magic power is not inferior to mine!"
'Just feeling his magic power from such a distance, I couldn't help but feel a chill. Where did this guild come from? How could there be so many powerful wizards?'
After examining Erza and Inbel from head to toe, Jura finally set his sights on Urrutia.
'Compared to those two, the magic power of this lady named Urrutia is still a little bit inferior, but her magic has a great advantage in this competition! '
Thinking of this, Jola sighed helplessly.
"Oh... this is really difficult for me!"
When Jola was looking at the other seven people, these seven people were also looking at their opponents.
A person's reputation is like a tree's shadow. Those standing in front of him are all superstars in the magic world, and no one dares to underestimate the enemy.
The pressure from Jola and Inbel was too strong. Ivan was trembling with fear and didn't dare to be careless. He just wanted to finish the game as soon as possible and then find the two big sisters to calm his frightened heart.
Narubudingku shrank his neck, his pair of obscene and cunning eyes were full of calculations and conspiracies, and his unkempt appearance made people feel disgusted at first sight.
Wallack of the Four Headed Hounds had already started to shed tears. This guy, who was killed in one move by Oga of the Sword-Bite Tiger in the original work, now kept praying in his heart that those big guys would take his time to deal with him because he had enough tears and was crying so loudly.
This is the only thing he can do now.
The young girl, Sicca, looked at her opponent curiously. Although it was her first time appearing in public, her blue twin ponytails, white sailor suit, bright eyes, youthful and energetic image of an 18-year-old girl attracted a lot of fans for her.
Even Kira's eyes were on her.
Of course, this doesn't mean that he is obsessed with twin tails and sailor uniforms. Although young girls are pleasing to the eye, Kira is never partial when it comes to appreciating and evaluating beautiful things.
This time he was simply curious about the girl's magic.
Ding ding ding!!!
"The second day of the Grand Demon Fighting Exercise, the competitive mode [Naval Battle] officially begins!!"
As the broadcast spread throughout the venue, the contestants on the stone pillars took action.
"Rock and Iron Wall!!"
Without hesitation, Jola raised his right hand and four thick stone pillars rose from the bottom of the lake, which was four or five meters deep.
The thickest one of them, with a diameter of about two meters, easily shattered and replaced the stone pillar under Jura's feet, lifting him high into the air; the other three were controlled by thoughts, as if they had life, and after coming out of the water, they turned in the air and attacked Inbel, Erza and Ultear respectively.
This move was as fast as lightning and with such force that it was impossible to react without A-level strength or above. Fortunately, the three victims were all very capable and were not rookies who could be easily defeated.
"Change your outfit: Black Feather Armor!!"
Seeing the stone pillar coming, Erza calmly changed into her lightest armor with flying capabilities, then quickly jumped up to avoid the attack.
After listening to the rules, she realized that if she wanted to avoid falling into the water in this game, flying would be the best option besides freezing the lake.
Inbel's response was as expected. His body was as steady as a rock. He stood with his hands behind his back. He raised his head and glanced at the stone pillar that hit his head.
clang——!
The stone pillars froze instantly, and even the surface of the lake around Inbel turned into ice.
"Oh! As expected! Player Inbel has frozen the field into an ice battlefield! This gives the players a foothold!! But... is the situation really as simple as it seems?"
As if to confirm the announcer's words, the next moment, the ice surface was like a videotape with the rewind button pressed, time went back, and the lake returned to its original appearance.
"It's contestant Urrutia's magic! She turned the ice back into lake water!! It seems that as long as she's here, the contestants can only fight on the stone pillars!!!"
As for the big stone pillar that Jola was attacking, it also aged instantly under the effect of the arc of time. It first broke into several pieces, and then either turned into ashes, or directly escaped from Jola's control and fell into the water, making a series of splashing sounds.
The four big guys inside were fighting each other, and the four outside were not idle either.
"My strength is too far behind theirs, so I was right not to charge in rashly! Since Mr. Jura and Ms. Erza didn't attack me right away, I'll wait until they decide the winner before joining the battle."
Ivan, the blond boy from the Blue Pegasus, looked at the four people who were fighting with swords, stone pillars and ice not far away, and chose to wait for the right time to act.
In fact, this was a good plan for both him and the remaining three people, but some people just had nothing to do and wanted to open up a second battlefield to decide the outcome.
"drink!!"
A short, ugly, fat, wretched man with purple skin kept moving between the stone pillars with his extraordinary jumping ability.
Narubudinku of 'Crow's Tail'!
His right hand has swelled and is covered with spikes. When wielded, it looks like an enlarged version of a mace, but its destructive power is greater than that of a mace and it is also more convenient to use. It is truly like controlling one's own arm!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Narubudinku used the force to destroy the stone pillar under his feet, obviously intending to reduce the space available for the players to stand. He jumped up and down several times to reach Volek, and then hit him on the head with a stick!
"What?!"
"Is that guy an idiot?! He actually attacks a potential teammate at this time? 1"
"They were defeated by the Four Hounds yesterday, so they're probably looking for revenge!"
"But this is a competition, so I can't say anything..."
The audience was discussing the ugly fat man's behavior. Although his actions were completely in line with the rules of the game, the personal grudges he brought into the fight and the destruction of the stone pillars caused the public's reputation for this guild and this person to continue to decline.
"Good scolding! Scold them harshly!"
Hearing at least half of the people on the field cursing Narubudinku, Makarov felt refreshed and wanted to take out a few bottles of wine to celebrate.
"No! Not only will I scold you, I will also beat you! Beat you hard!!"
On the field, Volek responded in time, his tears flew out and turned into two huge fists, blocking Narubudingku's wolf-fang fist!
This extra who was defeated in one move by Ouga in the original work and had no chance to display his full strength, finally showed his full strength.
