Rojina-san’s POV
The Bear-girl thrust the two knives that Ghazal had made into the center of the magic circle and poured her magic power into it.
[What’s that?] Rojina
The magic circle shines dazzlingly. I’ve never seen a weapon made it glow like this before even with my creations. I glanced at Guildmaster next to me, who’s just as surprised as I am.
While we were distracted by the light of the magic circle, I saw the ground rising up in front of the Bear-girl.
[Missy. Look ahead!] Rojina
When I warned her, she immediately pulled the knives out of the magic circle.
The soil creates a form, a humanoid form with a large body and it transformed into… A golem?
How could such an opponent come out on the first round against a knife! Though it’s true, the knife that Ghazal made was a good one. While the Bear-girl’s ability is good, it should only be the performance of the knives that would be judged. It is said that the magic circle examines the strength, weight, and sharpness of the weapons. And the amount of magic power added to the knives. From there, an analysis will be made and it will prepare a suitable test subject.
A golem is not the kind of trial that shows up on the first try, especially with the knives. When the golem swung its arm down to the ground, the ground quaked and the shock vibrated.
I told her to run away, but the Bear-girl doesn’t want to. So I have no choice but to advise her.
[Missy, that thing should be hardened by magic. If you attack it thinking that it’s just a pile of dirt, it’ll bounce back at you!] Rojina
The opponents that appear here are composed of magic power that has been stored for a year. The hardness is proportional to the magic power used.
I’m not sure if she heeded my advice, but she clenched her knife and started running towards the golem. She’s fast in that hard-to-move bear outfit. In an instant, she closes the distance between her and the golem. The golem flailed its arms around, but she dodged those with ease.
Amazing. She’s not scared? Even a grown man would be afraid to approach a golem. Moreover, to have the courage to get close to a golem wielding such a brutally, rugged arm? And yet, she’s able to see right through it and dodge it effortlessly.
Normally, it would be terrifying just trying to approach that.
The Bear-girl dodged the golem’s attack then slashed it several times with her knives. Her arms were moving so fast, I couldn’t tell how many times she slashed it. When she stopped moving, the golem’s arms and legs fell off. It’s hardened by magic, you know! So it should not be soft enough to be cut so easily.
Then the bear-girl went behind the golem, which had lost one of its legs, then cut off its head. And just like that, the first trial was over.
[…Rojina, those knives were made by Ghazal, right?] Guildmaster
[Yeah, there’s no doubt about it. But putting the knives’ sharpness aside, it’s that girl’s ability which defeated the golem.] Rojina
If you ask me if I can do the same, there’s no way that I can.
[I get that. Missy, she’s making the most out of her knives.] Guildmaster
Even if you have the ability, a dull knife couldn’t cut that golem. And even if you have a sharp knife, you can’t cut that golem either if you don’t know how to use it. It’s no good if either the weaponsmith or the user is lacking the skill.
While we’re talking, the next trial is about to begin. A new layer of soil rises up at a distance from the Bear-girl. It forms a shape of…
[……Armored Knight.] Rojina
It wears armor, it has a sword in its right hand and a shield in its left. She has to deal with them with two knives that have a short reach. Moreover, five of them appeared.
There’s no way she can win.
It’s like fighting against five knights. The body is hardened by magic power, so it’s harder than real armor.
Even one-on-one is already a disadvantage, but there are five of them. Normally, this would be impossible.
There’s something different about this trial from the ones I’ve known. It’s as if they’re trying to measure the Bear-girl’s ability.
Even though she was surrounded by armored knights, she was able to dodge their attacks with that hard-to-move outfit. Not only does she dodge, but she also uses one of her knives to catch the heavy sword that is being swung down. It’s a smooth evasion. A sword and a knife are not only different in size but also weight. You have to have a lot of skill to be able to catch it. Normally, the knife would have been flung away.
[Oi oi. How can she move so lightly? And she’s parrying that armored knight’s sword with her knife.] Guildmaster
Guildmaster is looking at her in amazement.
I had her slice a steel rod for a test, but her ability was unimaginable in contrast to her appearance.
The Bear-girl dodged the armored knight’s attack by waving the knives in her hands as if she was dancing. And then, she attacked. She made sure to hit the joint of the armored knight’s weak point. Then, one by one, the armored knights fell. It was an unbelievable sight to see.
And the Bear-girl defeated five armored knights.
The Bear-girl takes a deep breath and exhales a little, but she wasn’t short of breath after moving so much.
[Missy, are you alright?] Rojina
Even though she was able to parry the attacks, she couldn’t parry all of them. That alone must have put a strain on her arms and wrists. But despite my worries, the girl smiles back at me and says, <I’m fine>.
I could understand what Ghazal meant when he said she was an excellent adventurer. Indeed, she’s an excellent adventurer in the true sense of the word.
And it’s not just her ability. The knives were made by Ghazal. She can slash against the armor knights with ease. You can’t do that with a blunt knife.
I wonder what it is? A feeling of envy for Ghazal, welling up from deep within me? I look at the knives that the Bear-girl is holding. I wonder if I could make a better knife than the one Ghazal made. And if so, I wonder if a more difficult trial would have appeared.
Why am I not hammering a sword? Why is the weapon that the Bear-girl is carrying not mine? When I think about what I’ve been doing for the past few years, I start to feel miserable. I clenched my fists tightly.
[You’re one hell of a girl, Missy. And Ghazal, you made a very good knife.] Guildmaster
I am both happy and jealous of the praise my disciple received from Guildmaster.
Then, shortly after the Bear-girl defeated the armored knights and catch her breath, the next opponent started to appear.
What appeared was a large lizard monster. It was over 10 meters long from head to tail. I had seen it in a monster encyclopedia. I’ve also heard stories of large monsters appearing in trials. But it must have been at the fifth trial for most of them.
A long tail and hard scales. If it’s anything like the monsters I know, those scales are not going to be easy to breakthrough.
The lizard’s tail has hard scales and each scale overlaps with the other. Moreover, each scale is like a sharpened blade.
[Rojina, are you sure you don’t want to stop the trial? That one is impossible. She may not be seriously injured, but she can still be hurt.] Guildmaster
Comparing the Bear-girl and the monitor lizard.
The monitor lizard is over 10 meters long and a girl dressed as a cute bear facing off each other. It looks like food is being placed in front of the monitor lizard.
If she gets hit by that big tail, it would end in a single blow.
But she didn’t even try to escape. She started fighting instead.
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Yuna’s POV
A huge lizard appeared in front of me.
I don’t know what it’s called, so I’ll use my detection skills.
But there was no response to the detection skill. Apparently, the monsters at the Gate of Trials don’t respond to the detection skill.
I don’t know what it’s called, so I’ll call it a monitor lizard.
The battle with the monitor lizards begins.
And I’ve been trying to get closer to it for a while now, but I can’t. It moves fast for its huge body. When I approached it from behind, it swung its long tail. When I tried to approach it from the left or right side, its large claws attacked me. And a huge mouth awaited me in front.
Hmmm, what a pain.
Each strike of the tail is heavy and sharp. When it swings horizontally, it makes a sound like cutting the air, and if it drops it vertically, the ground trembles. Even more annoying is the fact that each of its scales is a sharp blade. If I catch it normally, I will receive damage.
Its tail swings so fast that I can barely keep my knife in place, let alone stab it.
If the knife were just a little bit longer, I could reach it. I can’t get close to it subtly.
On the bright side, at the very least, the scales are not flying towards me.
If I could use my bear puppet, I would hold it down or hit it, but I can’t do that. If I do so, the trial might end abruptly. I want to avoid the possibility of the trial ends.
So, what do I do now?
[Missy! If you can’t defeat that, just go back to the magic circle, stick the knife in, and the trial will end.] Rojina
You should have told me that before we started. I’m not going to give up, though.
It’s been a while since I’ve been to an event this exciting. I have to enjoy it.
I ran in a clockwise direction. The monitor lizard spun its huge body and swung its long tail around. Oh no. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The tail extended quickly. So I hastily crossed my knives to block it.
[Missy!] Rojina
I was blown away, but I twisted my body and landed on my feet with my bear shoes. If I hadn’t been wearing bear gear, I wouldn’t have been able to catch it with my knives, nor would I have been able to land safely, and I would have simply hit the ground hard. I don’t know how the damage is calculated here, but I have to make sure I don’t take unnecessary damage.
But can I really take this thing down with just a couple of knives?
I calmed myself down, clenched my knives, and observed the monitor lizard.
As expected, its weak point is its back. On the front, a large mouth awaits, and on either side are limbs with sharp claws. The back has a tail with sharp blade-like scales. The effective range of the tail is 180 degrees to the left and right. It can only bend upward about 90 degrees. It cannot reach the back. Unlike the Big Scorpion, there’s no threat on that part. The only drawback is that I can’t use magic against it.
Well, just because I can’t use magic doesn’t mean I can’t use the bear cheat.
I kept my distance from the monitor lizard. Then, I ran towards the monitor lizard. The monitor lizard crawled towards me. I’m not very good with reptiles, so I’ll settle this quickly.
I timed my jump at the oncoming monitor lizard.
The monitor lizard raised its head and tried to eat me, but it could not reach me as I flew higher than it can reach. I landed on its back and thrusted the Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear Knives, both of which were filled with magical power, into its back.
The back was not as hard as the tail, so the knives dug deep into it.
At that moment, the monitor lizard vanished, it probably admitted its defeat.
Hmmm, the victory condition is not very clear. If it’s a normal monster, it wouldn’t be defeated like that. Well, if it’s a win, then I’ll take it as a win.
When I looked at Rojina-san, I saw him and Guildmaster looking at me dumbfoundedly.
Oh, I was so excited to be able to participate in the event, that I forgot to hide my abilities.
