Whew, I worked hard. I managed to sell all the spots up to the twentieth place. Around the twenty first, no one wanted to buy it, so I just reclaimed my spot at the top of the leaderboards while giving second place to Ilya number two. And Ilya took advantage of the fact that the third place person was weak and claimed it for herself. Then she beat up Ilya number two and claimed second place. I’m glad everything worked out in the end. As for Reena, she ended up in sixteenth place or so after promising to be my servant for a year. Of course, I didn’t accept her offer, but I felt bad for her and give her the victory out of pity. No one should have to sell their freedom for any reason. Except Puppers, but he was born to follow orders so he doesn’t count.

I had to cripple a few people who fought the top twenty, but after the third person, people stopped fighting them. This is what it means by having face! Who dares attack those I want to protect!? It’s great. I’m definitely going to be super famous by the end of this competition. I’ll have accomplished Durandal’s dream. Happy days, many happy days ahead.

But there’s just one sore spot. Snow. Where the heck is he? He was definitely supposed to show up as that marquis’ representative, but he hasn’t appeared. I had Ilya ask around, and it turns out that the marquis showed up to the city but vanished a day later. He probably fell to some dastardly plot of Snow’s.

All that’s left is to watch these people fight each other, but it’s boring. Like seriously, seriously boring. Can I claim my legendary beast core, half the human empire, and leave already? I have to hurry up and become a legendary warrior to truly make Durandal mine! But where am I going to find legendary beasts to hunt? The only way I’m going to be able to reach the legendary realm is to consume a lot of cores like I did to enter the divine realm. Legendary creatures are like dragons, phoenixes, qilin, pixiu, turtle-snakes, five-horned cows, and unicorns. The last time a dragon was sighted was over ninety years ago which the Godking killed. How did the man in the sky get a dragon’s core? I’ll have to ask him to find new hunting grounds.

Ah, something interesting happen, please! Three, two, one! …Well, I didn’t expect that to work anyway. Maybe if—

“Cain! Help!”

A giant portal opened up in the sky, and the spectators who were watching jumped into the coliseum. There was a roar, and hundreds of people screamed as they fought and shoved to enter the portal. …I didn’t do that, right? That totally didn’t happen because of me! I deny everything. I didn’t ask for interesting things to occur. Nuh-uh.

“What’s going on?” the man in the sky asked while frowning. There was another roar and people were shoved aside as a creature ripped its way through the portal. The people in the way were shredded like paper, and blood rained from the sky. The man in the sky’s eyes widened as he stumbled. “It can’t be!?” A second later, he fell from the sky and landed with a splat. Is he dead?

“Predator!” someone shouted. “It’s a predator!”

Predator…, why does that sound so familiar?

“Lucia!” Ilya grabbed her number two and ran behind me. “You’re the only one who can stop it! It’s the predator, the thing that prevents people from casting spells. We ran into it while running from Teacher Shinx, remember?”

“Is that why the man in the sky fell from the sky?”

“Is that how you refer to Cain in your head?” Ilya asked. She smacked my forehead. Ow! Why didn’t my armor of slaughter activate? “That’s not the time for this! We’re all helpless magicians and the warriors are too weak!”

More people screamed as limbs and blood were thrown into the air. This predator’s obviously quite fierce! It looks like a…, the fuck? “Uh, Ilya? That’s the predator?”

“Yes!” Ilya pushed me from behind while trembling. “You have to stop it before it kills anyone else!”

“But…”

“Lucia! Now’s not the time for this!”

“It’s, it’s a giant squirrel! How the hell is that thing the predator!?” It looks like a giant red squirrel with pointy foxlike ears and all! It’s too cute to be a vicious beast!

“Lucia! People are dying!”

If they’re being killed by a squirrel…, don’t they deserve to die? Seriously, the heck? Who dies to a squirrel? Even the man in the sky is running away from it. Does it really stop all mana? Alright, then let’s hit it with a Breaking Blade to see how strong its defenses are. “Breaking Blade!” …Huh? “Ah? Nothing happened.”

“You can’t use your qi?” Ilya asked.

“Nope.” I guess that’s why my armor of slaughter didn’t activate. “Doesn’t this mean we’re like helpless cows waiting to be slaughtered?”

“Helpless my ass!” Ilya smacked my back. “You can pick up a fifty-ton object with one hand! Go wrestle it!”

“Hah, alright. This will make me super-duper famous, right?” I’ll be even more of a legend! The first person to take down a predator, I’ll definitely get some recognition for that. …Wait a moment. Won’t I be even more famous if I tame it!? Girl slays predator or girl tames predator and uses it as a badass mount to terrorize all mages…. The latter’s definitely more shocking. New goal, acquired! “Future mount, ready yourself for a beating!”

The giant squirrel dropped the bloody person in its claws and raised its head to stare at me. Hah! Its tail is stiffening! Mine isn’t—this’ll be a piece of cake. “Breaking Qiless Fist!” Ah? It’s running away? “Get back here! Who said you could run away!?”

Why is this thing so darn fast? I must be getting out of shape. It’s because of all the hot chocolate and acorn stew I’ve been drinking, isn’t it? No! I refuse to believe hot chocolate is holding me back in any way, shape, or form. If I can’t run as fast as the squirrel, all I have to do is slow it down. I’ll throw something at it! But what do I have to throw in my interspacial ring…? Oh, this is perfect. “Secret Acorn Stew Bowl Throwing Technique! Go!”

Direct hit! The squirrel screeched and stumbled once the bowl hit its leg. It got up to run but stopped for a second. It turned its head and sniffed at the puddle of stew, and in that moment of distraction, I pounced on it. “You’re mine!”