The next day, Zellin and his friends watched the other teams from the top 7 do battle. Zellin couldn’t help but be a little intimidated. Zellin cringed at the thought of fighting Bo’s team as they completely slaughtered the team they faced. Everyone on Bo’s team had high skill levels for this Floor 1 competition, and Senah’s huge polar bear was absolutely ferocious.

Zellin also saw that Nell’s team made it to the next round. The crowd hated him as much they hated Zellin’s team. Nell overwhelmed his opponents with a large pack of beast skeletons that were seemingly endless. Zellin was quite impressed by the fact as he couldn’t manage controlling that many summons; his current limit was 4 summons. So whether he summoned his pets, an elemental, or an enchantment spirit, he could only summon 4 at once.

Eventually it became time for the next round, and unfortunately for Zellin, his team was facing off against Bo’s team, according to the structure of the tournament. Zellin could only sigh helplessly as he made his way to the arena with his team. I wonder how soon we should forfeit, Zellin pondered to himself.

They had come quite early today, before the crowds came in, as the tension got to the whole team, causing them to become restless.

Surprisingly, when they walked into the arena, they saw that Bo’s team had also come early.

Sasha immediately rushed to hug her sister.

“Woah there, little sister.” Senah exclaims as Sasha wrapped her arms around her. “I know I said to follow your friend everywhere he goes, but you should visit more often. This way, you won’t be so excited whenever we meet.” She said with a smile.

She greeted Zellin and his team as they approached. “Sorry if she’s been a bother. I didn’t expect her to take my words so seriously and start living with you.” She said with an awkward smile.

“Yeah, it’s not like you dropped off a baby for me to take care of, or anything.” Zellin said wryly. “It’s not like you left her there expecting me to find a home for her and buy her skill books, or anything. It’s not like she relentlessly follows me everywhere I go.” Zellin expressed nonchalantly, in detail.

Senah smiled in return, ignoring Zellin’s sarcasm. “Well, thanks for taking care of her.”

“Zellin.” Bo signaled, nodding his head to the side.

Zellin took the hint and walked off to the side where the two could talk privately.

“Since when have you been friends with Sasha’s sister?” Zellin asked casually.

“Ah, her. Yeah, I never really noticed her until half a year ago. At that time, she was suddenly popping up everywhere, asking to go hunting, and do quests together. Or just to spar and practice our skills. She’s kind of clingy.” Bo replied without thinking much.

Zellin smiled wryly in response. “Did she mention she had a sister?” Zellin asked casually.

“Ah, yeah. I asked if she had any family once, and she said she just had a sister, but that she would likely become jealous of any friends that Senah makes.” Bo replied.

That bitch! Zellin thought to himself. She pawned off her obsessive sister on me so that she could get a boyfriend!

“Anyways,” Bo continued. “I have a proposal to make.”

“Ah?” Zellin said, snapping out his bitter thoughts. “What is it?”

“How about we call "no summons’ for our match?” Bo suggested.

“Ah? Why? All you guys really need to do is sent out Senah with that beast of a beast of hers, and the match is yours. Are you perhaps giving us a chance?” Zellin asked with a raised eyebrow.

Bo grinned in response. “Let’s just say it’s a way to enhance both of our teams’ individual battle skills.” He said. As Bo had a somewhat close relationship with Zellin, he didn’t want to be ruthless.

“Okay.” Zellin agreed. “Do you want to set up the individual matches too? I suggest you send Senah out first. I’d love to face her without her summons.” Zellin suggested.

Bo grinned as his sense of competition arose. “Okay, fine. Who do you want for our second and third participants?” Bo challenged.

“How about the warrior and the shapeshifter. And how about we say that spirit enchantment summons are allowed, as they’re basically normal enchantments?” Zellin suggested, hoping to get as much as he can get. They also had a flame elementalist, but that guy was seriously deadly and Zellin wasn’t inclined to having slow-healing burn scars for the next couple of months.

“Oh ho ho. You don’t want to face up against me?” Bo taunted.

“Are you kidding?” Zellin responded, intending on being frank. “You’re just as bad as Senah’s polar bear. No one wants to face up against you.”

“Alright. If that’s the way you want it, that’s fine with me.” Bo said, complying with Zellin’s wishes. “But you know, you’re still going to lose, right?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Zellin said dismissively. “We’ll see for sure when it’s done.”

The two teams simply sat on the arena platform and chatted as they waited, knowing that it wouldn’t be long before they were fighting instead of chatting on that platform.

Time flows on and the arena slowly becomes filled with people. Soon, the arena was packed and the referee announced the beginning of the match.

Zellin went on stage, and as agreed upon, Senah went up too.

“Begin!” The referee called out.

Zellin simply stood there, waiting. Senah also remained still for a moment, before calling out, “Should we have a moment to enchant ourselves?”

“Sure,” Zellin responded. Zellin summoned the spirit of a cheetah and fused with it, causing his agility to gain a boost. Zellin didn’t stop there, he also emptied his inventory of all his weapons. Multiple spears and staffs appeared out of thin appeared and landed on the ground with a clang, along with a halberd and a glaive.

Zellin stretched his arms and legs before equipping two javelins. “Ready.” He called out.

Senah raised an eyebrow at this sight. Is he aiming for a long ranged fight? She asked herself. Senah also fused with some enchantment spirits after equipping her mace and shield, then prepared for the javelins.

“Okay,” She replied. “Let’s start.”

The words barely left her mouth before Zellin’s body flickered slightly and Senah saw that the javelin was already upon her. She instinctively raised the shield to cover her face. CLANG!

As the javelin clashed against Sènah’s shield, Zellin was already sprinting forward. When Sènah lowered her shield, her eyes widened as she saw the second javelin flying straight at her, leaving her only with enough time to raise her shield again. CLANG!

When Zellin threw the second javelin, he instantly summoned a reserve spear from his inventory, and when his javelin once again clashed against Senah’s shield, he was already upon her.

Senah lowered her shield and instantly felt a sharp object poke her neck; Zellin’s spear was subtly resting on her throat.

Zellin sighed. I was going to stab her mercilessly, but after getting to know the other team, I’m just not in the mood.

Senah also sighed. She could receive the damage from the spear and attempt to fight back, but if she was too slow, the spear could pierce through her neck, leaving her trapped. Though she’d have sufficient health points left over, Zellin could literally pick her up with the spear and throw her off stage.

“I concede.” She said with some bitterness.

The crowd was surprised. “Well that wasn’t too bad.”

“Yeah,” Someone else said with a nod. “He actually used some skill this time.”

“Yeah, and he didn’t mercilessly stab a helpless girl either.”

Round 2. Zellin vs. the warrior.

Zellin had seen this guy on that spider dungeon clearing the guild did. Though he seemed quite skilled, Zellin wasn’t really sure as he never had the chance to stand out while Zellin was watching.

Zellin thought about using javelins again, but quickly abandoned the idea. It only worked last time because Sènah’s shield limited her visibility, but the opponent was wielding a two-handed sword; plus, they’ve already seen that trick. Zellin equipped a simple spear.

The warrior didn’t waste any time and activated the skill Charge, which was pretty effective in closing the distance with your opponent in a short time. He abruptly stopped and lunged his sword out; he was slightly wary of the range of Zellin’s weapon.

Zellin quickly dodged to the side and swept his spear, but then he saw his opponent’s sword was also sweeping in from the side. Zellin had no choice but roll to the ground, mid-strike. He’s faster than I thought, Zellin observed. Zellin quickly got up and defended against the next strike. As Zellin was quite confident in the durability of his spear and his own strength, he held his hands out and let the shaft of the spear accept the full force.

“Ugh!” Zellin couldn’t help but exclaim as he felt the force of the impact. Shit, he’s stronger than I thought too, Zellin thought with slight worry.

As the warrior pulled back the sword, Zellin abandoned the idea of transitioning his stance as it was too slow, and simply let go of the spear as he opted to insta-summon another short spear which he immediately stabbed at his opponent’s wrist.

“Fuck!” The warrior exclaimed as the spear pierced his wrist, disabling his left hand’s movement, and forcing him to wield the two-handed sword with one hand. That didn’t stop the warrior though, as hurriedly slashed down once again, but before the sword got far, Zellin leaped and insta-summoned a shield which he used to block the sword before it was half-way down, stopping the momentum.

Zellin smirked. This is more my speed, he thought as stabbed his short spear into his opponent’s jugular, midair. He activated the skill Penetrating Stab, and forced the spear in deep before once again, abandoning the spear to insta-summon another, which he used to completely disarm the opponent’s sword, leaving him at the mercy of a series of quick stabs.

“I concede!” The warrior exclaimed. The warrior awkwardly pulled the spear which stabbed into his throat. He cringed as the spear painfully made its journey out of his body, before handing the spear to Zellin and walking off the stage.

Round 3. Zellin vs. the shapeshifter.

When the referee announced the match to begin, Zellin quickly sprinted forward, while the opponent took the time to transform. The shapeshifter’s muscles bulged out, his hair grew thickly on the sides of his face and fur grew on his bare upper body. Zellin threw javelin after javelin as he ran, but the shapeshifter refused to dodge and allowed the javelins to pierce into his body. Then the shapeshifter’s eyes began to glow with a yellow light and his hands transformed into deadly claws.

By this time, Zellin was within range, and he thrusted his recently summoned pike out. The shapeshifter’s elongated arms weren’t slow, and managed to catch the pike, mid-strike, and ripped it out of Zellin’s hands. Zellin tried to summon another spear, but as a new spear found itself in his hands, the back-end of his pike, now in the hands of the shapeshifter, whipped against his face sending him to the ground.

After that, the shapeshifter’s beastly and bloody body pounced, and thoroughly ravaged Zellin into conceding.

“Fuck,” Zellin exclaimed, as he walked off the stage. “What a beast.”

“Who wants to go up next?” Reyal asked.

“I’m not going.”

“Me neither.”

Coral and Sasha immediately refused. They didn’t want to be at the mercy of a savage beast.

“I’ll go.” Liu called out bravely.

For the win. Liu vs. the shapeshifter.

“He fought bravely,” was all Zellin could say when Liu’s beaten and bruised body walked back to his seat. Liu was simply overpowered. Whether it was speed or strength, he was thoroughly beaten when up against that beast. It didn’t take long for him to be cut up with claw marks, and for the beast’s immense strength to send him flying off stage.

“Crap, I guess it’s my turn.” Reyal said dejectedly. He couldn’t force this responsibility on a girl.

Reyal bravely went on stage, but the second the shapeshifter charged forward on all fours, he immediately yelled, “I concede!”

“Fucking losers!” The crowd yelled out.

Zellin shook his head thinking, there’s no point in trying now. Zellin saw that they only really had a chance in the one-on-one duels, and had no expectation of winning the whole match. He only went this far for the fun of it, so he went up on stage and announced his team’s forfeit to the referee.

The crowd was no doubt, displeased, and quickly commented on their team’s cowardice. But Zellin didn’t care, as there was no way to win against Bo’s team. He’d rather save himself the trouble.

Though Liu was also displeased that they forfeited, he too, saw no way of winning.

The king shook his head as he watched the match, disguised, from the crowd. What a bunch of babies. How am I supposed to raise that kid if he has no fighting spirit? That Liu kid though, he has potential. I seem to remember he began walking down the road of the blacksmith. Maybe, I should help him out… The king thought to himself.