Chapter 151: The Second Day of Preliminaries Begins

It was a fast moving morning as Joshua found himself waking up a little late and meeting his family down at the dinner table for breakfast. He had stayed out pretty late into the night at the bar with all of the partying that was going on. Joshua wasn't really the type to do those sorts of things but with the devil known as Adrian hanging over his shoulder all night long he never really got the chance to go home and rest for the night. In Joshua's mind it was just a good thing that he wouldn't have to worry about facing anyone challenging for a while, so partying for one night wouldn't have much effect on the tournament for him.

At the start of breakfast Joshua noticed that his father was already gone which was another obvious sign that he was avoiding his children at the moment. Joshua was a bit worried about it at first, but judging by the amused look that his mother had on through the entire morning, it seemed that their father was avoiding them and staying distant so that he wouldn't come across as overbearing in mentoring them throughout the tournament. She also seemed to find it cute that their father was struggling to keep the disinterested façade going. Joshua was just going to have to ask him his questions about the Iron Claw during dinner time.

After breakfast his mother headed out to the hospital while Joshua and Amy just relaxed while watching television until it was time to get teleported to the battle arena once again. This time around Joshua and Amy both had to wait a couple hours longer than last time before they were summoned to the battle arena. There were already some matches going on before he and his sister had been brought into their waiting rooms. Joshua could tell based off of the level of competitors in the early match ups that the system was saving the fights of the stronger contestants until later in the day so that more people would be able to watch them.

Joshua still had five matches to go through and it was already getting closer to noon. With an annoyed sigh due to the fact that he wouldn't be able to finish all of his matches until at least after five with the hour of break time between each match, Joshua made sure he had all of his gear set in place just in case he came across a tougher match this time around. It was directly at noon when Joshua could feel himself getting teleported away to the arena as he was met with another large crowd of people that were excited when they saw him appear. It was clear that all of the media coverage of the tournament had gotten the attention of several people throughout the hub city.

Since the crowd seemed to recognize Joshua he waved at them to get them amped up a bit more as their cheers grew even louder. It was obvious that Joshua's popularity had grown even more after his first day in the tournament. This was the first time that a lot of civilians were seeing him in action since the battle arena was mostly for explorers before this tournament started. Having the media put him up as one of the most likely participants to win the whole thing was also giving Joshua a big rise in reputation that was along the lines of what Joshua and the rest of his guild were all hoping for with this tournament.

After giving a little attention to the crowd Joshua turned to look at his opponent for the first match of the day. This time around he was fighting someone that was obviously a knight. With all the gear they had on that even completely covered their face Joshua was ready for his opponent to turtle up and try to drag out the match looking for a single opportunity to capitalize on. The only reason he was able to tell that his opponent was a woman was because of the slight change in figure of her armor and the long brown hair that came out of the back of her helmet.

After looking over his opponent for a few moments Joshua checked out her level and noticed he was starting the day off against someone that was a decent level of sixty-two for the day. Judging by the fact that she already had her shield up and sword at the ready before the countdown had even reached ten seconds, Joshua was certain that she was rather tense for the upcoming fight. One of the few things Joshua wanted to avoid dealing with were tanks early on in the tournament since they would likely attempt to drag out matches for long periods of time. If she were closer in level and skill to Joshua she might have been able to accomplish that, but Joshua knew the best way to take down a tank without out completely overpowering them or wearing them down from a distance was to restrain them and force them to surrender.

Joshua bent his knees just before the countdown ended and was ready to charge forward. His opponent did something similar, but she also held her shield out front ready to use it to defend herself while her blade was held behind it ready to attack whenever she found an opening. The moment the countdown ended Joshua charged across the arena directly towards her. She didn't waste any time before activating a skill as her shield glowed brightly and a small barrier made out of mana formed on it directly in front of her. The barrier seemed to be like a smaller version of a shield wall and it was thicker than most shield walls showing it was specialized in blocking more powerful concentrated attacks.

The shield didn't stop Joshua from following his plan as he stomped his foot in the ground one more time shoving off at a speed that made him look like a blur to his opponent. If he was like his sister he wouldn't care about the shield at all and just use her penetrative attacks to punch through it, but Joshua decided to end it with another head on situation. He reared his fist back once he got close and slammed it directly into the shield with full force. The giant difference in strength showed as his opponent legs buckled from the force of his blow, but that wasn't his main goal. Instead he focused on the fact that the barrier shattered from how powerful his attack was giving him a clean shot at his opponent.

She raised her shield in hopes of stalling out Joshua even if he was up close and blinding his view of her, but he simply grabbed the shield with his other hand and pulled it down harshly slamming it into the ground. Her sword came stabbing directly between his eyes once he removed the shield, but her movements were to slow with all of the gear she had on and Joshua was able to tilt his head out of the way as he grabbed her arm and pulled her forward before tripping her and planting her directly into the ground. He the planted his knee into the back of her armor while twisting her arm into a position where it would snap if he put any more pressure on it.

"Surrender." Joshua simply stated as he had put his opponent in the worse position possible. She tried to struggle for a few seconds but all he did was tighten his hold causing her bones to start creaking. When she vanished from the arena Joshua knew that she had surrendered the match and he was once again the winner. He gave the crowd one more wave before he disappeared leaving an overly excited crowd that were shocked by how he was easily able to break through a barrier with just a punch. Forcing his opponent to surrender soon after that seemed like child's play in comparison.

When Joshua got back to the waiting room he was a bit disappointed with the match. It wasn't because of the level difference, but instead was because he hadn't come across any unique job holders in his preliminaries up to this point. At least then he'd have a bit of fun figuring out what their abilities and skills were. Right now Joshua was able to figure out what he should do just based off of his opponents jobs and the gear which was easily possible because of the level difference. His opponents had no idea what he was capable of, but it was fairly obvious to Joshua what he was up against from the start of the match.

What Joshua was disappointed in however was that the system had put him up against a knight. The fact that it wanted him to fight a tank signaled it was trying to slow down the pace at which he was clearing through his matches. Knights were the hardest tanks to take down quickly and usually any fight against a knight or a heavy shield user would get greatly dragged out. The only other matches that might be dragged out in a similar vein would be ones against mages who play things safe. In other words mages who are constantly trying to restrict you rather than actually do any damage.

Joshua sighed as he watched a few matches that were on the closer side while waiting for his own next match. He was just hoping that his next few matches wouldn't all be similar to the first one. A highly experienced knight wouldn't let Joshua take his shield away so easily and would know to keep turning it so that he wouldn't easily break through their barriers. Since Joshua was able to punch the barrier straight on it was easy to break, but if it was angled or curved at the point of impact it would be a lot harder to break through.

After an hour of waiting it was finally time for Joshua to go on to his next match. He crossed his fingers and prayed that the system wasn't going to do what he was expecting as he was taken away to the arena. Joshua looked around at the cheering crowd once more that was excited to see him. The moment he appeared several of the crowd members stood up and started roaring loudly in anticipation for the coming fight. At this point they were just happy to see how quickly he would be able to take out his opponents. When Joshua finished waving to the crowd he turned back to look at his opponent and let out a tired sigh as his shoulders slumped. The only words he could think to say were "Damn".