Chapter 161: Pushing through Match after Match

After noticing the shift in the amount of opponents that he was going to have to fight in his first match, Joshua started to pay attention to the gear and jobs of his opponents. The first thing he took note of was the fact that there was still only one tank in the group. That boded well for the match not dragging on with Joshua having to try to take down two turtles at the same time. This time around the tank was a knight and he was heavily armored so it wasn't likely that Joshua was going to be able to take down the tank in a similar manner to the berserker. The knight was level sixty-five and had a fairly decent looking shield that could probably with stand the impact of some of Joshua's regular blows without aura.

Behind the tank there were two close ranged fighters with different jobs. The one standing to his left was a swordsman that focused on only using one blade and seemed to have a rather calm disposition even when knowing they were at a great disadvantage. He was level sixty-four and seemed to be a bit more experienced than a lot of the swordsman that Joshua had seen so far in the tournament. On the left side of the knight was a rather smaller martial artist that only came up to the shoulder of the two men. Joshua assumed that she was the overly energetic sort based off of the way she was bouncing on her feet with a big grin on her face. At level sixty-four just like the swordsman the little battle maniac seemed to be the one that was the most excited at the idea of going against Joshua in the group.

The last member of the group was a mage that clearly specialized in the most common elemental magic of fire. Joshua didn't know exactly why so any mages tended to trend towards basing their fighting style around fire magic, but he assumed it was simply because of its attack power. The mage was a fairly tall woman that was almost the same height as the two men in the group and she held what looked like a wooden staff that would help her empower any of her spells. She was level sixty-six making her the highest level member of her group and she seemed to realize that since she was the one doing the most talking as they all gathered together to discuss their plans for the match.

Joshua decided not to use his sword this time around since it was just a normal blade that would have trouble tearing through the armor of the knight without using his own aura to empower it. All of the other members of the group he was facing could just as easily be taken down by Joshua's martial skill instead of using a sword. None of them had any heavy armor with the mage wearing a robe, and both of the close ranged fighters having extremely light weight leather gear. The only equipment Joshua decided to keep for the fight was his gun just so he could throw off the mages timing whenever given an opportunity.

When it started getting close to the time for the match to start the mage started putting up some distance between herself and the others, while the knight strode forward preparing to block off Joshua's path. The other two stayed to either side of the knight ready to attack Joshua at any moment. Right away Joshua could see some major issues with their form of approach, so he decided to be helpful and show them just where they went wrong. A small smile spread across Joshua's face just as the countdown was coming to an end. His opponents seemed to be confident in their positioning and the mage was already preparing to fire a few spells in his direction as soon as possible. This mage didn't set up all that many traps around herself outside of a few flame walls that would shoot up high into the air if anyone tried to get close.

The second the countdown ended Joshua raced forward towards the tank who held his shield out with his sword ready to attack Joshua the moment he tried to knock aside his shield. Joshua grinned a bit after realizing the knight was at least smart enough not to waste time using a shield wall with Joshua's ability to get around it. Instead the knight's shield started to glow slightly showing the obvious signs of a physical skill taking effect. Once Joshua got close enough the knight slammed his shield forward in an attempt to smash Joshua. It was a skill that Joshua had seen in the past that was meant to stun him for a brief period of time.

The swordsman and the martial artist both seemed prepared to go in and attack the moment that Joshua was stunned, while the mage was prepared to fire away a large lance of flames directly at Joshua the instant that he was frozen in place. It was an ok strategy if Joshua planned on being overbearing and taking the knights attack head on, but instead Joshua stopped on the spot the moment that the shield came charging forward towards him and then grabbed the top of the shield. Joshua didn't let the knight pull the shield away or reposition himself as he pushed the shield downward and flipped over the top of the knight. Before falling onto the other side of the knight Joshua kicked off the man's back causing him to stumble away as Joshua charged straight passed the two close ranged fighters.

The swordsman and the martial artist tried to close in on him and stop his movements, but Joshua slammed his foot on the ground and picked up speed racing forward towards the mage who decided to fire off her spell in an attempt to slow Joshua down. The spell was powerful and precise as it aimed directly for where Joshua was headed, the only problem with it was the fact that it wasn't the type of attack you would use to deal damage over a large area. The mage was taking the two close range fighters next to Joshua into consideration when she fired off her spell.

Joshua took advantage of that small sense of camaraderie that the mage had with her two team mates as he leaped over the flame spear with a slight hop that allowed it go right underneath him. When the spear crashed into the ground it created a small explosion that wasn't big enough to effect Joshua or the mages teammates that were chasing him from behind. The small explosion was just enough to halt their pursuit and allow Joshua to go up against the mage one on one without her having another spell to attack him with. The entire strategy that they had come up with had been destroyed by the sheer fact that Joshua ignored the knight, swordsman, and martial artist to go after the mage from the start.

By the time the mage was prepared to cast another spell Joshua was already in her face and kneeing her harshly in the stomach. The blow canceled her spell and nearly knocked her complete out of the match. From the shattering sound that Joshua heard when his hit connected he could tell that the mage had some kind of barrier that was supposed to block one of his blows, but it barely kept her in the match instead of taking the hit like planned. Before the swordsman and martial artist could catch up Joshua slammed the mage into the ground forcing her to vanish from the arena and turned around charging towards the pair of close ranged fighters.

The knight was still off in the distance trying to catch up with the rest of the group so Joshua planned to take down the other two before he could even make it over. The martial artist was slightly faster than the swordsman so she got to Joshua first and feinted a punch before using her momentum to twist into a high kick that was aimed for Joshua's head. Of course Joshua didn't have any trouble seeing the attack coming after reading her movements and easily caught the aura empowered kick. The force of the blow wasn't enough to make Joshua budge from his position, but he did whistle at the stinging pain he felt in his hand from catching her attack.

It was apparent that the martial artist wasn't expecting this to happen by the widening of her eyes, but she didn't stop there and tried to turn and kick Joshua with her other leg. Joshua of course didn't allow this to happen as he easily extended out his hand and held her in the air away from his body so that the kick had no chance of reaching. Before she could try anything else Joshua swung her directly at the surprised swordsman who was attempting to stab him in the side while Joshua was busy with the martial artist. The angle Joshua swung her allowed him to impale her on the swordsman's blade while knocking him aside. The martial artist disappeared from the arena after taking too much damage while the swordsman was struggling to get up from the sudden blow.

Joshua quickly stomped his foot on the swordsman's chest forcing him out of the match as well. All that was left in the end was the single knight that had missed his stun at the start of the match. The knight knew that the fight was over, but he still charged forward with his sword glowing brightly as mana swirled around it. It was clear that he was trying to do anything that he could to get in at least one hit. Joshua caught the knight's arm before he could even bring the blade down and then slammed his shoulder into the man knocking him down and taking his blade away after breaking the man's wrist. Before the knight could get up Joshua stabbed the still energy filled blade through his armor and watched as the man vanished from the arena.

Soon enough Joshua was back in his waiting room away from the cheering crowd where he could watch other people's matches once more. A short system message popped up announcing that the next match would be the last match for him of the day and if all things stayed true to form then he'd be up against five people this time around. Joshua got comfortable waiting for his next match as he watched Lilly on the screen casually standing there and letting Momo and a Praying Mantis that she had summoned from her soul realm toy around with her opponents. It was a funny match to watch.