Ella's Monster

——— Minho ———

Mira sat next to me chomping on Celestine's chocolate to recover her energy in preparation for the second match of the league phase to take place in the afternoon. The Contest schedule dictated that we fight two matches per day until the round of 16, after which there would be one match per day from the quarter-finals onward. It meant we had to manage Mira's condition well. It was like she had a fever, and the only cure was more chocolate. 

I was exhausted myself too though, but perhaps more mentally than physically…

Our next opponent was Ella and her match was about to start. She was from a different class so we did not know her monster. It was crucial we observe this fight and formulate our next strategy. After all, Mira's illusions were still only illusions and we managed to beat King Kong through cunning rather than through any superiority in force. 

Mira seemed surprisingly calm as if she already had some kind of trump card up her sleeve without seeing the opponent, but I was about to soil my pants when I saw Ella's monster. 

Once Sir Odobert - referee again for this match - announced the start, Ella's opponent - some boy called Tanaka - unveiled his monster.

It wasn't any animal creature from my world, but if I were to make comparisons, it looked like a massive anaconda with legs like centipedes. 

Oh, man… I really don't want to kiss that ugly shit… Not that I could think of any creature that it might want to kiss.

When Ella revealed her monster though, I felt like this was even worse than King Kong I had to face. 

This one was a creature from my world, but not from the same era. 

There was no mistaking it. It was none other than the greatest predator to have ever walked the Earth, the one and only - Tyrannosaur Rex.

"Mira, we are in trouble."

"Mm-hm."

"Seriously. That thing was like the strongest predator in my world - like EVER."

"Stronger than Humans?"

"Mira… Humans were not strong, physically."

"But you guys ruled the world, no?"

"We didn't live in the same era though. They went extinct before Humans even appeared."

"How did they go extinct?"

"Most widely accepted theory is that it was due to an asteroid."

"What's that?"

"Your world never had such an event?"

"Maybe we did, but maybe you guys call them by different names."

That was true. I've seen many similarities in this world to my human world, and the 'people' here lived very similar to us humans as well. I mean we even looked identical and the language used was, inexplicably, close enough to English that I could understand and speak. Although there did seem to exist some significant cultural differences that caused plenty of unfortunate misunderstandings with Mira, to my eyes, I wouldn't have been surprised that they were related to humans in one way or another - to the extent that I would have even bet on them being our descendant, except for that I could not fathom how humans come to use magic and it was their lore that humans 'destroyed' the world. 

"It's when a star drops and crashes to your land."

"Wha—?! That is POSSIBLE?"

"Yup."

"Oh my… that would be disastrous."

"Yes, disastrous enough to wipe out the strongest species in the world."

"I wouldn't be surprised that OUR world would suffer the same if that ever happened."

"Anyways, it's not like we could summon an asteroid or anything… or… could you?"

"Obviously not."

"We gotta find a way to defeat it. We will be fighting Ella in the afternoon."

As we were saying this, the 'anaconda' (with tons of legs) and T-Rex were circling each other, their eyes burning with predatory appetite. I was curious how this was going to pan out, but if I had to bet I would have bet on T-Rex. The anaconda would have to wrap its body around T-Rex to strangle it, and it could possibly move faster than the massive snakes due to its legs, but once T-Rex sank its teeth into it it would stand no chance whatsoever. 

After a few tense minutes, the anaconda made its move. As I expected, it moved at incredible speed but it aimed for the legs of T-Rex, probably trying to trip it and wrap its body around it once the T-Rex was on the ground. 

But alas, T-Rex wasn't the greatest predator of all time for no reason. Although it didn't exactly jump, it launched itself around the same time toward the anaconda and landed a bite on the poor snake's body, and it was a game over, almost too quick and decisive to be anti-climactic. 

As the T-Rex chomped on its body, the anaconda was powerless and bled a lot - I mean a LOT, and the match was over in less than two minutes once the monstrous dinosaur managed to get its bite. 

"Tanaka's monster is dead. The winner is Ella!", Sir Odobert announced and the spectators clapped at the resounding victory. 

"This means we only have one group match left.", Mira noted. 

"True. Tanaka no longer has a monster to fight with. Too bad for him."

But obviously, I was happy that I did not have to find a way to seduce or tranquilize the disgusting creature. 

It also meant that with only three contestants left, defeating Ella would give us another 3 points to make it 6, meaning we would progress to the next round automatically regardless of the result between Ella and Tanguy. 

How to defeat a T-Rex though…

"Do you know any creature that can defeat that big lizard?", Mira asked. 

"No."

"I think we can get enough offensive power to defeat it."

"I don't think so."

"I'm sure we can."

"I have no idea where you get your confidence from."

"Trust me. I found a way."

"Which is?"

"The only problem is how we can stay alive before landing an attack.", Mira stroked her chin. 

"Well… surviving it - barely, might be possible."

"How?"

"Something with a very hard shell… something that even the jaws of T-Rex couldn't break. But I don't think I can summon anything out of mouth that will cover me with such an armor. That T-Rex could probably chew through plate armor like they were made of paper."

"Any creature from that era that might have been a tricky foe?"

"Well, what's the point anyway though? All you can put up is an illusion."

"That's only what you think."

Mira got up, took another bite of chocolate, and looked down at me with a smirk.