Chapter 79: Round 2: Kitty VS Fire!

Kenji's POV:

"WELCOME TO THE SECOND DAY OF THE WALPURGIS FESTIVAL! NOW WITHOUT FURTHER ADO! LET'S BEGIN! COMPETITORS, PLEASE TAKE YOUR STAGE!"

Before the competition started the arenas had changed. As now half the participants have disappeared, the stages would fuse together until only half of the original arenas remained. The individual stages have now grown in size, giving us more space to fight our opponents.

I had been watching as Aiko came up with another pair of weirdly decorated gauntlets. They were made from the hide of some fluffy creature, and it seemed like they weren't designed for humans as they only had three large fingers. I had to squish my fingers together just to put them on, which made it uncomfortable to make a fist.

"TODAY'S MATCH UP WILL BE BETWEEN THE: THE INFERNO SPEAR AND THE KITTY GLOVES"

"Seriously, do you just come up with the name first and just brute force the design without any thought?" I asked Aiko as I got up on stage.

"Pretty much."

She admitted it.

"Seriously when I'm done, we got to have a talk about th-! Whoa!"

Just then a pillar of fire came spiraling in my direction. I barely managed to dodge a direct hit while it singed the tip of my nose leaving a light burn.

"Okay! Let's go!"

The guy I was fighting right now was one of the people I watched practice earlier. He was among the more skilled fighters who I would rather not have to face on the battlefield. He has excellent skills with the spear, and the difference in our range gives him an advantage thanks to that flamethrower spear. I should probably try to get into close quarters combat.

I moved forwards, but every time I started closing the distance he would throw another pillar of fire my way and move farther away as I dodged it. Luckily, he mustn't be too used to fighting in an enclosed space as he made a mistake. He accidentally backed himself up against the cage, that limits his options of retreating to either left or right. If I can dodge his attack in the same way he runs, I can catch him.

The boss once said during combat training that the body always gives of little signs to hint at their next movements. If I can spot one of those signs, I can figure it out.

Just then I could see his right foot turning, and judging by his stance it would be more efficient for him to run to my left, so that's where I'll dodge. And low and behold, I managed to cut him off as he ran to the left.

Another combat tip from the boss is about the best time to strike an enemy, which is during their attack. Most creatures will choose to defend themselves when attacked by an enemy. Hence, why when an enemy moves to strike they rarely expect their opponent to go on the offensive. Which is why, taking inspiration from my first fight with the boss, I attempted to dodge his spear thrust with minimal movements as I took a step forward to close the distance. Once I was in range, I grabbed him by the throat with both hands, while activating the enchantments on the 'Kitty Gloves'. Which were called dehydration. The enchantments absorb the moisture from the targets skin and bloodstream as the fur on the cloves straightens out and hardens into needles, sucking out their bodily fluids and soaking the gloves. It didn't take long for him to grow pale. As he pushed me away, he collapsed while grabbing his slightly bleeding neck as small drops of blood started leaking from the punctured wounds.

"THE WINNER IS ENCHANTER AIKO FOR HER ENCHANTED: KITTY GLOVES!"

*HUFF*

*PUFF*

"Are you okay?" Aiko asked as she looked at my side.

"Hehe! I guess *huff* I was a bit to rash." I said as I fell forwards.

Aiko moved in to catch me, but with her tiny frame she just ended up getting pinned underneath me.