[Greetings everybody. Congratulations to the adventurers who won the first round. However, now its the real deal. It"s the start of the second round. Everyone here is lucky enough to witness the first ever doc.u.mented case of monster evolution. And the end of the adventurer age. With our secret art of evolution and our monsters, we will rule over the world.] (Broadcast)

The evolved Killer Ape became eerily quiet. Listening to the guild master’s broadcast, it seems that he has complete control over the monster.

[Until now we have always relied on those savages, adventurers to protect us. In reality, without adventurers we would suffer at the hands of wild monsters. It was all we could do as normal citizens to suck up to adventurers as they abuse their power in current society. We had no choice but to cater to their every whim.] (Guildmaster)

Suddenly, the guildmaster began to give a speech. It had never occurred to me that a person hating adventurers would ever become the guildmaster that supports adventurers in every way.

Actually, it could be the other way. He became to dislike adventurers after becoming the guild master.

[However, it will be different from now on. The ability to rule over wild monsters has been discovered. And by researching this ability, We have managed to discover the ability to mutate monsters, to make them grow beyond their previous capabilities and evolve them. Everyone should be able to understand this. Rather than spending so much time and resources into raising weak humans into strong adventurers, we can instead raise strong monsters, far stronger than anything humanly possible. Unlike adventurers, they are also completely obedient. Please take a look at the power of the evolved Killer Ape.] (Guildmaster)

Seems like we are the unfortunate ones that were chosen to be sacrificial lambs.

The staff panicked and outside the barrier removed the barrier trying to get us out of the arena. The moment the barrier was lifted, chaos ensured as screams came out from the audience and every began rushing to the exits. The staff are good people, but unfortunately it was the wrong move.

Even if it meant trapping us with it, the monster should be left contained inside the barrier.

If I were to inform them about the voice belonging to the guildmaster, there is a chance that they would refuse to believe it.

Nicholas and Isaruk ran towards the exit trying to escape.

[Old man, you should escape too.] (Nicole)

[That monster is too powerful.] (Isaruk)

Escaping is the correct option to take here.

The mutated Killer Ape"s strength feels like it"s on par with a level 50 monster. There is zero chance of winning this battle.

[Piece of advice to the adventurers in the ring. If all of you escape the ring or die, I"ll order the monster to attack all the civilians in the area. It will become a BIG incident. Well I"m sure all of you are going to escape anyways! You adventurers, are self-centered people who only look out for themselves! Even if reinforcements arrive, I"ll kill all of them!] (Guildmaster)

Giving advice to us adventurers, such a nice person.

I prepared my stance while grabbing my sword.

Although the audience had started evacuating a while back, everyone is disorganized and in a mess. The evacuation hasn"t progressed one bit. I don"t want to imagine the damage it will cause if the guildmaster were to let the monster loose.

[You heard what he said. You guys get away, I"ll stay here and fight.] (Youya)

[No way. In that case, I"ll st] (Nicole)

[I"ll stay to-] (Isaruk)

[There"s no need. He mentioned that everyone has to leave before he"ll unleash that beast. Only one person has to stay behind.] (Youya)

Nicole and Isaruk both gasped in shock.

[We aren"t going to leave you here to die!] (Nicole)

[We can provide support! Even a little if we"re here!] (Isaruk)

It is hard to believe that the two of them were trembling before the Killer Ape earlier after a rough beat. I"m glad that pulling off a show to pull their spirits back wasn"t a waste of effort. They will become amazing adventurers in the future.

[Having the courage to battle against an opponent that you may or may not defeat is a privilege that belongs to the young. But take heed of the fact that too much courage leads to recklessness. So I request of you to give up on this battle. If you were to join in the battle you will die. That is without a doubt. You guys will just be dragging me down in the battle. Now GO.] (Youya)

The two of them remained silent as they recalled how overwhelming the mutated ape is based on their encounter against it pre-evolution.

[No.. I refuse. If we leave you to die here.. Then we are the losers here. That kind of loss-] (Nicole)

I put on an air and started laughing.

[Since earlier just what have you been trying to imply? Self sacrifice. Dying. Doing what you want without regrets. I think you have misunderstood. If you guys aren"t here being dead weights. Then I can win this easily.] (Youya)

Increase my concentration and control my breathing.

[I mentioned earlier that the courage and recklessness to dive into a battle against an overwhelming opponent is the privilege of the youth. If that is the case, then the privilege of the old would be the acc.u.mulation of experience from constantly diving into battles to the death, finding ways to overcome opponents that you would have no chance to defeat otherwise. Old men only partic.i.p.ates in battles where he can win.] (Youya)

The brave men who planned on sacrificing themselves are began crying while leaving the battlefield. With this, I have even more reason to ensure that I do not fall here to prevent wounding their pride even further. As their senior, that is something I will absolutely not do.

I would have two win conditions where I get to survive with my life.

First would be to defeat the monster and survive.

Second would be to survive and buy enough time for other adventurers that are capable of defeating this monster. If only Phil was among the audience, then this situation wouldn"t be as dire as it is.

However, thinking about it clearly, my conditions aren"t impossible.

[Oh? Only one adventurer was willing to stay? Trash will remain trash no matter what. No one else would ever consider abandoning their friends for their own survival. Now, enough waiting. Go, my cute toy.] (Guildmaster)

The mutated Killer Ape is finally ready to battle. On the other hand, I have been ready from the start.

[Oie you public display. How long are you goona stare at me with that "I hate you for gouging my eye out" look?] (Youya)

[OUHHHHH] (Mutated Killer Ape)

Now then, it"s the start of the second round.

Back in the days where I had a s.h.i.tty status, I obtained a means of overcoming my low status to allow me to compete against other adventurers. For me who had neither speed nor power, it was the only thing that I had. Deflect was difficult to maintain but it made me stronger by a huge margin. However omnipotent it could be, there was a limit.

Note: I gave a name to Youya"s technique as it fit the description of his technique while making it easier to write.

[UHOOOOO] (Mutated Killer Ape)

[UWOOOOO] (Youya)

I properly received the blow and diverted the force elsewhere. It doesn"t matter how fast the Killer Ape could move nor how powerful his blows are. So long as I can antic.i.p.ate his movements several seconds into the future, Deflect can be used perfectly. However, it wasn"t enough to nullify his power and each blow threw me around the arena.

Deflect isn"t a technique that nullifies a person"s attack, but rather a technique that allows me to receive an attack roughly ten times my strength. Regardless of how perfect I perform it, it is inevitable for me to receive some of the impact and damage when performing Deflect.

If it’s the worse case scenario where the opponent has strength far superior than I can deflect, then I"ll be blown away. Just like what is happening right now.

Right now, even though I am killing my momentum after each blow, I"m immediately sent flying once more. The mutated ape became so fast that he could easily move to where I was sent flying in an instant, cracking the ground in the process.

[Ugh. This is difficult.] (Youya)

His power is probably at least eleven or twelve times my own. It"s not a level where I can manage with just Deflect. Even my Deflect is starting to falter to his  power and my footing is becoming worse.

If I were to directly impact the wall of the arena or the ground without breaking my momentum, I will suffer substantial damage.

I could feel the pain from each blow penetrating into my arms as if my bones were shattering.

It’s taking my all just to avoid taking a fatal blow.

I received the same attack five times consecutively without being able to counterattack. My body is slowly getting heavier and my arms can"t be lifted anymore.,

At this rate, I won"t be able to move around soon.

The longer I survive, the further the citizens can get away from here and the closer I get to my second win condition. It is still not impossible for me to win.

Without caring about defense, the mutated Killer Ape dashed towards me from the front.

[It"s finally done. Superconductive Bullet!] (Youya)

A bullet resembling a lightning bolt flies towards the Killer Ape. It"s the magic that I began casting at the start of the battle, customized from the Intermediate cla.s.s magic Thunderstorm focusing on it"s power and range by sacrificing it"s area of effect and casting time. All in all the chant took one minute, and I had to buy time for that minute.

Based on raw power, Napalm Strike would be more powerful than Superconductive Bullet, however that spell"s activation period was too short for me to use in this battle to land cleanly onto my opponent.

The lightning bullet sent towards the ape penetrates the left side of it"s chest, scorching a hole.

[UGAHOOOOO] (Mutated Killer Ape)

Although the bullet wasn"t powerful enough to completely scorch through to it"s back, it bought several seconds as the ape suffered burns as well as paralysis due to the electric element.

If it"s now, I can do it.

I started a new chant, quickly closing the distance between the two of us as fast as I could.

My left hand began to shine red as it started trembling.

[Napalm Strike!!] (Youya)

It was my strongest spell that focused every element into it"s power. The strongest fire that blasts a super high temperature blast at point-blank.

I struck my glowing left hand into the Killer Ape"s left chest.

This was my goal from the beginning.

By using Superconductive Bullet, I can paralyze and stop the monster"s movements while burning the bristles around it"s chest, giving me the opening to cast my strongest spell Napalm Strike.

It is the reason why I spent the last-minute being thrown like a ragdoll!

Let this blow penetrate through!

[UGAAAA] (Killer Ape)

However, that was naive of me.

The blow that I hoped to end the battle with, was stopped at his skin.

The Killer Ape swung his right leg.

I brought up my left hand to intercept his kick.

A dull crushing sound could be heard.

Along with my armour, my left arm was crushed and I was blown away.

Somehow, I managed to stand and glared at the monster

[Even my Napalm Strike was defended against just by his skin.] (Youya)

My left arm was in extreme pain from being broken.

I"m lucky that it wasn"t my main hand as a right hander but it means that I can"t cast Napalm Strike anymore. If I were to use it on my right hand, it meant throwing my sword away which I needed for my Deflect. Based on my status, it should had been possible for Napalm Strike to effective against the monster, however it appears that somehow it developed a resistance against fire due to its evolution. Thanks to that my calculations were thrown off-course.

However, my plan wasn"t in vain.

Thanks to the damage it received, the Killer Ape became wary and began keeping a distance between us, allowing me some breathing room.

[Youya! Luna will fight too!] (Luna)

[If it"s support then that’s my specialty!] (Til)

Appearing from the exit were Luna and Til. I"m glad that the two of them showed up. If I were to lose here, then the more adventurers around the better. However.

[Don"t interfere!] (Youya)

[But, you are..] (Luna)

[Don"t worry. I can win this. So watch and learn. We will fight together in the next battle.] (Youya)

Luna is a sharp child but she is still a child. If I were to just tell her not to join, she would argue against it. However, if I told her to watch so that she could be more effective in helping next time, she will listen.

Luna silently nods and continued to watch my battle from afar.

[Til. I"ll leave Luna to you.] (Youya)

[I understand, but are you really able to win?] (Til)

[Don"t worry, I still have a trump card. From now on, its no holding back.] (Youya)

I feels like it"s time to activate my trump card. However, it"s a shame that I won"t be able to activate it along with an attack magic. If I"m unable to use an attacking magic, then I"ll use that spell instead. Theres no doubt that the situation is worsening by the minute. My body has acc.u.mulated a lot of damage and fatigue. In addition my left hand is unusable.

Finally, it looks like the Killer Ape is ready to attack once more. I took a deep breath to prepare myself.

This time, I"ll activate two of my trump cards.

First is the power that I obtained thanks to my knowledge of my previous life. The power that Magic Knights were known for back in the game era.

Second is the power I obtained from my experience living in this life. The power that I obtained when I suffered from my incompetent status.

The Killer Ape prepares for the third round. It is a little bit intimidating that I no longer have the option to use Deflect and receive his attacks.

But I"m not afraid. I absolutely cannot lose this battle. This is a test of the experience acc.u.mulated in this life and the knowledge from my previous life. There is too much at stake for me to lose here.

Now, let the third round begin.