——— Minho ———
"Well done, Hammer Boy!"
Mira was still beaming, brimming with joy after our victory against Petrocanavar.
Hammer Boy, what a tacky name…
But it did make me chuckle.
I think the spectacle of fireworks and flash bangs won the crowd over, and the crowd was still cheering with some even chanting "Human! Human!"
I was worried for a second that Mira might feel people should be chanting HER name, but she didn't seem to mind.
I suppose Petrocanavar was a difficult monster to defeat. As Mira said, many great adventurers met an untimely end running into these monsters in the mountain ranges. If we weren't in the Monster Battle Contest, I probably wouldn't have suspected this big chunk of rock was a monster too before it stood up, and in the wild, it was probably too late by then.
My whole body ached and I was exhausted, but it was a very nice victory that made me feel proud of Mira and me as a team.
Except that, I was still disturbed by the dream I had last night.
"Congratulations."
As soon as we left the battlefield and headed to a big tree, under which there was a spot where many students sat to get a bit wider view of the battle, we heard a familiar voice from behind.
"Thanks, Celestine."
Mira responded first, and I turned to greet her as well.
"That was an impressive victory, Minho." She smiled. A genuine congratulations.
"Thanks."
It was a bit of a dilemma for me. On one hand, I wanted to cheer for Celestine in this tournament as she'd been so kind to us - except that I was shit scared of her Ghost. On the other hand, if Mira and I really kept on progressing and Celestine did too, then we were seeded to meet in the Semi-Finals. I didn't want to fight her not only because of the ghost.
"How did your fight go?" Mira asked as Celestine had her match on another battlefield at the same time as us. Judging by how calm she seemed, it looked like she had a relatively easy victory.
I wondered what the Ghost's true capability was. All I knew was that it was invisible, untouchable, and usually, they held a lot of grudge or some extremely strong wish that made them refuse to - or unable to - move on.
And of course, I was scared of them.
"The fight went OK. I was lucky to win." She's being a bit modest here probably.
"I guess we will meet in the Semi Final then, hehe." And Mira wasn't being modest at all.
"That would be a truly interesting match. I look forward to it." Celestine responded, but well, I didn't look forward to it.
"Have you come to watch the next match?" Mira asked.
"Sure. I heard this monster had a very interesting ability. It seemed every opponent yielded without actually getting 'attacked'. Isn't that interesting?"
"How is that possible?" I asked.
"That's what I'm here to find out."
"You won't have to worry about this opponent though - even if it wins this fight," Mira spoke confidently.
"Oh my, aren't you a confident one? But I like that about you, Minakong."
That earned a rare embarrassed look from Mira, albeit only briefly.
Mira was indeed a little too confident though considering that it was us who would fight this mysterious monster the day after tomorrow if it won.
"Let's just watch the fight and see, shall we?" I said.
We all nodded in agreement and took a seat under the big tree.
The battlefield was clear and two student mages stood facing each other. Neither of them hid their monsters as at this stage everyone has seen everyone's monster already pretty much.
One of the monsters looked like what we humans probably call a werewolf, except that it was much bigger than any werewolf in our fantasy novels would be. It stood about three meters tall, slightly slouching forward with its mouth open, revealing long and sharp teeth. Its fur was completely black and had a majestic sheen to it except for a line of silver color that ran through its back along the spine. Instead of paws, it had what would pass as human hands with large claws that could probably tear me apart in a matter of seconds if it got hold of me.
It was truly scary looking indeed.
"Konya's got a really nice monster there," Mira remarked.
"What do you call them in this world?" I was curious.
"Wolfman. They vary in size and strength but those black ones with silver hair are called Silverback Wolfman. They are much much stronger than the normal kind. Exceptionally fast and agile as well."
I was very intrigued by Konya's opposition though, as the boy's monster looked like a baby fox. If you brought them to the Earth and put them in the forest nobody would have considered it a monster - except for the very strange fact that it had no eyes.
"And what is that?" I asked again.
"Nobody knows." Both Mira and Celestine said at the same time.
"Eh? Someone summoned a monster that nobody knows?" I was a little surprised.
"Well, many strange creatures have turned up during this contest. But I'd assume the higher-ranking mages with experience probably know what it is. They wouldn't tell the students though to ensure fairness." Celestine explained.
"I see."
I looked around and it wasn't just us who were curious about this little blind fox. Everyone was trying to guess what its ability was, but as Celestine said, it seemed its true strength seemed to work in mysterious ways as all its opponents apparently yielded mid-match without landing a single attack on it.
"And who's that boy?" Mira asked Celestine.
"It's Ellis, a senior student mage close to graduating. He's very well respected and I hear all the teachers have high hopes for him."
This 'Ellis' just oozed the aura of someone rich, probably from a noble family with generations of wealth. A bit like Celestine then.
"Let the fight begin!!!" The referee for this match, Sir Brennan, announced the start of the fight.
As soon as it began, the Silverback Wolfman launched itself forward and started to run toward the blind fox, almost galloping and it was truly a beautiful sight to see this werewolf-like creature in action.
Ellis' monster didn't seem phased by it though, and some students were joking that maybe that fox monster was really blind and didn't even know it was in danger.
But just when it looked like the Silverback almost reached the position where it could pounce on it, the blind fox opened and moved its mouth. It was inaudible from a distance but I could swear it 'spoke'.
The Wolfman then suddenly stopped, looked confused, and started to distance itself from the fox, earning a grin from Ellis, who also mysteriously kept his eyes closed.
"Eh? What's happening?" Mira was confused as well, just like everyone else who was watching the fight.
"Interesting." That was all Celestine said too.
The Silverback then started to howl, yelp, and ran away from the blind fox. And not only that, Konya, another boy, grabbed his head with his hands and fell to his knees.
"Some sort of… mind attack?" Celestine muttered.
"Eh…?" Mira was fascinated by the 'fight' too.
After that, there really wasn't any spectacle that everyone hoped the great Silverback Wolfman would display. The werewolf-like creature did nothing but run around in circles with its tail between its legs, looking terrified, whimpering, while Konya lay on the ground with his body curled up sobbing.
"If… if this is what I think it is… this could be REALLY bad." Mira looked nervous as hell.
"What's going on?" I couldn't quite comprehend.
"I have a feeling it's something similar to my… mirror"
OH FUCK.
Konya and the wolf couldn't hold much longer.
"STOP! STOP!!! Please… stop… I yield…" He cried.
"Konya has yielded. The winner is Ellis!"
No one applauded upon Sir Brennan's announcement of the winner.
I don't think this was a fight that anybody wanted to see, because well, there was literally nothing to see here.
And I was already terrified.