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“So this is the arena. It looks like an uninhabited instance of the city.”
“Oh wow, are we going to fight in a city then?”

Crim analyzed their surroundings while Freya looked around in wonder. They were standing in what looked like the Starting City Wyndham, but completely devoid of people.

The battle royale to assign preliminary ranks to guilds would happen there, in a copy of the city. Eight guilds had been transported to random spots there. Crim’s guild had been put in the southern edge of the southern district.

“Okay Hinagiku, be ready for all of them to swarm us. I have a strong feeling that they’ll all target us first.”

That was something they had to be careful about in battle royales. There was a chance different enemy teams could decide to work together to defeat them.

Some people had seen Crim fight before too, so the enemies would likely take her as a threat, which they could get rid of by teaming up. So Crim had a strong feeling that they would do that right at the start.

On the other hand, most of the remaining members of Crim’s guild were unknown young girls, so their opponents would likely underestimate them.

“We’ll move as soon as we can. Our destination will be…here.” Saying that, Crim pointed at the map, at a location not too far, which was a thin path between two cliffs leading to the eastern harbors.

“Umm, is that really the best place? I feel like we could get trapped if people come from both sides…”

“Well…in the worst case scenario yes, we could get trapped in there. But as long as we can break through either side it’ll be alright, not to mention that it’s still better than being completely surrounded. Here’s the thing though, I’m sure there’s plenty of other guilds who noticed that spot as well, so we’ll have to fight them off one after another. Are you up for that?”

Everyone nodded in response to Crim.

“Alright, that’s our plan then. It’s the debut battle for our guild Lua Cheia!”

They all ran matching Freya’s speed, as she was the slowest of the guild, and arrived at the path surrounded by two cliffs. So far they had avoided running into other guilds, and were able to reach the middle point of the path.

“Alright, let’s do this as we agreed then. Lycoris, you go hide and use your range to help. But try to keep it to a minimum to not stand out, can you do that?”
“Ah, yes! Roger that! Take care here too… Lesen, Blinder Fleck.”

As Frey gave those orders, Lycoris nodded nervously, then activated her Technologie. Soon the disk inside her head was spinning, and her body quickly vanished.

There was only a faint distortion in the air where she stood, and then she activated one of the Magius arts, Anchor Chute, which pulled her right up to the top of the cliffs.

“Optical camouflage…that looks so useful.”
“This is Lycoris, I’ve safely reached the top of the cliff. Over.”

She also flashed a light for them to see, letting them know her location.

‘Watch out… There’s two players coming in front of you, and three from behind!’

Hearing that, Crim felt a jolt of nervousness.

“Oh, was it an ambush?”
“Don’t forget the ones behind us~”
“Probably, I guess they split their members to wait until we were inside to trap us.”

Frey agreed with Crim’s first assessment.

“Okay Hinagiku, we’ll take care of the front. Crim, you go behind.”
“Okay!”
“Got it, take care Frey.”
“Freya, try to look at both sides and support the one who needs it the most.”
“Okayyy, leave it to me.”
“Lycoris, can you hear me? You’ll be helping Crim, though don’t push yourself too hard since I’m sure she can take care of everything.”
“R-roger that!”

Frey gave out orders without breaking a beat. Once that was done, two players emerged from the shadows in front of them, closing off the path.

“I’ll go first then… First Blade, Rin!”

Saying that, Hinagiku lowered her stance while firmly gripping her katana next to her hip. A moment later she dashed forward at an incredible speed, becoming a blur.

“Ghuh…she’s too small!”
“And then, the Third Movement, Toh!”
“Ghah!”
“Damn you-?!”

After quickly drawing her sword from a low stance, Hinagiku began slashing wildly in every direction, throwing the two into disarray and breaking their cooperation with the rest of their guild.

But rather than chasing after them, Hinagiku jumped back.

“Wind Storm…blow them away!”

Instead of her, Frey used his wind magic spell Wind Storm, which was unlocked with 50 points in Spiritual Magic. It did not deal much damage, but the powerful gust of wind restrained the enemies so they could not move.

Hinagiku retreated just enough to not be caught up in the wind, which kept being amplified by the tall cliffs stopping it from dissipating to the sides. As a result, the two enemies were picked up and carried far into the distance by the wind.

But they would likely be able to get up and walk it away without issue, they were confident enough to take part in the tournament after all. Still, Hinagiku and Frey should be able to finish them off eventually.

The more pressing issue was on the other side…

“Tsk…” Crim jumped to the side in desperation, evading an incoming fireball as best as she could.