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1111. Mud Crap
🕑 Added 2024-06-22 14:15:44 +0000 UTCIn the battle between Dumm Ting and the Dragon Knight, they experienced a small tournament climax. An aggravating, despised enemy had found a satisfying end, but the show was far from over. After all, that was just the second fight of the third round.
After a 15-minute break to give the audience some time to process the fight and run the clipped highlights of the match, the next pair of contestants entered the stage. The mood in the stadium had noticeably lifted after Caleb had dealt with their grudge for them. Their cheers greeted the next two fighters, who were also two highly popular characters.
“On the left side, we have Bercy, the Beast,” Umi introduced the werewolf lady who gained a cult following among the audience in the chat and some secret admirers among those in the stadium.
“And on the right side, we have the Dark Wizard of Mug!” the announcer introduced her opponent. As the last true caster in the tournament, his support was not any weaker than Bercy’s. Though he lacked a crowd of hungry fans of the opposite sex, many of the mage classes supported him vigorously as their last representative.
The moment Umi announced the start of the fight, Bercy charged forward. The clothing blew from her body as she turned into her anthropomorphic wolf-shape. Her transformation was so fast, that even the golem camera's slow motion was unable to capture the moment between her unclothing and transformation, despite chat and some audience members trying their hardest to find the specific freeze frames.
In the blink of an eye, the werewolf was upon the wizard. Her brutal claws punched through his wiry body, only for the body to turn into mud that now covered her claw! It was a mud clone all along! When had he switched places with it?
Starting from the puddle made of crushed clones, the dreadful field of muck rapidly spread across the arena. Thick, dark sludge oozed up from between the tiles and rose off the ground surrounding the arena. It didn't look like a thick layer, but Bercy actually sank into the mud, all the way to her knees.
Half the arena away, the Dark Wizard of Muck appeared. In a jolly motion, he jumped from the depths of the mud and landed on his scrawny wizard staff, sitting on its tip with crossed legs.
“Did you think you could win by moving fast? What now doggy? You are already in my domain~” he tainted her with the voice of a jolly old man, though nobody had seen his face yet. However, Bercy's flews lifted in a sardonic smile, exposing her massive fangs.
“You seem confused about whose domain this is!” she said with a boisterous laugh, as her claws started digging, flinging mud left and right. Despite the viscous mug sticking to her fur and claws, she didn't slow down as she rushed at the wizard. She almost seemed happy, rolling in the mud.
So far all warrior-types that were unlucky enough to face the Dark Wizard of muck had fallen to his stamina-sapping mud pack, but Bercy was unaffected. Would the Mud Wizard finally be driven into a corner? The audience watched with held breath.
...
Seth wasn't holding his breath. He wasn't even there to watch the fight. Despite Monique and Jonah volunteering to come, the blacksmith decided to deal with the last fight's aftermath alone.
It didn't take a fortune teller to know what would happen in the Medical Wing was the second fight. Angry bellowing audible from far away just confirmed what they all expected. Dumm Ting was not keen on accepting his loss.
“Get out of my way! I will personally complain to-” The door of the medical wing was smashed open and the cultivator fell silent when he found a figure in full armor standing in the hallway. He recognized the Tower Master who appeared a few times during the Pythian Games.
“-to who? Who will you complain to? And about what? Come on, tell me~” Seth asked coldly, his tone was cuttingly cold, laden with magical power that conveyed a barely concealed threat. Despite Seth asking so nicely, Dumm Ting had fallen silent for good.
The blacksmith was a little confused when he noticed the fear in Dumm Ting's gaze. He was sure the cultivator had not seen him when he used <Charon's Soul Snare> and the <Harrowing Light> on him, or maybe it was a subconscious response. After all, he was already lv. 106 and his aura had slightly changed.
Although he didn't know the exact reason, there was no reason not to use this opportunity.
“Leave. Quietly. I don't want to see you here or in the Pythian Village again,” he spoke clearly. It was clear that disobedience would not be met with mercy. Surprising, Dumm Ting gritted his teeth but nodded wordlessly.
Watching his back, Seth observed the massive martial artist stomping away. The bard was glad that it was this easy to send Dumm Ting away. When he turned around the corner spoke to the figure standing there.
“Send some Oathguards to observe him. I'm sure they will approach him,” Seth said to Lydia.
“He's strong has a grudge against us and obviously no scruple with doing evil. It would be weird for them not to try and recruit him...” Lydia agreed with a nod. While Seth returned to the VIP Booth, Lydia left to arrange a pursuit team.
....
Back at the booth, Seth was finally able to join the others in watching the mud wrestling. Bercy was doing quite well, despite her fur being drenched in mud, to the joy of her fans. The Mud Wizard on the other hand was finally pushed to the point that his witty remarks fell silent.
Like a wild mud puppy, Bercy chased the wiry mage, whose wily dodging maneuvers kept draining the werewolf’s stamina. Except that they didn’t seem to work. Although the few times she did get him, he turned out to be a clone, Seth knew better.
With Theia’s Vision, he was able to see the moment when the mage used blink to exchange his body with a double made of mud. If this kept going, it would be the Wizard running out of mana before Bercy ran out of stamina.
“What is wrong with you?! Are you an undead? Why aren’t you getting tired?!” the Dark Wizard of Mug exclaimed frustrated seeing that Bercy was still just fine after over 30 minutes of chase.
“Kuku, a lady never tells ~” she chuckled, striking through the air and sending a claw bean at the mage. This time, he didn’t dodge. Swinging his staff, he created a barrier that stopped her attack.
“Fine then. Take your secrets to the grave,” he said with a grunt. In the center of the barrier, he sat on his staff and started chanting. His mumbling was like a swarm of flies. Finally, Bercy was able to close the distance for good. As long as she got through the barrier, this would be her-
The moment she gleefully tried to attack the barrier, and black rock spire shot up from the ground and pierced her abdomen. Helplessly, she was hoisted up in the air like a flag. It was the first time that the Dark Wizard of Mug used such a brutal, direct attack.
The mumbling stopped. The barrier vanished. The Dark Wizard of Mug jumped off his staff. It had looked like he was buying time to chant a powerful spell that could end the fight, but was it all just an elaborate ruse?
Directly below the spire of impalement, a magic circle took shape in the mug, as if drawn by invisible hands. Seth was familiar with his circle, albeit he had only seen it in books while trying to learn earth spells.
The moment the circle was finished, a soft column of light shot to the sky, enveloping Bercy, and turning her to stone.
The greater Circle of Petrification had turned the werewolf on a stick into a striking statue in the center of the stadium.
