The New Gate

“What on earth happened…”

Kluck was stunned by Elamella’s sudden transformation and ferocious aura.

Meanwhile, Shin, who was next to him, quickly moved.

He used a skill to make it difficult for those around him to recognize him, and quickly changed his equipment.

Navy blue slacks, a white dress shirt, a knee-length patterned cloak that covered only the left half of his body, and a top hat. He also put on black gloves, and in his right hand he held a walking stick with a white crystal on the handle.

To finish off, he put on a mask to hide his face, and his disguise was complete.

These were prototypes of equipment he had made for Cain, the magician and a fellow member of Rokuten.

Elamella let out a roar. It was nothing like her usual voice. It sounded like a beast. Hearing it, Shin leapt over the boundary between the stands and the arena.

Her eyes, filled with madness, turned towards the remaining medical staff. Shocked and frightened, they were unable to move.

Milt slipped in between Elamella and the medical staff. She hadn’t been able to protect the first medical staff, but she had no intention of allowing any more casualties.

Milt blocked the mercilessly swung fist with the hilt of her battle axe. The impact sent her bouncing off the ground, but she regained her balance and landed.

“Oh, noooo!”

Even though she hadn’t released her restrictions as quickly as she could, the force was too much for Milt to parry. She was a different person from the one in the match.

“Hurry up and get out of here!”

“I-I got it!”

Milt’s voice brought the medical staff back to their senses and they hurriedly left.

Elamella had already targeted Milt and did not pursue them.

Milt dodged the barrage of punches that easily shattered the arena floor with just her battle axe and body movements. The speed had increased and it was difficult to pull her away, but it would be troublesome if she kept her distance and headed towards the audience. Another participant tried to come to her aid, but, even though it was a martial arts festival full of strong people, they were not strong enough to face Elamella in her current state.

Just as Milt was thinking about charging head-on instead of dodging to draw more attention to herself, chains of light stretched out from around Elamella and immobilized her.

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Shin had no intention of delaying any more.

“Nice timing!”

Milt spun her battle axe and drove the tip into Elamella’s solar plexus.

Elamella was immobilized by the chains of light and could neither dodge nor avoid the impact. Although they were holding back, the damage was still enough.

Elamella dropped to her knees as if pulled by chains, her head drooping.

After making sure that she didn’t move, Milt drew her battle axe. However, as if targeting that slight moment of slackness, Elamella suddenly raised her head.

A breath’s light flickered in her slightly open mouth.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!”

Milt quickly used her battle axe as a shield to try and get out of the line of fire, but she was too close.

Elamella turned her head to track Milt’s movements, and fired a breath from the front.

A torrent of dark red, fiery energy scorched the arena along with Milt.

“Huh?”

A spectator sitting directly in front of the breath muttered.

The breath, which was undoubtedly on a direct hit course, was blocked by a translucent wall that suddenly appeared and dispersed into mist. It was a barrier set up by the Schnee and the others.

It didn’t even flinch when hit by the breath. But the arena was in ruins. It’s not hard to imagine how powerful the breath was, looking at how it cracked, shattered, and scorched.

The spectators were saved, but Milt, who was close by, was undoubtedly hit directly by the breath. Remembering this, the spectators’ faces grimaced.

“Hey, what’s that?!”

Someone called out.

When the embers of the breath disappeared, there was a masked man, Shin, and Milt, protected by a semi-transparent oval barrier about two mels in size. Both were unharmed.

Shin held Milt close with his left arm as if to protect her, and pointed the walking stick he was holding in his right arm towards Elamella. This walking stick had the ability to generate a barrier.

“Shin, that was a bit tight…”

“Hmm? Ah, sorry. It was a sudden thing, so I can’t help it.”

Releasing Milt from his embrace, Shin approached Elamella. She seemed to have already lost consciousness, and when Shin released her restraints, she collapsed. The changes to her horns and scales have also returned to normal.

“Maybe she just put her whole power into that strange breath from earlier?”

Shin crouched down to make sure she’s breathing, then picked her up.

From 【Analyze】, there were no abnormal status indications. However, Shin had confirmed that strange letters reading 『Curse of $#&』 had appeared during the battle.

Just to be sure, Shin used a skill on Elamella to remove abnormal status. At the very least, this would remove any existing curses. The unpleasant sensations of the curse had disappeared, so she shouldn’t have gone berserk again.

There was also the option of leaving the curse as it was for the sake of investigation, but it would be pointless if she went berserk and caused damage again.

“For now, let’s get the tournament’s medical staff to check her.”

“If something like this happened, there’s no way they could continue the match. And by the way, when did you get that kind of equipment ready?”

Milt pointed to Shin’s disguised outfit.

“I had it set up as a shortcut in case there might be a time when I would have to go out in public concealing my true identity. I’d never had such an opportunity before.”

This time Shin had to jump into the middle of a large audience, so he made use of it. He could have used 【Hiding】 skill, but in the end this turned out to be the right choice.

【Hiding】 was certainly perfect for stealth, but if he were to block the breath with a barrier, it would come undone.

If that happened, Shin’s figure would be exposed to the public’s eyes.

Considering Shin’s adventurer rank, it might not be surprising if he were to pull it off. However, being too conspicuous would make it easier for trouble to come his way. It was Shin’s small measure of defense.

As he headed towards the entrance to the arena, an avalanche of fully armed soldiers poured in from there. Perhaps someone had contacted him about Elamella.

“Oh, it’s okay! It’s okay! This guy is an acquaintance of mine. He came to watch the match and came to help me!”

The soldier pointed his spear at Shin, but Milt raised her voice and explained that he was a comrade.

“Do I look that suspicious?”

“You’re wearing a mask and hiding your face, and on top of that, your gear doesn’t look like it’s for combat at first glance. There aren’t many magician-style outfits around here.”

“Is this another gimmick outfit, too…?”

Shin couldn’t help but chuckle bitterly.

◆◆◆◆

Shin, who had barged in in a strange outfit, was looked upon with obvious suspicion by the soldiers.

Still, perhaps it was because Milt, who was a rising star in the tournament, had clearly stated that he was a comrade, which worked to his advantage, or perhaps it was because he had said that he was an A-rank during questioning. After that, he was released after only a brief questioning.

He couldn’t help but give his name, and his identity was already known the moment he played his adventurer card.

After Elamella was treated, she was put in a cell. It seemed that she was also judged to be at risk of becoming violent. And there was one other person who was put in a cell.

Kluck, who was in charge of Elamella’s weapons, was also arrested as a related party.

It seemed that the tournament organizers were aware that strange weapons were circulating, and may have thought that there was some connection to Elamella’s rampage. Shin only saw Kluck being taken away by soldiers in the audience, so this was only a guess.

However, visiting someone just because they met here was not allowed.

Shin gave up and decided to return to the inn after meeting up with Schnee and the others.

“I guess the tournament is temporarily canceled.”

Milt responded to Shin’s mutter.

“That is, until the investigation is completed, but do you think the two are related, Shin?”

“I don’t have any evidence to say for sure, but I don’t think they’re the ones dealing with curses at least.”

There was no basis for it. It was just Shin’s hunch, but after spending a few days with Kluck, he was sure he wasn’t a bad guy. That’s what Shin thought.

When they returned to the inn, Shin asked Schnee and the others if they had noticed anything.

“I couldn’t see the curse directly, but I felt something bad coming out of Elamella’s weapon when it broke. I think it’s probably the curse Shin was talking about.”

Schnee also seemed to have felt its presence. Filma, Shibaid, Sety, and Milt all had similar opinions, though to different degrees.

Tiera and Yuzuha were more specific.

“It’s hard to explain, but I think it’s something disgusting, like resentment, jealousy, the malice of people like that solidifying. I think it’s a curse, but… how can I put it, it felt like it was born in a different way than something like miasma. It was the first time I’d ever felt that way.”

Tiera shrank back, hugging herself with both arms.

Yuzuha, in adult mode, furrowed her brow and made no attempt to hide her displeasure.

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