While there was still some time until the dungeon finished its adjustments, Tatsuro decided to scout the opponent's forces with his [Spirit Eye].
To avoid looking suspicious by staring too intently, he tried to casually glance their way whenever his face naturally turned in that direction.
(At a glance, seven magic users and eight martial artists. As expected of someone calling themselves the leader, Beverly's magic color is overwhelmingly strong among the magic users. A wind magic user capable of light magic boost, skill level easily exceeds 10. And the next one to watch out for is that biggest old man. Among the martial arts skill holders, he's head and shoulders - no, two or three heads above the rest. That skill color is... probably spear arts. And then-)
Although he tried to look as naturally as possible without being noticed, his eyes completely met with one of Fornacis's members.
He reflexively looked away in panic, so they probably realized he was doing something.
(That was careless. It's not against the rules so it might be fine, but I may have been too careless)
Meanwhile. The man whose eyes met with Tatsuro noticed exactly as suspected that something was being done.
This man's name was Codelros.
Like an elf, he had long ears and refined features.
However, unlike an elf's delicate body, his physique was muscular.This man belonged to a race called Battle Elves among elves, who, unlike magic-oriented elves, are a species that tends to specialize in martial arts.
The only visual difference is whether they're muscular or not, otherwise, they're the same as elves.
The reason why this man was able to detect Tatsuro's [Spirit Eyes] was because he was an excellent staff user and fortunately - or you could say his cautious, or less kindly, cowardly nature helped - his [Crisis Detection] skill level was exceptionally high.
That [Crisis Detection] alerted him that something was being done, allowing him to notice even Tatsuro's [Spirit Eye] which normally only lets the target realize they're being watched.
"Beverly-san. I believe that Tatsuro guy who was speaking as their representative was just probing us somehow"
"Are you certain about that, Codelros?"
"Yes. At least enough to trigger my [Crisis Detection]"
"...It's probably a visual-type skill. We can't use dispel magic because of this glass, and sound and smell wouldn't travel either"
"Given those conditions, to deeply observe our information without us noticing... it might be [Skill Eye]. If so, we should block their view"
The middle-aged elf Aurelie said this and used earth magic to create a large-backed chair, positioning it with the back facing towards Tatsuro's group.
Then he had everyone sit in a row behind it.
With this, Tatsuro's group could no longer visually confirm anyone's presence.
"This should handle visual abilities. My earth magic was exposed but that much shouldn't matter"
"As expected of Aurelie-san!"
While they felt relieved about preventing their abilities from being exposed.
Only the Battle Elf Codelros remained doubtful whether this would really prevent anything.
Meanwhile, Tatsuro realized his skill use had been detected since they put up the wall, so he decided to brazenly continue observing everyone except the person who detected him.
After all, obstructions don't affect Spirit Eye.
"I'll tell you about their forces. Roughly for magic users: wind-light, earth-dark, fire-dark, dispel-water, thunder-light, water, life-light. For martial artists: spear, shield, body, fan, sword, staff. But I saw some colors I've never seen before so be careful. Especially Beverly who uses wind and light magic that I was talking to earlier, and the biggest man who uses spear arts are quite strong even among them so be careful"
"Are those two that strong?"
"For Cardina and others who are restricted to either magic or martial arts, it might be a bit tough. There's a good chance of losing"
"Are there others we should watch out for?"
"The second biggest one - you know, the one with something like fish fins on his ears... what race is that?"
Encountering a race he'd never seen before, Tatsuro asked Leah who was a resident of this world.
"That's probably a Fishman. There were two women of that race on their side too"
"I see, thanks. Well, that second biggest fishman is a shield user, and we should watch out for him too. Also, that old elf who just used earth magic to block our view isn't as strong as the first two I mentioned, but we should be careful of him too. And while his strength is average for that party, the muscular elf staff user has exceptionally good [Crisis Detection] ability, so keep that in mind too"
"Are the rest about the same level?"
"Yeah. Though the seemingly pure-blooded woman with wavy dark brown hair is a life and light magic user, so she should be out of combat for this match. ---Ah, looks like the dungeon's adjustments are finished"
Just as he finished relaying information about the opponents, the glass panel standing in the center of the room finally started flashing in Tatsuro's view.
[Sorry for the wait~ Now then, I'll announce the first match right away. Ta-da ta-da ta-da ta-da-----ta-da. The event is the first to destroy three targets quickly. The participants are Nana from Tatsuro's team. And from Fornacis, it's decided to be a martial arts battle with Beren~]
"It's me!"
Tatsuro glanced at their movements with [Spirit Eye] and figured the person who stood up from their chair first must be Beren.
"Nana's opponent seems to use [Fan Arts]"
"A fan? That doesn't sound very strong"
"Whether they're strong or not aside, they have other skills I haven't seen before so be careful not to get hurt"
"Understood! ..................So, where exactly are we doing this?"
"I wonder where? Maybe we'll go somewhere else? ---Whoa"
"What is it?"
While Tatsuro's group was looking around wondering where they would fight, suddenly the entire glass-walled waiting room containing Tatsuro's side and Fornacis's side started moving.
The waiting rooms slid horizontally away from each other in opposite directions, with the distance between them steadily increasing.
Then when they were about 100 meters apart from the initial 5 meters, a blue circular stage rose up from the middle section that was a seemingly bottomless cliff and settled in the center.
Then from the circular floor, bridges extended towards each glass-walled waiting room and connected firmly.
[Now I'll create doors, so only participants please come through~]
"I'm going"
While hearing her teammates' cheers, Nana remained in her [Adult Form] and pushed through the suddenly created door to walk across the bridge.
The beastkin woman Beren from Fornacis's side crossed her bridge in the same way.
Due to their different stride lengths, Beren arrived first at the circular stage positioned between the waiting rooms, followed leisurely by Nana.
"From your appearance I thought you were a magic user, but you're actually on this side with skills"
"...Something like that!"
"?"
[Now then, let me explain this match again~]
"Yes"
"Uh, yes"
Leaving Beren confused by Nana's unnatural pause, the explanation for the first-to-three quick destruction match continued.
According to the explanation, whoever destroys three cubes that will suddenly appear somewhere on this circular stage first wins.
It was that simple, and they just needed to fight within the rules they had decided earlier.
[Do you have any questions~?]
"No"
"No"
[Alright~ Then let's begin right away! 3, 2, 1----start!]
"Hah!"
"--!? --Hm!"
Nana moved first when the signal to start was given.
While surprised by the bullet-like speed at which Nana shot forward, Beren took out a metal fan from her [Item Box].
In response, Nana also took dragon fangs from her [Item Box] while running, suddenly changed direction right in front of Beren to shift sideways, and unleashed [Bite] from the diagonal left.
However, Beren had already regained her composure, perfectly read the attack, and deflected Nana's left-hand dragon fang with her fan while nullifying the right-hand one by striking it.
And then Beren launched a follow-up attack.
"Haah!"
"Not happening!"
She swung down the deflecting fan at Nana with the same momentum.
Nana caught it by crossing both dragon fangs, then backed away before they could be broken.
At that moment, a cube appeared about three meters above the floor, one meter behind and to the left of Beren.
"---!"
Nana noticed at first, but Beren had the distance advantage.
So before the opponent noticed, Nana launched an attack at Beren rather than the cube to avoid drawing attention to it.
While whipping both hands like whips to continuously attack Beren with dragon fangs, she unleashed a fierce assault trying to gain an advantageous position for destroying the cube.
Against such a Nana, Beren took out another fan from her [Item Box] and gracefully evaded those attacks with both hands while also looking around searching for the cube.
However, it was difficult to look behind while being chased fiercely by Nana, and she still hadn't noticed the cube right behind her.
Nana tried to act as naturally as possible without paying attention to that direction while stepping boldly into the opponent's range.
"Take! This! Already!"
"I! Re! Fuse!"
While Nana seemed to have the speed advantage, the other side had superior power.
They were evenly matched at just the right balance, making it difficult to take a step towards the cube.
So Nana activated a skill she had newly acquired along the way.
"Haaah!"
"--Ugh!?"
That skill was [Rapid Acceleration Lv.2].
A beast art derivative skill that explosively increases speed for just a few moments.
Beren, who had barely been keeping up with power and technique, couldn't follow the suddenly increased speed with her eyes, and although she managed to block with her fans, she couldn't completely nullify the impact of being struck in the abdomen by the dragon fang's handle, stopping her movement for an instant.
And in that instant, before [Rapid Acceleration] wore off, Nana leaped to the cube in a single bound and destroyed it by thrusting in her fang.
"That's one. Indeed"
"You're small but impressive..."
"You shouldn't judge by size"
"That's right!"
"--!"
This time Beren spread the two fans in both hands and unleashed consecutive Ki slashes.
She understood that wouldn't kill Nana even if she did that much.
Indeed that was true, as all of them were either dodged with steps or nullified by dragon fangs without landing.
But each strike was heavy, preventing Nana from advancing forward.
While that situation continued, a cube appeared about ten meters above the center between them.
This time Beren noticed it first.
Nana was focused on Beren's attacks, slightly less able than the other side to spare attention for searching for cubes while concentrating on dodging and blocking.
Beren directed just one Ki slash from her fans at the cube, putting everything else into the attack.
However, in that one moment, she diverted attention, Nana activated her trump card [True Form] that she had been saving, flew upward with [Dragon Flight], and destroyed the slashing attack aimed at the cube with her dragon fangs.
Then just as she looked up to destroy the cube, she heard something break with a pop.
"My, you can fly too"
"---!?"
There was Beren, with large sparrow-like wings that hadn't been there before spreading from her back, flying even higher than Nana.
And furthermore, Nana was shown the cube being destroyed by the fan in her right hand and crumbling away.
"That's one. Seems I'm faster at flying"
"Grrrr!"
In [True Form], Nana grimaced frustrated at Beren who was grinning as if getting revenge for earlier.
Then a cube appeared directly below.
"---!"
This time they noticed almost simultaneously.
Nana had a slight advantage in distance. But Beren had superior flying speed.
Beren pointed her head downward as if to dive straight down.
And Nana also thought she would probably dive down the same way.
However, Nana realized she would lose if she dove down like this, so instead of down, she charged upward.
"Urryaaah!"
"--This way!?"
In the moment Beren's attention was diverted by the unexpected action, Nana activated [Rapid Acceleration] again and punched her in the face.
While far from a fatal blow, it was still quite painful.
Nana grinned at that and dove straight down.
"--Damn it"
While cursing and enduring the pain, Beren immediately dove down as well, desperately releasing Ki slashes from her fans.
However, Nana skillfully spun while knocking them down.
But that slightly delayed her speed.
As a result.
"Haah!"
"Haah!"
They landed below simultaneously. Afterward, they destroyed the cube simultaneously, sandwiching it between dragon fang and fan.
"Which was it!?"
"Which one!?"
[Since it was completely simultaneous, both sides will be awarded 1 point~]
"--Tch"
"Tch"
"Those two are kind of similar"
"Yeah"
Watching both of them express frustration the same way, Tatsuro and Ai thought this while continuing to watch their battle for the final cube.