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MAZE - Chapter 1030 - Elimination Round
🕑 Added 2025-03-17 01:55:54 +0000 UTCEverybody was sitting on the Arena side seats just as every other team had the right to do. They had just watched one of their opponents face off against a creature and earn 300 points for their effort. There were some people commentating on this match and, by the looks of it, that was a respectable amount of points for a fight like that. But then, it was time for the first group of their team to step forward.
The announcer, a Scale Heart of red scales and with a pair of sunglasses, grabbed a microphone and started speaking with a booming voice, "And now, ladies and gentlemen. Join us welcoming these newcomers that promise to make waves over the tournament. The team with no name guided by a Noble Blood. And their first squad to enter the arena, challenging a creature with a recommended number of participants of six, but instead they will be only four members for this battle. Join me giving a warm welcome to Callena, Farica, Yerel, and Pandora!" The crowd roared as their names were called, not much out of recognition but due to the sheer spectacle that they were about to witness.
The commentator a harpy with green feathers and blue dress, shook her head and added, "Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is a very unusual composition. A mage, a researcher, a healer, and an explorer. And by the looks of it, they don't really have someone to be taking care of the front line. The mage and researcher are more magic inclined roles and a healer, well it's hard to count with a healer in situations like this,"
"You're not wrong, but I think you're being too quick to judge the explorer of the team. There are many times when an explorer comes along and surprises all. They are very versatile and they can very much be taking care of the front line," the announcer replied.
"That might be the case, but nevertheless I have a hard time thinking that she will be the one holding the monsters for the rest to attack," the commentator continued.
Pandora glanced at the announcer's box with a frown, feeling a bit offended by the quick dismissal. She turned around, getting ready, and made sure to be in front of the team so that if anything wanted to reach the others, they had to go through her first. The announcers just continued their job, commenting on the surprise and how stiff she looked as the first opponents appeared.
It was a wyvern with four wings instead of just two and a very reptilian-like face. Its scales had a soft shade of red with some greens around the wings. The creature was still being protected by some bars, stopping anyone from trying to attack it as its name appeared on a screen above the arena. It was called Xirath and by the cheering, it was one of the favorite creatures of the competition. The announcers introduced all members of Hera's team one by one, as this was their first fight. Including those who were waiting on the sidelines.
That time allowed the Ophidianite to take a good look at the area where they would be fighting once more. It was a circular stadium with one large gate where the monsters would come from. On the other side, a smaller set of doors that could be used for the people who are going to hunt the monster. There were also several large stone pillars around the entire arena that could be utilized in various ways. From protecting one from attacks to be used a weapon against the monsters.
The arena also had a unique feature. A benefit that each team could acquire after they were able to cut off a certain amount of parts of the creature they were fighting. This benefit was a lever in the center of the arena that would trigger a weapon on the side. It was a very heavy set of drills that could be used to deal massive damage to the monster they were hunting as they were pushed forward once the mechanism was activated. The one issue with that was that by using the drills, it would reduce the amount of points you would get from the fight. However, there was a balance that could be done by focusing on breaking as many parts of the monster as they could, as quickly as they could, in order to trigger the drills and finish the fight off quickly. One team used that tool, getting a 50 point penalty for pulling the lever but earning 125 points for their quick hunt.
The announcers had finally stopped talking about Hera's team and warned that the fight was about to start. From the opposite end where the doors were located, the Xirath was set free by opening the metal grates that stopped it from moving. The creature took two gentle steps forward and roared, all of its four wings unfurling and shaking due to the strain. A horn indicated the start of the round and the moment the sound echoed, Yerel and Pandora rushed towards the creature.
It had been a while since the empress watched Yerel participating in a fight. The healer usually stayed on the back, focusing more on protecting people than doing anything else. However, that was only when they were in large groups. Now that they were four people fighting, he took a different approach. Covering his arms with barriers, he would punch his target and use the spells around his arms to create an explosive reaction at the point of contact, causing quite a bit of damage.
Pandora also had improved leaps and bounds over the course of the past two weeks. So much so that the first movement she did to attack the Xirath was to slam her hammer on the ground while doing a backflip and trigger an explosion that propelled her upwards so she could come back down with a more powerful impact. The creature was unable to evade the attack as the initial explosion startled it, causing it to lose track of Pandora. That initial attack was enough to break a set of scales on the creature's head that was called the crown, already netting 20 points for the team.
The creature flipped to the side, trying to fight back, but before it could, Yerel grabbed its leg and created a barrier attaching it to the ground, which forced the creature to stay in one place. Pandora went for another swing. This time a more basic attack. A horizontal slam using her hammer. A blow that connected with the creature's free leg causing more pieces of its scales to break off but there were no extra points for that particular move. The monster spun to the side, using its tail to slam both Yerel and Pandora away. They were not able to avoid the blow, but they blocked it and only flew a few meters before landing on their feet closer to the rest of their party members.
The two remaining group members were ready to begin contributing. Farica and Callena had started chanting intricate spells the moment the fight started. It wasn't an overly complicated spell, instead something that required some focus. And just a few moments were more than enough. The combo attack was divided into two parts. First, Callena turned the entire area around the creature into a thick layer of mud, almost as if the floor was made out of dirt. As the creature sunk into the reddish-brown liquid earth, Farica activated the next step of this attack. Super heating the area to the point where it all became molten igneous rocks.
Essentially, they were creating a pool of lava for this Xirath to swim into. And since, according to the details they received about their opponents, this particular monster was not immune to fire, it started taking a lot of damage the moment the rocks began to melt. Even then, that attack wasn't enough to finish the creature off. As it jumped out, half of its skin burned off and many of its scales were either burned away or ripped apart, being stuck into the lava, and tried to attack the group again. But Pandora and Yerel were already in position to intercept.
After that initial flurry of attacks, the rest of the fight wasn't all that entertaining. At least not for Hera. She could tell they were going to win, and it was just a matter of time. The Xirath was too injured and too wounded to move properly, and three of the four dwarves were at a higher level than it. The only one who might end up getting injured was Pandora, since she was the only person in that party who was on the right level for the dungeon. But for the rest, the difference in attributes and stats was too great. Making the flying wyvern not much of a threat.
Hera also wondered why the creature didn't jump away and try to fly, but she quickly noticed the holes in its wings that were not caused by her teammates. It seemed like in order for these creatures not to run away, the hunters had taken some drastic measures to keep them in place. Once the fight was over, the team received 500 points. With half of them being for finishing the fight in record time. And that confirmed that Hera's team was going to go to the next round. Their opponent had only made 263 points, but there were other duels going on.
And unlike what Hera was expecting, she finally understood why people said this was a fun dungeon. Watching those hunting matches was amazing. Seeing the unique strategies that each team employed and how they performed against each creature was extremely entertaining. Hera had even started to consider if it was possible for her to create something similar when Deakoshara was open to the public. An event like this could be a great way to attract more people to her civilization. Or just a way to make sure the Ophidianites had a steady source of revenue.
Each of the MAZE species had something they were particularly good at: the Dwarfs were crafters, the Tritons were in the hospitality business, the Beastmen were the fighters, the Harpies were the scouts, and the Elves were merchants. Maybe the Ophidianites could be all about entertainment. Although there were some aspects of it that might not land as well as she hoped.
The next fight was against a chameleon-like creature that spat poison and used its bat-shaped wings to fly. For that fight, Alex, Shane and Pandora walked into the arena. And while they were able to acquire 723 points, Hera didn't find the fight all that interesting. And it seemed like she wasn't the only one. Alex was able to purify any attempt by the creature to poison the group. But more than that, Shane enchanted the air around the monster to ignite when it came into contact with the creature's poison. After running around for a few moments, the monster tried to use its poisonous spit again and caused an explosion that wounded it severely. But it didn't learn from what happened and continued to try to spit out poison, resulting on it's death after most of its body was broken and scarred. With that, they were heading to the semifinals and had completed the dungeon quest.
If they so wished, they could just forfeit the next matches and finish the quest first, but no one was willing to do that. Just like Hera, Bonnie wanted to fight on her own. But unlike the Empress, she would have some help in the form of Ruby, the moment they stepped into the arena, she used her constellation of the Dragon, turning her slime companion into a smaller version of the Feywyrm itself. She had nowhere near the same strength as the creature and was just a physical copy. Any of the special skill or magic the dragon had were not present on the slime version of it. But just its presence was enough to almost cause a riot. People were cheering, some were calling Bonnie a blasphemer, but there was nothing in the rules saying that she couldn't create a copy of the Feywyrm while in the arena.
She fought against a strange creature that looked like a giant tiger or wolf covered in colorful scales. To top it all off, the creature was also capable of delivering powerful electric attacks but, Ruby didn't have to worry that much about it. There was another constellation in this room that made the slime be basically made of rubber, increasing her defenses and making any electricity-based attacks worthless. The fight was like watching a lion hunt a mouse. Ruby overpowered the monster on every turn and ripped it to shreds at Bonnie's command. Due to the number of participants, they ended up getting 812 points on that one match. Which put them comfortably in the finals. As a matter of fact, the score they got on the semi-final was bigger than the score their opponents gained on the actual finals, which was amazing by itself.
The commentators were praising everybody and wondering what could this newcomer team be preparing for the last match. And once Hera walked into the arena completely alone, the commentators made it clear that it wasn't a situation like Bonnie. There would be no summons, or pets in the field. And the Noble Blood only one challenger for the final fight against the most dangerous of all creatures they had captured. There was a pause before the entire stadium erupted in cheers.
