「Okaaay! Please don’t interrupt when someone is speaking, okay～? I’ll disqualify you, you know～?」
The female official, sounding half-exasperated, raised her voice.
She tried to resume the rule explanation, but shouts erupted from all around.
「We don’t need a rule explanation!」
「Yeah, yeah! Everyone already knows the rules!」
「You don’t need to bother explaining it again!」
「Let’s just get this thing started!」
The participants were getting rowdy.
Well… I didn’t think we needed a rule explanation either.
I’d already gone over the rulebook enough times.
I also agreed that we should just start the first round already.
「All right then～! If that’s what you want, we’ll skip the explanation and go right to the first round～!」
Pushed by the demands of the crowd, the female official gave in with a slightly fed-up tone.
「Is everyone ready～?」
She called out.
The crowd fell silent.
Everyone readied their weapons.
I also focused, raising my fighting spirit.
The official glanced around the field and declared:
「Now then… First round, begin!!」
With the female official’s announcement, it happened,
―――――ZUGAAAAAANNN!!
A thunderous roar tore through the air from all directions.
The moment the first round began, all the participants capable of using magic unleashed their area-of-effect spells at once.
Explosions of flame spiraled outward.
Tornado-like winds erupted violently.
Pillars of stone shot up from the earth toward the sky.
Magical water projectiles rained down from above.
The air was filled with the deafening sound of explosions, blasts of wind, and swirling clouds of dust and sand.
「What the hell!?」
「UWAAAAAAAHHH!!」
「Gahh!!」
「W-What’s happening!?」
「The mages are going berserk!!」
Those caught in the magical onslaught screamed in pain―――
Even the ones lucky enough to be outside the blast zones scrambled to get away before they were dragged in.
「Ahahaha! With this many enemies, AoE magic really hits the spot!」
「DIE DIE DIE DIE!! KYAHAAAAAA!!」
「All you muscleheads who rely on melee, go ahead and get eliminated right here!!」
The mages were going wild, taking full advantage of the chaos as they rained destruction down on the fleeing participants.
With the rule being “everyone is your enemy”, the magic users had no hesitation whatsoever about unleashing wide-area spells.
They were carpet-bombing the battlefield with no concern for who was nearby.
But,
「Those damn mages, going out of control like that… I’ll kill every last one of them!!」
Some of the warriors launched a counterattack.
Dodging through the hail of magic, they closed the distance and began striking at the mages.
By the way, all weapons used in the tournament had dulled blades, to prevent accidental fatalities, so even if they “slashed” at someone, it was effectively a blunt-force attack.
(Heh… It’s a hellscape right from the start.)
I laughed to myself.
Thanks to my psychokinetic barrier, I could nullify all attacks, whether fire or wind or anything else.
Even as AoE spells tore through the battlefield, I decided to calmly observe the chaos from the sidelines… at least until things settled down.
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