Tch, you're a tough one

No, he's not dead, okay? I just put a few holes in him.

And even then he wouldn't go down, so I had to use Spatial Magic to force him into submission. Plus, he was already starting to heal up. His recovery is insane. Is that a beastkin thing, or just General Garou being General Garou…?

If I'd been fighting with just a gun and no magic, I might not have won.

"… Urghhhh… I thought I was gonna die…"

"I shot your balls with a bullet and you're still in one piece… Tch, you're a tough one."

"That's the one place I was guarding with everything I had… But you still slipped through a little… I really thought they were gonna be crushed… That was dirty…"

It was a ricochet shot (via Spatial Magic) that went straight up from below, right into his crotch. Super effective against men.

Well, even a woman would die if a bullet traveled up from her crotch through her head, so I had planned to stop it with Spatial Magic once it was lodged in a suitable spot.

Even so, the fact that he was still trying to fight through the pain in his crotch… This general's a battle-crazed maniac who runs on instinct yet somehow transcends it.

"… So, do I really smell that much?"

"Oh yeah. How intense was the marking you got? Your scents have blended together completely, like you've become one. I honestly thought you were a half-beastkin disguised as a human."

Apparently, as far as beastkin traits go, I'm basically human aside from carrying a beastkin's scent (and even that's only noticeable to someone with a sharp nose like a wolf-type beastkin).

So if there are full-on fluffy beastkin, then there are also ones who are almost entirely human, huh.

"Well, now that you've come this far, you better win for sure. You beat King Barbaros and me, so it should be easy."

"Yeah, I guess. I've got 820 gold coins riding on this, so I can't lose… Hm? Wait, does that mean if someone offered me 1,000 gold coins, I could accept a loss…?"

"If anyone approaches you with something like that, tell me. I'll arrest them and make them pay up regardless of the match result. Anyone who'd try to taint this sacred tournament deserves nothing less."

State power!! Nice one, General Garou. If that's how it is, I can win with peace of mind.

"Anyway, you've only got two matches left, right? The guys who are left aren't the type to make offers like that, so don't worry."

"Is that so? That's a bit disappointing…"

"By the way, the finals will probably be against Prince Ur, King Barbaros's son… If you can beat King Barbaros in an instant, his son should be a breeze."

That might be true… B-but I'm not gonna instantly defeat someone in the finals, okay? Really, I mean it.

 

*

 

I returned to the waiting room.

"Phew, just the semifinal and the final left, so two more matches."

I received a recovery potion from the staff, but since I wasn't actually tired at all, I just put it in Storage without using it.

"Good work out there, Master."

"Mm, thanks, Aishia… So, what's my next opponent like?"

"It was just decided, and… most likely, this will be your toughest opponent in the entire tournament."

My toughest opponent in the entire tournament. King Barbaros and General Garou, both tournament favorites, had been easy wins, yet someone out there tops them as my strongest opponent…?

"You mean someone I might actually struggle against? What kind of person are they?"

"A cat beastkin named Misha… Um, she's a woman."

… I see! Yeah, that's a tough opponent alright…

And maybe socks… if I'm lucky…!