Chapter 320: Advantage
"Now, who shall Riko-chan’s next opponent be? Any volunteers~?" asked Tiamat, floating gracefully above the stage and glancing in the direction of the competitor waiting area with crossed arms.
"I would be honored by the opportunity," said a lithe, eyepatch-wearing woman with black hair fixed into a thin ponytail, the upper half of a white military dress uniform, white dress shoes, and, most notably, a dark blue sukumizu-style swimsuit.
"S-Sakamoto-san!?" exclaimed Riko, swallowing nervously as the woman, Lieutenant Colonel Sakamoto Mio, was nearly as capable as Tanya with a Flight Unit.
"It pleases me to see you again, Riko-chan. You’ve grown considerably," remarked Mio, adopting a friendly smile as Tiamat teleported her onto the stage. At the same time, however, she materialized a red-sheathed katana from her Inventory, making it clear she was prepared to do battle.
"Thanks...we’ve all been training hard this past year..." responded Riko, swapping out her trench gun for a buckler resembling a turtle shell and a hand pickaxe. She knew she wouldn’t be able to hit Mio if they were both in the air, so while she wasn’t as proficient with melee combat, she didn’t fear it.
"Excellent," said Mio, nodding approvingly as pointy ears popped out of the top of her head and a tail unfurled from between the fabric of her top and sukumizu, reminiscent of a Doberman. Then, with a broad smile, she unsheathed her katana, returned the sheath to her Inventory, and stated, "I will do my best during our match, so you should do the same."
"To do otherwise would be to disrespect my opponent..." affirmed Riko, raising her shield, attached to her left arm, while posing with her pickaxe concealed by her body.
Seeing that both Riko and Mio were ready, Tiamat didn’t hesitate to raise her hand, shouting, "Begin~!" in a melodious, exceptionally loud tone that reverberated through the stadium.
Wasting no time, Mio darted forward like a blur, her katana leaving behind a silver trail as she slashed at Riko’s turtle shell buckler. The latter put her weight behind it in preparation for a parry, but Mio had predicted this, the tip of her katana passing within half a centimeter of Riko’s buckler without making contact.
Before Riko could make sense of the incongruency that washed over her, Mio transitioned the momentum of her slash into a spinning kick launched at the center of the buckler.
’Well, that’s not good...’ thought Mio, expecting to push Riko back or off balance with her kick. Instead, the latter’s arm barely budged, and while she was pushed back, it was nearly impossible to tell as her feet adhered to the arena, giving the impression she was an immovable boulder.
Though she had never attacked one of her allies with the intent to cause harm, much less eliminate them, Riko’s experience slaying thousands of monsters allowed her to transition from blocking to swinging her pickaxe at Mio’s torso without hesitation.