Chapter 493 The round that wasn (1/2)

It would be a lie to say that Granin wasn't nervous as he s.h.i.+fted in his seat and watched the gates rise to commence the third round of compet.i.tion. That d.a.m.ned ant had been quite adamant that his spell would be a spectacular one-hit kill for any creature that didn't know it was coming. Granin himself knew of some pretty potent artillery type spells that required a triad to work together for an extended cast, compressing and shaping mana before releasing it in a glorious burst of devastation. Still, such spells were not at all useful in a one on one duel.

As he tried to contain his nervousness, he also did his best to ignore the muttered whispers of the Shapers around him in the stands. Gravus was a notable absentee for this round, and not a single person in attendance had failed to notice. Since the old stone was unlikely to back down on his own accord, there was little doubt that his triad leader had forbidden him from attending. After the campaign, Granin had waged bringing attention to the open bias against his sponsored monster the leading triad had to step a little more carefully lest they jeopardise the legitimacy of their tournament.

Having Gravus blow-up and get into another fistfight would not be a good look for them. Even as he understood their motives, Granin was a little disappointed. Baiting Gravus into another explosion would have served his purposes perfectly.

With a rattle and a crash, the gates slammed into their frames fully raised, and the gathered Shapers leaned forward in their seats as the two monsters emerged from their respective tunnels. From one side came a gleaming ant, barbed mandibles already gnas.h.i.+ng at the air. Even from where he sat, Granin could feel the mana concentration within Anthony growing by the second. He was already working on his spell, and everyone could sense it. That happened to include the monster who'd entered opposite. A ponderous mound of dark goop, the Death Creeper was a pain of a monster to kill. Capable of rotting flesh that even approached it, the Creeper exuded a powerful aura of decay that few monsters of the Second Strata could match. As it sensed the powerful build-up of mana within its opponent, the creature wisely began to disperse its ma.s.s.

This creature was a tough opponent for Anthony in Granin's eyes. His acid would do little to the beast since the acid itself would dissolve to nothing before doing any sort of damage, and if he tried to close in and bite, he'd be suffering damage just from being close to the thing. Magic was the best way to deal with the Creeper but even that was hard to achieve. Without a doubt, the triad in charge of raising this Creeper had taken the necessary precautions and built magic resistance into the monster from an early stage.

The Creeper didn't appear overconfident at all and moved cautiously, spreading itself out and oozing its way toward its opponent. For his part, Anthony continued s...o...b..ating and snapped at the air with his mandibles while his antennae swirled wildly. What the h.e.l.l is he doing?

”Mind if I join you?”

Granin started when someone spoke nearby and turned to see a smiling Shaper standing nearby looking down at him. He frowned a touch when he realised who this was: Inaron, triad leader responsible for raising the Creeper fighting below.

”Sure. Take a seat.”

It was a little unusual for competing sponsors to be sitting next to each other during a bout but not unheard of during this tournament. Some Shapers found the process too emotional, whereas others remained quite detached.

”My thanks,” came the reply as Inaron took his seat. ”That seems to be quite the spell your creature is working on there. The mana feels dense and almost unstable.”

Granin grunted.

”His best chance of overcoming your Creeper is overwhelming it with magic. I get the feeling this fight is going to short and decisive either way.”

”Oh, I agree. If the spell fails to do fatal damage, then I believe the ant will find itself quickly overwhelmed.”

Inaron sounded immensely confident in his a.s.sessment, enough so that Granin turned to him curiously.

”You don't believe the spell will be effective?”

Not wanting to appear impolite Inaron simply nodded.

”Indeed. The weak point of the Creeper is its slow movement combined with its poor ability to contest ranged opponents. In the Dungeon, as I'm sure you know, they are typically an ambush predator, not suited to chasing down their prey. My triad and I have put a huge amount of effort into designing this Creeper to overcome those issues. It's ability to resist magical offence and disperse damage is first cla.s.s.”