The Summoner Is Going Chapter 159 Part1

Translation: Charlotte
Editor: Weasalopes

「Sorry to bother you, but your match is coming up.」

As soon as I went up to the reception, the staff member there informed me that my match was about to begin.

Looked like the matches were slightly ahead of schedule.

Yep.

I totally understood their reasoning.

There were only two arenas in the former training grounds.

If battles were to end too quickly, the spectators might get bored and leave.

It made sense to minimise the gap between matches.

I had already switched up my Summon Monsters for the match.

The staff member fully restored my HP and MP.

All my equipment was good to go.

Here we go…

What kind of team would I be up against?

I stood in my corner and looked at the opposite corner.

I didn't see anyone else.

Cheers erupted from the other arena.

My audience was silent.

n.o.body came.

The time was past the scheduled start time of 12:30 pm.

A staff member walked out onto the middle of the arena.

「This fourth-round match is a forfeit!」

Huh…?

I couldn't believe it.

What happened?

It happened in the previous tournament, but…

Even though they had come this far…

It would be quite an insult to all the teams they had beaten thus far.

《You have advanced to the fifth round of the qualifiers! The fifth round is scheduled for 2:30 pm today, at the new training ground B.》

Yep.

A precious opportunity for a fun battle was gone, just like that.

『Keith! Over here~』

『Good work out there.』

『No, I didn't really do anything though.』

Adele and Irina were already there, watching me.

They used【Telepathy】to send me whispers as soon as my match was over.

「How did you two go?」

「It's unfortunate, but…」

「We lost~」

「Oh… How was the match, though?」

「Yuka took a video of the match.」

「We were definitely outplayed.」

Huh.

They sent me a link to the video of the match.

I wanted to see it right away, but I had to clear out first.

「My final match is going to be in the new training grounds. Want to go together?」

「Of course.」

「There's a lot to gain from just watching!」

Yep.

Learning by imitation was something I had been making them do a lot.

Studying is something you do when others force it upon you.

When you go out there and study on your own, that's called learning.

Although it was just a game.

Yuka and Helga joined us in front of the new training grounds.

We decided to watch some games before it was time for my match.

「The Production Job Players team made it to the fourth round.」

「I wonder if this one will be another one-sided slaughter?」

Helga said something scary.

Yosaku's team, huh.

I kind of expected that.

I felt like I had a good understanding of their team.

But what would happen if I had to fight against them?

I watched the video of Adele and Irina's fight.

Their opponent was a very standard balanced team.

Three Fighters in the front, two with s.h.i.+elds and swords, and one with a mace.

The rear guard consisted of a bow-user Treasure Hunter and two Sorcerers with staffs.

One of the sorcerers was at Lv.12, but everyone else was at Lv.11.

Yep.

They looked like an ordinary team.

So why did they lose?

I realised the reason when I finished watching the match.

The enemy team had done their research into how to fight summoners…

I had a strong hunch that that was the case.

「Getting separated definitely made things difficult for us.」

「Yes. I was expecting the wall spells…」

「But pitfalls were a little too much…」

The biggest factor leading to their defeat was the【Earth Magic】spell【Pitfall】.

Using walls to lead the enemy before trapping them using【Pitfall】…

Both Mii-chan and Calico were trapped and rendered useless.

And after that, Irina was taken out, along with Toggle and Calico.

From there, the match became increasingly one-sided.

Adele and U-chan worked hard to take out the other team on their own.

There were a few other highlights too.

The teamwork that the other team displayed was a sight to behold.

It was like they had practiced countering summoners, using wall spells to keep U-chan away.

Actually, it was a good strategy that could probably counter a lot of other strategies,

The wall spells were used to fight Adele and Irina's arrows too.

A lot of thought went into the fight.

Hmm?

It was Yosaku's turn.

Considering that the other team made it so far too meant that there would be no backing down for them either.

I was looking forward to an exciting battle.

「Go for it!!!」

「Fight on!」

With the supporting cheers from the girls next to me, the Production Job Player team's match began.

…and ended.

The match lasted less than two minutes.

It was another feat of strength.

Not very helpful.

But it was still fun to watch.

It took Yosaku and s.h.i.+nonome only one minute to take out a heavy fighter each.

While taking attacks from the enemy rear, they kept progressing.

I didn't even have to look at the battle log.

They even took a hit of【Enemy Burn】, a Lv.10【Fire Magic】attack spell.

But it was still a one-sided victory nonetheless.

You guys…

As we were watching the next match, Yosaku's team came to see us.

Hannes was there too.

「Oh! Keith, long time no see!」

「h.e.l.lo.」

It had only been a few days, though…

A few days since I last cast【Grow】on his plants.

「I was watching. Is your fifth-round match here too?」

「Yeah, it's at 3 pm, on the new training ground D」

「Huh.」

Nice…

I was glad they weren't my next opponent.

「Did you make it to the fifth round too, Keith?」

「Yes. Well, somehow.」

Yosaku and s.h.i.+nonome b.u.t.ted into our conversation.

「Was it another one-sided slaughter?」

「Honestly, I have no idea how I'm going to fight that…」

What…?

I would love to return those words as is.

We kept watching the matches.

Next to me were Hannes and Yosaku.

We chatted a bit, but kept most of our focus on the matches.

「That's going to be an annoying enemy to deal with.」

「Totally.」

「That Bard in the back is quite famous, you know! Semi-solobard!」

More interesting teams were beginning to show up.

According to Hannes, one of them had a bard named Semi-solobard.

A bard, who also tended to play solo… An all-rounder of sorts.

I could tell by just looking at his equipment. He had a lute-like instrument and a rapier at his waist.

Job Lv.13.

Wow.

Impressive.

All the other players in his team were Job Lv.11 or Lv.12.

Three Fighters in the front, two with spears and one with a mace.

The other two were a bow-user Hunter and a Sorcerer with a staff.

What kind of battle was it going to be?

It was… interesting in its own way.

Yosaku's strategy consisted of breaking through with force.

My strategy was “Rush and Disorganise”.

But their strategy was completely different.

Their attacks were definitely slower, but that allowed them to pay attention to defence as well.

The party leader was the Hunter.

They slowly built up their strength using the Bard's support songs.

With physical enchant spells from both the Fighters and the Sorcerer, they managed to control more and more territory.

The true carries of the team were probably the Fighters with spears.

They used the length of their spears to take the initiative in any fight.

But when it came to defence, the Fighter with a mace and s.h.i.+eld had to take all the beatings.

Without recovery spells from the back, he would've probably been taken out three times over.

The enemy team was doing alright for a while, but at some point they were pushed into a corner.

「Strengthening Fighters using the Bard's support songs, huh.」

「Seems like a bit of a roundabout way of going about it though.」

「Right? I feel like there are more effective ways to make use of a bard.」

「Yeah… Although in our case, the way he's fighting now would definitely be more annoying to deal with.」

Yosaku gave his thoughts.

Even as a summoner, I'd seen bards fight before.

In a much wider area, too.

It was a very scary combo.

And I was sure it could get scarier.

They could've used wall spells to gain even more time to buff up, or used damage-dealing songs too.

A bard could fill just about any role.

The bard we saw earlier just happened to be play the role of a support.

The time was 2:00 pm.

Already this time…

「I'm going to the waiting room.」

「See you later~」

「Please do your best」

「We're rooting for you!」

I left the others and headed towards the waiting room,.

Oh.

Almost forgot to replace my Summon Monsters.

The staff member fully healed my HP and MP bars and let me out into the arena.

Yep.

Looked like there was a proper team on the other side.

? ? ?　 Lv.10

Fighter　On Standby

? ? ?　 Lv.10

Fighter　On Standby

? ? ?　 Lv.11

Fighter　On Standby

? ? ?　 Lv.10

Treasure Hunter　On Standby

? ? ?　 Lv.10

Sorcerer　On Standby

? ? ?　 Lv.10

Sorcerer　On Standby

Wow.

Their levels were relatively low.

But…

They were good enough to reach the fifth round.

I couldn't underestimate them.

I looked at the enemy team more closely.

Two fighters with spears, one with a hammer and a s.h.i.+eld.

The Treasure Hunter had a bow, and both sorcerers had staffs.

A very standard team.

Rig crawled around my body.

I was planning on using the same strategy I used for the third round.

For a more detailed strategy, I would just have to wait and see.

3 seconds.

A simultaneous…

Bow.

「Begin!」

The moment the match started…

I broke out running, as usual.

「Practiced Spirit!」「Meditate!」「Bless!」

『Meditate!』『Bless!』

『Meditate!』『Bless!』

Jericho liquefied and crawled on Senki.

Senki's movements became slightly duller.

Volff quickly raced into the centre of the arena.

He jumped between the two spear fighters.

Two spears were headed towards Volff, but they both missed.

The next arrow wasn't intended for Volff.

It was flying towards me.

『Snipe Shot!』

A direct hit, but no damage.

Rig fully absorbed it.

「Physical Enchant: Wind!」

I increased Senki's AGI stat.

Next.

It looked like the enemy sorcerers were done casting their spells.

『Fire Wall!』

『Wind s.h.i.+eld!』

Two walls appeared in front of the Fighters.

But something was off.