The Author's POV Chapter 424 - Confrontation [1]

Watching her fight in the video I was really left amazed and made a mental note to myself to pay close attention to her next fight. Perhaps she would once again surprise me.

"Thank you."

At my words, Ava replied with a smile.

"I wasn't really confident in my chances, but I guess I got lucky."

"No."

I shook my head.

"Luck can only get you so far. This was all you."

Turning to look behind Ava, my eyes paused on Hein.

"You seem to be doing a lot better than before. You managed to get over your loss."

"Not really…"

Hein replied with a bitter smile on his face.

"Although I always knew that I wasn't going to win… I at least wanted to make it past the round of thirty two."

"There, there."

Turning around, Ava patted Hein on the shoulder… Or at least tried to. She was too short to reach him.

Eventually, after realising that she couldn't reach him, she gave up.

"Whatever."

She softly mumbled as she crossed her arms and pouted. Hein, who was already used to such a scene, didn't seem to mind it and continued.

"I don't know, I just feel like I still have a lot that is lacking."

"Don't we all?"

Honestly, I felt gratified that Hein felt this way.

If someone did not think they were lacking in anything then their growth would just stunt. Even Kevin whom I had talked to last night realized just how many flaws he had.

No one was perfect.

That included me. I was nowhere near perfect. But, just because one had flaws didn't mean that they were weak.

"Well, since you realized that you have many flaws, just work on them. The less they become apparent, the more you know you're doing something right."

I was honestly not the best person with regard to giving advice, but I firmly believed what I just said.

Fortunately, Hein understood the intent behind my words and nodded his head in understanding.

"Yeah."

"That's good."

With a smile on my face, I glanced around.

"By the way, where are the others?"

"You mean Smallsnake and the others?" Ava asked. I nodded in response.

"Yeah."

Did they perhaps go around to explore the city? It was understandable, after all, since they weren't partic.i.p.ating and perhaps got bored.

But Ava's next sentence completely caught me off-guard.

"Oh, they went back to the human domain for a bit."

"…Eh?"

Unable to process her words, I blinked repeatedly.

"What did you just say?"

With a strange look on her face, Ava replied.

"…I said that they went to the human domain."

"You can do that?"

The confusion within me grew even further.

"Ah, right. You were probably busy with everything that happened so you didn't know the portals have been opened up. Unfortunately, only those who are not partic.i.p.ating can leave. The cost is expensive, too."

"I see…"

'They could've told me beforehand.'

I was a bit salty about this development, but I wasn't too mad. After all, once the tournament ended, I was planning on settling back in the human domain.

Well, of course, that depended on whether everything that I had set up beforehand worked.

I did message Donna and Monica regarding it, too. They said that they would help me, but I hadn't heard back from them since then.

"Well, whatever. I guess I should use this time to relax."

I eventually shrugged my shoulders. Since the only people that could go back were the ones that weren't partic.i.p.ating in the tournament, I couldn't go back and visit my family.

Either way, it didn't really matter. I was going to meet them soon enough.

"The two of us will go now. Hein said that he will help me train for my next opponent.

Snapping me out of my thoughts was Ava who waved goodbye to me.

Raising my head and glancing in their direction, I waved back.

"Bye."

Following my words, the two of them left, leaving me alone, standing in the middle of the city.

'Hmmm, what should I do?'

There wasn't really much for me to do at the moment. I couldn't really talk to Kevin since he was probably sorting his stuff out, and Melissa probably headed back for a bit. Amanda had said that there was something for her to do and she will contact me later.

There really wasn't any- actually, there was someone.

As my thoughts paused there, scratching the back of my head, I let out a sigh after a while.

"Whatever, I'm that bored. It won't make a difference."

Taking out my communication device, I quickly dialed a number.

After a couple of rings, someone finally picked up. It was Jin.

—…What do you want?

"Cough."

Heading Jin's voice, and recalling the past we had with each other, my voice raised a bit.

"Well, Jin, it's been a while. You free?"

***

At the same time, in a different place.

"Khrrr…khrrr…"

Inside a large room, a rough nasal sound resounded throughout the whole place.

Seated at a large table were over ten figures, each of which was an orc.

In the middle of the table were multiple projections, depicting the image of all the contestants remaining.

"Vaalyun, Borerlig, Ignar, Amelia, and Kevin Voss. These are the most likely candidates for the top spots."

One of the orcs seated said while sorting out the images.

A deep silence ensued in the room as everyone gazed at a certain individual. The moment their eyes landed on him, their breathing became rough, and unknowingly lowered their head in submission.

The individual before them was called Kimor, and he was the strongest orc amongst the younger generation. With a rank of , he was one of the individuals with the highest chances of winning the tournament.

Staring at the hologram, Kimor finally opened his mouth.

"Khhrrr…khrrr… Who is the biggest threat?"

Although he spoke softly, his voice rang throughout the whole room like thunder, alerting everyone present.

The only one that seemed to be unfazed by this was the orc who had previously spoken. His name was Artian, and he was the strongest orc in the room, at rank.

"Khrr..khrrr… If we directly look at it from what we've seen, Vaalyun, Borerlig, Ignar, and Amelia are the only ones that truly pose a threat. Maybe the human Kevin can be dangerous, but he's only ranked."