Vol. 15 - Ch. 25 - Contestants for the Second Preliminary Rounds 

"I'm gonna be fighting today, meow!"

"I want to fight too!!"

The second round of preliminaries of the Ultimate Clan Battle was about to begin.

Merdie and Leaffa were both eager to participate.

"Alright, you two are in."

Technically, Halt could have adjusted the lineup based on their opponents, but he had already decided to let Merdie and Leaffa fight. Even against high-ranking adventurers, he was confident they’d win easily.

"If Sitri got to fight, then I can too, right!?"

"Uh, well… Sitri didn’t exactly volunteer…"

Akari wanted to fight too. She was the strongest human in this world barring Halt. One swing of her sword could tear open a hole in space itself. Because of that, Halt wasn’t too keen on letting her join.

Besides, Sitri hadn’t entered the fight by choice—she was forcibly summoned by the Evil God and made to fight against Halt.

"…Am I not allowed?"

"Ugh—"

Halt had never been able to refuse Akari when she looked up at him with those puppy-dog eyes.

"…Fine. You can fight."

"Really?! Yayyy!!"

"But absolutely do not go all out. This isn’t a joke. I mean it."

During the C-rank adventurer promotion exam, Halt had told Akari to fight at only 30% of her strength—but she didn’t listen. Halt himself had made a similar mistake before and ended up accidentally hurting Tina, so he couldn't bear to be too hard on her.

"Can you promise me you won’t use your full strength?"

"Yep! I promise, Haru-nii! I’ll only use, like, 10% of my power this time."

She took a glance at their opponents and used her God’s Eye skill to assess their abilities. Since even Halt’s instincts told him there wouldn’t be a problem, he decided to trust her.

"Alright. Just try not to get hurt."

"Okay~!"

And with that, three fighters were confirmed.

"I wanna fight too!"

"This concubine is not particularly interested in testing my strength, so I’ll sit this one out."

"I think I’ll skip this time too."

Hakua wanted to join, while Kikyou and Sitri decided not to participate.

Sitri had been injured while under the Evil God’s control, but Ryuka and Seira’s healing magic had fully restored her. Honestly, though, as a demon, even losing a limb wouldn’t have been a big deal for her. If she had woken up before they healed her, she probably could’ve regenerated on her own.

"Alright, so Hakua’s in. Sitri and Kikyou are out. That leaves six open spots—anyone else wanna join?"

"Um… would it be alright if I also participated?"

"I wanna fight too, meow!"

Dog beastkin Lilia and cat beastkin Sally stepped forward and expressed their desire to join the competition, and they weren’t the only ones.

"I want in too!"

"If Keith’s fighting, then I am too!!"

Keith and Aria are automata created by the legendary Grand Sage Kana, who once saved the world alongside the Guardian Hero. These third-generation artificial lifeforms were strong enough to take down elemental dragons on their own.

And now, they were both eager to fight.

"Okay! I’m counting on you guys."

That left only two spots open. Winning didn’t require all ten members—just securing six victories would be enough. As Halt was about to check if anyone else wanted to join, two small figures approached him.

"Hey, Papa!"

"We want to fight too!"

"Oh, Sui and Suu? Sure, just be careful—though honestly, I doubt any of these adventurers could even scratch you."

Halt had given his four slimes immense magic power and divine blessings, evolving them into the strongest beings of their kind. They had taken on human forms—adorable young girls—and become part of the Elenor household. They called Halt and Tina "Papa" and "Mama."

Recently, the Slime Girls had grown a little more, taking on slightly older forms. Now, the eldest, Sui, and the second daughter, Suu, wanted to fight.

"Don’t push yourselves too hard, okay?"

Hearing that they were entering, a concerned Tina came over.

"Okay!"

"We'll do our best without overdoing it."

And just like that, the ten fighters were set. Since Halt, Luke, and Ryuushin weren’t participating, the entire team consisted of women. However, considering they were all part of the Ernol household, who were constantly absorbing Halt’s excess mana and training alongside S-rank adventurers, their strength had naturally skyrocketed. By now, their power was on par with some of the strongest adventurers in the world.

The only ones unaware of this were their unfortunate opponents.

"Oi, oi, what the heck? These little brats are our opponents?"

As the match was about to begin, the opposing clan’s adventurers swaggered over.

"Guess their first-round opponents must’ve been real weak."

"And they’re all women?"

"Heck yeah, lucky, that’s a win for us already."

"Don’t complain if we take things to the ground."

"We ain’t lettin’ them surrender that easy."

"Heh… Oh, man… I can’t wait for this… kekeke…"

Their faces twisted into creepy grins. 

These guys were from Baizel, a B-rank clan known for its skilled adventurers.

"Hey, Haru-nii. Those guys are gross. Can I just go 'bam' and take care of them?"

She held up a single finger—her signature flick. That ‘bam’ from Akari had enough force to erase an A-rank monster from existence.

"Akari, no."

Halt stopped her, then scanned their opponents. After a quick assessment, he was sure that they wouldn't pose any problems at all.

"It’s fine. My team’s got this."

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