Chapter 84: I’ll beat you to a pulp for real, same as always… no, even worse than always!

An Aura Limiter was a magic skill that could restrict the strength of Aura.

The stamp the referee pressed was a magic tool that let anyone use Aura Limiter, and the magic tool itself was also called an Aura Limiter.

The level was set with the stamp’s dial and a magic circle was stamped near the Orb to use it.

If an adventurer stamped with the magic circle tried to use Aura stronger than the set level, the magic circle absorbed that Aura.

Naturally the skill they tried to use would not activate, and the magic circle would change color to red and warn the adventurer.

Then if they ignored the warning and kept emitting Aura beyond the set level, the magic circle, unable to absorb all the Aura, would vanish while giving off a flash.

In short, if they used Aura beyond the set level, the referee would definitely notice.

Incidentally, the magic circle faded in about ten minutes and the effect ended, so it could only be used for short matches.

Levels could only be restricted roughly in increments of ten, and the lowest level was 10.

That was why Monica, facing level 4 Kazui, had been restricted to level 10.

"If the magic circle on the back of your left hand vanishes, you lose at that point, so please be careful with your Aura output."

"No need to be careful."

Mocking Kazui, Monica continued.

"There’s no way I’d use Aura beyond level 10 against a trainee... and a level 1 at that."

"He’s not level 1. He went up to level 4."

Hearing the referee’s words, Monica looked a little surprised.

But she immediately recovered her composed expression and declared,

"Even if his level went up, 4 still means he’s in training! Even with a handicap, he’s no match for me!"

"You’re pretty irritated, huh."

In a tit-for-tat kind of way, Kazui ended up throwing a provocative line at Monica too.

"Do women with no chest lose their composure too?"

(If I said this in Japan it would be full-on sexual harassment.)

To Kazui, Monica was someone who picked fights with him for one reason or another and had beaten him to a pulp many times.

Because of that, he felt a little regret at having said something he normally would not say.

"I’ll beat you to a pulp for real, same as always... no, even worse than always!"

Monica was the boyish type, and just as Kazui had said, her chest was on the poor side, though not as much as her little sister Nicola’s.

Like Nicola, Monica was fairly self-conscious about how small her chest was.

"Alright, alright, both of you... this isn’t a place to fight with words. It’s a place to fight with unarmed combat, so stop there."

Stopped by the referee, both Kazui and Monica ended the argument.

"Match time is five minutes! If I judge that the outcome is decided, or that there has been an act judged as a foul, I will stop the exhibition match! If you go against that stop, you will not only lose unconditionally, you will also receive the prescribed penalty!"

The "penalty" the stern-toned referee mentioned was a ban on using the gym.

Usually use was banned for a week, but if it was judged malicious, the ban could last longer.

"If you take damage enough for Sals Fabrica to activate, stay down for two seconds or more, or give up, you lose, and in that case I will stop the exhibition match!"

After finishing the warnings, the referee gave them instructions.

"Now then, both of you... take your positions!"

The three of them were around the center of the first dojo, but about five meters from the center white circles were drawn facing each other.

These two circles were the "positions" the referee meant.

Kazui and Monica each moved into the closer circle.

With about ten meters of distance between them, they faced each other and glared.

"Bow!"

Like in a judo or karate match, Kazui and Monica straightened their posture for form’s sake and bowed.

It was the rule, so they followed it for form’s sake.

Once the two of them finished bowing and each took a stance, the referee’s voice announcing the start rang through the first dojo.

"Begin!"

Right after that, Kazui and Monica’s bodies began to give off a faint white light.

First both of them generated the Aura needed to use skills.

Generating Aura before the start was announced was forbidden by the rules.

Because of that, right after an exhibition match began, both sides usually generated Aura.

The light Kazui and Monica had been giving off quickly vanished.

Both of them had activated Aura Mail and first protected themselves.

But Monica had not activated only Aura Mail.

Right after activating Aura Mail, she had immediately activated another skill as well.

Monica kicked off the floor and leaped toward Kazui.

Crossing ten meters in a single bound without a running start, she tried to land a fierce jumping kick on him.

(She used Aura Speeder already, just like I thought!)

Kazui had read that Monica would use Aura Speeder and attack from the very start.

Unless it used fairly strong Aura, the movement-enhancing skill Aura Speeder did not make the body glow the way Aura Mail did.

Kazui had experienced Monica using Aura Speeder and charging in right after the start many times in previous exhibition matches.

That was why he had been on guard against an Aura Speeder charge from the very beginning.

—-

Monica’s attack was fast, but Kazui had been on guard and somehow managed to jump left and dodge.

Generating Aura and making his body glow, he pointed his right palm at Monica as she shot past him on the right like a gale.

The light his whole body had given off gathered in his right palm in an instant.

From the right palm, which began shining brightly like a car headlight, a torrent of white light was fired like a jet.

The torrent of light struck Monica from behind and blew her body away.

She lost her stance and rolled, but immediately got up and took a stance.

"It doesn’t work! An Aura Shot this weak!"

Just as Monica declared in a mocking tone, Kazui had used Aura Shot.

Aura Shot was a skill that mainly fired Aura from the palm to attack the enemy.

It was basically an attack used on a distant opponent, but it was also sometimes used at point-blank range as a follow-up after landing a strike.

For most adventurers the range was fifty meters at most, so using it as a mid-range attack was the limit.

Adventurers or monsters with outrageously strong Aura ability could fire Aura Shot with a range of over a hundred meters.

There were also killer techniques that could extend the range beyond a hundred meters.

The difference between long-range and mid-range attacks depended on the battlefield, but roughly speaking, over a hundred meters counted as long-range.

Under a hundred meters, in a range where direct attacks could not reach, it was treated as mid-range.

There were also battlefields where Aura-firing attacks were hard to land, so attacks beyond a martial artist’s attack range were sometimes treated as long-range.

Because of that it was often divided at a hundred meters, but it could differ depending on the battlefield.

In low-level Kazui’s case, Aura Shot only reached about twenty meters and its power was low.

This time he had landed it at about ten meters, but against Monica protecting herself with Aura Mail, throwing her off balance was the most he could do. There was essentially no damage.

Incidentally, because it released Aura outside the body, it consumed far more Aura than an ordinary strike.

A high-level adventurer with Aura to spare was one thing, but for low-level Kazui it was an attack he could not use often.

Monica’s whole body seemed to shine, then she pointed both palms at Kazui.

The light from her whole body gathered in both palms, shone more fiercely than Kazui’s had, and two torrents of light were fired.

(Double!)

Firing Aura Shot from both palms at the same time was called Double Aura Shot and the like.

Same as Aura Wide Shot, it was only a different way of firing Aura Shot. A separate skill did not exist.

The difficulty was higher than ordinary Aura Shot, so adventurers of lower rank or below usually could not use it.

Monica had only been intermediate for about half a year, but she was intermediate, so she could use Double Aura Shot.

From Kazui’s view, torrents of Aura closed in at high speed from the front and the right.

Unable to use a movement-enhancing skill like Aura Speeder, Kazui could not jump over the torrents of Aura and escape, so the only option was to flee left.

(That’s probably her aim, but I can’t afford to take them.)

Kazui understood that Monica’s aim was probably to drive him to the left.

But even understanding that, he had no choice but to flee left.

He dashed left, staying wary of Monica’s movements.

His vision caught Monica kicking off the ground and leaping toward him.

(Another jumping kick! She’s good at jumping kicks!)

He had dodged the jumping kick right after the match started well because he had been on guard and ready.

This time he had been on guard too, but he was in the middle of a dash, so he could not dodge as well as when he had been ready.

Judging he could not dodge completely, Kazui used his left arm like a shield to block Monica’s fierce jumping kick.

Intense pain ran through his left arm, and he felt as if the bone creaked.

In reality it was damage Aura Mail could fully defend against, and his bone was fine, but the pain and impact made it feel that way.

Pressed by the power of a jumping kick that put her weight behind a body larger and heavier than his, Kazui’s body was forced several meters back.

After throwing a jumping kick that could drop a weak monster in one blow, Monica landed in front of Kazui and immediately launched punch after punch and kick after kick.

Aura Mail had the effect of strengthening attack power, so Monica’s punches and kicks had enough power to kill an ordinary human in one blow.

Kazui had at least learned the techniques of dodging an enemy’s strikes, parrying them, and letting them flow off.

Because of that he could neutralize or reduce the power of a certain amount of strikes.

He did take some of them, but at this point he was only taking strikes his Aura Mail could endure.

Of course, because of the nature of Aura Mail, taking a strike still meant feeling pain.

Movement-enhancing skills did not have the ability to speed up strikes, so in a close-combat exchange of blows, basic body-art foundation was what mattered.

In that basic body-art foundation as well, Monica was considerably above Kazui.

It was said that only about ten percent of adventurers could become intermediate or above.

In other words, Monica, who had become an intermediate adventurer at the young age of twenty-one, was the type of young adventurer gifted in both talent and strength.