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Chapter 104
Chapter 3 — Dry scrape, burn and perforate! • Episode 3–4 — Witch Cup ⑨【Wind VS Gravity】
Translated by KaiesV
Edited by KaiesV
After defeating Dragon Call-san first, our Blue Team was able to secure small crystals without encountering any Magical Girls from other teams, and currently has one large crystal and eight small crystals for a total of 13 points. This is more than 1/3 of the total number of points (35), and I thought that just running around and taking small crystals from other teams while running away would be enough to win the game, but Doppelganger-san in command didn’t seem to think so.
『Sylph-chan, perhaps there’s no one near the Yellow Team’s base right now. After securing the crystal in the northeast outer layer, check on the Yellow Team’s large crystal. If you don’t see anyone, go ahead and take it.』
『Does that mean that if someone is there, I run away?』
『If you think you can beat them, you can challenge them, but if you see Red Ball-chan, turn back immediately. As soon as you see her, you should be able to shake her off if you’re fast enough.』
『Got it.』
It takes more concentration to keep flying with magic while keeping a watchful eye on the surroundings and checking the location of the next small crystal, and I cannot do the trick of predicting the other teams’ moves based on the changing colors of the small crystals on the map. So I leave that decision to Doppelganger-san, who is busy defending our base.
It takes quite a bit of time to secure a large crystal, one minute, and since one is worth five points, and I think the other teams are defending well, it is quite risky to go for it. If the enemy is there, you may have to turn back, but you will be wasting time. But, as Doppelganger-san said, if no one is there and I can take it without any effort, we will certainly have a significant advantage.
High-risk, high-return thinking, something I would never do, but I’m sure that Doppelganger-san share the same desire to win, so let’s trust her judgment.
『What about me?』
『Ex–Magna-chan, you’re on plan. Next, we’ll secure the small crystals in the mid-southwest quadrant.』
『Che～ I’m hoping I’ll have something to show for it soon too～』
『Please take this seriously!』
I yell at Ex–Magna-san for her antics and unilaterally cut off communication.
I don’t care if she seems to be doing a good job of securing the small crystals, but we definitely can’t lose this one. It would be terrible to be caught off guard and let another team get a leg up.
After that, when I was securing crystals in the northeast outer layer, she suddenly started singing and showed no motivation, so I nailed her every time, After she said she had found Dragon Call-san, the communication went dead and after a short time, the icons of Ex–Magna-san and Dragon Call-san disappeared from the map. It means that she lost or she was outmatched.
「Tornado Mixer!」
I arrived at the Yellow Team’s base a short time after Ex–Magna-san fell, and after carefully checking from the shadows that no one was there, I scraped away the thick ice covering the crystal.
It’s painful and heartbreaking that Ex–Magna-san fell, but if I can secure the big crystal here, the Blue Team still has room to spare, so I’m keeping my cool. In that light, Doppelganger-san’s proactive measures, rather than passive measures, were the right ones. As I read it, there were no Witches guarding the big crystal.
『Starting to secure the large crystal from the Yellow Team.』
『Nobody was there, were they? I think Ex–Magna-chan’s gone down, so don’t push yourself too hard.』
『Doppelganger-san was right, there was no one here.』
While securing the crystals, magic won’t be available, but I can communicate and view the map, so I’ll check the map while sharing information with Doppelganger-san.
I thought I was checking the surroundings. I kept my ears open while looking at the map so that I would know if someone was approaching, and while communicating, I would avoid looking at the map and look around me, always applying either my eyes or my ears to spotting.
But I was not completely aware of the way she appeared.
I was almost there when suddenly my eyes lit up and a girl in black, whom I had once encountered in the Magical World, appeared right in front of me.
「Tornado Mixer!!」
「Red Stain.」
Once I realized that the glow was a shifting light, I took my hand away from the large crystal, though I was not ready to do so, and chanted attack magic, thinking that I could not escape at this distance, and at the same time the girl finished chanting almost simultaneously with me, with a Buddha’s face on her face.
.
『This! This is why she’s called the strongest Interpersonal Force!! Twist and crush any magic, and there is only one who stands in the end!! It’s Contender Red Ball! As soon as she was revived, she magically defeated Contender Tyrant Sylph! It’s an overwhelming victory that allows no resistance whatsoever! I didn’t expect Contender Extend Traveler to fight back, though! She’s still strong! Too strong!!』
『The success of Contender Extend Traveler may have numbed me a bit as well. After all, Contender Red Ball is so strong that she seem unreasonable in a battle between Magical Girls. I remember when she used to troll the competitions before she became a Witch. Contender Tyrant Sylph was one step away from securing the big crystal. If she had made it in time, the situation would’ve been quite different because the Yellow Team’s resurrection point would have been random, but it was unfortunate.』
『The Blue Team had been consistently dominating from the start of the match! Here they were dropped two in a row!! I think this would force Contender Doppelganger to move on the crystals, but what do you think!?』
『It’ll take a long time to revive them because of the number of small crystals they had secured, and if they don’t, they’ll take the crystals unilaterally, so they will definitely move first. If they make an aggressive move, it will no longer be only Contender Red Ball, and there may be some upheaval.』
『I know that the development of the game so far has been tumultuous, but it means that it’s about to get even more interesting! Nhn? Ohh? Contender Doppelganger, is still not moving!!』
『The fact that Contenders Ex–Magna and Tyrant Sylph fell should be readily apparent from the map if they are on the same team. In other words, Contender Doppelganger wasn’t unaware, but understandably unwilling to move…? It’s puzzling. Maybe there is a strategy, but I think the best thing to do here is to move forward, even if it means vacating the base…』
『In the meantime, Contender Permafrost turned the Blue crystals in the southeast inner layer Yellow! Contender Red ball is also trying to reach the Blue crystals in the northeast outer layer! More and more crystals are being taken away from the Blue Team!』
『During the encounter with Contender Tyrant Sylph, Contender Red Ball’s icon should have appeared on the Blue Team’s map, albeit for a few seconds. So Contender Doppelganger is aware that Contender Red Ball has been resurrected and then deprived of the crystals in the southeast inner layer. The small crystal currently secured by the Blue Team is in the middle to outer layers from south to east, so if nothing is done, it will be almost completely eaten away, but even so, there’s no sign of movement.』
『I am very curious to know what kind of operation she was planning! Contender Dragon Call, a member of Red Team, has successfully secured a small crystal in the outer west layer and is now aiming for the next crystal in the outer southwest layer! In addition, Contenders Wigs Crosseau and Extend Traveler remain in action and have secured the north-middle crystal, and here they seem to be splitting up into two groups, north and south!』
『This is getting interesting. We have a situation where the Yellow Team takes the Blue Team’s crystals and the Red Team takes the Yellow Team’s crystals. The Red Team was outnumbered until a few minutes ago, but now they have regained their footing.』
『Contender Rabbitfoot seem to be back and moving toward the crystal on the east side! Umumu, it appears that she won’t encounter another team for a little while in terms of each contender’s movements! The Red Team has one in the west and two closer to the north, the Yellow Team has one in the center closer to the south and two in the northeast, and the Blue Team has one in the south, so it will be a pure crystal fight!』
『That’s rather common in the early stages of a normal competition. It’s not every day that a fight breaks out like this, unless it’s with a group of very belligerent and confident Magical Girls. Maybe the Witches don’t dare to avoid battle since it’s the Witch Cup on a special occasion.』
.
Waking up in the waiting room, I understood that I had lost to Red Ball-san, and rousing my heart, which was about to be crushed by despair, I checked the map and was involuntarily dizzy when I saw the blue crystals being painted over one after another.
「Why are you not moving, Doppleganger-san!?」
「I don’t know if she told me that. I’m sure she’s got some ideas, though.」
I understand that it’s important to protect the large crystals, but if you say that, all the small crystals will be taken away. When I asked Ex–Magna-san, who had come to the waiting room a step ahead of me, about the true reason for Doppelganger-san’s behavior as if to yell at her, all I got back was a response that seemed unimportant.
「I! We absolutely cannot lose!!」
「I don’t need you to tell me that… Well, I’ll do my best when we return.」
Ahh, ugh!
What was that magic all about!? That’s just foul! I can’t win by crushing all of her magic, no matter how hard I try! I heard she was strong, but that’s not fair!
「Calm down, Tyrant Sylph. You can’t win anything that way.」
「I know that!」
「Look closely at the map. By the time Tyrant Sylph gets back, Yellow Team has taken three of our crystals, while Red Team has taken two of Yellow Team’s crystals. It’s true that our team’s crystals are down, but it doesn’t mean that any one team is winning by a landslide, does it? Then we still have a chance to win.」
I will take Ex–Magna-san’s point and look at the map again carefully.
Compared to the map I saw just before I fell, the crystals in the middle southeast, middle east, and outer northeast layers have changed from Blue to Yellow, those in the outer northwest and inner north layers have changed from Yellow to Red, and those in the outer southwest layer have changed from Colorless to Red.
In terms of numbers, the Red Team has nine small crystals, the Yellow Team has seven, and our Blue Team has four.
Sure, it looks like the Red Team is leading for a bit, but it may be too early to say it’s hopeless yet.
「You see the wait time for resurrection on the map? At the time of our resurrection, we had about 10 minutes left. If we hurry, well, I think we can get two or three small crystals per person, and we can afford it.」
「I guess it would be conditional if we don’t run into anyone and if they don’t take the outer layer of crystals from the east to the south.」
「Yes, that’s correct. But you’ve cooled off a bit, haven’t you?」
「…Yes.」
I had been able to keep our team in the game with an advantage throughout the entire tournament, as we had planned, except for the first battle, so when that advantage was broken, and defeat became a real possibility and closer, I seemed to have unwittingly lost my perspective.
Ex–Magna-san is right, I can’t win anything that way. I have to stay calm, assess the situation, and I will win. I must win and start over.