Daisan no Isekai: The Quartet (Isekai Quartet x Tensura)

Demon Lord's Festival: The Battle - Part 2

The participants had been eyeing each other up, like predators picking out their prey, waiting. The moment Souka announced the commencement of the battle, all thirty began moving towards their chosen targets. One particularly brutish participant charges at and makes a wide sideways swing with an Axe towards a much smaller guy nearby, a swordsman who narrowly slides under it and responds with a swift swipe for the guy's stomach with his short sword. Staggered backwards, the brutish man is lifted up from behind by an extremely well-built man in a lion mask and is slammed into the ground. He falls unconscious. The smaller man had already gotten himself caught up in a costly three-way sword duel. He and another fall there to the blade, the victor quickly falling prey to a devastating roundhouse kick to the stomach. "That man in the Lion Mask... He is a powerful warrior indeed." Cocytus was the first to mention him. Ainz responds with his own thoughts as the stronger participants display their Skills and the weaker contestants fall like dominoes, "The exploitation of opportunities... He appears to have quite a bit of experience in both one-on-one fights and larger battles."

He begins to reminisce about his many guild battles, "Yes... Mass free-for-alls like this embody the essence of PvP. All of you should use this opportunity in watching to learn what you can.". This suggestion causes Albedo some discomfort, "Lord Rimuru and the other monsters of the city, I understand. But forgive me Lord Ainz, I don't see what we could possibly learn from the humans here.". 'Hmmmm... How can I convince her?' Ainz takes a moment to consider his response and thanks to his new Skill with <Hasten Thought>, he can formulate his thoughts with a much higher degree of efficiency. During his extended time thinking, he is able to notice something about the surrounding crowd he wasn't expecting, "Albedo, even fools can offer much to learn from in their own way. Also, take a closer look at some of the humans here in this coliseum..." She complies without question but doesn't see anything unexpected. That is, until she tries consciously infusing Magic Sense with her own Unique Skill <Overseer>, which contains the <Analyze and Assess> subskill, to detect Magicules around the arena and roughly determine their source. She finds herself amazed, both at what she sees and at how effective her Skills' usage training had been. Even though the Magicule density is actively being purposely disrupted by certain pieces of the City's infrastructure, Albedo can still detect many humans within the Coliseum that could rival her or even Shalltear in terms of their current magicule count. She finds some relief, however, in seeing that there are fewer people there who could rival her beloved lord Ainz. The ones who can, and not counting Tanya whom Albedo has already had to accept the fact that she could now rival Ainz as they are currently, she takes note of as best she can from across the coliseum spectators' row. Although she is taken aback as two of them appear far too young to be so powerful. One is a short blonde girl who is with a slightly elderly gentleman, another powerful human. They are likely related from what she can see. The other is a girl with Black long hair who is with a group of other kids and they all seem to be having a great time watching the big fight being shown above. The woman who looks to be their guardian, however... Albedo's instincts tell her that that woman should be avoided. Ainz concludes his statement to her, "The humans from our world are individually insignificant. While they can be wise and foolish in equal measure, they are still weak. No matter how much they train or how talented they may be, even the strongest of men, men like Gazef, are still ultimately weak... However, in this world, humans seem to have a much greater potential to gain strength through talent and effort. I believe we should show them at least some respect. For that if nothing else." 'Besides, I'd rather not get us on Rimuru's bad side, I mean he does seem quite fond of them.'. Albedo's belief relents to her lord's words, "I see your point. I shall ensure the other Floor Guardians and I show the humans of this world more respect and leniency in accordance with your will, Lord Ainz.". With this, Ainz couldn't be more relieved. He never expected to desire for the safety of humans again after losing touch with his past human self but here he is concerning himself with ensuring his subordinates treat them well, even if it is ultimately for their own sake.