A magic merchant infiltrating Fairy Tail

"Oh dear~ I know a little about Ultear's magic, the lost magic 'Arc of Time'. If she were to play, she might be able to end the match in one go!"

Hearing Yajima, like a cunning old fox, slyly reveal his past mistakes and draw everyone's attention to him, Ultear, who had just stepped onto the stage, immediately frowned: "That old guy, could he still be holding a grudge against me for destroying the council and causing him to lose his job...?"

Other contestants: "..."

Serves you right! You were just wasting your time damaging buildings and causing people to lose their jobs. Now you know you shouldn't offend the elderly!

Ivan, who had worked in the Council for a time, chuckled: "Speaking of which, I heard that Yajimasan was bedridden for a long time after the Council collapsed..."

Now Urudia was even more certain of her guess, and looking at the old man on the stage, she gritted her teeth and said, "Tch... This old man is indeed taking revenge!"

Ivan was naturally chosen by the 'Azure Pegasus' team. As a user of snow magic, he possessed the ability most closely related to the 'naval battle' project.

Raven's Tail sent Narubudinku, the short, fat guy who targeted Gray in the "Stealth" event in the original story. His magic "Rolling Needle Blast" has nothing to do with water and seems completely unsuitable for the "Naval Battle" competition, so everyone guessed that they had given up on this competition.

But Kira thought again that this guy was quite skilled, and if he used the stench tactic of destroying the stone pillars, it would be enough to disgust all the contestants.

The "Four-Headed Hound" sent out an unfamiliar extra, who wasn't very strong; Kira didn't even remember his name.

The 'Heart of the Dragon' sent one of the twin girls, Sudo. Kira hadn't seen her at the Dragon Slayer Research Institute, so she must be a new member who joined in the last two years. Judging from the nature of her magic, this girl is also a second-generation Dragon Slayer Mage, but it's unknown what her attribute is.

"That Silver guy, didn't he say they didn't have any Dragon Slayer Crystals? He was lying all along!"

Just as he was complaining, the announcer's excited voice rang out again: "Unbelievable! Unbelievable!! The 'Boa Queen's Scale' has sent their ace, the mage bearing the name of the 'Ten Wizard Saints,' Jura Regis!!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Jura, sporting a perfectly round bald head, strode forward. His head was shining brightly, as if he had used some kind of shampoo.

"Oh, oh, oh, it's Jura!!"

It's really me!

"Jura actually appeared on the second day?!"

The cheers from the crowd showed just how popular Jura was in the Kingdom of Fiore.

Since 'Emperor's Shield' has only been established for three months and only two players have appeared in the competition so far, these viewers are not familiar with this guild.

In their eyes, the final winner of this tournament is likely to be one of the three guilds that possess the "Ten Wizard Saints": Jura's "Boa Princess Scale", Jellal's "Sin of Witches", and Kira's "Fairy Tail".

Nowadays, most people in the magic world know that 'Sin of Witches' was formed by the main forces of the former 'Oración Seis' and 'Demonic Heart', leading viewers to conclude that they are exceptionally powerful. Even though Jellal is unable to participate due to being the guild master, the others are still far stronger than ordinary mages from other guilds.

However, they knew even better that both guilds had been destroyed by Fairy Tail.

Therefore, in their minds, the ranking of the three guilds' strength is: Fairy Tail > Sin of the Witch > Boa Hancock.

However, in terms of popularity, even considering the face of the royal family, 'Sin of the Witch', which evolved from a dark guild, is still very low in the public's mind, far less popular than 'Snake Scale', a long-established light guild.

When Jura appeared, all seven contestants were stunned. No one expected that Jura would appear in such an obviously inappropriate event.

Logically speaking, Leon, who uses ice magic, should be the most suitable character for naval warfare in 'Boa Hancock Scale', but unfortunately, he was eliminated by Inbell yesterday.

"Is it because Leon, the guild's second-best player, lost that they're so eager to boost morale today?"

When Imbal spoke, the transparent glasses on his face reflected the light, just like Jura's bald head.

As the governor of the Alvarez Empire, he had gathered a lot of information during his time in the Kingdom of Fiore. Apart from the new guild 'Heart of the Dragon' and 'Raven's Tail' which had just returned to the Light Guild, he had a different level of understanding of the other guilds.

"There's nothing I can do, my nagging old lady was really angry yesterday."

Even though he knew he wouldn't have a geographical advantage in the upcoming matches, Jura's face was still full of confidence—that's the courage of one of the 'Ten Wizard Saints'.

This aura put pressure on the several contestants who were about to participate—except for Inber.

At Fairy Tail's camp, Kira watched Jura, who was full of confidence on the field, and couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

"When I last saw Jura, he didn't seem to have this much beard, did he?"

"His beard grows so fast, yet the hair follicles on his head are completely bald. It's truly unbelievable!"

Chapter 665 Jura: This lineup is really putting me in a difficult position.

The artificial lake used for the competition had surprisingly clear water. Even though Kira was standing in the stands, he could still clearly see the white and gray stone bricks at the bottom of the lake. Hundreds of stone pillars of different shapes were scattered in the lake, looking like reefs that had been eroded by seawater for many years.

The lake is circular, so the staff cut it into eight irregularly shaped but nearly equal-sized sections. Each person then stood at the center of one section, which resulted in a unique position for the battle, creating a comfortable sense of uniformity when viewed from above.

This is much better than simply cutting it into eight identical fan-shaped pieces and then arranging them into a regular octagon.

This seemingly evenly distributed positioning forced the contestants to be extremely vigilant, keeping an eye on enemies from all directions during the battle and guarding against their sneak attacks.

Those standing on the outer edge are fine; they only need to be aware of the 180° fan-shaped area in front of them. But those standing in the center are in trouble; there are people all around them, and although some are farther away, they are still within range of attacks.

Mages are, by nature, a class that excels at ranged attacks!

"Who came up with this positioning? It's really hard to like!"

Urutia was complaining non-stop at that moment.

Looking around, the closest person to me is Jura directly in front of me, then Imber to my right, Erza to my left, and the other four are standing a little further away, but in several directions. If I turn around once, I can see the positions of everyone.

Actually, this positioning is a case of "the onlooker sees more of the game than the player." The audience, being onlookers, can clearly see the intention behind the competition's decision to position the eight contestants this way—the stronger ones stand inside, and the weaker ones stand outside!

In other words, it's a situation of 'four inside and four outside'.

As for how the organizers determine the strength of the contestants, they mainly look at their past performance and current achievements.

Of these eight people, Jura is ranked among the 'Ten Wizard Saints'. On the surface, he is the strongest, so he should actually be the unlucky one closest to the center of the lake. However, based on Ultear's magic and resume, the organizers gave her a position alongside Jura.

(Urudia: Someone must have framed me! And it's probably that old man sitting up there!)

(Ajima: Oh ho ho~ What an exciting match to watch!)

Next up is the renowned 'Fairy Queen' Erza, and then there's Inbell, who froze the arena in an instant yesterday. Both of them are just as strong as Ultear.

So the actual positioning in this scene is: four people surround from the outside, Jura, Erza, and Inbell stand in a three-way standoff inside, and then Ultear intervenes, turning it into 'three demons (magicians) fighting Jura'.

The one under the most pressure in this match is actually Jura!

Throughout the entire venue, only Kira and Mavis, people with sufficient intelligence, could see this. Then there was Jura, who was in the middle of it. He might not be able to see the purpose of standing like that, but he could definitely feel the pressure coming from seven different directions.

On the stone pillar, Jura's gaze lingered between Erza and Inbell, watching their every move warily. He could tell that of the seven opponents, they were the strongest.

'Miss Erza excels in close combat; her versatile armor and solid fighting skills are the keys to her fame.'

'This mage named Inbel is strong in magic. He won easily yesterday, but he clearly didn't use his full strength. Now it seems his magic power is no less than mine!'

Just sensing his magic from a distance sent a chill down my spine. Where did this guild come from? How can they have so many powerful mages?

After scrutinizing Erza and Inbell from head to toe, Jura finally turned his gaze to Ultear.

'Compared to those two, this lady named Ultear's magic is a little weaker, but her magic has a significant advantage in this competition!'

Thinking of this, Jura sighed helplessly.

"Oh... this is really putting me in a difficult position!"

While Jura was sizing up the other seven, those seven were also sizing up their opponents.

The reputation of a person is like the shadow of a tree; those standing before him are all star figures in the magical world, and no one dares to be arrogant or underestimate them.

Jura and Imber were so intimidating that Ivan was trembling with fear, not daring to be careless for a moment. He only wanted to end the match as soon as possible and then find the two older women to soothe his frightened heart.

Narubudinku hunched his shoulders, his lewd and cunning eyes filled with calculation and conspiracy, and his unkempt appearance was repulsive to look at.

'Four-Headed Hound' Worak was already brewing tears. This guy, who was defeated in one move by Oga of Sabertooth in the original work, was now praying that those big shots would delay dealing with him as long as possible, considering how much he had tears and how loudly he was crying.

This is the only thing he can do right now.

The young girl, Sika, looked at her opponent with curiosity. Although it was her first time appearing in public, her blue twin tails, white sailor uniform, bright eyes, and youthful and energetic 18-year-old image attracted a lot of fans.

Even Kira's gaze was fixed on her.

Of course, it's not that he's obsessed with twin tails and sailor uniforms. While young girls are pleasing to the eye, Kira is never biased when it comes to appreciating and evaluating beautiful things.

This time, he was simply curious about the girl's magic.

Clang clang clang!!

"The second day of the Grand Magic Games, the competitive mode [Naval Battle], has officially begun!!"

As the broadcast spread throughout the venue, the contestants on the stone pillars began to move.

"Iron-clad wall!!"

Without hesitation, Jura raised his right hand with his fingers together, and four thick stone pillars rose from the bottom of the lake, which was four or five meters deep.

The thickest of the three, about two meters in diameter, easily shattered and replaced the stone pillar beneath Jura's feet, lifting him into the air. The other three, controlled by his will, seemed to come alive, emerging from the water and turning in the air before attacking Impel, Erza, and Ultear respectively.

This move was as fast as lightning and as powerful as a hammer. Anyone without at least an A-level skill level couldn't react to it. Fortunately, the three victims were all quite capable and not some easy targets.

"Transformation - Black Feather Armor!!"

Seeing the stone pillars coming at her, Erza remained calm, put on her lightest armor that allowed her to fly, and then quickly jumped up to dodge the attack.

After hearing the rules, she realized that the best way to avoid falling into the water during the competition, besides freezing the lake, was to fly.

As expected, Imber responded by standing firm as a mountain, hands behind his back, and glancing up at the stone pillar that had crashed into his head.

Clang—!

The stone pillars froze instantly, and even the lake surface around Imber froze into ice.

"Oh no! As expected! Imber has frozen the arena into an ice battlefield! This has given the athletes a foothold!! But... is the situation really as simple as it seems?"

As if to confirm the announcer's words, the ice surface seemed to be like a videotape that had been rewound, time reversed, and the lake returned to its original appearance.

"It's Ultear's magic! She's turned the ice back into a lake!! It seems that as long as she's around, the fighters will only be able to fight on the stone pillars!!!"

As for the large stone pillar that Jura had attacked her, it aged instantly under the influence of the Arc of Time, first breaking into several pieces, then either disintegrating into ashes, or directly breaking free from Jura's control and falling into the water with a series of splashing sounds.

Inside, the four big shots were locked in a fierce battle, while the four outside weren't idle either.

“My strength is far inferior to theirs, so it was the right decision not to rush in! Since Mr. Jura and Ms. Erza did not attack me immediately, I will wait for them to settle their differences before joining the battle.”

Ivan, the blond guy from the Blue Pegasus, watched the four people fighting with swords, stone pillars, and ice not far away and chose to wait for the right moment to act.

Actually, whether it was him or the remaining three, this was a good plan, but some people just had nothing better to do and wanted to open up a second battlefield to determine the winner.

"drink!!"

A short, ugly, fat, and sleazy man with purplish skin moved between the stone pillars with remarkable jumping ability.

Narubudinku, the 'Raven's Tail'!

His right hand had swelled up and was covered with spikes. When he swung it, it was like an enlarged version of a spiked club, but it was more destructive and easier to use. It was truly as easy as using an arm!