Progenitor Vampire: I Have Many Skills!-Chapter 683: End of Phase 2

Once John lost, the first tile remained untouched, and he had to find a space on the fourth tile so as not to fall too far behind, since the second and third tiles were impossible to obtain without revealing too much. He had to save his trump cards for the next phase.

After all, his mission was not just to come in fourth place.

Most of the tiles were very crowded, with everyone trying to challenge them to get them, but at a certain point, they stopped doing so as often because everyone was too exhausted, and those on the tiles had had a better endurance strategy.

There were two hours left until nightfall, when the second phase would end, and few dared to try anymore.

There were injured people everywhere; some had already withdrawn completely, giving up on continuing to advance because it was impossible to keep challenging endlessly with limited energy.

'The tile that had the most challenges and continues to have them is 31,' thought Matthew, seeing that there were still people trying to challenge the woman there.

She moved awkwardly on many occasions, which seemed to make her look like she was going to fall at any moment.

'But that's not the case. She's been practicing movement arts all this time,' he thought, both leg movements and arm movements.

There was clumsiness in her movements, which many misinterpreted. It wasn't clumsiness because she was weak; it was clumsiness because she was practicing something she didn't have full control over.

'What a strange art. Her arms aren't coordinated. Is it some kind of destabilizing art?' he thought.

Despite being the arena that had been challenged the most times today, by far, they had never been able to knock that woman down, which showed that, at the very least, she had a lot of stamina.

The last two hours were boring for most of the arenas, and in the final minutes, a flurry of challenges broke out in each of the 31 arenas, the last attempt.

They were desperate, doing everything they could to knock down their rivals. But just as they had rested for over an hour and a half, so had those on the tiles.

So there were few surprises.

Surprisingly, the woman on tile 31 was challenged 14 times in the last 30 minutes.

No one could knock her down.

TUUUUUUD*

A powerful sound of a war trumpet echoed over the arena.

"Phase 2 is over!" exclaimed one of the elders in a loud voice.

There was no fighting going on at that moment, so everything came to a standstill, and everyone paid attention to the old man who flew over the arena.

"I will announce the 32 winners who have advanced to the third and final phase," he exclaimed, and immediately began to name them in order, from first to last.

Once everyone had been named, the old man explained how the third and final phase would be carried out.

"The third phase is called 'Be the Champion'. It is a playoff that will take place tomorrow, at this same place and time. The matches will be decided tomorrow, in the combat arena. And starting today, there are fixed rewards for each of you. The further you advance tomorrow, the better your reward will be."

"I have nothing more to say. Come back and prepare yourself if you want to be the Champion, lift the trophy of our most legendary Martial Arts Tournament, and have your own stories written in our city and sister cities." With that, the old man turned and returned to his seat.

The referees in the arena began to lead each contestant out, where several powerful individuals, city guards, followed them.

"And you are...?" Matthew was perplexed when he saw 20 fully armed guards begin to follow him.

"Sir, we will be responsible for your protection during the night. Were you not informed?"

"Hm? I hadn't heard anything about that."

"I'm sorry about that, sir. We are elite guards of the city. Every year, we are mobilized to protect the contestants of the Martial Arts Tournament, as other forces could act against you while your powers are sealed. That is why, right now, the city has been completely sealed off, and we are all on active duty," said one of them, the highest-ranking guard.

"I am one of the 12 Commanders of the Elite Guards. You can call me Maverick." He tapped his chest.

Matthew nodded and looked at all the other contestants leaving the arena escorted by similar numbers of guards.

'I hadn't thought about it because I can break this seal at any time, but not everyone could do that. It makes sense for them to do it this way,' he thought and nodded.

"Fine." He wasn't going to object.

He was escorted once again to the hotel, where the 20 guards split up to monitor the entire hotel and each of its entrances, ensuring adequate security.

"I didn't expect the young man I gave that invitation to be the most prominent in phase 2 of the Tournament," said the hotel owner, arriving from behind as Matthew was quietly drinking coffee in his usual spot by the window.

The hotel was busy at the moment, so the owner's appearance naturally attracted attention.

"Hey, look. Isn't that the guy who fought against the Young Lord of Dark Spring and Young Lord John?"

"Right. No wonder there are so many elite guards, so the first one is staying here..."

The murmurs from those around them came right after the hotel owner drew attention to himself. He was used to it, and Matthew simply turned a blind eye.

He looked at the owner and smiled.

"Were you watching?" he asked.

"Haha, I'm a martial arts fan, so whenever the second phase starts, I never miss it," he said and sat down in front of Matthew.

'Well, everyone in this city is a martial arts fan,' Matthew thought, watching as the owner poured him more coffee.

"I thought you gave me the invitation because you saw that I was good, to tell you the truth. But your words seem to indicate that it was just luck."

"Perhaps luck is a statistic. Maybe it can be trained," replied the owner, smiling.

"At that time, I just thought that someone with your bearing, who decides to travel in search of physical strength and comes to our city with those intentions, is someone worthy of being a contender, and since I had little time to deliver that invitation, I decided to give it to you without further ado."

Matthew nodded.

"But now you're in the third phase, being first in the second and first in the first. I'm really surprised, but that's also why I had to come here."