“Kgh!”
“You’re stronger than I mino-thought. But...!”
Reaching over Mamiana’s back, the minotaur got a firm grip on the back of her mawashi and began pulling up with such strength, you could see his muscles swell. Oh no, he’s going to lift her up!—or so I thought for a moment, but Mamiana held on to his mawashi for dear life. Dwarves were amazing for being able to rival minotaurs in their enormous strength despite being so small.
“Finish her, Gogontes!!!”
“Show her how it’s done!”
Shrill cheers were coming from the monsters’ side—mainly from Uta.
Remaining in a deep double underarm grip, the dwarf twisted to try and throw Gogontes off-balance. This bout was now all strength, no technique.
“Push him, Mamiana! You win if he steps outside the ring!”
“Bring him down!”
“RUFF, RUFF, RUFF!”
Mamiana herself appeared to have realized the correct strategy to use as she began pushing her gigantic opponent with all she had. After all, there was no ring in Dwarven Sumo, and you had to bring your opponent down to the ground to win. In response, Gogontes readjusted his grip on her mawashi to hold both his arms over hers, and began pushing too. Now both were using the pushing style of sumo. Mamiana had the advantage thanks to her deep underarm grip, which allowed her to push the minotaur’s body parts which had a low center of mass. Is this one in the bag?
“Y-You’re really strong for someone so mino-small. I took you mino-lightly. But it’s time to end this!”
“Ngh, ggghhh!!!”
An image of an erupting volcano manifested behind Gogontes. The spirit of sumo! The red, viscous lavalike liquid began rotating in a circle.
“There it is! Gogontes’s great eruption!”
“Do your best, Gogo!”
His nickname was “Gogo”? How unexpectedly cute.
Under the buff of the spirit of sumo, his strength and agility had reached new levels.
“W-Wow, Gogontes is strong,” commented the prince.
“He is,” I agreed.
Mamiana began to lose ground. Gogontes pushed diagonally to make her end up on the tail of the black dohyō. She would be debuffed at the last moment.
“Agh, give mino-up already!!!”
“There’s no way I could!!!”
But the sumo spirit’s buff wouldn’t allow her to endure, giving Gogontes the strength to continue his push.
“I’ll become the best sumo wrestler on the continent!!!” bellowed Mamiana, not giving up on her efforts to push.
Soon enough, she wasn’t losing ground so quickly anymore.
“Gah! It cannot mino-be!”
“Aaaggghhh!!!”
An image of hammers and pickaxes appeared behind the dwarf—her spirit of sumo. Countless hammers and pickaxes bloomed out of thin air and started to rotate. Mamiana had finally managed to stop the minotaur’s advance, her feet having barely avoided ending up on the black part of the ring. This time, she began to push him. Behind Gogontes was a ring of lava. Behind Mamiana—a flower of tools. In their indomitability, the two spirits of sumo struggled to surpass each other in speed.
“Not bad, Mamiana!”
“You too, Gogontes!”
Frozen in the center of the ring, the two of them tried to push each other, neither giving an inch.
“Don’t go easy on her, Gogontes! She’s a worthy wrestler!” shouted the Demon Lord.
As Gogontes heard this, his eyes briefly opened wide in surprise, and he let go of Mamiana, which she saw as a perfect opportunity to make an all-out push.
“Sorry. Blinding Head Chop Down!”
Smack! The minotaur’s upper arm landed on Mamiana’s nape.
“Agh!”
She tried to keep pushing in spite of this, but Gogontes dodged her advance, causing her to fall.
“Winner, Gogontes,” announced the gray referee, raising his hand to the west.
There was nothing she could do against an opponent who moved out of the way while she was blinded. The Blinding Head Chop Down was a pretty terrifying technique. Mamiana was sitting on the dohyō in a daze.
“I couldn’t mino-win without a magic skill. You’re mino-strong.”
“Th-Thank you.”
With her face all creased up, Mamiana cried, but got to her feet. This outcome was for the best. If she trained while remembering this bitter experience, she would no doubt become a force to be reckoned with.
Friend and foe alike clapped for the spectacular bout. Ah, sumo is so nice.
“Good luck, Barkus. End it quickly and return to how you were before.”
“RUFF...”
With his shoulders slumping from my words of encouragement for whatever reason, Barkus headed to the dohyō. In this thin but muscular beast-man form, Barkus looked nothing like his old self. And his mawashi was gaudy.
“On the east, Barkus, Barkus... On the west, Uta, Uta...” announced Adela on the dohyō.
Barkus looked pretty good there too, appearing tough and masculine. But I couldn’t expect a former pup to win in sumo. Especially because he was going up against Uta, an alraune. He would probably come back in tears after she poisoned him. But I had to appreciate his trying to help us out.
Uta climbed the dohyō next, unsteady on her feet as ever. I doubted she could perform shiko at all. Did she have a way of dealing with magic?
“Hey there, my adorable doggy. I’ll send you to the world of dreams right away, okay? ♪”
“RUFF, RUFF.”
Deflecting Uta’s provocation, Barkus raised his leg and performed shiko.
STOMP!!!
Huh? What’s with that incredible force? I sensed the air of a mighty warrior from him. S-Stop it, I don’t know of a Barkus that’s strong!
“Milady, if he is who I think he is...” spoke up Adela, who had finished her announcing duties.
“I think I feel the presence of a fenrir from him. Are these monsters as powerful as people say?” I asked.
“Yes. Strong enough to be called kings of the forest. Some say a fenrir can even kill a dragon.”
“N-No... I don’t want a strong Barkus...”
“Milady, we’ll be down two if Barkus loses. It’ll be the end for us.”
“I don’t like either option. We yokozuna are selfish like that.”
Adela frowned.
“Wh-What’s up with you? Why do you look so strong, little pup?” asked Uta.
“GRRR...”
“Man, you’re kinda freaking me out, so I’m gonna put you down in an instant.”
You shouldn’t say things like that out loud, Uta.
“Face each other.”
The two wrestlers took their positions behind their respective lines in the ground. You couldn’t get up without synchronizing your breathing, but there were some wrestlers in Demonic Sumo whose breathing was difficult to read. I wondered how they dealt with that.
At last, the two’s breathing synchronized and they touched the ground with their hands. It looked almost as if Barkus’s body had swelled up to twice its size. At the same time, Uta sprayed poisonous pollen from the many flowers on her body.
“Now go numb alr—”
“RUUFFFFFFF!!!”
Barkus’s howl blew the pollen away. It might’ve even had a paralyzing effect, since Uta was frozen in place as Barkus headbutted her chest with the speed of a bullet. With an incredible smash, Uta was almost blown away, but just barely managed to remain in place thanks to the roots she had underfoot.
“Wh-What the hell?! What’s wrong with you?!”
Having lost her cool, Uta used her Teppo Whips, but Barkus easily dodged all of them with incredible speed. His ability to perceive moving objects and dodge them in time was unbelievable. These weren’t the sort of reflexes one would typically need in sumo, but they were certainly incredible.
“Kgh!!!”
Uta sprayed her pollen once again. This time, it moved slowly towards Barkus. Perhaps its mass was greater than before.
Barkus howled at the sky. It was the sort of beastly howl that gripped you by the heart. Around him appeared so many green lights—spirits—that you could even hear them.
“Is that...Air Sumo Form?”
“How are the wind spirits helping him outside a forest?”
With the spirits’ aid, the already-fast Barkus became fast enough to leave an afterimage as he ran around Uta, performing harite. This wasn’t really sumo anymore, but he looked fierce regardless.
“It hurts, it hurts!!! Agh! Take this, you cheeky little dog! Thousand Whips!!!”
Endless coils of ivy shot out of Uta’s body, assaulting the beast-man. With a howl which registered on a different musical scale, Barkus caused countless red lights to appear from the ground. These lights formed a flame and burned the ivy away.
“N-Now it’s fire spirits! And there isn’t even any fire around us!” said the prince.
“This is spirit magic!” I exclaimed.
The fire spirits turned blue in midair, then unleashed a cloud of mist.
“Wh-Where are you?! What a dirty trick, you little doggy!!!”
“RUFF, RUFF, RUFF!!!”
Running through the mist with the speed of a cannonball came Barkus, crashing into Uta. Not again! She can take a direct impact!