Irvine Wolf had no intention of foolishly waiting around. Sitting in the outermost area of the arena, he had no idea how long it would take for his turn to leave. Even so, it still took nearly twenty minutes to exit the massive, ancient coliseum.
The recently concluded duel between Gazef Stronoff and Brain Unglaus had been an eye-opener for many spectators. Therefore, even now, the excited atmosphere had not diminished in the slightest; instead, it grew even more fervent as the crowd spilled out onto the streets.
Irvine originally thought he could breathe a sigh of relief after escaping the cramped arena, but upon stepping outside, he found an even larger crowd gathered. Clearly, these were commoners who couldn't afford the entry fee but were equally eager to hear the results.
Whether it was Gazef or Brain, both had a large number of supporters. After all, this was the first time since the establishment of the Royal Tournament that the final match featured no nobles—only two commoners. This might have been a disgrace in the eyes of the aristocracy, but for the commoners, it was a point of pride.
"Look, it's [Red Drop]!"
Suddenly, exclamations erupted from the crowd. The next moment, the relatively spacious flow of people around Irvine suddenly compressed as everyone voluntarily cleared a wide path for an approaching team.
Red Drop?
Irvine's eyebrows raised slightly as he looked down the newly formed path at the figures leading the way. The first to catch his eye was a man with semi-long, light golden hair and a striking red streak running through his bangs. He wore a black jacket over a red, noble-style shirt, paired with silver-black trousers—an overall casual yet elegant attire. His entire demeanor exuded aristocratic composure. He waved to people on both sides, eliciting a series of cheers, particularly from female admirers. He was quite high-profile.
Azuth Aindra!
This name surfaced in Irvine's mind, and his eyes grew more serious. He was the captain of [Red Drop], one of only two Adamantite-ranked adventurer teams in the Re-Estize Kingdom, and also a noble of the kingdom, holding the title of Knight.
Irvine's gaze shifted to the four figures following Azuth. They were presumably the other members of Red Drop. One was a middle-aged man in silver armor, his expression cold, carrying a very broad greatsword on his back. Another was dressed as a mage in a light blue robe, with no staff visible; his entire body was concealed by the wide garment, revealing only that he was male. The other two were also men: one carried a longbow that faintly shimmered with a grey light, and the other was somewhat shorter, with an ordinary appearance and attire that made his profession impossible to discern. He had very little presence compared to the others.
However, by common sense, such individuals were often the most dangerous. Irvine suspected this man was likely a Rogue-type class, though he didn't know if these four comprised the entire team.
Red Drop was a relatively mysterious team in both the anime and light novels; aside from Captain Azuth Aindra, the other members rarely made appearances. He hadn't expected to see them all here.
Compared to the others, Irvine was more focused on Captain Azuth Aindra himself. Although he didn't know the exact strength of the other members, he could guess they hadn't reached the Heroic Realm (level 30+). The truly dangerous one was Azuth. His personal strength wasn't particularly high—in fact, he was likely the weakest member of his team—yet he was the true core of Red Drop. The team existed because of him.
This wasn't due to his noble status, but because Azuth Aindra possessed a powered suit around level 50! Thanks to this armor, Azuth's otherwise unremarkable personal power was artificially elevated to the first tier of combat strength among humanity.
"Something like a 'powered suit' could never be manufactured by the humans of this world; it must be a Player's legacy," Irvine thought, his eyelids lowering slightly. "I just don't know if it's a relic of the Six Great Gods, the Eight Greed Kings, or that captain of the Thirteen Heroes?"
This was probably known only to Azuth himself. Besides him, the other known possessor of a powered suit was the Platinum Dragon Lord, who had one around level 85—and according to the web novel, he seemed to have more than one. The Platinum Dragon Lord possessed more than just player legacies; several other True Dragon Lords also knew about the existence of Players and YGGDRASIL.
In short, the waters of this world were very deep. If not for the overwhelming strength of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, they would likely have suffered severe setbacks multiple times. The leader of the Thirteen Heroes, the confirmed "Player" Rigrit, had met a tragic end. Not only was he thoroughly interrogated by the Platinum Dragon Lord for information about "Players" and "YGGDRASIL," but the Dragon Lord also declared he had "died young due to the shock of accidentally killing his companions" and "refused resurrection."
The people of the New World might believe that. But as an Otherworlder, Irvine knew the mentality of Players all too well. Refuse resurrection? That's simply a joke. The Platinum Dragon Lord was clearly lying—a pure schemer.
As Red Drop passed through the crowd, several other adventurer teams followed closely behind, sparking another wave of excitement. Irvine had half-expected to see the other Adamantite-ranked team, [Blue Rose], but they weren't present. He didn't recognize these teams, but judging by their popularity, they were likely Orichalcum or Mithril-ranked. Clearly, Gazef and Brain's duel had attracted quite a few powerful individuals.
"It's time to leave. The next step is leveling up and finalizing my class build," Irvine thought, preparing to turn and leave.
Hmm?
As he turned, the corner of his eye caught the last adventurer team to pass by. There were only four members, but they had a striking presence: two men and two women.
The most captivating were the two women walking at the front: one was a woman in full plate armor with long black hair, blue eyes, and a cold, beautiful face. The other had long pink hair and wore a priestess's outfit. Despite the supposedly sacred nature of the attire, the lower half was split on both sides like a cheongsam, revealing black boots and thighs encased in stockings.
The appearance of these two immediately drew the attention of most men present. Irvine recognized this adventurer team.
"If I remember correctly, they're called [Four Arms]," he recalled after a moment. His gaze lingered on the pink-haired priestess, and upon seeing her attire, his eyelid twitched involuntarily. "I almost didn't recognize them. The fashion sense of this world is indeed... baffling at times."
"However, anything related to the Six Great Gods or the Eight Greed Kings is a safe bet; the Players' influence on this world, at least in terms of fashion, is quite pronounced," he mused.
This adventurer team would become Mithril-ranked in the future; it seemed they hadn't reached that level yet.
"Black long hair... no wonder I didn't recognize her at first," Irvine thought, looking at the cold, black-haired woman in full plate armor. In the future, her hair would be white—not for any mystical reason, but intentionally dyed. If one looked closely, they could see the roots of her black hair faintly tinged with gold. That's right, she actually had natural golden hair!
The Re-Estize Kingdom's populace was primarily characterized by golden hair. The reason she dyed it black was because black was more attention-grabbing, which could increase the team's renown. Later, she would dye it white, a change related to the Sorcerer King. When the Sorcerer King created the adamantite-ranked team [Darkness] to gather information, [Four Arms] changed their appearance partly out of deference, and partly to avoid direct association whenever "darkness" was mentioned. Hence, the white hair.
Irvine strongly suspected whether there was a certain amount of exaggeration in their rise to Mithril rank. However, her ability to contend with a Death Knight in the future suggested she still possessed considerable strength among adventurers.
In short, neither the pink-haired woman nor the golden-haired woman who enjoyed dyeing her hair were particularly conventional individuals.
As for the other two male members... he had no impression of them at all.