Chapter 94
Chapter 94
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 94
Chapter Title: Creature Loyalty Master (1)
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Please forfeit!
I turned my inner thoughts into words.
“Forfeit!”
I balled my hand into a fist, the one that had been covering my mouth, and shook it wildly.
“For-feit! For-feit!”
“Shut up already.”
“Mommy!”
Thud!
The harpy dove straight down.
My heart sank with it. Barbie barely dodged the harpy’s talons by a hair’s breadth.
Its foot was massive enough to cover Barbie’s upper body.
One stab and she’d be dead.
“Senior!”
I cried out as I watched Barbie try to thrust her spear at the talons but fail due to lack of strength.
“Forfeit!”
Boom!
I was going insane.
She dodged the talons crashing down into the arena once again by the narrowest margin. I let out a small groan as I saw her pitch-black jacket tear against them.
Barbie’s face had drained to a bluish pallor.
But she didn’t call for a forfeit as I desperately hoped.
[Oh! It looks like she’s trying to sever the chains!]
No.
There was no way a senior could cut those chains that even the harpy couldn’t break.
But she darted toward them, raising her spear high. Pepper’s shadow, having failed its hunt and soaring back into the air, loomed over her.
My heart pounded like mad.
The silver spear flashed as it reflected the light.
“Strength…”
Ricardo’s mutter blended into the noise.
Right after, the spear tip stabbed at the chain.
Clang!
As expected, not enough power.
The chain was unscathed, and the impact from striking it traveled up the spear to Barbie. She let out a short groan and reflexively dropped it.
Then, with her arm trembling faintly from the pain, she scrambled to pick it back up.
Laughter erupted from the stands.
[Oh dear! It seems she forgot her own Enhanced Body isn’t fully functional!]
The announcer cackled gleefully from midair.
[What chance does a mere human have against chains that even Pepper can’t break?!]
Disgusting bastards.
I scowled and looked up at the stands.
But Asil’s urgent shout snapped my head back.
“Barbie!”
Ah.
Boom!
“Argh!”
The spear snapped in two.
Thank God it wasn’t her. We in the waiting area all exhaled in relief at once.
The harpy, talons extended, landed in the arena and crushed the spear instead of the tumbling Barbie.
“Sorry!”
Barbie sprang up and shouted.
“The spear!”
“Focus on the enemy!”
Ricardo barked sharply.
“Don’t take your eyes off it!”
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Barbie obeyed her senior’s orders.
She gave up on retrieving her spear or attacking, focusing solely on evasion.
My heart felt like it would burst from the repeated close calls, but fortunately, she wasn’t seriously hurt.
She was dodging attacks incredibly well so far.
[Even rotten, it’s still mackerel—slipping away like a loach.]
The announcer said in a voice laced with cold mockery.
[But it looks like her stamina is waning.]
I’d give anything to slap that guy’s face.
It pissed me off even more because he was right. Even to my eyes, Barbie’s stamina was dropping fast.
I could see her breath catching in her throat.
She was already dodging by razor-thin margins—if she slowed even a little…
“Senior!”
I cupped my hands around my mouth and raised my voice.
“Forfeit now! You’ve done more than enough…”
“Winter!”
Ricardo’s sharp shout.
“Above!”
Thud!
Too late.
“Aaack!”
The talons snagged her jacket hem.
The crowd in the stands let out a collective “Whoa!”
Asil and I shouted our senior’s name in unison. Barbie dangled in midair, caught in Pepper’s talons.
She’d instinctively ducked, so thankfully it hooked her clothes instead of her body. If it had grabbed flesh, it would’ve been fatal.
But she wasn’t safe yet.
“Barbie, please!”
“Forfeit!”
Asil shouted desperately, and Barbie squeezed her eyes shut and yelled too.
Self-loathing and defeat twisted her face, weighing heavy on my chest.
“Forfeit! I forfeit!”
Crackle!
Crazy bastards.
Electricity surged through the thick iron chains. It was strong enough to briefly paralyze the harpy Pepper.
Pepper froze in midair. Her jacket was already torn, so luckily the current didn’t reach the dangling Barbie.
The harpy’s paralysis loosened its talons.
The blonde senior plummeted.
At the same time, the electric bars blocking our view vanished.
Thud!
Asil caught Barbie.
Incredible speed.
[Wow! It’s like the hero swooping in to save the heroine in a crisis!]
The announcer jeered.
[But oh no—looks like his arm’s broken!]
Of course.
If their Enhanced Bodies were working properly, there’d be no strain, but right now, their bodies were no different from any civilian’s.
Neither Asil nor Barbie would be unscathed.
In fact, the seniors who hit the ground didn’t move for a while.
The harpy began flapping its wings again.
The delighted crowd and announcer. Even Asil, grimacing in pain as he crawled toward the silver spear, fumbling to grasp the broken half—it all became their entertaining spectacle.
Rage and misery choked my words.
The opposite entrance to the arena slid open.
“Senior!”
I barely suppressed the urge to charge through the electric bars and shouted.
“Senior! Forfeit!”
[Now, let’s introduce the second challenger!]
Barbie rose with a face pale as a ghost.
Her sluggish movements made it clear she’d taken internal injuries. She steadied herself unsteadily, searching for Asil. Her expression, on the verge of passing out, fixed on his face and arm.
Asil swung the spear to signal her back to the waiting area.
Meanwhile, the creature entered the arena.
[It’s our spider, Nemalda, who’s getting harder and harder to raise!]
It had multiple legs.
No idea why they called it a spider. I watched the car-sized insectoid creature crawl heavily into the arena.
A round face studded with eyes like a beehive, and a massive, cocoon-like body.
Asil twisted to face it.
Ricardo, who’d been silent until now, shouted.
“Winter! Don’t just stand there like an idiot—get back!”
Barbie whipped her head around.
Unlike her stiff resolve when entering the arena, her face now looked ready to crumple at a touch.
“Now!”
“Asil!”
A shadow passed over the staggering, rushing Barbie.
I glared at the descending harpy, veins bulging.
“Above!”
Shrieeeek!
The harpy’s talons struck Nemalda.
Because Asil had slid under the spider. The talons meant for him pierced the spider creature instead. It staggered, spewing a dull liquid. The stench of its fluid and blood filled the arena.
Dead?
No. The reeling insectoid soon sprayed its venomous liquid at the harpy.
“Aaahhh!”
The harpy let out a scream eerily human.
Asil lay flat under the spider’s body, unmoving.
[Smart move!]
The announcer shouted.
[Perfectly positioned—now Pepper and Nemalda are fighting each other!]
He immediately began excitedly commentating the harpy-spider brawl.
During that, the electric bars vanished from view. Barbie had staggered back to the waiting area.
Ricardo and I caught her at the same time.
The green-eyed senior carefully laid the gasping Barbie on the ground.
“Lie down.”
He said in a low voice.
“Don’t talk.”
“Asil’s arm…”
“I’ll handle it.”
I spoke softly to our distraught, teary senior.
“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of everything.”
“Sorry. I…”
[Oh! Nemalda’s about to unleash its finisher!]
The announcer’s voice smacked my ears.
It cut off Barbie’s words. Ricardo and I snapped our heads around, straightening from our crouch to look at the arena.
No way.
That thing can get up?
[Body slam!]
Boom!
Cracks spiderwebbed the arena floor.
For a split second, I wondered why hurl itself at the ground when the enemy was airborne—but I quickly realized it wasn’t just a body slam.
The moment Nemalda collided with the floor, venomous liquid sprayed everywhere.
The harpy screamed.
Asil, escaping from under Nemalda, tumbled after getting splashed.
“Senior!”
My gut chilled at the sight of our senior collapsing in the arena, coughing.
“Senior! Forfeit!”
“He won’t come to for a while.”
Ricardo murmured lowly.
I barely swallowed the breath caught in my throat. He needed to snap out of it and call forfeit now. Otherwise, even if he didn’t die immediately, he’d get caught in their fight.
Or become their target.
What do I do?
In that moment of despair, the senior said.
“We have to wake him.”
The war hero glared at the arena, eyes brimming with loathing.
I saw his gaze fly to the silver spear and embed there.
“A few slaps should do it…”
The spear beside Asil twitched.
I watched it melt into a round orb, then elongate upward into an oval. A long rod grew from the oval’s end, heading for Asil’s face.
Not as fast as Ye-hyeon’s in the footage.
But the silver weapon steadily approached Asil and slapped his cheek.
“Forfeit!”
The instant I confirmed Asil’s eyes cracking open amid his dazed coughing, I shouted.
“Senior! Forfeit! Now!”
Asil’s lips moved.
No sound, but I knew he’d forfeited.
The electric bars before us vanished.
The door opposite the arena opened again.
Delighted spectators. The announcer gleefully declaring traitor Asil Fisher’s forfeit in a thrilled tone.
Ricardo Sordi’s iron chains clattered to the floor.
“My turn…”
The senior grinned darkly.
He moved. The green-eyed man stepped out of the waiting area. I watched the silver shapeshifting weapon that had slapped Asil’s cheek roll across the filthy arena floor, forming a silver puddle right under the spider’s body.
Ricardo strode neatly into the arena.
The moment he stopped, the silver weapon turned to thorns and impaled Nemalda.
Shrieeeeeek!
A death cry echoed.
The arena filled once more with heavy blood reek.
I clearly heard Ricardo’s next words.
Laced with hatred, resolve, and scorn.
“Time for payback.”