The Arena (3): The Arena of Blood and Iron
While the man in the tailored suit had escorted Flint away with polite deference, I was dragged along by the scruff of my neck by some thug who looked like a mountain bandit. The place we arrived at, shoved into a corner, was the contestant waiting room. It was a space completely severed from the clean, comfortable area we had been in moments ago. It was nothing short of a pigsty. The stench that assaulted the nose was a given, and the walls were matted with someone’s filth and dark, dried bloodstains.
"You bastard, you've been pushing me around since earlier! Back off!"
"Screw you."
"You dog-like son of a bitch!"
Clang—! True to the notoriety of the underground arena, a bloody incident erupted right in the middle of the waiting room. The one who had been excited enough to swing his sword first ended up with his own stomach sliced open, collapsing to the floor.
"Hmph... A weakling trying to act tough."
The man who had countered roughly shook the blood off his blade and returned to his spot. The guy collapsed on the floor started foaming at the mouth and trembling, likely from hemorrhagic shock. Naturally, there was no healer. No, in fact, nobody even gave him a second glance. The surrounding thugs just irritably stepped aside, hoping the blood coughing out of him wouldn't splatter on their shoes.
It was disgusting. The very fact that such a place existed in reality. What on earth was Flint thinking, dragging me here? To be so blinded by the desire to catch one old man named Tangbun that he’d walk into this lawless zone on his own two feet. He really is a guy I can’t understand to the bone.
I was huddled in a corner, quietly observing my surroundings, when a voice as light and frivolous as a feather suddenly pierced my ear.
"Heh heh! Isn't this truly amusing? To kill someone in an instant just because you don't like them, tee-hee-hee. It’s truly a farce."
"......."
To have such an impression after witnessing that scene just now. My stomach turned on its own. In a lawless zone, the best policy was not to mix words with such a madman.
"Young man, are you perhaps dozing off? Doesn't seem like it. Hmm. To think there would be such slit eyes even in the Western lands. How fascinating."
I turned my head, hiding my displeasure. But the moment I confirmed the face of the voice's owner, my brain began to spin coldly. Tangbun. The target we were looking for.
I maintained a poker face and opened my mouth politely.
"Haha. I hear that a lot. Where did you come from, sir, to have made your way to such a rough place? Judging by your attire, you don't seem to be from the Empire."
"Ah, me? I’m just an old swordsman from the East. Heh heh! I heard there was some delightful entertainment, so I came looking."
Tangbun tapped the long scabbard at his waist and laughed heartily. My gaze naturally drifted toward that strange weapon. It was certainly a unique shape I had never seen in the Empire. Unlike the heavy, thrust-oriented swords of the Empire, this Eastern sword curved slightly, drawing an arc. Flint had said it was a structure perfect for drawing quickly and cutting down in one breath. And what was that alien energy? A chill ran down my spine, and my expression nearly crumbled. It was completely different from mana, or the unique frequency of ability users like me. A heavy, unidentifiable energy was pulsing like a heart near the old man's lower abdomen.
Approaching him would be dangerous.
I kept a smiling expression while calculating a safe distance where his blade couldn't reach me.
"Delightful entertainment, you say?"
"Indeed, truly delightful! I heard the strongest in this place was a monster, so I came to see for myself. The monsters of the West are indeed different! Even the smell of the blood they exude is quite thick!"
Tangbun’s eyes glinted as he cackled. The gaze of a predator craving blood. I felt like I understood why Flint was so wary.
"I intend to see for myself today if my sword can sever that monster's throat in one go."
It was the very moment Tangbun was boasting with such vigor.
— Ah. It starts in 10 minutes. All participants, please follow the instructions of the guides.
"This is truly fascinating. To think sound would come out of a lump of scrap metal."
Tangbun looked up at the speaker on the ceiling as if it were interesting. Leaving the words of that carefree old man behind, I silently followed the rough-looking guides who had opened the waiting room door.
"Tee-hee. See you in the arena later, young man."
Tangbun’s unpleasant laughter echoed behind my back. Instead of answering, I gripped the cold handle of my double-barrel shotgun even tighter. The terrible weapon that had once put a hole in my stomach. Yet, paradoxically, the heavy, metallic sensation filling my hand was chillingly calming my racing heart.
With cold, sunken eyes, I stepped into the dark passage leading to the arena.
Click—.
"The rules are as simple as always! From now on, kill or be killed, and only the 16 who survive to the end will advance to the main event. Now, now, now!! START!!"
Woooooaaaah—!
As the roar erupted, the arena turned into a sea of blood. The current champion, Ubunna Furak Murua. That terrible monster, whether it was an orc or a troll, was slaughtering the participants like a madman.
I gritted my teeth and lifted my head. High up in the VIP box, which overlooked the entire arena, I could see that madman who had thrown me into this hell, sitting with his legs crossed, leisurely chewing on popcorn. If it weren't for Mion, I would never have listened to that lunatic's orders. I had no way to resist his devilish whisper, promising that if I handled this one job, he would go with me to find my younger sister.
Was Mion even alive in the first place? It had already been 10 years. The years I had spent entering the information guild with the sole determination to find Mion, rolling through the bottom while shedding blood and tears. It was hard to believe that this guy had already found my sister, whom even the guild leader couldn't locate, but even if it were a scam, I had no choice but to be deceived. This was my last hope.
— Champion Ubunna! Ubunna is slaughtering 10 participants at once with his bare hands! As expected of the champion!!!!
The moderator's commentary made the crowd's blood boil. "Go Ubunna!!! I bet 10 gold on you!" "No!! My Corrupted Knight Kissy-Poo!!!"
A pandemonium of death cries and cheers. As an agent of the information guild, there were only three people my intuition warned me about: the monster champion Ubunna, Tangbun, and the woman standing over there.
"Hehehe. To think there's a woman in a place like this. Hey sister, instead of cutting our lives short, why don't we surrender together and go do something nice... Ugh?!"
Into the mouth and ears of the man who had approached with a lecherous grin, a stream of water floating in the air burrowed in like a snake.
"Kuh-ruk, kgh......!"
The man couldn't even scream. He clutched his throat while standing, convulsed, and then rolled his bloodshot eyes and died. It appeared the water that had burrowed into his body had instantly filled his lungs. That woman, she uses mana. That precise and cruel control, drowning a person from the inside out.
"Hey! Here's an old man who looks like he'd die if you just tapped him. Kill that old geezer first!"
A fight broke out on Tangbun's side as well.
"Heh heh. It's the same in all times and places that the weaker they are, the more they swarm together."
"What? You bastard, I won't let you die easily..."
Slash.
Before the words could even finish, the man's head instantly floated into the air. It was a split second where I couldn't even see the sword leave the scabbard and return. Tangbun, as if it were nothing, elegantly led the blood droplets scattering into the air with the tip of his sword, drawing a perfect circle on the floor.
"If you cross this circle, I will send you off in one stroke without pain. How about it? Isn't that better than dying without even being able to keep your bones intact against that monster? Tee-hee-hee."
The participants were in a frenzy trying to avoid Ubunna, and those who had some breathing room tried to target the old man and the woman who looked easy, only to be countered. Thanks to that, no one was approaching me.
"Lucky me."
My relief was short-lived. Wooooooaaaaaahhh!!!! Distracted by the ear-splitting roar, I locked eyes with the blood-soaked Ubunna Furak Murua. That massive monster bent its body at an impossible angle and began to charge toward me with ferocity.
Damn it. Unlucky me.
I quickly raised my shotgun and aimed at the monster's hideous head. Every time the ground shook, its massive form filled my vision. Thump! Thump! Come closer. Thump-thump-thump!!!! A little more.
There is a fact I realized after getting hit by a shotgun at point-blank range. It’s that if you get hit at close range, you really die.
Thump! Thump! To the distance where the buckshot would be embedded in its head without a single pellet missed.
Now!
Boom—!
Suppressing the recoil that felt like it would shatter my shoulder, I fired another shot without delay.
Boom—!
The ruthless buckshot, spewed in succession, flew toward Ubunna's face.
Thwack—!!
With a heavy sound of destruction, the monster's head vanished without a trace.
Drip. Drip-drip-drip. Blood and flesh poured down like rain.
— .......
At the same time, the moderator's commentary that had been pounding my ears also vanished.
"......."
The sounds of the participants fighting, the insane cheers of the spectators filling the arena—they were all gone.
"......."
The only sound was the massive monster's headless body collapsing to the floor with a thud. And in the perfect silence that followed—
Crunch.
Was it just my imagination that I heard the sound of popcorn being chewed somewhere in that VIP box?