The First Major Update

The victory festival began, and inside God's Colosseum, the duels commenced — knight against knight, adventurer against adventurer.

"Cain, it starts with a group battle."

"Yeah. Only one person from each melee advances to the round of thirty-two, so survival comes first."

"Yep!"

Only Seolhwa and I had entered. Elena was a cleric and had never held a sword, and Sarah and Fersin were not adventurers.

God's Colosseum bore a striking resemblance to the Colosseum of ancient Rome. A vast circular arena occupied the center, ringed by tiered seating that could hold a great crowd, and across that wide central floor, multiple dueling grounds had been laid out.

The packed stands erupted in applause. I paid more attention to what was happening around me than to the announcer's voice. More than fifty people had gathered in our ring. Only one of them would walk out of it into the round of thirty-two.

I studied the gear the other contestants were wearing. Anyone truly strong would be dressed like it.

"Hyaaaaah!"

Steel crashed against steel as dozens of dueling grounds exploded into combat at once.

"What?"

Everyone around me piled on. I gave ground, catching their blows on my shield. Was it the gear? The Kasa Flame Armor looked expensive — anyone could tell at a glance that it was a far cry from the Lion Supply Armor or the Shurie High-Grade Armor I had worn until now. They were targeting me first based on what I was wearing.

It didn't matter. Attacks from people who had not even reached level 100 were not hard to stop. Even as I held the line, bodies kept dropping, and a field of fifty-odd contestants shrank toward ten.

The numbers fell, but the people swinging at me only increased. The survivors had an unspoken agreement: take me out first.

A tedious exchange of blows dragged on. Their attacks could not punch through my shield, and I picked off two of them the moment they left an opening.

"Arena One is finished! Ah — Arena Three is done as well! Only Arena Five remains!!"

Combat had apparently ended in every ring but mine. The crowd, growing restless, sent up a wave of boos. I would have loved to cut a dashing figure, sword flashing as I cut them down — but that was not realistic. Even against lower-level opponents, going on the offensive against eight people at once was too much of a gamble.

That was when it happened. A wet series of slashes ripped through the air.

"What the—"

"I can't stand this boredom."

A dual-wielding player had turned on the people around him and cut them down.

"What the hell!"

"You bastard!"

The others rushed the dual-wielder who had shattered their temporary truce.

"Looking the wrong way!"

I dropped the two players who had left themselves open, cutting them down in a blink. A few more slashes, and then it was only the two of us.

"Can't even pretend to be weak, huh."

"Pretend to be weak?"

"Isn't it obvious? Show up in gear that good and you're just asking to get focused down."

"Hmm…"

He was not wrong. That was exactly what had happened.

"Here I come!"

He came at me in a blur, both blades hammering in a rapid rhythm. Even against a single opponent, he left fewer openings than the eight who had surrounded me before.

"Hoh… you block well. Try this on for size."

His swords crashed against my shield.

"You… you can use Aura?"

"Surprised?"

"No."

I poured Aura into the shield and drove him back. He kept hammering at it, but barely any damage came through. I was simply far stronger than he was — strong enough that punching through the shield to hurt me was not happening.

"You bastard!"

His attacks came faster. I kept herding him, step by step, into a blind spot at the edge of the ring. A slash. He grunted, unable to give any more ground, broke off his assault and sidestepped — and I cut across his body in that instant.

I had found the answer. He had not. Every time he tried to slip out of the corner I had put him in, another wound opened. Before long, he was on the ground.

"Damn it…"

"You're not the only one over level 100. So long."

I drove my sword into his chest.

Applause followed me as I left the arena.

"Cain, you okay?"

Seolhwa came over the moment I stepped into the competitors' waiting room.

"Yeah. This much is no problem."

I had barely finished a potion and sat down to rest before the matches resumed — less than ten minutes.

Matches kicked off across the colosseum all at once. Everyone who had reached the round of thirty-two was an Aura user over level 100, so nothing would come easy. I fought the same way I had in the melee — stubborn and solid. Anyone I could trade blows with, I met head-on. Agile types like the dual-wielder, I herded into a blind spot, shrinking their room to dodge, then cut them down.

Round of thirty-two. Round of sixteen. Quarterfinals. Semifinals. At every stage, the duel I was in finished last.

And then — the finals.

My opponent was Seolhwa. I had more or less seen it coming. Even if I failed to reach the final, I had been certain she would.

"Waaaaah!!!!!!"

"Waaaaah!!!!!!"

The spectators, who until now had only clapped, erupted in a roar. Minor league or not, who stood as the strongest was a question the crowd cared about a great deal.

Seolhwa's own skill was formidable, but more than that, the damage from the Ice Dragon's Sword was brutal to tank. The Chill debuff locked my limbs, faded, then locked them again. In the end, a heavy blow drove me down onto one knee.

"Cain, are you okay?"

The rhythm of her assault broke, and an opening appeared. I swept the shield aside and drove the sword in my other hand into her side.

"Ah…"

Only after the blade was already in her did I understand what she had said. She had stopped attacking because she was worried about me. And I had taken that opening and struck her. I had been too locked into the fight.

"Cain…"

"Sorry — that was a mistake!"

From that point on, Seolhwa's assault was utterly merciless. Damage bled through the shield and carved away at my health, until at last it hit zero.

It was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a reminder of why, in the future, Seolhwa would become the strongest swordswoman among all players.

The adventurers' duels ended in a single day. From the start, they had only been there to warm the crowd up before the main event — the knights' tournament. Even at the award ceremony, a high-ranking noble presented the prizes in the emperor's place.

The announcer's voice filled the colosseum. Seolhwa climbed the platform that had been raised in the arena and received the Ring of Fire from the noble.

"Waaaaah!!!"

"Seolhwa! Seolhwa! Seolhwa!"

"The beautiful swordswoman! The beautiful swordswoman! The beautiful swordswoman!"

The crowd ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠seemed far more interested in Seolhwa's face than in her title as first among adventurers. She came down from the platform to cheers a little different from what she had expected, and returned to the waiting room.

"Seolhwa, congratulations."

"Yeah… thanks."

"Let's head back."

"Yep."

Seolhwa and I joined the others at the colosseum entrance.

"Seolhwa, you were incredible!"

"You were so cool!"

"My congratulations, Lady Seolhwa."

Everyone was too busy praising her to talk about anything else — and they had reason to. Her matches had been overwhelming. Where I had fought heavy and slow, Seolhwa had won fast and mean.

"Cain, you did great too! Second place is amazing!"

"Thanks, Elena."

Elena came over to congratulate me as I hung back from the others.

"Cain… here."

"The Ring of Fire? That's what you received."

"Nuh-uh. You're the party leader, so you distribute it."

"That's…"

Until now I had handled the money — selling monster materials, buying items, all of it. Even so, the Ring of Fire was something Seolhwa had earned with her own ability. I could not take charge of this too.

"Cain. Take it."

She pressed the ring into my hand whether I wanted it or not.

A thirty percent fire resistance effect. Combined with the Kasa Flame Armor, gauntlets, and boots, that came to a full thirty-nine percent.

"Seolhwa, can I really use this however I want?"

"Yep!"

The moment I saw the ring's effect, I changed my mind. I already knew someone who could put it to proper use.

"Take it. Fersin."

"Sir!? Are you referring to me?!"

Fersin, standing beside us, answered in shock.

"Fersin, what's the fire resistance on your Land of Scorching Heat DNA?"

"It is twenty percent, sir."

Fersin hailed from the Land of Scorching Heat and carried the DNA of that name. The Ring of Fire, the Kasa Flame Armor, gauntlets, and boots, plus his DNA — that came to fifty-nine percent fire resistance in total.

"We're going to the weapon shop."

"Yep!"

"Got it!"

I led the party to the weapon shop in Kasa Castle.

I bought the Kasa Flame Shield with the second-place prize money I had received.

"Fersin, put this on too."

"You have my thanks, sir."

With the shield equipped, Fersin's fire resistance sat at sixty-four percent.

"Cain, aren't you getting a little too hung up on fire resistance?"

Elena asked, worry in her voice.

"She's right. No matter how much you stack fire resistance, they can just hit you with a different element."

Seolhwa sided with her. They were not wrong. In practice, that was exactly why stacking a single elemental resistance did not accomplish much on its own. Sarah, standing right beside us, could throw a Wind Cutter as easily as a Fireball.

"I'm not sure it'll work, but… I have an idea. Just wait a little."

"Yep!"

"If that's what you say, Cain, all right!"

Seolhwa and Elena let it go without another word.

"Cain, buy your shield with this money too."

Seolhwa took out the prize money she had received.

"This is…"

"It's fine. You bought Fersin's shield with the money you got, didn't you?"

"Hmm…"

The Shurie High-Grade Shield I was wearing had a defense of fifty. The Kasa Flame Shield had a defense of eighty, plus fire resistance on top of that. I wanted it. But taking her money on top of the Ring of Fire felt wrong.

"Cain. I have the Ice Dragon's Sword, remember? I've gotten a lot from the party. So it's fine."

She kept at it until I took the money and bought a second Kasa Flame Shield.

"Cain, where are we going now?"

She asked, running a hand over the shield I had just equipped.

"We'll check the mercenary guild, and if there's no decent mission, we head south."

"South?"

"As of now, the Apse Mountain Range is the best hunting ground we've got."

"Yep!"

Powerful monsters did not appear on the plains of the Holy Royal Empire — wild animals, goblins, orcs, and that was about it. There were scattered stretches of deep forest out on those plains, but the Apse Mountain Range was still the better place to hunt. No matter how large a forest was, it looked small beside that mountain range.

We visited the mercenary guild in Kasa Castle. Escort contracts of every kind. Subjugation missions against goblins, orcs, and the like. And below those, an unusual listing caught my eye.

I asked the guild clerk about the Mage's Dungeon Exploration mission.

"That one, eh? A mage's dungeon turned up west of Kasa Castle. Who'd have thought there'd be a mage dungeon in papal territory, of all places? They made good use of the old saying — it's always darkest under the lamp."