Chapter 32
Chapter 32
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>Translator: Vine
>Chapter: 32
>Chapter Title: First Victory
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I took out my 3D glasses and put them on.
***
Iris’s world had crumbled.
She didn’t know exactly when it started. At some point, her vision narrowed, and all the sounds around her felt as if they were coming from far away.
In a completely white space, Iris blankly passed the time. She was no longer in anguish. She felt no pain.
Then, she suddenly felt a gentle warmth and came to her senses. A voice, booming like an echo in a cave, brushed past her ear.
It wasn’t a hand that slapped her cheek or tore at her hair, but one that gently combed it. Instinctively, Iris reached out.
As her hand, trembling with learned fear, grasped the edge of that warmth, the warmth held her hand back as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
In that moment, her closed-off world expanded, if only by a little.
Because all that remained in her world was her worthless self and that gentle warmth, she reacted sensitively to it.
Clang!
Along with the cold sound of metal, she heard a commotion. It felt distant, like a noise from far away.
“Haa, ha…”
But the voice of the gentle warmth holding her was crystal clear. The rapid pulse felt through their touching skin, the hand tensed with strain, the gesture of hiding her behind him.
Iris slowly registered it all.
“Grrrrr…”
The chilling killing intent of a beast on the hunt swept over Iris. In that instant, she knew. If things continued like this, the gentle warmth might disappear.
The child who could neither cry nor laugh wished not to lose the only warmth she had left.
‘I want to protect it.’
A light began to seep into her vacant eyes.
‘This warmth, at least…’
Iris instinctively snatched the sharp sword.
‘I don’t want to lose it.’
Her vision, which had narrowed until the world seemed to crumble into white, expanded. Her gaze fell upon the beast baring its fangs.
The moment she came to her senses, she was running.
“Kuaaaaaargh!”
It was a roar like a thunderclap, terrifying enough to make a faint-hearted person clutch their chest and collapse. But Iris was completely unaffected.
The beast bared its fangs at her, its eyes flashing. It leaped back, regarding her with a wary gaze.
It had instinctively realized that Iris was a dangerous being. But that didn't matter to Iris. Kicking off the ground lightly, she swung the sword with an indifferent expression.
Swiiish!
There was a considerable distance between her and the beast, so the sword cut through empty air. The moment the beast sneered, a long line was drawn across its torso, and it ripped open. Green blood began to gush out.
“Grrrr…!”
The startled beast retreated several times, but Iris was faster. As if butchering an animal, she haphazardly slashed at its legs, head, and torso.
“Kuaaargh…! Keuk… Kugh…!”
The beast charged at Iris several times, but it couldn't even graze a single strand of her hair.
Crack!
The thick neck bone snapped, and the snake that had been baring its fangs was chopped into ten pieces. Iris was victorious.
“Woooooah!! An unimaginable result!!”
“Waaaaaaah!”
“Woooooah!!”
A tremendous roar, enough to make the ground tremble, filled the arena. As if oblivious to the surrounding sounds and sights, Iris ran swiftly to Rian, holding the sword stained with green blood.
Clang.
She tossed the sword to the ground without a second thought and urgently grabbed Rian’s hand. When the gentle warmth held her back, she let out a long sigh of relief.
At the same time, her vision narrowed again, and she curled up once more in her own world. But unlike before, she was not alone. That alone was enough to satisfy her.
***
‘Wow, that’s amazing.’
The moment Iris dashed forward, I immediately took the 3D glasses from my pocket and put them on. When you wear 3D glasses to watch a battle, even an ordinary fight gets various effects, like a scene from a movie.
As proof, something like a sword wind was shooting out from Iris’s blade, attacking the monster.
‘She wasn’t this powerful in the original story.’
I don't know if Iris had her awakening before meeting me or if the Gag Filter's ability is just that great, but hey, what's good is good.
Crack!
Iris lopped off the terrifying monster's head and started running toward me. I quickly took off the glasses and stuffed them in my pocket.
Clang!
Iris even threw away her sword as she ran over and carefully took my hand. Her hand was trembling, probably because she was scared after fighting the monster. When I interlaced our fingers, the shaking slowly subsided.
“Wheeeew!”
“Waaaaaaaaaah!”
“Ooooh!!!”
The cheering continued without end. Being the focus of thousands of humans and demons wasn't a great feeling. I held Iris’s hand tightly and headed toward the man who had tossed me the sword.
The man, who had gone into the passageway, was now outside again, leaning against the wall.
“Heh, she’s more useful than I thought, eh?”
The man raked Iris with a lecherous gaze. I was utterly shocked.
‘That crazy son of a bitch?’
Iris was pretty, but because she’d grown up malnourished, she was rail-thin and short. Seeing a man who looked to be in his forties at least staring lewdly at a girl a head shorter than me made me want to curse out loud.
I quickly covered Iris’s eyes and entered the passageway.
“Iris, you can’t look at things like that. It’s dirty. Nasty. Got it?”
Iris followed me silently, then gave a small nod.
She actually answered!
I looked at Iris in surprise and asked.
“Iris, did you just answer me?!”
At that, Iris tilted her head slightly and gently bumped her forehead against my shoulder. I wasn’t sure what it meant, but it seemed she was showing more reactions than before.
A tsunami of emotion washed over me, like watching an abused and abandoned puppy slowly opening its heart.
Rumble.
Just as we finished descending the stairs, a large, closed door opened. The man who entered from beyond reminded me of a roly-poly toy.
“Khuhuhu… Well done! Excellent!”
The roly-poly man, who treated slaves as less than livestock, burst out with the highest praise and clapped his hands.
“Send these two upstairs!”
“Yes, right away!”
The rat beastkin standing behind the roly-poly man bowed his head servilely, rubbing his hands together like a fly. The roly-poly man let out a villainous laugh, jumped up and down a few times, and then left.
Iris and I followed the rat beastkin onto an elevator and went up.
“Wow…”
We had only gone up one floor, but the scenery changed completely. It wasn’t exactly luxurious, but there were light-toned floors, potted plants placed here and there, and even a rest area with wide windows and a sofa.
The rooms looked similar to the servants’ dormitories in a noble’s mansion. Compared to the prison, it was nothing short of heaven.
After looking around the rooms, the rat beastkin said this wasn't the place and led them back to the elevator, taking them to a higher floor. The next place they arrived at was the top floor.
“…!?”
A room no different from the VVIP suites I’d seen in MyuTube videos in my past life was right there. It was a room that would make any noble envious.
“Hmm… This place is probably too much for you just yet.”
The rat beastkin muttered this and then got off on the floor just above the dormitory-style one we first visited. The rooms, each with two beds, were clean but seemed a little lacking.
It seemed that way because we were naturally comparing it to the luxurious top floor we had just seen. Then, I realized.
‘Ah, he showed it to us on purpose.’
By showing them the top floor where they could live like nobles, and then the floor they were assigned to and the ones below it, they would naturally make comparisons.
The slaves would naturally begin to yearn for the higher floors and fear being sent to the lower ones. In the end, blinded by the ‘power of the arena,’ they would shackle themselves and never be able to escape.
“Alright, you two will be staying here from now on. You’re free to do as you please until your next match is scheduled, as long as you don’t leave the arena.”
The rat beastkin assigned them one of the empty rooms, then warned that their collars would explode if they strayed too far from the arena. After he left, only Iris and I remained.
No, to be precise, we were left with the other slaves who were furtively peeking their heads out of their rooms.
“Hey.”
Just as I was thinking, ‘Should we go into our room first?’, a confrontational voice called out to us.
I looked toward the voice and saw a man who looked at least two heads taller than me, smirking down at Iris and me.