Chapter 223
Chapter 223
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 223
Chapter Title: 51. Match Fixing (1)
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Stage 2, four mutant copies.
This was still no major challenge for Youngwoo.
But would it be the same for Dragosh?
'No matter how cunning you are, your acting can only go so far.'
Dragosh had already struggled in stage 1.
If he survived stage 2 as well, no matter how hard he fought in the process, everyone would notice.
That Dragosh had been playing the weakling all this time.
'Four mutants is double stage 1. That's a difficulty level that's hard to overcome just by fighting hard.'
Of course, for Dragosh, the twelve votes on weakling death might already mean he'd achieved his goal.
Thud!
Soon, doors opened one by one from all four sides of arena 1 where Youngwoo was, and mutants burst out from within.
「Kraaa!」
「Groooar...!」
'Whoa, their momentum is insane.'
Youngwoo felt a chill as he watched the mutants charging from all four directions.
He no longer had a human heart, but his mind still thought like a human's.
He realized this situation would be a nightmare for any ordinary person.
Especially since this was an arena on an alien planet.
Dying here meant he couldn't even return to his home planet's soil.
'I'm not particularly attached to Earth, but if possible, I'd rather die on my own planet.'
Of course, he had no intention of dying in a place like this to begin with.
Thump!
As Youngwoo assumed his sword-drawing stance and planted his front foot firmly, the participants in the waiting room all turned their attention to him.
They wanted to see if that 'strong one' could dispatch the mutants in one strike again.
If he started showing signs of his firepower faltering, they'd need to consider betting on strong death around stage 4 or 5.
And Youngwoo as well.
'Hold on.'
He paused just as he was about to slash the mutants that had closed in.
'Shouldn't I do at least some minimal acting? The more confused my competitors are, the better for me.'
So what Youngwoo chose was.
Slash!
Like in stage 1, a large forward slash, but narrowly missing the mutants from the sides and rear.
This hinted that gaps were inevitable when enemies approached from all directions.
'But everyone already knows my firepower is strong, so I'll allow the first hit and then clean up the rest.'
While Youngwoo was scheming like this, his bastard sword had already neatly sliced through two stage 2 mutants.
And soon.
Boom!
A fairly powerful impact erupted from Youngwoo's waist.
"...Ugh!"
While he was doing his forward slash, an ogre that had approached from behind swung its hammer.
「……?」
Even as a mutant copy, it seemed capable of a puzzled expression, as the ogre tilted its head and looked at its own hammer.
It sensed something off about the target not budging after taking a direct hit.
And that was its final moment.
Slash!
From below to above.
As Youngwoo swung his bastard sword—its blade extended to 6 meters vertically—the 4-meter-tall ogre's body tore apart left and right.
Then, continuing.
「Kyat!」
A lizardman charging from the side swung its round shield, striking Youngwoo's left shoulder.
Boom!
A powerful shockwave erupted, pushing Youngwoo's foot back about a handspan in place.
"You're no slouch in strength either."
This one was at least a day-4 mutant.
Thud!
As Youngwoo grabbed the bottom of the shield touching his shoulder with his left hand, the lizardman widened its eyes.
「……!」
Because.
Crack!
Purple cracks spread like spiderwebs from the lower part of the shield Youngwoo gripped.
「……?」
This was unexpected even for Youngwoo, and his eyes widened too.
'No way.'
Youngwoo's mind belatedly recalled his equipped item's effects.
And found the likely cause.
「Heretic」 - Unique Gauntlet
【15% of attack power converts to psychic damage.】
'Just 15% psychic damage has this much effect...?'
As soon as Youngwoo finished the thought, he slammed the shield in his hand to the ground, and half of it—already cracked—shattered like candy.
Crack!
'...Damn.'
Realizing things had gone wrong, Youngwoo looked up at the screen in the air.
As expected, he saw the dazed expressions of the waiting room participants.
They'd realized the 'strong one' possessed far more overwhelming power than thought.
“…….”
Youngwoo quickly beheaded the now-shieldless lizardman, then shifted his gaze to the feed from arena 2.
As expected, there was Dragosh, acting out his weakling role.
'That's some real soul in his acting.'
Of course, it was hard to tell at a glance whether it was genuine all-out effort or just acting.
The copies in arena 2 were a ratman, black goblin, steel golem—three humanoid mutants—plus one beast-type, a manticore.
So Dragosh had to endure wildly varied attack types.
Especially the manticore, which looked like a day-5 mutant—its front paws and scorpion tail attacks seemed like no one in the waiting room could withstand more than three exchanges.
'And yet he's blocking them all right now.'
The guy who struggled against just two low-grade mutants in stage 1 was now holding his own against four, including a manticore...? Anyone could see he'd been hiding his strength.
But the problem was.
'Is even this current display really 100% acting? I can't be sure myself.'
Youngwoo stared intently at Dragosh, already covered in wounds all over his body.
Some wounds were visibly deep at a glance—enough to question if he'd really taken them on purpose for acting.
'If even those are wounds he deliberately took to seem weak... he's no ordinary guy.'
On the other hand, if they weren't acting but Dragosh reaching his limit...
'Then I need to use the cannon now. If it continues like this, he'll die either from a big hit or blood loss.'
Youngwoo checked the waiting room situation again.
As in his side, the 18 in the waiting room were staring at arena 2 with confused faces.
In other words, everyone was caught in Dragosh's deception and couldn't make heads or tails of it.
'Damn. Using the cannon now feels like a waste.'
The moment he started using the cannon, control of this game would immediately shift to Youngwoo.
But in exchange.
'It'll make it much harder to shake off the betting competitors. Everyone will go all-in on 1 from now on.'
There was the option of using the cannon in stage 4 or 5 to kill the weakling, but... there were already 18 in this waiting room.
'Some of them will read my moves and bet on 3 at the end. Then today's excess reward is gone.'
This was plenty plausible.
Three people had already gambled in stage 1.
He couldn't forget that everyone gathered here was a top player in their own country.
There likely wasn't a single pushover in this dungeon today.
[Stage 2]
|1 – 8 votes
|3 – 12 votes
Currently, eight had bet on weak survival, twelve on weak death.
'...Let's wait a bit more. The weak survival bettors might invade the arena.'
This internal decision was another gamble, but Youngwoo's bet soon paid off.
Flash!
Suddenly, a bright light flashed in the waiting room, and exactly two human-sized portals appeared in arena 2.
Two no. 1 bettors, fed up, had chosen to invade the arena.
"Oh...!"
The moment Youngwoo let out an exclamation, the two powerhouses—who had finished teleporting into the arena—drew their swords side by side.
『Swordmaster, Bristol』
『Nashville Guardian』
'UK and USA.'
Seeing the solid reinforcements arrive, Youngwoo quickly turned to read Dragosh's expression.
And then.
“……!”
For an instant, relief flickered across Dragosh's face.
'This guy's... not acting this time?'
Of course, it could still be a highly calculated expression act... but was it possible to pull off such delicate acting while fending off four mutants?
In any case, Swordmaster Bristol and Nashville Guardian—who had entered to save their bet—were rushing toward the mutants.
And with that.
'What the hell is that.'
The atmosphere on the waiting room feed shifted ominously.
Some participants discussed among themselves, then drew their knives and raised them in the air.
As if holding a majority vote.
Youngwoo intuited it the moment he saw the scene.
'...Crazy. They're doing an invasion vote.'
However, it wasn't for no. 1—it was the no. 3 bettors' invasion vote.
'Well, there are way more weak death votes.'
[Stage 2]
|1 – 8 votes
|3 – 12 votes
At a glance, the difference in numbers between 1 and 3 bettors was four, but that wasn't accurate.
It included the votes of the strong and weak representatives already in the arena.
Excluding those two fixed in the arena, the actual betting was.
|1 – 6 votes
|3 – 12 votes
'Twice as many weak death votes.'
In other words, twice as many wanted Dragosh dead as wanted him alive.
'This... feels screwed.'
The moment Youngwoo concluded that, the waiting room feed lit up brightly again.
The no. 3 bettors who finished their invasion vote were actually moving into the arena.
And the number of new entrants into arena 2 that way was.
Flash, flash, flash!
'...Four.'
So now a 4-vs-3 battle would break out?
Strictly speaking, no.
The mutants in arena 2 were still all alive.
Thanks to Bristol and Nashville's entry, one mutant was nearly dead, but three mutants still survived.
So what the 'weakling' side had to face now was.
'Three mutants plus four named humans. 7-vs-3.'
Swoosh.
Youngwoo, who had been sitting watching the screen, unconsciously stood up.
He felt he had to use the cannon now.
'If I fire at the center, I can clean them up roughly.'
〔II|l||-Lüpo-917-005-3113-45〕
Youngwoo quickly recalled the cannon coordinates.
Even this—he had to hurry, or it would be too late.
If he fired after both sides engaged, it'd kill the new invaders and Dragosh too.
'It's getting tangled already.'
But it was unavoidable.
Youngwoo squeezed his eyes shut then open, stared at arena 2's feed, and shouted loudly.
"General! Sending coordinates! Lüpo! 917! 005! 31...!"
But then.
"...Huh?"
He spotted something on the screen and shut his mouth.
"What, what is it?"
Arena 2.
Dragosh, bleeding profusely while glaring at the four invaders, suddenly knelt on the ground.
And then.
"Look at this bastard?"
Right in front of Youngwoo—no, everyone in the dungeon—he clasped his hands in prayer toward the sky.
Swordmaster Bristol, who had come to help him, was visible with a flushed-red face, yelling furiously.
Bristol apparently judged that Dragosh had gone mad.
Meanwhile, Youngwoo.
"Our Father... in the... heavens, have mercy on me... "
Reading Dragosh's pronunciation from his lips on the screen, he suddenly realized.
'What? Why can I read that?'
Even if all languages were unified, reading lips was a whole different story.
But Youngwoo couldn't pursue the question further.
Zing!
Soon, a clear sound rang out from somewhere above the arena.
Whoosh!
A streak of pure white light shot down toward the opposite arena 2.
“……!”
Youngwoo hurriedly shifted back to the feed.
Now Dragosh was visible with arms spread wide, gazing at the sky.
―「Mara」...!
This time, unmistakably, with transcendent language piercing through the screen.
'T-This bastard... what did he summon?'
In any case, Youngwoo had to admit it.
Dragosh's prayer had been answered.