Chapter 225
Chapter 225
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 225
Chapter Title: 51. Match Fixing (3)
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It felt just like getting hit by a car.
“Uwaaaack!”
Caught up in the seven mutants, Young-woo let out an unsightly scream as he was shoved all the way to the western wall of the arena.
And this wasn’t staged—it was real.
One particularly strong mutant among the seven had headbutted him and dragged him straight to the wall.
Thanks to that, the people in the waiting room were already making grim faces, thinking Dongyangin07 was dead.
Of course, the culprit himself, Young-woo,
“Keeeaack!”
“Woooaaargh!”
“Queeek!”
was too busy swinging his fists amid the ear-splitting roars of the seven mutants.
If he used Sasinsa, he’d slaughter them in an instant, so he’d pretended to drop his weapon on the ground.
“Argh, damn it! What kind of hell is this?”
He was used to injuring himself to trigger bleed effects even normally, so the middling pains that the Berserker talisman couldn’t fully block didn’t bother him much.
However.
Kwaaak!
The moment his bold punch got caught in some wolf mutant’s maw and nearly torn off, a chill ran through him.
‘...Time to fight for real soon?’
Even blocking just one exchange per surrounding mutant added up to seven in a flash.
Because of that, Young-woo’s body turned to rags in an instant.
With so many opponents, even his flying greatsword Golden Trajectory couldn’t shine.
-Whiiiirrr!
Two Day 5 level mutants could pin Golden Trajectory to the ground and keep it nearly immobile.
Of course, flipping that around, it meant Golden Trajectory alone could hold down two high-level mutants.
So realistically, only five posed a real threat to Young-woo.
‘...Should I end it here? If I drag it out, they’ll gouge my eyes next.’
At the point where his left arm was completely torn off and gashes striped his body, sweat mixed with blood pouring like rain, Young-woo threw his full body tackle forward with everything he had.
Puuuung!
His physical abilities, massively amplified in the crisis, were more than enough to shove aside the seven mutants—no, way more.
“Kak...?”
“Grak!”
It didn’t stop at shoving; it sent them flying in all directions.
‘...Oops! Got too desperate!’
But taking the time to look around now would only make him look more suspicious.
“Ugh...!”
Young-woo limped down the now-clear escape path and grabbed Sasinsa from the floor.
Through the broadcast screen, he saw the waiting room folks’ eyes bulging wide.
The ‘champion’ they thought was dead coming back to life was shocking enough, but even more unbelievable was Young-woo’s corpse-like body.
“Whew, that place is basically auto-hunt territory.”
Even as blood dripped steadily, Young-woo lifted his eyelids to survey Arena 2.
Sure enough, Mara’s knights were cleanly mopping up the mutants there.
If those guys stuck around to the next stage, even a horde of mutants in Stage 4 wouldn’t be an issue.
‘So they’ll all vote for weakling survival from now on... The variable’s just whether the champion survives or dies in Stage 4.’
As Young-woo took a breather while watching the broadcast screen, the regrouped mutants charged again with furious growls.
“Kraaa!”
“Kieeek!”
In response, Young-woo extended Sasinsa’s blade to 6 meters but deliberately slashed only one mutant at a time.
‘No idea how well this’ll sell.’
This was purely a ‘show’ for the other waiting room participants.
With one arm gone and too much blood lost, he subtly signaled it’d be hard to one-shot two or three like before.
So in Stage 4 with way more mutants, it’d be a much tougher fight, right?
[2] Champion Dies, Weakling Survives.
Thus, for now, boosting votes for option 2 was Young-woo’s best play.
Kwaaak!
Finally, Young-woo toppled the last mutant in the arena, and the familiar match-end message appeared.
「Stage 3, Champion Survives. Weakling Survives.」
「Stage 3 Complete.」
But this time, not everyone had bet on 1.
「A total of 16 participants have earned 1 betting point.」
Rankings were essentially stalled, and sure enough, after Stage 3, Young-woo still held joint 6th.
[Jeong Young-woo07]
|Betting Points: 3
|Current Rank: Joint 6th (6 people)
‘Damn it.’
Only two matches left.
No one else wanted to end the dungeon in joint 6th, so variables were bound to pop up now.
‘Weakling survival’s a lock... So they’ll split on whether I survive or not.’
「Stage 4 will begin shortly.」
「In Stage 4, each representative must face 26 mutants.」
“...What?”
Stage 4, twenty-six mutants.
Young-woo, who’d figured maybe twenty at most, gaped unwittingly.
The waiting room participants looked equally stunned.
「All participants, please complete your bets within 5 minutes.」
[1] Champion Survives, Weakling Survives.
[2] Champion Dies, Weakling Survives.
[3] Champion Survives, Weakling Dies.
[4] Champion Dies, Weakling Dies.
Amid this, the dungeon system opened the next bet, and with no other choice, Young-woo went with 1.
‘Twenty-six... No acting this time. Gotta go all out to survive.’
He’d probably need the barrage this round.
And once everyone saw the problematic laser barrage...
‘They’ll all panic again. Wondering whether to pick 1 or 2 in Stage 5.’
But options 1 and 2 didn’t even exist for Young-woo in Stage 5.
Anything short of the solo 1st place reward was basically junk to him.
‘Gotta knock out everyone else except me. No ties allowed.’
To do that, he had to bet on an outcome no one else would and nail it.
And that ‘outcome’ was.
[3] Champion Survives, Weakling Dies.
Weakling Dies.
Meaning, only if Dragosh died.
Even under the protection of Mara’s knights, he had to make Dragosh die.
But how?
‘The only card I can play now is the laser barrage. I could call friends once, but save that for Stage 5.’
Firing Toma’s laser at Mara’s knights... He knew instinctively it was insane, but he couldn’t back out.
‘Where’s the chairman? Or can the company help somehow? There’s still a ton of ad budget left unspent.’
As Young-woo looked up at the ceiling, the 5 minutes for Stage 4 bets ran out.
「Stage 4 bets are complete.」
And the results:
|1 – 4 votes
|2 – 12 votes
‘Four votes on champion survives...? Are they totally nuts?’
Young-woo couldn’t help but be shocked.
Excluding his own vote, three others had predicted champion survives.
Of course, that distanced the 12 on 2 from the rankings—not a bad spot for him.
「Bets complete. Stage 4 match begins.」
Then, the arena’s firmly shut gates creaked open again.
‘Here we go again.’
Tatatang!
With sounds like pistol shots, the eight gates flung open, unleashing a wave of twenty-six mutants.
“Graaaa!”
“Kyaaaak!”
His body was regenerating fast thanks to the slime core and unfair trade synergy, but his left arm hadn’t fully grown back yet.
He had to face twenty-six mutants with one arm.
‘Twenty-six my ass—looks like way too many up close.’
Young-woo reached for his sword but switched plans, immediately calling for barrage.
He had a gut feeling that if they swarmed him, his body would shatter before he could play any other cards.
“Lüpo! 917! 005! 3091! 10!”
As Young-woo urgently requested barrage on Arena 1, the shadowed surroundings lit up bright in an instant.
Piiiing!
A laser barrage fired straight from the Returner’s room.
‘They were prepped early? Why’s it firing so fast?’
Seeing the laser beam already piercing the dungeon ceiling, Young-woo scrambled back.
He didn’t want to get caught in the barrage radius.
Kwaaaaa!
At last, Toma munitions’ laser barrage slammed into the arena’s center.
Mutants even grazed by the high-density energy vanished without trace, and Young-woo, barely outside the radius, felt crushing pressure on his body.
‘If I time it right... maybe I can take out those knights too?’
Seeing the barrage this close for the first time, Young-woo seriously considered it might handle Mara’s minions.
Those knights surely didn’t have divine status either.
Shaaa!
The barrage that had lit up the area finally stopped, and Young-woo mopped up the surviving monsters while eyeing the broadcast screen.
Slick.
Sure enough, he saw the waiting room participants with incredulous faces, and Dragosh.
Especially Dragosh.
—...!
Was showing more than surprise—namely.
‘He’s scared. Figured out the barrage could be used for sniping?’
With cosmic knowledge rivaling Young-woo’s, Dragosh likely had.
‘But whether the snipe succeeds? We’ll find out together soon.’
As Young-woo gave a meaningful look at Arena 2’s screen, Dragosh mirrored it with a horrified grimace, as if reading his mind.
「Stage 4, Champion Survives. Weakling Survives.」
「Stage 4 Complete.」
Stage 4 cleared at last.
「A total of 4 participants have earned 1 betting point.」
This time, the four who bet champion survives despite Young-woo’s struggle got their points.
And the results:
Paat!
[Jeong Young-woo07]
|Betting Points: 4
|Current Rank: Joint 3rd (3 people)
‘Finally 3rd.’
He hadn’t expected three ties heading into Stage 5, but Young-woo still had one shot left.
‘Just kill Dragosh. Then I rocket to 1st.’
As Young-woo steeled his murderous intent and glared at the ceiling, the final match announcement appeared right on cue.
「Stage 5 will begin shortly.」
「In Stage 5, each representative must face 68 mutants.」