Chapter 47
Chapter 47
Translation: godtl
'This is much better than the sewers.'
Unlike the smelly, damp sewers, the passageway was well-maintained.
Though seemingly built simply, its monotony created a unique aesthetic.
The air, too—perhaps due to ventilation shafts somewhere—lacked the stifling quality typical of underground spaces.
One.
The viewers were solely focused on the spectacle unfolding at the center of the passageway.
Naturally.
From their perspective as spectators, they couldn't even perceive the environmental details of this place.
"Da!"
Thwack.
"Ga!"
Crack.
"Ri!"
Crunch.
Like a game of whack-a-mole.
The girl's massacre—shattering Drakan's skulls one by one—drew considerable attention.
The chat was in an uproar over Marnel's performance.
Si-mun felt the same.
'As expected of a Dwarf. Their Strength is monstrous.'
One of the defining traits of the Dwarf race was their immense physical strength, regardless of gender.
Of course, at a glance, male Dwarves had rugged builds.
While female Dwarves only had slightly defined musculature.
But Platinum-rank players like Si-mun knew the truth.
'That's all densely packed muscle.'
Female Dwarves could even beat Ogres in arm wrestling.
There was just one thing that puzzled him.
'Isn't Marnel still young? That level of Strength seems excessive.'
Marnel's strength was absurd even for a Dwarf.
Sure, Dwarves were known to exhibit freakish strength from a young age, but—
"Thud! Thud! Thud!"
Crunch.
It was hard to believe she could so easily smash the skulls of Drakans, who were supposed to be Dragonkin.
Well, whatever.
'I can't just stand around either.'
Whoosh.
Si-mun naturally bent at the waist, dodging an axe flying toward his back, then—
Thud!
—drove his elbow straight into the solar plexus of the Drakan that had tried to ambush him.
Drip, drip.
Saliva—no, blood—gushed from its mouth as it collapsed.
It was an 'instant kill' from a vital strike enhanced by [Ogre's Body Tissue] and [Black Panther's Body Tissue].
But Si-mun didn't stop there.
Snap.
As he pivoted, his fingers flicked outward.
In response—
Thwip! Thwip! Thwip!
"Keeegh!"
"Gurgle—!"
Stone spikes erupted from the ceiling, walls, and floor—piercing through the Drakans that had been closing in from all directions.
Three seconds.
That was all it took for over a dozen Drakans to die.
This massacre, distinct from Marnel's, delivered another shock.
The viewers reacted even more intensely than they had to Marnel's slaughter.
[User Ganengchung has donated 300 AP.]
= Bro...... you're overwhelmingly OP!
Sporadic donation messages followed, but Si-mun had no time to pay attention.
Shiiing.
A sinister sound slicing through the air caught his attention.
"Hm."
Si-mun sidestepped lightly.
Something long and slender whizzed past him at high speed.
An arrow.
When Si-mun checked the direction it had come from, he was slightly surprised.
"Draco? There are Dracos here too?"
Draco.
Like Drakan, a low-tier Dragonkin that appeared from the upper Gold ranks.
In stark contrast to Drakans, Dracos had slender builds. While weaker in Strength and Stamina, they made up for it with nimble movements and a preference for ranged attacks and ambushes—making them even more annoying than Drakans.
"Kekeke! Fire!"
Thwip.
Six or seven arrows came flying in unison.
Even as the lowest tier of Dragonkin, the arrows shot by the Dracos were as thick as short spears.
Si-mun immediately activated Odin's Eye.
'A volley, huh... Clever. But the angle's a bit off, isn't it?'
Sure enough.
The Dracos' arrows weren't aimed at Si-mun—they were targeting Marnel.
They must have decided to eliminate the relatively weaker Marnel first.
'This is why high-intelligence types are such a pain.'
Clicking his tongue at the cunning Draco's judgment, Si-mun flicked his finger toward Marnel.
Snap.
Rumble.
A small tremor rippled through the ground as walls rose around Marnel on all sides.
Instead of making the walls purely rigid, he crafted them thick and viscous like mud, completely preventing any chance of penetration.
Then—
Hmm.
Si-mun's left eye shimmered gold.
'Not six... Nine.'
The number of Dracos he had estimated from the volley was six.
His calculation wasn't wrong—but lurking nearby were three more Dracos, each gripping daggers.
They must have planned to use the six archers as bait to exploit any openings.
'Unbelievably sly.'
Shaking his head, Si-mun pointed his finger toward them.
"Krek! Magic!"
"Shoot! Stop him from casting!"
Unlike the mindless charge of the Drakan, the Dracos quickly caught onto Si-mun's transmutation stance and frantically loosed their arrows.
One.
'I see everything.'
Odin's Eye, now fully active, perfectly traced the chaotic trajectories of the arrows.
Si-mun halted his flicking motion.
With minimal movement, he dodged them all and advanced toward the Dracos.
Originally, he had planned to transmute the surroundings and wipe them out like he did with the Drakan earlier, but—
'Even after reducing Odin's Eye's output... The transmutation cost is too high.'
Odin's Eye, simultaneous body transmutation, the massacre of the Drakan, and the protective wall for Marnel.
Even with his overwhelming specs and recovery speed, the drain on his Transmutation Power was considerable.
Fortunately—
Crack!
"Krrk! H-how did he—?!"
"What kind of power is this?!"
"Krek! Too fast!"
He wasn't entirely defenseless.
Wasn't this exactly why he had trained in body transmutation and the Heavenly Demon Arts?
Si-mun cleanly struck the vital points of the three ambushing Dracos.
If even the Drakan couldn't withstand his strikes, what hope did the Dracos have?
In an instant, he swept through the three Dracos and plunged straight into the remaining archers.
Thud!
"Krrrk!"
"B-block...!"
With movements infused with the essence of the Heavenly Demon Arts, he severed the Dracos' lifelines in one go.
'Too easy.'
Not exactly words befitting a Silver-rank facing Dragonkin, but having effortlessly ended the battle, Si-mun lightly shook his wrist.
Then—
Twitch.
A faint spasm flickered in his left eye.
Since Odin's Eye had already become an intrinsic trait, he immediately knew this wasn't just a random twitch—and hurled his body sideways.
Whoooosh!
A violent tearing sound grazed past him.
As if he had never been the target in the first place, the projectile shot straight toward where Marnel stood.
"Marnel!"
"Huh?"
Just as she finished off the last Drakan and turned around—
Quick-witted as ever.
"Hup!"
She swiftly ducked behind the protective wall Si-mun had erected.
"Haaaah!"
Boom!
Marnel struck down the projectile, now weakened by the barrier.
Thanks to that, the massive projectile lost its momentum and flew through the air.
Or rather—
It flew back the way it came.
But this wasn't just a result of Marnel's instincts and monstrous strength.
'Something's pulling that axe back.'
An indistinct, faint energy was tugging at the elongated blade of the projectile—if it could even be called an axe.
And when the axe returned to its owner's grasp—
"Holy..."
Si-mun and Marnel's eyes couldn't help but widen.
-OMG... What is that?
-What am I even looking at right now?
-That's insane... Seriously.
At a rough estimate—six meters.
Maybe even taller.
A colossal Drakan filled the passageway, his towering frame blocking it entirely.
A murderous glint in his eyes, befitting his size, locked onto the small girl.
"So it's you. The participant of the Arena that Lord Sargas personally mentioned."
'Huh?'
Si-mun's head whipped toward Marnel.
And for good reason.
'A participant of the Arena?'
He had thought she was just a dwarf who briefly appeared in the Special Arena.
"Arena participant, you say?"
Si-mun's eyes quickly regained their composure.
'Ah, I see. That explains why she's so strong.'
If Marnel was a Player with a Status Window just like him, then it all made sense—her overwhelming combat prowess despite not even being an adult yet, enough to slaughter the Drakan.
'So that's why that notification popped up.'
He recalled the system message he'd seen before entering this place.
[Teleporting to Arena: 'Northern Sewer Facility'.]
[Due to special circumstances, all broadcasted dialogue will be muted.]
A dry chuckle escaped Si-mun's lips as he remembered.
'Since Earth isn't an official Arena yet, they must've blocked the broadcast.'
Though strictly speaking, it was only the dialogue that got muted.
And the reason the system had specifically referred to this place as the 'Northern Sewer Facility', as if marking it on a map—
'This must be Marnel's Arena.'
A point of contact between Earth's Arena and the Dwarf's Arena.
That was why the system had erected a barrier and sent out a warning message despite everything.
'Well, I'll be damned... The pieces fit together a little too perfectly.'
What if he hadn't demanded Doria's mithril ingots during the last Special Arena?
Or if he'd sold them off or used them all up?
He never would've crossed over into the Dwarf's Arena and met Marnel like this.
It was sheer luck piled upon sheer luck.
Well, whatever.
'First things first—I need to deal with that guy.'
Judging by the feel of it, if he could just take down that Drakan who seemed to be the boss, this Arena would be over.
'Looks like a Mutant variant of the Drakan. If I just allocate my Transmutation Power properly...'
The moment Si-mun took a step forward with that thought—
Tap.
A small footstep, followed by the flutter of twin braids right in front of him.
Before he knew it, Marnel had already dashed right up to the Mutant Drakan's face.
Gripping a hammer far larger than her own body, she spun midair—
"Hyaaah!"
DOOOONG!
A heavy, resonating vibration.
The exact same kind of tremor he'd felt through the sewer walls before entering.
'That intense vibration... Is that Marnel's trait?'
Si-mun watched with interest as the Mutant Drakan was sent tumbling across the ground by the violent shockwave.
'To knock a Mutant Drakan flat in one hit... She's gotta be at least S-rank.'
The Drako ambush had been the real problem.
Given how she'd been slaughtering the Drakan earlier too, it didn't seem necessary for him to intervene in Marnel's fight.
...Or so he thought.
Kiiing!
"Ugh!"
At least, until Odin's Eye sent another warning pulse—this time accompanied by tinnitus.
Reacting instantly, Si-mun channeled Transmutation Power throughout his body and—
"Marnel! Duck!"
Snap!
With a sharp command, he flicked his fingers.
CRACKLE-CRACKLE-CRACKLE!
Walls transmuted into existence from all directions—ceiling, floor, left and right—cutting off the space in front of Marnel as she swiftly crouched with her hammer.
Shhhk!
In an instant, the walls were covered in hoarfrost.
Then—
SHINK!
A single azure spear pierced through the crumbling, glass-like wall.
Uncannily, it grazed past Marnel's back—exactly where she'd been standing before ducking—and embedded itself into the ground.
"Ah! Cold, cold!"
Though it had shattered on impact, the freezing aura it carried must've remained, because Marnel—clutching her backside and waist—hopped away to Si-mun's side with a yelp.
"Whew... If it weren't for you, I'd be a frozen skewer right now. Hehe!"
Despite having stood at death's doorstep mere seconds ago, she remained as cheerful as ever, without a trace of fear.
Under normal circumstances, Si-mun might've cracked a wry smile at her audacious quip, but—
"Stay alert."
His expression remained stern as he kept his gaze locked forward.
And for good reason.
[Special conditions met. Hidden Boss 'Half-Dragonian Sarku' has appeared.]
-OMG! Another Hidden Boss?!
-This guy's a Hidden Boss magnet lololol.
-It's already insane to see a Hidden Boss in Silver-rank, but two in a row...?
-What kind of Arena is this?! Map transitions AND Hidden Bosses?!
'Hidden Boss, huh...'
What kind of condition did he meet to suddenly trigger a Hidden Boss?
Surprisingly, the Hidden Boss himself answered that question.
"I was wondering when you dirt-grubbers started wielding alchemy of this caliber..."
A man with sporadic blue scales scattered across his body.
Half-Dragonian Sarku slithered forward past the Mutant Drakan, his reptilian tail swaying behind him.
"But a human? Now that I didn't expect."
"My apologies for the unsightly display. The dwarf's strength was... greater than anticipated."
"Ah, I know. She's a Player—it'd be tough for you."
"Not that tough."
As if being sent sprawling across the floor meant nothing, the Mutant Drakan sprang back up, casually wiped the hammer-dented dust off its chin, and cracked its neck side to side.
"That female dwarf—I'll make sure to take care of her properly."
"Oh? Then I suppose I'll..."
The half-Dragonian Sarku trailed off, his gaze shifting toward Si-mun.
"...should examine this unidentified intruder more closely."
The moment Sarku's words ended—
Pzzzt.
A chilling wave of frost surged toward Si-mun.