[Opportunity (2)]
"A semi-transparent barrier has risen."
"The duel procedure can be this fast?"
“Duel?” “After so long, it’s finally something worth watching.”
“Kyuhahaha! I don’t need a snack at all!”
“Exactly! We need fresh meat to climb the ranks! With just us two, nothing this fun ever happens!”
As the duel was about to erupt, all the players lounging inside the large tavern suddenly poured out. Each one clutched a mug and stared at the two women with hungry eyes.
“I don’t recognize that human.” “He must’ve just graduated from the academy! If you don’t know the First City’s warden, what kind of idiot are you?” “Well, he’s a human warlord. Just graduated rookie… even if he’s an early graduate, I doubt the cat girl will lose.”
The spectators kept topping off and emptying their mugs, chatting excitedly about the duel while trying to guess the outcome. The atmosphere turned into a full-blown party thanks to the non-stop noise.
—- [Duel] [Yu Dahui VS Horin] —-
Horin proudly pointed straight at me, as if she had already won.
“If I win, I’ll take that man. No, better to bring him into my party.”
“What the fuck? This kind of bitch is way too bold!”
“You think this kind of bitch? You dare treat me like some common dog? You’re dead!”
“Shut your mouth, you smell like dog breath.”
Yu Dahui gripped her sword and shield, hiding me behind her back. It wasn’t effective cover, but it was a performance. The sight made Horin tremble with excitement.
Hey, why am I inside a semi-transparent barrier? Normally only the duelists should be inside it, and the spectators are standing right behind.
‘This is weird.’ Was it because this is a duel prize? I thought as I hid behind Dahui.
It was a horrible position, but Dahui was solid.
Facing Horin’s arrogant demand, Dahui let out a mocking laugh and accepted the bet.
“Cat girl, if I win, I’ll take your strength at level 2. If you’re scared, just die already.”
“Fine. After all, you have no chance of winning. I’ll teach you the terror of a warlord using this clueless human.”
Horin treated her own body as a weapon. The tiger half in her lower body would explode with power unlike anyone else.
‘Ah, I’m about to regress again…’ This duel was practically a guaranteed loss for Dahui. Because I had watched her every day, I knew her power. I didn’t know how much she had suffered on the first floor, but with only ten cycles under her belt, she was still far too weak to beat a warlord.
We both chose what we wanted as the reward. The system would judge its fairness later.
“Oh! It’s starting!” “Who do you want to bet on? I’m going 50,000 coins on Horin winning.” “Me too.”
The duel began. A coin betting board immediately appeared.
The system-controlled betting platform. Betting was locked during the tutorial on floor zero, but from floor one onward anyone could wager on the winner.
Gambling always followed people’s living conditions, so the Tower of Struggle had turned it into something public. Win or lose, it was every player’s choice. Only rigging the outcome was impossible.
There was a transcendent being called the System, after all. Who knew if a player’s surrender was sincere? There were episodes where anyone caught rigging lost their life.
“…” No one bet on Yu Dahui winning. That was the reputation humans were given on the Tower of Struggle. She knew it herself.
“Yu Dahui! Go get her!”
Since I knew she was going to regress anyway, I placed a clean reverse bet. I wagered every coin I owned on her victory. The odds were a ridiculous 12x!
Despite the noisy crowd, the two women remained tense. A terrifying killing intent crackled between Horin and Dahui. No one let their guard down. Just as the saying went that a tiger hunts a rabbit with full power, Horin watched Dahui without relaxing even a fraction.
A dangerous atmosphere. While they stared each other down, Horin, unable to hold back, charged first.
“I’ll tear that human to pieces in one go!”
The distance between them vanished in an instant. A heavy fist slammed into Dahui’s shield.
Kwang! A sound like something shattering rang out between fist and shield.
“Is this the best you can do?”
Dahui pushed Horin’s fist away and swung her sword.
Horin stepped back just enough to dodge the blade. It didn’t even graze her fur, yet she couldn’t stop staring in disbelief.
“How did she block it?” If I had been in her place, I would have been knocked out by that punch. The physical gap between me and a warlord was an unbridgeable wall. Time was on my side, but right now I couldn’t beat a warlord.
Yet Dahui had done it. One exchange, but she had endured it firmly. Her spirit hadn’t broken.
‘Impossible.’ Dahui and I would regress together. But our differences were huge. I only kept my stats, skills, equipment, and items, while she also inherited the “Blessing.”
Every regression added new small and large blessings. Most were useless, but a tiny few could shake the very foundation of the Tower of Struggle.
“Why aren’t you attacking? Then I’ll come to you.”
“Kyuh! You blocked once and now you’re acting smug!”
Dahui looked completely confident she would win. Had she been hiding her strength? She was terrifyingly strong, yet only got rolled in the dirt because of some beginner? I still couldn’t understand it.
“Oi oi, the human is overwhelming…” “I can’t believe it. Horin was said to be quite strong even on the first floor, yet she’s losing to a human…”
Even the spectators realized the gap was so absurd.
Dahui swung her sword. The mana at the tip burned brighter than anything I had ever seen.
“Kyaaa!”
Horin’s arm was sliced clean through. It was only a shallow cut, but her eyes filled with pure disbelief as she glared at Dahui.
“What are you glaring at? Not going to fight? Was I wrong that you’re a cat instead of a tiger?”
“You… you human bitch!”
Dahui had protagonist compensation even when mocked. The moment she laughed, the opponent lost their mind and charged. To me it was the most beautiful smile I had ever seen.
Kwang!
Horin threw a punch with all her strength. A sloppy, untrained punch. She relied only on raw physical stats.
“Now, shall we finish this? Jinwoo is waiting for me.”
“What?”
Dahui took every single one of Horin’s attacks head-on. Block, dodge, yawn—she was still joking around.
“You fucking bitch!”
“Oh? You’re done with the act now? Yeah, that’s better.”
Horin, completely worked up, threw wild attacks with no technique. Dahui dodged or blocked them all. It wasn’t a real duel at all. The gap was too overwhelming; the spectators sighed. Only a few reverse bettors cheered.
Dahui shot me a glance and counterattacked, unleashing all the resentment she had been holding back.
“You fucking bitch! I even cursed you because of you! I held it in so long… you dog! Huh? You understand my feelings? No!”
“Kyaaaaack! It hurts! It hurts!”
Dahui’s iron blade pierced Horin’s chest. She must have been feeling excruciating pain. Horin thrashed and howled. Blood poured out and soaked her fur bright red.
“Die! I’m dying! I lost! I lost, so stop already…”
A duel ended only when one side gave up or died. Most gave up. Breaking someone’s pride was far better than killing them.
The semi-transparent barrier dissolved. The duel was over.
[Player ‘Yu Dahui’ Victory] [Bet 50,000 coins] [Payout 600,000 coins]
Cha rururuk!
The sound of coins pouring out filled the air. The numbers in the inventory had changed units. Just a moment ago I had only two thousand coins. Now I had six hundred thousand.
“Kim Jinwoo… hmm!”
Dahui looked at me with a carefree smile. It was unnatural in an instant, but her face was drenched in blood. It was disgusting.
“You worked hard!”
I hurried over and handed her water and a towel. I knew how strong Dahui was, so I was ready to suck even my own asshole clean. I had practiced with Elena, so it was no problem at all.
Dahui took the water and towel and wiped her face. The wet bangs hid her forehead. It was still beautiful.
Dahui opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again.
“…I normally don’t curse.”
“Huh? Yeah, yeah. I know. We all know you hate cursing.”
“That was because she started it.”
“I know, I know. Do you think I don’t know who my Dahui is?”
I agreed as much as I could. Who would have thought she was hiding her power? I would have to re-rank the party’s strength. I thought Elorin was the strongest, but I had no idea Dahui was on this level.
She narrowed her eyes, displeased with my answer.
“…But why is your face like that?”
“What?”
“Are you scared of me? Why are you standing so far?”
I subconsciously took two steps back. Dahui tilted her head, clearly showing the distance between us, then glared at me with a sullen expression.
“…Hug me.”
“Ah, yeah!”
I wrapped my arms around her tightly. Blood or no blood, I hugged her hard.
“I will never be taken from you. Never. No matter who comes, I will never…”
“Um… Yu Dahui…? I… I can’t breathe…”
“Even Elena… I will win…”
“Kyuh…”
Right before she passed out, Dahui released me. Her expression brightened again as she took my hand.
“Let’s go?”
“Where?”
“We have to go fuck. I’ve taken too much stress today. I need to release it.”
Her face asked why I was even asking such an obvious question. It was so absurd I couldn’t speak.
“Why? You don’t like it?”
“No, of course not.”
“…You sound like you don’t want to though…”
I clamped my mouth shut. I just stared, throbbing with anger, and placed her hand on my stiff erection bulging in my pants.
—-
Inside Yu Dahui, Elysha, and Elena’s hut. Only the lantern light hanging from the ceiling illuminated the room.
“Dahui isn’t coming back.”
“I’ll assume she has something to do. Princess, you should rest for your health tomorrow…”
Elysha poked only her face out from under the blanket and muttered.
Elena begged her desperately to go to sleep.
“Ugh… Kim Jinwoo…”
A vibrator hummed inside Elena’s anus. She forced herself to stay calm, but her body trembled with excitement. Her vagina kept leaking so much that more than ten wet panties filled her inventory.
Once Elysha fell asleep, Elena planned to go find Jinwoo and ask him to take care of her. Since he wouldn’t obey so easily, she needed a lot of time.
“I wanted to sleep with Dahui…”
“There is plenty of time, Princess.”
“Hmm…”
Mana for controlling spirits required proper rest. The most effective way to restore it was to sleep. Because she wanted to sleep with Yu Dahui, Elysha was desperately fighting back the waves of sleep.
Zzz-
She couldn’t last long.
Busuruk—
Busuruk—
Elena rose from her blanket. The temperature inside and outside the blanket was noticeably different.
‘Interesting…’
It was a product actively recommended by the system, yet it performed its role perfectly.
Elena stepped outside the hut.
Since the hut was protected by the system, leaving it empty was fine.
Torches set up everywhere lit up the First City. The light was barely enough to fight the darkness.
Uuuung—
“U-ugh…”
As she walked, the vibration returned. The crossed legs and buttocks rubbed her anus vigorously.
“Lady Elena, what brings you here?”
“Empty…?”
Elena entered the hut where the men stayed. Elorin and Elbaren were only chatting quietly; Kim Jinwoo was nowhere in sight.
“It’s nothing.”
Elena searched for Jinwoo.
Since he was inside the First City, she spread her mana wide and searched.
“There, you elf bitch!”
“Wow… An elf running around like this? Does she have a master? The master must have done a proper job training his bitch!”
Drunken dwarves laughed as they teased her.
Elena clenched her fists and ignored them. She could kill them with a finger, but these were players who scraped by on one day’s earnings to eat for the next. It wasn’t worth getting angry at them.
‘Empty…?’
She spread her mana across the entire First City, but Jinwoo’s presence remained undetected.
‘Then…?’
No player on the first floor could hide from Elena’s detection. Even the strongest on the seventh floor couldn’t. How could Jinwoo?
There was only one possibility. He must be inside a hut.
Elena checked the signs in front of every hut. Her legs shook as she walked carefully one by one.
She couldn’t find him no matter how much she searched. Finally she reached the best hut in the area, the one with the best private shower facility.
—- [Hut] [Kim Jinwoo] [Yu Dahui] —-
“Eh…?”