Chapter 279 Gladiator of the Arena End
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/Clang!/
/Clang!/
/Fwoosh… Clang!/
A furious clash of metal ensued between the two warriors, one with a shining knightly sword and the other with an ordinary spear.
From a simple glance, it may look like the knight is overwhelming the spearman, but in truth, the latter barely moved a step from his initial position, despite his extreme defensive posture.
He blocked continuously without being pushed back at all.
"Huff... This isn't enough to break your defense? Then…"
/SWIPE!/
The blue energy around Stuart's blade flared, and he swung it horizontally, creating a strong wave of energy as it cut through the arena.
"!"
'This guy… This isn't just imbuing Mana onto his sword, this is closer to what I've seen Testros do.'
'It must be a High-Quality Skill to be able to simulate such a thing.'
Somewhat surprised, Dale evaded the blow by sliding underneath it as he ran after the knight, kicking the ground as he went on the offensive.
"Finally bored? HA! That's great, come!" Stuart said out loud as he swung his sword upwards, releasing another energy blade toward Dale
As his sword moved around, a string of bluish energy remained, floating in the air for a few moments before dissipating.
"..."
'He's quite talkative.' Dale thought as he evaded the energy slash once more
/Clang!/
The spear and sword met again, blowing dust and sand all around.
"I've confirmed it, I'm definitely weaker than you… But if that's all you have…"
The metal in the point of contact between the weapons started to become red…
"That would be disappointing!" Stuart said as he activated his next Skill
'Aura Rampage!'
/Burst!/
Bluish light exploded around him, gathering around his blade like a vortex!
The ground underneath Dale gave in, and he slid backward due to the air pressure.
'Power Stride!'
Activating Skill after Skill, Stuart dashed forward, leaving behind small craters whenever he stepped.
He approached Dale and slashed from the ground up diagonally, threatening to end him with that one strike.
"Hupp!"
But for the first time in a while, Dale got a bit serious as he stepped down with strength!
/SHAKE!/
/BANG!/
"WHAT?!"
The Arena trembled momentarily as the layer of sand atop the arena was completely blasted away, revealing the ancient slabs of stone underneath it.
Like a wave in the ocean, Stuart was washed away as he got back on his feet a few meters away.
"Hupp… Nothing gets past you." Stuart said out loud as he wiped some of the said from his shoulders
'What Skill was that? I've seen similar ones being used by magic classes, Earthquake, and the like, but he activated it with a step… Is this his method of activation?'
'Doesn't matter, I have to end this soon, Aura Rampage will keep draining my reserves until I have nothing left!'
With a determined expression, he tightened his grip on his sword.
His ring on his right hand started to glow while a white flash of light flared momentarily around his body.
'Trojan's Ring: Convert Life to Mana!'
'Final Strike!'
Activating his last two active Skills, Stuart dashed forward, faster than before and even a bullet!
The chaotic energy around his blade condensed, becoming a sharp film around one side of his sword as he slid across the arena.
Meanwhile, Dale only saw his HP decrease by 25% in an instant, knowing full well he had just activated some strange, life-threatening Skill.
So he took a step back and hunkered down, raising his spear slightly above his waist.
/Light…/
A dark red wisp of light slowly gathered at the tip of his spear as he prepared his own counterattack.
"Hupp!"
/SLASH!/
/Pierce!/
/CLANG!/
/BANG!/
A large explosion rang in the Arena, lifting a cloud of smoke into the air as pieces of rock were flung around the area.
"Arg… No way…" Stuart said as he rested his sword against the ground
In front of him, Dale remained upward, not even a single speck of damage had fallen onto his health bar.
"You… Just how high are your Stats?" He asked in disbelief as he looked at his own resources
'I still have a significant chunk of my life left but Aura Rampage already deactivated… How much I miss a Priest.'
Stuart was an extreme DPS warrior who fought the hardest when together with a Prest to recover his HP, allowing him to covert a small portion of it into Mana so he could keep damaging a Boss constantly.
He was very consistent in PvP but his lack of standard Skills in favor of more complex ones like Aura Rampage and Sword Aura caused him to lack a substantial base, and thus, whenever he was faced with an opponent who could outlast his frontal attack, he would be faced with defeat.
If he had more support Skills then maybe his ranking would be over 100 spots higher.
'This is it…'
"You're incredible, I won't ask for your Level but… Can I know what Skill you used?" He asked as he looked at Dale
"... You know that is extremely private knowledge, right?" Dale replied as he talked for the first time in a while
"Yeah… I asked too much. See'ya around." He said as he raised his right hand
"I forfeit."
[Ding]
[Player StuartBig has admitted defeat!]
/Din Din Din!/
[Champion of the Arena!]
With his arms crossed, Dale exhaled as he saw Stuart's body turned to light.
"Good luck with your matches, with your Skill, maybe you can get to the top 100?"
"I would pay to see those people be knocked down for once, especially that person…"
"..."
'That person?'
Dale had seen first hand how the players had evolved, from his first match in the top 10,000 to now in the top 1,000.
If this rate continued, just what kind of sights would some of those top 100 players be able to show him?
He was itching to find that out.
[DING]
[Congratulations on your tenth Victory!]
[10 Victory Streak!]
[Solo 1v1 -> 10/0/0]
[Calculating Ranking...]
[Leaderboard Ranking -> 900]
"Hum..."
'900? That's lower than I expected. After going through so much I expected to be placed above 800 at the very least.'
'They really do want me to go through the painful experience of climbing through the ranks huh... How bothersome.'
'How long has it been since I started this?... 40ish minutes? If I add the time from before... It's been about five hours.'
'I still have Nineteen hours before Babylon ends, I have the time.'
'I've been thinking about it too... Should I use the seeds in my next few fights?'
Pondering over what to do next, the System continued with its messages:
[Ding!]
[Rewards have been processed]
[You've been awarded 10,000 Favor for defeating StuartBig, a player in the top 1000]
[You bet on your own Victory, being awarded 300,000 Favor]
[Due to the outside Bets, you've received a total of 31,735 Favor]
[Achievement: Warrior (Inferior)]
[You have been awarded 25,000 Favor]
[Achievement: Untouchable]
[You have been awarded 50,000 Favor]
[Achievement: High Ranker]
[You have been awarded 100,000 Favor]
[Hidden Achievement: Party Crasher]
[You have been awarded 100,000 Favor]
[Hidden Achievement: All In]
[You have been awarded 100,000 Favor]
[Due to your Special Packages, all Favor and Recognition rewards times 3]
[You've been awarded 2,150,205 Favor (Final Value)]
"Heh."
With a satisfied smile on his face, Dale waited for him to be transported out of the Arena, checking the chaos that was his stream's chat in the meantime.
He couldn't help but get a chuckle out of the people in chat and also to be surprised at their numbers, his stream already had over 20K viewers, and it was increasing rather rapidly.
So he decided to change the name of the Stream again.
This time, he changed the stream's name to, Road to Number 1.
And with that bomb dropped, he closed his stream's page.
/Flash!/
...
/At the same time.../
/Din Din Din!/
[Champion of the Arena!]
"..."
[DING]
[149 Victory Streak!]
"..."
Standing lonely atop a pile of rubble, a warrior gazed at his own bloodstained hands as he couldn't muster any emotion at the sight.
[Solo 1v1 -> 149/0/0]
[Leaderboard Ranking -> 1]
Staring at the number that hadn't moved in the past few hours did not provoke a single bit of a reaction, though it would be wrong to say the warrior felt nothing.
If anything at all, he felt... Annoyance.
'This is the 37th time.' He thought as he looked at the body of a player slowly vanish into white light
Like him, this man was a powerful foe, yet he failed to even leave a single gash in his body.
Ever since they first met, they constantly clashed. At first, it was fun, someone that could follow it, there weren't many like that, and above all, he had been the only one with the determination to try again... But maybe it did too many times.
The one at the very top and the one within its shadow... Unfortunately, the end result was always the same... A disappointing defeat, followed by a sense of nothingness.
"..."
'Should I try other Duel forms? 1v2 or maybe 1v3?...'
Lonely and tired, bored and annoyed, the King did not enjoy his reign.
"..."
'200... Once I get that, I'll stop.'
With a rare shadow of determination, the King vanished from the battlefield, together with all his wanted subjects.
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Notes
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