After seeing the people in black cloaks, Kaizen covered his head with the hood of his cloak. He knew that no one would recognize him in a place like this, far away from the other players, but he didn't want to risk attracting attention anyway.
The air in the crowd of fighters was heavy, full of sweat and adrenaline, and the deafening noise of their screams echoed into Kaizen's neurons.
This place is more crowded than I thought. Kaizen thought annoyedly, covering his ears with his hands.
People weren't the least bit careful about bumping into each other and pushing each other inadvertently.
This way, it might be hard to find Adohorn, even if he shows up here. I don't even know what he looks like.
The patrons and fans were in a frenzy, shouting words of encouragement or insults at the fighters who were apparently already in the arena, while many celebrated the frenzied exchange of magical blows between them. In the center of the arena, two fighters faced each other in a deadly battle of grimoires. The sound of their spells echoed loudly. The smell of blood and sweat also filled the air.
With all this, the atmosphere in the arena was one of rivalry, with spectators squinting to get a better view, and the tension growing with each spell cast.
Kaizen paid no attention to the battle, for he had no interest in it. He just had to find at least one clue about Adohorn or Alina. Without that, there would have been no point in coming to the cave.
Kaizen tried to move through the crowd, gently pushing people aside and keeping his eyes peeled for anyone who stood out. His vision was cluttered with system screens, viewed with the <Analyzer Eye>, showing different profiles of different NPCs at the same time. The player knew that it would be difficult to find anyone in particular in the midst of this chaos, but he hoped that Adohorn would stand out from the others, not only because of his appearance, but also because of his aura.
Suddenly, Kaizen felt someone bump into his shoulder and try to turn his body backwards. Looking over his right shoulder at his back, he saw one of the masked men wearing the long, strange black cloak.
"What's a guy like you doing here?" the masked man asked in a deep, menacing voice that seemed distorted.
"I'm looking for a good place to watch the fight," Kaizen replied calmly and naturally.
"Watch the fight?" The man inquired, then laughed out loud. "You actually look like a lost person to me. Are you looking for someone? A companion perhaps? No, I haven't sensed anyone like you... And even if you were looking for someone, you shouldn't look near an illegal ring."
Kaizen didn't know what to say. He felt trapped by the masked man's questions and had to think quickly to understand what exactly was going on. At that moment, flashbacks from the previous day entered his mind, more specifically, flashbacks from his conversation with the shaman.
If I remember correctly, the shaman said he could sense my "psyker aura" and warned me that Adohorn could sense the same thing. He didn't say anything about other people being able to feel it, though. .... Shit, that's not good for me, but it's the only explanation. Kaizen thought.
Kaizen looked to the side and noticed that other people in black robes were moving toward the exit of the arena, which meant that they had no intention of making it easy for him to leave.
The masked man continued to stare at Kaizen and said in a mocking tone:
"You have to escort me out of here without reacting or things will get pretty bad. Do you see all those people around us? They can all die in a matter of seconds if you think about doing something stupid."
Psyker knew that the masked man was serious and knew what would happen if he started a fight against a mage of unknown strength in the middle of this crowd.
However, Kaizen was more concerned with what would be beneficial in finding Alina at this moment.
There were two possible future scenarios if Kaizen followed the masked men's orders and accompanied them out of there.
The first would be that Kaizen would be taken to the Adohorn, not because he was Alina's friend, but because he was the Psyker. That was the least likely to happen, and if it didn't, then the second scenario he imagined would come into play.
In the second scenario, Kaizen would have to fight several of these masked men at once to try to get out of this place alive, and if that was the case, it was quite likely that Kaizen would die and thus the mission to save Alina would fail. Either way, in either scenario, Kaizen was screwed.
Determined to create a third chance to get out of this situation, Kaizen looked at the man in front of him with narrowed eyes, and the masked man seemed to understand exactly what the Psyker had decided.
The masked man took a step back and placed his hand on his waist to draw his wand, a kind of weapon for mages that amplifies the effects of spells, making them more powerful.
"Damn, you really want me to kill everyone he--"
Suddenly, the masked man stopped moving and stared at Kaizen for the last time, his eyes wide. Then blood began to drip from the sides of his mouth, and just then, Kaizen noticed that a curved blade had pierced his opponent's chest.
As the masked man fell to the ground, practically dead, the person who had killed him finally revealed himself to Kaizen. This person wore a hood that covered much of his face, but Kaizen knew that this person was no stranger, as their bright yellow eyes were something that still stuck in his mind. Those were the same eyes he had seen through the magic eye in the rented room at the tavern. Those were the eyes that had surprised him so much.
The mysterious figure looked directly at Kaizen, then behind him, and finally began to run.
Taking this as a sign, Kaizen looked behind him and saw that the masked mages were running towards him, pushing people in the crowd and throwing them away with their wands.
Yes, Psyker no longer had the option of trying to work with these people to get to Adohorn. All that remained was to follow the person who was helping him and find out exactly who this figure was and why he was after him.
...
Edited by: DrHitsuji
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