Chapter 88: Commentated Sport

Styx had revaluated his approach to dungeon challengers. In order to prevent the gradual decline of adventurers and mercenaries who had deemed the dungeon too dangerous to enter, he lowered the difficulty and increased rewards.

Treasure chests were hidden, especially behind challenge rooms that were opened and closed at random times, while retreating adventurers were given the chance to escape rather than being cornered and slaughtered.

The dungeon residents no longer participated unless it was to kill or capture the enemy. Styx had created hidden devices which recorded people's challenge on the dungeon and it was becoming a source of entertainment for the residents, especially the tiger beastman who were a more brutish race than the elves.

The scarce human residents felt complicated about it, but they soon adopted to the trend and even began betting pools in which people bet their labor or something of their own. Some even bet their love lives with one another and several new couples had formed from it.

Styx didn't care about monsters dying as they were easily replaced and this cycle of killing and replacing only increased his experience points faster. Even if he only killed 10 percent of challengers, that was still better than the supply of people drying up. As the dungeon expanded, people would also be able to explore deeper and spend more time uncovering the hidden secrets he created.

Two of the current viewers were Kristof and Mauve, the former a Second Step human, the other a Second Step female tiger beastman.

Kristof had been one of the selected people during Therina and Beatrice's combat test after evolving and Mauve was the other person selected. Mauve had agreed to be his partner in the dungeon and give birth to his children, a slightly swelling stomach displaying their rapid progress in that matter.

Ever since falling pregnant, Mauve had become increasingly possessive of Kristof and also refused any further sex until she gave birth.

"Mauve, let's bet on this one. If I win, you let me do you tonight."

Kristof clenched his fist in determination as the two sat in a large, bustling tavern for dinner in the middle of the town inside of the dungeon. Mauve leaned against him while purring, her tail waving in the air behind her.

"What is the bet?"

"Which will die."

"Hmm, okay, who do you think will die. If you lose though, you are massaging me for two hours later~"

"I think it will be the bow wielder in the vanguard, they always have weaker bodies and will be the first to go when there is nobody who can tank for the party."

"But the duke's son focuses on close combat and can protect the partly alongside the swordsman. He has skills for creating aggro too according to whispers."

"Styx will capture him, so it will definitely be the hunter."

Two dark elves sat on the stage in the tavern reserved for speakers or singers. This male and female pair had taken a liking to forming commentary on streamed dungeon raids, and many people came to this tavern to hear them commentate. The video had no sound after all, so having the two form accompanying speech brought a new level of atmosphere to the magic projection.

On the screen, Gabralter and the four adventurers entered the dungeon in a tight defensive formation, with the Hunter, Fire Mage, and Healer following up behind.

"Today's challengers are all humans, although that mage looks like he has some dwarf in him as they simply don't come that short!" Onyx, the male commentator began while Astrix, the female dark elf commentator, followed up.

"Introducing all of today's entrants, we have a swordsman with more confidence than he does skill, an archer using a longbow in the dungeon, a mage with stature issues, a healer that seems more interested in love than her life, and the famous duke's son, Gabralter! Who will walk away with fortune, and who will leave their dreams behind, let's find out!"

Whispers and laughter spread throughout the tavern as people made bets or discussed the dungeon raiders.

"They are coming up on their first challenge, a group of goblins lying in wait to ambush them."

"You have encountered an ambush by a group of goblins!"

"This wasn't even a challenge to the Second Step rankers, easily dispatching those monsters. But watch out, more are watching from a distance!"

"We can see in the distance, forest assassins, hordes of goblin mages and even some hobgoblins. There is even a nine-life firecat in the mix!"

"A nine-life firecat!? Fortune is not smiling on these adventurers, this monster can revive eight times, and will catch them unaware if they don't pay attention to that."

"Ohh, they have changed direction and have jumped off the grand bridgeway. Whilst they now have more room to move around, there are more locations for the monsters to ambush from."

"What do you think, Astrix, was this a good move?"

"I don't think so. It will be hard to retreat, while they don't have enough people to properly guard the rear members. Oh, look, they have encountered a group of nearly forty monsters. A large number of midnight guards, stone-tailed foxes and a couple of shadow leapers."

"They need to watch out for those shadow leapers. Even though they may all be Second Step rankers, the claws of shadow leapers are incredibly sharp and they can strike from anywhere, severing limbs or even heads."

"The ranger has engaged first! Releasing his subskills to destroy many midnight guards with arrows that are simply tearing through the battlefield!"

"Oh no, a shadow leaper has struck, bounding out of the archer's shadow and severing an arm! Our lord Styx isn't showing them any mercy!"

The watchers in the tavern roared in support at the bloody spectacle of the archers arm being severed on the screen. Without pause though, the human grabbed an arrow with his remaining arm and stabbed the shadow leaper in its ugly and twisted, black head.

"It appears the healer isn't much of a team player," Astrix called out in high energy. "She isn't even bothering to heal the ranger, focusing on the front line defenders. She is clearly trying to determine who is the best to be her future husband and bear her children. Who do you think it will be, Onyx?"

"I think she has her eyes set on our rising celebrity, Gabralter, but it is yet to be seen. She should know her limits and go for the swordsman or mage."

"That mage is too short for her, so it must be the swordsman."

The Fire Mage cast infernos of fire at the monsters, wiping out large swatches of them with his heavy firepower, while the swordsman and Gabralter focused on intercepting and preventing the monsters from reaching the rear line.

The commentators had focused on the healer and started painting a picture of her using this dungeon trip to find a husband, which was completely unrelated with the scene being played out. The crowd loved it nonetheless and even calling out their favorite pick for her husband. The final consensus seemed to settle on the one armed Huntsman for some reason.

"Our celebrity, Gabralter, is showing truly superb stricked with his gauntlets. Our monsters stand no chance, and even the stone-tailed foxes are being beaten back. The swordsman isn't to be outdone by far though. He may not have skill, but he certainly has strength!"

"Astrix, I think he should change that sword for a mace. It would suit him better."

"I couldn't agree more, Onyx. He would even capture that healer's heart with a mace. Should she still be uninterested in him, he could just club her over the head with it and drag her back to his home."

"He could do that with the flat of his sword though."

"What is he going to do with that? Slap her on the ass with it? That may be a good idea, actually, let's test it out later."

The crowd whistled and ordered more drinks as the dungeon raiders came out victorious from their encounter, the monsters either dead or retreating for healing.

The Huntsman's injuries were tended to while his severed arm was reattached with magic. It wasn't fully healed though, and he couldn't draw his bow at full force.

The group then headed over small arched bridges over rivers and explored the complex dungeon, wildlife had moved into the dungeon recently, so there were rabbits and boars around.

It was a developing ecosystem still evolving as all the food, flora and fauna in the dungeon had high mana content, which killed any animal that eat it. Only the animals which were able to adapt survived, and their numbers weren't very large yet.

"It looks like I'm going to win," Kristof said to his female tiger beastman partner with a lascivious smirk on his mouth.

"Hmph."

The two watched and listened to the commentary as the dungeon raiders entered a challenge room, a room with complex terrain that required balance and strategy to pass.

Two nine-life cats prowled the room while a small group of blood crystal bees flew around. The adventurers instantly knew this was a challenge room the moment they entered and were extremely excited.

Knowledge of the challenge rooms had spread through many adventurer circles and was still spreading. Everyone knew of the rich rewards that they could earn by clearing one. At least one treasure chest would be hidden in the room, and a sign as to where it was would occur when all the monsters were killed.

They fought valiantly, constantly moving to avoid the bees swarming them all at once while they fought off the nine-life cats.

The first time one of the giant 2 meter long cats was killed, the swordsman had let his guard down, which resulted in a deep gash across his thigh that led to blood spurting out and the crowd in the tavern cheering.

The female healer was sweating as she constantly cast healing and reinforcement spells on the party, doing her best to keep everyone alive. She was actually a married woman and was an adventurer pay for their living.

Whilst dangerous, being an adventurer was a very high paying job, and so long as one was smart, they could earn a good living by being one. Being a mercenary was safer due to high numbers, but earnings were split between more people and they often did contract work too.

As they were fighting, the Huntsman at the rear of the party was attacked by a nine-life cat that had revived once again. He raised his arm to catch the attack, but it was the one which was reattached not long ago.

His arm went limp from the strike while the feline monster struck like a snake and bit into his throat. Gabralter had jumped over an punched a large hole through the monsters neck, but it had already torn out the Huntsman's throat.

The man grabbed his throat and the Priestess did her best to heal the injury, but he bled out too fast and died on the spot.

No love was lost among the adventurers as they continued fighting the monster, nobody else dying but the Swordsman had been crippled and would take time to fully recover.

Styx had been watching all this and controlling things from the shadows. He had been tempted to capture Gabralter and use him as leverage against the duke, but he decided against it.

Whilst the agreement did not protect Gabralter if he was to invade Styx's dungeon, his home, he was currently more valuable alive than dead. His vendetta against Styx's dungeon led to him making more and more people aware of him, even bringing adventurers himself to the dungeon.

Unwittingly, the duke's son had actually been helping the dungeon in earning fame and experience points.

The wall of a stone house in the challenge room collapsed and revealed a plain, wooden chest. It appeared nondescript, but it actually had several magic engravings on it to hide it from locating skills. A high level ranker would have little trouble finding it, but the rewards weren't great enough to make them come to the dungeon.

Inside the dungeon were a pile of gold, gems, and several pieces of steel alloy armor with reinforcement arrays engraved on them.

They weren't overly valuable, but everyone seemed happy splitting the rewards before retreating due to losses.

One adventurer's corpse remained while the others went home with smiles. Gabralter was the only one displeased, as he had higher hopes, but he couldn't fight the dungeon alone while the remaining adventurers were adamant on returning with their spoils for the time being.

In the tavern, Kristof turned his head to look at Mauve with a giant grin on his face, the pregnant female tiger beastman's head still resting on his shoulder.

"It looks I won."

"Then come with me," She stood up and led him away back to their home, her tail wrapped around his wrist while she whispered in his ear. "I promise if the cubs come out with white fur, I will chop it off though."

Kristof paled slightly in fear of his manhood, but his libido which had been building up for the past month had made him feel like having sex was the greater priority at the moment, potential consequences be woe.

He knew that beastman children being born with white fur was an extreme rarity and had nothing to do with having sex while pregnant. It was purely a wives' superstition that spread through many beastman communities.