Chapter 356

Chapter 356

The first fighter to walk forward is the friendly face of the shield, Max. From being on the verge of death less than an hour ago and completely exhausted, it looks like they healed him up nicely.

"You're more of a fighter than I thought... Are you from the Royal Guard? A country leader in disguise or something?"

He lets out a laugh, but I don't respond.

I'm very fatigued from the use of my Red Hydra's buff, and the majority of my energy is being used to scan the room and keep myself from limping or looking hurt in any way.The debut release of this chapter happened at Ñòv€l-B1n.

Max stands next to Sia, and Ace is close behind them. Far off in the back of the room, Mr. Wright talks with a few of the newer fighters, logging in their fight records and signing them up for future events. Monk stands by in the back of the room silently staring at me but doesn't move forward.

Sia speaks up as I take a step off the platform.

"You were really something out there, what's the trick? How'd you beat the 7th Stage? Monk will never tell us how he kills those things, you have to let us in on the secret."

I smirk inwardly beneath my mask, then finally respond.

"I'm not sure what the trick is either, I'd love to ask that man the same question."

I get some confused looks back, but that doesn't stop Ace from walking forward and putting out a hand.

"I didn't know you were such a skilled swordsman, I apologize for not introducing myself earlier."

I nod and shake his hand.

"No problem. Your speed and precision in the ring is some of the best sword technique I've seen myself as well. I'm impressed."

We release our grip, and Max interjects again.

"You know, we're going to get dinner in the gold district tonight, I'm sure you won more than enough to afford a nice meal." He chuckles. "Would you like to join us?"

I shrug and think to myself. Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea. Picking their brains and asking normal higher-tier city goers about the inner workings of this place could be exactly what I need to do right now. Every one of us has a platinum wristband after tonight.

Ace, Max, and Sia all start to slowly climb the stairs, but I turn my head around to still see Monk staring at me with a serious look on his face. It's not an intimidating gaze, it's more one of concern mixed with curiosity.

Once he sees me turn to look at him again, he begins walking over to me in a slow and calculated fashion.

The young bald man stops less than 2 meters from me and bows just like he did in the ring, then whispers under his breath in such a low tone that it's nearly impossible for me to hear him.

I boost my senses momentarily to make sure I understand what he says.

"Thank you for the help, you have set them free, 114 down, 886 to go. Be careful who you side with, even the strong can fall to its curse. This city is not what it seems."

At this, the man comes up from his bow and walks up the steps past the 3 other legacy fighters patiently waiting for enough time to pass after following in Mr. Wright's footsteps.

I myself am frozen in place trying to figure out what Monk possibly meant by those words.

It's clearly a warning relating to the opponent I just faced. 114 Ghouls defeated is the exact message I received for taking out one of the monsters, meaning he receives a similar message when defeating them too. The mention of a curse is related to the Lich King's curse on the monster's status, but how would he possibly know this without some kind of appraisal skill or seeing the buff on their own status?

I want to open my mouth to ask him more, but before I shake myself out from the slight daze, he's already left the ring and disappeared into the crowd.

Letting out a confused sigh, I wait on the steps wracking my brain for ideas before Max finally speaks to break the awkward silence.

"Alright, that's enough waiting, let's head to the golden gate and get some good food. I'm craving barbecue, how about all of you?"

There's two replies from Sia and Ace as they walk up the stairs to follow.

"Works for me."

"How about Elen's place? Can't go wrong there."

They all nod and agreement.

I follow close behind, pushing Monk's warning to the back of my mind and focus on extracting more information about this city itself during our upcoming dinner.