Chapter 130

Chapter 130

The crowd cheered and I looked up from the book on the Order of Equinox. I was waiting behind one of the four gates that led out onto the arena floor. Through the bars I saw Raven land gracefully on the white sand as the decapitated head of a troll shed been fighting hit the ground. A spray of blood shot up the severed neckthe troll would not be regenerating from that one.

Two of the gates began to open even before the trolls five-meter-tall body collapsed. Something akin to the porters I had created on the biome floor walked out.

My gate began to open and Raven strode towards me basking in the cheers of the crowd. Once Vito heard about the arena, he began sending beasts he captured in Tehomal for us to fight. Kellnock was more than happy to arrange the fights since the death of the beasts would fuel the dungeon all the more.

From what I could tell, Kellnock and Vito got along quite well, and the steady stream of monsters Vito was sending up surely helped. Sometimes the monsters Vito sent were like this troll, much higher level than any of the three of us were, but weak to a particular skill set. This troll had been level 125, but its slow speed and dim mind made it easy pickings for someone like Raven. Vito would also sometimes send monsters that would be difficult for us to fight or would make us focus on a particular skill he wanted us to work on.

Vito kept up a steady stream of monsters, at least one for me, Maxwell, as well as Raven every day. Even without him in the dungeon with us, he was still a taskmaster. With each group of monsters came what amounted to homework for us to work on. Some of it was sent back, particularly the stuff he sent me on death magic.

It hadnt been bad at first, but after two weeks of nonstop curated matches and study, itd lost its charm. If it had just been fighting that wouldve been fine, it was fun enough, but his homework for me was frustrating and boring, though I could feel myself learning more about how to use my abilities.

Well done, I said to Raven as she entered the tunnel. What do you think hes got for me today?

Who knows? Raven smiled. Im sure it will be fun either way.

I tossed my book into my spatial storage bag and got up, offering my chair to Raven. Picking Mercy up from where it leaned against the wall, I strode out onto the sand. The gate began to close behind me immediately.

Already the porters were almost all the way out of the arena, dragging the corpse of the troll while a specialized minion smoothed the sand. There was a fair number of people now. Our constant fighting had drawn a crowd. We always did, considering the monsters we fought were unusual.

Next we have Ezekiel the lich versus a dread wolf spider, an announcers voice rang across the arena. These ambush predators stalk the tunnels of Tehomal striking down even the strongest of opponents with their lethal venom and blinding fast attack. These masters of illusion can hide themselves with their innate dark magic and move without making a sound.

Internally, I groaned. This one would be a pain. It would be a disadvantage since it had no good hiding places, but I doubted that would prevent its magic from concealing itself. I lowered Mercy, forming its blade into a heavy broad tip with a cross guard at the blades base, never taking my eyes off the opening tunnel.

Mercys blade was almost clear through the other side. I smiled and shoved the weapon farther. The blade fully came out the other side and I reshaped it. Wicked barbs grew out of the side of the blade.

Reshaping Mercy inside of something, much less another living creature, was basically impossible. But with the blade clear and free, that was a different matter.

The spider thrashed and tried to toss me off, and I almost lost my grip. A massive leg managed a glancing blow, nearly sending me flying. But my grip strength was nothing to scoff at.

Working myself around using Mercy as a lever, I planted both feet on its large body. With a roar, I yanked. The barbs caught on the chitin on the other side, and with a bit more pressure, they cracked the already weakened edges. As soon as I felt the tip fully enter inside of the wolf spider, I dropped my legs and hung by Mercy.

It screeched in pain and whipped around, the sudden force sending me flying. Briefly, the spider scrabbled at the shaft, trying to grab a hold of it, but it lacked the means to.

Enraged, knowing it was done for, it charged at me. All it wanted to do was take me with it. I reached out towards Mercy again. Instead of trying to pull it to me, I exerted control over it. I began to work the shaft outside of the spiders body around in a circle, causing the blade to spin on the inside.

Right before it made it to me, I hit something vital, and the spider stumbled. I dove through its legs once again and came up behind it. It was wary of the move and attempted to get around to me. But it was too late. I grabbed Mercy and leveraged it in a massive arc even as I started to withdraw it.

The barbs caught on the chitin. I pointed my hand and cast a simple spell. A blast of eldritch power hammered into the damaged joint. It wasnt enough to destroy the joint by itself, but it was already a compromised point. When I yanked Mercy once again, the joint broke.

Mercy ripped free in a stream of spider guts all tangled around the barbs. The leg was mostly detached, and the spider shuddered as putrid blood poured out of the wound. Even still, it struggled, the movements slowed and pained.

I snapped Mercy to one side, sending most of the viscera flying and reshaped it into a needle. I leapt onto its back. Looking down, its eyes stared up at me, sending a beam of death magic into me. I ignored it and buried Mercy in a spot directly between its eyes.

The blow hammered into the ground, blade driving into the sand. I leapt off, leaving the spider impaled. It wasnt dead. But it would be soon. Its legs thrashed, and slowly they ceased.

The crowd roared in approval. I felt just a little bit like a roman gladiator as I turned and headed back for the tunnel.