Wolf

I quickly wipe my bloody claws on the jackyl’s armor before it vanishes into specks of light.

Three waves down, one more wave to go.

Sapphire screeches as the desert warrior corpse she was standing on suddenly vanishes and she falls the remaining foot or so to the ground.

I chuckle at the sight before looking up to see the last wave of combatants. After the last few seconds of the ‘break’ passes, a desert scorpion, along with two jackyls, and a fire jinn all begin to float down to the arena.

Oh? Both a fire jinn and a desert scorpion this time…

At first, my eyes focus entirely on the fire jinn, but my attention slowly shifts to the desert scorpion after I think about how I’m not actually using my ice right now anyways.

In this environment, the fire jinn just has the damage boost working towards it, seeing as I’m not using my eternal ice in the first place.

I continue to ignore the uncomfortable heat and sun as I watch the monsters gracefully land on the sand-covered arena grounds, only for them to rush towards me without any of said grace. The fire jinn flying through the air, about a meter above the ground as the fire making up its lower half lightly scorches the sand below it; the desert scorpion clasping its pincers open and shut as it rushes towards me at a speed that is difficult to believe when compared to its size, and its stinger raised threateningly above its body; and the jackyls, sprinting towards me whilst howling in a tone that irritates my ears.

Sapphire hisses before rushing over towards the scorpion, ignoring the other monsters as they continue making their way towards me. At the same time, I sprint straight towards them, meeting them halfway and rolling to avoid a wave of flames conjured by the fire jinn. I then get back to my feet and flank one of the two jackyls as they scramble to turn around and face me, my claws ripping straight through its flimsy leather armor to tear large claw marks through its flesh and sending it flying straight at the other one in the process.

The other jackyl – still surprised by my initial move – is knocked to the ground as the first jackyl lands face first on top of it with gray blood leaking out of the large gashes covering its back.

I quickly duck out of the way, narrowly avoiding another wave of flames as it passes straight over my head before I turn my eyes towards the fire jinn.

“That’s getting annoying,” I mutter whilst sprinting straight up to it and kicking it in the chest, sending it flying straight towards the wall at the end of the arena.

The creature coughs out a mouthful of red blood before falling to the ground, its fiery tail singeing the sand until it gets back up, albeit with some struggle.

I grin as I close the distance between us again, barely ducking below another wave of flames to arrive right in front of the fire jinn with my clawed hand penetrating straight through the creature’s chest, and my claws wrapping around the jinn’s heart.

“At least this floor will be useful to train my unarmed combat skill,” I mutter, my grin slowly beginning to fade as I rip out the fire jinn’s heart and turn around to face the jackyls – both of which had managed to get up from the ground. Although the one who I had sent flying seems to barely be able to stand up straight.

I turn my head to look at Sapphire as she fights head on against the scorpion without much trouble – both of them being almost the same size with Sapphire having patches of eternal ice as armor.

Deciding that she doesn’t need my help, I turn my focus back towards the two jackyls; one of which is already sprinting towards me with a rather angry look on its canine-like face, and the other who is still just struggling to stand up.

One of my brows raises in amusement as I wait for the jackyl to reach me, only for me to dodge its attack at the last minute, grab its attacking claw, twist it with a loud snap, and press its body to the ground. I then reach forwards with my other hand and clasp my claws around its neck before crushing it without a second thought and getting up again to face the other jackyl.

Who – of which – has a rather frightened look on its face as it stares at me with its wide, golden eyes.

I take a random knife out of my inventory before tossing it straight at the jackyl’s throat, killing it in an instant as I focus on Sapphire again.

Unsurprisingly, I find her trying to eat the desert scorpion’s dead corpse, only to hiss in anger as the corpse disappears into small sparks of light.

I chuckle at that before focusing on the guardian with a light shake of my head.

The guardian waits for a few seconds before slamming its staff into the ground three times and pointing its staff directly at me. After that, a shiny blue orb exits the end of the staff and shoots straight towards me, absorbing itself into my chest before I can even question what’s happening.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Congratulations!

You have completed the default challenge for arena 100J!

Thanks to this accomplishment, you may now enter the arena through the portal hub and attempt the star ranked challenge within the arena.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Right as I finish reading the menu floating in front of me, I find myself floating out of the arena grounds with Sapphire back into the bleachers amongst the loud roars of the audience.

“Oookay…” I mutter as my feet reach the ground again.

Despite the times I‘ve flown in the Arcadian Live viewing room, I’m still not used to flying. Or floating, I guess.

I turn my head to look at Sapphire, who had landed right next to me and immediately shrunk back down to her smaller form again, before looking back at the arena. Unsurprisingly, another set of contestants from the bleachers is already floating down into the arena grounds.

Now that I think about it… does the arena ever run out of combatants?

Or does the dungeon just spawn more in when it’s running low?

I shake my head at this and turn around to look towards the entrance that I originally came from, only to glance at the other entrance out of curiosity.

Might as well check it out before I leave to see the portal hub.

I glance at Sapphire as she makes herself comfortable on my shoulder before making my way through the crowded bleachers towards the uncrowded top area, and then towards the entrance. As I get closer to it, I find two more guardians standing guard at either side of the tunnel. When I peer further into the tunnel, I manage to make out a door at the other end. A fancy looking door.

“It doesn’t look like an exit, but it still looks rather fancy…” I mutter before coming to a stop in front of the guardians as they both stick their staffs out to block my path.

I stand still for a few seconds, expecting to see a menu appear, only to grow confused as nothing shows up.

Okay then…

I really want to see what’s past this point, but it would probably be for the best that I don’t piss off the guardians.

If I want to keep living that is.

And I do.

I turn around and begin making my way towards the first entrance, not stopping at all on my way there. Fortunately, the two guardians on this end don’t do anything as I make my way past.

Just what is beyond those two guardians back there anyways…?

I shake my head at the thought before walking through the short tunnel, admiring the large pillars to either side of it.

The infrastructure here looks really beautiful.

And it’s not as hot in the tunnel either since the sun isn’t beating directly against me or the sandstone around me.

I stop looking around as I reach the thing that looks like a teleport pad from some sort of video game. It has four crescent moons on four different corners of it, sticking out from the edge of the circular pad, with a light blue glow coming from the pad itself.

Time to check out what this teleport hub looks like.