Arcadian Live

“And that’s all for our first sponsorship of the Administrator Dungeon Run!” Mikaela shouts, his voice echoing throughout the stadium as the crowd roars its approval. “And what a great sponsorship it was! I don’t think I’ve ever seen such expensive items sponsored in the very first sponsorship of the dungeon!”

Niklai – who had left Ruth’s screen to watch the sponsorship, along with many of the other commentators – nods his head in agreement and says, “Agreed. Most sponsors wait until later on, when they actually know that their effort won’t be wasted by the Competitor’s death.”

The host turns to look at him before focusing on the forerunner screen again as Wolf jumps down from the ice pillar to approach the system guardians. “You’re right about that, but I think this just goes to show how much importance the Administrators are placing in The Winter Wolf.”

Many of the gathered commentators nod their heads in agreement as the roars of the audience continue to fill the stadium. Meanwhile, Wolf pauses in place after asking the guardian to sign him up so that he can read the menu in front of him.

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

You have now been signed up for the default challenge and have been temporarily labeled a challenger!

Your challenge will occur in one minute.

If you willingly enter combat of any kind before your challenge, then you will automatically be disqualified from challenging this arena again.

At the same time, if another Competitor attacks you during this time within the arena grounds, they will be disqualified from challenging this arena again and dealt with accordingly by the guardians.

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

“Oh?” Mikaela mutters in surprise, “It looks like the matches on the fiftieth floor start much sooner than on the previous floors of the theme!”

One of the gathered commentators scratches his chin before asking, “But what happens if the current match doesn’t end before his is supposed to start?”

Many of the other commentators turn to look at him, meanwhile Mikaela just continues watching the screen as Wolf walks towards the arena to prepare himself for the match.

The crowd amongst the viewing room stadium begins to talk amongst themselves, muttering different possible ideas as to what might happen, but by the time the minute passes, most of the viewers turn silent to watch.

Right as the wait time finishes, the three monsters currently fighting in the arena pit suddenly disappear in a flash of light, and Wolf begins to float into the arena to take their place.

A smile graces Mikaela’s lips as he says, “That’s about what I was expecting.”

“Either that, or the monsters being sent out of the arena,” Niklai mutters, drawing Mikaela’s eye for a second before he returns his attention to the screen. At the same time, a lesser sphynx, along with three jackyl cultists.

To the surprise of the audience, both within the dungeon arena, and in the viewing room, Wolf raises his hand and sprays a beam of ice directly at the monsters before they can even land in the arena, freezing two of the three jackyl cultists alive in mid-air.

“Is that…” Katherine mutters with her brows furrowed in surprise, “allowed?”

Millions of viewers all focus their attention on the system guardian, only to reveal surprised expressions as the guardian does nothing and just continues to stare at the monsters still floating into the arena pit.

“It looks like it is,” Mikaela shouts with excitement as his smile turns into a grin, “and this display will probably get the other Competitors doing the same thing when they hear about this!”

A brief look of surprise flashes across Wolf’s face before he repeats the same thing against the last of the three jackyl cultists, finishing them off before they can even reach the pit and leaving the lesser sphynx on its own as it lands on the black sands below.

The sphynx looks at the frozen jackyls near it before roaring while turning to face Wolf. However, the creature’s distraction turned out to be a fatal error as Wolf can be seen shattering the distance between them in seconds and landing a punch directly into the sphynx’s front, in between its forelimbs’ shoulders. The creature is then sent flying for several meters before landing on its side in a slight daze. But the daze doesn’t last long before it tries to get up again, only to be sprayed by the same freezing water as the jackyls, freezing it and the black sand around it into one big clump.

Meanwhile, the audience within the stadium has gotten over their initial surprise and broken out into ground-shaking applause and cheers.

“The Winter Wolf is the best!!!” “Go Wolf!” “My prince!!” “That’s our prince!”

Mikaela’s raises an eyebrow slightly as some of the audience begins referring to Wolf as a prince before he begins to survey which viewers are saying it.

‘They’re all werewolves of various purities…’ Mikaela thinks to himself before grinning slightly, ‘interesting.’

He then turns back to look at the forerunner screen while thinking, ‘Very interesting.’

Wolf

I really didn’t expect that to work.

But on second thought, there never were any sort of rules stating that I couldn’t do that.

My thoughts are interrupted as another wave of monsters begins to float into the arena, including three sand elementals this time.

Well, this might not be so easy.

Just like with the last wave, I raise my hand towards the closest sand elemental and activate ice flow, blasting another pulse of freezing water at the sand elemental. However, unlike last time, the pulse just passes through them as the sand making up their bodies moves out of the way, causing the pulse to continue until it falls back down and hits the ground again.

Okay, well that’s annoying.

I focus on the elementals for a few seconds as they begin to land on the ground before narrowing my eyes at the glowing orange crystal in its body.

Another core, then? That should make things simpler.

I raise my hand again – except pointed directly at the core this time – before activating the skill and sending another pulse straight into the sand elemental. And unsurprisingly, the elemental attempts to dodge it this time instead of letting the sand move out of the way.

A thin smirk graces my lips as I move my arm to follow the sand elemental, causing the ice flow pulse to follow as well before it directly hits the core and freezes it, along with a large amount of the sand that was in the way, solid. I then sprint straight towards the monster, grab its now-frozen core in my hands, and tighten my grip, shattering the crystal and dissipating the elemental entirely.

As soon as the chime rings out in my head, I jump backwards.

Right as I land a meter away from where I was standing, a pulse of black sand directly hits it, releasing a thin smog of miasma in the process.

I frown at the sight before focusing on the two remaining sand elementals.

It’s unfortunate that they can manipulate the black sand, but I can still work with that. After all, from what I learned while watching the fights earlier, the sand isn’t easy for them to manipulate. Although I’m not sure if it’s because it’s a special type of sand, or if it’s just not easy for them to manipulate sand at all.

That said, I’m willing to bet that it’s the former.

Either way, it takes them a second to start moving the sand.

I sprint forwards again towards the two sand elementals with my claws out before slashing both my hands in the shape of an x, sending out ten arcs of ice towards them through the use of my Ice Claws skill.

Which, in hindsight, is probably the same type of skill that those jackyl cultists are using. Except for ice instead of poison.

The elementals – who were previously creating a few orbs of black sand – abandon their efforts to dodge it, only to be met with my resistance as I arrive in front of both of them right after they dodge the skill. I then reach both of my arms separately into their bodies before grabbing their cores and yanking them out.

As the elementals dissipate in front of me, I inspect the thin layer of ice covering my gauntlets before focusing on the guardian again after finding them without a scratch.

It’s a good thing the monsters that I’ve seen so far on this floor aren’t a high enough level to damage my-

My thoughts are interrupted as a loud thumping sound echoes throughout the arena, followed by another, and another. By the time I look towards the source of the noise – one of the dozen tunnels around the arena – I find some sort of enormous desert warrior entering the bleachers before jumping down to the pits and joining me. The thing is over three meters in height, with a large gladiatorial helmet, mid-thigh length armored shorts, and half a chest plate on. Underneath the armor, the creature is a skeleton, but for some reason, it’s bones have a strange tinge to them. They are all the normal white color of bones, but they also seem to have hints of orange and brown mixed in.

_-| Unnamed – Desert Watcher – Level 564 |-_

I stare at the thing for a few seconds as it climbs to its feet from its knees and lets out a large roar before muttering, “What…?”