Within an arena on the forty-first floor

A loud explosion echoes throughout the arena as soon as Crystal’s arrow strikes the desert scorpion’s head, blowing it up in the process while sending its body flying backwards towards the wall of the pit. The monsters filling the bleachers around her break into loud roars of approval as her bow vanishes again back into her inventory and she begins to float off of the ground towards the bleachers.

Meanwhile, the two Competitors amongst the thousands of monsters filling the audience watch on with frowns. One of the two has a long black cloak on, with two swords hanging by their hip, and a deep cowl protecting their pale skin from the sun. Meanwhile, the other one has a white cloak on, with her cowl pushed back off of her head, revealing her pointed ears, sharp fangs, and a full silver head of hair.

Crystal notices both of them standing near the entrance to the teleport pad tunnel and sends the dhampir a brief nod before approaching the siren with a light smile on her face. She is wearing a blue jacket over a similarly deep blue set of armor. The armor has streaks of white going throughout it, which contrasts against her raven-black hair as it flows in the wind along with the sand around the arena.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you again,” Crystal says after getting close enough for Ariana to hear over the roaring of the crowd.

Ariana turns slightly to look at Norbert as he begins to float into the arena for his own challenge before focusing on Crystal as she responds, “Same.”

Both of the two turn to watch the dhampir as he fights against his own desert scorpion for several seconds until Crystal finally asks, “Have you seen the anthrovespid?”

The siren turns to look at her for a second before shaking her head and turning back to the arena as she answers, “No, I haven’t. From what I have heard, it has been struggling pretty badly on the last theme.”

Crystal just nods her head with a pensive look on her face as she thinks about the Competitor, only to shake her head again and say, “Alright. I should go.” She then turns around and begins walking towards the teleport pad.

However, before she can reach the pad, Ariana shouts out to her, “At the rate we’re going, it looks like Wolf is going to be far ahead of us for the rest of the run. Are you just going to take that?”

The archer turns around in a flash with a look of surprise on her face. Before long, however, the surprise morphs into determination as she shouts back, “No. I will catch up to him.” She then turns back around again and steps onto the teleport pad without another word, leaving the siren behind with a faint smile on her face.

Ariana chuckles slightly while turning back to the arena and thinking, ‘Who would have thought someone could fall in love in a place like this.’

Wolf

“Okay, what the hell is this?” I mutter to no one in particular as I stare out from within the teleport hub at the sand sea surrounding me on all sides. The sea itself is full of nothing but pitch-black sand, with a very faint layer of black smog flowing across the surface of the sand – likely miasma.

I’ve read about instances like this before, where the dungeon has an extremely dangerous area set within it that is full of one particular element to the point of being deadly to those without a resistance or immunity to it. And about the rewards placed by the dungeon within these areas.

I just wasn’t expecting something like this so soon.

My brows furrow slightly as I stare out at the sands for a few seconds, only to relax again as I turn towards the grand totem.

It would be best if I stayed out of those seas. I highly doubt my 10% miasma resistance ring will help me very much in there, nor will it be very efficient – or safe – to walk around in a coffin of ice.

Not if I still want to breathe, that is.

And I need to level up a lot if I am to stand a chance against this floor’s boss.

Fourteen hours later

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I mutter after reading the full summary of every difference between a sponsorship floor and a normal floor.

Apparently, on a non-centurion boss sponsorship floor, the boss is thirty levels above the strongest monster in the floor. Not just twenty.

What’s more is that the floor itself will always have a hazardous zone, which is the unofficial name for the areas full of one particular element. Areas that are dangerous for anyone without a resistance or immunity to said element.

Like the sand sea on this floor.

The sponsorship floor will also have stronger average monsters, but I already knew that one from the first challenge I fought in on the floor, so it isn’t anything new to me at this point.

But what is new, and does bother me…

I raise my head again to look up at the large throne that had been revealed after I completed the nine-star ranked challenge for the arena I’m currently in. Sitting on the throne is some sort of enormous monster that looks eerily similar to the System Guardians, except even larger. It has a set of black and gold armor on, with a red cape behind it as it watches the current fight go on within the arena.

Not for the first time during the star ranked challenges, I decided to take a break in between the second to last and final challenges.

And low-and-behold, this is what I find when I originally looked up after arriving back in the bleachers again. High up on the wall surrounding the arena, the wall itself had shifted to reveal this monster staring straight down at the arena without moving an inch.

_-| Arc – Champion of the Desert – Level 630 |-_

After identifying the monster, I turn my attention to my own information sitting at the corner of my interface.

My Info:

Level: 572

EXP: 3026/57200

System Points: 216.20

Viewing Room Profits: 9213

I guess the large monsters roaming the sand seas do count for the boss’s level then…

My body tenses up slightly as the champion turns its head towards me, only to relax again as it refocuses on the battle currently ongoing in the arena pit.

Okay then… a change of plans it is.

I turn around and begin walking towards the teleport pad.

Time to continue challenging arenas until I am strong enough to deal with that thing.