854 T.D.o.N.B: Stepping into the arena
– The moment I step into this circle – I pointed at the stone slabs. – He is going to rise from death, and transform. He is extra strong, extra fast, and will use the sword that lies next to him. But this is all quite ordinary. What’s different about this guy is the aura around him. As long as you stay in this aura, he feeds off your life force. You will get weaker, and he will get stronger. Flames don’t work on him at all. And getting founded only pisses him off more, and increases his overall power, so if you think you can tire him down, or chip away at his body, you are wrong.
– So you have to destroy him with a single attack? – Leonel asked.
– Pretty much – I confirmed. – I once cut his head halfway off, and he kept going. I also put a hole in his whole torso, which still didn’t stop him. But that was me, and I can pack a punch. For you, it might be impossible, as the guy is tougher than anything we fought here so far.
– Ok, we get it – said Tihana. – Don’t touch the guy until you are a monster yourself.
– Pretty much – I confirmed again.
Then, without announcing anything, I shadow walked next to the body, and punched down so hard, that the shockwave send my family flying, pushing the slabs of stone away and creating quite a big crater around the point of impact.
I picked up the crystal, then shadow walked back to my previous position.
– This is good enough – I told everybody with a smirk on my face.
– You could have warned us! – Celestine protested.
She was the only one who didn’t land on her ass since she was still flying on her metal wings.
– Yeah! – Tihana agreed to pick herself up from the ground a few meters away.
I didn’t argue but went around dumping some healing magic on people to make sure they were alright then shadow walked us back home. They all were somewhat angry with me for what I did, but I didn’t really care. For me the only important thing was that they understood how strong an attack had to be to get rid of that boss, so they wouldn’t foolishly pick a fight with him in the future.
Not really talking to me, then went immediately to sell the crystals I dropped for them on the ground.
It was quite a task since the pile was big, not only because of the size of the stones but also because of the number. I don’t really know how they dealt with that, since I went straight inside the house, to make some food.
This marked the beginning of my help, which lasted a few weeks. In this span of time Arc was flooded with additional people. A team that was supposed to create an infrastructure around the newly built arena, to broadcast the event. With them, a bunch of reporters from all around the world appeared.
I was persuaded by Will to change the barrier around the portal leading to the city, so there would be a way to directly transmit the data.
At that point, I didn’t really care, since the city was more than capable of protecting itself. I was actually very surprised that the thing was still there, somehow holding on. It survived aliens, including the real Ixa, which was impressive.
I kinda forgot that it was even out there…
Meanwhile, the rumors spread by Will took off, and the whole city was very agitated. It forced a change in the policy of how the hunting grounds were booked. Now if the people were part of the same organization they couldn’t get a spot if others from the same organization had already reserved a certain number of places.
It helped a bit, but the demand was the actual problem, so the whole situation turned only slightly in a more positive direction. The obvious solution to fix it for good was for the event to take place, so the public push for it started to take place.
This stopped the practice of delaying it, which was a great thing because there was always something popping up. So, just like this, the time has come, and the crowds started to gather around the arena.
It was a massive, egg-shaped building with a place for over a hundred thousand people. It was open because it never rained in Arc anyway.
In the center was a massive sandpit, surrounded by the strongest barriers people in the city could provide. Maybe I should use quotation mack there because it wasn’t me who made those barriers, so they weren’t actually the strongest.
This was due to the fact that neither myself nor Will were willing to get me involved in this thing more than it was required.
I was among the crowd with the members of my family, although the entrance we were using was reserved for participants and those who came with them. Inside a large room with several couches and a large TV on one of the walls were waiting for us. There was a small fridge with drinks and snacks, so we had a place to relax before our turn came to fight.
We had around an hour before the event started, and John was the first one to show his skills. This made him a bit nervous, but my daughter was there to make sure to keep him calm.
This was due to the fact that his father appeared to watch the duel, although he stayed away from us, hanging around Will. And also the fact that my previous provocation made a few changes to the approach of mister Wolf and his pals.
He wasn’t going to face some random idiot who was among the group that one by one submitted the challenges for the duel with him. Instead, he was to face Sung-Jin Park. One of the strongest mister Schwab had to offer.