Chapter 324 - 89: Warm-up

Passing through the glowing Star Gate on the platform, they finally entered the next floor: the eighteenth floor.

To their surprise, what lay beyond the eighteenth floor wasn’t another terrifying, massive maze, but a colossal Ancient Roman Arena.

The entire arena could hold over ten thousand spectators at once. The vast arena was packed to the rafters, with blurry shadows filling every seat, erupting in loud cheers for the spectacular performance from time to time.

A ten-meter-tall giant was wrestling an equally tall beast in the center of the arena. Both were terrifyingly huge, each one like a god from a classical oil painting, their muscles dense and solid.

Despite their immense size, their method of combat was wrestling. Their powerful, heavy-hitting attacks were like two mountains colliding, and every fall shook the surroundings like an earthquake.

Finally, the crocodile-headed Demon was slammed violently to the ground. Its opponent immediately rolled over, hooked its neck, and squeezed until it passed out from lack of oxygen.

Having defeated his opponent, the hero leaped to his feet, let out a roar like a landslide, and bowed amidst the surrounding cheers and applause.

Wiping the blood from his face, the giant finally noticed the players entering from the entrance below.

"One, two, three, four... This is the first time I’ve seen so many challengers! I’m so happy. I am the guardian here, Titan, one of the Four Heavenly Kings. Welcome!"

The giant let out a deafening laugh.

Then, his body shrank, his height finally stopping at two meters.

Even though he was smaller, the oppressive aura he exuded was still intense. The olive oil covering his body seemed to radiate Holy Light, giving him a healthy glow.

"Welcome, Adventurers. You must have suffered quite a bit to get here. Just look at you, all beaten into balls."

In contrast to his intimidating body, his facial features were quite delicate. With a face as pretty as a woman’s, he looked more like a girl.

After forcefully hugging every Slime, he walked happily onto the vast arena floor and announced to no one in particular, "Ladies and gentlemen, cheer! We finally have true challengers!"

A tsunami of cheers erupted. The spectators in the stands rose to their feet, welcoming the challengers’ arrival.

"This is a momentous occasion! From the moment of our creation, we have been waiting for this day. Come, it is time to test these people. And your test... is to defeat me."

He slammed his fists together. The immense pressure created a vortex over his knuckles, and the resulting gale nearly blew the players away.

Stepping aside, Titan pointed behind him and said, "That is the rest area for the eighteenth floor. You can rest there for a while."

"Alright."

Duan Fei agreed without hesitation and led his bewildered companions into the rest area, where he immediately began searching for the passage to the next floor.

But just as he started, he heard Titan shout from outside, "Don’t even think about looking for the entrance to the next floor. You can only advance after you defeat me."

"How can you be so outrageous!" Duan Fei shouted indignantly. "I am a man of honor and integrity! Why would I ever do something like that? This is slander!"

The people next to him squinted at Duan Fei and then took a step back, as if afraid he’d be struck by lightning.

Jinghong clutched her head and said helplessly, "I must have been blind."

A few minutes later, the prepared players left the rest area and stepped onto the arena floor.

Titan had changed into a suit of light Leather Armor. He held no weapons and faced the group bare-handed.

While warming up, he told the players, "The rules are simple: just defeat me. You can fight one-on-one, or you can all come at me at once. You may use weapons, but I will only fight bare-handed. If my shoulders touch the ground, you win."

"Sounds simple enough," Duan Fei said. "But you’re not going to pull any tricks, are you? Like, say, redefining the position of ’shoulders,’ or the concept of ’touching the ground’?"

"How can such a small body hold so many malicious thoughts?" Titan frowned in displeasure. "Enough with the nonsense. Don’t insult this sacred arena, alright?"

"Fine, let’s begin. Is Qian Wulu not online yet?"

The Shadow God shook his head helplessly. "My cousin probably pulled an all-nighter for three straight days and finally couldn’t take it anymore and went to sleep. But don’t worry, he should wake up eventually."

Duan Fei looked helplessly at the motionless Qian Wulu, feeling it was a bit of a shame.

He had previously tried to figure out Qian Wulu’s Profession and discovered it was something quite ordinary: Unemployed.

As for why "Unemployed" was even a Profession, Duan Fei could only marvel at the developers of Abyss. It was as if all the weirdness in the world amounted to nine shares, but the devs had somehow taken ten, putting everyone else in their debt for the last one.

The ultimate form of the "Unemployed" Profession had nothing special about it, which meant there had to be another reason for Qian Wulu’s incredible combat power—one he couldn’t figure out for now.

With their number one player absent, it was time for number two to step up.

Eight Desolates quickly rushed forward, shouting to the others, "I’ll test his strength first. Wait until I’m dead before you make a move."

Leaping forward, Eight Desolates crushed a gemstone between his teeth and summoned a massive amount of light from within his body.

The players who had made it to this floor had all ground their average Attributes to 45. Their power was far greater than when they were in human form, and the effects of some of their Skills were also more dazzling.

Countless rays of light burst from his body, shifting their trajectories in mid-air as they surged toward Titan, instantly submerging him in an ocean of light.

The rays of light crisscrossed over Titan’s body, while Eight Desolates himself transformed into light, charging at Titan along with his weapon and relentlessly scouring his flesh.

Titan protected his head with his hands, his arms charring from the intense heat of the light. And yet, a delighted smile appeared on his face.

"Are the kids these days really this strong?! Excellent, I love it! But you’re moving too fast. Slow down a bit!"

Reaching out, he snatched the light right out of the air and crushed it in his hand.

When he opened his hand, the strands of light had been crushed to dust. The acrid smell of burning filled the air, but he seemed completely unaware, continuing to reach out and crush the surrounding strands of light.

After more than ten minutes, he had crushed every last ubiquitous ray of light. Finally, he reached into the light itself, dragged Eight Desolates out, and smashed him to pieces on the ground.

Once Eight Desolates was finished, the wounds on Titan’s body began to slowly heal, releasing large plumes of white steam due to the rapid speed of his regeneration.

Stretching his body, he said with satisfaction, "That was a decent warm-up. Next."

Glancing at the shattered remains of Eight Desolates, which had already dissolved into a puddle of goo on the ground, Duan Fei said to Cuihua, "Cuihua, you’re up!"

Nodding silently, Cuihua picked up her Katsuo Stick and walked up to Titan.