arena
jerk- jerk-
The more I walked, the clearer I felt.
However, it was difficult to determine exactly what the many signs still gathered despite sharpening the blade.
Shenyang city, which is relatively in the middle of the big city, but seems too broken and too quiet.
There was no way that there were particularly many mutant creatures in this place. No, at least where Ha Yeon-woo’s eyes could reach, he didn’t even notice it, so it was safe to say that he wasn’t there.
This means that the stabilization of dealing with existing monsters and organizing mutant creatures is over.
‘In the first place, in China, I’ll get rid of the cubes so there won’t be any monsters.’
Whether it was an influx or not, there was no reason for monsters to prevail in this place right above North Korea.
If the situation was that serious, I wouldn’t have been caught in such an open mood.
The atmosphere was clearly out of place somewhere.
There were no people on the streets, there was no warmth anywhere in the city, and it felt like a ghost town except for one particularly lively place with hundreds of ‘something’.
from one to ten. It was an environment where you couldn’t help but feel a sense of alienation.
“Kill! Kill me!”
“Something like an idiot!”
“The next match… !”
Naturally, Ha Yeon-woo’s steps moved toward a huge building in the shape of an auditorium.
Because that place was the epicenter of hundreds of people who were caught by the wind, and it was the source of the noise that could be heard clearly the closer you got.
Beyond criticism, shouts that seemed to vehemently hate someone were the identity of the noise.
Not a few, not dozens, but hundreds of them were screaming in similar nuances, clearly pan-continental language.
I moved on without any hesitation.
Whatever it was, it was something you had to see with your own eyes.
The auditorium was bigger than expected.
If I had to express it, I should say that it feels like an indoor arena in a public playground that can comfortably accommodate a thousand people.
All kinds of smells, sounds, and vitality were transmitted to the senses that had been so sensitive.
Near the auditorium, which is quite assorted, not like a ghost town, as if the border has been drawn from the rest.
And the first thing I saw when I passed the buildings and was able to see the whole place.
“… human?”
At first glance, it was a fairly large number of people. Most of their eyes were on the auditorium, chatting with each other or talking to a supposed security guard.
Inside the building, the reaction was more than doubled.
All of them, seen with both eyes, are human. Contrary to what I felt in Gigam, everyone was in human form without error.
And usually Ha Yeon-woo believes in his own ability rather than what he sees with his own eyes.
‘Did he only wear a shell?’
A monster that is only human in its outer shell. Or, like a mutant life form, a new strain created according to a rapidly changing environment.
At this time, there was no other way to explain it.
Seeing them with my own eyes, they were clearly human, but the truth told by the completed ability rather touched me, and I moved my steps and approached the entrance.
The only area the crowds didn’t approach. As soon as Ha Yeon-woo stepped near the entrance of the building, sharp eyes immediately flew in and stuck.
“Are you strong? What is so clean?”
“I am not here to gamble. No dogs and no food to bet on.”
“Even if I hadn’t accidentally killed the guy I caught then, I’d be in there by now… .”
“There are rumors that they are slowly moving.”
“Of course it should. Because the seeds are dry around here.”
I quickly inferred this place within a few steps with the words targeting Ha Yeon-woo, or the information that popped out in the process.
‘arena. Or a gambling house. Or both.’
As soon as I stood in front of the enormous gatekeeper, short words came out. Naturally, the Pancontinental language.
“It’s a face I haven’t seen before.”
“Come from afar.”
“Where are you from?”
I lowered my eyes and looked up at the questioning giant for a moment, then nodded my head behind me.
“Downtown.”
“Lower neighborhood? then… Are you from Korea?”
“Any problem?”
The big guy, who looked up and down Ha Yeon-woo for a while, shook his head as if he was having fun.
“No, it’s the first time I’ve seen a guy come from there. I must have killed quite a few.”
I didn’t know what and how much he killed or why he was asking this question, but he quietly told me the truth.
“How hard is it to guess with your head?”
He must have felt Ha Yeon-woo’s words as a clumsy provocation, and he opened his thick mouth and smiled.
“Then are you a fighter?”
“Are there other options?”
As if asking twenty questions, he gave an appropriate answer. It didn’t matter if there was a problem right away, but moving quietly was the best way to get information.
It didn’t matter too much what was going on here.
It was important to determine who they were, what their goals were, and what kind of threat they might pose in the future.
The guard looked around as if looking for something, then shook his head.
“Seeing that you don’t have a dog, it must be. Go in.”
that extreme-
The iron door opened much easier than I thought.
I was allowed entry without any identification or proof of anything.
The huge iron door opened with an unpleasant sound, accompanied by an unpleasant smell, an unpleasant smell, and a loud voice.
“The smell kills.”
“I’m going to go hunting. That way you won’t even get into the plate.”
“Can’t you join as a fighter like that guy?”
“Arthur. I heard there are 5th tier Awakeners in the arena right now. i can’t win I don’t know if we’ll meet in real life.”
“but. Those fighters over there fight several times a day with those who have received grace like us… .”
that extreme-
Every word was information.
I listened to every small sound outside and looked inside only after the door was closed.
“Wow!”
“Kill!”
“Give me some f*cking strength!”
Scale beyond imagination. The true epicenter of the noise unfolded before Ha Yeon-woo’s eyes.
On the ceiling, a few clumsy day-white lights, as if powered by a simple generator, were shining like night silk, and the auditorium was largely divided into three areas.
The reason why there was a mad noise was because of what was happening in each area.
An old bloody smell similar to the smell of sulfur was mainly vibrating in those areas, and while there were humans roaming freely, there seemed to be hundreds of humans with their entire bodies restrained.
In a word, it was dirty, gloomy, and unpleasant.
“Now- 3 minutes before the start of the match!”
A sound heard in the nearest area. I was the first to step towards it.
Would a cage like this be necessary if Awakeners were to engage in mixed martial arts? The stadium welcomed him.
There were no flat, resilient mats, no nets to ensure the safety of the players, no poles surrounded by soft materials.
A huge cage made of solid iron only for scale and strength.
There were bloodstains everywhere that seemed to have no intention of being cleaned, and the metal was colored, and various weapons presumed to have been used dozens or hundreds of times by someone were scattered randomly on the floor.
Inside, two people who seemed to be players were standing end to end, and right next to them were two prisons like camps.
“Walk quickly!”
“Now- Cheong corner is this way! Red corner is this place! Dividend is determined by hierarchy! If you are caught writing a lie, you will be banned from entering for life!”
Imprisoned humans, who account for more than half of the auditorium’s staff, were violently pulled into each of the iron doors.
A few people who seemed to belong to this place were busy carrying ledgers, and someone looked at the condition of the humans in the prison.
By the time the process was finished, the words of the person who seemed to be the moderator rang out.
“One minute before the game!”
As he winked, some entered the cage and removed the restraints and eye patches from the two men standing there.
Half dead eyes. A haggard face, as if starved for days. Even so, the desire for life that is reflected at first glance.
That alone implied that their lives were pretty hard.
“start!”
With the moderator’s words, their aspirations appeared as murderous intentions to kill the other person.
The two of them watched quietly.
“Aren’t you going to fight soon?”
“Kill it!”
In response to the shouts of the onlookers, one person urgently picked up a weapon from the floor.
An old sword with a lot of rust, and the blood on the blade has already hardened, so I wonder if it will function properly.
The other one also looked around the floor, and similarly grabbed a sword that was about the length of the upper arm and took a stance.
“Hoo-wook… Whoop… .”
“sh*t, f*ck… I don’t want to die… !”
A tense momentary confrontation.
No matter who said it first, he started blowing mana into the sword.
Contrary to their pitiful appearance, mana rotated rapidly inside them, and soon after, mana began to dwell in the weapons each held.
Although weak, mana rides on the blade.
Both were Awoken on the edge of the third tier.
“Hmm… .”
From Ha Yeon-woo’s point of view, those two were clearly human.
The feeling you feel, the way you use mana. Each and every small gesture was telling us that he was a clear human being, to be precise, an awakened person.
Unlike those who look on in madness, people who are imprisoned like money in a bet are also of the same type.
Play with them like slaves, watch them fight. There was only one thing that came to mind.
‘It’s like a dog fighting arena.’
In addition, not only the hierarchical relationship between the owner and the dog, but also the species are clearly different.
Just like the ambiguous feeling of being human to the onlookers walking around freely.
‘Is a mutant enslaving and playing with humans? Then why did I mix so easily among them?’
Fuuk-
“Kreak… .”
“Huh… Heo-eok… .”
When I was organizing my thoughts based on the accumulated information, the winner of the finished cage was decided.
The one who picked up the sword first drove it into the opponent’s chest.
“Wow!”
“A bastard bastard. I can’t even attack properly and I’m running behind.”
“Everything is lost! Because of that bastard!”
It was quickly divided into those who cheered and those who cursed the dead Awoken.
Ha Yeon-woo turned around and headed to the other side, ignoring the reaction of the scene.
Because I still haven’t fully grasped the situation here.
The second of three zones.
Humans here were treated much better than the places he first passed.
If the aura I felt didn’t clearly tell me that I was human, I’d probably recognize them as the same type.
The body was unrestrained, not imprisoned, and water and simple food were prepared next to it.
It means that they are not treated like dogs.
However, the open wounds carved all over his body as if he had just finished fighting, and the way he ate food in a cage, were proof that he was on the same level as the gladiators.
Maybe the cage was a prison to him.
“Are there any challengers?”
At the words of the person who seemed to be in charge of society here, a large Russian-looking figure raised his hand.
“I will try.”
The giant, licking his lips, looked at the man who put down his food and silently prepared to fight, like tasty prey.
“The 5th rank? take a hit somewhere I’ll take out the intestines and make them my own food.”
“It sucks. Now, as long as I kill you, I am free.”
The scene where different races naturally communicate in the language of the pan continent reminded me of an illegal arena in the pan continent in the past.
After the nervous warfare ended, the moderator yelled loudly.
“A challenger has appeared! The game starts in 3 minutes!”
Amid the repeated shouts, Ha Yeon-woo casually spoke to the man standing next to him.
It was a middle-aged man who held a chain in his hand and sat down like a dog with a human whose eyes, hands, and feet were bound.
“Is there a prize if I participate there?”
The people here, whether slaves or their masters, are relatively untidy.
Maybe Ha Yeon-woo, who fell in love with all of them, felt strange, but the man looked up and down once and replied.
“Is this your first time here? You have been blessed, why don’t you know that? Of course, that fighter is the product.”
“projection? sorry i don’t know anything I wish I could explain.”
The man put on a disapproving expression for a moment, then nodded as if he was okay.
“Well, there are three minutes left before the game starts. To pass the time, I’ll explain briefly.”