Volume 4 Chapter 92 – The Cosmos Arena (3)
[Translator – jhei]
[Proofreader – yukitokata]
Filled with love and fervor… And yet, the arena interior reflected the structure of a prison.
There were long, dark hallways with individual rooms squished together on either side. However, instead of a normal door similar to that used on a normal house, each room had a jail door.
The only difference the place had from a prison was that the competitors could enter and exit the rooms freely. Also, the guides—Cosmos’s underlings—were pretty nice.
“What’s this? There’s a fetus in this competition? Kuhaha, this year’s arena rumble is filled with children. C’mere. Let’s see… What the—Group 13? Oh, uh… And you beat the captain? This kid’s a special breed.”
Amazed, the guide scanned Jin.
“Kids these days don’t have any fear. There’s another kid who struck the captain, and if you two fought, it’d be fun to watch. Unfortunately, your groups are different.”
There was no need to ask who that kid was. On this deranged island, there wasn’t any other teenager aside from Dante Hairan.
“So, what room do I use?”
Jin asked with irritation, and the guide only shrugged in response.
“Wherever the fuck you want! Group 13 fights tomorrow, so if you’re bored, go watch the other groups. Shouldn’t you make some fun memories before you die?”
The guide definitely thought that Jin would die immediately. However, it wasn’t in a mocking tone, so Jin just walked past him and began to choose a room.
Clop, clop.
As he observed each room while walking slowly, he noticed that there was significant diversity within the rooms.
One room had someone sitting in the corner and muttering prayers, another had someone inspecting unidentified objects. Some competitors had already formed gangs and bantered amongst themselves.
In some aspects, it felt more barbaric than the Mamit Lawless Zone.
‘And that pirate named Cosmos… He’s not an easy fellow. I wonder why he’s marauding in this area.’
Jin shrugged and chose a room. He had been roaming the halls for about ten minutes, but there wasn’t any specific room that was cleaner or nicer. They were all old and dirty.
‘In fact, there aren’t enough rooms for all of the competitors. It seems that two or three people per room is the norm. It’s extremely obvious that they intentionally wanted to cram people in here, and I hate it.’
The Cosmos Arena was a scuffle in which killing was allowed even before the fight. The contest was more of a survival game than a regular scuffle.
Hence, they purposefully crammed the competitors into cramped rooms. They wanted them to fight whenever possible in the tight spaces.
And once one entered the competition, it was impossible to withdraw. Cosmos’s underlings guarded the entrance, and the other competitors would not let anyone escape so easily.
If someone were to make a poor attempt at escaping, the other competitors would turn the runaway into dead meat before the guards could even get to them.
That was the very reason why Cosmos thought that Jin would become shark food if he didn’t survive and the reason why the guide said that Jin will die anyways.
It was hard to expect a newbie to survive in such a savage environment. They thought that Jin’s chances of death were high even if he were a talented 4-star.
In order to survive the veiled enmity and rotten gimmicks, observation and experience was more important than pure fighting power. And to a pirate, that wasn’t something a young adult would have.
—You are mistaken. This competition is more dangerous than you think.
Jin remembered Kashimir’s words. After exploring the area, he finally understood what he meant.
‘Well, it’s an experience.’
In the middle of the long hallway, Jin pulled on a cell door.
Clack, creeaaaak…
The irritating sound of metal scraping against concrete echoed, and the three competitors inside the cell glared at Jin.
“Can’t you see that there are already three people in here? Fuck off to another room, kid.”
“Man, as much as this is a shitty contest, this is off the top. They let babies enter?”
“Why are you just standing there? Go away.”
The three guys were in their mid to late-twenties. Hearing their attitude and seeing their crooked posture, Jin concluded that they were just some irrelevant gangsters.
‘I wonder who said that punches were medicine for these kinds of people? I wonder… Was it an old master? Was it Elder Sister Mary?’
Thinking that he should still give them a chance before beating them up, Jin met eyes with each of them.
“Starting today, I’m using this room by myself. I will count to three. I’m sure that’s enough time for all three of you to walk out of this room?”
He didn’t have any intentions of sharing a room—not even in the slightest. If he left these people next to him, they could backstab him at any moment.
The hoodlums doubted their ears and blinked. .
“One. Two. Three.”
Bam! Crack! Thoom!
Two punches and one wrestling throw. All of which resulted in a fractured bone, shattered skull, and a dislocated shoulder, respectively. The thugs couldn’t even react to the quick attacks.
Following the painful cries were loud cheers echoing from the adjacent room. Jin put his hands on his hips, and the three scrambled out of the room without a single word.
Clean room: check.
But the real battle had just begun.
‘I’m certain that other people will attack me after seeing that I’m alone here… Well, so much for sleep.’
And his prediction was precise.
Not even ten minutes later, two contenders appeared.
“Hey, let’s share a room.”
They entered with bravado.
“Erk! Argh!”
Although it was adorable of them to get beat up and run away from him, Jin couldn’t forgive those who sprayed poison or fired a crossbow.
For those people, he cut off either all of their fingers or their entire hand. It would convey a better message to the other contenders rather than just killing them.
However, the most concerning type of people were the ones who just watched and then walked past.
‘They will definitely strike when they see the opportunity. Possibly when I’m busy dealing with the other guys and lowering my guard.’
He wasn’t scared, but more so they were getting on his nerves. Because he couldn’t use magic or spiritual energy.
‘It’s kinda pressuring that I have to use my sword in whatever situation I get into. Since I’m used to always utilizing all three of my strengths.’
Either that or he had his companions to rely on. And not so long ago, he had a necklace that would save him, no matter who he faced.
‘I can see why Father wanted to send me here. Fighting Dante is important, but it’s also to drag down my ego on my swordsmanship.’
So much time passed as he watched the entrance to his cell, with his senses heightened to the maximum.
Then, he heard the guide’s voice resounding from outside.
“Alright, alright. We’ll have the battles for groups 1 and 2! If you wanna watch, then get your asses to the audience seats. Oh, and I’m sure you know the audience seats is a murder-free area. Don’t do dumb shit. Or else… Well, you know the consequences, so watch your ass.”
Clank, clang!
The cells in the hallway began to open one by one. They were all heading over to watch the fights between the participants in groups 1 and 2.
And on top of that, since the area was murder-free, they could finally be at ease.
With that, there also seemed to be an implied rule; no one attacked another as they relocated to the seats. So Jin tried to naturally join the cramped line.
‘The guys who looked at me and walked past… If I were them, I would stab my target while we’re in that line. That would bring the highest chance of success.’
No matter how great Jin was, noticing a blade and dodging it was impossible when standing in the middle of a crowd.
However, not attacking while amongst the line was at most an ‘implied rule’.
He had read the rules on the back of the entry form dozens of times, but it had no mention of it. After all, it wasn’t one established by the host.
Of course, if anyone attacked Jin, then the surrounding people would glare at the attacker. However, they would rather thank the murderer for eliminating the arrogant kid who monopolized a room.
‘There’s nothing bad about going out late. I’ll leave after the hallway clears up.’
Which was the right decision.
The ones who glanced at Jin and walked past earlier were all part of the same group. They assumed that Jin was a 4-star and had plans to eliminate him.
They didn’t really have a reason to get rid of him. They just thought that he was the most enjoyable to kill amongst all of the other prey.
However, they could not execute their plan because of Jin’s quick thinking. Watching this, the guide muttered.
“I thought he was just a fearless child who just trusted his strength, but he’s also very intelligent. I can see why the boss stuck him against the stronger opponents.” 𝑖𝘦.𝑐ℴ𝘮
As the hallway cleared up, Jin silently left his room.
Getting closer to the arena, the screams and shouts grew clearer. Arriving in the audience seats, Jin silently stood to conceive the massive crowd.
‘Holy shit… This many people came to see this?’
Excluding the contenders, there were at least a thousand other spectators.
For a moment, Jin worried that there may be someone who would recognize his face, but he didn’t think that someone who went to a Runcandel banquet would come to such a dirty place.
‘Well, as for Dante Hairan, he probably entered knowing that not many people knew what he looked like and that his acquaintances will not attend this arena.’
Still, if he knew that there would be this many people, he would’ve focused on his disguise a little more.
Jin licked his lips and sat in a decent spot. He could hear the spectators’ voices.
They looked like upper-class Bellard Empire nobles who visited the arena annually.
“Hey, you heard the rumor?”
“What rumor?”
“There’s a rumor that a Runcandel provisional flag-bearer is attending this arena with a fake name.”
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Reaper Scans
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