The Arena God (II)

"Misssion III: Tasting Glory 1

Objective: Win a single match in Arena Might-Charger

Destination: Less than 1 kilometre away from current location

Rewards: Mask Of The Nighthowlers."

Seunghyuk proceeded on ahead, with Jisung dropping his thoughts and following behind Seunghyuk, and he asked the introducer, "So am I able to participate in a match immediately?"

"Yes, of course. Please tell me what you wish to be named," The man inquired and sparked some thought in Seunghyuk's head as he gave the question a good minute-long processing, "You can just use Jeoseung* and please arrange a match for me immediately."

*Jeoseung is a play on Seunghyuk's name's first word which means 'hell' or the 'underworld'

"Hyung..." Seunghyuk gave Jisung a "scary" look that reminded Jisung he was supposed to call Seunghyuk by his name and not 'hyung', "Ah...Seu..Seunghyuk...Why are you in such a hurry to fight? Shouldn't you familiarise with the rules first?"

Seunghyuk could not plainly tell Jisung that he wanted to get his hands on the Mask of The Nighthowlers as the mission's reward as that would shock him even more, so he just gave a plausible explanation, "I wanted to train myself in real fights rather than Battle Pod simulations as soon as possible. I need to increase my experience."

Jisung nodded, clearly convinced by Seunghyuk's excuse.

The metal door pressed shut together by two metal plates slowly separated as it opened up into a rowdy and noisy place with the audience cheering and jeering clamorously in their seats. The two Conquerors stood at the centre of the huge arena fighting space where a yellow-haired male Conqueror was seen conjuring a sponge out of his hands and throwing it towards the other dark blue-haired male Conqueror who got trapped by the weird sponge.

"That's an eye-opening match..." Jisung said with a shaky tone as his eyes fixated at the rowdiness of the audiences shouting to chop off one of the trapped blue-haired Conqueror's limbs, "Isn't this not allowed? Hey!"

Seunghyuk immediately put his hand over Jisung's mouth like an owner getting his puppy to stop barking as it was getting too much attention from the people around it. Seunghyuk went through the rules in his head once again, and Rule Number 3 states that no deaths are allowed, but there are no rules made to prohibit torture and intentional dealing of pain to a lost Conqueror, as long as their lives are not lost.

"Jisung...This is a harsh world. No rule stated that intentionally dealing of pain after one Conqueror's unable to fight back is not allowed," Seunghyuk told Jisung and Jisung went wide-eyed with dumb shock as he exclaimed, "But there's no way..."

Seunghyuk knew how Jisung felt but somehow he did not seem to feel that furious about the situation and his mind seemed to let the fact that "everything happening here is normal" kick in slowly. Seunghyuk would have felt annoyed and absolutely furious when he came across any topic of unfairness and imbalance in the past, but now, he just felt like everything happened because it was meant to happen. The cogwheels turned differently in Seunghyuk for once, and he knew something had changed parts of him slowly bit by bit but he could not wrap his head around what.

"Their match is almost complete, and the judge up there would not let the torture be dragged out too long, so you better prepare yourself against a Soldier's Rank Conqueror, " The introducer informed and Seunghyuk smiled over the thought of fighting someone one rank higher than he was.

*Beggar Rank being the lowest, then Soldier's Rank, Knight's Rank, Lord Rank and the highest Emperor's Rank

"Hyung...I mean, Seunghyuk! You're fighting someone a rank higher than you...just reject it!" Jisung cautioned but Seunghyuk was unfazed as he replied and attended to Jisung's worries while motioning to the introducer that he would accept the match, "Jisung, I know you're worried but a ranker's rank is only raised when winning matches so they do not reflect their actual stats. You have faith in me, right?"

Jisung's worried face dropped and got replaced with a slight pout, then he slapped Seunghyuk hard in the back which made him wince a little.

"What was that for!" Seunghyuk asked with slight irritation but Jisung only leaned against the fences, overlooking the whole arena from many feet above the ground as he let the strong winds play around with his free-moving hair, "Seunghyuk, you know I trust you. That slap, was to apply some heat to your back to always remind you that...I'll always have your back."

Seunghyuk could not help but twist his expression into a smile when hearing that, watching Jisung's purely pained expression when he watched the judge stop the match after the yellow-haired Conqueror had had his many rounds of fun by punching the teeth out of the trapped blue-haired Conqueror. Seunghyuk had a new resolution burn and imprinted into his heart, and that is to get rid of that expression scarred onto Jisung's face.

"Your match is about to begin, please hop onto the middle fighting space," The introducer informed as he handed Seunghyuk a poorly-made wooden mask, but that was expected for a Conqueror at the Beggar's Rank, "Well, I guess this mask will suffice."

Seunghyuk knew he would get a much better one from the system after winning a match so he made his way down to the ground level, eyeing the cheering Jisung located high up above the ground. Seunghyuk repositioned his mask to better suit his facial features, then hopped up onto the centre stage, coming face-to-face with another competing Conqueror with the same wooden mask Seunghyuk was wearing.

"Oh-ho-ho-ho! Looks like I'm going to use some of you little beggars to raise my rank again!" The Conqueror voiced out arrogantly, but it seemed to hype up the crowd greatly, bringing about cheers for himself and jeers for Seunghyuk.

"You're at the Soldier's Rank, one rank higher than me, but you're still wearing the same mask as me..." Seunghyuk pointed out, which seemed to successfully irritate the mad Conqueror booming with anger in front of Seunghyuk, but he continued, "The worst thing is your attitude. You're acting like an actual beggar, begging for the crowd's favour to fill the emptiness in your heart."

Seunghyuk's last few words flipped the switch and the Conqueror roared menacingly and dashed forward, launching three vertical claw marks that flew at the speed of a car towards Seunghyuk, which he used up two points of Mana to conjure a flaming arc, exploding the claws midair.

"System: Use Eye of Detection on the Conqueror and show me my own stats."

"Conqueror's Name: Kwon Haengjin (Male)

Conqueror's Level: 3

Strength: 14

Agility: 13

Defense: 17

MP: 12

Skills: Claws Of The Bear (2 out of 5 stars)

Body Stunt (2 out of 5 stars)

Head Bang (0 out of 5 stars)

Destructive Stomp (0 out of 5 stars)"

"Conqueror's Name: Choi Seunghyuk (Male) (Leader of Legendclad)

Conqueror's Level: 4

Strength: 17

Agility: 17

Defense: 17

MP: 17

Skills: Short-Fused Explosion (1 out of 5 stars)

Eye of Detection (1 out of 5 stars)

Heart of Cold Steel (2 out of 5 stars)

Ancient Language Comprehension (1 out of 5 stars)

Snake Of Ophiuchus (0 out of 5 stars)

Dancing With Fire (3 out of 5 stars)"

Seunghyuk suddenly broke out a smile which was hidden under the mask he was wearing, but he was happy that his opponent was weaker than him.

"Do you know where the name of the Beggar's Rank came from?" Seunghyuk asked out of the blue and the Conqueror did not bother to answer Seunghyuk's questions as he continued to charge towards Seunghyuk, using his Head Bang skill to knock onto Seunghyuk but Seunghyuk easily pushed his head backwards and continued, "A beggar...will make you BEG!"

Seunghyuk dashed out and conjured fire in his palms, releasing it in the form of pulses that bombarded the poor Conqueror stuck in the flurry of pulses painfully. Seunghyuk walked towards the Conqueror, waiting for the smoke produced by the relentless fire pulses to dissipate and expected a lying body, but a hand flew out of the smoke and grabbed onto Seunghyuk's hands.

Seunghyuk noticed the Conqueror's grip was weak, and he realised that he did injure the Conqueror. Seunghyuk smiled again under his mask as he tried to wriggle out of the weak grip, but his hands seemed to numb out and lose control.

"You can't get out, can you? Oh-ho-ho-ho!" The Conqueror provoked and Seunghyuk grunted silently with his brows knitted with annoyance as he shouted back, "Stop laughing like Christmas is here, it's merely October!"

Seunghyuk angered the Conqueror once again and it worked perfectly, the laughs he gained from the audiences fueled the wildfire burning in the Conqueror even further like adding a Mento into a spirited drink. Seunghyuk underestimated the Conqueror and forgotten that the Conqueror has yet to use his Body Stunt skill at two-star mastery. Seunghyuk's body felt weak all over like he was drugged, but his consciousness was perfectly alright, it just made him feel like pudding, one gentle cut from a weak dessert spoon and he could split into parts.

"Argh!" Seunghyuk grimaced in pain as the Conqueror used his Claw of The Bear skill to sent three claws towards Seunghyuk again, but this time hitting Seunghyuk right on the spot, sending him doubling backwards in pain.

"Hyung!"

Seunghyuk could hear Jisung's desperate shout from high above and far away, but Seunghyuk merely walked forward towards the Conqueror shouting, "Jeon Jisung! I told you not to call me 'hyung'!"

The Conqueror laughed out loud again seeing the drama unfold in front of him as he sent claws over claws that hit Seunghyuk once, twice, thrice and many times over in many different spots on Seunghyuk's body.

"Well, aren't you persistent?" The Conqueror mocked Seunghyuk but Seunghyuk suddenly dashed forward punching the Conqueror hard in the face with a flaming fist, "Ahhhh! How...How can you move!"

Seunghyuk's top shirt had been ripped to shreds by the Conqueror's many claw attacks, causing Seunghyuk's ripped shirt to fall apart. Seunghyuk casted the Snake Of Ophiuchus out and conjured two huge balls of fire in each fists, punching them together as red, hot flame pulsed out from his bare body all together.

"Hey...How about I'll let my snake and fists tell you the answer to that?"