225 Exploring the Arena

I decided not to reply, and simply waved my hand in a motion, which meant "Come at me". She didn't seem to like that gesture, and charged at me with her full speed. I still used my fists, but it was even harder to hit her now. She, on the other hand, was getting closer and closer to injuring me. Then suddenly, my new boots played a trick, and moved me towards her. 'Shit, this is bad. I have no control over it whatsoever!' I thought, as I slid towards her. She didn't think much of it, and chose to take that opportunity.

"Swoosh!". As her dagger slashed through my chest, I managed to regain the control, and jumped backwards. She didn't miss, but fortunately the set clothes I got, was much tougher than I expected. My coat only had a long mark from the Fox's slash, but it was not ripped or damaged, in any other way. 'Her attack didn't go through my coat whatsoever. I jumped backwards, but the attack connected anyway. Still, I have to give it to that little human, this set is not half bad' I thought. I then sprung back to my feet, and distanced myself from her attacks. 'This was close though. I think it's time to end this. I don't want to lose the contribution, I've gained so far' I thought, and used 100% of my strength.

I bent my knees slightly, then released all the built up strength. "BOOOM!". She didn't expect that kind of burst of speed. Even more so, since I had the Boost Formation placed on my boots. I punched out, while she tried to evade. Her efforts were futile at such speed. "Booom!"

She flew through the air, and landed outside of the platform. The announcer exclaimed "After a long battle, we have a winner! It's the Dark Traveller!", and the crowd cheered. I jumped down from the platform, and walked over to where Fox landed. She was quite hurt. I used a large portion of my strength, in order to punch. 'Probably some of her ribs are broken. She has difficulty breathing, which would suggest the broken bones. Besides that, she can't seem to stand up by herself' I thought. When she saw me standing in front of her, she asked weakly "What... do you... want? You... already won". I gave her two vials of Healing Essence, and left.

'I don't want her to recognise me. I don't want anyone, to know who I really am. There will be another time, we will meet. Perhaps in a more friendly environment' I thought. She could be considered, a friend of mine. She helped me out in need, and I had no bad feelings towards her. The medicine, would let her heal much faster. When I thought about friends, I realised that I had very few of them.

'Besides Crow, who I can consider as a friend. There is also Lazar and Harlin, and I guess she can be counted in that bunch too. Fox, is her name… Well then Fox, till we meet next time' I thought, and sat down on one of the chairs provided. As I sat there, I noticed some of her teammates coming over, and helping her up. When she showed the medicine to another woman in the group, the woman became excited, and talked with her about something. Then, they both looked my way, and nodded their heads while smiling. Well, the other woman was smiling, Fox was still wearing that mask.

'Weird bunch of people. It's just some medicine. Even though it's expensive in the North, humans should be more accustomed, to such grade of medicine. Anyway...' I thought, and gave it a rest. The talkative guy came over, and said "Nice job. You didn't even use your weapon. I just wonder, why did you allowed her to hit you?". I said "It was a mistake. She used that chance well, I give her that much". He didn't pester me anymore, while the announcer shouted "The next battle, will be between Olia and Fral!".

This time, the woman from our group, went to the platform. She was using a bow, as her weapon of choice. 'This is a good chance, to see how real archers battle' I thought, and watched with interest. Her opponent, was a Lizard. He had a dagger in each hand, which was quite typical of a Lizard. They liked daggers after all. I observed how she attacked, and positioned herself. After a while, I noticed a weird foot technique. The skill didn't vary much. It could be used for advancing, and for retreating. 'Interesting. Her footwork is so stable, she is able to keep a steady aim at her opponent, at all times' I thought, and tried to memorize the steps, as well as the movements.

It wasn't that profound, but I also wouldn't be able to imitate it straight away. 'When I get some time, I will practice that with my bow. I will need to figure out, whether this skill is going to be useful for me, or not' I thought. The battle soon ended, and the Lizard gave up. He had a very hard time getting closer, and she also injured him slightly. When she came down from the platform, the announcer shouted out the names of the next contenders, that would battle on the Battle Platform.

No one lost in the first round of the battles, besides the Atol called Apam. The Atol left when his wounds got better. He couldn't be challenged again after all. This meant, only six of us were left. After a short break, another round of battles began. This time, my opponent was a Lizard, and I took care of him without any issues. The others won their fights as well, and the third round started.

The announcer shouted "This will be the last round of the day. Can our warriors survive this round, or will some of them fall? We will soon find out!". The announcer started calling out the names left and right. One of the Lizards from our team, got an opponent who was quite strong. The Lizard lost in the end, and was eliminated.

Others managed to fight their way through. I had some hard time too, because my opponent in the third round, was a Golem. I had to make him leave the platform, in order to win. The Golem called Oval, was quite strong, but much slower than me. This allowed me to trick him, and kick him out of the platform. The announcer shouted for the last time, when the last battle ended "Today's matches will end here. Give our warriors some love, by cheering!" The crowd did as he instructed, then he continued "Come back tomorrow, for more carnage, blood and sweat! Find out, if any of the challengers will be triumphant, or will they all fall, at the feet of our warriors?". The crowd cheered again, then slowly dispersed.

The pig attendant called Cwik, came over, and said "I will take you to your quarters. Make sure you are prepared for the next day. Get some good rest, and keep on fighting!". We all followed Cwik, while he assigned a room to each of us. The rooms were located in a remote part of the Arena. When he assigned rooms to all of us, he left. On the other hand, the talkative guy Roland, came over to me and asked "Wanna go out for a drink?". I shook my head, and replied "I will rest early". He didn't seem to mind, and went out with the other two humans.

'I might not go for a drink, but I should have a look at the Arena. They may have something here, that I could use' I thought. I didn't go the same way as the others, and headed towards the opposite direction. The Arena was round, therefore it didn't matter whether I went left or right, I would still get back to the same place eventually. I visited couple shops and stalls on my way. The small time shops and stalls, had nothing of interest to me really. They mostly sold stuff like food, basic tools and some other trinkets.

I also found a shop that sold medicine, but it wasn't as good as mine. They charged quite a price for it as well. 'I guess that, when someone really needs it, they might not have the choice, and will buy it' I thought. The further I went, the better shops I encountered. I found a shop with weapons, clothes and whatnot. I browsed through them, but I didn't need a new weapon, nor new clothes. 'I could use some better arrows though' I thought.

The shop with weapons, had arrows as well. I asked for some good arrows, and the price seemed fine. The arrows I chose, costed 60 Red Hals per 100 arrows. The arrowheads were made from Purified Steel, which was not very bad, and the wood used for the shafts, was some sort of variation of oak wood. From what the owner said, the shafts were much harder, compared to normal oak, but at the same time, they were heavier. I told him "I will take 200 of these arrows then". The owner, who was a Lizard, nodded his head and replied "Of course. Is there anything else, you would like?". I shook my head, and took the arrows only.

I checked a few other shops, but didn't manage to find anything useful. I decided to head back, and get some rest. As I walked through the Arena's passage, I heard "Ah! It's that guy!", from behind me. 'How the hell did they find out?' I thought immediately, but my worries were unfounded. It was the woman who talked with Fox, after our fight. 'Haaah.. I almost got a heart attack back then' I thought. She was together with 3 other members in that team. The leader guy was there as well, but he didn't say anything.

She ran over, and said "You beat her up quite badly. At least you are a nice guy, and gave her some medicine. Don't think that you will have things easier though! Tomorrow, you might face one of us, and Fox is the new member in our team. The weakest one as well. This is just a heads up for you, as a thanks for the medicine". She said all that, in pretty much one breath. 'I didn't think, someone might beat that Roland guy, when it comes to talking' I thought.

The others joined in, while the leader guy asked "Did we meet somewhere?". I shrugged my shoulders, and turned around to leave. They knew my voice, so I didn't want to expose my disguise by answering. The leader guy was not very pleased, and I felt a dangerous Aura surrounding me. The Aura felt like, some kind of wild animal, was eyeing my back. I stopped, and released my own Aura, but restricted it to two metres in radius. They couldn't feel it, but his Aura was neutralised, and I went on my way.

My condensed Aura, was much more powerful, than his spread out Aura. That was why, I could easily neutralise his Aura. The woman seemed surprised, and shouted "Hey, wait…", but before she could finish, the leader guy said "Don't bother him. He is much stronger, than what he showed us today". She asked him for the reason and all that, but he just stood there quietly.

I didn't take it to my heart, and simply returned back to my own room. The room had a lock, but I still decided to stay in that mask. 'Someone may have a key, or try to spy on me. It's not uncomfortable in that mask anyway' I thought, and laid on the bed. 'Tomorrow, I might face that leader guy, or one of my teammates might face him. Either way, I'd like to see his full potential' I thought, and went to sleep.