The Arena

Chapter 18: The Arena

With that first day in a city, Mercury's journey had truly begun. It was the first step towards creating his own kingdom, but before he could do so, there were more things he needed to know, namely how one actually went about starting a kingdom. Yeah, he kinda missed that point, but he was sure of one thing: To start a kingdom he would need to have a lot of money.

Now, how could he get a lot of money as quickly as possible? Maybe as a farmer? No. As a merchant? It would be hard to put his companions to work there. No, his best bet, from his perspective, was to work as a godseeker, taking on commissions for monster-hunts, escorts and maybe attacks on other cities.

With that in mind, they thanked the innkeeper, who responded with a simple nod while serving another guest, a young man with short, blonde hair in a high-collared, blue robe and moments after, Mercury was back in the Alywick gloryhall, where the same receptionist as yesterday greeted them.

After a quick hello, the group turned their attention to the wall of commissions to the left, whose difficulty seemed to increase the further up one went. Naturally, Mercury read them from on top of Cherry's shoulder. It was just as Kintra had said yesterday, there were all kinds of tasks, from cleaning toilets to taking down entire cities and even a dragon. Well, on the other hand Mercury wasn't exactly suicidal, so he decided to pick one of the lower-end ones.

Then again, even some of those were challenging enough. The lowest ones were easy, of course, but going a little higher, the next tier was made up of population control missions. All of it was stuff like "Kill goblins" or "Kill striped boars", so most of it involved quite the amount of fighting. Of course, those weren't quite Mercury's style, and also didn't really pay that well, so he decided to search for one more suited.

In the end, Gladiator actually found a good one. He sucked in a breath of air, and Mercury could see the sparkle in his eyes as he whispered, "King? Come look at this." It was a commission that was labelled as "entertainment", but the details were a little more intriguing.

It was about fighting in something of a colosseum. It was actually not illegal at all, and with many of the people fighting in it being slaves trying to earn their freedom, it fit into a pretty common trope. You also weren't required to kill your enemy. It wasn't particularly frowned upon, but most people simply refrained from doing so, since there was no point in robbing someone of their future, at least not without extra pay.

Thus, the group made their way over to the arena with the directions provided on the commission sheet, leading them to a huge, circular building with two entrances, one with a stairway leading up , the other with a stairway leading down. Both of them had a booth in front of them and were labelled "viewers" and "entertainers".

Mercury approached the entertainer-booth with Cherry, who quickly placed down the commission sheet in front of the black-clothed man. They had settled on something before, too.

"Cherry Silvers. I would like to register as an entertainer with my beasts."

"You are a tamer then?", the man replied with a sly smile.

"Almost. Hunter, who dabbles in animal-friendship."

It wasn't really a lie, given that she had befriended Mercury, and it actually allowed the five of them to work as a team. In order to split the Exp they got, they had also formed a party beforehand, which meant that the Exp from any kill was split up equally among them, though Mercury would still get his small amount of bonus Exp if one of the wolves dealt the finishing blow.

"Alright, can I see that godseeker license of yours? E-Rank, huh. You sure about this?"

The man glanced up at Cherry from the stone and saw her nod, causing him to shrug.

"Alright, go right in. You'll find a sleeping facility, a cafeteria, a training facility and a board with any fights that still need an opponent. Just grab and rip the paper, that'll get you registered for it. As long as you are registered to participate in a fight, lodgings and food will be provided. Good luck."

And with that, they went on down the stairs, finding things exactly as the man had told them. At the end of the staircase, there was a notice board on the left wall, right before the hallway opened up into a larger room. There were additional exits on the main hall. Cafeteria to the left, dormitory to the right, and the training room, as well as the staircases to the arena proper, were straight ahead.

All of these rooms were chock-full of people.

Mercury didn't have a lot of problems figuring out the hierarchy either. Stronger people were allowed to pick on weaker ones, cutting in line and generally gaining benefits over them. Fights happening down here appeared to be a regular occurrence, given that he saw multiple machos duking it out. Some were even armwrestling to decide who got to go first. He could practically smell the testosterone.

What surprised him was the amount of different kinds of people. There were humans of all colours, sure, but there were both men and women of other races, too. He could quickly identify dwarves and what <Appraisal> called beastkin, and, after a few seconds of searching, he found elves as well. Heck, there was even a woman with white, feathery wings whom the system appraised to be a "celestial human".

As soon as they arrived, one of the burly men who wore practically only underwear and a sword approached them, bending down to be able to look Cherry in the face.

"Well," he said with a rough and condescending voice, "if it isn't a bit of new meat. What are ya, lass? A tamer? Too wimpy to fight on your own?"

As he talked Cherry scrunched up her face from his terrible breath, which was even more repulsive to Mercury. When the brute started to move a little closer, he could even feel Cherry flinch back a little.

Mercury wasn't brave. He considered himself a fairly ordinary guy, with a goal that was far beyond his reach, but he wanted to give it a shot just for the fun of it. He wasn't particularly interested in gaining power for the sake of gaining power, he wanted to gain power because he thought it might be fun to be admired a little.

He wasn't someone so special, heck, his most unique trait was maybe that he had a Shop in the system, and that he could talk. But there was one thing he couldn't stand for, regardless of whether he had power or not.

He would never ever let anyone make fun of his friends.

It didn't matter if they spit on him. He couldn't care less about being made fun of (except if it was something horrid like Mister Flufferbutts), and he didn't particularly care about the opinion of people he didn't care for. He could be insulted and talked down to, made fun off and ridiculed, but never would he ever let anyone dare to threaten his friends if he could do something about it.

It wasn't because he particularly wanted to protect their honour. It wasn't born from a sense of needing to protect those close to him. This came from a purely selfish decision.

He hated seeing his friends hurt. He hated seeing his friends insulted. He absolutely despised people who dared to make fun of those he valued highly.

Cherry was one of those people.

To Mercury the few sentences the brute in front of him had just said were worse than if that same guy had killed someone he didn't know. Because now he wasn't just a psychopath or a terrible person. Now it was personal.

"Gladiator?", he asked through gritted teeth.

"Yes, my king?"

"Let's fuck him up."

And the wolf replied with a big smile on his face as he saw his master not give any ground to the man in front of him.

"Gladly!"

And after a few blood-curdling screeches in a pathetic display of inferiority, Cherry "Bloodfang" Silvers scored her first victory in the arena without even lifting a finger, leaving behind a brute that had many more scars to boot.

It was the first chapter in a long series of victories she scored with her pack, and the first step to rising to the top of this underground establishment as the performance drew more than just a few glances.

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"Is lady Zeris prepared?", a man asked as he pulled his white gloves onto his hands in another location.

Somewhere far from that, a priestess was just getting up from having knelt on the floor and was finally letting a ring made from three interwoven strands of metal, one copper, one aluminum, one iron, slip out of her hands.

And in yet another location, a man looked at the sky as he licked his lips after a hearty meal, sitting on the corpse of what he had just devoured.

It was a vast world with many problems, but with a war now raging, many were seeing their chance to move.

The three people known as "Walking Disasters" were springing into action.

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After having beaten the shit out of a fighter, people were showing Cherry a little more respect. Mercury was a little annoyed that he wasn't recognized as the leader of the group, but while it bothered him, it also had its advantages.

With him being just another pet, people wouldn't pay much attention to him, which he would be able to exploit for surprise attacks. Additionally, cats sleep a lot. Using that, he could gather mana and mask it as "sleeping". Lastly, the man in the booth probably wouldn't have allowed Mercury to register as a single fighter with some pets if Cherry had been one of those, while this way around it wasn't a big deal.

Overall, this was a little bothersome, but necessary.

In any case, while Mercury and Gladiator beat the shit outta the guy who approached them, Juno had picked out a few fights they could choose. One was against a single mounted knight, one against some dude with a trident and the last one against two twins, a brother and a sister who focused on defense and attack respectively. Seems like she had ignored the fights against monsters on purpose or something.

Well, whatever. First they had to choose their booth anyways. Luckily, there was a separate place for pets to spend the night, so that they wouldn't attack anyone. This meant that Mercury didn't need to go through the awkwarness of a dormitory.

Before going to sleep there was a quick team building session on what fight to pick though; Juno and Mercury voted for the knight, Gladiator for trident-man, and Cherry and Second wanted to fight the twins. In the end, they settled on the mounted knight, since it should make it possible for Cherry to make effective use of her bow, and he would be near defenseless when his horse went down.

The fact that the fight was happening the very next day instead of a little later may have helped sway Gladiator.

Mercury stretched thoroughly when he woke up the next day. He quickly undid the latch on his cage before repeating the same on those of Juno, Gladiator and Second. It wasn't a big deal for someone with human intelligence, though the other arena animals seemed very surprised by this, at least the ones who were already up.

Mercury specifically went to sleep early in order to be able to do some warming up before the fight. That meant some physical stretches, such as running on the hamster wheel that was the appropriate size for him (there were actually even ones designed for things as large and heavy as elephants or something), stretching all his muscles out, doing some of the easier obstacle courses that had been prepared for pets and, of course, meditating to improve his control over his mana.

In short, it was a full-scale physical and mental preparation phase.

His companions also went through similar routines, putting in maybe even more effort than Mercury, though all with a different kind. Gladiator seemed to be ferociously sprinting through obstacle courses, his fur swaying in the wind as he kept improving his time.

Juno was taking a more reserved approach, focusing on each obstacle and repeating it with sharp motions after analyzing it for a while in addition to some "image training" or something. That's what Mercury thought when he saw her sitting with her eyes closed, at the very least.

Second was also doing things his own way, focusing on simple routines of running and training to use different attacks on the target dummies with a cold determination about him.

In a way, all of them were doing their best, which Mercury was more than happy to see.

Sadly, their warm-ups were cut short after about an hour or so, when Cherry came into the room to get them. The door to the chambers for animals was usually closed and locked, so as to prevent any of the beasts to leave and harm the contestants, with only tamers being given the keys. There were actually multiple doors made of thick steel, just to be exceedingly safe.

"You all set?" she asked.

"Sure am," Mercury said. "Let's go."

After a short confirmation of the plan, the five of them walked up the stairs to the arena, waiting in front of the massie iron gate blocking their way into the sandy grounds. It was probably about two hours or so past sunrise, which was a little bit of an unusual time for Mercury to be up, given that mopaaws were usually nocturnal, but he didn't much mind after having beaten his fatigue down with the warm-ups.

After just a few seconds of waiting, they heard the loud voice of the announcer, probably amplified by a spell or item of some sort, as he yelled out the contestants.

"Laaaaaaaadies and Gentlemen, slaves, workers and children, our dear spectators!! Today we are happy to welcome you to another spectacle of violence! It is time again for his royal self, the crowd favourite, sir Benks of castle Stern to make another appearance!! Today, he is approached by new challengers to the arena, a young tamer by the name of Cherry Silvers!! Will our fresh-blooded beauty be able to show off just how quick she is on her feet, or will she simply be trampled over by the sword-wielding Veteran?!! Now is your last time to place your your money where your mouth is, when the first blow hits, all bets are closed!!"

With all the explanation out of the way, the gates finally rose. As Mercury stepped out into the field he was first blinded by the sun in the sky, but his eyes soon adjusted and he could see the figure of a knight in full plate armour across the arena. The horse was also clad in quite a bit of iron, making its charge probably more similar in strength to that of a bull.

The knight on its back was carrying a large cavalry sword in one hand, probably prepared to mow his enemies down while passing them, and a shield in the other. The crimson feather on his helmet fluttered in the wind as he put his visor down and twirled the blade once.

For just a second the audience seemed to hold their breath and the entire pit was woven with silence, before, with a loud shout hte knight spurred his horse into a gallop while the group of animals around Cherry split up.

Gladiator and Second went to the right, while Mercury was quickly moving to the left on Juno's back - leaving Cherry the only one to face the knight's charge directly, with her bowstring drawn as far back as it would go.

The plan was simple. Cherry would act as bait for the knight, seeming like an easy, slow target. When the knight was focused on her, Gladiator would tackle the horse with all of his strength and bring it to the ground if he could, and stagger it if he couldn't. Second would use the chance to leap onto the knight and throw him down, or, at the very least, distract him.

Depending on the result, Juno would either try to pounce on the knight if he was on the ground or give Mercury a hand in getting to his face if he wasn't. In the second case, she would go for the horse's legs, trying to bring it down and stagger the knight.

In their opinion, Cherry actually had the hardest role. She needed to act as bait and pick a good moment to make her escape to the side, too early and the knight would be able to change direction, too late and she might get trampled. In addition, the plan pretty muched hinged on her being targeted, so she also had to act as though she was slower than she actually was to throw the knight off.

Luckily, their enemy was used to more normal combat. Seeing as familiars were usually beastial in nature, he wasn't expecting them to show precise movements, and honestly, the largest one of them charging straight at him only confirmed this notion. Seeing that, he decided to increase the speed of his horse further to break through and attack the tamer, which would immediately end the combat and have the animals restrained.

It was a plan aiming at a clean and fast finish.

It was also a plan that helped Mercury out tremendously.

As the knight sped up, a smile spread across Gladiator's face. This was it - the excitement of battle that he loved so much. Surprisingly, it wasn't dampened at all by the plan that they had set up, instead, Gladiator seemed to enjoy it a little more this way. Cheap shots, group tactics and outmaneuvering one's enemy were also parts of combat to be mastered after all.

So, when he saw the horse speed up, he changed his trajectory a little further to the right, gauging the distance he would still run before turning. The increased speed of the horse was actually handy for him, because this way it was galloping with all it had. There was no more room left to speed up in order to avoid him.

And thus, after a few more seconds of running, Gladiator leapt. He sprung into the air and turned around at the peak of his jump, bending his legs as he landed to absorb the shock, and jumping off the ground back into a sprint, aiming straight at the point where his trajectory and that of the horse would meet. And then, when time slowed down after a few seconds of running, he put strength into his legs one more time, leaping off the ground as hard as he could and crashing into the horse's armor with enough seemingly enough force to snap a small tree in half.

He took the horse off its legs, cleanly even, with more strength than most bears, before landing on top of it.

That very second, he could see Second fly over his head. His fur glistened in the sun, doing his title of "royal wolf" more than enough justice, but Gladiator cursed in his mind. The knight had reacted quickly and jumped up on the horse when it was taken down, so he wasn't trapped under it. In fact, he was more agile than he looked, landing with a roll to slow his momentum and already swinging his sword when he saw Second coming at his face.

Additionally, the horse was skidding across the ground, putting Gladiator out of range for now and forcing Cherry to sidestep if she didn't want her feet swept away, throwing off her aim.

Second barely managed to pull his leg out of the sword's way, but this still netted him a gash across the ribs, the dripping blood staining the sand red. It also fucked up his landing, and with the sand sticking to his wound the pain got quite a bit worse.

This also gave the knight the moment he needed to get back on his feet, which was unfortunate, but without a horse, his sword and shield were rather unwieldy. This slowed him down just enough for Juno and Mercury to sneak up behind him, with the former targeting the back of his knees with her claws and the latter using <Mana Veins> for just long enough to get some good damage in on the knight's sword-arm.

With their combined attacks, the knight was thrown off balance and face-first into the ground before being able to do serious damage to Second, and by the time this had happened, Gladiator was also back on top of the knight and Cherry had her shortsword at his neck.

"And the winner issssssss… CHERRY!! SILVEEEEEEERRRRSSSS!!!!" the announcer broadcasted, as the audience broke out largely into applause, with some of them grumbling due to lost bets.

With smiles and sighs of relief, everyone sheathed their weapons and claws, Cherry helping the knight back to his feet. His knees had been injured, but Juno was more focused on throwing him off balance than incapacitating him, so his tendons were unharmed and he was able to stand with a little support, though he might have been grimacing under that visor of his.

It was a solid victory for the newbies. They came up with a good plan and executed it. It wasn't anything fancy, but the crowd was able to appreciate the insight and prep they had done for this fight. Also, they clearly weren't the favourites, making the cheers even louder and their earnings higher, since the arena made more profit with this match.

It netted them a Pale. It was quite a bit, given that their match wasn't very high profile. Also, their lodgings and food was taken care of, so this was pure profit to use in their spare time, which was quite handy.

But sadly, Mercury was a little dissatisfied, so after the cheers died down and the team was back in the main hall downstairs, they sat together in the not-so-petting zoo to have a little discussion.

"Alright guys, we won our first match, which is good news, but let's still have a quick check-up. Second, you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine, Master. This is nothing but a scratch," the wolf said while looking at his now bandaged wound. The cut was shallow but fairly long, so it might deepen if he moved too much, meaning that he probably had to sit the next fight out.

"Good. Take care to rest enough to recover thoroughly before throwing yourself in the way of danger again. Remember, jumping makes you predictable, keep your feet on the floor and stay nimble."

After a quick nod from Second, he continued going on about things he only guessed about. Though he did think that his analysis was decent enough for an amateur.

"Personally, I think I could have done more. I just kinda didn't really help out much. Of course, the plan, sure, but in the fight itself, I think I need some more offense. Cherry?"

"Maybe you do, but honestly, I could have easily avoided the horse," she said with a sigh. "I saw it coming at me, but it was sliding on the ground, so it's not like it's path was unpredictable. I panicked and jumped to the side, taking my eyes off the target. I could have easily just sidestepped and kept my aim sharp, that way I could have used a blunt arrow to prevent Second from being hit."

Cherry was right in a way. She had little real combat experience, hunting was usually stealth based, after all, so she got hit by stage fright. In the uture, she would probably have to focus some more n keeping a cool head, but at least she was taking steps in the right direction.

Gladiator, on the other hand, might have had good battle sense, but he let his adrenaline got the better of him.

"I think I was too hot-headed," he said slowly while gathering his thoughts, "I ran at the horse too fast and tackled it with too much force, sending the knight flying. Less force and he would have been thrown off balance instead of launched, and he would have landed in a worse spot. It also screwed up my landing, so I couldn't bite him as much as I wanted to."

He really was a meat head. Nothing about how it put him in danger, only about how he didn't get to bite. A true fighter at heart. Second, on the other hand, hung his head in shame at his grave mistake.

"Had I stayed on the floor I could have easily avoided the blow," he said, his voice laden with regret. "I could have tackled him, or bit his shoulder, knocking the him off his feet instead of wasting a precious opportunity. I would have also made for better bait that way. I apologize sincerely for my failure as a guard, Master."

Second bowed his head after pointing out his flaws, showing humility and elegance at the same time. It was clear that he had given this topic some thought before, which was only logical with him being on the receiving end of an attack.

"No, I must apologize, my liege," Juno said while also bowing her head. "If only I had been faster-"

"Juno, we're not doing that," Mercury interrupted with a soft voice. "You should strive to improve yourself, but simply saying that you were too slow won't do any good. You didn't make a mistake, because your role was to pounce when the enemy was on the ground. You'd have had more room for error had the horse not fallen, but with how things went, you did perfectly fine. Your speed is something to work on, not to lament."

"Yes, my liege," Juno said, lowering her head a little further.

"You can lift your head up by the way," Mercury said hastily before addressing the group again. "I'm really happy with how this went, honestly. I didn't expect all of you to put this much thought into how to improve. This is a very welcome surprise. Well, our next match is coming up in three days, let's be ready when the time comes!"

And with that, the group split apart again, walking off in their own separate directions, unaware of the single curious glance being thrown at them from one of the other contestants.