The Pit (1)

Hearing all the talk around me I looked at the two monsters and wondered why everyone was so hyped about this battle.

From the right came a tall plant monster that has the upper body of a woman but the complete abdomen was a giant maw, dripping with whatever plant juice that was. Probably acid from the looks of it. She stood on 6 thick dark green vines that caries her slightly above ground. Her whole face was covered in leaves, like a helmet.

On the other side came a small cute mushroom creature that walks on 2 short legs. He had long white mushrooms on his head, mimicking hair, and a few cloth pieces that covers all of his important parts while leaving his chest bare, showing his white skin. His face was concealed with a wooden tribal mask that left his two big golden eyes for display. His only weapon was a crocked wooden staff that looked like it would break at any moment. But despite his poor equipment and small stature, he showed no fear.

The mushroom guy looked towards the crowd and waited for the signal, while the plant woman was already drooling over her opponent's core and flesh.

As soon as the sound of a bang sounded, the woman opened her giant maw spraying a wide carped of green acid, leaving no room to dodge.

What happened next blew my mind. The small guy taped his staff, turning the acid into harmless water that splashed on him. The crowd cheered and yelled like no tomorrow, but the small shroom guy wasn´t finished. Before the woman could make another attack, it was already over for her. A second shroom guy appeared behind the woman and tapped her with his finger.

His opponent stood there rooted, unmoving, like a statue, before she slowly fell into dust. Leaving only a lone light green magic crystal that dropped towards the floor.

There were no flashing lights, no magic circle, no chants... just a touch was enough for the little guy to erase the plant woman.

The crowd turned silent at the display of such an amazing... touch.

It took the people a few seconds to let the site sink in, but afterward, they broke out in shouts applauds, clanking, and cheering.

I was lucky that my hearing wasn´t that good because I am sure that I would have gone deaf by the noise they made. The shroom guy ignored all the cheering and picked up the core before disappearing again, but before he left the pit, he glanced toward me.

As our eyes met, I could feel a slight connection between us. I don´t know what it was, but it was like my soul was telling me that we would meet again. Quite a bizarre feeling.

I couldn´t dwell on it for long as the veiled girl ran up to me while shouting "You are up next Raas, I registered you, and with a bit of convincing you will be fighting for 3 times in a row!"

"Oh nice wor-... WAIT DID YOU SAY 3 TIMES IN A ROW! ARE YOU CRAZY? DO YOU WANT ME DEAD THAT DESPERATELY?!" shouted I at her, who was still dragging me towards a side door of the pit.

The spectators around us cast a few curious glances, while some already began making bets about me.

"Ah, don´t worry so much Raas. You will do just fine!" said the girl in a dismissing manner.

"Nooooo~" screamed I as I was dragged away by my tail.

...

Inside the preparation room, I could see many different kinds of monsters sitting there, tending to their wounds, sleeping, eating the remains, or cleaning their weapons. They are much more intimidating up close than from up there, but I am still bigger than most monsters here.

As I was slithering around, searching for a place till someone announces me, I saw the tiny shroom guy in a corner with his eyes closed and in the lotus position with his staff across his lap. When I slithered past him, a sudden voice was in my head. 'Dodge to the right, before attacking.' The voice was slightly distorted and in another language, but I could still understand it.

I stopped and looked back towards, the shroom guy, but he was still there, meditating.

I turned away and continued to search for a place while thinking about my mental health, 'am I getting crazy?'

After a minute I finally found a place to rest and get a last look at my status. Not long after a small bunch of vines in the form of a small girl approached me and asked, "Raas?"

"Yes?" asked I bewildered.

"You may go into the ring now." said the bundle of vines respectfully.

I looked down on her and smiled, "thanks for letting me know." said I while patting her head with my tail.

"Hope you will come back alive, Mr. Raas," sounded the soft voice of the girl behind me as I walked towards the entrance.

I took a deep breath and calmed my mind, before entering the ring. The bright light of the floating orbs made my eyes constrict, while I saw my opponent walking in.

"Oh shit..." mumbled I as I saw the monster coming out of the other side of the arena. A 3 meter tall bulky, insect monster. He was fully covered in shiny black carapace leaving only his joints unprotected. His face too was covered, while one pair of thick mandibles clacked intimidating. From the distance, I could see another pair of mandibles right under the thick one, but these were raiser thin and raiser sharp, as I would soon discover. But that was not all with his 4 arms he wielded a heavy two, well four-handed hammer, that already had some dried blood on it.

While waiting for the signal, I could already hear the crowd cheering for my opponent, while laughing at me, but out of them all the shouting I could hear the shouts of the veiled girl, "Goooo RAAS! KICK HIS ASS! YOU CAN DO IT!!!"

I couldn´t help but smile hearing her shouts, even if I am still mad at her for making me fight to the death against 3 monsters in a row.

*BANG*

The signal sounded and my heart raced, but my opponent wasn´t letting me calm down as he already swung his hammer at me. The attack was far quicker than I anticipated and in the split second, I remembered the words back in my head. "Dodge to the right, before attacking," said I under my breath while rolling towards the left. The hammer descended into the ground through huge dust could, covering our vision, but with the help of my Colorful Movement Sensing Eyes, I could still see his antennas moving around trying to find me but failed as I activated [Conceal] as soon as I dodged his attack. As my bite attacks wouldn´t work I decided to use blunt attacks and put as much momentum into my tail as possible, before slamming my poison-covered tail into his right kneecap, blowing his leg off.

He fell towards the side but could catch himself with his hammer, but I used this chance to take another swing.

*Ting*

"W- What!?" said I bewildered, as he caught my [Poison Whip] with two of his hands. I could feel his grip on my tail tighten as he flung me towards the wall.

I was just in time to activate my skill [Harden] before being thrown into the wall, but even with the skill it hurt like hell and did 30 damage. With a dizzy head, I raised my body and activated [Intimidation] while also doing a [Launch Attack].

My intimidation works as he was far slower swinging his hammer than before, and with only one leg it was hard for him to do anything. So I just charged right in and did a spin mid-flight slamming my poison coated tail right into his head denting his carapace in, but I didn´t get out unscathed as he opened his mandibles and took a bite out of me. Thanks to [Pain Resistance] being level 5 it only hurt like a small cut.

I decided to end this quickly and sprung towards his uncovered throat as soon as I hit the ground. With a quick bite, my fangs sank into his flesh and I poured a lethal dose of my venom into him. While backing off the insect monster back slapped me and stumbled backward before falling on his back foaming from his mouth.

*Ding*

[You killed a lesser Herculesbeetle!]

[You gained 213 exp!]

I rubbed my bruised cheek with my tail and looked at the dead opponent, "Wow that is the most exp I gained from a single kill so far, and it was a lesser variant... I wonder how strong the normal ones are...", but stopped and looked around remembering that I am still in the pit. Only now did the sound of the cheering crowd reach my ears. They were all cheering at me, and I could see the veiled girl jumping in joy.

I felt happy and slightly prideful as I slithered towards the dead monster. I slammed my tail hard against his chest a few times to crack his armor-like carapace and dug his monster core out. I held the core high up with my blood-covered tail and let out a loud hiss, which was far more intimidating than before my evolution.

"My first win in the pit was... exciting," said I as I saw them looking at me with disbelief and amazement.