The Tenth Floor's Colosseum (4)

He looked wide eyed at the broken blade, never expecting such a thing to happen.

But he soon came back to reality.

Suspended in the air, he discarded the part of the blade attached to the handle, swiftly reaching out to grasp the other end of the sword. Blood dripped from his hands as he tightly gripped the bare blade, yet he didn't falter.

Undeterred, he thrust his hand at the death knight's neck bones, clenching them with all his might.

Swinging the bare blade over his head, he planted it into the top of the monster's skull.

But it was far too thick.

He channelled all his arcane into the broken sword, pushing into the calvaria with every iota of power he could garner.

{A/N: Calvaria is the top most part of the skull}

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The dust cloud finally settled, revealing an unexpected scene.

The sight in front of the audience made them launch up from their seats in utter disbelief and shock.

Alone, Menace sat over the corpse of the lifeless Death Knight, a being who even they, as high levelled players, feared.

The masked man had his face towards the ground and hands over his knees, calmly exasperating.

For a few moments, the crowd didn't know how to react. They had never seen something like it before in their entire lives. A few of them turned to one another with bamboozled faces, while some of the others sat glued to their seats, not moving a single strand of their muscle.

But it wasn't long before all of the members of the audience launched up from their seats, raising their fists in the air, before erupting into loud cheers and praises.

WOOOAHHHHHH!!!!!

"A once in a century event!"

"No! Something like this happens once in a millenium!!"

"So what? If a big guild supported me during my climb then beating the nineteenth round wouldn't be too hard!"

"He was just lucky!"

Shouts, praises, curses, shock, despair, jealousy all filled the colosseum. In reality, nobody knew how to take in the event which had unfolded right in front of their very own eyes.

Amidst their cheers, the dark sky crackled, as a dozen tiny creatures appeared in front of the drones hovering in the sky, recording and streaming all of the colosseum's events.

The newly appeared creatures were small in size, barely larger than two basketballs put together. They were fluffy beings, with white fur all over their chubby bodies. Two long ears protruded from the top of their round heads which had tiny red beads for eyes.

Their bodies were covered by plain rags, torn in some places.

"Are you seeing this!" exclaimed one of the creatures in its shrill voice, staring into the drone's camera, flailing its tiny little hands around.

"A talent? No! He's much more than that!" shouted another one of the monsters, pointing at Menace, calmly sitting on the lifeless corpse.

The crowd was taken aback on seeing the tiny monsters appear. Just when they thought nothing could shock them more, something like this happened.

"W-what are the Daltokkis doing here?" questioned one of the audience members, looking up at the sky, filled with the furry monsters flying all around the battleground.

The Daltokki… Most players were fortunate enough to never encounter them in their climb of the Tower.

They were, in a sense, 'the eyes of the Tower', who live streamed almost every important event which took place in the Tower, to the beings who were far too powerful to visit the lower floors themselves.

Once a player had intrigued their interest, it was almost impossible for him to have anything resembling a 'private' life anymore.

Chatter, much, much louder than before, spread like wildfire in the stands as well as the sky, snatching away the calm and quiet which existed just minutes ago in the stadium.

It was only after a few more minutes of relentless roaring, that the crowd's excitement steadily died down.The trial's conductor now stood at the centre of the battlefield, just a few feet away from Nox.

He calmly clasped his hands, before ushering the audience members and the streamers to become quiet.

"An historical event?" he inquired, his voice booming throughout the colosseum, "I don't think so… This is much more than that!"

"As such…" he continued, "the price of your ticket has quadrupled. I urge you to completely pay the added amount before you leave!"

Before the crowd could question such an nonsensical order, Xangril, the trial's conductor said with great excitement, "Since something like this has never occurred in my time as a supervisor, I needed to consult the administrator before coming here."

He glanced at Menace, who had now stood back up on his legs and was facing him, calmly and attentively listening.

"It is with a heavy heart that I announce that," Xangril shouted, turning to the drones which flew high up in the air, "It is forbidden to display the twentieth round to any member of the audience."

"WHA-"

As soon as he finished his sentence and bowed down his head, walls of mist began to emerge from all sides of the battlefield forming a huge dome which soon covered the entire ground, shutting out the stands, the corner towers as well as the drones.

Xangril raised his head, before walking to the corner of the dome. Bending down, he buried his hand into the mud, pulling out a silver, metallic orb with a glass crystal attached at its centre.

"Kind sir, I apologise but it is not within my power to allow you to see this round," he apologised, respectfully bowing his head before crushing the orb with his bare hands.

"Very well then," he mumbled, dusting off the shards of crystals which had stuck to his hands, before turning to face Menace.

"I must warn you," he said, walking towards the masked man, and putting his hands behind his back, "uptill this round, you had the constant choice to abandon any round while still in the midst of it. But, once the next round begins, you either win or perish. Would you like to continue or abandon the trial here? Even if you choose to abandon now, the rewards you receive will be immense."

Sticking his hand into his inventory, Menace took out a small glass bottle, filled with some kind of a blue liquid.

*********

Standard Arcane Recovery Potion (B)

The arcane points recovered are random.

The maximum recoverable arcane points is 90.

Only upto 1 vial can be taken in 24 hours.

Cost: 3,500,000 Points

*********

It was an extremely expensive item, but considering that it had the ability to recover a player's lost arcane, it was quite useful.

[27 Points of arcane have been recovered!]

Unfortunately, luck wasn't on his side. Considering that he would face the toughest round yet, the minimal increase in arcane was barely enough.

But, he couldn't do anything about it now and had to unwillingly work with what he had. Even though he would have liked to rest a little, it was highly doubtful if the Tower would allow it.

Throwing the vial on the ground, he nodded.

"Very well then," mumbled Xangril, snapping his fingers.

[The Twentieth Round has begun!]

[Clear conditions: Survive against the trial's conductor for three minutes!]

"Although I can't use most of my power, I have been given strict instructions to not go easy on you," Xangril informed the masked man.

He calmly raised his arm at Nox, before mumbling something intangible and inaudible.

The tiny rocks on the ground slightly shook and within an instant, the entire battlefield began to violently tremble as huge cracks began to appear all over it.

Menace readied his arcane dagger and called out all nine of his shadow soldiers. The shield goblins took their positions in front of him, while the others took their positions behind him. Yong stood to his left, Kenichi stood to his right while Red— the giant bear — stood directly behind him, with Shane standing on top of it.

It wasn't long before the ground on either side of Xangril tore open, as two giant, long worms emerged from within the hole. The monsters had no eyes or ears. All they had was a huge mouth covering the entire front of their face, with massive, claw-like teeth sticking out in every corner of their mouth.

Their bodies had a pinkish tinge to them, but it was covered with the excessive amount of mud and dirt smeared all over it.

The two monsters screeched ear-piercingly loud, making the entire field shudder, before launching themselves at Menace, standing barely over fifty metres away from them.

"Formation Sai," mumbled Nox, bending his legs, and inclining his body forward.

The shadows of the four elite goblins, along with Red, darted towards the worm on the right while Shane, Kenichi and Yong sprinted towards the giant worm on their left.

Ambrose — the shadow magician — provided all of them with buffs, from the rear of the battlefield.

Xangril, standing on the other end of the battlefield, stretched his entire body, before crouching down and… disappearing.

{Author's Note: I Plan to do a Q&A section one reaching chapter One Hundred! Please do leave your questions below, no matter what they may be.}