The Arena God (III)

"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?" Seunghyuk provoked the Conqueror, but this time it only struck fear into him instead of anger, which Seunghyuk's snake of Ophiuchus took the chance to attack, making him scream out in desperation and pain, "Ahhhh! What's this snake! Get him off! Claw of the Bear! Claw of the Bear!"

Seunghyuk was able to break out of the Body Stunt "spell" the Conqueror casted. It was not really a spell, but an ancient skill to press in on certain acupressure points (to be exact the Shenque Point and/or the Qihai Point) to force the blood and energy flow inside one's body to stop and cause one to be stunt in movement due to lost of control of their body.

In order to overcome the acupressure point pressing, Seunghyuk's Snake Of Ophiuchus's poison worked together with Seunghyuk's fire element shaped in the form of needles, and with the method of "using poison to cure poison", the acupressure points are pressed in once again by the fire needles that acted like acupuncture needles, breaking the acupressure effects.

Seunghyuk shook both his hands at his sides, getting used to the familiar feeling of being able to control his hands, and he dashed forward and struck the Conqueror across his face with his flaming fist once again, sending him flying across the ground.

"De...Destructive Stomp!" The Conqueror suddenly yelled out as he stood up stomping the ground in front of him, forming a crack in the centre arena stage floor that spread out towards Seunghyuk, "O-ho-ho...cough...You got lucky, that's all!"

Seunghyuk almost laughed at the Conqueror's silly Santa Claus laughter that got intercepted by his own cough despite the immense seriousness of the situation he was in. The cracks lengthened quickly as it slowly reached the feet of Seunghyuk, making him jump forward to avoid falling through.

"You like playing games?" Seunghyuk asked the Conqueror again, but this time the Conqueror listened and swallowed a ball of saliva as Seunghyuk controlled the Snake of Ophiuchus with his fingers to attack the Conqueror, forcing out air-ripping screams, "AHHH! AHH! POISON! POISON!"

Seunghyuk willed the snake to do one last lethal bite, watching the limp and weak body of the Conqueror fall and drop to the ground, panting heavily like a lighthouse in the middle of the sea flashing a very bright and distinct indication; and in this case it is obvious that the Conqueror has given up.

"Beat him dead! Beat him dead!" Chants started to rise up slowly, starting from a single voice as it multiplied like bacteria reproduction to a whole arena-filled amount of voices chanting to torture the Conqueror, and Seunghyuk only gritted his teeth in anger as he activated the voice amplification gum that still had some effects left, shouting back to the rowdy crowd, "Shut up! He has fought, and he is down. There is no need for me to put him through the eighteen depths of hell!"

The crowd went silent for a good half a minute, but many voices started to rise from the crowd and slowly that whispering grew to furious shouts and objections thrown towards Seunghyuk, but Seunghyuk merely stayed calm and collected. Watching the judge lay back on his chair coolly, Seunghyuk realised that the judge was not going to interfere or do anything to settle the crowd down and so he took action.

"You were the one who shouted out in disagreement first, aren't you?" Seunghyuk summoned his Snake of Ophiuchus again as it dashed forward at impeccable speed until it stopped inches from the man's face, making him fall backwards in fright, "How would you like it if you were the one being defeated and everyone around you is shouting for me to behead you or beat the living hell out of you? Fun right? Shall I give it a go?"

The judge finally stopped watching the show silently and came forward to stop Seunghyuk from any further damage to the audiences, whether physically or mentally, as he begrudgingly announced, "The match of Jeoseung vs BeggarWrecker*, the winner is Jeoseung!"

*Once again, Jeoseung is Seunghyuk's nickname used for the arena and BeggarWrecker is the nickname used for the arena by the Conqueror (Haengjin) that Seunghyuk just defeated

"Your Snake Of Ophiuchus skill has been upgraded in mastery as it is used multiple times, currently one out of five stars."

"Misssion III: Tasting Glory 1 [COMPLETED]

Objective: Win a single match in Arena Might-Charger

Destination: Less than 1 kilometre away from current location

Rewards: Mask Of The Nighthowlers."

"Due to ??? Ring Of ??? being equipped, the Mask Of The Nighthowlers has been upgraded and you received the Nighthowler King's Mask:

1. Granting you authority over Nighthowlers and other related beings when worn

2. Granting you a skill, Nighthowling, that allows you to morph into a Nighthowler for 10 minutes at maximum at one go"

"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 (1 out of 5 stars)

Dancing With Fire (3 out of 5 stars)

Nighthowling (0 out of 5 stars)"

"Huh? Now I'm getting more and more curious about what Nighthowlers are..." Seunghyuk was not too surprised at the reward of the Nighthowler King's Mask, but he was curious about how powerful the Nighthowler species were, "System: Show me details about the Nighthowler."

"Monster Type: Beast

Species: Nighthowlers

Description: Nighthowlers are a special type of wolves that can shapeshift between humans and wolves, but the name "Nighthowlers" was due to the strongest howl sounded by the late King of Nighthowlers during 2038."

Seunghyuk was deep in thought at that moment, thinking about how being able to command a whole pack of Nighthowlers would feel like. Ever since he was binded to the System, Seunghyuk never once received something bad or awful from it, especially with his mysterious family ring that brought him benefits that no other Conqueror would have had received. It was a feeling that he would never get enough of feeling.

"Hyung! I mean... Seunghyuk! Good fight!" Jisung shouted up from above even before Seunghyuk has reached the top, and Seunghyuk just smiled under the wooden mask he was wearing while quickly dashing up the steps between audience seats in order to get to the top.

"Oh my god...Is that the Conqueror nicknamed Jeoseung? Don't know about his face but his body is hot!"

"I know right? Better stop me or I would pretend to trip in front of him and touch him already!"

Seunghyuk continued dashing up the steps, and hearing screams and squeals from many girls, (and even guys) Seunghyuk doubled his steps and skipped two steps at a time while running up, wanting to get himself out of the situation. Ever since Seunghyuk changed his body appearance and physique with the special System he had, Seunghyuk saw perfect abdominals lined up intricately on his stomach, and the strong feeling of amazement was like he had won the lottery.

Hence, it made a little sense why people would go head over heels for a body like that.

"Many people were charmed by you due to your irresistibility, and you gained the skill, Charm: Currently 0 out of 5 stars"

Seunghyuk took one last huge step and he reached the top, not exactly sure how he felt about that new skill "Charm", but now that he reached the top, seeing the smile spread out on Jisung's face instead of a pained sorrow, he was satisfied with whatever that he had done.

"You did it! And...You managed to rip your shirt again..." Jisung sighed as he continued on jokingly, "You know you could just ask and all of the girls down there in the audience would come with you."

Seunghyuk smiled and raised one eyebrow as if he was saying "are you serious" with his facial expressions. Jisung understood it well and cracked up laughing for a good ten seconds before going silent again, leaning against the fences once more while allowing the light wind to play around with his hair. It was a pure and pristine picture that Seunghyuk saw portrayed by Jisung, like an untainted wall still almost completely white even after going through nineteen years of bloodshed and ruthlessness of the world, remaining spotlessly clean and surprisingly unspoilt.

Seunghyuk really wanted to preserve that pureness in Jisung forever, but deep down he knew that it was impossible for someone to continue being pure without bits and bits of impurities from the ever-rusting world seeping in. It was a huge pity.

"Seunghyuk? Why are you staring at me like that?" Jisung asked all of a sudden as Seunghyuk was pulled out of his own thoughts and he replied, "Nothing much...I was just thinking about the next match for you."

"Yeah, I can't believe I'm fighting a Soldier's Rank as well," Jisung said and Seunghyuk felt a weird tug in his heart that made him feel bad all of a sudden, so he told Jisung softly, "Jisung, if you don't want to fight, you can just forfeit it. It's fine."

"No it's not! You fought your own battles and stood your ground! I want to be able to do so myself, and I'll make sure you watch me do it, hyung!" Jisung shouted out determined, not even knowing that he called Seunghyuk 'hyung' again.

Seunghyuk only smiled as he walked past Jisung from behind, delivering a slap to his back which Jisung shouted in pain while quickly rubbing his back.

Both Seunghyuk and Jisung then knew what the slap was for, and they know that whatever happens, they both have each other's backs.

*Seunghyuk's System stats