Undercard Match (2)

"Is he really a Greenhorn? Although he looks stiff and inexperienced at first, he beats two Wolves easily." Sitting at the platform dedicated to the big fish of Sloxvale City at the base of two sky-high pillars were seven individuals, wearing fancy silk robes and cloaks mainly blue in color.

At the far right were two relatively young people, a man and a woman that has similar faces.

Nobody can mistake them as anything but siblings, the number of similarities in their faces was hard to not guess them as siblings. The woman wears a long blue dress with a sleeveless tunic layered outside of the dress, she has pleasant facial features with long golden blond hair, blazing like the nemesis of the sun.

A silver tiara decorates her forehead, and a silver necklace rests on her stunning cleavage.

Without a doubt, she's a noblewoman from Sloxvale City, and she was the one that utters that doubtful question upon witnessing Ramero's feat. Defeating two Wolves Gladiators rather easily despite being a Dog Gladiator himself.

The woman's brother, wearing the same blue color tunic decorated with cloaks and furs frowns.

"For a Greenhorn, he has no hesitation in killing and doesn't seem to fear death, even in a dire situation when against Axe Maniac. His nickname is Noble Brat, yes? Is he actually from a noble family?" the brother commented, also feeling doubtful of Ramero being a Greenhorn.

Most of the time, a Greenhorn would survive by a stroke of luck in their first performance.

Only at later times that a Greenhorn can start to change for the better, after rigorous training and conditioning in their Gladiator School. But Ramero is different, he's already a monster for a Greenhorn that has no performance under his belt.

Glancing at the woman, the brother then asked, "Are you expecting him to win, sister?"

"One of the rewards of the favorite Gladiator from the undercard matches would be kissed by you, isn't that right? I think Noble Brat is going to be the one that gets that honor" he added with a teasing smile, trying to get a reaction from his sister.

But the woman scoffed, "There's still more left, and the real challenge is about to start"

Meanwhile, Ramero is holding Axe Maniac's head oblivious to the chattering of the siblings in the main seat. Out of everything, he was happy that he gained quite a decent amount of exp from killing Axe Maniac.

[1,000 Exp has been rewarded to the host for killing a normal warrior!]

'Axe Maniac and Sword Sting should be around the same strength, both of them have Wolf-shaped slave marks. If that's the case, then killing them gives me two times the amount of exp. When I beat Sword Sting, I gain 500 Exp but now I gain 1,000 Exp. From this alone, Nomos is clearly encouraging me to kill' Ramero thought after reading the notification.

Since the Spartan is a dedicated warrior, it makes sense for the system to do this.

Basically, the system tries to make Ramero get used to killing more, anyone that disrespects him needs to be killed. Although there are lines that Ramero wouldn't cross, as long as it's within those lines then he wouldn't mind killing.

If it's going to make him stronger and stronger, then there's no reason to not do it.

Ramero is not a hero of morality, if he did then he wouldn't go joined the special force back in his home world. There are some instances where the higher-ups told him to kill even though the terrorists surrendered.

As a subject to the cause, he would do it without hesitation just like he was trained to do.

With a flick of his hand, Ramero threw Axe Maniac's head into the water to feed little Draqua. Even a splash from little Draqua excites the crowd, and he wouldn't mind using this chance to gain the support of the crowd more.

Just as he was about to assess the arena once again, he realized that his sword is dented.

Due to blocking the powerful heavy slash from Axe Maniac, his short sword has become like this. 'Is there any sword or short sword around here? Some of the dead Gladiators should wield a sword' Ramero thought while looking around.

But then suddenly, sharp stings catches him off guard, two arrows stabbed his shoulder and leg.

"Arghh!" Ramero grunted, he got sneak attacked.

Glancing at the perpetrator he can see a lean Gladiator holding a bow in his hands, this Gladiator wears a helmet with a blue plume protruding above it. 'I thought bows are not allowed, it doesn't excite the crowd as much if a Gladiator was killed by an arrow' Ramero thought.

It was precisely because of that he was caught off guard by the arrows.

Ramero grabs the arrows penetrating his body before he breaks their wooden bodies, he wouldn't pull them out if he intends to survive and not bleed and gets weaker by the second. But as he recovered, he saw the Gladiator lowers his bow and takes out a sword.

From the looks of it, he knows that arrows are not desirable so he intends to only hurt not kill.

But as they were about to advance, a loud horn resounded throughout the arena.

Upon hearing this Ramero was confused as to what that horn meant, he then looks to the walls of the arena and finds some of the blocks got pulled inside. 'What's happening?' he thought in confusion.

Searching for an answer from the other Gladiators, he saw the other Gladiators scurrying away.

The other Gladiator saw a shield on the ground and quickly dashes for it, and this makes Ramero holds up his shield while looking at the holes in the wall warily. True enough, arrows started being fired at the arena from those holes in the wall.

It was some kind of event to make the match interesting, the Rain of Arrows.

Ramero raises up his shield blocking the first wave of the arrow, he looks at the three arrows stabbing his shield and finds the head has a purple substance smeared on them. 'Poison?! Surely it can't get any worse than this?!'

As if the arena heard his thought, the hole started moving left and right randomly.

'Damn it, I jinxed myself!' Ramero shouted inside his head, the holes are moving and each fired an arrow at the same time. It wouldn't take long before his shield is rendered useless due to the arrows that are crowding the surface already.

Searching for a way to get away from the arrows, he finds that he can't.

There's no safe spot from the arrows and the Gladiators are basically forced to defend themselves every time the holes shoot arrows at them. Just then his eyes caught the tiger beast in the middle, 'Now that I remember that there's that beast, how can it dodge the arrows if it's chained to the pillar?'

With a steel chain wrapping around its neck, the beast wouldn't be able to dodge the arrow.

Ramero waited for the next arrow to inspect the beast, and when the next wave of the arrow comes he blocked it while his eyes widened seeing that the beast practically has tough skin and doesn't need to dodge the arrow.

All it needs to do is curl its body to make sure none of the arrows hits its eyes.

'Can I use that beast as a cover...? No, that won't do, it would probably kill me if I get too close' Ramero thought before his attention shifted elsewhere. Stopping his eyes at a fight, he saw Laughing Butcher riddled with wounds.

Laughing Butcher got hit by the arrows from the holes, and his expression is pale because of that.

But remembering the fact that the arrows from the holes are covered in poison, it's natural for him to be this pale. 'He won't survive at this rate, should I help him?' Ramero deliberates silently, he knows that death is imminent for Laughing Butcher.

Aside from the arrows, he's also fighting a Gladiator that doesn't seem to have a weapon in hand.

Since this Gladiator is quite covered in armor aside from his exposed abdomen, this Gladiator only needs to watch out against the arrows heading toward his torso. Other than that, he practically ignored the arrows.

[Side Quest - Comrade in Need]

Laughing Butcher is the host's comrade that taught the ways of the sword. A brother in battle is as important as the host's life! Save Laughing Butcher from the grasp of death by the hands of his opponent that awaits him to repay the lesson he has taught.

Quest reward: 5,000 Exp and 5,000 Points.

With the side quest initiated, Ramero decided that he would help. But he can't be obvious about it.

Pondering for a second he started to count the gap between the wave of arrows, it should be a fixed gap and he would utilize it so that he can help Laughing Butcher. '1... 2... 3...' Ramero started counting inside his head and wait for the next arrows.

At this point, his shield is almost full of arrows and wouldn't last long.

If he wanted to do something then the next gap would be the perfect time to move. '8 seconds!' Ramero counted as he blocked the arrows heading toward him, he then dropped his shield and sprinted to the Gladiator fighting Laughing Butcher.

Despite the distance between them, Ramero believed that he would be able to reach them.

Grabbing another sword on the ground along his sprint, he moved his legs quickly across the arena aiming for the Gladiator that just kicked Laughing Butcher away and send him trashed on the ground.

Upon seeing this, Ramero's eyes glisten fiercely, 'Perfect timing!'

Ramero has no Gladiators aiming at him, the Gladiator with the bow scurries away in search of a shield due to the arrows. So if he decided to be aggressive and search for a new opponent, the bare-handed Gladiator is a perfect match.

Even though he intends to save Laughing Butcher, the crowd doesn't seem to notice it.

'7 seconds...!' Ramero counted inside his head before he jumped right at the Gladiator, he reached the Gladiator right on time. Raising the two swords in his hands, he swung down powerfully intending to take the Gladiator's attention away from Laughing Butcher.

But when his swords are about to connect, his eyes widened seeing something shocking.

Noticing that Ramero was lunging right at him, the Gladiator puts both of his hands on his back before a subtle glow appears. Ramero's eyes almost popped out of their sockets when he saw two blue astral sabers pulled out of thin air.

Clang!

Using the two sabers, the Gladiator parried Ramero's swords and lock in a power struggle.

"What in the world...?" Ramero mutters while sucking in a cold breath.

The Gladiator smiled when he heard the light surprise mutter coming from Ramero's mouth, "Don't be mistaken, Greenhorn. I'm fully armed..." he said cheekily, boasting the astral sabers that slowly retain a physical form of a light blue saber.

Despite the surprise, Ramero still counted inside his head and the next wave of arrows came.

Swoosh!

As if Ramero and the Gladiator with the two light blue sabers are in sync, both of them turn around and parried the arrows heading towards them with a swing of their weapons. It was almost like they move in a union, and their sharp blades creates sharp cutting sounds as they pierces the wind.

"It seems you are a little bit overconfident after your wins, Greenhorn" the Gladiator mutters.

Exposing an intensified murderous intent through the holes in his helmet, the Gladiator's demeanor instantly changed into a fierce one. Slowly turning back, the fierce glint inside the Gladiator's eyes was seen through his helmet.

For a second there, Ramero thought that the Gladiator's eyes glowed red but it must be a mistake.

'Just what is that light blue saber, where did he take it out from? And most importantly, I think this Gladiator is different compared to the rest' Ramero thought with a frown, he can feel that this Gladiator is way stronger than the ones he had fought.

But then the announcer exclaimed in fire, seeing Ramero engaging against the Gladiator.

"Our new rising hero, Noble Brat has challenged the dominator of the arena, Soul Hunter! It seems Noble Brat wanted a piece of the Gladiator that has already taken down five Gladiators from the School of Tyranny with ease!!"

Upon hearing the announcer, Ramero's body froze for a moment.

'Wait a minute, he already killed five...?'