Penalty Zone

Alessia's voice calling out to him echoed in the darkness of his consciousness.

Upon failing to do the Side-Quest which now basically turned into a Daily Quest, he was given a penalty by the system by sending him into the penalty zone. It's his first time, and he doesn't know what to expect.

But turns out he got knocked out when the time indicates exactly midnight.

'Where am I...? I can feel my limbs responding to me, but I can't see anything here' Ramero thought with a frown, he know that he retain his physical body as he can feel that he was standing right now. It's just the entire place is shrouded by darkness.

Nothing can be seen, even his own hands can't be seen by his eyes.

Soon enough he saw a couple of red flares appearing around him, the flares are like shooting stars that levitates and surround him in a circle. Counting mentally, he finds that there are five red flares floating idly in the void.

Even though there's light, he still couldn't see his own body which is trippy and weird.

[Welcome to the penalty zone!]

[Difficulty has been adjusted to the Infant Rank!]

[Failing the Side-Quest shows the host's lack of discipline and is needed to be punished, a Spartan's value would be worth nothing without discipline. The host would need to endure the punishment for one hour before being permitted to wake up]

Upon reading the messages, Ramero feels his heart thump faster.

'No matter how light the punishment is, I think an hour is too much...' Ramero thought.

But as he thought of that, the system harshly replied.

[Complaining would not result well, the punishment time limit has been increased to two hours!]

[1:59:56]

Ramero cursed himself when he read this, but this is unavoidable since the system can read his mind. It's unfair to him, a thought can't be the same as actually complaining but then again he has no say in this.

Looking at the red flares around him, each started to glow brighter a little bit.

Soon enough the red flares become longer and expand under his gaze, it didn't take long before those five red flares take the shape of humanoid form, the form of a young boy no older than ten as they are quite short.

It's hard to describe what he's seeing right now, but the red flares seem to have come alive.

With a body that is completely red and see-through, having no facial features aside from dull red eyes, these red flares that have taken young boy-shaped are akin to astral projections that are made of nothing but foreign energy.

But the squint of their eyes showed that they are not just regular boys.

Not stopping at that these five red astral projections slowly manifest a different weapon in their hands, each astral projection has a different weapon in hand. One is holding a spear, a short sword, a shield, battle gloves, and a stick.

'Don't tell me that this is what I think it is...' Ramero thought wryly.

Ramero stands at the center as the five red astral projections are inching closer to him, they each have their own battle stances that look refined and should only be possessed by an expert in fighting.

Looking at them, he already knows that this is definitely a beatdown.

Although this is the penalty zone in which he would be punished for not finishing the Side-Quest, the system said that he only needs to endure the punishment for two hours. Ramero decided to do that, but he was not going to let himself get beaten willingly.

With his battle intent riled up, his body trembled in excitement.

'The one with the spear is going to be the most annoying, I need to take that one down first before sweeping the rest' Ramero thought, forming a plan before the battle started. But as soon as he thought of that, his eyes widened completely.

Swoosh!

Faster than his eyes can see, the five astral projections disappeared from their spots.

Upon realizing this Ramero wanted to defend himself from their attacks but his eyes widened when the astral projection with battle gloves appeared right in front of his face, their faces are inches away apart.

'It got this close so fast! These are not young damn kids!' Ramero shouted inside his head.

Bam!

"Haarrghh!" Ramero's body curved backward when a punch drill his stomach fiercely, the punch doesn't know knocked out the air inside his lungs but also instantly draws blood from his mouth which is shocking.

Ramero gritted his teeth as this is way out of his expectation, 'They are inhumanly strong too!'

Not even letting him a moment to recover from that powerful punch, the other astral projections came from the other side and body-slammed him with a shield. It feels like the bones in his body cracked from that as he got flung away.

But this feels worst as he can't see his body, he can only feel the pain of being hit.

As he was crashing away and rolling on the ground he tries to stand back up forcefully, it was the fighting spirit inside of him that moved his body in such a way to sustain that powerful hit. Surprisingly, he managed to stand his ground.

Slowly a smile appeared on his face, but that little celebration didn't last long.

"Huh...?" Ramero tilted his head seeing an object flying at him with blazing-fast speed, he can only try to decipher the object and not react to it. Soon he realized that it was a spear, and he got hit right in the chest.

Stab!

Due to the spear stabbing his chest, blood sprayed everywhere and he can see it.

Like a highlighted object inside this dark and empty space, he can see his blood spraying to the ground. Ramero can feel the insurmountable amount of pain that hits him like a truck from having his chest stabbed through.

It feels like he was about to die, but he didn't. Ramero can feel nothing but pain.

Despite losing liters of blood from being stabbed by the spear, he doesn't feel dizzy and blurry from the loss of blood. It was unnatural, he still feel very much refreshed aside from the brutal pain in his chest.

'I-I should've died from this, the spear should have already destroyed my heart...' Ramero thought.

But although he can clearly feel his heart shattered from getting hit by the spear, he didn't feel like dying. Only the torturing pain seeped into him, paralyzing him completely as he slowly falls to the ground.

Ramero can't move, and he saw the five astral projections advancing without any mercy.

Just then it suddenly hits him, he now realized that this is the punishment. With tensed muscles, trying his hardest to endure the pain he realized that the punishment by the system is being beaten without the option of death.

No matter how much he got beaten in this empty and dark void, he will not die.

[1:57:02...]

It's a realization that brings him clarity and fear at the same time, Ramero looks at the red astral projections with a hint of fear, 'I still believe that an hour of light punishment is gruesome, but two hours of this kind of punishment is straight up hell itself!'

'Not even three minutes have passed and I'm already paralyzed!' he screamed inside his head.

Soon the empty and dark void is only filled with the scream and grunt of a single individual, the scream and grunt were filled with intense agony as the red astral projections keep on hammering him with all kinds of attacks.

If not for his strong mind, he would've gone insane during his punishment.

As if to make matters worst, the time limit was increased once again by an hour due to his complaining about the punishment inside his head. Ramero spends his torturous time in this fabricated hell place where even a glimpse of mercy was not shown.

~

Meanwhile, Alessia was surprised to see Ramero suddenly falling unconscious.

They were supposed to go out this night just like Ramero asked earlier, but that turns out for the worst as he suddenly passed out like this. With great difficulty, she lifted his body and lay him on the bed gently.

Out of worry, she quickly gets out and calls a healer to the room to check on Ramero's condition.

Surprisingly the healer told her that Ramero is in good condition, there was no sign of sickness or lingering spell that can cause him to pass out like this. From the healer's perspective, he's simply in a sleeping state.

Alessia tries to tell the healer that she saw him pass out, but the healer is fixed on his answer.

It's been more than two hours since the healer left the room stating that Ramero is simply sleeping. During that time, Alessia was worried and her eyes are wide awake without any hint of sleepiness despite the night getting late.

But who could blame her when Ramero is grunting and wailing in his sleep while sweating?

Ramero seems to be experiencing a terrifying nightmare as he occasionally screamed in pain, the scream was filled with anguish. It's like he's being tortured in his dream, and that alone kept Alessia awake.

Even imagining the nightmare Ramero is experiencing right now scares Alessia.

'He must've come from a very rough background, just what kind of nightmare makes him scream like that' Alessia thought while looking at Ramero lying on the bed from the sofa, her eyes glued onto him.

As some more time passes, Alessia straighten her back when she saw Ramero jolted awake.

"RAARGGGHH!!!" Ramero screamed, his eyes opens abruptly and he instantly sits up on the bed.

Looking around the room to find that he was back to reality again, Ramero blinks his eyes a couple of times while panting heavily. Soon he realized that the punishment is over, he quickly grabs his chest which is heaving up and down rapidly.

It feels like it was so real, the punishment feels so real to him.

Ramero tries to catch his breath before his eyes shifted to the side to look at Alessia, she's looking at him weirdly and seems to be stunned in place. "How long was I out?" he asked while holding his throbbing head.

"About three hours" Alessia replied meekly, still looking at Ramero in disbelief.

Upon hearing this, Ramero nodded his head, 'It seems the time in there works the same as the real world, three hours passed since I was put in the penalty zone, and I feel exhausted completely' he thought wryly.

Turns out he was right now to neglect the Side Quest, the punishment is very severe.

"Stop looking at me like that, did I scare you?" Ramero asked with a weak smile.

Alessia stutters when he asked that, "I-It's not that..." she started fidgeting with her fingers and looks down at her lap, she stole a glance before she continues, "I'm just wondering what kind of nightmare you're having to actually make you scream like that"

"Worst kinds, a torturous nightmare" Ramero replied shortly, but he means it literally.

But in Alessia's perspective, there's an air of mysteriousness that Ramero emits when he said that. Surely enough her mind started to wonder just who is the Gladiator in front of her right now, 'He must have a really complicated background'

Just as she thought of that, Ramero bends over to the side of the bed and vomited blood.

It's not just a mouthful of blood but a hefty amount of blood, and Alessia abruptly stands up when she saw this and instantly went over to him. "Are you okay?! Let me call the healer, there's definitely something wrong with you and the healer can't deny it now"

"Don't... I'm fine" Ramero grabs her by the wrist and stopped her.

Ramero knows that it's going to be futile to ask a healer to check on him, this is caused by the system, not a sickness. If he was checked by the healer, the healer would probably find nothing wrong with him.

Albeit reluctant, Alessia obeys Ramero's request. She only takes a cloth to clean the blood.

While lying back on the bed again to rest his exhausted body, Ramero looks up to the ceiling before he lay his hand on his chest feeling the spear stabbing his chest left a mark on him. 'That punishment takes a toll on my body more than I thought...'

'But no matter, a night's sleep would definitely put back to one hundred'

Deciding to think positively for a bit, he nodded his head before he decided to rest for the night.