CHAPTER 53: FIRST CHALLENEGE

The arena floor felt solid beneath Jack’s boots, but everything else seemed to shift and blur as adrenaline flooded his system. The crowd’s roar was a physical force pressing down on him, thousands of inhuman voices raised in bloodthirsty anticipation.

He could taste copper in the air, whether from fear or the lingering blood of previous battles, he couldn’t tell.

’System, allocate all 14 free stat points to Magic.’

[14 stat points allocated to Magic]

[Magic stat increased to 86 (+40 from equipment)]

[New Magic total: 126]

[Recalculating damage values...]

The power surge was immediate and overwhelming. Lightning crackled more intensely around his body, responding to his enhanced magical capacity.

The Lightning Blade hummed in his grip, its crystalline surface reflecting the electrical energy that now flowed through him like liquid fire.

Multiple spectral gates continued to iris open around the arena’s perimeter, each one revealing glimpses of the horrors waiting beyond. Jack counted them quickly. Fifteen gates in total, just as the Announcer had promised.

"LADIES, GENTLEMEN, AND CREATURES OF THE ABYSS!" The shapeshifting Announcer’s voice boomed across the colosseum. "TONIGHT’S SPECIAL EVENT! A TRUE FREE-FOR-ALL! NO ALLIANCES, NO MERCY, LAST ONE STANDING CLAIMS VICTORY!"

The first figures to emerge were the gladiators, nine hardened warriors who stepped onto the sand with the confident stride of seasoned killers. Each one wore different armor styles and each carried a deadly wepaon. A massive man wielding a two-handed axe took point, while behind him spread out fighters with swords, spears, and even a pair wielding exotic curved blades that gleamed with magical enhancement.

[Enemy detected: Arena Gladiator ×9]

[Rank: Terror]

[Level: 25]

[HP: 3,500]

[Skills: Fire Ball, Wind Slash, Sand Tomb, Aqua Cutter]

But Jack’s attention was immediately drawn skyward as six magnificent griffins burst from their gates simultaneously. Their wings beat the air with thunderous force, sending sand swirling across the arena floor in miniature cyclones.

Each creature was a masterpiece of predatory evolution. They had eagle heads with razor-sharp beaks, lion bodies rippling with muscle, and talons that could tear through steel.

[Enemy detected: Griffin ×6]

[Rank: Terror]

[Level: 30]

[HP: 5,000]

[Skills: Flight, Talon strike, Wing Attack]

The griffins immediately took to the air, circling the arena like vultures over a battlefield. Their golden eyes tracked not just Jack, but the gladiators below, assessing threats and potential prey with cold intelligence.

From four smaller gates bounded the two-headed hellhounds, their dual mouths already dripping flame.

Each beast was the size of a small horse, their crimson fur seeming to smolder in the arena’s strange lighting.

They moved in perfect coordination despite having two separate consciousnesses in each body, their four eyes per beast creating an overlapping field of awareness that made them nearly impossible to surprise.

[Enemy detected: Two-Headed Hellhound ×4]

[Rank: Terror]

[Level: 28]

[HP: 4,000]

[Skills: Flame Breath, Pack Coordination, Intimidating Howl]

Finally, from the last gate, a shadow fell across the arena as the Carrion Raven descended. The massive bird was even more imposing up close. It was easily twelve feet from wing tip to wing tip, with feathers so black they blended in with the coliseum.

When it landed on one of the arena’s decorative pillars, the stone cracked under its weight. Its eyes were like obsidian mirrors, reflecting nothing while seeing everything.

[Entity detected: Carrion Raven ×1]

[Rank: Terror]

[Level: 32]

[HP: 5,200]

[Skills: Flight, Death Sense, Scavenging, Shadow Strike]

Twenty enemies in total. Jack’s mind processed the tactical situation with crystalline clarity. The gladiators would likely try to eliminate the flying threats first.

The hellhounds would hunt in coordination, using their flame breath to control territory. The griffins would strike from above at targets of opportunity.

And the Carrion Raven... that massive beast was just watching what was happening.

"BEGIN THE SLAUGHTER!" the Announcer roared.

Chaos erupted instantly.

The gladiators moved with practiced efficiency, three of them immediately launching ranged attacks at the circling griffins. Fire balls and wind slashes cut through the air, forcing the aerial predators to break formation and dodge.

One griffin shrieked as a wind blade clipped its wing, sending it into an uncontrolled spiral before it managed to recover.

But the hellhounds had other ideas. The pack charged directly at the gladiators, flames erupting from their twin mouths in coordinated streams. The arena sand turned to glass where their fire touched, creating a treacherous battlefield of superheated obstacles.

"Aqua Cutter!" one of the gladiators shouted, sweeping his blade in a wide arc. A crescent of pressurized water shot toward the lead hellhound, but the creature’s partner intercepted it with a gout of flame that turned the attack into scalding steam.

Jack found himself in the eye of the storm, equidistant from all the major combatant groups. For a precious few seconds, none of them were focused on him.

They were too busy with immediate threats to worry about the lone human in simple palace clothes. None of them viewed him as a threat.

’Time to make an entrance.’

Lightning Steps carried him twenty meters in the blink of an eye, appearing directly behind the gladiator formation. His Thunder Stomp cratered the arena floor, sending a massive bolt of electrical energy erupting upward through three fighters who had been standing too close together.

Jack tapped his foot three times in quick succession. It used tripled the amount of mana, but Jack learned that if he was quick enough, he could easily overpower enemies.

’This is crazy. Who knew it would be this easy!’

The lightning tore through them like they were made of paper. The enhanced damage from his boosted Magic stat was devastating. What should have been a powerful but survivable attack became instant obliteration.

[3 Arena Gladiators eliminated]

[Damage dealt: 4,428]

[EXP gained: 5,424]

[Death Tokens earned: 1,050]

The crowd exploded in surprised cheers. They’d expected the human to be quickly overwhelmed, not to immediately eliminate three Terror-rank enemies in a single move.

But Jack’s dramatic entrance had consequences. Every remaining combatant suddenly realized he wasn’t just another victim, he was a serious threat.

Two griffins dove simultaneously from different angles, their talons extended for killing strikes.

Jack rolled sideways, feeling their razor-sharp claws part the air where his head had been moments before. The Lightning Blade flashed out in a defensive arc, its electrified edge catching one griffin across the chest as it passed overhead.

[Damage dealt: 318]

[Griffin HP: 4,682/5,000]

SCRAWWW!!

The wounded griffin shrieked and wheeled away, dark blood spattering the sand. Its partner attempted a follow-up strike, but Jack was already moving, Lightning Steps carrying him clear of the attack zone.

A hellhound bounded toward him, both heads breathing fire in alternating pulses that created a continuous stream of deadly flame. Jack waited until the last possible moment, then triggered Thunder Clap.

CLAP!!!

The electrical explosion caught the hellhound at point-blank range, the damage teared through the creature’s magical resistance. The beast’s agonized howl cut through the arena’s cacophony as it collapsed, steam rising from its burned fur.

[Two-Headed Hellhound eliminated]

[Damage dealt: 738]

[EXP gained: 1,808]

[Death Tokens earned: 350]

’Wow, that one must have been weakened already.’

"Sand Tomb!"

Jack threw himself sideways as the arena floor beneath his feet suddenly liquefied, trying to drag him down into a pit of quicksand. One of the gladiators had flanked him during his fight with the hellhound, timing the magical attack perfectly.

But Jack’s agility carried him clear of the trap, and his counter-attack was immediate and brutal. Lightning Shock lanced from his spear tip, the concentrated electrical energy punching through the gladiator’s bronze armor like it was made of tin foil.

[Arena Gladiator eliminated]

[Damage dealt: 615]

[EXP gained: 1,808]

[Death Tokens earned: 350]

The battle was becoming a whirling melee of fire, steel, and magic. Two hellhounds had cornered a gladiator against the arena wall, their coordinated flame breath slowly cooking him alive despite his desperate defensive spells.

Meanwhile, the remaining griffins had ganged up on another fighter, their aerial superiority allowing them to strike and withdraw before retaliation was possible.

Jack found himself momentarily without immediate threats, the surviving combatants too busy with their own battles to focus on him. He used the respite to study the Carrion Raven, which remained perched on its pillar like a feathered gargoyle.

The massive bird hadn’t joined the fight yet, but its obsidian eyes tracked every movement below. Jack could feel its gaze on him. It was cold, calculating, and intelligent.

This wasn’t just a beast operating on instinct. This was a predator with the patience to let others exhaust themselves before striking.

’That’s the one I want,’ he realized. ’The intelligence, the flight capability, the tactical awareness. That’s exactly what I need as a companion.’

A griffin’s death scream snapped his attention back to the immediate battle. One of the aerial predators had gotten too aggressive, diving low enough for a gladiator’s wind slash to catch it across the throat. Golden blood rained down as the majestic creature crashed to the sand, its wings twitching once before going still.

[Griffin eliminated.]

[EXP gained: 1,808]

[Death Tokens earned: 350]

But the gladiator’s victory was short-lived. The remaining hellhounds had broken away from their previous target and now surrounded him in a triangle formation. Their coordinated flame breath attack left nothing but ash and melted armor.

[Arena Gladiator eliminated by Two-Headed Hellhounds]

[EXP gained: 1,808]

[Death Tokens earned: 350]

Jack counted the remaining enemies. Three gladiators, four griffins, two hellhounds, and the watching raven. The numbers were becoming more manageable, but the surviving combatants were the most dangerous. The ones skilled or lucky enough to survive the initial chaos.

’This is awesome, I’m getting EXP because my Thunder Clap’s range got bigger. I don’t even have to kill them all.’

A shadow passed overhead as two griffins broke away from harassing a gladiator and turned their attention toward Jack.

Their approach was coordinated, one diving from his left while the other came in low from his right.

Jack smiled grimly and planted his feet. ’Let’s see how they handle this.’

Thunder Stomp erupted beneath his feet with devastating force. The shockwave caught both griffins in mid-flight, the electrical discharge cooking them from the inside out. They crashed to the arena floor with bone-breaking impacts, their magnificent forms reduced to twitching corpses.

[2 Griffins eliminated]

[Damage dealt: 1,476]

[EXP gained: 3,616]

[Death Tokens earned: 700]

The crowd’s roar reached new heights. They were witnessing something unprecedented. A single combatant dismantling opponents that should have been far beyond his capabilities.

In the stands, Melania leaned forward with predatory interest. "Magnificent," she breathed to herself. "Simply magnificent."

The remaining combatants had finally recognized the true threat. A gladiator and a hellhound that had been locked in combat suddenly disengaged, both turning toward Jack with mutual understanding.

Sometimes the enemy of my enemy was exactly what it appeared to be.