The underbelly of Ironhold Arena was a hive of frantic and chaotic energy.
As Sebastian descended the spiral staircase back into the grime, the muffled roar of the crowd above was reaching a fever pitch. Madame Thorne had worked fast. The announcement of the next match had already sent the betting floors into an absolute frenzy.
Sebastian walked straight past the gladiator waiting room. He made a beeline for the heavily barred betting teller window carved into the stone wall.
A greasy and sweating Goblin sat behind the iron grate. He was rapidly scribbling numbers on a massive chalkboard. The board listed the odds.
[Betting Odds]
↳ Gorgon the Berserker: 1 / 10
↳ The Drifter: 10 / 1
The crowd had completely written off Sebastian's previous victory as a bizarre fluke, a system glitch, or a rigged match. Tanker Bob was a defensive player and easily scared. Gorgon was a different beast entirely. Gorgon didn't yield. Gorgon tore people into digital shreds.
The bettors were pouring thousands of silver and gold onto the Berserker. They were hungry for an easy return.
"Teller," Sebastian said. He slapped his hand on the stone counter.
The Goblin looked up, annoyed. "Bets close in two minutes, pal. Make it quick. Who are you backing?"
Sebastian opened his inventory and manifested the heavy leather pouch containing his entire net worth. He shoved the fifty gold coins through the iron slot. It hit the Goblin's desk with a heavy and substantial thud.
The Goblin's eyes bugged out of his skull. He looked at the gold, then up at Sebastian's ragged clothes.
"F-fifty gold? By the gods... On Gorgon?"
"On the Drifter," Sebastian corrected. His voice was deadpan. "All of it."
The Goblin swallowed hard. His hands trembled as he hastily wrote out the enchanted betting slip. "You're throwing away a fortune, human. Gorgon's going to eat him alive."
"I'll take my chances," Sebastian said. He snatched the slip and walked away.
He didn't return to the waiting room. He walked straight down the tunnel leading to the arena floor. The heavy iron gates were already rising.
As Sebastian stepped out into the blinding light, the sheer volume of the crowd's hatred washed over him. The colosseum was shaking with boos, curses, and flying debris. They wanted blood, and they fully expected it to be his.
Across the blood stained sand stood Gorgon.
The Berserker was a terrifying specimen. He was eight feet tall. His torso was completely bare and rippling with grotesquely exaggerated muscles. His skin was painted with glowing crimson blood tattoos that pulsed with erratic magical energy.
He wielded two massive and jagged battleaxes. The blades were already stained with the dried blood of previous challengers.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" the announcer shrieked. His voice vibrated the stadium walls. "The challenger has returned! But this time, there is no shield to hide behind! Facing him is the undisputed king of the Bronze Bracket! Level 15! Fifty confirmed kills! Give it up for... GORGON!"
Gorgon threw his head back and let out a guttural and terrifying roar. He slammed his axes together and sent a shower of sparks raining down onto the sand. The crowd lost their collective minds and screamed his name.
Sebastian stood motionless. His posture was relaxed, and his hands rested easily at his sides. He looked at the towering and screaming giant with the mild irritated expression of a man waiting for a bus that was running slightly late.
"I'm going to rip your arms off and beat you to death with them!" Gorgon roared. He pointed a jagged axe at Sebastian.
"Match start," Sebastian murmured to himself.
The magical barrier separating the combatants vanished.
Gorgon didn't hesitate. He instantly activated his signature skill.
[Skill Activated]
↳ Blood Enrage
The Berserker's physical avatar actually swelled in size. His veins bulged and turned a sickly glowing red. Steam hissed from his pores. His eyes rolled back, consumed by an absolute and unthinking fury. His movement speed doubled.
He charged. He crossed the arena in three massive bounds. He moved like a runaway freight train made of muscle and steel. He leaped into the air and raised both axes high above his head. He intended to cleave Sebastian vertically down the middle.
The crowd screamed in anticipation of the gore.
Sebastian didn't dodge. He didn't raise his hands to block. He simply stood there and stared up at the descending axes.
With a mental twitch, he activated the conceptual law he had learned in the village alleyway.
[Skill Activated]
↳ Void Walk
The vibrant and chaotic colors of the arena instantly leached away. It plunged Sebastian's vision into the muted greys and blacks of the parallel dimension. He became entirely intangible. He was a ghost standing slightly out of phase with the server's reality.
Gorgon's massive and brutal swing came down with the force of a meteor.
The heavy iron axes passed directly through the top of Sebastian's head. They sliced cleanly down his torso and through his legs. They offered exactly zero resistance.
Gorgon's immense momentum suddenly met absolutely nothing but empty air. It threw him violently off balance. The Berserker crashed forward. His axes buried themselves deep into the sand right where Sebastian's feet were.
Gorgon stumbled. His face planted into the dirt. He was entirely confused by the lack of impact.
While Gorgon was still trying to wrench his axes free from the sand, Sebastian casually took a half step to the right. He positioned himself directly beside the towering Berserker.
He toggled Void Walk off. The violent noise and blinding color of the arena rushed back in.
Sebastian extended his right index finger. He didn't need a massive spell. He just needed the trash tier skill he had purchased from the Goblin ten minutes ago. He channeled a tiny pulse of mana to his fingertip.
[System Ability]
↳ Action Registered: Cast Basic Touch of Shock.
↳ Nexus Glitch Activated: Proficiency x10,000.
↳ Basic Touch of Shock leveled up to 10 / 10! Max Level Reached!
↳ Evolution Requirement Met. Basic Touch of Shock evolves to Tier 1: Lightning Grasp!
↳ Proficiency Overflow Detected! Lightning Grasp leveled up to 10 / 10!
↳ Evolution Requirement Met. Lightning Grasp evolves to Tier 3: Storm Caller's Touch!
↳ Proficiency Overflow Detected! Storm Caller's Touch leveled up to 10 / 10!
[System Warning]
↳ Concept Threshold Breached. Elemental Law Unlocked.
↳ Storm Caller's Touch evolves to Conceptual Law: Thunder God's Judgment.
The air around Sebastian's finger didn't spark. It ionized instantly. The scent was so thick and sharp it tasted like battery acid on the tongue.
He wasn't casting electricity. He was forcefully injecting the conceptual and mathematical absolute of a catastrophic nervous system failure into the server's code.
Gorgon had just managed to pull his axes free. He turned his enraged and roaring face toward Sebastian.
Sebastian gently tapped his glowing index finger against the exact center of Gorgon's exposed and tattooed spine.
CRACK!
It sounded like a cannon firing inside a cathedral. A blinding and branching web of pure white lightning erupted. It didn't come from Sebastian's finger, but from inside Gorgon's body. The conceptual law bypassed the flesh. It directly targeted the Berserker's digital nervous system and fried millions of synapses in a fraction of a millisecond.
Gorgon didn't even have the breath to scream.
The massive and eight foot tall Berserker went rigidly and impossibly stiff. His eyes rolled back and burst with white light. The violent electrical discharge arced off his skin. It turned the sand beneath his feet into scattered clumps of black glass.
His HP didn't drop. It didn't matter. The system registered a total and absolute paralytic failure.
Gorgon tipped over sideways like a felled redwood. He crashed heavily into the sand. He lay there with his massive muscles locked in a state of permanent and twitching paralysis. Smoke gently rose from his tattooed back.
Sebastian lowered his hand and let out a slow bored sigh.
The arena was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. The announcer was frozen, his mouth hanging open. The thousands of players who had just bet their life savings on the Berserker were staring in absolute horrified disbelief.
[Match Concluded]
↳ Winner: The Drifter.
Sebastian turned his back on the twitching giant. He looked up toward the VIP box high above the stands. He gave Madame Thorne a slow and mocking two finger salute. He had just turned fifty gold into five hundred, and he was just getting started.