[Welcome to the Tutorial.]
[System login initiating.]
Darkness. That was the only thing he could see.
Suddenly, a screen appeared in front of him.
Level: 1
Name: Aren Khan
Race: Human
Bloodline: None
Age: 26
Height: 170CM
Weight: 70KG
Vitality: 4
Strength: 4
Agility: 5
Endurance: 3
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 10
Soul: 5
Mana: 1
Skills:
None.
'What is this?'
Suddenly, his vision was illuminated by a stark white flash.
The first thing Aren felt was not the cold steel of the subway tracks, but a hot, dry air filling his lungs.
'Am I not dead?'
He opened his eyes.
He was supposed to be lying on the tracks as a mangled corpse.
But instead, there was yellow sand beneath his feet. He was right in the middle of a massive, circular arena.
It was at least the size of two or three football fields.
High, ancient stone walls stretched into the sky. The architecture resembled ancient Rome, but the sky...
The sky was artificial.
It was blue, but there was no sun.
Only an artificial light source illuminated everywhere.
The places where the audience should have been were empty.
"Where am I? The afterlife?"
Seconds ago, he was about to die in the subway station.
He took a deep breath.
He stood up.
He brushed the sand off his cheap gray suit. He straightened his tie.
He was not alone.
Some old, some young, some children… Hundreds, perhaps thousands of people had been thrown into this massive sandbox along with him.
Some were crying, some were letting out hysterical screams, some were looking at their phones in bewilderment.
They all had one thing in common: they were wearing 21st-century clothes that contrasted with the ancient atmosphere of the Colosseum.
Aren, just like the others, took his phone out of his right pocket. He looked at the screen.
'No signal. As expected.'
"I want my mom!"
"My daughter, I can't find my daughter!"
"What the hell is going on? Where are we?"
Hundreds of different voices echoed in the air.
While Aren observed his surroundings, his brain was working at full speed like a clockwork mechanism to understand what was going on.
Suddenly cutting through this chaos-ruled environment like a knife,a voice echoed, so loud and dominant that it shook the ground.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. WELCOME, ALL OF YOU."
Aren and everyone else looked towards the direction the voice came from.
At a distance not too far from them, there was a 'thing' hovering in the sky.
It had a humanoid silhouette but looked very far from human.
Its skin color was blood red. A pair of bat-like wings, the single horn on its forehead, and its muscular build gave it a terrifying appearance.
On its face was a sickly smile looking down at the herd of humans below.
The oppressive aura it emitted was so dense that Aren felt his skin tingle.
"Hey, I don't know what kind of hidden camera prank this is, but you better end it!"
"Yeah! I'm calling the police!"
"I'm going to be late for work!"
The smile on the face of the 'Thing' in the sky grew.
It started to clap.
With every clap, visible shockwaves spread from its hands.
People covered their ears with their hands in pain.
Aren also pressed his hands to his ears, feeling as if his eardrums were about to burst.
"HAHAHAHHAHAHAH YES, ABSOLUTELY A PRANK! LET'S MAKE THIS PRANK MORE INTERESTING."
People looked at the 'thing' in the sky with expressions full of shock and fear on their faces.
No one was speaking anymore.
Even the crying children had stopped crying, looking around with fearful expressions.
Amidst all this chaos and shouting, a screen appeared in front of Aren.
QUEST: KILL AT LEAST 1 PERSON.
REWARD: TO BE EVALUATED BASED ON PERFORMANCE.
PENALTY: DEATH.
Aren looked around.
All that noise had suddenly stopped.
The screen in front of his eyes had disappeared, but the terror it left behind was etched onto the people's faces.
That deadly silence lasting a few seconds resembled the calm before the storm.
No one wanted to be a murderer. After all, killing someone would have severe consequences.
Living in a peaceful world for decades had engraved the moral rules of that world into the flesh and bone of these people.
A voice was heard.
"What is this bullshit!"
A middle-aged, pot-bellied man darted forward from the crowd.
He looked like a typical, arrogant corporate executive.
He pointed his trembling index finger at the demon in the sky.
"You! Get us out of here immediately! Who do you think you are? I'll sue you! I'll ruin your life!"
The people around must have been influenced by the man's brave demeanor, as they too began to speak.
The 'thing' in the sky started to burst into laughter as if it were watching the funniest show of its life.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA! YOU REFUSE TO DO THE QUEST? DID I UNDERSTAND CORRECTLY?" it said.
The fat man gathered all his courage. With a fearful, trembling voice, he said, "Y-Yes, I r-refuse!"
The 'thing' in the sky slowly raised its hand.
It pointed its index finger at the man who threatened to sue it.
Its voice echoed in the arena like a thunderclap.
"VERY WELL THEN, LET'S SEND YOU HOME."
Then it lightly bent its finger.
The man's head exploded like an overinflated balloon.
Skull fragments, brain tissue, and warm blood scattered over the people around him like rain.
The man's headless body stood in place for about a second, trembled as if it hadn't yet realized it was dead, and then collapsed onto the sand.
With the man's death, screams began to rise all around.
Suddenly, an invisible, terrifying pressure began to spread from the sky towards the arena.
People fell to their knees because of this pressure.
Aren was no exception.
Within seconds, he was drenched in sweat.
He was even having difficulty breathing.
Those with weaker wills had already fainted from fear.
Silence.
The people who were shouting and objecting just a moment ago were now afraid to even breathe.
"I am the law here. I am the judge here. And I say..."
The smile on its face turned savage.
A sinister glint appeared in its green eyes.
"...KILL OR BE KILLED!"
The 'thing' raised its arm into the air, and massive numbers appeared in the sky.
It was a countdown timer.
10:00 09:59 09:58
"You have ten minutes." it said and snapped its fingers.
The pitch-black nails extending from its fingers were as sharp and pointed as spears.
Hundreds of weapons started pouring down from the sky like rain. They were all melee weapons.
Under the weapons raining from the sky, people were fleeing here and there.
While some people froze, others started screaming in fear.
"WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING!?"
"RUN!"
"MOMMY!"
"I DON'T WANT TO DIE"
As if specially orchestrated, none of these weapons fell on any human to injure or kill them.
As people fled in shock and fear, some smart ones took the weapons they deemed suitable from the ground and started waiting.
Aren was also among these people.
He had picked up a rather simple-looking 'Gladius'.
Light and balanced. It could be said that this sword was perfect for him.
The invisible pressure bearing down on the people suddenly vanished as if it had never been there.
As everyone looked around with uneasy glances, a piercing scream tearing through the silence was heard.
"Stay away from me!"
Followed by that dull, nauseating sound of metal striking bone.
When Aren turned his head, he saw a middle-aged fat man in a suit, just ten meters away, striking the head of a young boy lying on the ground with an iron mace in his hand.
The boy's skull had shattered like a watermelon.
Blood splattered onto the sandy ground.
Panting, with his eyes bulging out of their sockets, the man raised the mace into the air.
"He attacked me! Didn't you see? He attacked!" he shouted.
His voice was trembling, but there was a savage relief in his eyes.
No one answered.
First blood had been spilled.
It was only a matter of time before the massacre began.
Anyone with half a brain was aware of this.
After seconds of silence, the gates of hell opened inside the arena.
While some people wet themselves in fear and fell to the ground waiting for death, the braver ones joined the massacre with various weapons in their hands.
"No! Stay away from me!"
"I'll do whatever you want, please let me go!"
"I'm sorry. I have to do this."
"I don't want to die."
The fragile shell of civilization had shattered, revealing the most primitive nature of humans. The survival instinct had taken over all the people.
Aren was expressionless as he watched all this chaos.
The masks had fallen, and underneath emerged that ugly, savage truth.
He took a deep breath. His mind rapidly evaluated the situation.
'The quest is simple. Kill someone. If I don't, that thing will kill me. If I do, I will live.'
His hand holding the sword was trembling slightly.
It wasn't out of fear or a moral dilemma. His body was simply pumping massive amounts of adrenaline in response to the impending danger of death, his muscles contracting and relaxing. This was a purely biological reaction.
At the same time, he was looking around.
Being right in the middle of the arena, he was in extreme danger.
An attack could come from anywhere.
He made the most logical move possible. He made himself as small as he could.
"Hey, you!"
The man standing across from him was at least twenty centimeters taller and twice as wide as Aren.
He wore a torn sleeveless t-shirt, his thick arms covered in tattoos.
His face was stained with sweat and someone else's blood.
He didn't have a weapon in his hand, but he didn't seem to need one either. Because blood was already dripping from his large, calloused fists.
The man's eyes were locked not on Aren, but on the sword in his hand.
"Give me that sword!" the man said in a threatening voice.
Aren's eyes scanned the man from head to toe. He deemed the man a threat to himself.
"Why don't you pick up one of the weapons on the ground like everyone else?"
His voice was flat and calm.
The man grew angry at Aren's unresponsiveness.
"You're missing a few screws, aren't you? To stay this calm in such an environment... Whatever. I'm giving you a chance." he said with a mocking smile.
With his massive body, he advanced towards Aren with heavy, confident steps. "A skinny bastard like you wouldn't survive with it anyway! Give it to me!"
'Even if I give him the sword, there's no guarantee he will let me go. On the contrary, wandering around unarmed in this chaotic environment is a greater threat. Should I run? No. If I run around, I will draw too much attention. There is only one option left. I have to kill him,' Aren thought.
Aren didn't answer the man. He just pointed the sharp tip of the Gladius at the man. His heart was beating fast, but his mind was completely focused.
The smile on the man's face vanished.
"So you want to do it the hard way. So be it!" he said, and suddenly lunged forward to grab Aren.
By taking an agile step backward, he easily evaded the man's thick arms.
The man's large bulk made him quite clumsy compared to Aren.
The burly man, who expected this scrawny guy in front of him to freeze in fear, was shocked when his attack met empty air.
This brief opening was enough for Aren.
Aren swung the Gladius in his hand towards the man.
"AGHHHH! YOU LITTLE BASTARD!" The man shouted in pain and grabbed his arm. The blood dripping from his arm was wetting the sandy ground.
Aren didn't have the strength to completely sever the man's arm, but he had left a deep cut reaching the bone.
'An effective strike. But as expected, far from killing him.'
His hands gripping the hilt of the Gladius tightened.
"I swear to you, I will kill you!" the man roared.
The big man, who already didn't look very smart, had shut down all sense of logic due to pain and anger.
Aren was only a few steps away.
Ignoring his injured arm, the giant man lunged at Aren again, this time much faster and more uncontrollably.
Seeing the same scenario repeat, Aren tried to evade the man with an agile step backward.
However, the man must have been expecting this, as he swung a kick with all his might toward Aren's head with his right leg.
The man's long leg disregarded the distance between them.
Aren was surprised to see this sudden kick. Instinctively, he raised his hands and blocked the kick.
Aren was thrown a few meters to the side. Seconds later, he fell hard onto the sand.
Due to the power of the kick and the impact of being thrown, the Gladius had fallen from his hand.
His arms had gone numb from the force of the blow he took. They weren't broken, but they were definitely fractured in a few places.
For a brief moment, his vision went dark.
The Gladius was stuck in the sand just to his right, about a meter away.
The man ignored the Gladius. Roaring like an animal, he marched toward Aren.
He didn't even care about the sword on the ground. His only goal was to tear Aren apart with his hands, to turn that expressionless face into a bloody pulp.
Aren didn't get up from the ground. His eyes were closed.
The man stood over Aren. He blocked the light coming from above with his wide body.
"Are you dead, son of a bitch?!" the man yelled, and raised his massive foot into the air to crush Aren's head.
At that moment, Aren's eyes opened wide.
With his right hand, Aren threw a handful of sand he had grabbed earlier upward into the man's eyes with all his might.
Aren didn't waste this opportunity. Despite his fractured arms, he rolled to the side, gripped the hilt of the Gladius stuck in the sand, and sprang to his feet.
The man roared in anger.
He was too stunned to see Aren while trying to rub his eyes.
Aren did not hesitate.
He put all the remaining strength in his body into this single attack.
He thrust the Gladius into the man's chest.
The sound of the sword tearing through flesh and bone cut the man's angry roar short.
Accompanied by bloody coughs, his massive body staggered and collapsed onto the sand.
The savage gleam in his eyes dulled within seconds.
Experience gained.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Level 1>Level 2
'It's over.'
Panting, Aren stood over the corpse lying on the ground.
He looked at the bloody Gladius. At that moment, he thought about how useful this simple piece of metal was.
He pressed his foot against the man's chest and pulled the Gladius out.