Duskbound

Velik honestly wasn't sure how the coliseum smuggled monsters into the city, but he imagined it probably involved paying some corrupt official to look the other way. He was sure they had at least one [Beast Tamer] on their roster, probably more, and with a focus on pacifying monsters for transit, then riling them up for their turn in the arena. As far as he was aware, the class was only minimally effective against monsters, but it was better than nothing.

Whoever it was that was in charge of the menagerie, as they called it, their existence was a well-kept secret. None of the guards knew who handled the monsters, or if they did, they were all paid well enough to lie about it. It was a mystery he'd considered investigating more than once, but at the end of the day, he valued having a convenient place to fight more than he did whatever dubious benefits he might glean from prying into the coliseum's operation.

His first fight of the night was nothing special. It was a big, dumb, weak thing with a hard, chitinous exoskeleton and quick, jerky movements that looked like some sort of hybrid between a lizard and a bug. Even armed as he was with nothing but a painted steel pole that had been filed to a tapered point, he killed it in one strike. Its chitin crunched as the crude spear punctured its head, driving it to the floor and pinning it there while its six limbs spasmed and scraped across the stone. Discover exclusive tales at My Virtual Library Empire

"If you blinked, you missed it!" the commentator screamed, his voice amplified by magic. "But we all knew it was going to be a quick one with Gray in the arena! Let's just hope he's got something tougher to fight next time!"

Velik retreated back into the hallways beneath the stands and returned to the gladiator's lobby, where three other men and two women were waiting for their turns. Most fights lasted five to ten minutes, usually because the gladiator was deliberately dragging it out for the spectacle. Velik's rarely lasted more than three, and even then, only if they put him up against something bulky and armored enough that he broke his weapon on it.

From the dirty looks he got from a few of the bouncers when they thought he wouldn't notice while he was walking back, he supposed quite a bit of money had changed hands. For that matter, two of the gladiators were hiding scowls as well. Gambling went hand in hand with coliseum culture—that was half the point of even showing up there—and the staff wasn't immune.

Velik wasn't here to make friends, and he wasn't here to win or lose money. He just wanted to kill monsters without having to run a hundred miles to find something that probably wouldn't even be a challenge. The fight fees barely translated to a few decarmas, and it was all in coinage, which made it a pain to carry around.

He went through three more fights, none of them challenging in the way he was looking for, before it was time for the night's main event. One of the coordinators came to fetch him from the lobby around his third hour at the coliseum and escorted him to the arena.

"Boss wanted me to remind you that if you kill this thing in one shot, not only will you not get paid, but he'll ban you from fighting here ever again," the coordinator said. "This thing was expensive as all hell to import and he wants a fight that lasts at least ten minutes. Fake an injury if you have to, or hell, get hurt for real. We've got a healer onsite you could finally meet."

"I'll keep that in mind," Velik said, having absolutely no intention of letting some monster touch him. Ned had refused to tell him what the monster was, the better to make the fight. Velik doubted it would change much, but he wasn't immune to being surprised.

Truthfully, Ned underestimated him. [Apex Hunter] gave him a good feel of the relative strength of the other gladiators, and there wasn't another one over level 30, let alone 40, on the roster. Even then, the only one who had anything better than an uncommon class was Glitter Ring, and she was more of a showman than a fighter. Most of her matches involved her dancing around, shooting off scintillating lights that left the monster dazed and unable to keep track of her.

"And here it is!" the commentator yelled as Velik entered the arena. The gate closed behind him with a heavy clang, more to keep the monster from fleeing than to stop him from leaving. "Gray's back for the main event of the night. And we've got a big one. The Golden Coliseum's never seen a fight like this. Anybody missing this night's show is sure to regret it.

The portcullis on the far side of the arena was hauled up by a pair of handlers positioned on top of the wall, causing Velik to raise an eyebrow in surprise. That was not the typical level of caution they displayed when releasing a monster. Whatever he was fighting was something exotic, or dangerous, or both.

The monster crawled out of its cage, the steel creaking under its weight as it moved, and crossed to the stone floor. It was big, taller than the bull he'd killed earlier, and covered in pinkish-red flesh, like a man with a bad sunburn. It had six legs, though they looked more like arms and didn't all bend the same way. Where its head should have been was an overly large ball of flesh with no features other than a mouth.

Velik's breath caught in his throat. It can't be…

"That's right! It's a Slokarin flesh beast all the way from the mountains! I hope Gray is prepared for a long, grueling fight. We all know these don't go down easy!"

How is this here? I killed all these. His eyes narrowed. From Slokara, he said? That means… this is a lead! There was another dungeon seed there.

Gripping the pole—he refused to think of such a crude weapon as an actual spear—Velik strode forward to meet the flesh beast's lumbering charge. As awkward and ungainly as it was running in six arm-legs that didn't coordinate, it nonetheless had plenty of size and speed.

He pivoted smoothly as it charged by and dragged the sharp end of the pole across its flight. One of the hands snaked up to grab at his leg, but he hopped over the limb smoothly and let [Savage Rhythm] pull him into a retaliatory strike.

Then the flesh beast was past him and scrambling against the smooth stone to turn itself around. Velik took the opportunity to jab the pole into its backside three more times while the commentator relayed the initial exchange to the crowd. They were screaming so loud that it was a wonder the sound-proofing enchantments on the building were holding.

Ned wanted a long fight, but he'd have to settle for a bloody one. The flesh beast wasn't nearly strong enough to challenge Velik, and he knew he'd quickly put so many holes in it that it'd stop moving. Even if he dragged it out a bit, not much would change.

Wait… where'd that cut on its side go? Is this thing regenerating?

Sure enough, the initial wounds he'd dealt it were already closing up, and in record time, too. Velik looked down at his pole in disbelief, suddenly unsure if the weapon would be enough to finish an opponent like this.

On the other hand, he'd wanted to work off some anger and it wasn't like the last few fights had done much. When the flesh beast, easily twice his height, loomed over him again, he grinned behind his mask. Grasping hands reached for his face as it rose up on its back two legs and slammed its weight down hard enough to crack the floor, but Velik was already gone.

He leaped on top of the flesh beast and perforated its back, digging the pole deep under its skin and shredding muscle. The monster roared, more in anger than pain, and bucked wildly in an attempt to throw him off. Much to the crowd's amusement, Velik easily kept his balance while stabbing the pole repeatedly into the monster.

Undaunted, two of the flesh beast's arms cracked and tore as they pulled from their joints and reoriented in a new direction. Moments later, they were now facing upwards instead of down and were lunging blindly at Velik. He faded backwards a single step to dodge their initial swipes, jabbed the pole into the closer arm twice, and jumped clear before the monster could react.

Annoyingly, the wounds were closing almost as fast as he could make them. This is a lot less enjoyable when it feels like I'm getting nowhere. I bet if I was using my real spear, the [Bleeding] enchantment on it would help counteract that regeneration.

He led the flesh beast around the arena for the next few minutes while he experimented. Organ damage slowed it down the most, but it seemed capable of regenerating even from that. Severing tendons and ligaments was difficult with a sharpened pole, but he managed to tear a few by means of stabbing the pole in, then ripping it free with brute strength. That kind of injury healed up too quickly to be worth the risk, especially when the monster had five other legs it could move around on.

"Looks like we finally found a monster that's giving even Gray some trouble!" the commentator yelled to the ground. "What will he do? Are we finally going to see him use an active skill or two?"

Now that's an idea, but if it doesn't work, I probably won't have a weapon left.

He'd just have to make the shot count. Twenty feet of empty arena separated him from the flesh beast, and that distance was already shrinking as it galloped his way. A bellow shook the floor right along with its pounding footsteps, but Velik ignored all that and readied his weapon.

"What's this?" the commentator called, excitement racing through his words. "Looks like Gray's trying something new! But will it be enough to stop the inexhaustible beast, or will he be smeared across the arena floor?"

[Dread Lance] arced down the pole, filling his vision with crackling light as energy erupted through the point of the spear and into the flesh beast's bulbous meatball head. When the light faded, Velik was standing there with empty hands and an empty arena.

"By Crakis! Did you see that?" the commentator screamed, but his voice was drowned out by the audience's cheers.