Did someone ever mention how unfair The Dark Tower could be?
Nope.
Right when the god of the underworld announced his death proclamation for Cayden, everyone erupted like a stimulated, excited crowd.
"What? Piece of flesh? From the human?"
"Does that mean we should kill him, then we could win this game easily?"
Cheers broke out in the arena. Some beast species, like the wolves and the lions, roared; some bigger ones, like the orcs, slammed their huge fists on their chests.
Amidst the noises, Cayden calmly raised his hand.
The god's glowing eyes turned towards him.
"You got something to ask?" The god's left hand that held the orb emitted a dangerous dark aura, as if threatening Cayden.
--Dare to complain, and I will eat your soul right here, right now, and erase your existence.
In front of the threat, Cayden was calm and expressionless.
The god's hand that held the orb was emitting dark shadows. Everyone is terrified on the spot. They knew what that meant.
Each of them braced themselves and tried to act meek and obedient. They instantly silenced their cheers and bowed their heads. Some of the monsters noticed the god's eyes were not on them but on to certain someone who had his hand raised.
"What's in it for me?" Cayden's voice was magnetic and cold. When he spoke first, everyone was surprised. Despite Cayden's humanly slender appearance, he has a presence that demands attention and an upright posture that seems to emit arrogance.
Not to mention his human meat looks absolutely tasty.
His voice echoed in the quiet arena.
The god tilted its head to the side. "What do you mean?"
"Everyone gets to have an advantage; what about me? By making me everyone's target, shouldn't you give me a weapon or an advantage too?"
"Oh?" The god's skull head slowly nodded. It was not obvious based on the god's skull face, but his voice and mannerism were full of mockery.
The way he looked down at Cayden made it obvious he despised him. Enough to let this grudge get in the way of the fairness of the game.
Cayden had long accepted it.
Games are not meant to be fair.
After all, 'Winner rules us all'.
"Alright, what do you want? Weapon? Would you like a sword, a spear, or a little barbecue stick to grill your human flesh dry?" The monsters erupted in laughter.
Cayden did not pay attention to the obvious taunts and looked up above. The huge roullette hovering in the sky has changed.
It wasn't the faces of the animals and other Tower monsters. Blood red letters were written in each portion, all bold and huge.
It's the roulette of Thousand Ways to Die.
Cayden looked down and then pointed to the roulette hovering above.
"If the game's target is me, to be fair, I want to include the Wheel of Fortune in this game. And I also get to have three privileged items listed on that roulette."
The god gave a scornful look to the roulette, then leered at Cayden for being such a fool.
"Do you have any idea what you are asking for?"
--Foolish human. I already made you everyone's target, now you want to add the roulette, seeking death are we? Is dying once not enough?
"Of course." Cayden replied as a matter of fact. "Should I ask for more privileged items in the roulette?"
The god flicked his wrist. As if on cue, numbers from one to one hundred appeared on each portion of the roulette.
"Choose whatever you want."
Cayden suppressed the smile on his lips.
"Only three." The god warned. "You've got three seconds to decide,"
Cayden: "..."
"One, two, three, alright, that's it –"
"7, 59, and 98." Cayden enumerated before the god could withdraw the privilege.
Luckily, the roulette considered his requests valid.
[The gemstone of Vladimir.]
[The cloak of Vulnar.]
[The bow of Purnicus.]
[These three items will be given to the Drifter, Cayden Campbell.]
"Tsk," The god did not even try to hide his annoyance and tsked loudly.
"Alright, start the game."
At his signal, all the vicious eyes turned in Cayden's direction. Like a hungry pack of wolves, their eyes almost turned red due to greed and desperation.
Each wanted to live.
Each wanted to have another chance to walk to the surface.
None wanted to be stuck in this place with the god of the underworld and accompany him towards his kingdom of raging hell.
The arena was quiet. The silence spread out as if a single drop of water could be heard by thousands of species present in a single arena.
The first to break the silence is the young fish. He was actually standing closer to Lucien. Nobody noticed when he got to the point of approaching; everyone just saw him pulling out his sharp fangs and roaring.
"My victoryyy!!!!" He was standing right behind Cayden. His shout is more determined, like a soldier racing towards a bloody war.
"YOU FUCKER!!"
"Get the human!"
"Don't you dare lay a hand on him, he's mine!!"
"YOU PUNY AQUATIC STENCH THE HUMAN IS MINE!!!"
Thousands of voices overlapped, breaking the silence inside the still arena. Thunderous footsteps shook the whole granite flooring.
Nobody noticed the sharp [Ding!] sound from above.
Nobody listened to the system's announcement of [Triggering the hamster cavehole]
[Please watch out for holes! Stepping into it will result in bad luck and death!]
However, Cayden heard it.
Being a player for fifteen years let him know the level of danger this cavehole is.
He took out the dark, shady cloak of Vulnar and wrapped himself around it. The fangs that were supposed to drill themselves into his flesh were redirected to another species with a long, slithering frog tongue.
Cayden disappeared on the spot.
"Where is he?! The vicious man with slithering long frog tongue pulled the younger fish by the collar and lifted him off the ground.
"Where did you hide him?!"
The young fish was not given a chance to respond. The next moment, screams were heard from everywhere.
At almost every five diameters, a pure black hole appeared under people's feet.