We took about an hour of rest at the entrance of the passage.
We had just broken through the darkness full of curses. There was no need to rush.
We took a rest, drank water, and ate some simple snacks.
Once everyone was settled, I got up, holding a blue flame torch.
"Alright, we can't camp here. Shall we start moving?"
Everyone in the party promptly got up.
Lucas led the way, followed by Damien, then me. Junior and Evangeline followed behind.
In this formation, we began to walk down the passage.
It hadn't been long before,
"Uh, uhh..."
Damien, with his head hung low, made a strange noise. I asked him with concern,
"Are you alright, Damien? Are you in pain?"
"No, it's not that I'm in pain..."
Damien covered his face with both hands and let out a long sigh.
"I'm, I'm just embarrassed..."
"Oh, come on. What's there to be embarrassed about?"
"I really can't understand why I behaved that way earlier, uhh..."
"It's fine. We all experienced scary things back there. Everyone understands."
I smiled brightly and clenched my fist in a 'fighting' gesture.
"Stay strong, Damien!"
"Stay strong!"
"Stay strong!"
"Let's stay strong~!"
In the same order as before, the rest of the party members chanted the slogans one after another.
"That repertoire... Please stop... uhh..."
Damien was so embarrassed he wanted to die. The rest of the party members laughed wickedly. So much fun.
The passage was long and repetitive, without a single pattern. It was slightly confusing whether we were moving forward correctly.
Given the boring time, I explained the gimmicks and tricks of the Colosseum as I had mentioned earlier.
"The Colosseum is different from a regular dungeon."
The dungeons in this Lake Kingdom are typically made up of rooms and corridors.
You clear rooms where various events occur and travel down corridors to the next room.
"The Colosseum only has one room, where enemies keep appearing. There are a total of seven waves."
From just hearing this, it sounds like the occasional wave defense type of dungeon.
But the Colosseum has an unusual feature.
"The Colosseum has a system called 'ante'."
"Ante?"
"In the Colosseum, they bet on who will win. For example, let's say Lucas and I fight in the arena."
At my words, Lucas, who was leading the way, jumped up.
"Then I'll immediately cut my throat and offer it to you, my lord!"
"No... I'm just giving an example... Don't die..."
Why won't he let me finish speaking?
"Anyway, back to the point. Suppose Lucas and I fight in the arena. Who do you think will win?"
"Hmm..."
Damien looked at me and cautiously answered.
"Lord Lucas...?"
"What do other people think?"
"I think Lucas."
"I also think Lord Lucas will win."
Evangeline and Junior also predicted that Lucas would win. Only Lucas shook his head violently.
"My lord will win, without a doubt!"
"Right. Right. So, what is the victory prediction ratio then? 3 to 1, right?"
I continued the explanation with a grin.
"So, what's the victory payout ratio? Let's say we all bet 100 Gold each. If Lucas wins, how much would each of you three take?"
Evangeline pondered and did the math.
"If the total pot is 400 Gold... each of us would take 133 Gold."
"Right. You bet 100 Gold and made 133 Gold. In other words, the victory payout ratio for those who bet on Lucas is 1.33. Got it?"
I pointed to myself.
"On the other hand, if I win, how much would Lucas take?"
"All 400 Gold, my lord!"
"Correct. What's the payout ratio then? It's 4 times."
Lucas clenched his fist tightly.
"I knew I could trust you, my lord!"
"Sometimes your loyalty scares me, Lucas..."
Could loyalty, in a way, be a twisted manifestation of insanity? You're terrifying at times.
"But this is a simplistic view. In reality, the Colosseum takes a commission, and everyone bets different amounts. The numbers and equations might get more complex, but it seems like everyone understands so far."
Right now, we're not discussing the workings of a real-life Colosseum, but the unique gimmick of this dungeon. Let's move on for now.
"So, each of our victory payout ratios were 1.33 and 4, right?"
"Yes."
"In the Colosseum dungeon we're heading to, your attack power will be increased by this payout ratio."
"Wait, what?"
"Lucas gets a 1.33 times boost in attack power, and I get a 4 times boost. That's how we're going to fight."
Everyone stared at me in disbelief. I grinned.
"It makes the match quite interesting for me, right? Basically, the weaker and less favored you seem to the audience, the more advantageous it becomes. It's a type of balancing, to make the game more fun to watch."
"But then..."
Junior tilted her head.
"Wouldn't that make it too advantageous for the underdogs? That wouldn't be fun to watch either."
"Right. That would be too disadvantageous for the strong. So, it doesn't continually boost your attack power."
I raised my index finger.
"It only applies to the first attack. Only the first attack of each of us gets this multiplier."
In other words, for the first attack, Lucas can hit me 1.33 times harder than usual, and I can hit Lucas 4 times harder.
"It might sound a bit complicated, but to summarize..."
Lucas, who had been nodding along, summed it up.
"The weaker and less popular side, for the first strike, can fight with an advantage."
"That's right. Underdog comebacks are always entertaining, so they've built in this system to adjust for it."
It's not a significant disadvantage for the stronger side either.
After all, the first attack of both sides gets stronger. All you need to do is hit hard and fast to end it quickly.
"So, then."
Clapping my hands, I looked around at my party members.
"How can we exploit these rules?"
"For the first strike..."
Evangeline made a fist and twirled it.
"Just hit really, really hard?"
"Exactly. Really, really give it a good whack! Knock them out in one hit."
I looked at the long magic cannon that Damien was lugging around with pride.
"That's why I brought this."
Black Queen.
Our most powerful spear.
A weapon with an already outrageously high attack power, coupled with the Colosseum's first-strike bonus.
No matter the opponent, they'd usually be killed in one shot.
"The Colosseum is a dungeon in the 5th Zone. With our current levels, we won't stand a chance using standard tactics."
I grinned wickedly.
"In other words, everyone will expect us to lose. That means the payout rate for our victory will be exceptionally high."
Understanding the gimmick, smiles spread across the faces of my party members. I nodded in agreement.
"Let's show them the power of an underdog's upset."
I quickly listed the boss monsters we would encounter in the Colosseum.
Most were far beyond our current capability. However, with this gimmick, they were all within our reach.
The problem was the final boss of Wave 7.
"And finally... the ruler of the Colosseum, the Gladiator King, Jackal, makes his appearance."
The NPC boss, Jackal.
A rare humanoid boss in the Lake Kingdom.
"This guy is the real deal. Incredibly powerful. With our current team, we probably wouldn't stand a chance, even in our dreams."
"Even with the increased victory payout coefficient applied?"
"Yeah. We can't win."
Understandably, Jackal's unique ability was to 'Automatically dodge the first attack.'
The existence that counteracts the dungeon's gimmick is the dungeon boss. In some sense, it's a fitting design.
"But, there's always a loophole."
I shrugged my shoulders.
"Trust me on this one. It's too complicated to explain."
In unison, the party members nodded.
"We trust you implicitly."
"We came this far underground, believing in you after all."
"Hehe. We only trust and follow the Prince."
Hearing the responses of the other party members, Junior whispered to me.
"You're quite trusted, aren't you?"
"Well, we've been through thick and thin together, after all."
"It's nice to see."
"Even you'll feel this way after a few defenses, whether you like it or not."
"Haha."
Junior, with a thin smile, murmured softly.
"I hope so... It'd be nice if I could feel that way."
***
How many hours had we spent traversing this lengthy passage?
The scenery of the never-changing corridor suddenly transformed.
The wall opposite us was getting closer, and we started to see a vertical passage with a ladder.
"It seems like we've reached the end."
"How long did we walk?"
"I think it's been over three hours."
Time sense dulls in such places. I took out my pocket watch to check.
"Wow, we walked for about five hours in total."
We took short breaks intermittently. However, we mostly kept moving without resting.
"Really, Your Highness? Are your legs alright?"
"I'm fine. Don't worry."
"I'm not fine. My legs have been hurting...owww."
"My back... Does anyone need healing magic?"
Everyone had something to say, but Junior was a beat late to chime in.
"Ughh!"
"Shouldn't we treat the wounds before anything else?!"
Doesn't it make sense to first stop the bleeding, no matter where the injury is? Huh?
Anyway, having reached the end of the hallway, we took another break.
The fatigue we didn't notice while walking suddenly hit us.
We collapsed and rested, soothing our legs that were tortured by the long march.
However, we didn't come all this way to rest forever.
Once our fatigue had reasonably subsided, I commanded the party to move forward.
"This time, there won't be a curse like before."
Looking up at the vertical corridor leading upwards, that's what I said.
Bright light could be seen from above.
Rather than delving into the darkness as we did before, it's much more reassuring to head out into this bright environment.
Loosening my shoulders, I spoke in a loud voice.
"Well, shall we ascend!"
***
When we had descended the dark vertical corridor earlier, it had felt like a very long time.
But this time, ascending the bright corridor was quick. It appeared to be not as high as we had anticipated.
"Ha-ha! We've made it up."
Following Lucas, who was at the lead, I climbed up the ladder and exclaimed.
"..."
Lucas, who had climbed up first, was silent. I found it a bit odd.
"Lucas? What's wrong?"
"Master."
Lucas turned to look at me with tense eyes.
"This place..."
"This place?"
"...is an enemy base."
Huh? What does that mean?
I lifted my head to look around. And right at that moment.
Flash!
Blinding lights poured in from all sides. Yikes! What's happening!
A moment later, when my eyes finally adjusted to the light.
[Zone 5: Blazing Colosseum]
A system window popped up in front of my eyes.
And the place we were standing in was indeed - the middle of the Colosseum arena.
We had ascended here by opening a manhole cover on the floor of the arena.
"Holy shit."
Why is there a manhole cover in the middle of the arena?!
Evangeline, who had followed me into the arena, asked me with an incredulous look on her face.
"But, senior? You didn't mention entering the arena right away!"
"Well..."
Feeling flustered, I too burst out in exasperation.
"I didn't know either, dammit!"
Even in the game, there had been instant transitions to combat situations, but of course, I thought it was game logic! Who would've thought it was based on historical accuracy!