I didn't realize how badly I was screwed until I had a few seconds to check over my person, which was particularly hard given the fact that my hands were bound by magic-dampening chained cuffs.
But when I did my stomach dropped along with my shoulders.
I didn't have my magic bag nor either my spear or bow. I must've dropped everything once the ground caved in. I was effectively weaponless, given my magic was blocked as well. Or worse I had lost it in that random lake I doubt I'd ever remember the way to.
Now I did know my spear had a passive enchantment that bound it to my 'soul' which meant I should be able to summon it. But well this isn't a video game and there doesn't seem to be a button for this shit.
This dreary atmosphere didn't help my confidence one bit either.
We had walked for around six hours and I've noticed multiple things about this floor. It was a shadow-filled ruined battlefield and its only inhabitants seemed to be skeleton-themed monsters though I did spot a few whisp-like figures. Most likely ghosts and wraiths but it was predominantly skeletons.
The architecture struck me as odd in particular due to how close it resembled ancient Roman cities. We passed several pantheon-like structures and a few temples with that same stone-column building structure.
Now that I had a slightly wider picture, this was an ancient city that was once attacked and overrun by a necromancer. At least that was the theme I got from this ruined battlefield.
We had continued straight for so long I was startled when the revant rough tugged me to the right, towards a pitch-black fortress. Or more accurately a grand coliseum painted with the soot and ash of this former city.
I didn't know what I expected to do at this moment. Break through the cuffs with a full burst of mana then hope they just burn off. Try to kill a revenant with my bare hands after or attempt to make a run for it?
What I did or didn't do mattered very little once the gate that a low-level skeleton soldier was manning slammed shut.
The first thing that I noticed was a sound I had just started to become intimately familiar with. Swords slamming against shields, grunts of exertion, and screams describing pain or glory.
After a long stone hallway, we entered the seating area around the large circular battlefield where people, monsters, and the undead were battling.
'There were other people here and from the looks of it….' I commented to myself as I noticed a particularly brutish man being slammed against the wall through his shield. He, like me, had the same large cuffs strapped from his wrists to the top of his elbows.
What was even odder despite the apparent slavery was the audience. Rows of skeletons packed the entire arena, fifteen rows high and wrapped around the giant battlefield: thousands, no tens of thousands.
"Welcome to the Skele Dirge Coliseum. It has been around fifteen years since we received another contestant" A voice spoke but it wasn't the revenant, except it was.
The whisps in the creature's eyes had turned from blue to a deep red and I quickly realized who I was speaking with.
"I just have one question, would you tell me what floor I'm on before you throw me down there?" I said with exasperation as my shoulders slumped, hoping I could at least get some information.
The skeleton swordsman tilted its head slightly as the wraith trapped inside swirled and twisted in a brilliant red. Most likely wondering how someone could make it this far but be incapable enough to keep track of the floors.
"Floor fell out from under me in the high nineties." I briefly explained as the creature burst out laughing at my luck or lack thereof.
"Another trapped in the machinations of the gods….." The controlled reavant hummed as if debating something. "Become the champion of this arena if you wish to progress. You are on the fifty-seventh floor, the Lost City of Zenith" The necromancer answered as he brutally kicked me from the a few stories. Sending me tumbling between a pair of locked blades and barreling through a few skeletons.
But I did land, with a busted shoulder as a rhythmic beat started shaking the ground beneath me. Boom boom, repeating and speeding up as a heavily robotic voice boomed through the coliseum. 'The skeletons… they were stomping from the stands.' It seemed to mean something as everything around me froze, weapons were picked up and a lot of them seemed to fall over in relief. There were at least a hundred 'living' people, a few hundred odd monsters with glowing collars, and a thousand skeletons.
"A NEW CHALLENGER HAS EMERGED" The robotic voice boomed through the arena with a resounding echo.
Out of the surrounding competitors, the only ones to react to the grandiose announcement were the human-like people who seemed content to group together. First came confusion then curiousity as almost a hundred heads of varying species turned about.
Luckily enough I was currently surrounded by a few broken skeletons and other whole ones blocking me from view. It gave me a chance to observe my fellow 'slaves'. Two races were prominent among them, elves and humans. I noticed what I thought was a dark elf, a wood, elf, and even a 'snow' elf.
Those might not be the exact names but that was what I recognized them by.
Now on the human-like side? Halflings, dwarves and regular old humans like myself.
There seemed to be a plethora of races that inhabited Asterious.
"You won't last long." A gruff voice said from directly behind me causing me to flinch.
I turned to be greeted by the first dark elf I noticed. A mask covered most of their face giving little to their gender along with a cloak that gave even less.
But the voice and how oddly pretty her eyes were left little to deduce.
"Why is that?" I asked curiously as if I wasn't a mage with my mana sealed. Not even to mention my weaponless state. 'Hell, I'm still shirtless' I almost chuckled at that fact.
"You have too much mana to be anything but a mage. Mages almost always die first here, well unless you happen to be a healer?" The question was asked with curiosity but the steel in her eyes left me stumped. I merely shook my head, if I could heal with my flames I wouldn't know how.
"Hm, a word of advice. Don't put too much faith in Rayvis, a king of the slaves is still simply a slave." She said as she turned and began disappearing between the frozen skeleton soldiers.
"Wait! What the hell does that even mean?" I yelled towards the disappearing elf but failed to receive an answer. 'Didn't even give me a name, rude edgy elf woman'
My yell alerted the others who were searching for me. Before long I was surrounded by a group of people who could easily pass for this fantasy world's version of Spartans, which was a scary concept in and of itself.