Xander stood there, breathless, staring at the corpse of the grimclaw with his bloodied spear in hand. His chest heaved as he raised his gaze to the starry sky, a feeling of dread settling in. "What do I do now?" he murmured.
He was supposed to deliver the jade slip to the head priest at the next temple by following the path, but as he looked around, it was clear that climbing back up was impossible. The jagged cliffs and sheer drop-offs made the way back seem like a cruel joke. He sighed, his thoughts racing.
'I guess the only thing I can do is follow the mountain towards the direction the path was heading and hope I can find the temple. I'm not sure how to end this trial, so I can only try to do what the head priest said. But first, let me get the crystal.'
With determination, he bent down, summoning his knife, and began to dig through the chest of the grimclaw. His hands worked methodically until he found the small, glowing crystal embedded within the beast.
The beast core. He wasn't sure what it was used for but he knew it could be sold for money, and though he wasn't sure if he would need money in this trial, it never hurt to have resources on hand.
Next, he glanced down at his wound where a tree branch had pierced his side. During the fight, it had been ripped out, and now blood was seeping through his fingers.
"I've got to find a way to stop the bleeding," he muttered, looking around.
His eyes landed on the fallen warrior from the Church of Everlasting Fire.
He walked over and took the spatial ring from the warrior's finger, using a drop of his own blood to bind it to himself. He rifled through the mostly empty spatial ring until he found a shirt. Wrapping it tightly around his side, he tied it off, hoping it would stop the bleeding.
With a determined grimace, Xander looked out towards the dark, foreboding mountains. His trial was far from over.
"Alright, I think I've gotten everything I could possibly need from here, so the only thing left to do is to head toward the temple," Xander murmured to himself. With determination, he began his trek, following the side of the mountain.
***
Xander had been walking cautiously through the dense forest for nearly four hours. The woods were eerily silent, and he hadn't encountered a single animal or person. He was starting to wonder if there were any people around at all when he heard it.
A twig snapped right behind him.
Spinning around, his spear clutched in both hands, Xander was just in time to see a man in shoddy medieval armor lunging at him. The assailant's armor was a patchwork of dented iron plates held together with worn leather straps. A battered helmet obscured most of his face, but it couldn't hide the man's long, dirty blonde hair. The sword aimed at Xander's head glinted menacingly in the scattered sunlight.
Xander raised his spear to block the attack, but he was too slow. The sword struck him squarely in the face. Fortunately, the attacker had used the flat of the blade, not the edge, knocking Xander out cold instead of killing him. The world went black as he crumpled to the forest floor.
***
Xander woke up with a pounding headache, the result of yet another knockout. His eyes squinted against the flickering torchlight as he tried to gather his bearings.
"Dammit, where the hell am I?" he muttered, his voice echoing off the stone walls.
Blinking away the blur, he took in his surroundings: a prison cell in a vast, dimly lit stone chamber. Around him, other men languished in their own cells, each wearing a similar look of confusion and defeat.
'I've got to get out of here,' he thought desperately.
His hand instinctively reached for his spatial ring, but his heart sank when he realized it was gone. Panic set in as he searched the cell floor, praying it had merely fallen off and hadn't been taken. The jade slip meant for the head priest, crucial for advancing his trial, was in that ring.
A voice interrupted his frantic thoughts. He looked up to see the dirty blonde haired man who had knocked him out, standing by the door and conversing with another guard.
[Human - G-rank - Peak]
[Human - G-rank - Half-step]
'It has to be on him,' Xander concluded, his mind racing with plans for escape.
Xander waited until the footsteps receded and the silence of captivity settled over the cell. Thirty minutes had felt like an eternity, but at last, the men were gone. As soon as the door closed, he sprang to his feet, his eyes scanning the dimly lit room for any means of escape.
"It's no use," came a voice from the cell beside him. It was calm, almost indifferent, with a hint of boredom.
Xander glanced to his right.
[Human - G-rank - Low]
The voice belonged to a man, a striking figure despite his disheveled appearance. His face was marred by bruises and a scruffy beard, telling tales of relentless battles and relentless beatings. Yet, there was a resilience in his eyes, a spark that hadn't been extinguished.
"How will I know if I don't try?" Xander replied, his tone unwavering despite the bleakness of their situation.
"Go ahead," the man said, a faint smile playing on his lips. "Try all you want. It won't change the fact that we're locked in a prison cell beneath the Colosseum."
Xander froze at the word. Colosseum. The place where men were thrown into the arena to fight for their lives, often against unbeatable odds.
His pulse quickened, dread creeping into his veins. But he wasn't ready to surrender to despair. He had to try, had to believe there was a way out.
Determined, Xander approached the door, examining its heavy iron frame. He pulled at the bars, pushed against the hinges, and searched for any weakness he could exploit. The man watched him silently, his expression unreadable, a silent witness to Xander's relentless efforts.
As Xander fumbled with the lock, his heart pounded in his chest. The door creaked open, and the two guards who had just left reentered, accompanied by a familiar, chilling presence.
"Oh, look what we have here," the man who had thrown Xander into this cell remarked, his voice dripping with amusement. "Another fighter, it seems."
The guard beside him nodded, a grin spreading across his face. "Let's see if he's worth the effort."
They shared a knowing smile and began to approach Xander's cell. Panic surged through Xander as he backed into the farthest corner of his small, cold prison. He prayed they would change their minds, but his hope crumbled when they unlocked the cell and swung the door wide open.
Desperation coursed through him; he wanted to fight back, to summon his weapon, but then he noticed a foreign object clamped around his wrist—a bracelet that had not been there before.
"Seems like you finally noticed," the blonde haired man laughed, stepping into the cell.
"Now, come on, we don't have all day," he said, grabbing Xander by the arm and hauling him forward.
Xander struggled, but his strength was sapped, presumably by the bracelet. No matter how much he fought, his limbs felt heavy and weak, rendering him powerless against the man's iron grip.
Xander was ushered through the door, up a flight of stairs, and into a dimly lit room that opened directly into the main arena. The guard beside him shoved him roughly into the arena, snarling, "Survive if you can, or better yet, kill."
Xander quickly scanned his surroundings, but there was no immediate threat. The crowd, however, was impossible to miss. The stands were colossal, teeming with spectators who bellowed all manner of vulgarities at him.
As he stood there, a surge of energy coursed through his body, and his strength returned to him. He swiftly summoned his spear and silently thanked whatever deity might be listening that it had worked. His odds were slim, but at least now he had a fighting chance.
Suddenly, he heard the grinding of gears and a ferocious growl behind him. He spun around to face the new threat: two grimclaws were emerging onto the arena floor.
"Not again."
[Elite Grimclaw - G-rank - Low]
[Common Grimclaw - G-rank - Mid]