Volume 2 Chapter 7
“I declare the 168th Slave Gladiator Match… begins now!!”
After roaring out the words, the announcer threw his hands up to the sky in a strange gesture, as if embracing the sun.
The men rushed for the weapons, while some of the more delicate women remained frozen in place. In their hands, these weapons would probably be less effective than a feather duster.
There were exceptions, of course: as demons, we had no need for such things.
“Oooohhhh!!”
The men’s first targets were the weaker female slaves. To survive, spurred on by the explosive death they had just witnessed, the bloodshot-eyed male slaves chased after what they saw as their temporary “get-out-of-death-free cards.”
“Don’t be too rough,” I signaled to Nia with a look.
“Understood.”
Yes, Nia is very smart—
…Never mind. I take that back.
Nia drove her fist into the gut of a burly man twice her size. His flab rippled as his eyes rolled back in his head. Before he could even swing his longsword, he was sent flying twenty meters, landing with a thud like a sack of sand. Dark red blood trickled from the corners of his eyes and his nostrils. After a final, agonizing spasm, his life flickered out.
Nia shook her fist, her expression blank.
She had a very direct personality; beating people around like sandbags was clearly not her style.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”
Apologizing under his breath, a man wearing a cloth cap similar to an Arabian keffiyeh came at me with a dao sword, his eyes teary and vacant.
Nia had already killed one person, so I didn’t need to do any more unnecessary killing.
《Bare-handed Weapon Destruction》
Heh, it’s really just a fancy name for punching the blade!
The blade of the dao sword crumpled into a twisted mess. The man stared blankly at the hilt, still muttering to himself.
Squelch. Another large man ran him through from behind with a sword. The apologetic man’s head lolled to the side as he collapsed into a sitting position, a trickle of blood running from his mouth, his eyes wide open in death.
“Damn it, just die already!!”
A man unleashing a flurry of spear thrusts set his sights on Nia.
《Spear Skill · Roaming Dragon》
The longer they survived, the higher the quality of the combatants. More and more people were starting to use martial skills.
There were only a handful of female slaves left, their lives temporarily banked like bonus time in a matching-block game.
Timing it perfectly, Nia stomped on the shaft of the spear with her small foot. She lifted the man with one hand, crushed his neck with a single squeeze, and then tossed the human ragdoll aside.
As expected of the Demon King’s Black Knight, she showed no mercy.
I just didn’t like seeing her in this frenzied, battle-crazed state. Nia was definitely cutest when she was whining for head pats.
《Rank C · Second Tier Magic · Electric Shock》
So it begins. The magic battle.
With the numbers thinned, a proper contest was starting. The surviving slaves began to cast spells, pulling out their trump cards in an attempt to catch their opponents off guard.
When the crowd saw the magic, they erupted in screams and cheers that pierced the eardrums.
This is a good opportunity.
《Rank S · Tenth Tier Magic · Holy Demonic Phantasm》
The wave of noise drowned out my chant, allowing me to cast a disguise-type Divine Rank spell.
To everyone else, it probably looked like nothing had happened.
But now, whenever I took damage, the injury would be an illusion. Even after the wound healed, it would still appear to be there in the eyes of others. This wasn’t a mind-control spell, but a visual distortion that also refracted any magic meant to see through illusions, severely impacting an opponent’s ability to judge the battle.
It was a disguise spell that could only be seen through by the corresponding Tenth Tier Divine Rank enhancement magic, 《God’s Eye》. The duration was permanent—my constant mana regeneration was equal to the spell’s continuous upkeep cost.
