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[Translator - Hestia]
[Proofreader - Starfall ]
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Chapter 03: Underground Arena (2)
VIP Room.
At the highest level of the Underground Arena, where the entire battleground could be seen at a glance.
A man wearing an eagle mask looked down at the arena with a listless gaze.
His name was Karayan.
He was the head of the “Ruins Merchant Guild”, the organization that ruled over the black market, and the master who oversaw the entire Underground Arena.
‘Another predictable match.’
Karayan clicked his tongue in annoyance.
The match had been rigged from the start so the slaves couldn’t possibly win.
They were starved for days in their cells, and all they were given were rusted, useless weapons.
The chances of such slaves surviving against Barba the Human Butcher were virtually zero.
‘The audience knows that too. That’s why they watch.’
Underdog effect? Please.
There wasn’t a single person in this arena rooting for the slaves.
The crowd didn’t come for a fight—they came to see a massacre.
To them, the slaves were nothing more than moving targets.
“—Four! Only four slave gladiators remain! Will Barba now—”
KAAAAAAAA-BOOOOM────!
And then it happened.
A completely unforeseen turn of events.
“……Huh?”
The arena fell into total silence.
“What the hell…!”
CRASH—!
Karayan shot to his feet.
His eyes widened in disbelief as he stared down at the arena.
A thick cloud of dust was slowly rising.
At the center of it stood a single gaunt slave, gripping a one-handed sword.
Drip… drip—
And right at his feet lay the corpse of Barba the Human Butcher, his entire upper neck cleanly severed.
Thud.
BOOOOOOOM—!
The towering corpse collapsed onto the dirt floor.
And in that moment, the entire arena froze.
The crowd was struck dumb by a scene no one had expected.
The eerie stillness made it feel like time itself had stopped.
“…….”
What the hell had just happened?
No one could comprehend what they had seen.
There was a flash—
A violent gust of wind had swept across the arena—
And when they’d opened their eyes, Barba was dead.
That was all.
It defied logic, defied reason—
The crowd stared blankly at the arena, unable to process the reality.
Clunk—
Thud!
Right on cue, a dull thud echoed through the arena.
Barba’s decapitated head had rolled across the dirt and hit the outer wall.
“Ah…”
Only then did Karayan finally accept what had happened.
‘…Barba is dead.’
Just like that. Without even being able to react.
“……”
Swish—
Karayan turned his gaze to the man who had killed Barba.
A skinny body. Lifeless, sunken eyes.
At first glance, he looked no different from any other slave.
But the movement he had just shown…
It was not something any ordinary slave could pull off.
A blur so fast it seemed his body had disappeared—
That kind of inhuman speed could only come from a top-tier knight, or someone on that level.
‘So then why… why would a person of that caliber be here, enslaved in the Underground Arena?’
Karayan couldn’t make sense of it.
Slaves in this arena were usually debtors who’d failed to repay the Ruins Merchant Guild.
Most were human trash—addicts, gamblers, scum who’d ruined themselves.
But that man was different.
‘A fighter on par with a high-ranking knight.’
With that kind of strength, he could easily have claimed status anywhere on the continent.
There was no way someone like him couldn’t repay a debt.
In fact, it didn’t even make sense for someone that powerful to have a debt in the first place.
In a world where strength was everything, someone like him wouldn’t be short on money.
‘And even if, by some bizarre twist, he really did owe a debt to the guild…’
It still made no sense that he would be dragged here without a fight.
The man had just one-shot Barba—he wouldn’t have been taken down by a few loan sharks.
‘That only leaves one possibility.’
Gulp—
Karayan swallowed dryly.
This could mean only one thing: ‘…That man came to the Underground Arena on purpose.’
But why?
“……”
Karayan mulled it over, then muttered in a low voice, “Loren.”
“……Yes, my lord.”
The moment he called the name, a figure emerged silently from the shadows.
“Tell me what you saw.”
Loren, cloaked in a dark robe, hesitated for a moment.
Eventually, he spoke—his voice filled with confusion.
“…I couldn’t clearly see either.”
Karayan’s expression darkened.
Loren, his personal bodyguard, was the strongest swordsman in the Ruins Merchant Guild.
He had once gone four minutes against one of the continent’s twelve Swordmasters— The Storm Dragon Swordmaster .
There was no doubt about his skill.
And yet even he had been unable to follow that man’s movement.
“…Heh.”
Karayan let out a dry laugh.
His evaluation of the man who killed Barba soared dramatically.
After a short pause, Karayan spoke again, “……Prepare a meeting room, Loren. I think we need to speak with that man personally.”
* * *
Backstage, after the match.
I glanced up and saw a full-length mirror in front of me.
Reflected on its surface was my appearance—something I hadn’t had time to check until now.
Seeing my face, I let out a sigh of relief.
“Phew…”
Dark blue hair that fell slightly over my eyes.
Golden irises gleaming faintly beneath.
Skin so pale it was almost white.
‘Thank god I left the appearance settings at default.’
It was the default appearance of the protagonist shown on the title screen of the original game.
Even though I looked gaunt and hollow-eyed now, I knew this face belonged to someone who—at full health—was classically handsome in a youthful way.
If I’d used my usual customizations like a veteran player, I might’ve been executed on sight before even getting dragged into the arena—mistaken for a monster or something.
‘Still…’
I stared at my palms in a daze, opening and closing them.
‘…That sensation from before.’
It was still vivid.
The electrifying sense of omnipotence that surged through my body right after I activated the skill.
How do I even describe it?
It truly felt like—with this sword—I could do anything.
As if, so long as my will held strong, there was nothing in this world I couldn’t cut down.
…The only problem?
It had lasted for a mere 0.01 seconds.
━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Active Effect]
While the skill is active, you attain the pinnacle of swordsmanship.
━━━━━━━━━━━━
‘Anyway, now I know exactly what this skill does.’
At first, the abstract name and vague description made it hard to figure out.
“Soul of the Swordmaster,” “the Pinnacle of Mastery,” or whatever—it wasn’t the kind of wording that helped clarify anything.
But once I actually used the skill myself, I understood it instantly.
‘While the skill is active, I become a Swordmaster.’
A Swordmaster.
The absolute peak of human martial ability.
According to the original game’s lore, there were only twelve living Swordmasters in the world.
That’s how rare and unreachable the title was—
Even a knight born with once-in-a-century talent would have to push themselves to near-death just to graze that level.
━━━━━━━━━━━━
You possess the most exceptional talent among not millions—but hundreds of millions of Swordmasters.
━━━━━━━━━━━━
…And I was a one-of-a-kind talent even among them.
‘A genius beyond one in hundreds of millions.’
At the very least, during those 0.01 seconds when 【Soul of the Swordmaster】 activates, I become the strongest being in this world.
The only catch was that it lasted a literal blink of an eye—
…but screw it, I’m sick of repeating that part.
【Lv. 1】
‘…Still, killing Barba didn’t level me up, huh.’
Well, it made sense.
If you understood Lost Elder’s design philosophy, you'd see why.
Unlike your typical RPGs, this game had a completely different progression system.
More precisely—
Knock knock.
“…?”
Just then, I heard a knock from outside the waiting room.
Moments later, a young woman in a maid outfit opened the door gently and stepped inside.
“The Guildmaster of the Ruins Merchant Guild would like to see you.”
The Guildmaster.
In other words, the headmaster who ran this Underground Arena had summoned me.
‘Right. I figured this was coming.’
I’d expected as much.
I rose from my seat and followed behind the maid leading the way— heading toward the top floor of the Ruins Merchant Guild, a place filled with monsters that could kill me with the flick of a finger.
“……”
And yet, even in such a high-stakes situation, I remained calm.
━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Passive Effect]
Your “Mental Strength” stat is permanently set to MAX.
━━━━━━━━━━━━
…It was probably thanks to 【Soul of the Swordmaster】.
Perhaps because I’d been locked in a dungeon for five days and then thrown into a bloodbath of a fight—
I looked like a sewer rat.
My entire body was caked in dirt and blood, and I reeked to high heaven.
The maid must’ve decided it would be inappropriate to appear before the Guildmaster in that state, so she led me to a makeshift bath chamber first.
Shaa—
After a quick shower and change of clothes, I followed her again, now looking at least presentable.
As we walked down the dim corridors of the Underground Arena, I found myself recalling this world’s lore.
【Ruins Merchant Guild】
That was the name of the group I was about to meet.
They were an illegal guild that ruled over the continent’s black markets.
Even if you were generous with your moral standards, you couldn’t call them “good guys.”
They dabbled in human trafficking, drugs, and all kinds of other illegal trade.
Their god was money, and that’s all they worshiped.
Just take this Underground Arena they ran—it told you everything you needed to know about how ruthless they were.
‘The head of this guild is the man called Karayan.’
Karayan— A big name who’d seized control of the black market through raw business acumen and insight.
In a world like Loel’s, where power was everything, he was the only man who’d risen to the top through wealth alone.
‘That’s all the official lore the players ever got in Loel.’
As I walked, lost in thought, we finally arrived at our destination.
“We’ve arrived.”
The maid came to a stop and carefully opened the door.
Creeeak—
The door opened with a rusty hinge, and the first thing that caught my eye was a translucent level window.
【Lv. 84】
Level 84.
A level high enough to be considered one of the continent’s elites.
I looked down slightly to see the figure behind the number.
A man wearing an eagle mask sat there, staring directly at me.
“So,” he said.
“……”
“You’re the gladiator who killed Barba, are you not?”
The voice that leaked out from behind the mask was low and chilling— full of charisma.
The servants around the room flinched at the sound.
But strangely enough…
Even though this was supposed to be a tense moment, my heart was completely still.
Maybe it was because Karayan was acting exactly as I’d expected.
“I don’t feel like talking to a puppet.”
“…What?”
The eagle mask twitched as a surprised voice slipped out.
I ignored it and looked once again at the level window floating above his head.
【Lv. 84】
Like I said before—
Karayan had reached his position as guildmaster not through power, but through his brilliant insight and business mind.
‘Karayan’s actual combat ability is basically average.’
His level was low—just a regular person.
The reason he could reach such a high position was because he could read the flow of money and make precise decisions.
In other words—
The one sitting there with a Level 84 status wasn’t Karayan.
‘Based on context, it’s probably Karayan’s bodyguard—Loren the Shadow Knight.’
Nothing odd about that.
Even in the original game, Karayan always hid behind a puppet.
And most importantly—
“If you summon someone, you should have the courtesy to greet them yourself, Karayan.”
“……”
“Don’t speak through your puppet. Come out and say it yourself.”
…Having played through Loel more than 200 times, I knew full well the true identity of the real Karayan, the one hidden behind the mask.
Swish—
As I finished speaking, I turned my gaze behind me.
More specifically, to the “maid” who had guided me here.
“You’re not going to keep playing dumb after all that, are you?”
“…!”
“…!”
The moment I spoke, the eyes of everyone in the room began to tremble.
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[Translator - Hestia]
[Proofreader - Starfall ]
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