CHAPTER 425: MUTUAL DESTRUCTION

Now that his battle was over, the middle-aged male dragged his tired body towards the welcoming darkness of the exit tunnel. What awaited him at the end of this tunnel was rest that, while did not last all too long, was a guarantee that no other Dark Elf would come challenge him…

Suddenly, two scantily clad female Dark Elves jumped off the audience stands and into the ring, landing almost at the same time.

The two stopped the man in his tracks and seemed to be discussing some matter. After a short exchange, the human male nodded his head then retreated to the sides of the arena.

Following that, the two Dark Elves slowly walked into the center of the ring, five meters apart in what looked like your pre-battle preparation. On one hand, a female dual wielding a pair of daggers. On the other, another female wielding a shield and a longsword. Neither side had any intention of backing out now and the tension in the air was nearly palpable. Both sides were ready to strike in an instant; all they needed now was a signal.

Seeing that, the spectators immediately erupted in deafening cheers. Yet before I could even react to what was happening, Paliseth had begun explaining what had just happened. “This is one of our customs. When a slave gladiator triumphs over a magical beast, any Dark Elf who takes a liking to him may jump into the ring…”

So what she’s saying is that those who jump down into the ring when a slave wins want to have a go at it in the bed with said slave. Of course, they can say no too, just like Solar-sama.

At times like this, right after a slave’s victory, there would often be multiple Dark Elves who jumped into the ring, and there came a problem. The Dark Elves were particularly voracious in bed. Not just anybody who could satisfy them, whether men or women. Because of that, often only one Dark Elf would ever receive approval, so what happened to the rest then? Seeing as that single male couldn’t just be split into two, the only option left was to fight.

Having just explained this, the fight below started.

The dual-wielding female began circling her opponent slowly. On the flip side, the shield-bearing female adopted more of a wait-and-see stance. Wherever the dual-wielding female was, her shield would always be at the ready, one-meter tall body ready to take on any form of attack.

The warrior-looking female wore a light set of armor that looked to be about 20 kilograms. It was made of a composite material consisting of some metal and bones. This armor covered the majority of her weak points, but the rest of the areas like the arms, the thighs and the stomach were all exposed.

Based on that alone, one could tell that this female warrior was more of a balanced fighter; neither too agile nor too strong. While she might not have had the advantage in any field, her balanced style meant that she had no obvious weaknesses as well. It was such warriors who often proved to be a headache for assassins seeing as they relied on exploiting their opponent’s weaknesses.

Her rectangular shield meant that she held a distinct advantage against the assassin-class who usually did not have very strong head-on attacks. Plus her relatively light armor meant that she was able to maintain eye contact with the circling assassin. Her speed wouldn’t lag behind the assassin by much either.

Even with the assassin’s faster circling, the female warrior still managed to keep her within her sights. For the assassin, this was the worst possible situation. A front assault was her weakest point. That was why she had no choice but to keep circling the warrior. At this rate, it wouldn’t take long before this assassin began to show an opening due to fatigue. After all, it was a lot more taxing to circle an opponent than it was to just turn around. Not to mention the fact that warriors tended to have more endurance than an Assassin.

Unfortunately, reality tended to play out in ways you would never expect: it was the female warrior who ended up showing an opening first. Because she was so busy maintaining eye contact with the female assassin, she failed to notice that her opponent had thrown a hidden weapon at her.

The assassin’s rapid circling meant that when she tossed out that knife at her opponent, the action was covered up by the blur of her running. This triangular knife darted towards its target like a typical kunai would in a ninja movie, yet it wasn’t aimed at the female warrior at all. Instead, it was aimed at the patch of ground beside her.

Because of this strange trajectory, the female warrior’s instincts did not immediately react to the attack. Yet the instant that triangular knife hit the ground, it reflected off the ground like how a laser would, abruptly flying in a different direction that so happened to be the waist of the female warrior.

By the time the female warrior felt the searing pain in her waist, her body had almost crumpled to the side. However, she forced her body up once more by using her massive shield as a support. With her right hand, she swung her longsword upwards, blocking the leaping attack of that assassin by sheer combat instincts.

At this point, there was either victory or death. With a powerful kick of her feet, the female warrior launched herself off the ground using her shield. At the same time as that, she lifted her shield and kept it ahead to prevent any further sneak attacks by the assassin.

While all that was happening, the female assassin was busy trying to finish off her opponent as well. Originally, she would have taken this opportunity to press her advantage, but that massive shield ended up foiling her two daggers once more. The moment that happened, the female warrior swung her shield with all the might she could summon, slamming it right into the belly of the assassin and pushing her into the ground. Then… with a stab of her sword, it was over…

A stab to end the battle… right down the throat…

“WOOOOOOO!!!!”

The stands erupted in cheers. Nearly everyone stood up in unison and began screaming at the top of their lungs. At the start, I thought they were all yelling at the warrior for being too vicious, but I soon discovered I was wrong. They were most definitely cheering. In some sense, this was what they were looking for, right? Blades against blades. A dance of life and death against a backdrop of blood…

“Ahh!” Just as the cheering reached its crescendo, Jezsere who had been beside me all this while practically jumped out of her seat in terror. She ducked into my arms once more and began shaking profusely, as if she was the one who got stabbed in the throat instead.

I hurriedly wrapped my arms around her tightly and comforted her. However, even I had to admit that the scene just now was too much for my liking.

Feeling a little parched all of a sudden, I swallowed down the saliva in my throat, but there was hardly any left to soothe my sore throat. I immediately grabbed one of the filled cups nearby and gulped it down. Unfortunately, no amount of honeyed drinks was going to wipe away the unpleasantness in my mouth right now. I furrowed my brows and sat there in silence for a good long while. Finally, I muttered in a low voice, “She’s dead…”

The Elves always gave off that elegant, refined aura. Yes, even the chaotic Dark Elves. That was why I had assumed that the fights wouldn’t end in death. They were of the same clan, after all. Yet…

“Your holiness… did you not enjoy the festivities?” Paliseth gave me a confused look at that point. Perhaps in her mind, us Devils all loved watching people fight to the death for our sheer amusement.

In truth, I wasn’t all that against gladiatorial fights or deaths in general. After all, I had been through several fights myself so I knew what the world was really like. It was a Devil-eat Devil-world out there, and the weak were only good as prey. If you wanted to have a better life, someone had to suffer for it.

Even amongst humans, there was a caste system. The only reason those in power were able to live in comfort was because of the slaves beneath them. Life wasn’t fair like that. As a person of power, I was naturally the beneficiary of this unfairness as well, and I deserved every bit of retribution that came with it. All that talk about abolishing slavery and freedom… that was too grand a stage for me. Of course, that didn’t mean I was going to overlook every bit of cruelty that came my way. It was just that this reaction was mostly limited to feeling bad or shock for their unfortunate fate.

All in all, my opinion towards gladiatorial fights were a nonstarter. Now, if there was a beautiful young girl somewhere that needed saving, I guess I could take the time to rescue her… As for middle-aged men… Oh, would you look at the time, I must be going now!

But the moment it was about two beautiful Dark Elves girls fighting to the death in a gladiator ring which even resulted in one of them dying… that was just such a waste.

Why did they have to fight to the death? What manner of reasoning would push them to such extremes? It clearly wasn’t for survival, nor was it for a better life. The only reason they even did that was because of a man. And this wasn’t some noble love story either, it was just because they wanted to do it… that’s all.

“If I have to be perfectly honest, such deaths don’t happen too often. They probably had some bad blood between them from the start.” Paliseth turned and smiled at me. “Your holiness, are you not feeling well?”

“I’m fine. I just feel it’s kinda a shame… after all, you Dark Elves have a long life ahead to live, plus…” At that point, I reached down and hugged Jezsere who up till now hadn’t dared raise her head yet. I gently stroked her hair and said, “you startled Jezsere.”