I Became a Swordsmanship Genius in the Game

Chapter 30. Out of the Arena

Among the gladiators clamoring to be sent out immediately, a staff member roared.

[We will not depart until a certain number has gathered! Do you have any idea how much it costs to operate the spatial transfer gate once?!]

A war of nerves broke out between the request center staff and the gladiators.

Before the situation could descend into further chaos, Hyunwoo filled out the 'Lafre Subjugation' request form and left.

News would come if he waited in his quarters.

As he returned to his quarters, Hyunwoo thought about what he needed for the 'Lafre Subjugation.'

'Is there... anything I need to prepare?'

He was already wearing the Footsteps of the Abyss, which concealed his presence, and the only potential problem was 'poison'...

Even that could be neutralized with the 'Oxygen Tank' trait.

The only thing worth taking was probably some armor to cover his body.

Creak―

When he opened the door to his quarters, Van and Pierre were still there.

"Huh? The request?"

"They said we'll leave when we have enough people. More importantly, Pierre."

"Yes! Is there anything you need me to do?"

"Bring me a piece of poison-resistant armor. One for me to wear."

"Understood. I'll bring it right away!"

While Pierre went to get the armor, Hyunwoo faced Van.

Come to think of it...

He hadn't passed Lionel's test.

There should have been a reaction?

"Van. Was there anything said when you received the Super Rookie reward?"

"Huh...? There was nothing."

"Did Lionel not show any sign?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Nothing. It's nothing."

Seeing that there had been no particular reaction so far, it seemed Lionel's interest had waned as he had intended.

"Hyunwoo-nim!"

Whether he had picked it from the armor he had stockpiled in preparation for the item price increase, Pierre returned quickly.

Hyunwoo, hearing Pierre return, finished his preparations to leave.

***

Upon hearing that the number of people had been filled, Hyunwoo went to the request center.

The inside of the request center was packed with gladiators.

Staff members approached and fastened necklaces around the gladiators' necks.

"The moment we judge that you have fled, the necklace will explode. Keep that in mind."

Although they fastened the necklaces with a casual expression, the content of their words was gruesome.

A bomb was embedded in the necklace.

Click―

A bomb necklace was also fastened around Hyunwoo's neck.

Feeling the cold sensation on his neck, he moved around.

It fit perfectly around his neck, so he didn't feel any particular discomfort.

The gladiators who received requests and went outside were a type of mercenary.

However, since they were slaves of the arena first, they were sent out with bomb necklaces.

There was a reason they went through such troublesome measures to send the gladiators outside.

'Because it's that profitable.'

More than half of the mana stones earned from the requests would be taken by the arena as a commission.

The arena took a commission from both the person who requested the job and the gladiators.

They were complete thugs.

Hyunwoo cursed inwardly as he approached the transfer gate.

'The treatment is really crappy. No matter how much of a slave I am, who would create such a crazy system that takes more than half...'

When faced with an unreasonable and discriminatory system, it was usually correct to think of a certain developer.

'Is it me...? It's a rational method. Mm-hmm...'

What was wrong with treating slaves like slaves.

Just as Hyunwoo was finishing his self-justification, his turn came.

In front of the gate, there was a staff member counting the number of gladiators moving.

"118, 119... What are you doing. Aren't you going in?"

"Yes, yes."

Hyunwoo answered perfunctorily and pictured a map of the Demon World in his mind.

The 'Sylvester' region was a considerable distance from the arena.

If the gate was near there...

'I'll have to move a bit more after arriving?'

Engulfed in a blue light, Hyunwoo entered the gate.

***

As Hyunwoo passed through the gate, a blinding light seeped into his entire body.

A brief dizziness was accompanied by a feeling of wanting to vomit.

'Ugh!'

As the bizarre sensation of his insides and outsides being swapped ended, he felt the touch of dry earth.

Hyunwoo slowly opened his eyes.

The red sky of the Demon World was illuminating the surroundings.

He could see it from the arena, but this was the first time he had come out like this.

Hyunwoo naturally took a deep breath.

"Hmm."

The air of the Demon World, which he was breathing for the first time outside the arena, filled his lungs.

What he felt was not the freshness of the air, but an unpleasant and sticky feeling.

The Demon World was a world where incomplete magic and energy were mixed.

Ptooey―

"It's acrid." Content orıginally comes from novelFɪre.net

Even when he turned his head to appreciate the scenery, there was nothing to see.

On the dry land, like a desert, he could only see withered branches.

The sense of liberation from leaving the arena was brief.

'The arena would be better.'

At least he could drink beer there.

If Hyunwoo had started in the middle of the Demon World, there would have been no answer.

The probability of him starving to death before even encountering a ferocious predator was higher.

Hyunwoo slowly looked around, calming his churning stomach.

As the last gladiator came through, the light of the gate began to slowly die down.

He looked at the gladiators gathered around him.

'A lot of them came.'

Nearly a hundred gladiators had received the request and crossed the gate.

As the gladiators each raised their voices and started talking among themselves, it was no different from a marketplace.

Murmur, murmur―

A request center staff member with an armband on one arm stood in front of the gladiators and spoke.

"I am the guide who will lead you to the Sylvester region."

Whether he had imbued his voice with mana, the guide's voice reached him clearly even at the very back.

As the gladiators felt the mana he emitted, they instantly fell silent.

The guide looked around and continued.

"From now on, anyone who talks until we arrive will be killed."

The guide warned, shaking a magic tool in his hand.

If the activation word was used on the magic tool, the necklace would explode.

It was a barbaric method, but it was effective.

"......"

All the gladiators who had been talking as they pleased fell silent.

"Good. You understand well."

The guide smiled with satisfaction and took the lead.

The gladiators began to follow him haphazardly, without any particular formation.

Hyunwoo kept his distance from the other gladiators and followed alone from behind.

His feet sank into the dry land.

It was a good thing that the 'Footsteps of the Abyss' he was wearing were long boots that came up to his ankles.

Hyunwoo moved, shaking off the sand grains that clung to his feet.

He walked and walked on the barren land of the Demon World.

He sometimes encountered monsters of the Demon World on the way, but they fled from a distance upon seeing the number of gladiators.

He had thought that a battle might break out on the way, but the creatures of the Demon World also had thoughts.

There were no crazy monsters that would pick a fight with such a large number.

Just as he was starting to feel bored, a gray fortress revealed itself in the distance.

The guide, having also spotted the castle, raised his hand and stopped the gladiators.

"Wait here."

As they waited for a moment, soldiers came out from the castle to meet them.

After acknowledging each other, the guide nonchalantly handed the magic tool to a soldier.

The soldier who received the magic tool nodded and held it in his hand so it was clearly visible.

It was as if he knew well what the purpose of the magic tool was.

'It seems they've made several requests before.'

The guide exchanged greetings with the soldiers and went back the way he came.

The soldiers, after confirming that the guide had left, surrounded the gladiators.

Among them, the soldier holding the magic tool stepped forward and led the gladiators.

"Everyone, follow me."

Hyunwoo followed behind, observing the soldiers.

Most of them were composed of Demon World residents with red skin.

From the soldiers armed with uniform helmets and armor, he got the feeling of well-trained elite troops.

Although they had a similar appearance to humans, there was a clear distinction between them.

The horns.

'In Lionel's case, he had three horns, didn't he?'

Although he hadn't seen Lionel in person yet, if his memory was correct, he had three horns.

He was in a position of considerable strength in the Demon World.

The number and size of the horns symbolized the magnitude of the power a demon possessed.

When a Demon World resident became stronger than a certain level, they would become a strong demon with horns.

Demon World residents without horns instinctively followed demons with horns.

Although the soldiers were those who had the potential to become demons, no one called them demons.

They were just Demon World residents.

'The probability is slim, though.'

Most Demon World residents ended their lives without even being able to grow a single horn.

At some point, the soldiers leading the way stopped.

The place where the following gladiators stopped was in front of the castle gate.

"Wait here."

There seemed to be no opportunity to look around the castle.

'Are they planning to send us straight into the forest?'

As if Hyunwoo's thoughts were correct, a demon in a knight's uniform came out of the castle.

Not a Demon World resident, but a 'demon.'

Because there was a large horn on the knight's head.

The knight opened his mouth.

"Your job is to search the forest."

The knight's hand pointed to one place.

At the tip of his finger, a green forest, a rare sight in the desolate Demon World, could be seen.

As he watched for a moment, he felt as if the forest was getting closer.

'No. It's not just a feeling.'

It was actually getting closer.

Because the forest was a living forest made up of a swarm of Lafres.

He knew without having to go there himself.

The knight gestured and paired the gladiators into groups of 10.

"You there."

"Yes? Are you talking to me?"

"Yes. You and the 10 behind you are one team. Search Team 1. Remember that."

The gladiators, who had been standing around disorderly, gathered into their designated teams.

The team Hyunwoo belonged to was Team 13.

Unlike the soldiers, who were composed of Demon World residents, the gathered gladiators were composed of various races.

Because the gladiators were slaves.

Humans were not the only ones treated poorly in the Demon World.

As the gathered gladiators looked at each other with awkward expressions, the knight who had finished assigning the teams opened his mouth.

"From now on, each search team will search the forest from their designated location. Your main mission is to obtain the necessary information from within."

The gladiators began to murmur among themselves again.

"Necessary information?"

Thud―!

"Quiet."

As the knight lightly stomped his foot on the ground, a tingling energy was transmitted through his foot.

'This is mana...'

It was the first time Hyunwoo had directly felt mana.

The ferocious energy contained within.

An overwhelming pressure that made him bow his head instinctively.

A deathly silence descended among the gladiators.

It seemed that the knight in front of him didn't need a magic tool to control the gladiators.

The knight, with a stern expression, opened his mouth again.

The information the knight requested was the cause of the explosive proliferation of the 'Lafre,' and an investigation into the neighboring castle 'Gert,' which had collapsed overnight.

"If you kill a Lafre and collect its seeds, you will be paid an additional 20 mana stones per seed."

A reaction came immediately from among the gladiators who had been watching the knight's expression at the mention of the additional pay.

One of the gladiators in Hyunwoo's team also whispered.

"They're giving 20 mana stones per Lafre?"

In the arena, no commission was taken from the additional pay given by the client.

20 mana stones per head was a considerable reward, a rare sight.

Hyunwoo, watching the guys who had quickly shed their tense expressions and were now showing greed, shook his head.

They were fools who only knew one thing and not the other.

'You should be suspicious of why they're offering such conditions.'

Hyunwoo shook his head and looked up at the castle wall.

'Those guys aren't here for no reason.'

Among the soldiers armed in uniform armor, there were individuals full of personality.

The gladiators were not only outside the castle gate.

There were other gladiators on the castle wall as well.

As if they had discovered them, murmurs were heard around Hyunwoo.

"What are those guys?"

"Aren't they Gold guys?"

"Gold Gladiators?"

The guys positioned at various points on the castle wall seemed to be deployed for the defense of the castle.

Complaints erupted from among the Silver Gladiators.

"To think only the Gold guys are in a safe place..."

The eyes of the complaining Silver Gladiators met those of the Gold Gladiators looking down from the castle wall.

Whether it was the aura that came with their rank, most of the Silver Gladiators who met their gaze avoided their eyes and awkwardly backed away.

"The Gold-rank gladiators will be in charge of the castle's defense. This is the lord's order, so I will not accept any complaints."

At the knight's firm reply, the gladiators swallowed their complaints and whispered.

"Come to think of it, I don't remember hearing that there were Gold guys."

"This... isn't this dangerous?"

"I knew it from the moment they said the pay was 1,000 mana stones per day."

Hyunwoo took his eyes off the Gold Gladiators on the castle wall and looked at the forest.

There was a reason why the Gold guys were deployed at the castle.

Hyunwoo recalled the ruins of Gert Castle that would be beyond the forest.

'It must be hell there by now, right?'

Gert, another castle close to Sylvester Castle.

It was a complete massacre with no survivors left to tell the tale.

The military strength of Gert Castle and Sylvester Castle were on par.

'Since they were annihilated with similar military strength, the lord had no choice but to be terrified and fill the castle with Gold Gladiators.'

Just then, the knight's shout was heard.

"To the one who brings information about the cause of the Lafre's proliferation and about Gert Castle, a reward of 10,000 mana stones will be given for each."

"Oh! A reward like that is worth doing."

"10,000 mana stones... is that for real?"

Greed began to seep back into the faces of the gladiators, which had been filled with tension.

The hesitant gladiators began to move towards the forest one by one.

"Let's go too."

Team 13, which Hyunwoo belonged to, also moved in the designated direction.

Before moving, Hyunwoo glared at the forest once.

The green forest was the entrance to a den of demons leading to death.

It wasn't an urgent request for no reason.

It was a dangerous request, but he wasn't too worried.

'Because I'm thoroughly prepared.'

Hyunwoo picked up his Cheonbyeondo and moved his feet in the direction of the forest.