A Dragon’s Curiosity

 

 

While the elf reflected on her own circumstances, the fighters in the pit had arranged themselves in accordance to the rules.

To prevent cheating and make the fight interesting for the betters, the Arena directly distributed weapons before the combat started.

Otherwise, it would be rather awkward for them if someone brought high level gear and directly dominated by virtue of their equipment instead of fighting prowess and skewed the bets in that way.

Employees quickly pushed racks full of different early third rank weapons to each participant and let them choose their own preferred armament.

Although the choices might be abundant and every fighter found the weapon they were familiar with, the quality of the spread was rather poor.

While not to the degree that they would break in the middle of a clash, the overall quality was barely above the acceptable degree.

In order to make the best of their situation, the participants could not rely on the gear too much, afraid to break them, and therefore had to rely more on their skills and fighting experience.

After everyone had a chance to pick and choose their gears, the attendants quickly left the pit through the small entrances they used to get in and sealed the pit back up.

Now it was only the eleven fighters, which warily eyed each other in preparation for the big fight.

“I won‘t keep you in suspense any longer! Let the game begin!“

Seeing that the atmosphere had just about reached the peak, the announcer gave his final words and directly signalled the start of the confrontation.

Although the man only gave the signal to start now, the participants had long since chosen their starting points and scattered in the circle of the arena pit.

Each of the four famous names presided over a direction, whereas the seven other fighters did not dare to come too close to them.

The odd one out in this arrangement was Ralf the Butcher, as he had the entire space to Nisha‘s left for himself.

Tossing the broad blade with a short handle into the air, the weapon circled around itself once before falling into his palm again.

The hunched villain squinted left and right, no one could guess what he was thinking about.

 

On the far side of the arena pit, ‘Fierce‘ Olaf chose a one handed axe with a long handle and a small circular shield strapped to his forearm as the armaments of his choice.

Unlike the rest of the fighters, he still had not put on any armour yet, displaying the crisscrossing silver marks and scars on the entirety of his skin.

He had to have healed from countless wounds to end up like this, yet the fact that he still chose to stand in the arena and fight was testament to his strength and mental fortitude.

On top of all of that, Olaf was confident in himself too, fighting to the first blood meant that the first serious wound would disqualify him from the winner‘s honour.

It was fine to get a scratch or injure a finger when the participants clashed against each other, that did not count as defeat.

But armour could prevent some slashes and attacks before it broke, as well as turning serious injuries into less serious ones.

Giving up that advantage right from the start spoke of a strong confidence in himself.

Three of those who failed to get a special introduction separated this strong man from the contender on the right.

While he styled himself as a brute and barbarian, it created quite the contrast to Leonard Highpass, who was to the side of him and opposite of Ralf the butcher.

Given that they were standing in the arena pit, it was quite clear that his equipment was a notch above the others and more expensive as well.

Perhaps as a noble, he did have more budget to spend and attended the matches more as a hobby than to earn money and resources, or it was his character that he played that forced him to spend more to keep up appearances.

Nevertheless, the flowing soft leather armour was made from expensive leather and fit him perfectly, likely because it was custom made.

Compared to the other participants, he picked a long staff as his weapon of choice, each end of the wooden stick reinforced with a layer of metal.

It would be a foolish choice to underestimate the man because he lacked a sharp edge to engage with, a blunt weapon in the right hands was no less murderous than the sharpest blade.

And Leonard Highpass easily twirled the item in question in his hands, showing a high proficiency that earned him a moniker in the arena in the first place.

 

None of the figures that made a name for themselves were an easy target, anyone that dared to step inside the pit knew at least this much.

For this reason, the other four participants that had yet to earn a designation for themselves spread out between Leonard Highpass and ‘Sharp Blade‘ Jason, undecided where to go first.

The distribution of each fighter heavily leaned to one side of the arena and would have elicited quite a few laughs on account of the comedic sight, yet not even the announcer called them out on it.

Perhaps the momentum of the crowd would falter if the stern confrontation devolved into a comedy, or other similar concerns held him back, but the man sitting behind the desk with the amplification array allowed them a grace period before he commented on their strategic choices.

From her vantage position, it was hard to make out what weapon the last named fighter made, though it was not hard to guess that it would have been some sort of bladed weapon from his title alone, ‘Sharp Blade‘ Jason.

Although the announcer already gave the start signal, the fight did not immediately break out and the participants seized each other up nervously.

In a brawl, many things were beyond control and it could quickly become dangerous.

Perhaps not many of the newcomers dared to face a titled opponent in a one on one situation, they also knew that their capabilities were a small level below them.

If anyone dared to rashly forge ahead, the outcome was already set in stone, they would lose their chance to accumulate more points and rewards.

As a result, each of the four directions had a strong fighter that was eyed by several newcomers.

To their credit, the titled warriors did not bat an eye at the greedy eyes that followed them and quietly adjusted their states for the coming engagement.

Just as any other fighter in the pit, they wished to earn more rewards, and taking part in such a brawl paid more than single challenges, not to mention that fights between those that earned a name became increasingly rare once they built a reputation.

Losing once or twice was not fatal, yet it would slowly strangle their worth if a titled fighter built up too many blemishes on their profile.

No one would want to bet on a prospect that was likely to lose anyway.

 

From the tense start, things quickly evolved into a definite direction.

The fighters were not so free that they would stall out for no good reason, only by taking action could they earn more resources.

Two of the three warriors between ‘Fierce’ Olaf and Leonard Highpass headed for the shirtless warrior.

Originally, the third of them, one of the two women that took part in the game, also headed for the same target, yet changed her mind at the last moment and headed for Leonard Highpass instead.

Similarly, the group of four between the noble warrior and ‘Sharp Blade‘ Jason split into two camps, two of each of them heading for a target.

Only by combining their strengths and turning a competition of strength into a competition of tactics and chaos would their opportunities to win come around.

Nisha briefly thought that this arrangement was quite unfair towards the titled warriors, as their fame painted a target on their back.

She was not inexperienced in this regard as the dragon constantly had to be on the lookout against accidentally revealing her own identity.

On the other side, none of those that earned a moniker of their own did so by grasping easy victories or going against weak opponents.

Without sufficient fame and strength, it was impossible to earn a title.

While there was a definite gulf between the titled figures at the different stages of the second or third ranks in cultivation, it was not without reason that they managed to climb to their current height.

Once they made a breakthrough in cultivation and adapted to the differences in their strengths, it was quite likely for those that earned a title before to stand out again in their level of competition.

Certainly, a few former titled warriors faded into obscurity after hitting a wall they could not overcome after advancing, but it was rather rare overall.

With an impressive combat record and confidence in their own ability, the named participants faced the incoming warriors with nary a change in expression.

Everything that these fighters that had yet to receive a title wanted to win directly clashed with their interest.

Just because they were famous and earned their own moniker, that did not mean that they could fall behind others or spend less effort in cultivation.

Trying to take away their rewards and resources was the same as trying to sever their lifeline.

 

Each of the four figures reacted with a different gesture to kick off the fight.

‘Fierce‘ Olaf directly roared to answer the challenge against his dignity.

Under the forceful agitation of his aura, the scars and old wounds on his body flickered with silver light as his oppression rose several times and whipped up a small wind in the sand around him.

Leonard Highpass still acted in the graceful manner of a noble as he stepped in the direction of the middle of the pit after bowing over his staff as a courtesy.

Having to deal with two parties from both sides, it was easier to retreat forward and force them to come after him in a manner of his choosing, reducing the overall pressure.

The last two warriors walked outside of Nisha‘s view, the arena walls limiting her sight.

Most likely, ‘Sharp Blade‘ Jason remained on the spot and waited for their assault, the elf was not sure exactly what was going on.

But the development of the fight would surely move out of that spot eventually, she was not worried about missing the action.

Perhaps the most peculiar out of them all was Ralf the Butcher, who looked like he was abandoned by all and did not participate in the same game.

The seasoned arena guests knew that this was not a disregard of ability or a slight on his personal combat prowess, but rather a consequence of his character and habits.

Simply put, no one wanted to deal with him because the man in question was borderline insane.

Since none of them was going to challenge him, Ralf the Butcher leisurely kept tossing his weapon in circles as he picked a target.

Fortunately for the elf, his eyes fell on the tangle between ‘Fierce‘ Olaf and the man and woman keeping him in a stalemate.

Because they had not met before or any time to discuss a strategy, the two regular participants took turns to engage the barbarian.

They were still cautious at this point, the game had barely started and there were any number of ways that the brawl might develop.

Instead of burning themselves out early, it was smarter to stall and hope that another of the four famous figures fell first and came to their aid.

Naturally, if the other nameless fighters fell first, it would increase their ranking on the final evaluation and increase their pay correspondingly.

It was a shame that their plan was solid, but life decided to work against them anyway as they failed to properly catch the approach of the Butcher.