Azimuth: The Elden Throne

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Before long, everyone gathered together under the shade of a stone pillar in the middle of the Arena.

Three armored knights, ready to face a beast. It would be either them or it.

There was no time to waste...

"Heh, I think I owe you an apology. I wasn't expecting you to carry on with my request."

Dale immediately recognized the voice, it was the inmate from the cell next to his. It seemed he had indeed been chosen for this battle.

It was a good thing, since although Dale couldn't confirm if he was capable or not, it was still better then a complete random.

Above all, if they did not cooperate here, they would all die, so everyone, at least on the surface, was working together for their survival.

So once he confirmed who he was, he replied:

"Uhm… This works well for me as well, as long as we work together, at the very least, we should stand a chance."

But as he said that, a glaring issue came to his eyes...

'Even their equipment is better than mine… Did the original owner of this memory do something to piss off the Armory guy?'

Compared to the warriors from before, both of them wore similar equipment, together with two long spears made mostly out of metal, making them very hard, but also considerably heavy.

'It seems they're expecting the spears to be under quite some stress to make them purely of metal… This isn't a good sign.'

"Do you have any idea of what we'll be facing?" Dale asked as he turned to… He never asked his for his name did he?

"Before that, we can't just be referring to ourselves like that, what's your name?"

"Oh? I was wondering when we would reach that point… I'm Gyu, son of Dou."

Next to him, the third member, a shorter guy with little to no presence opened his mouth to say:

"... I'm Kutr."

When they finished their introductions, they looked at Dale, causing him to frown as he didn't quite know his own name.

There wasn't much he knew about himself.

His height and body were similar to his original body, so on that front, he didn't feel too strange... Maybe a bit too similar, it could also be an illusion from his mind occupying another body.

The only difference would be their strength and skin color, aside from that, there wasn't much to confirm as Dale hadn't seen any mirrors lying around, and the metal on their blades wasn't polished at all.

Meanwhile, he tried to think of several names, but eventually, one stuck.

He didn't know if this was his true name or not, but he decided to carry on with it.

"I'm Elgur."

"Great, replying to your previous question. There are a few possibilities."

"The Sovereigns work in tandem with Hunters throughout the land, they buy and commission for the capture of monsters and people all the time, I met with several of those hunters countless times before so I know quite a few of their usual commissions."

"I don't know what they'll throw at us, but it'll definitely be stronger than an ordinary Barklice."

"..."

The name sounded familiar to Dale, he recognized the word, but his brain did not process its image. It wasn't the first time this had happened, nor would it be the last.

However, it was good he heard it, the more names of creatures, places, and people he heard, the greater his chances of recognizing this place once he's back in the real world.

If there's one person hat can answer all of his questions, its Roger.

"Then we should prepare, I've gathered some of the old equipment I found scattered in the arena, pick whatever you find useful." Dale said as he pointed at the side where a pile of items could be seen

"I'll pick these daggers and a spare spear, having these has never disappointed me in my past battles."

"... I'm not proficient with a spear." Kutr said as he switched to the hammer and shield, allowing Dale to fetch the metal spear

He still kept his morning star, it was an excellent weapon at the end of the day

"Given the time, I think we should strategize, we shouldn't have a lot of time left till they bring the beast to us, but it should take some time still."

"We won't have another chance." Gyu said as he crouched near the pile of dirty equipment

/Nod…/

Both Dale and the silent Kutr nodded, crouching next to the man as they began discussing how to proceed.

They had to make use of every second they had.

…

Meanwhile…

/Thud…/

Loud echoes rumbled in the dark halls of the Arena.

/Thud…/

/Thud…/

Something was coming, Dale could feel its presence.

It was slow and somewhat methodical, its steps were heavy, but unlike those of a quadruped.

They were continuous, one after the other, like a person wearing metal boots.

"..."

He did not alarm his companions, instead, he focused on bringing up ideas and countermeasures against what this creature could likely be, doing his best to prepare with them…

/Crunk!/

Until it finally arrived.

"... It's here." Dale said out loud as he picked up his gear, focusing on the gates

He had his spear strapped to his back and his morning star in his hands.

At his waist, Dale strapped two knives and a net hung somewhat loose around his right leg.

It was heavy, but he wasn't planning on carrying it all for long.

"IT'S TIME!" Said the man with the megaphone as he looked at the audience, startling many and raising their blood with each and every word

"THE FINAL BOUT! A GREAT BATTLE!"

"MAN VERSUS BEAST, THE MUSIC OF WAR!"

"FOR THIS CLASH, THE MIGHTY FERONI OF RALMA HAS DECLARED ABSOLUTION!"

"IF THESE THREE BRAVE MEN SUCCEED IN THEIR BOUT, THEY'LL BE SPARED OF ALL THEIR DEBTS TO THE WORLD!"

"WILL THEY LIVE THROUGH IT?! CAN THEY TAKE DOWN A BEAST AND RETURN TO THEIR LOVES ONES HEROICALLY?!"

"WE'LL SEE!"

/CHEERS!/

While the audience cried in excitement, Dale's crew remained dead silent... Until someone broke it with a few words:

"... Tsk, those bastards… They act as if they're kind, but if we win this we'll be absolved regardless as it's our seventh battle."

"Trying to take credit for it is… He's essentially just cursing us, trying to capitalize on our failure." Gyu said as he gnashed his teeth

"If we lose, he'll go down as a kind person who is sad for our loss, if we win, nothing changes, although we can become possible loose ends for his reputation if it comes out that we would be released regardless..."

"Forget about it, such things aren't uncommon." Dale said as he interrupted Gyu's words

"Focus on the fight, if we win, it doesn't matter who absolves us as long as we can leave this place." Dale replied as he took a step back

"Sigh… Guess you're right, once this is over I'll just vanish from this place and go somewhere peaceful, far from all this shit."

"Let's go Mute, we'll get you out of here. In one piece at that."

"... My name's Kutr."

"Sure is kid…"

"..."

/Crunk!/

The gears hidden in the walls turned, and the gates finished rising to the top.

/THUD!/

A massive creature stomped its way out of the darkness, letting sunlight bathe its skin.

"... Shit…" Gyu said with some hesitation as he took a step back, a bead of sweat forming on his forehead

The first reaction they had to the beast was... Shock.

"..."

Kutr was silent and Gyu gaged.

Meanwhile, Dale tried to figure out the enemy's overall Level.

First, he looked at its appearance.

The beast was at least five meters tall, a true monstrosity.

Its entire skin was covered in grayish-green scales, each massive in size, overlapping with each other almost like plate armor.

It was humanoid in appearance, with large arms that almost reached the ground, their muscles wider than Dale's whole body, and thick legs that seemed strong enough to lift a small mountain…

Its hands only had three fingers each, but at the end of them, massive claws dragged on the ground, same for its feet.

Alongside its scales, small bumps and spikes formed, together with sharp feathers at the back of its neck.

Its head was similar to that of a lizard. Small nostrils, two large, slitted eyes, a simple mouth with no lips, no ears, only two holes on the sides…

There was no need to even question it, but this creature likely had extremely sharp teeth and could swallow a man whole.

Atop it all, the creature seemed to have metal armor atop certain sections of its body, protecting its weak spots from attacks.

It was evident, that this wasn't a beast a normal man was supposed to face, this was the kind of creature people would find in horror stories, the kind of beast that would hunt down the protagonists throughout the series.

"A Lizardman… Of course they would bring it out!"

"The defacto champion of the Arena, capable of pushing even most veteran Gladiators to an edge before killing them. The Lizardmen champion!"

"... I'm sorry for this Elgur… It seems that…" Gyu said with some melancholy as he looked at the beast inspecting them from afar

Even with its clear savage appearance, the Lizardman was smart enough to study and analyze its prey first before attacking.

It was much smarter than most slaves thrown in this arena.

"Shut it, the fight hasn't even started, focus on the strategy, if things go down… Then focus on supporting me."

"Besides, stop trying to play the victim. You possess a lot of power hidden within."

"... I do have, but I don't think it's enough to face one… And if I do use it, I don't think I can escape death regardless."

"But uh… Crying over this won't lead me anywhere, I didn't crawl through shit to bend my knees here." He said as he cracked his neck

"Time to work mute, get your feet together!"

"... I didn't say anything, also, my name's…"

/DASH!/

Suddenly, maybe satisfied with its analysis, the Lizardmen dashed forward, thrusting for blood!

"IT'S COMING! BRACE YOURSELVES!" Gyu exclaimed as he got into stance

"..."

Meanwhile, Dale focused.

Given how much strength he had and the speed shown by the beast before him, this could likely be one of the most dangerous fights he had fought so far.

Without armor, without a strengthened body, he was only an ordinary Human with some special senses and abilities.

The little energy he had, would it make a difference here?

Regardless of his thoughts, there was only only thing left to do.

/THRUST!/

He swung his spear forward, intercepting the monster!

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Notes

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