'The Mana signal this key sends is quite strong to have attracted this many salamanders, or it could be that I just got unlucky and wandered near one of their caves,' Alex thought, standing near the corpses of a few giant red lizards.
'Let's Finish these remaining salamanders before their leader shows up.' Alex thought, looking at six lava salamanders surrounding him.
It had been about forty-five minutes since the game started, and other than descending the volcano and killing three third Rank salamanders, Alex hadn't done anything.
"ROOOAAARRRR"
A salamander roared and lunged toward Alex, his throat bugling like a frog, and followed right behind him was three other salamanders.
The salamander sprinted forward, opened his jaw wide, and released a breath of flame, covering Alex in his entirety, and the three salamanders following him did the same, intensifying the flame.
'Four Fold Dark Wave'
Alex appeared high in the air with his saber covered in pitch darkness and slashed his blade four times in quick succession, sending four dark energy slashes toward the salamander who was breathing fire at his previous location.
The four slashes of pure saber intent ripped through the air and a moment later landed on different areas of the four salamander body, and without facing much resistance, they cleaved right through their bodies.
'I need to practice more to improve my aim with four slashes.' Alex thought, seeing two salamanders survive his attack, with one only losing his tail and the other losing just a leg.
Alex had significantly improved his saber intent in the last two weeks, pushing it close to the peak of the Intermediate stage while he also worked on regaining his experience with sword intent.
Alex had also created a few new skills using pure saber intent, which he could easily execute using his sword intent, as the difference between the two blades was minimal.
Alex hadn't combined both the sword intent and the Mana to create a skill even though he had experience with such skill and knew that it would be significantly more powerful than its counterpart if executed perfectly.
Alex landed on the ground and sprinted into action, slicing through the bodies of salamanders, and in mere seconds, he was done butchering them.
'Let's look for a gladiator.' Alex thought, and after collecting the loot, he left the area, continuing to descend the volcano.
---------------------
(Four Hours Later)
In the last four hours, Alex had fought five opponents, but none were strong, and only one had a gold key on him.
Alex was wandering the arena trying to locate one of the three opponents that could give him a real challenge and make him push his limits and advance his skill in real life and death battle.
After four hours, Alex finally found one of those opponents, but he was not thrilled because the gladiator with his target alone was hard to handle in a head-on battle.
"BOOOOM"
"My luck is truly great to meet with the rising star of the Gladiator Arena." A giant of a man said, landing a small distance away from Alex.
The man was called Kygos Imnur, a Rhinoceros Demi-human, and he was also a middle-stage fourth Rank warrior, with his specialty being brute strength and uncanny high defense.
Kygos was not a pushover and had a high chance of winning this game if luck favored him, and in a head-on fight, Alex had a very slim chance of winning against two top contenders.
"Aeon, If you give me your gold key, I will pay you in gladiator coins as you are a respected thunder knight." The female said with a bright smile while hovering in the air.
'Tyria Daenestra, She is going to be the perfect opponent to perfect my phantom walk skill, but I need to get rid of this Brute for a peaceful battle.' Alex thought, looking toward Kygos.
Tyria was a dark elf with middle-stage Fourth Rank strength and a master of shadow and air elements known for her agility and unique dagger art and was also one of the strongest gladiators to participate in this death game.
'Let's play some mind games and make him angry to create an opportunity I need to finish him for good.' Alex thought, devising a plan.
"You have any gold Keys?" Alex asked, looking up at Tyria while ignoring Kygos.
"I have three, and after taking your two keys, I will have five, so thank you in advance for your contribution," Tyria replied with a cold smile.
"I would like to help a beautiful girl like you if only you were not teaming up with this ugly fatso," Alex said with a bright smile looking Kygos dead in the eyes.
"Tyria, Stay out of this fight. I will deal with him alone." Kygos said coldly
as he equipped his giant shield and spear.
"I will burn you with my elemental flame to make sure you cocky immortal adventurer experience some agonizing pain before I grant you death," Kygos said and slammed his flamed coved shield on the ground, making the iron-like hard floor crack like a spider web.
'The opportunity is here. Let's make it count.' Alex thought, using the phantom walk skill.
'Death Point'
Alex appeared right behind Kygos with only the point of his blade covered in condensed saber intent, thrusting it forward with all his strength, aiming straight at his heart.
The Sabre tore through Kygos' thick armor and muscular back while facing some resistance because of the high density of his muscles.
Kygos felt the danger to his life from his back and reacted by slamming his foot on the ground while creating sharp spikes to protrude from the ground all around him.
'A mere moment, and I would have killed him.' Alex thought, appearing back in his original place.
"YOU..... You Fucking Coward." Kygos roared with an enraged look while a fountain of blood gushed out of his back.
"Two Middle stage Fourth Rank gladiators with respectable skills targeting a single Third Rank individual that is very honorable," Alex said, looking at the gaping hole on the side of his stomach that was bleeding profusely.
Alex delayed avoiding the attack even at the cost of getting injured by the earth spikes to kill Kygos, but he still failed and received an injury.
'So I did damage his heart.' Alex thought with a smile seeing Kygos spewing a large amount of blood with a twisted expression.
"Dark Tornado"
"Kygos, You stay away and heal, or you will die," Tyria shouted as she threw a giant swirling tornado at Alex.
"Phantom Walk"
Alex appeared before Kygos, ready to swing his saber that was oozing with saber intent, and Kygos reacted instantly, sending earth spikes at Alex, but before the spikes could reach him, he vanished, leaving behind a twisted image.
"Reaper Slash"
Alex appeared behind Kygos and swung his saber, slicing through his neck without facing any resistance in an instant ending his life.
Kygos tried moving his body but lost balance and fell on one knee, making his whole body shake, sending his decapitated head fall to the side, getting stuck on a smaller earth spike while having wide-open eyes.
'I was saving this move for Tyria.' Alex thought as he landed on the ground, looking toward Tyria, who had a shocked look on her face.
"I heard you have great agility, so why don't we put it to the test," Alex said as he touched his gold key with the gold key bound to Kygos wrist.
'The medic is here.' Alex thought, looking toward a man zooming toward his location at incredible speed.
The Healer stopped mid-air, looked toward Alex, then toward the decapitated Kygos, and after a moment of silence, he used telekinesis to lift Kygos body and head and attach them before using a high-grade healing spell on him.
"Good Luck to both of you." The healer said as he flew toward the direction he came from, taking unconscious Kygos with him.
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