Chương 101: (B2) Chapter 28 - Endless coliseum

Ethan sat quietly in his room, the apartment unusually silent around him, though he could hear someone above him. It had been several days since his conversation with Bella. By now she should have settled into Northstar and begun integrating herself into the guild. He hadn't received any messages through the Farscribe, though Ethan took that as a good sign. Her silence suggested she had already begun doing exactly what they'd discussed, or she had been caught. To be honest, he didn't know, but hoped for the prior.

Seb, however, also still hadn't reached out. Ethan frowned slightly as he leaned back in his chair. He had expected the old healer to investigate the information he'd been given before making another move, but even so, Ethan had already purchased passage aboard one of the ships heading toward Rest's Edge. If Seb came knocking tomorrow, everything was already prepared. Until then there wasn't much Ethan could do besides continue training and waiting.

Fortunately, the challenge dungeon had left him with something far more interesting to occupy his time. His status window appeared before him and Ethan immediately scrolled past the levels, attributes and notifications until he reached the final reward. Ever since clearing the dungeon it had lingered in the back of his mind. Now he finally had the opportunity to test it. Endless Coliseum Conjure the arena and face any number of challengers. Available once every seven days. Ethan selected the reward.

The room vanished. His bed dissolved into drifting motes of light. The walls melted away while the wooden floor beneath him transformed into smooth stone. A moment later Ethan found himself standing exactly where he had expected. The familiar coliseum surrounded him on all sides, towering walls climbing high into the sky while the enormous gates stood opposite one another exactly as they had during the challenge dungeon. Yet something immediately felt different. The roaring crowd was gone.

The goblin announcer had disappeared. Every single seat sat empty beneath the afternoon sun. It felt abandoned. Forgotten. Ethan instinctively activated [Keen Sense], expecting to find something. Anything. But there was nothing. No heartbeat echoed through the arena. No scent drifted on the air. Even the wind itself seemed absent. The entire place existed in complete silence. Curious, Ethan began walking the perimeter, inspecting every wall, gate and tunnel he could find. The stone felt real beneath his fingers.

The gates refused to budge. Apart from the silence, the arena appeared completely identical to the one he'd conquered. Eventually he admitted defeat and summoned his system instead. Almost immediately a new notification appeared before him. You have entered the Endless Coliseum. One hundred challenger slots available. Existing challengers may be replaced. A slow grin spread across Ethan's face.

"So that's how it works." He selected the challenger list and names began to appear before him. Some he recognised from the arena itself while others meant absolutely nothing. The list stretched on, encompassing creatures he'd never even heard of before. Eventually his eyes landed upon a familiar entry. Ironback Devourer. He selected it. Another window appeared. Level: 1–100 Variant: Standard / Alpha / Elder Ethan raised an eyebrow. Even the variants. Now that was interesting.

That alone made the reward exceptional. He could repeatedly fight monsters, experiment against stronger versions of them and refine strategies. The more he thought about it, the more ridiculous the reward became. Then another option caught his attention. Replace Challenger For a moment he wasn't going to do it, but curiosity won. He selected it. Do you wish to permanently remove this challenger? Yes / No Ethan hesitated for only a moment. There were still another ninety-nine challenger slots available.

Losing one random monster hardly seemed like the end of the world. He selected yes and watched as the Ironback Devourer disappeared from the list entirely, leaving behind an empty slot. Naturally he selected it, expecting another list of monsters to appear. Instead a completely different prompt greeted him. Select a recorded challenger. Recorded? What did that mean? Ethan frowned. At first it looked like the list contained only monsters he'd personally encountered. The Sand Stalker.

The Ironback Devourer once again. Various undead. Even the juvenile wyvern he'd defeated inside the challenge dungeon. Was Recorded challenger something he had fought before? Then an idea entered his mind. More out of curiosity than expectation, he pictured Alex. A new name appeared, causing Ethan to freeze. Alex The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. For several long seconds he simply stared. Surely not. He selected the name.

Alex immediately occupied the empty challenger slot. Another prompt opened. Level: 1–100 His heartbeat quickened.

"No way..." He selected Level Thirty, roughly where Alex had been during the guild war, then confirmed the selection. Every notification disappeared. The silence returned. For several seconds nothing happened. Ethan activated [Keen Sense] once more and immediately noticed the difference. A heartbeat. Footsteps. The sound of breathing. They all appeared at once from beyond the arena gates. Slowly the enormous doors began to groan open, iron scraping against stone as they revealed the darkness beyond.

A familiar figure stepped through without the slightest hesitation, his hair was tied back in a bun, stubble covering his chin. He walked with a grace on powerful people possessed. Ethan knew that stride. He had watched it for years. Alex walked into the arena exactly as Ethan remembered him. Only it wasn't the younger version of the first floor. It was his Alex. The Alex he had fought beside for countless years. He stopped several dozen yards away before slowly lifting his head.

His eyes settled on Ethan almost immediately. Then, just as they always had before a spar, a confident grin spread across his face.

"Is it really you?" Ethan asked, unable to hide the excitement in his voice. Alex offered no reply. Instead, black chains flowed into existence around his forearms, the enchanted links spilling onto the arena floor with a familiar metallic rattle. Ethan watched them for a moment before letting out a quiet sigh. He supposed he shouldn't have expected an answer. Thinking back to the challenge dungeon, none of the opponents had ever spoken. It was a shame, though not enough to dampen his enthusiasm.

If it truly replicated their combat ability, then this reward had just become one of the greatest training tools he could have asked for. Ethan drew his greatsword from its sheath and settled into a familiar stance. He hadn't bothered putting on his armour before entering, though looking at the way Alex lowered his centre of gravity, it was a little too late to worry about that now. Alex attacked without warning.

Two chains shot across the arena, one aiming for Ethan's chest while the other swept low toward his legs. Ethan stepped forward, batting the first chain aside with the flat of his blade before bringing the greatsword around and cutting the second from the air. Steel rang loudly throughout the empty coliseum. The severed links hadn't even struck the ground before fresh chains replaced them. Ethan smiled, feeling his adrenaline begin to build as he quickly realized he was in a combat situation.

It also helped that Alex was exactly as he remembered. Alex never fought directly if he could avoid it. Every chain existed to create an opening for another. He sidestepped a third strike, ducked beneath a fourth and finally closed the distance, his greatsword descending in a heavy diagonal slash. Alex met the attack with crossed chains, the impact echoing through the arena before the Alex twisted his wrists.

The chains wrapped around Ethan's blade and yanked sideways, ruining the follow-up strike before another length of chain lashed toward his ribs. Ethan twisted with the attack, allowing the chain to scrape across his side rather than catch him cleanly. It still stung. But before Alex could capitalize, Ethan surged forward again. Their weapons collided repeatedly, greatsword crashing against enchanted chains in a shower of sparks.

Ethan immediately found himself dictating the exchanges whenever he entered striking distance. His swordsmanship simply held the advantage. Every swing carried greater weight. Every attack overpowering. Alex knew it too. Rather than trying to contest him directly, he retreated whenever Ethan gained momentum, using chains to slow him, trip him or force awkward footwork before darting back outside the sword's reach. It was frustrating.

Ethan could clearly feel himself winning the individual clashes, yet somehow Alex continually reset the fight before that advantage became meaningful. A chain wrapped around Ethan's ankle, forcing him to stumble half a step before another cracked across his shoulder. He winced as fresh blood welled from the shallow cut. Moments later another chain clipped his forearm. Then another his thigh. None of the wounds were serious, but they accumulated with irritating efficiency.

"So that's still your plan," Ethan muttered as aura flowed steadily through his body. Unlike mana, it didn't explode through his pathways in violent bursts. Instead it seeped into his muscles, reinforcing every movement with steady strength. His swings became heavier. His footing more stable. More importantly, he no longer needed to follow the same fighting pattern of engaging and disengaging. He could simply keep walking him down. Alex answered by igniting his fist.

Orange light blossomed around his knuckles before he launched himself forward. Ethan recognised the skill immediately. Explosive Fist. Rather than retreat, Ethan planted his feet. [Steadfast] rooted him to the arena floor. Alex's punch landed against Ethan's shoulder and detonated with a deafening boom, stone exploding beneath both of them. Ethan's entire body shuddered beneath the impact, pain flaring through his arm, but he didn't move so much as an inch.

For the first time in the fight, Alex's eyes widened ever so slightly in recognizing something unexpected had happened. The hesitation lasted less than a heartbeat. It was enough. Ethan's greatsword came around in one brutal horizontal arc. Alex's chains shot toward the blade, trying to bind it once again, but Ethan had already anticipated the response. Instead of following through completely, he released one hand from the hilt, allowing the sword to pivot naturally before catching it again lower down the grip.

The sudden change in angle carried the blade beneath the chains entirely. Steel bit deep into Alex's side. The recreation staggered backwards for the first time. Ethan immediately pressed the advantage. One strike became another. Alex blocked with chains, but every defence forced him another step backwards. He attempted another Explosive Fist, only for Ethan to slam into him before he could get the attack off. Their bodies collided. Alex lost his footing for the briefest instant. Ethan didn't waste it.

His greatsword thrust forward, piercing cleanly through Alex's chest. Silence returned to the arena. The chains dissolved first, breaking apart into countless motes of light before Alex himself followed moments later. Ethan remained where he stood, breathing steadily as blood trickled from the shallow cuts covering his arms and torso. They stung, but none were particularly deep. Looking around the empty coliseum, a slow smile spread on Ethan's face. He hadn't needed mana. He hadn't needed Worldfire.

Just his sword, his aura and everything he'd learned since he had entered the trials.

"Looks like I finally caught up," he muttered quietly, watching the last of the glowing particles disappear into the air. It wasn't much, but it was enough to show him that he had grown even further and also confirmed something he already knew. He needed to get Alex stronger.

Even though this was just a memory of him and may not be a true representation and even though Ethan knew Alex grew into his power a bit later in the trials, Ethan wanted his friend as strong as possible in order to face what was coming and thrive. He felt the coliseum ejecting him, so he let it happen as his room, once again appeared around him. He looked down, noting his injuries were gone. How interesting. Had he been healed, or did he not really go in there? He wasn't sure.

Ethan walked to the bed, replaying the fight and also the implications of the endless coliseum in his head. By all means, that had been relatively easy. If he had used mana it would have been even more so. But what interested him more was the possibility awaiting him. This required far more experimentation. Unfortunately he wouldn't be given the chance for another week. Ethan opened the Farscribe book, once again checking to see if Seb had reached out. However, this time, he was pleasantly surprised.

Because it seemed everything was coming together. The man wanted to meet up once more.