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We won 15 gold coins on the bets, as no one imagined that an unknown wingless avian could beat an orc.
Kaelion told me that the sum we won was mainly due to the fact that, as avian slaves are so rare, it is practically unthinkable for their masters to use them as entertainment in the Colosseum, and so during my fights, the public bet a lot.
I almost killed my opponent in my first fight by giving him a single blow with my new tattoo activated.
I punched him in the chest and knocked him out within the first few seconds of the fight.
The Colosseum workers had to carry the 100th-ranked fighter away on a stretcher, apparently with several broken ribs.
As soon as I defeated my first opponent with one punch, I immediately rushed to challenge the 96th-ranked fighter, who also fell unconscious after a punch, which apparently shattered his jaw.
I then challenged 92nd place, but he refused to accept my challenge, so I had to settle for facing 93rd place, who made the mistake of saying something stupid in front of me.
The guy said he would kill me and enjoy eating my flesh to make himself stronger, which I found ridiculous and disgusting in equal parts, so he earned the first slash I gave today with my sword.
The slash cleanly cut my opponent's body from his right shoulder to his left hip, splitting his body in two halves.
'It's fortunate that I decided not to use my sword in the first few fights, because I probably would have killed most of my opponents by mistake.'
The strength-enhancing effect of the tattoo is a rather more noticeable thing than I imagined.
Although, in retrospect, I should have expected it, considering I can almost double my Strength stat, bringing my physical strength almost up to the level of my spirit fusion status.
'The tattoo is really hard to control in combat...
Anyway, being physically strong isn't enough if your reflexes can't keep up with the speed of your body...
It's quite obvious...
I should have realized that from the beginning.'
Every now and then I had to wait for other fights to take place between two ranking positions before I could continue my winning streak, as many of the people in the ranking were constantly competing for position, as the elder orc had already told me.
But I was by far the one who fought the most times today.
And so it went on until I was 45th in the ranking, beating all my opponents by one or two hits and killing several of them who were stupid enough to say they would try to kill me.
Thanks to this performance, I earned a nickname in the crowd, and many started cheering me on with the nickname 'The Destroyer' every time I beat a new opponent.
At first, I thought it was a stupid and embarrassing nickname, but I soon stopped paying attention to it as I realized that it was a great way to avoid having to reveal my real name or make up a fake one.
After that, Kaelion called me back to the stands and told me that it would be best if I stopped for the day, as it would be ideal to give the public time to digest what they witnessed and to spread the word.
Since that would mean that maybe the champion would come to see my fights, and there would be a chance that he would want to challenge me, which would allow me to skip the whole process of climbing the rankings.
So we watched the fighters fight for the rest of the afternoon, while the people around us kept whispering to each other, pointing at me, and saying 'The Destroyer this' and 'The Destroyer that'.
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It is now getting dark, and we are going for the first time to the lodging I got this morning.
Kaelion is in a very good mood.
I suppose it is due to the amount of money we won in the bets, which seems to have made him forget his anger of this morning when he found out that I had rented a place much closer to the labyrinth without consulting him beforehand.
That must be why he has not yet commented on the fact that I am leading him to an inn he does not know.
"Come to think of it... if there are slaves fighting in the Colosseum, why don't the slaves who are strong rebel against their masters?" I ask, recalling some of the fights we witnessed today, in which members of the therian and reptilian races were involved.
"For a very simple reason, where would they go? We're in the center of the capital city, kid. And the vast majority of people of my race are convinced that our race is superior to all others. If any enslaved person were to try to escape or reveal themselves, they would only get much heavier restrictions placed upon them..."
As the old orc speaks, his expression grows more and more rarefied, becoming more and more of a grim mask.
"...In the literal sense. I have seen cases where enslaved people have been savagely mutilated just for speaking ill of their masters.... Believe me, it's practically impossible for an enslaved person to change their situation... I... I know that very well..." says the old orc, and as he speaks, there is a deep sadness in his voice.
".... Besides, it is very difficult for enslaved people to reach a high level, but that's another subject, and I don't have the stomach to talk about it right now."
'True...
Of all the fights involving slaves that we saw, none of them were ranked above 70....
It's weird because I clearly saw that in the labyrinth there were slaves fighting on the floors we were exploring....
No...
I saw corpses of slaves, but I never saw therian or reptilian people actually fighting...
It's true that Kaelion had told me that they were just used as bait...
I guess I still didn't want to believe it...
What a shitty culture...
It makes me sick that I can't do anything to change this situation...
Kaelion is probably right when he says that one person can't change things, but it all depends on how strong that person is...
At the end of the day, according to orc culture, the strongest rule. I just have to become stronger than that damn emperor who's been alive for, I don't know, how many years...
Yeah...
Just that...
I'm pretty much screwed.'
***
We've been in the labyrinth for 8 hours now, and we're on the 81st floor, sitting outside the threshold of a challenge room, waiting for the group inside to clear it or die trying.
The main difference I saw when I got to this floor compared to the previous ones is that the stone that makes up its corridors is a lighter and smoother color.
This reflects much more the light of the torches, which no longer have blue flames but are now white.
The enemies that appear from the 80th floor onwards are animated elemental armor, like the one Deirdre and I had encountered so long ago in the Hill Forest.
But they only very occasionally drop a piece of orichalcum as loot, unlike that time.
'It's quite logical... considering we're in the labyrinth.'
The group trying to clear the challenge room consists of six people, including Jackal, Rinka's friend, who helped us get to the 78th floor.
While we were searching for a safe room or challenge room so we could go outside, we saw Jackal's group in front of a challenge room fighting fiercely against a group of 10 people who were trying to corner them in order to get rid of them so they could get the privilege to enter the challenge room.
When we noticed the situation, the enemy group was about to kill them thanks to their numerical superiority, but I automatically rushed to their aid, and Kaelion followed my lead, so the numbers on both sides evened out a bit.
But even without help, I could have disposed of all enemies on my own, thanks to the tattoo allowing me to perform feats of strength previously only possible with spirit fusion.
Things like cutting cleanly through mithril-armored people with my sword, as if it were the action of a hot knife on a piece of butter.
Jackal and his group obviously saw our tattoos while we were helping them but said nothing about them, and when we finished eliminating the enemy group, Jackal duly thanked us on behalf of his group.
But he told us that we had better not do that sort of thing in the labyrinth, as we could easily be betrayed by the people we saved.
I took it as good advice, but Kaelion said he already knew that and that he'd only joined the fight because I'd jumped in to help Jackal's group without consulting him.
'In retrospect, I shouldn't have been so impulsive....
I don't even know if Jackal's group can be trusted....
They could have been the ones who started the fight....
But he is a friend of Rinka, who is currently our main source of money....
Anyway, it's true that with the 15 gold coins we got yesterday in the Colosseum, we are now much more relaxed about the subject....
Now that I think about it….'
"Ancient orc, one question: what happens if someone challenges me while I'm in the labyrinth?" I ask, realizing that yesterday he didn't tell me anything about what happens to people in the rankings who routinely climb the labyrinth.
"Are you referring to the Colosseum ranking? Nothing. When you're challenged, you have up to 7 hours to go to the Colosseum, and only after that period of time is it interpreted as the person who was challenged didn't accept the challenge..." says the elder orc distractedly, as he has been staring for a while now with an expressionless face at the steel token on which his levels and classes are reflected.
"...Which in our case is no problem, as long as you beat a new person in the ranking every four days."
"Ahh, why are you looking that much at that steel token? The data on there is not going to change no matter how hard you stare at it for several minutes," I say, mocking the elderly orc for the concentration with which he is looking at the small token that has his information on it.
"I know... I was just seeing that I leveled up 10 times today. It's a new record... and it's a strange feeling," says the old orc, who puts the card in his bag, after which he sighs and falls silent.
'What?'