An hour later, Lakshman stood in a corridor with two men standing behind him. Earlier, they dragged him out of his holding room and made him put on the provided armour. Lakshman was not sure why they were making him do it, but he suspected Adebola has some plans for him.

“Come on,” one of the men told him and the other shoved him forward.

“Okay, okay,” he said in exasperation and walked forward.

Lakshman walked in front while the two men walked right behind them. Both of them were big and strong with muscles stretching their already tight shirts. With the way things are, Lakshman knew he has no chance in defeating even one of them.

“You should be happy the Gravity Rings were deactivated. Otherwise, you’d have become a perfect pancake!” the Decisive Player told him before laughing.

Lakshman shuddered at the imagination of what might have happened if the rings were not deactivated. He would only activate and set the Gravity Rings to thousand times gravity while he trained. At other times like attending classes or within his room, he would deactivate the rings. It is also handy the Gravity Rings automatically deactivate once they sensed him become unconscious.

“I’m glad the Gravity Rings deactivated when I got knocked out!” he thought in relief.

“Thank the Death Titan if ever you meet him the next time.”

“Why does your advice sound like I’ll never meet him again in this life time? Hmm? Are you perhaps thinking I won’t make it alive out of this?”

“Oh, come on! Stop being so negative! Be positive!”

“Yeah right!”

At that moment, the two men said “Stop right here!”

Lakshman was abruptly brought back to reality and he came to a stop. The men walked to the front and opened a door by touching it. As if it was not there, the door vanished and a new path appeared. At the end of it, Lakshman could see day light.

“Freedom!” he thought happily.

This time, it was the Decisive Player’s turn to say “Yeah right!”

The two men gestured for him to walk through it. Without any choice, but to follow their instructions, Lakshman walked passed them and entered the new path. Once he entered, there was a loud bang behind him. Quickly turning around, he was startled to suddenly find himself facing a dead end.

“Ah! Those bastards trapped me!” he exclaimed and began banging on the wall. “Hey! Open up!”

“Calm down. We’re not exactly trapped. Look over there and you’ll see light up ahead.”

“I know, but they went as far as to trap me in here… I have a very bad feeling about this!” Lakshman said nervously.

“You’re not alone. Now let’s go.”

Lakshman clenched his fists, walked forward. As he drew closer to the exit, he could hear a lot of noise forming from outside. Then, as he exited, he flinched when a loud roar erupted from high above him. For a moment, he was confused because of all the sudden light and the loud noise reverberating around him.

“Now that’s a crowd!” Lakshman exclaimed once he managed to adjust his eyes to the sunlight.

He found himself in a very large arena, like the one located in his home town in Rodfox region. The arena was really big with high walls all around. He squinted when he tried to look up and saw a large crowd gathered there and they were roaring and yelling.

“They sure are mad with energy,” he said quietly.

Just then, loud trumpeting noise could be heard from the opposite end of where he stood. The trumpeting sounded grand with the way the player was blowing into it. Then a man appeared in the space that looked like a place reserved only for a certain special person.

Adebola Gramstone, the new king of Mardana Kingdom, appeared and when he did, cheers and loud clapping ensued. It seemed the people were very enthusiastic for their new king to appear in front of them like that.

“What a load of rubbish!” he said angrily.

He clenched his fists tightly and glared at the man that imprisoned him there. Watching Adebola waving at the audience made him feel really sick to the stomach. That was the guy who, only recently, murdered the previous king, who was his father. Now he stood in the central area and waved at everyone with the airs of a proud man.

“Now, now. Stop worrying about things you can do nothing about.”

“I know… I know…” Lakshman said through gritted teeth.

Adebola began speaking and his voice boomed around the arena for everyone to hear, causing the crowd to go silent in an instant. Lakshman was surprised to see that he had a strong grip on the people to make them go silent so quickly.

“My dear people! I welcome you on this wonderful day!” he said and the crowd went cheering loudly. After he silenced them with a wave of his hand, he said “Today! I have planned something special to entertain all of you on the day that I am crowned the king! That even is the Berserker Crusher!”

Hearing his announcement, the crowd went wild with loud cheers and clapping. Lakshman, on the other hand, felt dread fill his heart. In the past two years, he and his father went adventuring outside Rodfox for a while. During those travels, they heard of an event that was newly invented by the king of Mardana Kingdom, which he called the Berserker Crusher.

Berserker Crusher was an event that pits captured prisoners against really strong monsters. It is a battle of kill or be killed between prisoners and monsters. The crowd loved it and many paid to come and watch as prisoners and monsters tear each other apart.

“A gruesome event that got invented to encourage death and destruction!” Lakshman said in a disgusted voice.

Then the crowd fell silent as Adebola said “Down below, you see a prisoner whom I personally chose for this wonderful day! Now for his opponent… Let us see… Ah. The monster he shall face in battle will be Chamatex Lagrator!”

The crowd erupted into cheers and they clapped for their king’s brilliant idea.

“That’s not a brilliant idea!” Lakshman said in a shocked voice. “Of all the things for me to fight, he just had to make it the Chamatex Lagrator.”

Chamatex Lagrator was a three headed lion and was as large as a human. It had agility and speed which enabled it to catch it’s pray in a quick amount of time. The monster was also capable of firing three different attacks out of three of its heads; thunder from the left head, fire from the middle head and icy wind from the right head. Additionally, it was said the monster can regenerate from all damage to its body.

Lakshman was shocked at knowing the kind of monsters he was about to face. Then he saw the gates being swung inward from the other side of the arena, causing him to become very nervous.

“Calm down. Calm down. You won’t do any good with the way you are right now.”

“Easy for you to say! I’m the one that’s going to have to fight that thing!” Lakshman said nervously. “I have these Suppression Rings on my arms and

When the gates were finally opened to the fullest, there was a loud roar that erupted out of it. The crowd went crazy when a three headed, four legged, three tailed beast walked out of the darkness. Three of the monster’s face had mane all around it which gave an impressive look to the monster.

Lakshman, however, was not impressed as he stared at the monster. It was indeed a big monster, powerful built from years of hunting its prey in the wilderness. Under normal circumstances, with his full powers and all, it would only take him a few seconds to take this monster out, even with its large attack power.

Now, with the six Suppression Rings tying him down, he was not sure what to do. He believed himself to be around Intermediate to Advanced ranked, judging from the amount of energy and strength he was able to use. This instantly made it clear that he does not have the capacity to defeat that monster on his own.

Then he sighed and said “Oh well. If I’m going to fail, I might as well put my fullest effort into killing that thing!”

The monster turned its three heads towards him and growled menacingly. Then it slowly crawled forward as if it was staking it’s pray. Lakshman knew that he was the pray in the eyes of the monster and he prepared himself.

Slowly, the two of them moved to encircle each other while intently staring at one another. Sweat slowly seeped through Lakshman’s skin as he was on high tension, constantly thinking what the monster will do next. He did not dare look away or blink because he knew that was the deciding matter between him and the monster.

Suddenly, the wind picked up and cause dust to rise into the air. As the dust was picked up by the wind, some of it flew around Lakshman and he immediately was forced to close his eyes. This was the chance the monster had been waiting for.

Roaring triumphantly, it charged at him with its strong and powerful body making loud thudding noise on the ground. Lakshman turned to face the monster, but he still could not see due to the dust near his eyes.

Then, just as the monster leaped into the air and at him with his mouth open. Just before it could sink its claws into him, Lakshman instantly ducked beneath it, letting the monster fly harmlessly above him. He then got away from where the monster was by running as he could while clearing his eyes.

“Finally! I can see again!” he exclaimed happily only to see the monster charge at him again.

After that, Lakshman desperately evaded the monster each time it charged at him. Soon, he was beginning to run in circles with the monster constantly chasing after him. It also did not help when the people above kept shouting and jeering at him.

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“What the hell is there problem?! Can’t they see that I’m desperately trying to live?!” Lakshman yelled angrily as he dodged yet another attack from the monster.

“Madness has a way of making people behave like that.  Anyway, I think you need a weapon if you intend to kill it and live.”

“My thoughts exactly, but where…? They just sent me out here with nothing, but this armour. It’s like that bastard was wishing I really did die here!”

While escaping from the monster, he looked up to see where Adebola sat on a high chair. He was indeed grinning broadly as he watched Lakshman’s feeble attempts at dodging and escaping from the monster while enjoying the crowd boo and jeer at Lakshman.

While looking around, Lakshman finally saw a holding place at the side of the arena. On there, he saw four spears, a broadsword and a shield. Earlier, he did not notice them, but he assumed he missed them because of the threat of a large monster trying to eat him for lunch.

Lakshman thought of a plan and shared it with the Decisive Player who said “It’s reckless, but a good plan. I hope it works.”

“I’m hoping the same,” he said as he breathed quickly.

He was beginning to breathe quickly, which mean that he was running out of energy. Realising the imminent danger it posed, he decided to act on his plan immediately.

So he began running towards the wall as hard as he could while the monster chased after him. Once he reached the wall, he turned around and waited patiently for it come charging at him. Then, he charged towards the monster as hard as he could. The two charged towards each other while glaring fiercely at each other.

The monster roared and this time, it charged directly at him instead of leaping into the air. It clearly remembered what happened the last time it had charged at him, only or him to duck and escape. This time, it wanted to make sure there was no way he could escape from him.

When they finally came close, the monster let out a mighty roar and attacked him with its claws. Then its eyes widened in shock when it realised its claws had gone straight through him. Surprised by what happened, the monster tried to stop, but it was no use because it was running at full charge. Now the monster tumbled and crashed before finally coming to a stop.

As it roared in pain and the people shocked by what happened, someone smiled triumphantly.

“Stupid mutt!” Lakshman said as raced away from where the monster crashed.

Just before the monster could sink its claws into him, he activated his magic and created an illusion of himself running towards the monster. Meanwhile, he jumped over the monster and landed before continuing to run towards where the weapons were.

The monster looked around and saw him running towards the far end. Realising it had been tricked, the monster roared and gave chase after him. Very soon, it was hot on his heels, but he was smiling because he saw the weapons up ahead.

Realising he will not have the time to leisurely take the weapons out, he activated his Magic Force and said “Attachment!”

Attachment is an Advanced Ranked Gravity Magic Spell which he was glad he learnt because of how useful it was. Using this, he managed to jump and run on the side walls much to the surprise of everyone watching.

“Look! He’s running on the wall!”

“Wow! He’s unreal!”

“How’s it doing it?!”

The crowd above were shouting such questions while expressing their disbelief. It seemed, to them, being able to walk on the side of the walls was unnatural. Lakshman ignored them and kept running towards the weapons while hearing the monster right behind him.

When he reached the weapons, he grabbed three of the spears with his right hand. Then he passed one of the spears to his left hand and held the third spear with his teeth. Hearing the monster approaching him from behind, he jumped off the wall while turning his body.

As he turned in mid-air to face the monster, he launched one spear he held in his right hand. Then he performed air aerobics by turning his body and launching the second spear at the monster. Finally, he grabbed the spear that he held with his mouth and also launched it at the monster.

All three of the spears were embedded with Weapon Force, which he momentarily had the chance to apply before launching. The monster looked surprised when it saw the three spears soaring straight at it.

A moment later, all three spears struck each of the monster’s heads. The monster roared in shock and came to a crashing stop with all three spears lodged into each of its heads.

For a moment, everyone went silent in shock. They could not believe the previously running around scaredy cat, which was referring to Lakshman, managed to kill the monster. Everyone were speechless and as the entire arena gone silent from the shock.

Lakshman landed back on his feet and deactivated his magic. Everyone was thinking he had killed it, but he knew better. With his improved ability to sense energy and life force, he immediately knew the monster’s life force did not diminish.

Sure enough, the Chamatex Lagrator began making low moaning sound. The next instance, the spears were lifted off the three of the monster’s heads and they landed on the ground. A moment later, the monster stood up and let out a mighty roar that sent a shocking wind and force everywhere. Lakshman’s eyes widened in shock as he got buffeted by the wind.

“Mmm… Looks like stabbing its heads didn’t work out the way you expected,” the Decisive Player told him in his mind.

“You don’t say…” he said quietly as he stared at the monster. “I guess this leaves me with only one choice; kill that thing right through its heart located near its belly.”

“H-How did you know that?” the Decisive Player asked in a surprised voice.

Lakshman shrugged his shoulders and said “How is that hard to not to know? Every creature’s main weak point is their head and if that doesn’t work, the next to go is the heart! I think demons have two hearts, but that’s a different matter altogether.”

For a moment, the Decisive Player did not speak because he was that surprised. Then he energetically said “Alright then. Go for the heart!”

“On it!” Lakshman said cheerfully.

The monster shook its mane and turned to look at him. Looking at the glare in its eyes, Lakshman knew exactly what the monster had in mind.

The monster proceeded to open the mouth of its middle mouth as wide as possible and blasted a jet of fire in his direction. Just before the jet of fire reached him, he jumped out of the way, but the monster simply turned its head and swung the jet of fire at him.

Lakshman ran towards the holding place, grabbed the shield and swung around just in time to protect himself against the jet of fire. As he held the shield in place, he felt it getting hotter and hotter, but the fire did not penetrate.

Seeing the shield, the monster stopped firing the jet of fire at him and turned around before releasing a stream of lightning in his direction. Lakshman was not in its target range, but the lightning curved and headed straight for him.

“Wow! The lightning is curving!” Lakshman shouted in surprise.

He instantly reacted by putting down his shield. Then, with his bare hands, he stopped the lightning from coming near him. The violent sparks, the violent zaps and crazy feeling it gave off, Lakshman felt for sure this was the kind of lightning that was similar to the one shot down during electric storms.

“I don’t mean to distract you, but you better disperse it or sent it back. Otherwise, you’ll end up becoming one amazing lightning rod!” the Decisive Player warned him.

“I got it!” Lakshman shouted as he fought desperately to keep the lightning away from him.

As the intensity shot up, he screamed “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!”

With great force, he shot the lightning back at the monster, which roared in pain from its own attack. As the attack stopped, Lakshman grabbed a spare spear and charged at the monster. Then he realised, too late, that he had forgotten the shield behind because the monster turned its third head at him.

As the monster’s mouth opened and shot icy wind at him, Lakshman shouted “Burning Spirit!”

His entire body went up in flames as he charged directly at the monster, but the flames did not seem to be harming him in any way. In fact, the icy wind barely phased him as he ran as fast as he could at the monster with the spear in hand.

“So long as I have the desire to live, these flames of my life won’t evaporate! This is my burning spirit!” he shouted as he ran towards the monster.

The monster stopped firing its attack at him and charged at him before letting out a loud roar. Just as it reached him, Lakshman held his spear out and instantly skewered its middle head into it. With great strength and energy, that made him feel dizzy, he pushed the monsters off its feet. Then he freed the spear and stabbed it straight the monster’s body.

For a moment, he thought he had done it, when the Chamatex Lagrator suddenly let out an ear piercing roar. It started to struggle and Lakshman was forced to let go of the spear as the monster landed on its four legs.

The monster roared and turned around to glare at him. Seeing those deadly eyes made Lakshman feel his blood drained from his face. He took tentative steps back as the monster slowly walked towards him. Then the Chamatex Lagrator suddenly stumbled on its front legs and finally collapsed on the ground.

Lakshman breathed heavily as he stared into the eyes of the beast. He could see the light in those eyes and feel its burning desire to kill him, but it was over. The light in those eyes faded and the monster finally died.