The creaks sounded out as the gates opened, but the cheers were much more tamed than before. That already made Illyan suspicious, but when he saw from the corner of his eye the old man’s malicious grin, he became even more vigilant.

Soon, the gate was fully opened, and their group went out to meet their enemy. The first thing Illyan noticed was that the sand under his feet was completely crimson, telling the story of the first round.

At first, Illyan didn’t understand why they would put a layer of sand on the ground of the arena, but now seeing the contrast of the white and red, he kind of understood the dramatic effect it could have. Moreover, he felt his footing was so stable that it was almost impossible to fall off. As someone who trained on ice-covered land where one could slip all the time, this feeling was refreshing.

However, the bodies and the troll were nowhere to be seen. Illyan was sure they would not let the troll eat the bodies unless they were collecting them for the sake of feeding it.

But that didn’t make sense to Illyan either since trolls didn’t care whether they ate humans or pigs. Normal livestock would be enough to feed them.

Moreover, the bodies were carried back to the capital and maybe from the capital to somewhere else...

That meant that they needed to put the troll back behind bars else the bodies would end up in its belly.

Thanks to that, Illyan had a chance to look around secretly. This time, he didn’t have the courage to use spiritual energy as he only glanced around.

There were people cheering, but it was less than half of the previous audience. What Illyan didn’t expect was the fact that the second half of the audience, which was quiet, didn't have even a trace of aura!

‘What the hell...’ Illyan didn’t dare to stare too much as the alarm bells were ringing loudly in his mind. He also noticed that the original room where everyone waited behind bars was also full of these people without aura. However, before, he didn’t notice such things, so they had to relocate others or silence them.

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the second round of the fight against the evil giant and the heroic people of our town! Will they win this time or will they end up as the last batch?! We will see!”

Despite his misgivings, the commentator was still passionate as he started off the battle.

Soon, the ripples showed up on the sand as the tremors and jingling of chains were heard. The others became visibly nervous as they clenched their weapons strongly.

“Wrraaaah.”

The roar of the monster reverberated through their whole body as their ears rang. Illyan felt that this monster was quite formidable, but now he felt quite comfortable hearing it.

This monster was, in the end, just a monster. It was stupid and acted only on its instincts. On the other hand, the schemes that were happening around him made him feel suffocated.

He didn’t know what to expect at all.

‘Now that I think about it... Did I actually shoot myself in the foot?’ Illyan’s chase after power to avoid the Fate Trials did guide him to a situation that was quite problematic even though Illyan still wasn’t sure what the heck was happening.

At first, he wanted to blame himself for being stupid and rash, but then he cleared his mind.

His eyes shined like golden molten as he realized something.

‘If it really does have something to do with fate, then no matter what I do, I will end up in danger. If that is the case, then my choice of looking for an opportunity in the midst of danger was the right one...’

There was a small smirk on Illyan’s mouth as he knew that this time would be different from last time where he only suffered defeat. What he was satisfied with was the fact that he didn’t even need to look for proof of his conjecture.

At first, he didn’t notice and just thought he had some burst of confidence in some of his conjectures, but it ended up being the intervention of his eyes that mutated from the influence of the God of Truth. Whenever he ended up uncovering the truth, he would feel it.

Unfortunately, it didn’t work most of the time and only worked when the truth was connected to him. He also felt that his eyes were getting dimmer over time and feared that this ‘power’ wasn’t his but just the remains of the god’s power that would dissipate over time. But still, it was something incredibly useful as he would be clueless without it by now and would probably suffer.

Just as he was thinking about that, the gates on the opposite side opened as the towering shadow fell upon them.

The roar of the troll shook the entire arena as the colossal creature had to bend to even pass the gate.

Everyone got pale when they saw the creature.

The troll went in a slow gait as its legs were chained together and had to pull behind it a big lump of steel. But that didn’t stop it from looking intimidating as it stared angrily around.

The wrath was almost tangible as it was making havoc. It was manipulated around by the people the entire time, and when it finally thought it would feed itself, it was deprived of those bodies which made it furious and restless.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Its body that was over five meters tall was trembling as it swung its long arms around. However, the chains were covering its arms too as it couldn’t swing them properly.

The guards were holding other chains around its body and once they managed to guide it back to the arena they left before the troll could do anything.

Soon, the gate closed as the only people inside became the group Illyan was in.

The troll at first looked around as it wanted to climb to the audience seat with its long arms, but since it couldn’t lift its arm above its head, it was impossible.

Because of that, it didn’t take long before the troll stopped doing this and turned its attention to the people standing in front of it.

“Gwwaaaargh!” A powerful roar came out of its mouth together with its spit as it started charging at them.

“Prepare yourself!” One guy yelled out. Though, he didn’t seem to prepare himself for the clash at all as he was retreating to the side.

Others also didn’t hold any formations as they scattered in all directions. Nobody wanted to suffer the troll’s first strike as they knew the person would be gone.

Fortunately, trolls weren’t that fast, and with the chains constricting it even more, they had enough time to fully dodge to the side.

That didn’t lessen the pressure they felt though.

Illyan also felt high pressure when he saw the mountain of flesh rolling at them. It was comparable to the leader of the wendigos he had history with.

That meant that this creature was stronger than him.

‘That’s good.’

However, Illyan wasn’t discouraged, and instead, he saw that there was a path he could tread to achieve his goal.

But for now, he played to be just part of the mob as he got out of the way with a panicked expression.

Just as they all started retreating towards the back of the beast, the troll tugged strongly with his chains as he changed directions. This caused the lump of steel chained to its legs to hop from the ground at high speed for a second.

“Ah, oh no-Arrgh?!”

One person got too close as the steel ball brushed lightly against his arm. Unfortunately, that was enough for it to entirely shatter with brittle cracks as his body made several flips in the air until he fell heavily on the ground. It was unknown to others whether he lived or not.

“For all saints, you can’t be serious...” One of the younger men started to mumble to himself as he prayed to all human saints he remembered.

That didn’t stop the troll’s raging, though, as it reached its hand and grabbed the closest person next to it.

As the arena was originally made for human fights, the troll was so huge that it could reach almost anywhere with its long arms making it impossible to get out of its reach.

“Ah? Aaagh, noooo!” The person who got caught started to struggle frantically as others watched in horror.

However, the troll didn’t kill him immediately. It already lost its meal once today, and it didn’t plan to lose it again.

This time, it wouldn’t crush them to death. Instead, it slowly brought him to its mouth.

“N-noooooo!” The man finally realized he still held the sword in his arm and started to swing it at the beast.

When others saw that they were petrified. Only a few managed to get out of the daze as they used the opportunity to attack its legs!

“The joints! We just need it to fall down!” The rough man who fought in the first round with Illyan yelled out as he charged first. This gave the others the courage needed to attack as they stopped hesitating and attacked too.

Illyan, on the other hand, looked with an expressionless face at the man who was about to get eaten.

While he looked calm, he was covered in cold sweat as his arms trembled.

There were few things he feared, and they were usually the result of his trauma in childhood.

And one of them was the fear of being eaten alive.

The feeling of being held in the monster’s hand as it opened its mouth to swallow you. The helplessness you would feel when you were pressured by the gullet of the monster down the throat.

Illyan felt as if he returned back to his village as the smelly breath of the monster violated his senses.

However, in the end, Illyan woke up from his daze as he heard the squelching sound of flesh being torn.

The bulge on the troll's neck together with the body without a torso

in its hand hinted at the fate of the man.

But as the troll was enjoying its meal, it suddenly felt prickling pain on its legs.

“Guooh?”

When it looked down, it saw tiny humans slashing at it with their swords and spears.

Small wounds were accumulating on its legs but soon sealed up with its superior regeneration. The pain remained though and the troll was infuriated by them.

It wanted to stomp them to death, but the lump of steel made it too slow and everyone managed to get away.

Illyan also came to his senses and retreated to the back of the creature and waited for the opportunity as he once in time attacked with the hammer.

“Grrroooooaaaar!”

The fight ensued as the group was losing its members at a very high pace. Fortunately, under secret guidance from the old man, they managed to circle around the beast without having to fight it head-on.

Attacking only one of its legs caused it to have unstable balance as it wobbled around.

Illyan saw the opportunity as he rushed in head-on and smashed the hammer into its kneecap which caused the collapse of its legs.

“Hoaaaaer?!” With a sorrowful roar, it was falling to the ground, but Illyan didn’t let down his guard.

Because, it was at this moment when the old man who was holding back the entire time finally rushed in. The speed wasn’t that impressive, but it felt as if he was unstoppable and his attack was inevitable.

He used one of the survivors as a stepping stone as he jumped up at the falling troll and with two slashes he beheaded the troll.

Or at least, that was what Illyan expected. But instead, the sound of air being slashed open resounded before it was drowned down by the sound of clanking metals.

The sparks flew everywhere as the old man did several flips in the air and fell down on the group with elegance despite the blood flowing out of the corner of his mouth as he chuckled.

“I didn’t expect that you would show up, my old friend.”

The old man ignored the falling troll as he stared up towards the audience.

“Oh? Weren’t you the one who was secretly observing me during your first round? How else would I notice you?”

The robed man was standing at the edge of the audience seats as he stared down at the old man.

“I don’t remember doing that, though, hahah!” The old man still didn’t seem to be panicked at all as he stared at the man. However, his eyes glinted in displeasure since his plan got exposed.

“Hmph, I don’t care what you have to say. This day is the one I will end your miserable life, Ezekiel.” The robed man waved his hand as underneath his robe rose up dozens of blood-red bone spears with runes covering them.

“Heh, you are the only one who still uses my name, Aziro. I like the title of great bandit much more, though.” The old man was picking his ear as he stared upwards with a grin on his ugly face.

Aziro stared at the man expressionless as he waved his hand again.

Ezekiel was prepared to dodge the bone spears, but they didn’t move at all.

Instead, the entire audience stood up as they pulled their weapons and jumped into the arena rushing at him.

“Fucking...” Ezekiel mumbled under his nose as his face turned ugly when he saw the horde running at him...