“Wait here for a moment. You can calm your nerves for the time being. You will need it, heh,” the guard sneered at the group of dirty men as he left. He looked down at them for risking their lives for the vision of getting a few gold coins. Yeah, he envied those who won in the end but if they ended up crippled then what was the point of living. Not to mention, most of them were already fertilizing the land.

Some of them got angry at his condescending tone but were quiet. Offending people from the Venomous Viper Gang was the last thing they wanted.

However, some laughed at those guards. One of them was the delirious old man who went through this event several times.

Yet, despite so many victories, he still wore torn clothes like some vagabond.

Illyan waited in the corner, prepared to check out the surroundings the moment they would come out to the arena. It was quite a crude plan, but anything more meticulous would take too much time. After all, the security was quite considerable despite individual strength being lower than his, and it would be hard to pierce through all that defense.

Especially when this wasn’t something he specialized in at all. He was a warrior, beginner spiritualist, and now he was also a scholar who learned the theory of many subjects. But nothing he learned prepared him for this kind of infiltration.

Because of that, he would have to choose a more radical approach if there was no option left.

Suddenly, the gate in front of them started to make noises as it slowly opened. The cheers outside were hardly heard when the gate was closed, but the moment they entered the arena, their entire bodies vibrated with the sound.

Some enjoyed it, while the more experienced, like the old man, were indifferent to it. However, that was only a minority as most, Illyan included, felt nervous and uneasy.

“Agh!” This similar unease was felt by their opponents who growled in confusion. But once the goblins saw the men in front of them coming their way, their instinct to hunt was aroused.

“Vrrrr!”

Scared, the men quickly ran to weapon racks and took their weapons. Most of them chose swords as it was considered a weapon of knights, and because of that, they unconsciously thought of it as the best option.

Few took different weapons. There was one guy who took a spear. It was obvious he was a beginner, but Illyan nodded in approval as he also took the spear.

‘At least I won’t stand out too much for taking different weapons.’ In Illyan’s opinion, fighting against a goblin whose height was much smaller than a human's with a spear was the best option for beginners. With it, even Illyan could easily fight against the goblins without looking too skilled. He could keep his distance and only stab when necessary.

However, that wasn’t the reason why he entered the arena. He focused on his spiritual perception, and soon the area around him was felt. While he still needed extensive focus that could be easily broken, he now was much more sensitive thanks to his endless usage of [Nature Breath Method] during these 13 years.

His sense first ran through the 28 auras in the arena and then continued up towards the stands where the audience sat. With one look, he could see all kinds of people. Some were important at a glance thanks to their elegant upbringing and expensive-looking clothes.

However, what he was looking for was something within. He didn’t know what the young masters of the Venomous Viper Gang looked like, so he had to find them by feeling their Flow. Of course, Illyan never saw someone with Flow in his life, but he knew what to look for, so he wasn’t worried.

It didn’t take long for his perception to finally feel some kind of resistance.

“Uh?” Suddenly, someone he perceived stared down as if trying to find the one who stared. Illyan got goosebumps as he quickly retracted his senses and pretended to stare fearfully at the goblins.

Fortunately, his acute hearing managed to filter out the noises from the arena and heard the voice of a middle-aged man.

“What’s the matter, my lord?” The man in his forties who used to act arrogantly in this town was now being subservient to the man in front of him. But he didn't feel the shame in it. He was actually excited. A better connection with this man could bring an endless amount of benefits to his gang and mainly to him!

This man was called Caleb and was the second son of Varel The Viper. He was the one who recreated the arena from the capital into this town’s underground arena over 20 years ago.

The reason why he managed to take this fat pie for himself was thanks to his deep insight and luck. As this place was too poor and the prospect of an arena was too small, not even the Mayor wanted to invest in this kind of facility.

However, Caleb wanted to take the risk and gambled. He managed to make a connection with one of the organizations beyond the kingdom that was regularly sending their people to this town to collect bodies and prisoners.

Since he knew what they were after, it wasn’t hard to get support from a few of them. With them, he also managed to persuade many merchants from the capital in secret to invest in his project.

Because it was at that time when the Great Bandit started to plague their wagons and carriages for the first time, they feared visiting any towns further in the north.

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However, thanks to the protection of the robed men, they managed to circulate their goods at an even higher speed than before, which made them grateful and considered the deal.

In the end, some of them agreed and later on were gleeful as the gold coins were flowing into their hands.

Thanks to several coincidences, he managed to become one of the richest men in Winterfrost Town.

But no complacency was found in his eyes as he didn’t forget who gave him this opportunity back then.

Man who can shoot fire from his hands and control dead bodies…

A Mage.

“Nothing. I just thought that someone was observing us. We can’t afford to fail.” The robed man with cold eyes answered indifferently as he took his eyes away from the arena, not interested in the fight at all.

“Well, that’s possible since there are so many people. Maybe they are interested in sir since-”

“Caleb.” The man stared into Caleb’s eyes with hidden meaning, which made him gulp in nervousness.

“I overstepped my boundaries. I apologize, my lord.” Caleb once again bowed his head.

Meanwhile, Illyan’s ears perked when he heard the name ‘Caleb.’ While he didn’t know the faces of the sons, he definitely made sure to know their names. Even though the names weren’t unique and there were many with the same names, how many Calebs would talk with someone who could notice his Spiritual Sense?

He waited for a moment before he sneak-peeked at those men and made a small smile afterward. Just as he thought. The one who was called Caleb was a muscular man with a sword on his waist.

Not only that, but Illyan could see with his eyes the energy that was flowing in his body. It was faint, but it definitely was there.

On the other hand, the man next to him had the same gray robe as the other Corpse Thieves. That’s how Illyan chose to call them as he didn’t know anything else about them.

This man had a similar film of pulsation around his body like the first Corpse Thief he met, just much stronger. At first, he didn’t know if strong pulsation meant the person was strong or not, but now he got a clue.

Since the one with weaker pulsation was with a small merchant, he could already guess that this guy was much stronger. That also meant that they didn’t have the way to conceal their powers.

But talking about concealing oneself…

‘Who was it?!’

Illyan realized in horror that he made a miscalculation. When he was sensing the people in the arena ground with his Spiritual Sense, he only felt 28 auras in the vicinity.

Eight were that of the human species, and twenty new auras he never felt before but knew that were auras of goblins.

But there were nine people excluding him in the arena.

Once he remembered roughly where each aura was, he looked around until his eyes fell on one person.

The old man who was known for entering this arena several times while surviving each time. He took two short swords into each hand while standing there nonchalantly with a toothy grin on his face. He was missing a few teeth, while his hair and beard were messy, giving him a wild appearance.

He didn’t seem to realize the Spiritual Sense intruding into the arena, but when Illyan glanced at him, he turned his head and met his eyes. His face was surprised for a second as he noticed Illyan’s mutilated face, and then he grinned. The two stared at each other for a moment before they nodded at each other before shedding their eyes away.

Illyan’s heart was throbbing as he pretended it to be just a casual look. But now he was sure.

The man was dangerous. Maybe even more than the man in the stands.

He couldn’t see anything in the old man’s movement as it looked like he was a complete amateur, but Illyan’s strong instincts were telling him that the man could pose him great danger. Coupled with his carefree toothless smile, he made Illyan be extra careful next to him.

While he didn’t have the reason to cross his hands with the man, he didn’t know why he was coming to this place that was meant for the sc

ums of society.

If he wasn’t careful, this man could easily destroy his plan if he wanted to.

However, now wasn’t the time to strike yet.

All of this happened in just a few seconds, so his attention turned to the goblins which were already closing in.

“Hey! Don’t just stand there! Get into formation, you dumbasses!” One of the rough men started yelling at the nervous guys, Illyan and the old man.

The old man just shrugged his shoulders as he went forward.

Illyan didn’t say anything either as he got closer to the group and waited.

“Listen to me! We must work together to kill them! Prepare yourself!” Another said as he held his sword.

Soon, both sides were ready to clash as the goblins ran towards them with their salivating mouths wide open.

However, just as the first row started to slash with their swords, one of the people felt his legs buckle as he wanted to turn around to get behind others.

Unfortunately for him, the goblins didn’t let this opportunity go as one of them shrieked and threw its knife.

“Agh!” The knife embedded into the guy’s leg, which made him fall.

“You cretin! What are you doi-Argh?!”

As the man was falling, he tried to support himself by catching onto someone else. This made the other person burdened, and soon several goblins lunged at him as they frantically stabbed him.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the goblins weren’t exactly strong creatures, and so the wounds weren’t deep enough to kill them in one strike.

This allowed the man to swing his sword a few times, killing two goblins before he succumbed to wounds.

The one who tried to escape didn’t have as much luck as he fell on his stomach without being able to put any strength in his attacks as he was swiftly stabbed to death.

While the rough guy at the front was annoyed at this sight, his eyes glinted. Several goblins were surrounding the two men while stabbing them, making a perfect target.

“Attack them!”

“Agh!”

“Grrrr!”

“I want to surrender! Pleas-Argh-Squelch”

…….

The fight didn’t last for long. The last goblin fell in the first few minutes as a guy with a spear managed to toss his spear right into the creature's stomach, ending its life.

Out of ten people, only five survived, while one of them was heavily injured. However, for this kind of fight, it could be an overwhelming victory for the human side.

That was, of course, because two skilled men were pulling the strings from behind. Well, one of them since Illyan was even more careful and didn’t contribute much as he killed only two goblins.

But the old man was different. He killed three goblins, but his real contribution came from guiding other humans to victory. Even if his indirect guidance led some to death.

To normal people, he didn't do such a thing as he was inconspicuous while doing that, but for someone already suspicious of him, he immediately noticed his little scheme.

Fortunately, he kept his distance from him, not suffering from his shenanigans at all.

“Ladies and gentlemen! Did you see this exemplary victory?! With the help of our already famous champion, Ityril, who won many times in the past, they managed to kill the horde of goblins with just 50% of casualties! This is why humans are rulers of this world as no beasts are opponents for us!”

The commentator passionately talked about our victory, which made the survivors yell in joy. Even the rough man’s mouth curled into a crooked smile as he thought about the money he would get.

“Hah!” However, the one, Illyan just realized was called Ityril, who was the champion of this fight, just snorted at the commentator's words as if dissatisfied.

Illyan narrowed his eyes but shook his head immediately after as he retreated back into the room beyond the gates…