Chapter 68
The Last Challenge Begins
Erin and her group were currently waiting in the room they had just walked in after surviving the previous challenge. The amount of other contestants had been dropped significantly when compared to the amount of people they had started with. Besides the redhead and her friends, there were only about a dozen other contestants left, including Goldiana.
“Guess these games have really cut out a lot of people,” Erin said as she looked at the other contestants. “How does the Laughing Ogre keep finding people to throw into this nightmare?”
“They have many ways,” Durge replied. “A lot of people are poor souls who crossed the gang one way or another, whether by borrowing money or by being a member from an enemy group. Some are former Laughing Ogre members that made too many mistakes and others are just unlucky bastards that got kidnapped by them.”
“Well, you’re certainly well-informed,” Ryle said sarcastically. “I’m guessing your experience from your previous job has a lot to do with that.”
“Ryle!” Erin hissed at the blonde, not liking the way she was antagonizing the orc.
“...As much as I wish I could deny it, you’re right,” Durge said as he looked down in shame. “I’ve taken part in most of the activities of the Laughing Ogre, many of which I’m not proud of at all.”
“Well… You didn’t have a choice, did you?” the redhead asked, hoping to ease things up. “I mean, had you disobeyed the orders you got, you would have ended here much sooner, if not killed. Besides, knowing how you tried to help us, especially Arnie, I’m sure you did the same for many other people as well.”
“Thanks for the comfort, but I fear it’s in vain,” the orc said. “I’ve been making those excuses in my mind for a long time already. They might offer some comfort for a moment and allow me to forget about what I did for some time, but the fact still remains that I committed those horrible crimes. No matter what I say to myself or what others may tell me, those facts will always remain.”
Erin wanted to say something, to tell Durge that he was wrong, yet she couldn’t. He was right about what he said. No matter what excuse was made, what had happened would still remain the same.
“And I always did have a choice. I could have chosen to fight for what I knew was right, despite how much it would have cost me, or I could simply do what I’m doing now. Living in shame and empty excuses,” the orc continued before looking at the redhead in the eyes with a sad, broken look. “Tell me something. What do you think I really should have done?”
Erin wanted to say that he had done the right thing. That he had tried his best against unfair circumstances. Yet she held those words back, knowing that they would only sound hollow if she said them.
An awkward silence fell over the group, as no one really had anything left to say in regards to their conversation. Luckily, Lexton managed to find it in himself to break the silence and steer the conversation into a new direction.
“So Durge, what do you think the next challenge is going to be?” the kobold asked. “Can you make some sort of a prediction based on what we have faced so far?”
“Tough to say exactly. They like to change things up in order to keep their watchers interested,” the orc replied. “The only thing that I know for certain is that it will be the toughest out of all the challenges we have faced so far.”
“Any idea what it could be?” Erin asked. “Do we have to face a giant monster of some kind? Like a dragon?”
“A dragon!? You gotta be kidding me! There’s no way the Laughing Ogre could ever get something like that!” Durge said with a small laugh. “However, that is something the last challenge has sometimes been. Most of the time they just buy some terrifying freak of nature that some black market loonies cooked up in a lab.”
“What else can the challenge be besides a bloodthirsty monster that wants to eat us?” Lexton asked, hoping that whatever other options there were would be better.
“Technically, those things don’t usually eat people. Rather they just seem to enjoy tearing people apart,” the orc said thoughtfully. “Anyways, I’ve heard that sometimes they like to set up a war game between the remaining contestants and some mercenary or bandit group they’ve hired.”
“Anything else?” Erin asked.
“Well... There is another thing I’ve heard happen, but it’s not something you guys would be happy to face,” Durge said. “Sometimes, they just force the remaining people into a battle royal, where the last one left is declared the winner.”
The redhead could feel her face turn pale at the thought of being forced to fight her friends. Not only did she know that she wouldn’t stand a chance against Durge or Ryle, but there was no way in hell that she could bring herself to harm any of them. Whatever the challenge ahead of them might be, she prayed in her head that it wouldn’t be that.
“I should probably point out that battle royals are pretty rare. After all, just having the people remaining fight each other is something that would turn boring very quickly, which is why they mostly do it only on special occasions,” Durge quickly said. “However, there is something else we should be worried about. Or rather someone.”
“Who is that?” Lexton asked.
“That blondie over there,” the orc replied as he motioned towards Goldiana, who was leaning against a wall and relaxing. “I’ve had a bad feeling about her for some time now.”
“Why? Do you know her?” Erin asked.
“Probably one of his fellow serial killers or something,” Ryle said with a venomous tone.
The redhead gave her blonde friend a glare that told her to be quiet, before turning her attention back to Durge.
“...I actually have no idea who she is or who she works for. She actually got thrown into these games weeks before any of you even showed up in this town,” the orc answered. “From what I heard, she apparently picked a fight with some of the Laughing Ogre thugs that ended up with them dead. But when people got sent after her, she simply surrendered without a fight. Not only that, but she even requested to be thrown into these games.”
“She wanted to be here?” Erin asked. “Why the hell would anybody want to end up in this living hell?”
“I can’t say for sure, but it seems that she’s doing this for her own enjoyment or something,” Durge explained. “In fact, after she survived her first time, she actually told me that she was disappointed and had hoped for more of a challenge. I wanted to have her executed as a possible threat, but the boss and many of our customers had taken a liking to her, so she was allowed to go on.”
“If she finds this easy, I’d hate to see what she considers an actual challenge,” Lexton said in a slightly scared tone.
“There’s even more weirdness regarding her,” the orc added. “Around the time you guys were coming to town, she received this visitor. He didn’t say his name or who he worked for. All he did was request to get to talk to Goldiana and paid us very handsomely for it. The strange thing is that the amount of money he was ready to drop just so he could have a conversation with her was something only those under the direct command of The Five Overlords could do.”
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
This really caught Erin’s attention. From the start, Goldiana had seemed somewhat strange when compared to the other contestants. While most were either nervous or even completely terrified over where they had ended up, the blonde barbarian seemed entirely calm, like this whole thing was not a big deal for her. Besides that, she was also very strong from what the redhead had seen and seemed to have very beneficial connections. For someone like that to end up as meat for the slaughter that would just entertain some gangsters seemed impossible.
But what if there was something else behind this? Such as a powerful ally backing her up from the shadows? And if that was the case, what was her ultimate goal?
“Hey, Erin,” Ryle whispered to the redhead. “If what he’s saying is true, then do you think that Goldiana could be working for the big five themselves?”
“Hard to say,” Erin whispered in response. “If that is the case, then why would she be here? I don’t understand how she ended up here? Don’t you think it’s a bit weird that someone of that caliber would end up as a prisoner of some thugs?”
“Yeah, but it seems like she wanted that to happen,” the blonde added, still whispering. “You heard what Durge told us, right? Seems to me that she picked a fight with these bozos just to get in here.”
“Even if that’s true, why would she do that?”
“Isn’t it obvious? To get her hands on you.”
Upon hearing Ryle point this out, Erin’s eye went wide as she thought about the conversation she had with Goldiana at the end of the first challenge she had gone through. The barbarian woman had said that she had been waiting for her near the exit. Had Goldiana planned to kill her there, only for the plan to be ruined due to them running out of time?
If that was the case, the redhead had been truly lucky. With the wounds and exhaustion weighing down her body, as well as her being busy looking after Lexton, it would have been a one-sided fight in the barbarian’s favor.
However, now that the last challenge of these games was coming up, the moment Erin would have to face Goldiana would come soon. She doubted the barbarian was going to miss her last chance for the day.
Suddenly, the speakers turned on, signaling the start of the last challenge.
“Hello to all of the remaining contestants!” the voice called out. “I would like to first congratulate all of you who were able to make it this far. There are a lot of people interested in seeing how well some of you do, even when it comes to the last game of the day. Now, I would be lying if I were to tell you that they were all in support of you, because some of them want you guys to die horribly, but we won’t let something like that bother us, will we?”
“Speak for yourself, you jackass,” Ryle muttered as she glared at the speakers, as Erin and the others shared the blonde’s feelings on the matter.
“Anyways, you all get the drill by now, don’t you?” the voice from the speakers spoke up as a door began to open. “Now you go in there and give us a good show!”
With the door open, the remaining contestants began moving there one by one. Erin looked up and saw guards walking on top of the surrounding walls, ready to shoot anyone who wasn’t complying.
“Guess we might as well get this over with,” the redhead said as she motioned for her group to follow her, who did so.
Walking through the door, the remaining contestants ended up in a large round arena that was suspended in the air by strong chains coming from the ceiling. You couldn’t see below, as it was too dark for that, but one could hear movement from there. A few large metal barricades had been placed around the arena, most likely to provide some sort of cover to the ones who would be fighting for their lives there.
The contestants had entered the arena via a bridge that had been set up for them beforehand. Now that all of them were on the arena, the bridge was pulled back, leaving them with nowhere to run from whatever they would be facing.
“Ladies and gentlemen! Sorry to keep you waiting for so long! Our preparations for the final game are finally ready, so let’s get this party started!” the announcer exclaimed happily. “Our remaining contestants have done quite well to survive this far, but will they be able to handle what we have in store for them!? Let’s find out!”
Erin and her group could only wait in tense silence, fearing what it would be that the Laughing Ogre had in store for them.
“Our last game will be a simple one! All the contestants need to do is slay the monster that we have prepared for them!” the announcer continued. “However, they need to be careful and try not to fall! If they do, it won’t end well for them!”
The area below the arena was suddenly lit up, revealing what was hiding there in the darkness. All eyes looked downwards to see what was there. The contestants were horrified to learn the truth about the sounds they had been hearing so far.
Right beneath them were numerous ghouls, all trying to reach the platform above them in order to devour the flesh of the people there.
“Holy shit… How the hell did they gather so many ghouls in one place?” Lexton asked as he stared down at the sea of undead monsters with wide eyes. “There has got to be hundreds of them!”
“Well, all you really need is a couple of them to start. After that, you just need to let them infect a few unlucky bastards and eventually, you have this on your hands,” Durge explained. “These things are surprisingly low on maintenance, when you know how to handle them.”
“Whatever the case, that closes one possible way of getting out of here,” Erin said. “Hopefully whatever we have to face here is at least something that we can beat.”
“That should be possible,” the orc said as he shifted his sight towards the ceiling, where a large metal container was being lowered down on the arena. “From what I’ve seen, most of these things are dangerous, but are mostly bought due to looking impressive rather than because they actually are. They often have certain weaknesses that can be exploited, so we should be able to win this as long as we are careful.”
“What kind of weaknesses do you mean?” the redhead asked.
“Like I told you earlier, most of the time the Laughing Ogre buys some artificially created monster that was created by some crazed black market scientist,” Durge explained. “Because they are often a mismatch of different creatures, you can spot where the different pieces are held together. By attacking those areas, we can basically make them break apart.”
“Got it. We’ll follow your lead on this,” Erin said before looking at her other two companions. “You guys ready?”
“As ready as I can be,” Lexton said with a nod.
“Yeah, sure,” Ryle replied.
The container had finally been lowered to the arena floor, where all contestants had their eyes locked on it, waiting for whatever horrifying monstrosity within it to burst out. However, nothing seemed to be happening as the container stayed still, with only a low growling coming from within it.
“Huh? What’s taking that thing so long?” Ryle asked. “Don’t tell me that it’s already dead or something!”
“It’s probably sedated or something,” Erin said. “Besides, you can tell that it’s not dead. You can hear that thing growling.”
While everyone was focused on watching the container in anticipation of what was to come, Lexton was closely listening to the sound of the growling. For some reason, it sounded familiar to him. He just couldn’t quite figure out where he had heard it before.
Upon realizing what the sound was, the kobold’s eyes went wide and his face turned pale. Images of a horrifying memory came flashing through his mind, when this hit him. They were all in grave danger.
“Guys,” Lexton said in a terrified tone, catching the attention of his companions. “We need to hide. NOW.”
“Huh? What do you mean?” Erin asked.
“Alright, my good people! We are finally ready to get things started over here! Thank you all for your patience!” the announcer spoke up, cutting off the kobold before he could answer. “Now, we have something very special prepared not just for our dear viewers, but our contestants as well! Are you ready to hear what it is!?”
Silence fell over the contestants as they waited to hear what they were up against.
“For some time now, we’ve had complaints over the kind of creatures we bring in to these final battles and we have heard your pleas for a change!” the announcer said. “Today, we won’t be having the usual lab-grown monster facing our contestants! Instead, we have brought you a real majestic beast! One that only very few get to see with their very own eyes!”
Suddenly, the growling within the container started to grow louder as the beast within began to move around, banging on the metal walls surrounding it. The container itself moving in response to the force of the creature.
“Now, feast your eyes on this sight!” the announcer exclaimed as the monster burst out of the container with a primal roar.
The creature was large, easily bigger than a tank. It’s massive body was bulky and muscular, a sign of the fearsome power the beast held. It had dark gray scales covering the upper part of it’s body, like an impenetrable armor. The scales underneath were grayish brown in color and looked much softer than the upper ones, but only a fool would mistake them as something one could easily break. A massive tail was dragging along the ground behind it, as it moved around with heavy steps that shook the arena. Its mouth was large enough to easily swallow people whole and was lined with sharp teeth that were half the size of an adult man. From within the mouth, a clear white liquid was dripping to the floor, burning whatever it touched. Two large yellow eyes were looking around its surroundings, holding behind them a fury that promised death and destruction to those they found.
image [https://i.ibb.co/jJsz752/Ch-68-Pic-1.jpg]
Every contestant knew before the announcer said anything what this creature was.
“Your eyes are not deceiving you, folks! That’s the real deal right there!” the announcer exclaimed. “For the first time, we have a real dragon in the arena!”
Erin and her companions stared at the monster before them with wide eyes, utterly terrified at the mere idea that this was something they would have to face.
“...There’s no way the Laughing Ogre could get a dragon, huh?” Ryle asked in a tone that was a mix of sarcasm and fear.
“I stand corrected,” Durge said. “Although, I really wish I wasn’t…”
----------------------------------------
Meanwhile, a couple of Laughing Ogre thugs were watching the games unfold from a screen on a nearby wall. Despite being on duty, they felt so confident in their status as the biggest group in the area that the thought of anyone that could pose a threat coming there seemed ridiculous. This sense of security meant that they could slack of in their guard duties and simply enjoy the show.
“Man, I can’t believe they actually managed to get a dragon!” one of the thugs said with a whistle. “I thought that the guys over at the game preparation were lying when they said they got one.”
“Same here. But now that I see it with my own eyes, I can’t do anything except be amazed!” another thug said with a chuckle. “Although, should we continue watching this? I don’t want the boss to catch us away from our posts.”
“Like the boss is even gonna come here!” a third member said. “Besides, how often do you think we get a chance to see a dragon? A freaking dragon! I’m not gonna miss a single second of this!”
The other thugs murmured in agreement, not wanting to miss even a moment of what they were about to witness. However, due to their negligence, a certain cat boy was able to sneak his way past the guards, following signs that said “CONTROL ROOM.”