Chapter 15: Overcoat(3)
“What is this!”
Sina Solbein couldn’t help but be appalled at the chaos inside the Colosseum.
For starters, Sina didn’t enjoy gladiator fights. But while deliberating on whether she should come or not, she came out of respect for seeing Juan’s last moments at least.
However, the flow of the battle inside headed in an unexpected direction.
Every door inside the Colosseum opened, and countless monsters ravaged the arena and podium, covering it in blood.
“Sa, save me! Sav….”
Sina got her wits back together, after being frozen in place.
She drew her sword and quickly cut off the troll’s arm but the man’s arm had already ripped and was limply dangling from his shoulders.
“Ausrey! Take command of our troops! Help people evacuate! Also send the youngest back to headquarters for aid!”
“Yes! And what’s Sina nim intending to do?”
“I’ll go to Daaron and try to figure out a way to get this situation back under control! Now move!”
The Blue Rose knights all scattered and began confronting the monsters.
The knights instructed the Colosseum’s soldiers, while cutting down monsters down with ease.
However, a few monsters were too powerful, even for them.
‘How on earth did they capture and transport such powerful monsters.’
They did hear that they went overboard because it was the emperor’s birthday. But even so, this was too much.
Sina raced across the seating, thinking about what she needed to say to Daaron.
The director’s podium was already destroyed. A massive ant with a fat stomach was trying to crawl inside, while orcs were hanging onto the rails..
The soldiers desperately slashed their spears at the monsters in retaliation. Tiny beads of green blood oozed out but they couldn’t do meaningful damage through the orcs’ leather skin.
A spider suddenly speared a soldier with her front leg and threw him into her mouth.
The soldier’s belly was instantly ripped apart and his intestines flowed out. A horrible scream followed.
Sina moved forwards while swinging her sword in a circle.
A clear light cut through the spider and its limbs detached from its body.
She stepped on the spider’s corpse and ran towards the director’s seat. She grabbed Darron by the collar as soon as she saw him.
“Daaron! Explain yourself! What’s happened!”
Daaron’s expression was frozen and a cold sweat was dripping down his neck.
Sina had interrogated him many times before but this was her first time seeing him panic.
Sina realized after seeing his face that this situation had gone beyond Daaron’s control.
“I was, I uh… only wanted to recreate the emperor’s scene….”
At that moment, a troll finished crawling up the rails. Sina slashed the troll and sprayed its blood everywhere.
Daaron flinched from being sprayed by the blood and let out a groan.
Sina hoisted him up by his lapels.
“Wake up! You have to get things under control or everyone will die!”
Daaron came back to his senses once Sina belted him with words. He quickly pointed at somewhere in the Colosseum.
“Control room!, the control room is over there! We’ll be able to close the doors if we manage to get control there!”
“It’s too late! Your beasts have already crawled up to the podium!”
“No! If we close the doors, we’ll avoid the worst possible scenario….”
Ooo Ddduk, Ku Kwang!.
As Daaron was frantically speaking, somewhere a sound of something collapsing could be heard.
Daaron’s pupils twitched and Sina looked towards the origin of the sound.
One part of the Colosseum had collapsed and something was revealed from inside the dust that had formed.
A colossal size so large that it was hard to comprehend how it was hidden inside, let alone how it fit through the doors.
One large eye was embedded in the middle of its face.
Sina muttered a groan.
“Giant cyclops? How on earth….”
Sina couldn’t believe what was in front of her eyes.
How was it kept hidden inside the colosseum and why had it suddenly shown up now.
It seemed to be around eight metres in height.
The cyclops made the ground rumble with each step.
And it soon found itself in front of Tantil’s champion, Lecto.
Lecto who was looking up at the cyclops with empty thoughts was instantly trampled.
Like so, Tantil’s champion was flattened to death without even a scream.
“Hah, hah, haa….. So that has shown up too….”
Hearing Daaron’s hollow laugh, Sina was in disarray.
The destruction caused by a giant cyclops would be catastrophic. Even if the entire knight order came, they had to accept that some damage was unavoidable.
At the very least they needed someone of priest level….
Sina’s thoughts didn’t last long.
From the control room that Daaron previously pointed to, someone had appeared.
Someone small and undersized.
It was Juan, who they thought had disappeared.
*****
There was an effective way to release the locks that held the monsters and creatures in place. Once a vast amount of blood swarmed through, it became clear.
Juan didn’t particularly wish to kill everyone inside the arena, but then again, he wouldn’t be sad either if they had all died.
Anyways, he had achieved his objective.
“Is this the fellow?’
Juan tilted his head while looking up at the giant cyclop. He soon denied his thoughts.
It was certain, he could feel Taltere’s mana from this cyclop, but it wasn’t the physical body that had pulled all that mana previously. He also felt that the cyclops was forcefully grown beyond its right size.
It was possibly sent out to sort out the situation in the arena.
‘Maybe it’s an avatar.’
Gods typically raised avatars to do their bidding and spread their influence across humanity.
The giant cyclops was still a baby but was forcefully fed mana to inflate its body to an irregular size.
‘Can I handle it though?’
It was hilarious he was thinking this when it wasn’t even Taltere in front of him but only a cyclops. But right now, his body was weak. It was a wise decision to run away.
And yet, Juan didn’t have any intention of doing so.
He who had slain hundreds of gods, couldn’t turn his back at sight of a mere avatar.
It looked like the giant cyclops hadn’t noticed him yet.
Feeling the sunlight and smelling blood for the first time, the cyclops was attacking things regardless if they were monsters or people.
“Juan!”
Someone had called out to him from behind. It was Sina.
Sina had come running down to the arena as soon as she saw Juan. As if she had already cut down many monsters while coming here, she was covered in monster blood and innards.
“Let‘s escape! We have to get away right now!”
Juan was looking at Sina with a ‘what are you talking about’ look.
He soon recognised how he’d be appearing to others. A child in the middle of a field swarming with monsters. It would certainly have looked like he was in danger.
“Don’t worry about me and go. I’ve got things to do .”
“Blasphemy! Do you even know what that is? That’s…”
“A giant cyclops, aged about 6 years, and looks to have been excessively grown. Looking at it’s injuries on its skin, I can tell it has experienced rapid growth. From growing unnaturally, it’s gone through alot of pain. And from being exposed suddenly to an unfamiliar environment, yes it turned more violent but in truth it’s strength is not even close to that of an adult giant cyclops’s. It spent many days in the dungeon without competition, softening it’s muscles. Looking at it closely, it’s just a confused monster, that’s all.”
Sina’s jaw dropped at Juan’s words . An analysis that she couldn’t believe that it had come from a nine year old. While taking his words to thought, Sina realised he had made a strange point.
“Many days in the dungeon? Were they really raising that monster inside the Colosseum dungeon?”
“Looks like you weren’t aware… This Colosseum, I mean back in the day, Taltere’s temple had a large dungeon underneath its floor. It was space only for gods but it was closed after Taltere was beheaded. It was likely raised there.”
Juan recalled back to when he saw the dungeon.
Inside, countless dead remains and sacrifices were neglected, resulting in a pit of hell.
Juan had ordered the closure at seeing the horrible sight.
But when Daaron developed the area into a Colosseum, he had secretly reopened the spacious area to grow monsters.
He knew this from analyzing the flow of mana and working close to the dungeon in the caves.
The giant cyclops was likely brought in when it had been small in size.
Juan could already picture exactly what would have happened. The problem would have stemmed from Taltere’s mana. He wasn’t sure of the exact details, but at the time, Taltere’s mana had chosen the baby cyclops.
And once the giant cyclops began to grow abnormally fast, Daaron would have panicked and closed off the area, secretly hoping it would die inside the dungeon.
But earlier, Juan had disengaged Colosseum’s entire locking system.
Thus, the cyclops came out onto the arena, tempted by the smell of blood.
“Daaron that bastard…..to go this far….”
It sounded as if Sina didn’t think of the possibility that Juan had disengaged the locking system.
Of course Juan had no thoughts of telling her the truth. It wasn’t something she would understand.
Thinking back, in his heydays, under Juan’s commands thousands had died and thousands were killed.
Only difference now was that humans were now the subjects. Suitable props for his grand aim.
“We can decide Daaron’s punishment later. First we need to escape!”
“How many times do I have to say it. If you want to be a saviour, go and save other people. I’ll look after myself.”
Juan irritatedly slapped her hand away.
Sina dumbly looked at Juan.
“What are you going to do?”
“What I’ve always done. Kill monsters.”
Juan leapt away.
And in a flash, rushed towards the giant cyclop.
‘Alright, first it’s height needs to be reduced.’
Using blink, Juan’s body swiftly darted past the giant cyclops’s achilles.
A long horizontal scar had formed at the back of its feet.
The giant cyclop screamed in agony and grasped its ankles at the unexpected pain.
Because Juan had quickly hid his body, it seemed the cyclops hadn’t yet figured out what had injured it.
‘Not deep enough….’
Although he successfully slashed at its achilles, the giant cyclops had three layers on his tendon to support its colossal size.
Juan clicked his tongue in frustration.
He had just earned the cyclop’s full attention. On top of that he did not achieve meaningful harm.
Then, he noticed the cyclops suddenly stumble and lean forwards as if it was in pain. He needed no more motivation than that.
“A little wasteful but”
Juan blasted off the floor again using blink.
Juan’s feet crashed on the giant cyclop’s stomach but it seemed it had only tickled the giant cyclops.
Thinking it was a mosquito inflicting him pain, the cyclops swung his arms around.
But In truth, Juan had other plans from the start.
He executed blink once more, when the giant cyclops pulled him into his chest.
The sunlight reflected a silver trajectory onto the cyclop’s eyes, blinding it..
A scream that shook the hearts of everyone inside the Colosseum, roared out.
The nearby monsters stumbled and collapsed. People of faint hearted started collapsing as well.
The giant cyclop’s eyes exploded as Juan’s worn out sword made a long cut.
White fluid and blood flowed down its face.
The one eyed giant moved its hands aimlessly in an attempt to find the enemy that it couldn’t see. Everywhere its hands went, nothing was there.
Using blink, Juan moved into the air then turned his body. One more time, he aimed his blade towards the ground.
And just before Juan’s body had reached its limit, he sunk the knife deep into the cyclops glabella.
JJung!
“Keuk!”
Juan’s body was flung back along with the sound of his blade breaking.
In spite of the ferocious speed, the giant cyclops skull still couldn’t be breached. Juan’s attempt to end this fight as soon as possible was a mistake.
Juan clicked his tongue. Only if he was able to send mana into his weapon. Only if his weapon was more sturdier than now at least, this fight would’ve been over already.
With a scowl, Juan lifted himself up from the sand.
The cyclops was growling as blood flowed down from its eyes and forehead.
Although it lost its eyes, it was now even more violent. In anger, it swayed its arms in frustration and a giant scorpion creature was instantly crushed.
‘Well, looks like I can’t go near it.’
Blink only required little mana consumption, but it did put significant strain on one’s body.
It required one’s body to blast off, so for a child’s body that hadn’t fully developed, it was to be even more expected. Juan’s body ached from the after effects of unnatural body enhancement.
‘Moving forward….two more times.’
And he needed to consider using it once to escape from the Colosseum. To escape by fighting through all the monsters inside just wasn’t ideal.
The solution was simple.
Kill the giant cyclops and the trail to where Taltere was hiding would be revealed.
The cyclop violently thrashed around then suddenly it stood still. It’s hazy eye that had been cut in half was staring at where Juan stood.
Realising something was wrong, Juan tried lifting himself up. But the effects of his collision had robbed him of his legs.
As if catching a fly the giant cyclop slammed down its hand onto Juan’s body.
This was unavoidable. If he narrowly escaped death, at the very least he would suffer a critical injury. The monsters would take care of his body.
Juan couldn’t say for sure if he would have enough mana to restore his body.
“Juan!”
Something was thrown in front of his eyes.
Without hesitation, he grabbed the sword and smoothly swung it in an arc.
Not an old worn out sword, but a sword made for a knight of the empire.
With a single strike, Juan used Sina’s sword to slice off the giant cyclop’s fingers. The cyclop restarted screaming.
With a flustered face Sina looked at Juan. She tossed it without any hope but Juan had grabbed it and confidently sliced the cyclops fingers as if he was waiting for the sword to be thrown.
“Been a long time since I held a proper sword.”
Juan staggered to his feet.
As if reacting to Juan’s mana that had flowed in, the sword was humming and lightly vibrating.
Although it was a one handed sword, Juan build was too light and had to confine himself to hold it in both hands.
Juan lowered his stance towards the cyclops.
A blueish mana energy started flaming above the sword.
The one eyed cyclop stopped struggling from its pain and like previously as if it was being controlled, it stared directly where Juan was standing.
He had waited for this moment. When the giant cyclops stopped moving, Juan’s body disappeared.
Sina didn’t even notice that Juan had disappeared. But she did observe that the giant cyclops had abruptly stopped rampaging.
Sina’s gaze naturally shifted upwards. A crack had started to thread open behind the giant cyclop’s head.
Jjuckk!
An ear splitting noise resounded and blood started pouring down from above.