All around him, jeers and insults were spat without care. And the sun bore down on him so brightly, that he could barely even look up at the crowd. The fact that they all were still dressed in robes created a stark contrast between their behavior and the almost complete lack of visible identity.

The double doors he had come in through were already closed behind him and the portcullis being raised on the opposite side of the sandy arena was now the only way out. Huffing and snorting, a monster the size of a bull rushed out into the middle of the space, frantically looking around.

Seeing no way to avoid it, Eik hefted the unfamiliar dagger and marched forward, immediately drawing the attention of the the monster. He would be lying if he didn't feel the urge to take his powers for a spin after being locked up in the glass cube for so long.

Extremely long, razor-like claws protruded from sickly thin limbs that seemed so fragile that they shouldn't have been capable of supporting the kind of movement the monster was demonstrate, let alone carry its considerable weight at all. Angry tentacles protruded from the back of a thick, armored neck like a disgusting, wiggly mane. Each independent tentacle constantly whipped out through the air and was immediately plunged into the monster's round mouth as if it was tasting its surroundings somehow.

Within a second, the tentacles all turned in his direction and the monster abruptly exploded forward toward him. Surprisingly, however, it really wasn't particularly quick.

As the tentacled bastard rushed in, the jeers of the crowd only grew more cacophonous and insulting, wishes for his misery and death expressed freely and with no filter. That pissed him off. They seemed to underestimate him quite a bit, convinced that he would be killed right away.

So when the monster came upon him, he took a single step forward and applied Movement Boost to throughout his arm and punched a crater into the beast's face. The momentum of its entire body was reversed by the sheer power of Eik's blow as it was thrown back the way it had come, brain matter exploding out of the back of its head.

Twirling the dagger around his fingers, he flashed the cockiest of grins up at the now silent crowd, offering them one more heartfelt gesture in the form of his middle finger. While he doubted that particular gesture carried the same meaning on the inter-dimensional scene as it did back home, his intention didn't seem lost on them.

Even angrier and more bloodthirsty than before, the cultists screamed furiously down at him, some of them even throwing whatever they had in their hands. It was absolutely insane to see how mad they were when he had barely heard a cultist utter a single sound until then.

If the cult's goal with a murderous performance like this was to desensitize the devotees to senseless violence while rallying them together in hate against common enemies, then they were succeeding massively.

He dodged most of the thrown objects with playful ease, but some of them came at dangerously high velocities. A horn sounded and as if on cue, they all ceased their throwing and made do with insults.

With the monster's corpse still baking in the sand, the portcullis began to rise once more. Before it could reach more than a couple of dozen centimeters, something whisked through at significantly higher speed than the first monster had. It looked to be about D-rank.

Its body was serpentine, but the sight of its skin covered in long, thick strands of hair sent shivers down his spine.

Holding the small dagger tightly, Eik conjured an elongated length of blue crystal in extension of the blade, the edge glinting in the bright sun. Triggering a minor activation of Backflow, Eik met the disgusting serpent head on and deftly side-stepped its lunging strike.

Even without his regular Potion of Mighty Strength complemented by Perfect Consumption to add onto his physical abilities, Eik was still so much stronger that the serpent could do nothing to counter him as he plunged the blue blade deep into its flank and through to the other side. With a grunt he carried it through, splitting the monster in two lengthwise, its own momentum helping him get all the way through.

With its ten meter long body, blood showered Eik from top to toe. He flicked the blade hard as the toxin melted into liquid, sending the many cultists another shit-eating grin.

There had to be a few thousand of them up there on the stands. Judging by the bloody corpses lying forgotten in the sand, the brutal event must have been going on for at least an hour. A few monsters besides the two Eik had already killed lay dead as well, a testament to the fallen participants' prowess, but Eik didn't imagine that many of them were spared even if they did manage to vanquish a beast or two.

This time he flipped them a double dose of the bird, spitting on the ground in derision. Drinks and food flew, none of it hitting him. It was like a damn football stadium in here. It made no sense that this was the same cult he had encountered a few times now. It was worlds apart, as if their brains were programmed to go into crazy mode here.

How often did they hold these death games? Every week? Daily? Multiple times a day? There were many victims to be found in the Unified Mass.

They wanted to witness his death, but he wouldn't deliver.

Again, a horn sounded and, again, something flew out to meet him. Why couldn't these damned monsters go for the crowd once in a while? Granted, there would certainly be some manner of defensive measurements in place to protect the, but still, it's the thought that counts, right?

This one he killed almost instantly as well, a slightly more powerful dose of Backflow making it child's play to rip the monster apart. He was careful not to use more of his skills than he needed to get the kill.

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The fourth beast he had a lot more trouble with. As their ranks appeared to be rising with every encounter, he was now forced to release a fully powered Backflow in order to keep up with what must have been a mid-stage B-ranker.

In the end it took some time to bring it down. Unwilling to take too many risks, he flitted around at high speeds, empowered by Movement Boost, and used the mediocre dagger to inflict a few wounds here and there.

With the control he now had over Profound Toxin, he could direct the toxin in through the wounds a little bit at a time while he otherwise focused on keeping himself safe. Avoiding attacks and keeping a few intact shells of crystalline toxin on ready for deployment was his highest priority.

A couple of times he was knocked away by an enormous paw, the monster resembling a bear in physique, only twice the size and with disproportionately large front limbs, but prepared as he was, all he suffered were a few scratches and bruises. Strong as his toxin had become, it quickly began to show signs of succumbing to the deadly effects.

The more addled and exhausted it grew, the more he could start to let down his guard and focus on offense. And then finally, after dancing around, he leapt onto its thick neck, got a good hold of the fur growing there, and started plunging the dagger into the tough flesh, again and again, relentlessly.

It whined as strength fled its body rapidly until it collapsed. Eik kept stabbing, just to be certain that it wouldn't get up. He stood up and looked up at the crowd. They never seemed to shut up.

The mood to flip them off was long gone now that it seemed certain that an A-ranker would be sent out to slaughter him next.

He kept Backflow running as he watched the dropped portcullis intently. If the next thing out of that gate was an A-rank monster, then there was a good chance that he would not have the time to reactivate Backflow to its full effect before the beast was upon him. He learned that the hard way when the black armor managed to abduct him before he could do anything to defend himself.

If only he still had his rucksack of holding.

How long had it taken for a new monster to emerge the previous times? Not this long by any count, surely. Ever so slowly, he approached the heavy portcullis, looking for any signs of movement in there. The swish of a tail. The glowing eyes of something watching from the shadows. The muted growl of a predator. Anything.

But there didn't seem to be anything there. He looked back at the double doors through which he had come and then back up at the crowd. They were louder than ever.

For the first time since stepping into the arena, he listened past the jeers and tried to really hear what they were saying.

"That last fight wasn't fair!" someone shouted.

"That's a shitty end to it! Send out something else! I want to see that pathetic mut die!" another voice added.

"A-rank! We want to see an A-rank! A-rank! A-rank!" The chant started and from there it didn't stop.

"A-rank! A-rank! A-rank! A-rank!" the chorus sounded. With each resounding chant more cultists joined in, reiterating the fact that their zeal wasn't reserved only for the silent accomplishment of their sinister duties in the name of the Lord of the Moon. Good ol' death games did the trick just as well.

Their voices were deafening.

He dropped Backflow and for a couple of minutes Eik simply waited while the audience spat and continued to throw objects at him. Eventually, he became hopeful that there were no more monsters to be fought. That the black armor would soon come to haul him back to the glass cube. At least he wasn't bothered by a few thousand people back there. He almost missed it.

That hope was shattered when the horn sounded and the portcullis began to rise again, cheers echoing all around. The giant that ducked under the metal gate must have been at least fifteen meters tall, built like a tank, and very humanoid. It had a single eye in the middle of its head, and carried a war hammer that looked like it could pulverize a mountain.

With a glare full of ire, the cyclops suddenly exploded forward, hammer raised high to strike. Having reactivated Backflow the moment the portcullis began to move again, Eik leapt back just in time to avoid the hit itself, but the shock wave threw him back so forcefully that his back cracked against the arena's stone wall.

Although the cyclops didn't seem that fast for its rank, it would take only a glancing hit to snuff out his life. He had to use every resource he had.

Thirty five Living Manifestations poured from his skin and scattered around the arena to go at the cyclops from all sides and Eik pushed Backflow to its absolute maximum. He just hoped he could endure it until whatever end this fight would see.

As the Living Manifestations were destroyed one after the other, Eik desperately tried to draw blood to give Profound Toxin a way inside the cyclops' system, but it was just too thick-skinned for the tiny dagger he had been given. And while pure skin contact did seem to cause some visible irritation, it would never be enough to bring down the giant.

Eik kept close to limit the giant's movements, and that was probably what saved him from death the few times he was struck by a thigh or a forearm. He avoided direct strikes from fists and hammer.

Gritting his teeth, he made a decision and went for the titan's face. Surprised by the sudden change in pattern, the cyclops brought up a hand to instinctively defend its eye but Eik activated Toxic Liquefaction to fly straight through its fingers and into its mouth.

Lightning quick reflexes let the giant bite down hard but Eik was already inside and back in human form as he dragged the dagger through the much softer flesh of its tongue, leaving a satisfying, meter-long gash. He reactivated Toxic Liquefaction and dove in, copious amounts of toxin trailing his every movement.

And with that, the cyclops was contaminated.

For a couple of minutes, Eik tore through the system with a vengeance. Every corner of the giant was infected, and as he felt his transformation become gradually more unstable, he did what he hadn't dare until now.

What other choice did he really have? The A-ranker would never let him back in a second time.

He triggered Accelerant—with his own toxic body as the catalyst. He just hoped it would be potent enough.

Instantly, he was overwhelmed by the sensation of being ripped apart, not just limb from limb, but atom from atom. Pain couldn't describe it. It was a sensation that the human brain couldn't possibly comprehend, and he was conscious throughout.

Given how many times he had witnessed Accelerant in action, he knew it was a matter of a second or less, but this time it felt like hours.

And then, as if by teleportation, he found himself thrust into the tiny body of one of the Living Manifestations slithering through the hot sand of the arena. Whatever consciousness it had possessed immediately gave way to his and he was slammed back into human form, lying gasping on the ground. That feeling of disintegration lingered, haunting the back of his mind.

The cyclops howled and sunk to its knees as massive shock wave of Accelerant erupted from its torso and sent ripples across the barrier that protected the crowd, drawing surprised yelps all around.

Meanwhile, Eik's arm was burning up as glowing letters etched themselves into his skin. Like his weapon, clothing, and rucksack of holding, his wooden plaque had also been confiscated.

Through a vision that still sailed and spun, he tried to make sense of the message delivered in blood.

[Natural skill acquisition triggered]

[Naturally acquired skill (Unique) Monarch's Will]

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