25 Joining The Crimson Claws Ii : Battle Royale (1/2)
Joining the Crimson Claws (II): Battle Royale
Walking through the door, a blinding light forced Aleran to squint his eyes. The contrast between the dark tunnels and this place was too big. With his eyes temporarily blinded, he could only concentrate on the smell of blood and sweat that permeated the air.
Thus, Aleran entered the room completely disoriented.The deafening sound of people cheering and yelling only served to strengthen that feeling. But slowly, the white started to recede and the room finally showed itself.
That's when he realized that calling this place a room was wrong. It was too big, almost the size of a small stadium. The place consisted of long and simple seats made of earth, arranged in a circular fas.h.i.+on. They were made to allow the people sitting to see what happened inside a big hole dug in the ground. So, there was a slight slope going from the higher stands towards the hole.
A brutal scene was playing inside the hole. Around eighty people were fighting barehanded against each other, employing all kinds of methods to cause harm. There seem to be no rules in this fight. In this short span of time, Aleran had already seen people biting, hitting others genitals, and even using unconscious people as s.h.i.+elds or weapons.
This place reminded Aleran of the stories and movies about Rome and its coliseum. Although here, there were people with superhuman strength adding extra spice to the show. The fact that this place was still underground surprised him a lot. There were some crystals that lit every inch of this place with a yellow light. It made one forget that this was still an underground chamber. 'How big is this complex of tunnels? And how deep underground are we? Don't tell me... these tunnels extend all under the city!' That would mean that this gang had a deep grasp of everything that happened inside this city.
”Look at that one in the middle” taking him out of his thoughts, Kindrav pointed only with a movement of his head.
It would have been difficult to spot someone in the crowd of almost eighty people chaotically fighting. But it was very simple to notice that, in the middle of the arena, there was someone who stood out. He stood out because every time he was attacked he moved with a fluidity and agility that reminded one of a river. He was in constant movement, every punch, and every kick that was thrown his way was avoided with unusual grace. And then, they were answered with a graceful palm or fist that hit others in weak spots with brutality. But what stood out the most was that every opening he left seemed to be a bite for his opponents to fall. Of course, from time to time he got hit, but he was clearly used to physical abuse.
”Wow, that guy knows how to fight.” Aleran was impressed.
Kindrav nodded. ”It's more that, though. That is a martial technique, he has some minor accomplishment in the flowing water martial stance. Those things are only taught to soldiers and cultivators who go to the academy. He is probably an ex-soldier.”
”You mean-
”Are these two fresh meat?” Before Aleran could say anything, someone approached them and interrupted their chat. It was a tall man with a small tattoo of a dagger on his forehead. His voice was loud enough to be heard clearly, even with all the incessant cheers and curses of the spectators.
The guard simply nodded making the man with the dagger tattoo smile. He placed himself between Aleran and Kindrav and wrapped his arms around them. Looking like old drinking buddies, the man dragged them both near the hole. ” Welcome to the pit, rookies. Things are simple here, you have to be one of the last ten partic.i.p.ants still conscious. The best part, we don't care how you do it. There are only two rules, nothing of weapons, and nothing of staying in a corner avoiding the fight like a p.u.s.s.y. If we see you are avoiding the fight, then we will bring a fight to you that you won't be able to escape.” The last part was a clear warning as he asked in a threatening tone. ”Got it? ”
By the end of his speech, they were a few meters from the edge. And without previous indication, the man suddenly exploded with an unbelievable force, even higher than Aleran and Kindrav combined. He was clearly at the qi circulation stage.
The sudden force made them both fall to the five meters deep pit. ”WHO WANTS TO BET FOR OUR TWO NEW PARTIc.i.p.aNTS!!” The last thing Aleran and Kindrav heard before touching the ground, were the words of the man as he turned to the public.
”Tud Tud” Aleran landed on his feet. Luckily he was not a normal human anymore otherwise, that fall would have seriously injured him. But still, he barely got the chance to circulate his cultivation, making him hurt his legs a little. He turned his head to see that Kindrav had fallen perfectly with a roll that absorbed most of the force from falling. Inwardly he rolled his eyes at Kindrav dexterity. But Aleran didn't have much time to think. The loud announcement from the man with the dagger tattoo grabbed, not only the attention of the viewers but also from the people fighting in the pit.
Before he could regain his bearings, a bald man was already charging at him. The man wanted to tackle him, but it seemed he hadn't realized that Aleran, who didn't even flinch before his strength, was a cultivator. The man got locked in an awkward position with his head at Aleran's waist. On his part, Aleran threw a knee to the man chest and, like a wrestler, he lifted him over his own head and slammed him on the floor.
From his peripheral vision, Aleran could see that of the three people that were initially going after him, two retreated as they realized he was more powerful than he looked. But the third one, a man with a ponytail who was in the second phase, soon reached him while throwing a frontal kick. Aleran instantly dodged, and as the kick touch the near wall, he answered with a chop to the now extended leg.
”Kacha” ”Ahhh!” With the sound of breaking bones the ponytail man dropped to the floor screaming, taking part in the common background noise. His leg was now bent in the wrong way and he was out of the race. 'What a disappointment, without weapons I can't use my magnetism image, and I am still far from using it directly on humans.' Aleran watched the man screaming as he lamented in his head. Although he didn't realize yet, his mentality was slowly changing. A few months back he would have been impressed by this sight. But now he was used to these gruesome scenes.
Now, with time to regain his posture, Aleran looked around to see Kindrav his back against the wall. A short guy had climbed onto his back and, even as he was slammed against the wall, the short man was still biting Kindravs ear. At the same time, Kindrav kicked unconscious another man that attacked him from the front. And soon, the short man was on the floor too, wailing and with his back broken.
Aleran and Kindrav closed the distance between them until they were next to each other. If everything was allowed, then teaming up was an option too. In fact, they were not the only ones, there were a few other two men teams. And the strongest was a four-man team with three at the third phase and one at the second. Aleran didn't need to talk to Kindrav to know they were going to avoid that four-man team and the guy with the martial techniques in the middle. The rest of the people were all on their own, it was hard to team up with someone if you didn't know him. Most of these people were street rats, so they naturally mistrust others and they were propense to betray their allies.
In total there were between 15 to 20 people in the third phase, 25 at the second, and the rest were all normal people. But this last group was dwindling at a fast rate, clearly, they were people who were biting more than they could chew.
Aleran and Kindrav decided to stay near the wall to avoid being attacked from many angles. Aleran stood in a boxing posture as more people started to come closer. These past few days, Kindrav had been teaching him how to fight. It wasn't anything as fancy as the martial stances, it was mostly some footwork and how to throw punches and kicks correctly, but it was enough to defend himself. The enhanced body of a cultivator, with higher coordination, allowed him to learn how to fight faster than normal people.
The next few to come their way were cultivators only. They swarm in groups of two or three, even if they were not consciously teaming up, they still attacked at the same time. But now, both of them were more prepared, so they faced them without fear. After all, they were two heavenly opening third face cultivators.
The first to reach them was the one with the higher cultivation in the third phase. And closing in were two cultivators in the second phase. Kindrav and Aleran exchanged a look and charged towards the third stage cultivator. The first to attack was Aleran with a high kick to the man's face, which was easily dodged by the man as he ducked. But as he dodged, Kidrav jumped and threw flying knee worthy of an action movie that hit squarely in his head. The man, now with a broken nose and fewer teeth in his mouth, started to fall. But midway, and before the man regained his composure, a fist from Aleran hit his head again.
Two more punches from Kindrav and the man was lying on the floor, he didn't have a chance to fight at all. The next two were already too close to run now, they were obviously expecting to take advantage of the fight between three third phase cultivators. But now they had to bite the bullet and fight. The result was easy to predict, Aleran made a quick work of his opponent and the same was for Kindrav.
What followed after was a constant fight, hours of fight. Not always fallen enemies would stay on the ground. And not always one had the time to cripple or even kill an opponent before others arrived to fight you. Not to mention that cultivators were often tougher than normal people. So they could get up several times even with broken bones. Meaning the whole battle royal lasted longer than what Aleran first estimated.
During the whole time, Aleran and Kindrav choose their fights wisely, trying to save as much energy as they could. Except for an especially violent third phase, that was using a ripped off leg like a club, the rest of the fights were relatively easy. The two made quite a good team, it was almost natural to them. Although they had to often save each other's a.s.s when they coordinated poorly. Aleran suspected that it was Kindrav's innate ability to adapt that made the teamwork so smooth. The guy was a genius when it came to fighting and physical abilities. As expected of the man that learned how to fight hand to hand and with a sword in one week, and when he was still a child.