A Dragon’s Curiosity

 

 

It was impossible to say that the character of the prisoners was beyond redeeming and that they were all terrifying villains.

The law was rather strict in that regard and major evildoers would face the sword if they were caught alive and hunted to death if not.

But the prisoners were not good people either if they were sentenced either, the Arena merely bought their sentence and let them fight for a predetermined number of fights instead.

Matches in the Prison League mostly ended with blood, heavy injuries and sometimes death.

None of the veterans that survived for several rounds were simple characters or weak cultivators.

Walking step by step in a lazy gait, the figure that appeared in the pit second did not deviate too much from the image the crowd had for a fighter too much this time around.

Tall for a man, the prisoner was more than twice as tall as the girl, although he did not wield the same momentum at all.

His clothes loosely hung from his body as they were too big for his body, as if they were meant for a bigger frame.

Tears and patches showed that they were often mended and well taken care of, not just a random ensemble that was put together in a moment.

Nisha also raised her eyebrows as she observed her foe for the first time.

While he lacked the presence and ambled along slowly, it was impossible to hide from her [Spirit Sight] and the elf saw his cultivation level right away.

Just as the attendant Elinor told her, her opponent had reached the fourth rank as well and mainly focused on the earth element.

Compared to other fourth rank fighters that the dragon observed before either at the noble district, the Dharnas estate or the Royal Court, his element lacked the softness of the soil or the warm embrace of the soil.

It took her a moment, but then Nisha had a flash of inspiration and made a guess.

The sharp, rough edges of the earth element in her vision should be the same as his body, worn away over the time spent in the Arena‘s Dungeon and hardened in combat as all the softness and superfluous parts got ground down until nothing but a sharp edged stone was left.

The clothes looked too big on him, and had to be fastened by a string to his waist, but they should belong to her opponent Owen in the first place.

Nisha was not afraid of the challenge either and stared in anticipation as the earth element warrior entered the pit.

 

In one hand, he held a sword, which probably used to be of medium length but was now closer to a short sword after the upper part broke off and left a serrated, vicious edge.

On the other hand, Owen carried a metal gauntlet that covered the back of his hand and his wrist, with sharp spikes forming two rows of teeth on them.

The elf knew that this particular type was called a spine breaker, they were used to catch the spine of a bladed weapon and break it in half with a twist of the hand.

Some of the metal spikes were missing and not in the best condition, yet it was still a big threat in the hands of a skilled fighter.

At first, the prisoner‘s eyes scanned the pit and estimated the dangers and conditions of the environment.

Swords, daggers, staffs, maces and many more different weapon types had been scattered around the sand and were easily available to the fighters in case their equipment broke.

They had been placed by the workers in the break between the rounds as preparation for the fight and were of similar quality than the one in the hands of Nisha and Owen.

Even if the fight was more intense than expected and broke a lot of the prepared items, the Arena would still profit in the end.

Once the man was finished with taking in the details of the upcoming fight, his piercing glare landed on his opponent.

Because the Prison League matches usually filled the schedule and were planned in advance, it was unusual for Owen to appear at this time in the pit.

A large bruise covered one of his cheek bones and drew attention with the yellow purple lustre of the damaged flesh, while his eyes furrowed at the rather petite figure opposite of him.

Some of the other wounds on his body were not quite visible through his oversized clothing, yet the man never flinched even when he moved and pulled at the recovering areas accidentally.

Compared to the upcoming fight, they were small inconveniences at most.

The main reason why Owen frowned was that his opponent did not match up to his expectations.

It was not like he had never faced the challengers arranged by the Arena before, this was part of his punishment and he had wins and losses against them.

Although these fights did not lower the requirement from the court and his sentence, Owen would at least get free healing after an extra fight as well as benefits that could improve his life in the dungeon beneath the pit.

 

If it was a fierce warrior or a cunning magician, Owen would not have any complaints and go into battle without question.

But what was going on here? He was at a loss when he spotted the elf with the [Dark Shroud] over her head, measuring up only slightly below his chest at most.

Logically, the Arena would never make a mistake and send someone with a cultivation level lower than his own or a strength comparable to himself.

Right now, his first impression led him to believe that there was either a mistake somewhere or that there was a scheme going on in the dark.

Whether it was targeted against him and wanted him to commit a mistake that would make his future path much harder or someone wanted to borrow his hand to deal with the girl, it was equally disadvantageous for him.

Owen lacked the necessary details to make a judgement and his displeasure turned into dissatisfaction and indignation instead.

No matter what was going on, he would just push through all obstacles with supreme power!

“Apart from the challenger, some of our esteemed guests might be more familiar with the arena defender.

With an impressive record of fourteen wins and only three losses, the earth element warrior Owen is one of the more impressive fighters that our Arena is keeping captive for the Prisoner League.“

Since the fight did not start yet, both Owen and Nisha could hear the announcer hyping up the crowd and giving an introduction to the fighters.

Later, the defences would get powered up and prevent the crowd from being accidentally injured and at the same time shielding the participants inside the pit from outside influence such as cheers and curses.

Nisha found herself annoyed with the man in charge of the introduction once again, he barely put in the effort to introduce her and only used the bare minimum from her measurement, it was not powerful or fierce at all, how would the crowd know how strong she was?

On the other side, not only did her foe get a review of his past achievements, the announcer was not even done yet.

The elf decided that she would have to see if she could get someone to beat up the announcer in the future if he was going to keep going against the dragon like that.

“Owen has already proven his mettle in battle and is close to finishing half of his sentence, 35 fights in the Arena.

He has many powerful skills and cultivated them to a high level of proficiency, allowing him to defend himself and leave with the least injuries even in the face of a more powerful opponent.

He is undoubtedly a shrewd fighter and talented individual, you can always look forward to any of the fights he appears in.“

 

Although the crowd had been sceptical at first with the mismatch between a fierce warrior and a petite elf in the sand pit, the cheers gradually grew in intensity every time the announcer added another detail.

Some among them already knew Owen and had seen him fighting before, so they were more excited than the rest and chanted his name.

Seeing their enthusiastic support, Nisha was not afraid at all, on the contrary her burning blood pumped even faster at the prospect that the frowning earth element warrior was the real deal.

The stronger Owen was, the more exciting their battle was going to be!

If it was not for the cover still being open and the defences not in place yet, the dragon might have already rushed over to start their clash.

“Because the match is not part of the regular league, the rules follow the Prison League style, which means both sides will keep fighting until they lose consciousness, are unable to keep fighting or are heavily injured.

As the challenger, Hunter can of course also admit defeat, while the Arena already has healers ready to protect their lives.

Intentionally killing the opponent is not allowed on either side, but fists and swords have no eyes and accidents can happen, it‘s safer to err on the side of caution.

With the boring stuff out of the way, let‘s begin the match and watch the stunning debut of a new fighter, Hunter versus Owen!“

In truth, the announcer deliberately dragged out the time with his speech in order to give the audience more time to react to the sudden addition of a knight level match and place their bets.

Although he did not have a share of the money earned by the betting, he knew very well that his talents were only sought after in a place like the Arena that valued eloquence and the talent to influence the crowd, and his remuneration was rather generous for a second rank aura cultivator.

His efforts were not in vain either as a large number of people returned to the seating area from downstairs, either from placing a bet or buying some snacks from the vendors.

Since the desired outcome was achieved, the opening speech came to an end and the gates rumbled behind the two fighters as they fell to the ground with a thundering noise that sent sand flying in the pit.

Inscriptions on the arena wall shimmered with power and completed a full circle around the entire combat area, reinforcing the walls and granting them additional defence.

And unseen for most of the people present, Nisha noticed with her [Spirit Sight] that a dense web of mana clung to the walls and formed a dome above them, completing the security measures for the spectators.

 

The crowd‘s noise faded away, and Nisha saw the announcer say something else, yet it was all blocked by the formation.

She was rather interested in the topic of formations and inscriptions, which managed to produce magical effects with little effort, but now was not the time to delve into her interest.

It was only her and a fierce warrior left inside the sand pit, as well as a multitude of damaged weapons strewn around.

Most of them either laid directly on the ground while some of them were stabbed into the sand, making the entire pit look like a desolate battlefield forgotten by time.

Without the cheers and the laughter and jeering from the crowd, the sand pit suddenly had a solemn air and reeked of blood and iron.

Looking at the petite elf in front of him, Owen picked up the blade in his hand and began to stride towards the centre of the battleground.

“No matter who you are, do your best later on or you will die without a complete corpse.“

Seeing that his challenger went through the effort to pick a tool to hide their appearance and chose a silly nickname like Hunter, the warrior acknowledged that he would not learn their real name or see their face without destroying the cowl first.

But no matter who his opponent was, he had little interest in the secrets of those outside the prison, they were unrelated to Owen.

He only cared about the free healing and benefits he would get after the battle, as well as the reward if he won without killing.

Everything else was secondary.

Nisha was tired of waiting and advanced at the same time as the earth attribute warrior.

Her powerful momentum had stalled after entering the arena and not doing anything while the announcer prattled on, but that did not mean it was gone.

With boiling blood and an intense desire to fight, the air flickered with shadows as a great quantity of dark attribute aura condensed in the mace the elf was holding.

Because one corner of the mace was broken, the dark element escaped from the damaged part and formed a great domain around the girl.

Thankfully, [Shadow Clad] was a low rank skill and did not use much aura to condense a dark blade, even if part of the energy used by the skill dissipated, it was completely negligible for the dragon.

Of course, it still looked very impressive on the outside and made Owen wary as the dark cloud moved in his direction.