Chapter 23: Freak Encounter Part 1
Walking through the maze-like sewers, which connected the city of Sphagnales and the lake at the bottom of the gorge, our two heroes decided to split up.
“Are you sure about this?” Lance asked with a concerned look on his face.
“Indeed! You should go on ahead, I have some more urgent matters to attend to.” The Count said as he headed back towards the Lake.
“No, you got it wrong. What I was asking, was whether you are sure these sewers lead to the city of Sphagnales!?” Lance asked as he grabbed the Counts shoulder.
“Most probably, yes.” The Count said, as he released himself from Lance’s grasp.
“Okay, I trust you.” Lance said while doubting every word of it.
“I will come back in three days. Try to stay out of trouble while I am gone.” The Count said with a commanding voice, obviously insulting Lances pride.
“I’ve lived almost all of this cursed life alone! I think I can handle three days without you.” Lance said with anger, as he turned his back to the Count.
“Indeed, stay safe.” The Count made a hand gesture as he vanished into the darkness, bidding farewell to Lance. Who in turn also made the same hand gesture, while in his mind Lance thought that he had grown soft to have actually felt lonely.
But his loneliness did not last, monsters which usually inhabited such dark and damp areas began attacking Lance. Without warning their numbers became endless and Lance found himself forced to go all out on these monsters just to move from one section of the sewers to the next.
Backing down was not an option for him, as monsters surrounded Lance from all sides. It was odd that so many monsters were crowding around him as soon as he neared the edge of the city.
What made Lance realize that these monsters were somehow controlled by magic, was the fact they were not affected by his Fenrirs Roar.
While Lance fought his hardest for every meter in the sewers, in Sphagnales the daily tournament at the Coliseum was half an hour away from starting.
The Landlord entered the arena and began his routine presentation, which was to the dismay of the public, who were not glad to hear his screech like voice. If not for the incredible battles, this arena would have gone bankrupt just from his awful voice.
Just when Lance thought his struggle with the monsters was never going to end, he reached a dead end. At this dead end Lance stumbled upon a water mechanism, which he accidently activated it, making the sewers experience a flashflood.
“I was wondering how they were going to clean up all that mess I made…” Just as Lance was making some snide remarks, he swallowed his tongue as the water came rushing towards him.
Lance tried to outrun the water, avoiding it by running in the side tunnels.
Unfortunately he soon realized that the water was too fast for him to outrun and instead he used his ability, Fenrir Aurora, to create a cushion out of his overgrown hair in order to protect him from the force of the water.
Meanwhile in the city, the warriors were starting to enter the arena, when the ground began shaking more and more. The tremors got so strong, that even those in the stands felt the vibrations at their feet.
Displeased with the distraction caused by the tremors, the Landlord ignored them and continued to present the stars of the tournament.
“And now, the one you have been waiting to see, the champion, the ruffian of blood, the one without a heart, FRREEEEEAKKKSHOOOOOWWW!!!” Putting his all on this final announcement the Landlord managed to regain the people’s attention, as they began cheering for Freakshow.
“Exit, here I come!” Lance yelled as he rode the massive wall of water behind him, towards the exit at the end of the tunnel.
Just when the Landlord thought he had the situation under control, from the center of the arena erupted a column of water on top of which emerged Lance. Everybody was in awe, as they saw the incredible scene unravel before their eyes.
Every warrior except for Freakshow ran from the sudden appearance of the water that came crashing down on them. Lance noticed the small boy and as he landed on the ground, he tried to protect him from the water, just as Freakshow lifted one of his swords up to his head.
“Watch out!” Lance yelled as he struggled to get to him in time.
“!” But just as he tried to grab him by the arm, Lance found his right arm slashed multiple times before he got anywhere close, and the same thing happened to the water that came crashing down.
Shocked by the sudden appearance of a man he was not expecting, from an area he knew was almost impossible to emerge from, the Landlord found that he was forced to improvise on the moment.
“And the one man you all did not want to see before the start of the fights, is...?” The Landlord stopped, as he waited for Lance to say his name.
“Huh? Me!?” Lance asked, as he just then began to actually notice that he was inside of an arena, surrounded by people of all walks of life, having all their attention directed towards him.
“Yes!” The Landlord answered, visibly getting more irritated with each passing moment.
“I am War Beast Lance…!”Before he could stop himself, he declared who he really was, expecting bounty hunters to jump at him at any moment.
The crowd stood silent, trying to understand what had just happened, but soon they started cheering for the new entry. Pleased to see new cannon fodder for the champion to slaughter.
The Landlord was shocked by the people’s reaction, and had no choice but to let Lance fight, while Lance was just as shocked at the people’s reaction and lack of hostility towards him, or better said the lack of importance they gave him.
As Lance followed the other warrior back into the underground below the arena, the Landlord grabbed Lance and took him in a separate chamber.
“Listen brat, I don’t know who you are, but you are going to be fighting in this arena, no buts about it.” The Landlord said, unleashing his horrible sounding voice on the still confused Lance.
“You really don’t know who I am?” Lance asked unsure of what to feel about it.
“No, and if you want me to remember who you are, win the next fight!” The Landlord said as he left him alone in his chamber
“Well…that’s actually hard to choose…” Lance was caught between a rock and a hard place, as he did not want to lose in a fight, and at the same time he did not want to stand out more than he already did.
Thinking hard about what he had to do next, he saw no harm in fighting for a little bit.
And so Lance entered a world filled with fighters, willing to do anything to gain fame and money. But those who were the most to be feared, were those who entered only to satisfy their lust for blood, and those who were surrounded by death.
“Ouch!” It was then that Lance remembered the cuts he was given, by an apparent invisible blade around the young boy.
“What was that?” Lance asked himself as the wounds on his right hand healed.
Prepare yourselves for some nasty fighting in the next few chapters.
