Chapter 185

◈ Chapter 185:

The man raised one jewel encrusted fist and then a lot of things happened at once.

Each of his fingers appeared to have at least six different rings crammed onto them including his thumb, which made for at least thirty different rings of various metals, all of them embedded with some glittering gemstone, many of them glowing. As he brought his fist up the things went berserk, flashes of colour and sound emanating and then a dozen different fireballs exploded from his fist, some tiny and dark purple, others large and colourful, even a fireball which appeared to me made from ice that flickered and moved like flame.

The Draconith didn't wait around, it lunged to the side, diving out of the fireballs trajectory. Most shot past to explode against the arena walls but about a third of them were significantly slower, moving at just a jogging pace. These turned in the air to follow after the Draconith and it snarled in frustration as the things chased after, forcing it to keep moving.

Ravoure turned, following the Draconith, his other fist rising in readiness.

The Draconith appeared intelligent enough to at least realise that the rings were a problem that needed to be dealt with and it turned its bounding into a sharp turn, skidding across the sand as its back feet drove against the ground, sending plumes of sand into the air as it leapt.

The rings glowed and a panel of curved semi transparent light appeared in the Draconith's path of flight, and then a hexagonal gold panel behind that, and then what appeared to be a great ghostly kite shield floating behind that was easily a dozen feet across. Finally a bubble of blue appeared around the leveller himself, encasing him fully.

Despite all this Ravoure stumbled back, panicking as the immense airborne mass of the Draconith lunged for him.

Which was unfortunate as his foot found one of the traps Rain had set up.

A small hole in the sand fell away as his boot touched down, a hole perhaps twice the size of a bucket with a curled up centipede waiting at the bottom. His shin dropped into it as he fell.

Unfortunately the centipede lying in wait didn't stand much of a chance against the heavy boot that landed on its head, but the hole itself was its own danger and Ravoure cried out as he violently twisted his ankle, crashing to the ground.

In the same moment the Draconith smashed through the first floating shield, the thing disintegrating around it, and then the next, the thing misting to nothing under the impact.

The final kite shield however was different. For a moment the thing held up, both front feet of the Draconith and its horned head slamming against it, arresting the monster's motion.

Then the thing cracked, and a fraction of a second later it shattered.

Not that was a good thing for the monster. Huge shards of shield with scalpel sharp edges sliced though its scales. A long shard cut a trench deep between its front toes, slicing its foot apart, another cut above its eye, blood washing down, a handful into its chest, countless more lacerating its front legs.

The monster let out a roar of pain and twisted mid air, colliding painfully with the still present blue orb protecting Ravoure and flopping on the sand beside it with a boom, the sands around it instantly spattered with red.

Rain frowned. He had hoped that the monster could have ended the leveler then and there, but the shields had held up better than he had expected.

Still, he had a snake crawl into the hole the trap had left. While the leveler wore heavy armoured boots, his legs were largely unprotected, only silk cloth. He was readying to have the snake bite down into the leveler's kneecap when he noticed Quistis tilt her head to the side in curiosity.

He blinked and looked down at the Draconith. It had scrambled up moments after its fall, looking between the still following fireballs that had just caught up and the bubble protecting the leveler.

The thing then drew in a breath, chest expanding, and roared.

Nothing seemed to happen at first, but then the air shimmered in front of its mouth, a cone of rippling air that refracted tiny sparkling lights. The fireballs winked out one by one as the breath washed over them.

Ravoure made a sound of distress, desperately trying to scramble to his feet, but it was too late. The bubble appeared to wear away, as though it was being eroded, and then it simply popped and the man was left entirely exposed. In a frantic moment he brought his arms up to his face and scrunched his eyes shut.

It didn't seem to matter. One moment he was as he was, the next his clothes disintegrated around him, millions of shreds of cloth, every particulate thread cut up and separated, becoming a cloud behind him, and then his skin was fully exposed to the breath. He went from pale to instantly glossy blood red in a moment, his shrill screams heard below the roar.

Rain narrowed his eyes, trying to see what was happening to him. It was like every square millimetre of the man's skin had been cut by a tiny needle in the same moment, instantly covering him in drops of red, even his closed eyelids.

He must have been under the breath for less than a second before Quistis snapped her hand out and the sand below them exploded up in a plume of smoke.

One moment Ravoure was flailing under the Draconith's strange breath and the next it was cut off. He fell back on his ass, blinking and looking up at the entire marble building that had suddenly appeared in front of him, the sounds of roaring and growling coming from within, the iron doors rattling as the monster snarled and tried and failed to bash them down and escape.

Behind him came the giant snake, easing down into the arena from where it rested on top the stands. It opened its mouth and its long forked tongue snapped out and wrapped around the blood covered leveler's waist, lifting him up into the air in a smooth motion, turning and depositing him back into his private box where servants rushed over to shower him with healing potion.

"A pathetic display, and an abhorrent waste," spat the armoured elf. He raised his paddle which was illustrated with a depiction of a wolf head with rose petals engraved gracefully around it. "The monster is injured, now no matter who kills the thing they will be sharing the level gain with the buffoon. Thus it is only worth a meagre four hundred gold."

"Oh I would say it is still very much worth killing no matter how you try to play it down to get a bargain. Three thousand," said Bastial, waving her paddle in the air.

The elf wrinkled his nose in disgust, becoming more and more frustrated with the mix.

"I just don't like to see our godly blessing go to waste, there is little to actually gain here. Three thousand five hundred. And care you watch your mouth, someday you will be mistaken for a true monster and you will find yourself caged and sold, ever should there be such justice, it is sickening enough that a part monster such as you thinks itself our peer."

"Five thousand because fuck you!" came a female voice and Rain turned just in time to see the hood fall back from the small cloaked figure and an angry goblin head pop out.

A small Opal head wearing a slave collar.

Rain stared very hard at her.

Why… How…

His eyes drifted behind her and he caught sight of Lyra's face beneath her giant floppy hat before she quickly angled it down hiding herself from view.

"... Is… Is that a goblin? Gods, is the master that cowardly that she cannot speak for herself?"

"I'm speaking just fine on my own, you sweaty ball sack clapped in steel plate," snapped back Opal.

The elf blinked, having to mentally adjust as for the very first time in his life the furniture insulted him.

"Uhh…" he said, lost for words.

"Was the goblin trained by its master to insult levelers?" gravelled the centaur leaning forward, sweet smelling incense wisping around his long curling hair.  "What an amusing novelty, I can well imagine it a hit at dinner parties. Six thousand."

Opal scowled, clearly angry with the centaur and the elf. "Nah, you're just a leveler idiot who can't see past your own overgrown ego, same as ballsack over there. Seven thousand."

The elf scowled, but then after a moment he closed his eyes and drew in a calming breath. "Clever. She brought the goblin along as a bidding technique. Fine. Let us end this. Twenty thousand."

Opal nearly raised her paddle with an almost sadistic grin on her face, but then Lyra leaned over and grabbed for her, holding her arm down.

The elf snorted and rolled his eyes. "Figures as much. No one else?" None in the audience seemed interested in topping his bid and after a moment he stepped elegantly onto the railing and dropped down onto the sands below, landing gracefully despite wearing ornate steel plate.

As he did so the marble building disintegrated into smoke revealing the Draconith inside. The Draconith had been busy licking its wounds as the bidding had taken place and it eyed the elf warily as he approached.

Rain somehow doubted he could do much to influence the outcome, and even less so when the elf lifted the helm attached to his hip up and placed it on his head.

The steel helm, to Rain's surprise, was styled like a wolf head, with a muzzle and ears and slots between the teeth to see through, a fearsome looking thing that matched the dangerous looking armour. It almost made Rain feel annoyed to see the elf put such a thing on himself.

Like a bunny rabbit clothing itself in the image of a predator.

As the elf stalked forward he pulled a blade from the other side of his hip, the steel ringing as it was freed from the scabbard. This too had gold lettering engraved on it. The word 'Virtue' written up its length.

The Draconith laboriously climbed to its feet, readying itself for the oncoming elf. It took a step back experimentally and found its injured leg couldn't hold, limping badly as its sliced apart foot poured blood on the sands. Realising it had little choice it drew back and then thrust it head forward, releasing the same breath attack that had ended Ravoure.

The air shivered and rippled in front of it, a cone of sparkling light, like scattered stars. The cone crashed into the elf and a tremendous screeching sound filled the arena that echoed endlessly off the walls, a horrible sound that made Rain flinch back as it raked at his ears. The armour of the elf became nothing but bright white light as tens of thousands of sparks spewed from the steel, so bright it hurt the eyes to look at.

Despite this the elf came on, step by step striding into the strange breath attack as though walking into a strong head wind, blade readied at his side.

The Draconith finally realised that it wasn't doing any damage but it couldn't easily shut the attack off, the sparks faltered on the armour but the monster was unable to close its wide open jaws, even slightly closing them caused blood to spray from its lips as they were cut apart. Instead the thing was left limping pathetically backwards, trying to get away, desperately hoping its breath could hold the elf back, let it live a moment more.

Too late. The elf suddenly lunged and in one Skill accelerated motion drove the sword up through the roof of the Draconith's mouth, piercing through its brain and plunging out the top of its head.

The breath attack instantly died and the thing dropped bonelessly, dragging the blade from the elf's gauntleted fist.

Rain rubbed his ears. They were still ringing from the sound and as he looked around he saw similar reactions, people rubbing at eyes and ears as the elf kicked wide the dead monster's mouth and with a grunt tugged free his weapon.

He examined the blood covered blade and then with a dismissive motion cleaned it by wiping it against the monster's corpse.

"And we have the first kill of the day, friends of the Abattoir. Our keen elven friend here will be more than satisfied with the levels he has acquired I am sure," said Triskian from where he stood looking down over the pit.

"Quite. Of course our elven friend here may have wished he had saved his money because our next monster is, shall we say, unique?" continued Quistis.

Behind came the sound of steel moving over sand and a fresh cage was carefully prodded into place right by the edge of the pit. This time the giant sandy scaled snake was a lot more cautious, using its tail tip to push at the top of the cage and avoiding getting close.

It wasn't hard to see why.

The chimaera prowled within the cage, the horrible thing somehow still alive despite everything that had happened to it. In fact it was in an even worse state than when Rain saw it last, although at least its chest had been healed back closed. Its wings which had once allowed flight had been very clearly broken in multiple places and they hung down limp by its sides.

If that slowed the thing down it didn't show and fat ropes of bright magma belched from behind the bars, spraying liquid fire across the sand and only a few feet away from Rain's cage to his dismay.

A few drops hit the scales of the great snake and it let out an incredibly loud hiss, smacking the top of the cage. The cage tipped over the edge and crashed down into the arena below, tumbling upside down before coming to a stop.

"What is with that monster? It looks half dead!" said the elf as he raised the visor of his helm revealing his face.

"Ah, sometimes a monster can be so dangerous, so vicious, that acquiring it for the Abattoir comes with some… minor physical damage. But worry not, this monster has had its injuries stabilised, healed, and normalised. The one to kill it should receive the large majority of the benefit."

A goat scream came from the cage and a fountain of liquid fire that spewed across the sand, along with the rattle of metal as it whipped its tail against the bars. There was nothing but pure hatred in its slotted eyes as it stared daggers at the elf.

"It looks quite insane. Is this thing really controllable?" said the elf, seeming increasingly less sure about the monster the more he looked at it.

"Of course. If it weren't then we would not put it up for auction. No client of the Abattoir has ever died under our watch. But… if it makes you feel more at ease…" She held up a small metal rod between her fingers a few inches long. "We filled its guts with heart pins. If it is about to deal mortal injury it will be instantly killed. Things should not come to that however. Now. Starting bidding at twenty seven thousand gold."

The audience looked down at the severely damaged monster with a strong sense of disbelief. The chimaera looked like it had one foot in the grave, how could it possibly be worth such a price?

"You can't be serious…" laughed the elf.

"Quite serious I assure you. This monster, despite its state, is vanishingly rare. How often does a goat win against a lion and a wyvern? Yes, the heads were missing before we, ah, acquired the thing. The goat head won against the other heads and evolved into this unique and vanishingly rare evolution. Believe me when I say the price is more than worth it."

This seemed to create at least a little interest, although there was still a heavy sense of scepticism.

"Twenty seven thousand five hundred," said Bastial from her chaise.

The elf looked up at her box with scorn. "Funny. But you aren't drawing me into this one." He turned and stomped back to his private box, leaping then climbing up until he was clambering over the railing, agile despite the armour.

"Oh, all for me then? Well I don't mind if I—"

"Twenty eight thousand," said the centaur.

"Twenty nine."

"Thirty two."

The elf looked between them in disbelief as the price only rose higher and even several others amongst the crowd bid, although they quickly fell off as the pair bid each other higher.

"Thirty eight. Yield you tainted freak," spat the centaur.

And it seemed Bastial would, easing back on her chaise, clinking the ice in her drink, her expression calm.

The centaur smiled, flashing heavy set teeth, already stepping toward the railing.

"Forty five thousand!" came a voice.

The centaur froze, turning to see Opal who had escaped Lyra's arms and was holding her paddle up with a malicious grin, very clearly looking in the centaur's direction.

"This thing with the goblin was an amusing joke at first, but now you are annoying me. Forty six."

Opal fought free from Lyra's grabbing hands.

"Forty seven! Go stick a carrot up your horsey ass!"

"I will make you regret this."

The paddle at his side remained at his side.

There was a pause and Opal blinked in surprise, looking around and wondering when the next leveler would lift their paddle.

No one did.

In the moments that followed Rain felt like he was having an aneurysm.

The silence was abruptly shattered by the hammer striking the bell, marking the sale.

"And we have a winner! The floppy hatted half with the foul mouthed goblin!"

"Uh," said Opal, as it dawned on her just what she'd done in her eagerness to fuck over the monster haters.

"What have you done!" wailed Lyra behind her, her hat falling off.

"Drop the fee in the bag and come on down, the chimaera is all yours!"

Rain's eye twitched as he gripped his knees, claws digging into his flesh. Trapped, and completely helpless to prevent things from playing out as they did.

He looked down at the vicious and ruthless Chimaera prowling within its cage, a thing that killed levelers like it breathed, a true veteran of violence and bloodthirsty slaughter.

He looked over to the panicking sheep girl who had zero offensive Class based Skills, and would hold up about as well as a wet paper bag beneath a single swipe from this huge and brutal monster.

She came armed with a knife and one goblin.

Shit.