Chapter 93

"A... I'm sorry!"

The announcer, recovering from his speechlessness, hurriedly began the commentary.

"One of the slaves has just sent a warrior flying! The fallen warrior... still hasn't gotten up!"

Amid the murmur that filled the arena, the second round of the 'Slaves vs. Warriors' battle had begun.

The match between Iksa and Stinging, wagering on rights and the liberation of slaves, had suddenly taken an unexpected turn.

"Perhaps he's unconscious?! In that case, the warrior will be declared the loser after one minute and one second! What a turn of events! There has never been a record of a slave inflicting a 'fatal wound' on a warrior! Who is that slave!?"

The announcer seemed quite flustered.

"Listen, everyone."

Meanwhile, in the arena, Moguro, who had joined the slave team, was encouraging his fellow Berserkers.

Even though he had readily agreed to become a slave for Makoto's strategy, this person might not be entirely sane.

Indeed, he seemed to be a fitting member of the Adventurer's Guild.

"Once again, please listen carefully. As Miss Makoto told you, we are on your side, the side of the beastmen. We have come to help you."

Explaining to the Berserkers, who were still skeptical of what was happening before their eyes.

"Your comrades... the group led by Mr. Bushi, were expelled from the city and met them. Now, they are fighting to save all the beastmen who have been expelled from the city."

"Bushi... Bushi and the others..."

It seemed they knew about Bushi.

"Just now, Miss Makoto conveyed a message from Mr. Bushi. 'I want to see you all again. We are now running a tourist spot that deals with hot springs and seafood. We've grown vegetables in the barren land and caught fish in the sea. We are waiting for your return.' ... This is the decisive moment, everyone. Winning this battle is a crucial step towards your liberation."

"... Well, we... we..."

At Moguro's words, the eight Berserkers lowered their eyes.

"For so long, we've been oppressed in this arena... unable to escape, burdened with huge debts... day after day, we've been left battered and bruised..."

One of them looked up at Moguro with a hesitant face.

"If we can really be freed... I want to fight."

"Yes, this is the decisive moment."

Moguro responded to those words.

"Miss Makoto and her team are here to destroy the current lord's tyranny. In a sense, they have come to start a revolution. And for that, your cooperation is essential."

"Is that true?"

"Unbelievable..."

Despite Moguro's persuasion, the Berserkers still seemed to be struggling to accept it.

After all, having been betrayed, deceived, and reduced to slaves by humans, they were naturally suspicious.

They still couldn't fully trust Makoto and Moguro's words.

"... Hey, what do we do?"

On the other side, the warriors in the opposing team were also discussing in a line.

"I've never heard of such a story..."

"Me neither. We were supposed to beat the slaves to our heart's content and get paid... that was the deal, right?"

While they were talking, Garai was approaching.

Despite his tall and slender build, he possessed the strength to easily knock a human flying and was advancing without any hesitation.

At that moment, one of the warriors stepped forward.

"Hey... hey..."

It was Cyraus.

Holding a club, which only warriors were allowed to wield, he greeted Garai hesitantly.

"Do I know you? You're one of that woman's companions, right? What are you doing here? Did you lose a bet or something?"

"... Don't you think it's a bit too late for a surprise?"

In response to Cyraus's irrelevant question, Garai continued his steady pace.

"I know you use curses. A fair fight won't do."

"..."

At that moment, a powerful presence appeared behind Garai.

"!"

Suddenly, it was Lunato, the masked Lavinia fighter, who had appeared behind him.

With a sound that tore through the air, a powerful kick was unleashed from her strong legs.

Garai defended himself from the kick in an instant.

"Tch...!"

Lunato's momentum didn't stop.

Like a raging storm, she attacked Garai from various angles with blinding speed.

Naturally, Garai was forced to focus on defending against her attacks.

"Now!"

"Roar!"

With Cyraus's shout, the warriors attacked the Berserkers.

The battle between Garai and Lunato was evenly matched—this was their chance to capitalize on it.

"Knock out the beastmen! At the very least, take down all the slaves except for him! The side with the most standing fighters at the end wins!"

"Ugh! They're coming!"

Seeing the approaching warriors, the Berserkers were intimidated.

"Garai is being held back... there's no choice."

Moguro stepped forward in front of everyone.

"Leave this to me."

"You! Can you fight!?"

"Hehe... despite appearances, I was once an adventurer."

With a deep breath, Moguro crouched into a fighting stance.

"During a mission, an arrow accidentally shot by a fellow adventurer pierced my knee, forcing me to retire."

"Such a past..."

"There is a bit of a gap... but I'm not completely lacking in confidence in my strength!"

One of the approaching warriors swung his club at Moguro.

"Hmph!"

Moguro's punch struck the warrior's face.

"Ugh!"

Staggering, the warrior faced Moguro, who laughed wickedly.

"How about that? I'm still—"

"Take this!"

"Ugh!"

Just as he thought, he was hit from the side by another warrior.

In no time, the other slaves were surrounded by the warriors and began to receive attacks.

"Ugh!"

"Hit them! Keep hitting them until they're unconscious!"

The Berserkers were being beaten one-sidedly by the warriors.

They had been forced to fight in this arena every day and had never been given a chance to rest properly.

Even as beastmen, the power difference between slaves and warriors was stark.

"Damn..."

But then.

"Roar!"

One of the Berserkers tackled a warrior and pushed him to the ground.

"What the—"

"Go!"

He shouted to his fellow Berserkers.

"Help that person!"

He pointed to Garai, who was defending against Lunato's storm-like attacks.

※ ※ ※ ※ ※

"... Damn..."

On the other side, Garai was being toyed with by Lunato's speed.

The Lavinia beastman's strong legs and speed, honed by her upbringing in the mountains and hunting, were putting him on the defensive.

Each of her kicks was bone-shaking.

However—

"... I can withstand the attacks..."

Even her powerful kicks could be endured by Garai's physical and mental strength.

The problem was—time.

Lunato's momentum showed no signs of waning.

If he was pinned down for the rest of the time—

In a moment of distraction, Lunato's kick slipped through Garai's defense and struck his jaw.

"!"

A normal human would have been knocked out instantly.

Thanks to Garai, it only resulted in a momentary dizziness and a loss of balance.

"... This is bad..."

But that moment was fatal.

He was overwhelmed.

Continuously hit by Lunato's relentless attacks—

—A Berserker jumped in front of Garai and took the next hit.

"Ugh!"

Struck in the right shoulder, the Berserker crouched.

Garai and Lunato both stopped at the sudden turn of events.

"Roar!"

Seizing the moment, another Berserker and then another pounced on Lunato, trying to pin her down.

"Hey..."

"Can you help us!?"

Garai assisted the crouching Berserker, who was struggling to stand on trembling legs.

To Garai, he said,

"... Do you believe?"

"It's not easy to believe... but we are weak creatures."

Sweating profusely, he tried his best.

"We might be stupid, just a bunch of people to be exploited... but either way, this is our only path."

In the distance, the Berserkers who had fought the warriors to let them escape, and Moguro, were visible.

"What we can do now is this! If so, we have no choice but to believe! Please! Help us!"

"..."

On the other side, Lunato, pinned down by two Berserkers, was trying to break free.

She raised her leg to kick the Berserker holding her right side—

"Say your brother's name!"

Suddenly, she froze as if a sharp pain had shot through her brain.

Something had paralyzed her thoughts.

She hesitated to attack the beastmen.

"It's enough."

In that moment,

Garai aimed a punch at Lunato's unprotected abdomen.

"Thirty percent."

The punch, imbued with the power of the Oni race, struck her.

Lunato, who was sent flying and landed on her back, lay motionless.

It seemed she had lost consciousness from Garai's blow.

—From there, it was Garai's show.

"Ugh... I won't fall... I won't..."

"You're a tough one!"

The warrior, who raised his club to strike the battered Moguro,

"Huh? —"

Was hit in the side of the head by a backhand from Garai, who had come from behind.

His head twisted with his helmet, and after bouncing a few times on the ground, the warrior crashed into the arena wall.

In an instant, Garai leaped to the remaining warriors attacking the Berserkers.

"Huh? —"

He delivered a cannon-like kick to the first one's abdomen.

"What—"

He smashed the second one's skull with a punch.

"Wait—"

He sent the third and fourth ones flying with a single punch.

"Run—"

"Ah"

The fifth and sixth ones were hit so hard that they floated in the air for a few seconds.

They fell headfirst.

With that, nine of the warriors were knocked out and rendered combat-incapable.

"..."

At that moment, Garai felt a shock to his back.

"Hehe"

It was Cyraus.

He had a knife hidden in his sleeve, infused with a poisonous magic, and stabbed it into Garai's back.

"Without you, there's no problem! How about that! A curse that will paralyze you with pain!"

"... A curse, huh."

Garai turned around with a calm face.

"Huh? Why can you... move?"

"During my time in the dark, I've been hit by curses of varying degrees a few times."

Then, he raised his fist.

"This level of pain is nothing."

The punch to the face sent Cyraus's consciousness out of his body.

Silence enveloped the arena.

Garai instructed the Berserkers to gather the unconscious warriors in the center of the arena.

Then, he gently carried Lunato and laid her down in the same spot.

Now, he could keep an eye on everyone at once.

"Ah, ah, eleven minutes left..."

In the silent arena, only the announcer's voice echoed.

"The victory conditions are met... according to the special rules. If all the fighters on the opposing team are unconscious or unable to fight, the match is decided after one minute. In other words, it's almost over..."

The announcer checked the time.

Eventually, the moment arrived.

"The slaves have won! Unbelievable! For the first time in the history of this arena, the slaves have defeated the warriors! And it's a complete victory! All ten slaves have met the victory conditions!"

The Berserkers, battered and standing, seemed to still be struggling to understand what had happened.

"Hehe... Is this a dream...?"

"Hehe... It's not a dream, right...?"

Garai looked up at the VIP room, where Makoto was standing with a smile and a thumbs-up.

He smiled, then quickly returned to a calm expression.

"The collapse of this city is about to begin from here."

※ ※ ※ ※ ※

"What nonsense!"

In the VIP room,

Stinging clenched his teeth and hit the chair.

"The bet is in my favor, it seems."

Iksa, sitting in the adjacent chair, declared.

"..."

"Then, let's keep the promise. The ten slaves will each receive a reward of 100 million G, right? That will free them from slavery."

"... Fine."

Shaking with anger, Stinging muttered.

"There are about fifty beastmen slaves in this arena... just ten of them..."

"It's not just ten."

Iksa said to Stinging.

"..."

"In this battle, I won more than just that from you."

"Lord!"

At that moment, the door to the VIP room opened, and a staff member of the arena rushed in.

"It's bad! That, that—"

※ ※ ※ ※ ※

At the cash desk near the entrance of the arena, I was there.

"Here, this is it."

I handed the ticket, which clearly stated the bet, to the staff at the cash desk.

Indeed, I had secretly placed a bet on the second round of 'Slaves vs. Warriors'.

I had bet on the victory of the slave team.

Specifically, I had bet that Garai would inflict a 'fatal wound' on all ten warriors.

If a specific slave inflicted a 'fatal wound' on a specific warrior, the payout would be ten times the original amount.

If a specific slave inflicted a 'fatal wound' on all opponents and won, the payout would be 100 times the original amount.

In other words, a 100 times 100 times bet, or 10,000 times the original amount.

"I bet 1 million G on this."

The staff at the cash desk, seeing this, distorted his face.

I had brought most of my earnings from the second Abatokusu village.

In other words—

"The payout—10 billion G, please pay it out."

"..."

"That's 10 billion! A 10 billion payout has been made!"

"One of our comrades placed this bet."

Next to the pale Stinging, Iksa smiled wickedly.

"10 billion G. We won the bet, so we'll collect it. In exchange for that 10 billion, let's free another hundred slaves."