[Welcome to the tutorial.]
[System login initiating.]
Darkness.
That was the only thing he could see.
Suddenly, a screen appeared in front of him.
Level: 1 Name: Aren Khan
Race: Human
Bloodline: None
Age: 26
Height: 170CM Weight:
70KG
Vitality: 4
Strength: 4
Agility: 5
Endurance: 3
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 10
Soul: 5
Mana: 1
Skills: None.
'What is this?'
Suddenly, his vision was illuminated by a pure white flash.
The first thing Aren felt was not the cold steel of the subway tracks, but a hot, dry air filling his lungs.
'Didn't I die?'
He opened his eyes.
He was supposed to be lying on the tracks as a mangled corpse.
But instead, there was yellow sand beneath his feet. He was right in the middle of a massive, circular arena.
It was at least the size of two or three football fields.
High, ancient stone walls reached for the sky. The architecture resembled ancient Rome, but the sky...
The sky was artificial.
It was blue, but there was no sun.
Only an artificial light source illuminated everywhere.
The places where the spectators should have been were empty.
"Where is this? After life?"
Seconds ago, he was about to die in the subway station.
He took a deep breath.
He stood up.
He brushed the sand off his cheap gray suit. He adjusted his tie.
He wasn't alone.
Some old, some young, some children...
Hundreds, maybe thousands of people had been thrown into this giant sandbox along with him.
Some were crying, some were letting out hysterical screams, some were looking at their phones in bewilderment.
They all had one thing in common: they were wearing 21st-century clothes that contrasted with the ancient atmosphere of the Colosseum.
Aren, just like the others, took his phone out of his right pocket. He looked at the screen.
'No signal. As expected.'
"I want my mom!"
"My daughter, I can't find my daughter!"
"What the hell is going on? Where are we?"
Hundreds of different voices were echoing in the air.
While Aren observed his surroundings on one hand, his brain, on the other hand, was working at full speed like a clockwork mechanism to understand what was going on.
Suddenly, a voice so loud and dominant that it made the ground tremble echoed, cutting through this chaotic environment like a knife.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. WELCOME, ALL OF YOU."
Aren and everyone else looked in the direction the voice came from.
At a distance not too far from them, there was a 'thing' floating in the sky.
It had a humanoid silhouette, but it looked very far from human.
Its skin color was blood red. A pair of wings resembling bat wings, the single horn on its forehead, and its muscular build gave it a terrifying appearance.
On its face, there was a sickly smile looking down at the herd of humans below.
The dominant aura it emitted was so intense that Aren felt his skin tingle.
"Hey, I don't know what kind of hidden camera prank this is, but you'd better end it!"
"Yeah! I'm calling the police!"
"I'm going to be late for work!"
The smile on the face of the 'Thing' in the sky grew wider.
It started to clap.
With every clap, visible shockwaves spread from its hands.
People covered their ears with their hands in pain. Aren also pressed his hands to his ears, feeling as if his eardrums were going to burst.
"HAHAHAHHAHAHAH YES ABSOLUTELY A PRANK! LET'S MAKE THIS PRANK MORE INTERESTING."
People looked at the 'thing' in the sky with expressions full of shock and fear on their faces.
No one was talking anymore.
Even the crying children had stopped crying, looking around with fearful expressions.
Amidst all this chaos and shouting, a screen appeared in front of Aren.
QUEST: KILL AT LEAST 1 PERSON.
REWARD: TO BE EVALUATED BASED ON PERFORMANCE.
PENALTY: DEATH.
Aren looked around.
All that noise had suddenly stopped.
The screen in front of his eyes had disappeared, but the terror it left behind was engraved on people's faces.
That deadly silence lasting a few seconds resembled the calm before the storm.
No one wanted to be a killer. After all, killing someone would have severe consequences.
Living in a peaceful world for decades had engraved the moral rules of that world into the flesh and bones of these people.
A voice was heard.
"What kind of bullshit is this!"
A middle-aged, pot-bellied man burst forward from the crowd.
He looked like a typical, arrogant company executive.
He pointed his trembling index finger at the demon in the sky.
"You! Get us out of here immediately! Who do you think you are? I'll sue you! I'll end your life!"
The surrounding people must have been influenced by the man's brave demeanor, for they too started to speak.
The 'thing' in the sky began to burst into laughter as if it were watching the funniest show of its life.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA! YOU REFUSE TO DO THE QUEST? DID I UNDERSTAND CORRECTLY?" it said.
The fat man gathered all his courage. With a trembling voice full of fear, he said, "Y-Yes, I r-refuse!"
The 'thing' in the sky slowly raised its hand.
It pointed its index finger at the man threatening to sue it.
Its voice echoed in the arena like thunder.
"VERY WELL THEN, LET'S SEND YOU HOME."
Then it lightly bent its finger.
The man's head exploded like an overinflated balloon.
Skull fragments, brain tissue, and warm blood splattered over the surrounding people like rain.
The man's headless body stood in place for about a second, trembled as if it hadn't yet comprehended that it died, and then collapsed onto the sand.
With the man's death, screams began to rise around.
Suddenly, an invisible, terrifying pressure began to spread from the sky toward the arena.
People dropped to their knees because of this pressure.
Aren was no exception.
Within seconds, he was drenched in sweat.
He was struggling even to breathe.
Those with weaker wills had already fainted from fear.
Silence.
The people who were just yelling and protesting were now afraid to even breathe.
"Here, I am the law. Here, I am the judge. And I say..."
The smile on its face turned savage.
An ominous glint appeared in its green eyes.
"...KILL OR BE KILLED!"
The 'thing' raised its arm in the air, and massive numbers appeared in the sky.
It was a countdown timer.
10:00 09:59 09:58
"You have ten minutes." it said and snapped its fingers.
The pitch-black nails extending from its fingers were sharp and pointed like spears.
Hundreds of weapons began to pour down from the sky like rain. They were all melee weapons.
Under the weapons raining from the sky, people were running hither and thither.
While some people froze in place, others started to scream in fear.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!"
"RUN!"
"MOM!"
"I DON'T WANT TO DIE"
As if specially calibrated, all these weapons did not fall on any person to injure or kill them.
As people fled in shock and fear, some of the smart ones picked up the weapons they saw fit from the ground and began to wait.
Aren was among these people as well.
He had picked up a rather simple-looking 'Gladius'.
Light and balanced.
It could be said that this sword was perfect for him.
The invisible pressure bearing down on the people suddenly vanished as if it had never been there.
As everyone looked around with uneasy glances, a shrill scream was heard tearing through the silence.
"Stay away from me!"
Then that dull, sickening sound of metal striking bone.
When Aren turned his head, he saw a middle-aged fat man in a suit just ten meters away, striking the head of a young boy lying on the ground with the iron mace in his hand.
The boy's skull had shattered like a watermelon.
Blood splattered onto the sandy ground.
Panting, his eyes bulging from their sockets, the man raised the mace into the air.
"He attacked me! Didn't you see? He attacked!" he shouted.
His voice was trembling, but there was a savage relief in his eyes.
No one answered.
First blood had been shed.
The start of the massacre was a matter of moments.
Anyone with half a brain was aware of this.
Following seconds of silence, the gates of hell had opened inside the arena.
While some people wet themselves from fear and fell to the ground awaiting death, the braver ones joined the massacre with various weapons in their hands.
"No! Stay away from me!"
"I'll do whatever you want, please let me go!"
"I'm sorry. I have to do this."
"I don't want to die."
The fragile shell of civilization had shattered, revealing people's most primal nature. The survival instinct had taken over all humans.
Aren was expressionless as he watched all this chaos. He wasn't even surprised.
Masks had fallen, and from beneath emerged that ugly, savage truth.
He took a deep breath. His rational mind quickly assessed the situation.
'First Rule. Survive.'
'The quest is simple. Kill someone. If I don't do it, that thing will kill me. If I do, I will live.'
His hand holding the sword was trembling slightly.
It wasn't out of fear or a moral dilemma. It was just that his body was pumping massive amounts of adrenaline against the impending danger of death, his muscles contracting and relaxing. This was a purely biological reaction.
Meanwhile, he was looking around.
Because he was right in the middle of the arena, he was in extreme danger.
An attack could come from anywhere.
He made the most logical move possible. He made himself as small as he could.
"Hey, you!"
The man standing across from him was at least twenty centimeters taller and twice as wide as Aren.
He wore a torn sleeveless t-shirt, his thick arms were covered in tattoos.
His face was stained with sweat and someone else's blood.
He didn't have a weapon in his hand, but he didn't look like he needed one either. Because blood was already dripping from his large, calloused fists.
The man's eyes were locked not on Aren, but on the sword in his hand.
"Give me that sword." the man said in a threatening tone.
Aren's eyes scanned the man from head to toe. Aren thought the man was a threat to him.
"Why don't you pick up one of the weapons on the ground like everyone else?"
His voice was so flat and calm, it was as if he were asking about the queue for the photocopier at the office.
The man grew angry at this unresponsiveness from Aren.
"You're missing a few screws, aren't you? To stay this calm in such an environment... Whatever. I'm giving you a chance." he said with a mocking smile.
With his huge body, he advanced toward Aren with heavy, confident steps. "Give me the sword and fuck off."
'Even if I give him the sword, there's no guarantee he'll let me go. On the contrary, roaming unarmed in this chaotic environment is a bigger threat. Should I run away? No. If I run around, I'll draw too much attention. Only one option remains. I must kill him.' Aren thought.
Aren didn't answer the man. He just pointed the sharp tip of the Gladius at the man. His heart was beating fast, but his mind was completely focused.
The smile on the man's face vanished.
"So you want to do this the hard way. So be it!" he said and suddenly lunged forward rapidly to grab Aren.
Taking an agile step backward, he easily evaded the man's thick arms.
The man's massive bulk made him quite clumsy compared to Aren.
Expecting this scrawny man in front of him to freeze in fear, the burly man experienced the bewilderment of making a missed move.
This briefest opening was enough for Aren.
Aren swung the Gladius in his hand at the man.
"AGHHHH! YOU LITTLE BASTARD!" Shouting in pain, the man grabbed his arm. Blood dripping from his arm was soaking the sandy ground.
Aren didn't have the strength to completely sever the man's arm, but he had left a deep gash reaching down to the bone.
'An effective strike. But as expected, far from killing him.'
Aren's hands gripping the hilt of the Gladius tightened.
"I swear to you, I will kill you slowly!" roared the man.
Pain and anger had shut down all sense of logic. He didn't look like a very smart person anyway.
Aren was only a few steps away.
Ignoring his injured arm, the giant man lunged at Aren again, this time much faster and more uncontrollably.
Seeing the same scenario repeat itself, Aren tried to evade the man with an agile step backward.
However, the man must have been expecting this, for he swung a kick toward Aren's head with his right leg using all his might.
The man's long leg disregarded the distance between them.
Surprised upon seeing this sudden kick, Aren instinctively raised his hands and blocked the kick.
Aren was sent flying sideways for a few meters. Seconds later, he fell hard onto the sand.
With the power of the kick and the impact of being thrown, the Gladius had fallen from his hand.
His arms were numbed by the force of the blow he took.
His arms weren't broken, but they were definitely cracked in a few places.
For a brief moment, his vision went dark.
The Gladius was stuck in the sand just to his right, about a meter away.
The man ignored the Gladius.
Roaring like an animal, the man marched toward Aren.
He didn't even care about the sword on the ground. His only goal was to tear Aren apart with his hands, to turn that expressionless face into a bloody mush.
Aren didn't get up from the ground.
His eyes were closed.
The man towered over Aren. He blocked the light coming from above with his wide torso.
"Are you dead, you son of a bitch?!" the man spat and raised his giant foot in the air to crush Aren's head.
At that moment, Aren's eyes opened wide.
There was no fear in those eyes. There was only pure calculation.
With his right hand, Aren hurled a handful of sand he had previously scooped up upward into the man's eyes with all his might.
Aren did not forgive this split-second blindness. Completely ignoring the pain despite his cracked arms, he rolled sideways, grabbed the hilt of the Gladius stuck in the sand, and sprang to his feet.
The man roared with anger.
While trying to rub his eyes, he was too bewildered to see Aren.
Aren did not hesitate.
He put all the remaining strength in his body into this single attack.
He thrust the Gladius into the man's chest.
The sound of the sword tearing through flesh and bone cut the man's furious roar short.
Accompanied by bloody coughs, his huge body staggered and collapsed onto the sand.
The savage glint in his eyes dulled within seconds.
Experience gained.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Level 1 > Level 2
'It's over.'
Panting, Aren stood over the corpse lying on the ground.
He looked at the bloody Gladius. At that moment, he felt how useful this simple piece of metal was.
He pressed his foot against the man's chest and pulled the Gladius out.