”You’ll need to pay a fee of 500 blue coins, and fill out this form,” the girl said without a smile.

‘There’s no need for me to pay with my money, I’ll just raise the price a little’ the girl mumbled under her breath.

*

*

*

Alex opened the door and walked in, the room was a bit cramped with two doors at both sides, but he was told by the girl at the counter to take the right, so Alex proceed towards the door at his right-hand side.

Alex opened the door and immediately cold breeze blew on him causing goosebumps to appear on his skin, the entrance was dark with stairs leading down to another underground room.

‘Oh…so the arena is underground, that’s smart’ Alex mumbled as he walked in.

As he walked downwards a bright light was visible at the end of the stairs, Alex walked till he reached the end of the stairs and stepped into another room.

As soon as he walked in different eyes fell on him, different players were seated on wooden chairs waiting for the arena.

The room was fairly large and could contain more than 500 people, crystals were arranged on the wall giving light to the room and for some reason it was unbelievably cold. A single large door was at the end of the room and a few players were chatting with themselves.

Alex looked around and with his eyes alone he counted more than 200 participants in the room, Alex walked towards an empty chair while searching for Gabriel or Max.

Alex sat down and soon more players walked into the room, Alex wasn’t afraid of the arena because none of the players here were up to his level.

The highest leveled player here was a level 13 player, and the rest of them were low leveled players looking to make large amount of money quickly.

The large door at the end of the room opened causing a screeching sound to echo throughout the room, all the players immediately turn their attention toward the door.

A young blond man who wore casual brown clothes walked into the room and stared at all the players without speaking, he had bags under his eyes which was evidence that he wasn’t sleeping properly.

*Cough*

The man cleared his throat and spoke, “Welcome to the arena, we’ll be starting now and I’m here to explain the rules” the man spoke in a low voice but all the players could hear.

The room became silent as the man spoke, “Each year the city normally holds an arena battle and the rules change each year but one rule stays the same” the man said and paused.

The last group of players walked in but no one paid attention to them, the players quickly took seats as they listen to the blond man as he explained.

“Now that the last group is here, I’m going to start…you already paid for the registration and there are no refunds so I’m going to start by saying this”

“A total of 330 people are present here and only ten of you are going to walk out of the arena alive” the man spoke without a hint of emotion on his face.

“Only ten, then what would happen to the rest of us?” a player asked.

“That’s why I’m telling you now, the rest of you would die,” the man said.

“So if you don’t want to participate, you can leave now, the door is still opened, and mind you, no refunds,” the man said as he looked around.

“Death…so I’m going to lose five-level because of 300 coins, screw this”

“I didn’t sign up for this… I’m leaving”

“I’m out of here”

Murmuring sounds erupted inside the room and a single player stood up and walked towards the door, more players immediately followed him and soon the chairs in the room became empty.

*Yawn*

The man yawned and looked at the players, his face shows that he was surprised by their actions.

“There are more people here than I expected” the man spoke.

‘So they are looking for ways to eliminate the players’ Alex mumbled under his breath.

“I’ll say this again, if you don’t want to participate you can leave now, once I start to explain the rules, no one can leave” the man spoke but still none of the players responded.

“This year looks promising… I’ll start with the rewards to give you more motivation, cause you’ll need it”

“First place would receive the sum of 1M blue coins and a chance to participate in the coliseum taking place in the Gold continent, also the winner gets custom-made equipment from the best blacksmith in melmond”

“Second place would receive 500,000 blue coins and also receive custom-made equipment”

“Third place would receive 100,000 blue coins and would be given an equipment”

“Fourth to tenth place would also receive rewards after the battle is over, and the 1st place would be given an option after the battle” the man stopped there.

“What’s the option?” a player asked him.

“Fight to the death, after the battle is over the first place would be given an option to continue the battle till there is only one winner, and the winner would receive all the prizes for the competition…so if you come first place and you aren’t satisfied then you just have to choose fight to the death option and, you can kill everyone and take their reward”

“But there is a way to stop it, anyone who kills the winner becomes the winner and would be able to stop the battle, but if no one kills him then the battle continues”

“So only one person is going to survive?”

“Yes, that is if the first place chose to fight till the death, but for four years in a row we haven’t seen a battle like that, so let’s hope this year is the same” the man chuckled slightly.

“I’ll now explain the rules, currently the number of participants here has been reduced to 245, so the arena is going to be split into three stages”

“The first stage is pretty simple, dangerous beasts would be released alongside normal animals, each participant needs ten kills to pass to the next stage, and note killing a player in the first stage would cause you to be automatically disqualified”

“I have a question?” a player said.

“Go on”

“So all of us would be on one battlefield and different creatures would be released, how would you know if a player has completed his ten kills?”

“We have mages around the arena so if you complete your ten kills you would be automatically teleported outside of the battlefield, and all your wounds and injuries would be treated in preparation for the next stage, mind you the battlefield is covered with a spell so you can’t escape” the man explained.

“Next is the second stage, though not all of you would make it to the second stage it is my job to explain all the stages and rules to you” the man spoke.

All the players knew they had a low chance of survival but the prizes were super enticing, surviving this arena not only give prizes but you would gain XP to level up and other items that can be sold for money.

“As for the second stage, this is the most crucial part of the tournament, and only twenty players would pass the second stage,” the man said.

“Before you ask me any questions allow me to explain, after passing the first stage four large beasts would be released into the arena, and participants can choose to kill each other or join hands to face the beasts”

“After the beasts are killed more would be released into the arena till 20 participants are left…so if you want to survive kill everyone till there are twenty of you left then you all would be teleported outside the field” the man spoke.

“So out of 245 players, only 20 would survive the second stage?”

“Yes…” the man replied.

“This is insane, why wasn’t all this stated in the sign you put up around the city?” one of the players asked angrily.

“The ruler of this city is the chief host of this event, and half of the city is currently waiting for the battle, and mind you I told you to leave before I explained the rules so it’s not my fault,” the man said.

“What about the third stage?”

“The third stage doesn’t concern all of you here, so after the second stage then the third stage would be explained”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep