Unbearable.

'Come to the center to begin?'

Magnus, uneasy as he might be, began walking towards the middle of the arena. As he took the first step, the shadowy creature gently floated up into the air, before moving to the spectator's seats.

An ominous system message popped up.

[Be careful.]

'System, what the hell is this place.'

No reply came even after a few seconds, so he changed his question.

'Can you tell me anything useful about this place? Anything!?'

After a brief moment, a message popped up.

[Win, and you get rewarded. Lose? Something much worse than falling into my hands happens.]

'What the fuck does that mean!? Worse than eternal torture!?!?!?'

He shook his head quickly, deciding to get rid of the useless thoughts. Exactly in the middle of the fighting stage, a circle was engraved. Within a few more steps, he would step on it and the trial would commence.

He allocated the rest of his stat points into strengthening himself, getting ready for the fight of his life.

[Name: Magnus (changeable)]

[Level: 10]

[Experience: 19/2000]

[STR: 32->36] [SPD: 31->35] [INT: 11] [WIL: 45] [-] [-]

He stepped into the middle of the platform. The fighting stage was pitch black, only illuminated by the faint glow of runes.

"Let the trial commence!" the shadows voice boomed once more, shaking the entire arena.

"Let us explain the rules of survival. First, kill your opponent. Second, you will not always receive 'burdens' for winning, determined by the arena itself."

'The first one makes sense, what the hell is a burden though?'

"And third! Win three rounds or become one of us, waiting for the light of salvation or the darkness of the end!" it threw back its head and began laughing.

All of the skeletons followed suit, black tears flowing out of their eye sockets. The laughter that seemed to carry endless madness pierced into his head, sending a sharp pain through his brain.

Thankfully, the laughter stopped soon after, the unsettling atmosphere disappearing as suddenly as it came.

[This is what I meant.]

'I... Yeah, I can tell. I can tell.'

"The first enemy you shall face is one of Lord Jevian's creations! Back when he was a novice necromancer, he created..."

One of the eight gates of the arena shook, the one directly in front of Magnus. Then the one right of it, and then it moved once more to the right. Always facing towards the noise, Magnus waited for the enemy to charge out.

Until it stopped at the same gate as it started, and the doors shot open. The inside was dark, as there were no runes on the fighting stage to illuminate the darkness.

Swish!

'MOVE!'

Magnus barely raised his arm to block, sparks flew as the attack was barely deflected.

'The attack... Almost severed my Carotid Artery.' as he felt tiny wound on the side of his neck bleeding, his eyes firmly locked onto the darkness behind the arena door.

Thud.

"THE HARVESTER OF TOMORROWS!"

Thud.

"Ha..." Magnus tensed up.

Thud.

The first thing that came out of the darkness was a single arm. Covered in thick skeletal armor, with the each finger ending with a sharp metallic claw. Next, a human skull was revealed, covered in thick plates of armor. The teeth, each one replaced with metal blades, gleamed under the soft light of the runes.

The legs were similar to the arms, but this wasn't what concerned Magnus. On the spiny back of the creature, six tentacles covered in bones swayed gently, each of which ending in a serrated metal spike.

One of which still has Magnus blood on it.

'A skeletal super mutated bear thing. Tentacles with a hundred meters range, and it's around 6 meters tall.' he smiled ruefuly, thinking only one word fitting for the creator, 'Psychopath.'

[That's a zombie. But it is mutated yes.]

'I guess I am fated to fight against bears my entire life. How unbearable.'

[pfff]

'Even the system can laugh huh.'

[Don't die.]

"Begiiiiiiin!"

Swish!!!

The beast roared, and the six tentacles pierced towards him.

The first tentacle arrived in front of him, which he swiftly deflected with his gloves. The other tentacles came in flying, a beat slower than the first.

One hand stretched in front of him, he deflected one tentacle after another. Each time he deflected, a small scratch was left upon his gauntlets, a testament to the sharpness of the metallic spikes.

The last spike shot towards his head, intending to skewer his brains.

Tilting his head to the side, he was about to grab one of the tentacles, when an ominous sound came from behind.

Swish!

'Damn it!'

He dodged to the side, as the tentacles recalled towards the beast. Once more, all six of them swayed above it, ready to strike.

'I need to rip those things off somehow. And to do that...' a glint of madness appeared in his eyes, and he charged towards the enemy.

The beast also charged towards him, the tentacles once more shooting towards Magnus.

He dodged some, deflected others, yet the wounds still accumulated on his body in this short instant.

'I refuse to die!'

He got closer to the beast, which opened its human looking skull wide, ready to bite down on him.

'I REFUSE TO WITHER AND DIE!'

He punched towards the massive skull in front of him.

BOOOOOM!

The beast stopped it's charge, it's head thrown back. A deep dent was etched in the middle of it's forehead.

THUD!

With a loud thud, it smashed into the ground. A deep roar filled with resentment followed, before it tried getting up.

'Martial arts baby!~'

Magnus boots sent sparks flying as he tried to stop sliding. His entire right arm was numb, and the glove was oddly deformed. Yet the spark of excitement grew brighter as he charged towards the beast.

'NOW!'

He got onto it's back before it recovered itself.

Grabbing one of the tentacles, Magnus squeezed as hard as he could.

Crack! CRAAAAACK!!!

The bones cracked under his grip, the flesh underneath crushed by him.

"HAAAAAA-"

Black blood gushed from the wound, and the tentacle was torn off.

The beast began thrashing in a frenzy, attempting to throw off Magnus. The other tentacles began coming at him from every direction, aiming to turn him into a sieve.

'Thank fuck they can't get momentum!' he thought, blocking two swings effortlessly. Once more, he wrapped his hands around one of the tentacles, this time slightly under the metal spike.

Riiiip!

With a tearing sound, the spike was torn off the tentacle. A howl filled with rage followed, and the beast suddenly stopped moving.

The tentacles wrapped around the beast multiple times, before covering Magnus entire vision.

'Huh!?'

They tightly squeezed him against the beasts's skeletal back, not allowing him to move. He strained himself, exerting every ounce of strength to break free.

The beast stood up on its hind legs.

'Wait? NOOO-' he instinctively knew what was about to happen.

Before it fell over backwards, smashing Magnus against the ground.

"DAAAAAAMN IT!!!!"

CRACK!!!

The arena rattled, as a sickening crack rang out.