Worm Arena

This arena was originally one of the ritual sites used by the Wendigos. They would bring intriguing dhunes, titans, or even humans they found in the wild and force them to fight here. Several human heads adorned the totem at the center, and it looked absolutely revolting. Aria couldn't bear it and vomited. After seeing her, Onur also couldn't hold it in and vomited as well. Yuel managed to control himself. Shiro, on the other hand, seemed almost accustomed to such things.

The god worshipped by the Wendigos was known as the "Worm God." Every corpse they sacrificed in his name would eventually become infested with worms.

Accordingly, this place was named the "7th Worm Arena." Yes, there were more of these arenas out there.

But this wasn't the time to think about that. Yuel quietly infiltrated the minds of the nearby Wendigos, scanning for information. Their memories held countless details—successful hunts, arena visits, techniques of mimicry to capture prey... Yuel focused on discovering what happened to the winner of the arena. And eventually, he found it.

In the process, he had drained half of the mana stored in his mana stone. According to Null, this new orange mana stone he had taken from Onur had a capacity of 800 mana, making it far better than his previous one.

Moreover, Yuel had finally reached Stage 5—Flesh. With every stage, he not only inherited a Bloodscript but also adapted further to the Undergarden. The reason it was called Flesh was because he could now store mana in his body. Though he still lacked a heart that could produce mana, he was able to hold about 500 mana internally. For mana generation, he relied on the white cracked crystal embedded in his staff, which he had swapped out from the orange one. In total, he now had about 900 mana—400 in the crystal and 500 stored in his body.

And what had he learned after spending 400 mana and diving deep into Wendigo minds? That there could only be two winners in this arena. Aside from them, there was also a second group labeled as "premium goods." The winners would be transported aboard a Ship and taken to the next village to fight again in a new arena. The premium goods, on the other hand, were sold off to other clans or ships due to their impressive performances in the arena—ultimately also sent to the next village. But their fates could vary: some were turned into servants, while others became pets... or dinner. It all depended on luck.

Given that, two of the four-person team would need to emerge as winners, while the remaining two had to be selected as premium goods to survive. Otherwise, none of them would make it out alive.

From now on, they could even see each other as enemies—no matter how much they had spoken of their Bloodscripts or the powers granted by the system, even Yuel himself hadn't been entirely honest. Why should the others be?

They may have spent a long time together in the prison, but he still didn't know them well enough to predict what they might do.

Would someone betray the others? Could they?

Yuel wasn't sure if he should tell them. Maybe if he kept quiet, no one would betray anyone. But in the end, he chose to tell them. He whispered privately to Onur, Aria, and Shiro:

"Only two can win. If the other two want to leave this place, they must be sold as premium goods. That could mean being taken off the Ship—not necessarily as slaves, but possibly as servants... or someone's dinner."

His words shook them all. Only two of them would survive... If three were left at the end, they'd have to fight one another. There could even be a betrayal.

The group was being held in a large slave house right beside the arena. Just like the arena, this structure was made of enchanted wood. Each member had been placed into a separate cage. They would all fight alone. Hopefully, they wouldn't be matched against each other.

They were all deeply troubled... Yuel had given each of them a small white flame—not one that burned, but one that warmed them in the freezing air. No food had been provided; they had been starved the entire day. This hadn't happened even once in the prison aboard the Ship...

Then, one by one, they entered the arena. Onur, Shiro, Aria—and finally Yuel. Each who returned wore a terrified expression and brought with them a heavy silence.

When Yuel went last, he understood why.

The battles were horrid. Every creature fought until their very last breath. To kill them, you had to utterly destroy their bodies—smash their skulls, rip them apart. You had to make absolutely sure they were dead. It was savage. The Wendigo race, for all their intelligence, still trusted deeply in their primal instincts.

In the arena, Yuel fought a massive ice golem, a lion overtaken by plants, and a gorilla-like beast covered in thick, hard scales. All of them were Level 3 dhunes. In Frozen Hollows, Level 3s were plentiful.

Yuel killed them all with his white flames—his most powerful ability. Even though Luo had died, he continued to help Yuel. Yuel didn't know when he would next visit Luo's grave, but he intended to bring a flower and some water. Despite the conditions of this wintry hell, he would preserve the finest flower he could find in his inventory to take to Luo.

If, of course, he could find a flower.

He didn't want to bring a piece of a dhune masquerading as a flower. Luo deserved better.

After the battle, Yuel was returned to his cell. This time, the room was much smaller and tougher than the ones on the Ship. Not the slightest bit of comfort. Despite being surrounded by dozens of dhunes and titans, the room was deathly silent—everyone knew speaking would get you punished. A guard was always present.

How would they escape from here? They were told they had three weeks—one day had passed. Twenty days remained.

During this time, he would continue to grow his cult.

He tried to take over the minds of those from the previous Ship. Shiro's curse had weakened them, making their minds easier to infiltrate.

That night, he spent the entire evening seated, mentally seizing control of others. Two more joined the disciples of the Bloodied Night. The cult had now reached 27 members. Still a paltry number compared to the 10,000 Wendigos.

Null had full faith that they would escape somehow. He motivated and encouraged Yuel constantly. But the others weren't so lucky. Null was only in Yuel's mind—he couldn't inspire the whole team. The others were already struggling to hold on to their sanity... And it was only the first day.

Only Shiro seemed to be in good shape. Normally the most pessimistic in such conditions... but maybe Yuel didn't know him as well as he thought. How well could anyone know another person in a single month?

Shiro had the soundest mind in the group—even more so than Yuel. It made one wonder what horrors he had witnessed during his time as an experiment. Or... was it because he planned to betray them? Was he certain of his victory? Or was it something else entirely?

Yuel truly didn't know...

He continued the same routine for a few more days: fighting and expanding his cult from his cell... After a week passed, he faced an unusually elite opponent. He had previously fought Level 4 titans in the arena and defeated them using his Stage 5 strength. But this Level 3 dhune was far more challenging.

There were four participants in the arena, Yuel among them. The same format had repeated for seven days—this was Day 8.

As always, four doors opened on each side of the arena. Yuel waited for someone else to make the first move.

The first to act was a Level 4 titan named Fly. Using its ability, it flew at incredible speed. It was a legless bird-like creature with a razor-sharp beak. It would tilt its beak downward, use its five-meter-long body like a missile, and dive-bomb its enemy to death.

All this information came from Null, whose words had never proven false.

Fly attempted to escape, flying straight up. But it collided with an invisible dome and fell.

As it plummeted, a massive, snow-white ape-like Level 4 titan suddenly appeared. It sprinted forward, leapt into the air, caught Fly, and began devouring it...

Yuel remained where he was, still not intending to fight.

But the last participant didn't feel the same way.

The final combatant stood about one meter tall—much smaller than the other two titans. That's because it wasn't a titan. It was a Level 3 dhune. Its element was Vampire. It looked like a sweet little dog, covered in red fur and crimson flowers. Its tail and body were adorned with blood-red blossoms. Its entire coat was a deep red.

It reminded Yuel of Luo. He didn't want to kill it...

So he waited—at least until the Vampire was eliminated.

But he didn't get the chance. This fight ended faster than the others. The giant ape died in no time.

The Vampire had used Fly's corpse to kill it. After some hit-and-run tactics against the ape, it drank a drop of blood from Fly's body, stole its power, and used it to fly. Then, it snapped the ape's neck and killed it.

'Null, tell me what element that ape had—now!'"It had the Muscle element."'Thanks.'

So now the Vampire had gained muscle... and could fly? Who knew what other powers it had stolen from previous fights?

The little dog slowly approached Yuel. Its body was drenched in blood. All its fur was deep red. The flowers on its body were fully bloomed, their petals crimson. The dog looked happy. That joy, paired with its slow approach toward its opponent, was terrifying.

From the audience, Wendigos screamed:

"Kill it!"

It wasn't clear who they were cheering for. They just wanted to witness violence.

Yuel began walking slowly toward the dog. Then he picked up speed. White flames encircled him. He used his Light ability to blind the Vampire, leapt into the air, and summoned his spear. The spear, which was also a staff, consumed even more mana for extra flames. He didn't want to do this to a cute little dog that reminded him of Luo, but this dog was elite—just like Luo.

Yuel slashed deep into the center of the Vampire's skull. The dhune collapsed...

Then a blood ritual circle formed around it. Tiny fragments materialized... and all of its wounds vanished.

Yuel retreated, blinded it again, and set it ablaze. But it kept healing itself. Damn it—this thing was a cheat!

The battle continued. Yuel dominated every moment—but the Vampire wouldn't die. At one point, he noticed its flowers were closed, and the blood on its fur had vanished... It had run out of blood and stood at death's door. Just a little more, and he could kill it.

Just as Yuel was about to strike, he noticed the Vampire wasn't moving. It always fought back. Something was off.

He pulled back and sat in a corner of the arena. He had now fought eight battles—and this was by far the longest.

As Yuel watched, the dog suddenly grew. It surpassed five meters...

"Yuel, that dog is evolving. It's now Level 4, and its new element is Swore."

The Vampire's new form resembled a Fenrir. Yuel didn't want to fight it... and Swore didn't seem eager to fight either. It looked around, found the corpses of previous combatants, and drained all the blood from them. Yuel thought it would turn on him after regaining strength—but it didn't. Instead, it smashed the totem and escaped. It was too strong for the arena. It was leaving...

Yuel suddenly realized something. Killing it could grant him a new stage!

It was getting away, and he couldn't stop it. But what if he cursed it? To do that, he had to either use percentage points or make a pact with the Bloodscript's owner. With a pact, he could choose what part of his body to offer. With a percentage, the affected body part was random—but the pain would be temporary. A gamble, but one worth taking.

He had 18% of Fracture. He would use 0.3% to curse Swore. The curse would slowly consume and shatter its mind, eventually driving it to suicide...

Perfect. Swore was still close enough.

He cast the curse.

Yuel screamed and collapsed, the pain overwhelming. His mind shattered and rebuilt itself over and over. Personalities emerged and disappeared. His psyche fractured again and again.

Swore had escaped. It was a Level 3 elite, now evolved to Level 4. Its power to steal abilities through blood made it unique. Likely, it drank Wendigo blood to escape—taking their shape-shifting ability and vanishing.

But Yuel?

He lay in his cell, writhing. His mouth was wide open, but no sound escaped. His staff had returned to his inventory, and without the ability to speak, he couldn't even scream. If he had, the guards would've surely killed him...

Cursing Swore had been the right move—at least in Yuel's eyes. Maybe days, weeks, or even months later, Swore would die... and Yuel would advance a stage. Maybe even from Level 4 to Level 5. Who knew? But it would die—of that, Yuel was certain.

He had endured unimaginable pain. And if that's what 0.3% did, then Null must have suffered something far worse. Null had once used 30%—ten times more. How was he still alive? For Yuel, that kind of damage should've been fatal.

Maybe Null wasn't human...

Yuel had survived another day in the arena. It was Day 8—only 13 days remained until the final round. His cult had grown to 56 followers...

But wait.

Where was Shiro?

He wasn't in his usual cell...

Had he already been sold as a premium good?

Or had he died in the arena?