Da-dum-da-dum

Drums echoed through the murky narrow passages of the hypogeum.

I opened my eyes and took a deep breath—and coughed directly. The musty smell of the cell, all the feces and other remnants of whatever had been here before, turned the air toxic. 

Nevertheless, I took another deep breath. Somehow I had to calm myself down.

Da-dum-da-dum

The drums sounded again, then footsteps. All of us knew what this meant; it was time. Time to struggle, time to survive or die. 

In the beginning, there were countless of us child slaves. But as time went by, more and more died—through monsters, animals, real gladiators, or ourselves. When I looked around in my cell, I saw mostly dead eyes, waiting for their execution. But I'd never given up till now. I will survive and strive for the top, and one day...

I could only hope they wouldn't grow tired of my performance and emerge as one of the best gladiators in the arena out of my struggle, blood, and sweat.

Keychain noises, a click, and a man followed by three orcish-looking guards appeared in front of us.  

He didn't look at us; he didn't say anything. We all knew the procedure and simply stood up. The youngest of our group, two eleven-year-old wolf-kin, trembled in fear but moved along nonetheless. 

As of last week, I was the oldest. I still can remember the horror in the face of Larik as two Hexenbiests ripped him apart. He was a good guy, always protecting the weaker ones of us. What a foolish venture. 

We followed our jailors. With every step we took, the roar of the crowd outside grew louder. With every step we took, we came closer to the slaughterhouse. As we stepped through another door, the metallic smell of blood rushed toward us. 

The drums beat again, heavier this time.

Boom-ba-boom

Rays of light streamed toward us, and with it, the heat of the previous battles.

Boom-ba-boom

We were sent through another passage, and when each of us was on the other side, the heavy iron grating rattled down behind us. 

Boom-ba-boom

We continued on and stepped up a ramp into the open. The daylight blinded me for a moment. The drums sounded for the last time.

Boom-ba-boom

Everything was silent. The crowd in the stands made no sound. Other groups from other parts of the hypogeum entered the arena. Out of the corner of my eye, I could recognize someone I had grown fond of in all my time here. We were like peas and carrots and always had each other's backs. Today would be no different. 

The rattle of machinery on the opposite side of us brought me back to the here and now. The cage was large, the largest I had ever seen. You couldn't tell directly what was inside. 

A click sounded, followed by the drop of a grid. A terrible growl sounded from the depths of the cage. With horror, I saw first one head and then a second snaking out of the veiling darkness. A heavy step, followed by another, revealed the creature's body.

Before us stood a Rank D monster—a Kydrus. This thing was a weaker swamp variant of a hydra. How did I know that? Because the Kydrus was used every time to thin the herd. We all knew that only fewer of us would leave the arena alive today.

Another growl.

...the bloodbath began.

 

---

 

"Nyriel, Nyirel!" yelled Tulsi. 

Briefly disoriented, I looked at her, puzzled. Only then did I realize where I was—on the training grounds. The sight had brought back nasty old memories. 

I shook myself and turned to Tulsi...or Sophia. I barely could tell those two apart these days, especially if they were making it a goal to act like the same person outside of combat, something they weren't in the slightest. This was particularly noticeable by their fighting styles, which were day and night. 

"Everything's fine," I muttered. "Only spaced out for a moment." 

They just nodded and looked towards the midday sun shining hotly down upon us. "How long do we have to wait anyway? According to Deidre, she should have been here by now."

Nyriel just shook her head in annoyance. The battlemage who was hired as an instructor was an S-rank adventurer. She was famous within the guild...especially for her questionable methodologies when it came to teaching newcomers. Off the record, she was often called 'Ruby the Carnivore'.  

I wasn't quite sure what to make out of that, but according to Deidre, Maera really wanted her, for whatever twisted reasons. 

I sighed at the thought of my Mistress—or rather creator. Since she disappeared a week ago, I began to question many things, especially those strange feelings I held for her. It felt like I was in love when she was around like she was the best thing that could happen to me during my entire lifetime. I was constantly feeling this tingling sensation inside me, and it was hard to keep my mind on other things. My thoughts were a mush of insecurity and joy to be near her. At least at the beginning, it was like that. The longer she was near me, the more often I noticed that something was wrong. Did I really like her, or had she done something to me? Maybe it was simply because she had created my entire race—according to her. Was auto-idolatry a thing? 

A nudge from the Vetala woke me up from my ambivalence about how I actually felt about Maera. Only more time could truly tell in the end...even though deep down I hoped these feelings were real and all my fears were ultimately mistaken, and she was doing all this for a valid, genuine reason.  

"She's coming," Tulsi whispered.  

-------

We both watched with impatience how Ruby walked to us, completely relaxed and carefree. Like if we weren't waiting for her. 

I needed it was her because I'd already seen her in the guild drinking and yelling at one of the maids that she should spend a night with her that she would never forget. I could only roll my eyes at that behavior. How could someone like her ever become an S-Rank? 

After slowly moving her ass in the middle of the training grounds, she finally acknowledged our presence with a nod. I only gave her a stink eye, whereupon she smirked at me.

I wanted to retort something, but she lifted her hand and began to speak. "Well, let's get started immediately. I kinda drank too much yesterday, and my brain sti—" a burp interrupted her sentence, "kinda dizzy. So let's get over with our first training hour."

I gritted my teeth. HOW THE FUCK IS SHE AN S-RANK?!  

My mimic darkened, which she seemed to ignore completely. Or so I thought. In one moment to another, she stood before me. I didn't know how she did this, but she was directly in front of me. Her simple leather armor looked even more battered from the close-up than I had thought; however, her well-trained, muscular, and tanned body radiated such great confidence that I had to gulp at this sight.

"Like what ya seeing, little vixen?" she said with an alluring raspy voice. 

"I, um, n-noo!" I answered confidently.

She gave me a wink and walked back to her former position. Once there, she turned around to face us again. "Since you seem so full of yourself, I'll start with you," she said, motioning for me to join her so we could begin the training. 

"Your little friend there with her daggers can watch for now. So, first, I want to know exactly how good YOU are. As far as I was told, you are a spear fighter. What I want from you now is this: You will attack me and try to land a proper hit. But you are forbidden to rely on your skills. I want to see how good you actually are with the spear without all the fuss, so I know at least how low I need to start."

I ignored her taunt and summoned my spear out of the storage ring that Deidre had purchased for me.

In my humble opinion, the spear itself was a masterpiece by itself...at least for that price. The bone shaper and the blacksmith responsible for making the head had named it, but I found the name so dumb that I didn't even try remembering it. Anyways, the shaft of my spear got made out of a bone a B-Rank adventurer party brought back from a dungeon after slaying a floor boss, whatever it was called. On the other side, I still could remember the name of the material the head was made of—White Pearl Steel. The specifics of this steel were unknown to me, but the ore was apparently found in the deep sea. The already extremely stable and hard raw metal becomes an incredibly robust elemental steel during the manufacturing process. Different elemental abilities are created depending on how it is processed, which the steel unites in itself, hence the name. In the case of my spearhead, the original metal and its combination with a substance, unknown to me, cause a fusion of extreme durability plus a cryo-tip, which freezes damaged surfaces or injuries when attacked, making it difficult to heal wounds through regenerative abilities and potions. 

The spearhead itself was connected to the bone through a socket and had wings on the sides to prevent overpenetration; didn't want my spear to get stuck in an opponent, huh. My spear's rigid and massive head was perfect for thrusts, and its narrow blade was perfect for maximum penetration. Sadly, I couldn't really cut with it, but oh well, whatevs. So if I couldn't get a real hit on her with this spear, then I didn't know what else could. 

"Nice spear," said Ruby. 

"Thanks, I know," I replied with a cheeky grin and instantly dashed to her, with my spear ahead. Of course, I wouldn't wait till she was ready. Heck, nobody would wait for an opponent to get ready in a real fight. 

Contrary to my expectation, she kept her calm demeanor. She just eyed me with a cold stare and didn't move a muscle. Good for me, she had certainly not expected that. 

But before my spear could even reach her, she moved delicately to the side and grabbed mine at the socket. Shocked, I tried to wrest the spear from her grasp, but in vain, it didn't move an inch. With a jerk that I could not withstand, she relieved me of my weapon, and at the very next moment, causing me to crash to the ground a few feet away. 

My mind was racing; what just happened? It was so sudden that I didn't realize it until it was too late. She was fast, incredibly fast, and she hadn't even used an ability. 

I felt terribly dizzy and threw up. I heard my spear being thrown on the ground next to me.

"First lesson, you don't have a secondary weapon. It's all well and good that you own such a high-quality spear, but what happens if it gets stuck somewhere during the fight and you simply get disarmed, as in the previous situation? If you carry a spear, you need another smaller weapon that you keep with you and with which you can also defend yourself in an emergency, at least until help arrives, you escape, actually kill the opponent after all or get back to your main weapon. It should be noted that I don't mean that you should create it through magic or carry it in your storage ring because there are situations and places where you might not have access to neither.

"Second lesson, your posture. I could tell directly what you were going to do, and your cute fluffy tail doesn't really help at hiding your intent either. Besides, unlike us normal humans, you can also use it in emergency situations to distract us, initiate a feint, or even change your stance with a swing at the last second. On you, though, it simply hung around and your betrayed movements. Utterly disappointing."

I grumbled but couldn't argue with that. After all, I never really had any training, and everything I knew about fighting was self-taught through sweat and blood. 

"Again," Ruby commanded. 

I stood up hesitantly, still a little shaky from her blow. I gritted my teeth and launched another attack, trying to heed what she just had said to me. As soon as I stood in front of her the next moment, I thrust out full force towards her head.

Ruby, however, simply tilted her head slightly to the side and dodged my spear without otherwise moving at all. I thrust out again and again but just couldn't hit her head. Okay, new tactic.

I jumped backward with several leaps to build up a greater distance and better dodge possible incoming attacks. However, she remained simply standing and looked at me bored.

"Was that all, vixen?" she taunted. 

I growled. With quick steps, I sprinted towards her and tried a feint. Just before I was in thrusting range, I hinted at another attack. However, I stopped it at the last moment without losing my momentum and, with the help of my tail, darted to the side to deliver a powerful volley of thrusts which grew faster and faster with the momentum so that it seemed as if the spear had multiplied. Even the air through which my spearhead soared began to freeze due to its ability, causing an icy mist to begin to surround us.

To my dismay, I still couldn't manage to land a blow, no matter where I tried to hit her. Each time she managed to dodge my attacks with playful simplicity and minimal muscle movement. 

Before I could retreat and think of a new strategy, I felt her leg ram into my side, and once again, I flew through the air and landed with a dull thud on the hard sandy ground. I coughed and struggled to breathe. 

"Weak! Do you think you can harm a hair on my head with such simple tricks? You rely way too much on your classes! You don't think like someone who fights with a spear. Your footwork is miserable; you hold the shaft too far back for what you are trying to do. What you want are quick thrusts one after the other while holding an adequate distance from me, but, like I already said, you grab the shaft too far at the end, losing time, power, speed, and control with every thrust you make forward. If you are not certain how fast your opponent is, a mistake like that would be fatal. You are simply not strong enough yet to pull your spear back fast enough with that fighting style without giving your opponent a chance to knock it aside, push it to the ground, and so on.

"Third lesson, the leverage can be used against you because of the spear's length, especially when you use a spear one-handed. With two hands, you can hold counter it pretty well. However, if the tip is far away from you, it still counts as a really long lever. So when somebody pushes on it or tries to control it with their weapon, you have to free it somehow and bring it in again or just drop the weapon and move away, so you can draw your secondary weapon and prepare for a counterattack. Overall, it's always important to hold the shaft correctly at the important moments so you can make the perfect attacks and perform a series of combinations during the combat.

"Fourth and last lesson for today, one of the biggest problems you still have is that you don't possess a Sub Class for spear combat. And before you say anything, yes, I know you're an [Apprentice Gladiator Lvl.2], but that's where the misunderstanding already lies for many. Let me think for a second about how I can explain it to you best, ah yes! Here's how.

"There is the Sub Class [Carver]; you can carve objects out of various materials with this class to a certain degree. However, if you compete against someone whose [Carver] level is at one but has the specialized Sub Class [Sculptor]—which is based on it—at the same level as you, you will always produce worse results than that person. It's similar to cooking. If you just put ingredients in, you might have substance, but the depth is missing. In that case, the spices are the specialized classes. Well, but it's all different again when they merge later to one big Sub Class, and don't let me mention what happens if you include the Main Classes. But anyway, I hope you get what I mean." 

Ruby took a quick breath and continued, "Perhaps to give you a final push, I'll tell you this. The advantage of a spear is its length, speed, and possibilities to constantly harass the enemy while steadily changing the angle of the attack, even if this really consumes a lot of stamina. Now, please think about it."

During her entire lecture, I couldn't do anything but grimace. My entire lower abdomen hurt so mercilessly. Did she really have to kick me away so hard just to show me how crappy I actually am with the spear?! Despite all that, I had to admit that she wasn't wrong about what she said. 

Reflecting on it, I'd only ever relied on my gladiator class and never thought specifically about what it really meant to fight with a spear. Yes, there was a vast difference between writing words with a pen and creating artistic works. Slowly, I began to understand.  

 

|*Ding* You've earned the Sub Class [Apprentice Spear Fighter]

 

               |*Ding* New Passive Skill [Simple Spear Stance] available

 

                              | *Ding* New Weapon Skill [Quick Thrust] available

 

By now, I'd the biggest grin mentally that I would ever have. This was all? Get beaten up by an S-Rank and immediately gain something amazing like this?!

"From your reaction, I can tell that you must have made it. Congratulations!" Ruby said happily…a bit too happily. "Now, get your ass up and grab your weapon, or did you think this would be all? No, no, no, my cute little vixen, this was only the beginning."

...damn it.