Chapter 152

Кhаn rеаlized he wаs fееling tеnsе.

His heart rаtе was graduаlly spееding uр whеn thе ‘Sаge’s Hеart’ aсtivаted.

[Skill ‘Sаgе’s Неаrt’ has bеen аctivatеd.]

Immеdiаtеly, Khаn was аble to regаin his сomposure, аnd his mind sеemed to work a bit fаstеr as well.

“Kehahаhаha! I’m loоking forwаrd tо it! I hеаrd the news while wandеring around thе сitу yestеrdау—apрarentlу, prizes are bеing аwarded uр tо 5th plаce in this tоurnament! Of сoursе, Нyungnim will take the chаmpiоnshiр, аnd our Мaster will tаkе 2nd рlacе.”

Bуutеk’s vоiсе was ехсited, рrоbably because he thought he himself could place in this tournament.

Sharin, who was listening to him, asked.

“Hmm… Then who gets 3rd place?”

“Hahahahaha!! Sharin, why are you asking such a thing? Of course, 3rd place will be taken by this big brother! You’re talented and skilled too, so you should be able to take 4th!”

“What? You, 3rd place? Just a few days ago, you were much weaker than me. How can you be 3rd? Obviously, I’m the one taking 3rd. From what I see, you’ll probably get 4th or 5th.”

“Ouch! How dare you look down on this big brother?! You might get into big trouble if you keep joking around like this!”

“What are you talking about, you and your ‘big brother’ talk, stop with the ‘ouch’ already. It’s making me sick to death. And besides… I’m really confident I can easily beat someone at your level. Huhu.”

“What?! I was even thinking of going easy on you if we met as opponents in the tournament, but it seems I need to properly establish the pecking order this time.”

“Pfft! Pecking order? You’ve always been weaker than me, what pecking order are you talking about?”

At first, the two were speaking while laughing, but their expressions gradually hardened, and now they seemed genuinely upset with each other.

Both Byutek and Sharin had quite strong pride, so neither was willing to back down.

“We’re almost there, so both of you stop it now.”

“Ah… I’m sorry, Hyungnim…!”

“I’m sorry, Master….”

When Khan spoke with a stern expression, Byutek and Sharin bowed their heads and apologized.

Neither of them said another word after that.

The venue for the Underground Arena Tournament held in Erindel was quite special.

First of all, perhaps because it was called the Underground Arena Tournament, the arena where the tournament was held was located underground.

So, how does one get to the arena?

There was a separate underground passageway located in Erindel’s 6th District.

Originally, the underground passageway was always blocked, but it was said to open only on the days the Underground Arena Tournament was held.

And Khan’s party was standing at the entrance of the underground passageway leading to the Underground Arena.

“Wow, this is amazing. So this is how it opens.”

When passing by, it just looked like regular ground, but now it was open like a manhole cover.

“Let’s go down.”

“Yes!”

Khan descended the underground passageway with Byutek and Sharin.

In the game, right after descending this passageway, there was an unbelievably vast arena that stretched out, making it hard to believe it was underground.

Around the arena, there were numerous spectator seats, and he was a bit curious about how large the scale would be in reality.

‘I heard many more participants joined this time compared to the last Underground Arena Tournament. I wonder how the tournament will proceed.’

He heard there were almost ten times more people; if the tournament proceeded as usual, it wouldn’t end even after several days.

So, it felt like the tournament would be conducted in a slightly different way than before.

The underground passageway was quite long.

Judging by the presence of others coming down the stairs behind them, it seemed other people were also descending through this passageway.

Since this Underground Arena Tournament was being held on an unprecedented scale, the number of spectators would also be enormous.

When Khan’s party finished descending all the stairs, an extremely vast space unfolded before their eyes.

“How can this be! Is this even possible…?!”

“Wow, is this really underground? I can’t believe it…!”

Byutek and Sharin were so surprised their mouths hung open.

In fact, Khan thought he might have had a similar reaction to them if not for the ‘Sage’s Heart’.

‘It’s much larger than what I saw in the game…’

First of all, the most surprising thing was that the end of the underground arena interior was not visible.

The ceiling height was at least over thirty meters high.

Moreover, whether it was some kind of magic or something else, he wasn’t sure of the details, but when he looked up, there was a sky and sun.

‘Was it created by a high-ranking mage?’

It clearly looked like magic, probably not a real sky but an illusion.

“Alright, alright! Participants, please come this way quickly! There’s not much time left!”

At that moment, he heard the tournament organizer shouting from ahead.

As the three approached the man, he gave each of them a number.

Khan, Byutek, and Sharin’s numbers were 24, 53, and 67 respectively.

“Hello. I am Rodion, in charge of organizing this tournament. Since there are too many participants in this Underground Arena Tournament, we have divided the arena a bit to conduct the preliminary rounds as quickly as possible.”

“I see.”

“Yes, as you can see, there are a total of 100 arenas. Once the main tournament begins, we will remove all partitions and the matches will proceed in the wide arena. Please keep that in mind.”

“Understood.”

The arena’s size was about six to eight baseball stadiums combined.

In this vast space, temporary walls were set up to create a total of one hundred arenas of appropriate size.

‘With this, the preliminaries will end quickly and the main tournament will start soon.’

Since there were about six hundred participants this time, the matches in the temporary arenas would end quickly after just a few rounds.

“Participants, please wait in the waiting area for a moment. The preliminary rounds will begin in about fifteen minutes.”

Hearing Rodion’s words, Khan nodded and went to the waiting area with Sharin and Byutek to sit down.

At the same time, a message appeared before Khan’s eyes.

[Main Quest has been cleared.]

The last Main Quest Khan received was to participate in the Underground Arena Tournament.

So, just by participating in the tournament like this, the quest was cleared immediately.

The real problem was from now on.

[Acquired an extremely small amount of Experience Points as the Main Quest clear reward.]

After checking the message that appeared before his eyes, Khan immediately waited for the next Main Quest to appear.

‘Hmm… It doesn’t seem to appear right away. Then, shall I check my Experience Points?’

He needed to check how much the Main Quest clear experience was worth.

◈ LV.89

◈ Khan (Lee Huseong)

◈ Mana: 19140/19140

◈ Talent: Magic

◈ Experience Points: 4.3%

◈ Skills: (10★)Sage’s Heart, (8★)Growth Acceleration, (1★)Arrow, (1★)Barrier, (2★)Fire Boom, (2★)Fireball, (2★)Mirror Defense, (2★)Mana Enhancement, (1★)Wind Cutter, (3★)Dragon’s Breath, (4★)Mana Circulation, (4★)Power Amplification, (4★)Space-Time Leap, (5★)Dark Flame, (1★)Wind Drill, (4★)Flame Curtain

Checking his Status Window, his Experience Points had increased by 0.2% since the last time he checked.

‘As expected, this barely raises my Experience Points.’

Since the reward for this Main Quest was ‘an extremely small amount of Experience Points’ from the start, it seemed like quite a significant increase for what it was.

As he waited for the tournament to start, a man appeared in the center of the arena shortly after.

Oooooooom…!!!

Kukukukukukoom…!!!

At the same time, the ground where the man was standing rose upward.

Standing in the air on that ground, the man slowly opened his mouth into a microphone.

“Hello, everyone. I am Viscount Aldrik, the lord of Erindel. I sincerely thank all the skilled individuals who have participated in this tournament. This Underground Arena Tournament is being held on a scale different from any previous Underground Arena Tournament……”

Viscount Aldrik’s explanation continued for about three more minutes.

“The prize for winning this tournament is none other than! An Ancient Magic Tome!”

“Wooooooow!!!!”

“I came all the way here for the Ancient Magic Tome this time!”

“I will definitely win this tournament!!”

Amid the cheers of the tournament participants, a few adventurers boasted loudly that they would win.

“From 2nd to 5th place, I will give you the opportunity to choose any item you want from my warehouse in Erindel! Ah, of course, the higher your rank, the better the chance to take a better item, so it’s best to achieve the best results possible! From now on, Rodion, who is in charge of this tournament, will explain!”

“Hello! I am Rodion, in charge of organizing this Underground Arena Tournament! First, let me briefly explain the system of the Underground Arena Tournament! Once a match begins, a conclusion must be reached within 10 minutes. If one of the two becomes incapacitated, the match ends immediately! The participants of the match will immediately have Cure Mages cast Cure Magic on them. If a conclusion is not reached within ten minutes, Viscount and I will directly judge and decide the winner!”

The explanation for the Underground Arena Tournament continued for quite a while, but the most important points were that the match time was ten minutes and the match ended if one of the two became incapacitated.

“I have a question! What happens if I accidentally lose control of my strength and kill my opponent?”

“To prevent such an unfortunate incident, we have stationed skilled mages on standby! Even if you end up killing your opponent, there will be no legal issues whatsoever, so please don’t worry.”

Rodion pointed to two people standing beside the arena.

Checking the people at his fingertip, they were truly skilled mages.

[LV.168 Yellow Magic Tower Mage Binsen]

[LV.171 Yellow Magic Tower Mage Bellua]

‘A Yellow Magic Tower Mage is cooperating? Can a Magic Tower-affiliated mage do something like this?’

Khan was a bit puzzled because even in the game, he had rarely seen a Magic Tower mage moving around privately.

“Alright! Then let’s start the tournament right away! I will call out numbers, so please come up to the arena if your number is called! Number 1, 89, 145, 167……!”

And so, the tournament began immediately.

At that moment, a new message appeared before Khan’s eyes.