Chapter 157

Rоdiоn, thе hоst of this Undergrоund Аrеnа Тournament.

With thе рreliminarу rounds of thе Undеrgrоund Аrеnа Tournаment cоnсluded, ехасtlу 64 pаrticiрants remаinеd.

То arrangе the 64-рerson tournаmеnt bracket, Rodiоn, whо was in his personal wаiting rоom, sprang to his feеt аnd bowed his hеad thе mоmеnt hе saw the persоn who entеrеd his wаiting room shоrtlу аfter.

“Viscоunt Aldrik! What brings уou all the waу hеre?! I should hаvе cоme to sеe you first; I’m sоrry fоr trоubling you to comе pеrsоnаlly…!”

“Nоt at all, whу арologizе for suсh а thing? Ву thе waу, аrе yоu аrranging the 64-person bracket well?”

“Ah, I was just about to start arranging the bracket. May I ask what brings you here, Viscount…?”

As the host, Rodion had considerable authority.

The charm of the Underground Arena Tournament was guessing who would win the matches to earn money!

Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of people had gathered for this Underground Arena Tournament, and the reason was this betting system.

One of the several reasons the Underground Arena Tournament was held annually in Erindel was also profitability.

Every time a bet was placed, and every time someone succeeded in a bet and won money, fees could be collected twice, making it good from a profitability perspective.

Therefore, how Rodion arranged the bracket could influence the betting.

Aldrik had come to see Rodion with the intention of interfering in that aspect to somehow keep Khan and Dramos as far apart as possible in the bracket.

“Rodion, you’ve been working very hard.”

“Haha, not at all. I consider it an honor that you entrusted me with hosting!”

“Then that’s fortunate. By the way, if you haven’t arranged the bracket yet, shall we do it together? Given that this tournament’s scale is so large and there are so many spectators, the bracket alone is significantly tied to profitability, isn’t it?”

“It would be an honor to arrange the bracket with you, Viscount! Please proceed as you wish, Viscount!”

“Is that so? Then let’s do it like this.”

The entire bracket was already fully mapped out in Aldrik’s mind.

Aldrik quickly wrote down the names one by one, and in no time, the bracket was completed in an instant.

Khan and Dramos were assigned to positions 1 and 64 respectively, while the rest were arranged roughly balancing the matchups as Aldrik saw fit.

“This should do. What do you think?”

“Hahaha! Excellent! It seems quite similar to the bracket I had in mind. With this, the profits should be very good.”

“Is that so?”

“Of course!”

Although they had agreed to arrange the bracket together, Aldrik ended up doing it alone.

Nevertheless, Rodion flattered Aldrik without a single complaint.

‘After all, if the profits from this tournament are good, I’ll receive a reward too, so it’s actually better if the Viscount arranges the bracket himself.’

Viscount Aldrik had been hosting the Underground Arena Tournament for several years now, so Rodion thought he would know better than himself.

“Make the bracket public right away. The schedule is tight, so we need to start as quickly as possible.”

“Yes, understood! Please go ahead, Viscount!”

“Good. Keep up the good work.”

With that, Aldrik left the waiting room and went to the VIP seats at the very top of the spectator stands, sitting back down.

“This tournament, that guy Khan absolutely must win…! We absolutely cannot let Dramos win.”

If Dramos won this tournament, he would only take away the Ancient Magic Book offered as the prize.

Originally, after the Underground Arena Tournament ended, the prize wasn’t immediately given to the winner; they first had to sign a contract.

The contract’s content was to stay in Erindel for at least a year and assist in his war.

‘I absolutely cannot make such a request to Dramos, so that guy Khan must win. Or, those guys wouldn’t be bad either.’

Among the participants Aldrik was keeping an eye on, excluding Khan and Dramos, Darenvalt and Silvia, members of the Jet Black Guild from Arcana, were the strongest contenders to win this tournament.

‘It would be even better if one of those adventurers won…. Indeed, those guys also seemed to have potential.’

Aldrik recalled the earlier battles of Darenvalt and Silvia.

Darenvalt was more powerful than any warrior Aldrik had seen in his life.

He wielded a massive greatsword the size of a person at an incredibly fast speed, subduing his opponents in an instant.

‘Especially that Darenvalt guy seems quite impressive.’

Silvia also used high-level Magic to quickly defeat her opponents.

To his ordinary eyes, these two didn’t seem any weaker than Khan and Dramos.

Actually, excluding Darenvalt and Silvia, there were three more people who could be considered contenders.

‘That woman’s name was Ailee, right? The guy who wielded his sword with incredible speed was Karel, and the big guy was Drazeon…. These three could also be considered contenders.’

So, there were a total of five contenders.

Khan’s companions, Byutek and Sharin, also possessed immense strength, but he excluded these two from the list of contenders.

‘Those two are probably weaker than the adventurers. Watching the matches, there definitely seemed to be a bit of a skill gap.’

Byutek and Sharin’s matches ended far too quickly each time, making it impossible for Aldrik to properly assess their strength.

Originally, Byutek and Sharin were much stronger, but Aldrik, who didn’t know their true strength, couldn’t possibly be aware of that fact.

‘Right, as long as anyone except Dramos wins, it doesn’t matter at all, so please, anyone…!’

If Dramos, the Kingdom’s Guard Captain, won, it would be like having the Ancient Magic Book snatched away.

Aldrik resolved to cheer for everyone except Dramos.

* * *

The temporary walls in the arena all disappeared, and the hundred match arenas completely vanished.

Now, only one overwhelmingly large arena remained.

In the center of that vast arena, a man appeared and shouted.

“You’ve waited a long time, everyone! The 64-person tournament bracket is finally out!”

The man’s identity was Rodion, the host of this Underground Arena Tournament.

“Now! All participants in the participant waiting area and all spectators seated in the spectator stands, please look at the screen displayed above!”

As Rodion shouted once more, a large screen floated in the air, displaying the tournament bracket.

“Starting from the 64-person round, matches will proceed according to this bracket, and the first match will begin in five minutes! The first match is between contestant Khan and contestant Jaimon! Both contestants, please come up to the arena and wait!”

Hearing Rodion’s announcement, Byutek laughed heartily and said to Khan.

“Hahaha! It seems this bracket was made in order of strength! Seeing that Hyungnim is first! Go and come back safely, Hyungnim!”

“Master! Come back without getting hurt! Fighting!”

Byutek and Sharin had always told Khan to come back after an easy win whenever he had a match, but this time, both were slightly different.

‘That guy, he was definitely incredibly strong. Of course, not as strong as Khan Hyungnim, but he was very strong.’

‘Master shouldn’t get hurt…. Will he be okay?’

Neither showed any sign outwardly, but inwardly, they were filled with worry.

It was only natural, as Khan’s opponent, Jaimon, was a guy who had finished all three of his preliminary round matches in less than five seconds.

He was a swordsman who used a sword, and his sword and movements were so fast that the match would be disadvantageous for Khan, a Mage.

“I’ll finish it quickly and be back.”

After saying that to the two, Khan immediately went up to the arena.

Until just a moment ago, numerous temporary walls had been erected here, but with them all gone, the vast space of the arena was palpable.

‘It’s truly monstrously large.’

Khan, standing on the arena, looked around and soon made eye contact with Jaimon standing opposite him.

He had also watched Jaimon’s matches directly during the preliminary rounds, so he knew his opponent was quite tricky.

‘That guy definitely… uses swift sword techniques. Our compatibility is bad.’

Moreover, Jaimon’s Level was also higher than Khan’s.

[LV.94 Adventurer of Arcana Jaimon]

Considering Khan’s current Level was 89, Jaimon was an opponent whose Level was a full 5 higher.

If he were an ordinary swordsman, Khan could have handled him easily, but guys who use swift sword techniques move so fast that Khan, with his slow reaction speed, would be at a severe disadvantage in battle.

Of course, Khan, fully aware of all this, had already finished thinking about how to defeat the guy the moment he saw the bracket.

‘From now on, the Main Quest definitely won’t be easy.’

The Main Quest Khan received this time was to win in the 64-person round.

Probably, the next Main Quest would be to win in the 32-person round.

The opponents he would face from now on would be outstanding, so Khan couldn’t win using only Arrow either.

Especially when facing an opponent with unfavorable compatibility like now, he would have to go all out to defeat them.

‘I should be grateful I didn’t meet Dramos. Still, Dramos is having the last match in this 64-person round… so we’ll inevitably meet in the end.’

Khan stopped his thoughts to focus on his own match.

At that moment, he made eye contact with Jaimon standing opposite him once again.

Then, Jaimon smiled at Khan and made a gesture of slitting his throat with his hand.

Perhaps because he had only been using the Arrow Skill, it seemed Jaimon was looking down on Khan.

‘It seems I’ll have to properly show him in this match.’