Chapter 17: So Many Strong People!
As Sam ran down the hall, he suddenly remembered that all the people in the Arena were watching what was going on inside the dungeon. Fuck, I probably look like a pussy, he thought to himself.
Realizing he needed to face his fears, he slid to a stop, and then turned around to look at the spiders racing towards him. He brought up his stat book in his mind again.
Name: Samreon Qhousalar
Race: Dracozian
Class: D-Rank Dragon Warlock
Specialization: Undefined
Current Mana Power Level: 160
Max Mana Power Level: 645
Okay, I’m just gonna go all out, he thought to himself. He pulled the longsword from his belt, powered up his aura of green flames until his Current Mana Power Level matched his Max Mana Power Level, and then charged forward.
The spiders shrieked out as Sam sliced his sword back and forth, powering up the blade with his green aura too. He ducked and dodged and rolled when necessary to avoid taking any damage, usually leaving a slit-open spider behind.
He stood there breathing heavily as the floor was littered with mutilated spider corpses. He then powered his aura back down, slid his sword back in his belt loop, and then continued on through the dungeon.
Sam came upon an enormous chamber with a high ceiling and many hallways connecting to it. It was there that he finally saw other contestants for the first time since entering the dungeon. They were all fighting hordes of monsters and enlarged animals in the huge room.
"Oh yeah! Let’s get this!" yelled out a female gnome as she rushed by Sam. She shifted into a wolf and howled excitedly.
"Yeah!" screamed out a bald, crimson-skinned hobgoblin male as he stomped down on a giant scorpion. He then turned and charged at a grizzly bear, firing red energy beams from his eyes. "Take that!"
"Oh my!" exclaimed a floating, green-skinned goblin girl, blushing as she watched.
"Out of my way, losers!" yelled a male satyr, rushing forward with green energy blades in his hands.
"We’ll see who the loser is," said a humanoid orange cat as he crouched down, his yellow eyes beginning to crackle with electricity. The cat then dashed off towards a group of enemies, leaving a trail of yellow lightning behind him.
"Whoa, a speedster!" Sam said excitedly. Then he pulled his sword back out, powered up his aura again, and dove at two giant crocodile monsters. He sliced off the head of one, and then rolled to avoid the snapping jaws of the other. He leapt onto its back and stabbed the second croc’s eye sockets, then lopped its head off too.
Sam looked over and saw the speedster cat was unloading flurries of rapid-fire punches against a huge rat the size of a carriage, finishing it off with a kick that split its body open. The cat then turned and rushed toward a pack of giant lizards, but a streak of blue lightning cut him off and got there first - it was another cat speedster. This one was a female and had white fur and blue eyes.
"You’re too slow, pal!" the white catgirl cried with a laugh before quickly ripping apart the lizards and then dashing off again.
"A speed rival?" the orange catboy uttered with wide eyes, followed by a smile. "Bring it on!" He took off after her.
The shapeshifter female gnome from earlier came flying through as a hawk, then dove down towards a giant hornet. At the last second, she shifted into a gorilla and slammed the creature to the ground, crushing it. Then she turned into a huge monitor lizard and charged a pack of wolves to chew them up.
Sam spotted a flurry of movement to his left, and looked over to see a gray-skinned devil girl with purple eyes and long black hair. She was flying around rapidly with shadowy tentacles extending from her hands as she whipped them around against a group of enemies.
"Watch out!" came a voice behind Sam, and he turned just in time to see a giant wolverine charging in his direction. He rolled to dodge, and the person who had warned him - a tall girl with pale skin, blue eyes, and long lavender hair - materialized golden energy ropes from each palm as she leapt into the air and landed on the wolverine’s back. She then wrapped the energy ropes around its head and guided it like a horse towards another group of monsters.
"Whoa! So many strong people here!" Sam was amazed at all the awesome powers being displayed. He then grinned as streaks of blue and yellow lightning rushed past him, realizing it was the two cat speedsters.
Sam then turned and rushed towards more monsters, slicing his sword and spinning around. Koga had been training him with a fake sword to help prepare him for choosing Dragon Samurai as his Specialization once he unlocked his Third Mana Gate. Granted, the longsword was a little different than the bamboo katana he had been training with, but he was able to adapt pretty quickly.
Sam went rushing down a side hallway, hoping to find one of the Escape Triggers before the others. A moment later, the orange cat skidded to a stop next to him.
"I think she got away from me!" he said with a grin. Now that he was still for more than a second, Sam was able to see his name in the yellow thread on the back of his vest: Marmalade Brightrun. He remembered grinning when the announcer had first called the name outside the dungeon.
"The name is very fitting!" Sam said with a chuckle. Marmalade grinned and then looked at the back of Sam’s vest.
"Samreon Qhousalar? What kinda fancy-ass name is that?" the cat asked in jest.
"One I should probably change! Ha!" Sam replied. The two laughed and then took off in separate directions.
Sam found his way down another corridor, and ran into a tall male elf with pale skin, long silver hair, and blood-red eyes. The elf swung a longsword at Sam with zero hesitation.
"Whoa!" Sam cried out as he brought up his own sword to block. Up until that point, everyone was focused on fighting the monsters. That was the first time he saw someone openly attacking other contestants.
"In here, everyone is an enemy!" the elf declared, his face serious as they traded a few more sword clashes.
"Fine, have it your way!" Sam replied, powering up to his max again. The elf kicked Sam away, and then extended his empty hand. Sam felt his body being lifted in the air, and a deep pressure in his chest.
The elf was moving his hand up as Sam’s body floated. "Your blood bends to my will," the elf said with a sinister smirk. "Don’t worry, though, I’ll only crush your heart enough to get you teleported back out of the dungeon."
The elf began closing his hand into a fist, and Sam screamed out as a crushing pain engulfed his chest. He looked at his armguard and saw the clear cylinder was beginning to develop a reddish tint...
Fuck!