Chapter 225

[Translator – Night]

[Proofreader – Gun]

Chapter 225: Match Fixing (3)

It felt like being hit by a car.

“Uwaaaaaah!”

Caught by the seven mutants, Yeongwoo was shoved all the way to the west wall of the arena with an unsightly sound.

This was no mere performance; it was the real deal.

Among the seven opponents, one was particularly strong and had lifted Yeongwoo with its head, ramming him into the wall.

Because of this, those in the waiting room assumed Yeongwoo was dead and wore dreadful expressions.

But of course, the person in question, Yeongwoo…

「Kyaaaah!」

「Wuooooo!」

「Kwiiik!」

In the midst of the ear-splitting howls of the seven mutants, he was busy swinging his fists.

If he had used Bastard Sword, he would have slaughtered them in an instant, so he had pretended to drop his weapon on the ground.

“Damn it, what a pain in the ass.”

Normally, he inflicted wounds on himself to create a bleeding effect, so the moderate pain that the berserker talisman couldn’t block didn’t bother him much.

However…

Crunch!

The moment his bravely outstretched fist got caught in the jaws of a wolf mutant and was torn off, he felt genuinely afraid.

‘I… I should start fighting seriously now?’

Even a single blow from each of the surrounding mutants would mean seven hits at once.

Because of this, Yeongwoo’s body was quickly becoming tattered.

With so many opponents, even his flying sword, the Golden Trail, couldn’t exert its full power.

-Vrrrrrrrr!

Two fifth-day level mutants could pin Golden Trail to the ground, rendering it almost immobile.

Of course, this meant that Golden Trail alone could restrain two high-level mutants.

So, in reality, only five could genuinely threaten Yeongwoo.

‘…Should I stop here? If I hold out any longer, my eyeballs might get gouged out.’

When his left arm was completely torn off and his body was covered in cuts, oozing blood like sweat, Yeongwoo decided to use all his strength to charge forward.

Booom!

In a crisis, Yeongwoo’s physical abilities amplified tremendously, enough to push away the seven mutants… no, even more.

「Kyak…?」

「Geuak!」

Not only did he push them away, but he also flung them in all directions.

‘…Oops! I got too desperate!’

But at this point, if he looked around, it would seem even more suspicious.

“Ugh…!”

Yeongwoo limped toward the clear escape route and grabbed Bastard that had fallen to the ground.

Through the broadcast screen, he could see the people in the waiting room widening their eyes.

It was surprising enough that the “Strongest one” they thought was dead had come out alive, but what shocked them even more was Yeongwoo’s body, which looked like a corpse.

“Damn, that’s practically an auto-hunt over there.”

Despite bleeding profusely, Yeongwoo lifted his eyelids to survey Arena 2.

As expected, Mara’s knights were cleanly dealing with the mutants there.

If those guys stayed until the next stage, it wouldn’t matter how many mutants showed up in Stage 4.

‘In that case, everyone will vote for the survival of the Weakest… The variables are now either the Strongest surviving or dying in Stage 4.’

While Yeongwoo took a short rest, looking at the broadcast screen, the mutants, having regrouped, charged at him again with a furious aura.

「Kraaaa!」

「Kieeek!」

In response, Yeongwoo extended the blade of Bastard to six meters, deliberately cutting down only one mutant at a time.

‘I don’t know how effective this will be.’

This was purely a “show” for the other contestants in the waiting room.

With one arm missing and having lost a lot of blood, he subtly conveyed that it was difficult to deal with two or three mutants at a time as before.

Thus, it would be much harder to fight in Stage 4, where more mutants were sure to appear.

[2] Strongest dies, Weakest survives.

Therefore, increasing the number of bets on option 2 was the best Yeongwoo could do.

Crunch!

When Yeongwoo finally brought down the last mutant in the arena, a message appeared, signaling the end of the match.

「Stage 3, Strongest survive. Weakest survive.」

「Stage 3 complete.」

But this time, everyone had bet on option 1.

「Sixteen participants have earned 1 betting point.」

So, in terms of ranking, it was effectively a stalemate.

Despite finishing the Stage 3 match, Yeongwoo was still tied for sixth place.

[Jeong Yeongwoo 07]

|Betting Points: 3

|Current Rank: Tied for 6th (6 people)

‘Damn it.’

Only two matches remained.

None of the other contestants wanted to finish the dungeon tied for 6th place, so things were bound to change now.

‘The survival of the Weakest is a given… Now the bets will split on whether I survive or not.’

「Stage 4 will begin shortly.」

「In Stage 4, each representative will face twenty-six mutants.」

“…What?”

Stage 4, twenty-six mutants.

Yeongwoo had expected at most twenty mutants, so his mouth gaped open involuntarily.

The participants in the waiting room seemed equally shocked.

「All participants must complete their bets within the next 5 minutes.」

[1] Strongest survives, Weakest survives.

[2] Strongest dies, Weakest survives.

[3] Strongest survives, Weakest dies.

[4] Strongest dies, Weakest dies.

[Translator – Night]

[Proofreader – Gun]

While the dungeon system opened the next round of betting, Yeongwoo, with no other choice, bet on option 1.

;Twenty-six mutants… This time, I can’t afford to hold back. I must do my best to survive.’

This time, he would likely need to use the laser strike.

And once everyone saw the laser bombardment…

‘Then everyone will be confused again. They’ll have to decide whether to bet on option 1 or 2 for Stage 5.’

But options 1 and 2 never existed for Yeongwoo in Stage 5.

Anything other than the top prize was practically “junk” to him.

‘I need to eliminate everyone else. There can’t be any ties.’

To achieve this, he needed to bet on an outcome no one else would choose and succeed.

And that outcome was…

[3] Strongest survives, Weakest dies.

The Weakest die.

In other words, Dragos must die.

Despite being guarded by Mara’s knights, he had to create a situation where Dragos would die.

But how?

‘The only card I can play right now is the laser bombardment. I can call my friends once, but I should save that for Stage 5.’

Trying to hit Mara’s knights with Toma’s laser cannon… he instinctively knew it was a crazy idea, but he couldn’t stop now.

‘By the way, what about the chairman? Or can’t the company help with this? There’s still a lot of ad money pending.’

As Yeongwoo looked up at the sky, the 5 minutes allotted for Stage 4 betting expired.

「Stage 4 betting is complete.」

And the results were:

|Option 1 – 4 votes

|Option 2 – 12 votes

‘Four votes for the Strongest surviving…? Are they out of their minds?’

Yeongwoo was stunned.

Even excluding his own vote, three others had predicted the Strongest would survive.

However, this also meant that the 12 who voted for option 2 would fall far behind in the rankings, which wasn’t entirely bad.

「With the betting complete, Stage 4 will begin.」

The doors of the arena, which had been tightly shut, began to open once more.

“Here we go again.”

Bang!

With a sound like gunfire, eight doors opened, and twenty-six mutants poured in like a wave.

「Graaaaa!」

「Kyaaaah!」

Though his body was regenerating quickly thanks to the synergy of the Slime Core and Unfair Trade, his left arm hadn’t fully grown back yet.

For now, he had to face those twenty-six mutants with one arm.

‘Twenty-six mutants… It feels like way too many when you see them in person.’

Yeongwoo prepared to draw his sword, but then changed his mind and immediately requested an artillery strike.

He felt that if those creatures got close, his body would be torn apart before he could try any other tactic.

“Laser cannon! 917! 005! 3091! 10!”

As Yeongwoo urgently called for an artillery strike in Arena 1, the surroundings darkened by the mutants’ shadows suddenly lit up.

Piiiiiing!

A laser cannon really fired from the returnees’ room.

‘Were they prepared in advance? Why is it firing so quickly?’

Seeing the laser beam piercing through the dungeon ceiling, Yeongwoo quickly retreated.

He feared that he might get caught in the blast radius.

Booooom!

The military contractor Toma’s laser bombardment finally struck the center of the arena.

Any mutants that were grazed by this concentrated energy vanished without a trace, and Yeongwoo, who barely escaped the bombardment’s radius, felt immense pressure on his body.

‘If I do well, I might be able to kill those knights with this.’

It was his first time seeing the bombardment up close, and Yeongwoo seriously considered that this weapon might be able to take out Mara’s lackeys.

After all, those knights didn’t have the same divine stature.

Swoosh!

The bombardment that had brightly lit the surroundings ceased, and Yeongwoo started clearing the monsters that had luckily escaped the strike while watching the broadcast screen.

Swoosh.

On the screen, he saw the participants in the waiting room, all with expressions of disbelief, and Dragos’s face in particular stood out.

Especially Dragos…

—…!

His reaction was more than just surprise; it was clear that he was terrified.

‘He’s scared. Did he realize that the bombardment could be used for sniping?’

Dragos, with his vast cosmic knowledge, must have figured that out too.

‘But whether sniping him would succeed or not, we’ll find out later.’

As Yeongwoo watched the broadcast screen of Arena 2 with a meaningful expression, Dragos made a horrified face, as if he could read Yeongwoo’s thoughts.

「Stage 4, Strongest survive. Weakest survive.」

「Stage 4 complete.」

Finally, Stage 4 was over.

「Four participants have earned 1 betting point.」

This time, four participants, who had bet on the Strongest surviving despite Yeongwoo’s struggles, gained points.

The results were:

Flash!

[Jeong Yeongwoo 07]

|Betting Points: 4

|Current Rank: Tied for 3rd (3 people)

‘Finally, 3rd place.’

Although Yeongwoo hadn’t expected to have three tied contestants before the final stage, he still had one last trick up his sleeve.

‘If I can kill Dragos, I can jump straight to 1st place.’

As Yeongwoo steeled his resolve and looked up at the ceiling, the announcement for the final match appeared.

「Stage 5 will begin shortly.」

「In Stage 5, each representative will face sixty-eight mutants.」

[Translator – Night]

[Proofreader – Gun]