The Rise of the Winter Wolf - Book 3 - Chapter 32 - Champion Bout (Patreon)

                                                                                        Wolf

Just like with the last two waves, a loud noise echoes from the tunnel as soon as the timer on the wave runs out.

However, unlike the last two waves, several more loud noises that sound almost like footsteps begin to resonate throughout the stadium following the initial loud noise.

Is it big?

I spread my claws to get ready as I watch the tunnel guarded by the guardians.

It isn’t until several more loud noises later that I begin to see a head poking out high enough for me to see. Soon after that, the rest of the creature’s body emerges, proving my initial thoughts correct.

Definitely big.

The mini boss – or at least I’m assuming it’s the mini boss – looks like a giant version of the desert gladiators, and with good reason too.

                                           _-| Uthrok – Desert Champion – Level 456 |-_

Wait, it’s got a name? And why is its id gray? Is it because it has a name?

I push my questions aside as I study the creature’s appearance.

Overall, the champion has a full-body set of orangish-gray armor covering its body, with sand crusted all over the armor. It has some sort of cloak draped over the armor, with the only visible part of its actual body being that of its face – which is just the face of a skeleton with pale blue flames filling its eye sockets. The creature has an enormous sword and stands at damn near three meters tall with five desert gladiators following behind it.

“What sort of arena champion fights with backup…” I mutter to myself with a frown after seeing the minions following it.

All six of the monsters jump up towards the arena pit without any care for my comment before pausing mid-air and floating the rest of the way following the sound of the guardian’s staff hitting the ground.

I glance at Sapphire before saying, “You deal with the small-fry, okay?”

Sapphire nods her head in confirmation right as the monsters all begin to land on the sand-covered pit of the arena.

As soon as the monsters touch the ground, they begin rushing towards us. Surprisingly, three of the five minions make a beeline in Sapphire’s direction, while the other two and the mini boss all charge at me.

Interesting…

Deciding to just deal with the two as quickly as possible instead of waiting for Sapphire, I grab two faintly glowing Tier 5 daggers from my inventory before sending them flying one after the other at the two desert gladiator’s foreheads. Unsurprisingly, both of the daggers go straight through the undeads’ skulls before emerging with less force on the other side, causing the pale blue flames in their eye sockets to die out in an instant.

The daggers previous red glow is no longer present as they land on the floor behind the gladiators. Meanwhile, the champion completely ignores all of this to continue its charge directly for me, roaring all the way despite its lack of vocal cords.

My brows furrow in confusion at the thought before I push that thought away for now and dodge out of the way of the champion’s sword strike.

The sword slams into the ground where I just was, knocking up a large cloud of sand in the process as the monsters within the bleachers all go berserk in their cheering.

I wince slightly at the noise before increasing the soundproofing on my headphones and rolling out of the way again to avoid the mini boss’s second strike.

Damn audience. I wish they would just go away or shut up.

Unfortunately, my wish is ignored as the audience grows even louder in volume as I do a back flip to land on my feet, barely avoiding another sword blow.

How the hell can it swing such a large sword so quickly!

Right after that thought comes to me, a light purple glow illuminating from the sword catches my attention.

Some sort of ability on the sword to make it lighter?

That’s annoying.

The champion slams its sword down again right in front of me as I back up a step to dodge it before kicking the sword. Surprisingly, the sword flies to the other side of the champion, causing it to stumble a little as if its hands were attached to the sword.

Okay, that ability is also annoying, but at least it can work for me…

Using the momentary imbalance within the champion, I drop low and kick my leg out towards the champion’s own leg, causing a loud bang to resonate throughout the stadium as my leg connects with its armor, denting it inwards a bit. A puff of sand falls off of the armor in the collision, with some of it coating my leg and beginning to sizzle as if it were some sort of acid.

What the fuck is wrong with this monster?!

From the looks of it, its armor is also a System item, and has its own powers separate from the creature!

Fortunately for me, the acid-like sand isn’t able to burn through my own armor, or my ice, so I just ignore it to stick my hand against the champion’s foot as I expel a massive amount of ice element to freeze it.

After a second of sizzling noises, the foot begins to freeze over. Meanwhile, the champion manages to regain its balance and swings its sword directly into my shoulder, causing me to grunt from the pain as a loud cracking sound comes from my shoulder.

“Shit,” I mutter, ignoring what is likely a broken bone or two in my shoulder to focus on freezing its foot. Fortunately, the sword didn’t manage to get through my armor or my ice, so it was purely the shock from the impact that reached me.

What isn’t fortunate, however, is how long it’s taking to freeze the damn mini boss’s foot!

I hold my ground for a few more seconds as the foot finally begins to freeze completely – armor an all – while the champion slams the pommel of its large sword into my other shoulder, causing another loud cracking sound to come from it.

As soon as the monster’s foot finishes freezing, I extend a thin line of ice from it to the creature’s other foot and jump away, just barely avoiding another blow as I begin healing my wounds.

The champion attempts to follow after me, only to fall flat on its face with a roar of anger from the combination of its frozen foot, and the tie between its feet.

I let out a sigh of relief as the pain begins to fade.

It’s a good thing that I’m just using the ice element to heal me, and not technically freezing anything. Not to mention that my body temperature is already drastically lower than what it would have been back when I was a human.

Before I can enjoy the brief moment of peace I obtained, or the look of the champion as it tries to get up from the ground, it lets loose a full-blown shriek that causes the ground to begin shaking slightly.

“Oh, what now?” I mutter, turning around to look at the surroundings for any changes.

That shriek couldn’t have just been out of pain or rage. It had to have been a…

My thoughts trail off as I see sand floating from the ground and repairing the damages on the four dead desert gladiators, bringing them back to life again after I had already killed two, and Sapphire had already apparently killed two as well.

Are you kidding me?

The mini boss can bring them back to life?!

I turn towards Sapphire before shouting, “You deal with them, I am going to finish the big guy!”

Sapphire nods her head again as she finishes off the one gladiator who hadn’t died before the mini boss’s shriek.

I turn back towards the mini boss again to find it attempting to chop off its own feet with its sword.

Deciding that letting it finish doing that would be a bad idea, I sprint the remaining distance between us before kicking the hands gripping at its sword, sending the hands and the sword flying as the champion falls face first into the ground again.

Not letting the opportunity escape me, I infuse a large amount of ice element into my gauntlets, causing the icy aurora emanating from them to grow even larger and clearer as I cup my hands and bring them both down directly onto the desert champion’s skull, causing several large cracks to form on it. I then repeat the process two more times before the skull finally shatters and the mini boss falls dead to the ground.

As soon as I hear the chime signifying the creature’s death, I turn around to look at how Sapphire is doing, only to find all of the other desert gladiators being turned to sand.

My brows furrow in confusion before I glance at the mini boss.

Is it because the mini boss that resurrected them died?

The mini boss’s corpse suddenly vanishes and a large chest with the mini boss’s helmet on the center of it appears in the center of the arena.

I stare at the chest for a few seconds before shaking my head.

Loot first. The questions can wait till after I see what’s in it.

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