Chapter 276: Colosseum (1)
“Huh?”
“Wasn’t there a game like this before? It’s been so long that I can’t remember clearly.”
People murmured as they looked at the system window. After reading the explanation, Kim Hwiyeon muttered.
“Determining the final winner… The allocation is random… Luck will play a significant role.”
Kim Hwiyeon quickly assessed the situation.
It was unclear how many people would be randomly selected, but it wouldn’t be a small number. At least over a hundred, she assumed.
And only the last survivor among them could receive the next quest.
The odds were in favor of the strongest person among a group of a hundred surviving.
However, strength was relative.
“Unless you’re extremely unlucky, you should be able to rack up quite a few points.”
Kim Hwiyeon was strong. Particularly in Korea, thanks to Taesan’s help, players had progressed deeper than those from other countries. She hardly had any reason to lose in a one-on-one match against a hard-mode player from another country.
Thus, unless she was unlucky enough to encounter someone like Taesan or Lee Taeyeon—exceptionally strong even in solo mode—or lost in a battle against multiple opponents, her chances of continuing to accumulate points were high.
“How many players in total?”
“About… sixteen million?”
“That’s a lot.”
“Most of them are from the United States, though.”
The number of survivors from the United States was overwhelmingly high. If assigned to a space, most participants would likely encounter only Americans.
“But the balance is totally broken. Is it supposed to be like this?”
For those in easy or normal modes, winning was practically impossible unless they were extremely lucky. The best they could do was survive as long as possible and earn a meager amount of points.
Taesan replied.
“Do you think whoever made this would care about balance?”
“Well, that’s true.”
Kim Hwiyeon nodded in agreement while casting a curious glance at Taesan.
“In the end, it’s going to be you who wins, Taesan.”
It was an obvious conclusion. Taesan’s defense was so superior that their attacks wouldn’t even make a dent.
That would remain the case even against Amelia. With no way to inflict damage, there was no chance of victory.
As Kim Hwiyeon prayed not to encounter Taesan, a new system window appeared.
[Special rules added.]
[1. Health is fixed at 100, and defense is fixed at 0.]
[2. Additional points will be awarded to the country with the most players remaining when the quest ends.]
[3. Additional rewards will be granted to the final winner.]
[4. All health recovery skills are sealed.]
“Huh?”
Kim Hwiyeon nodded as she read the newly appeared system window.
“With rules like this, it’s somewhat fairer.”
With health fixed at 100 and defense at 0, even easy or normal mode players had a chance to win.
If they worked together or caught their opponent off guard, landing two or three successful attacks could lead to victory.
“But isn’t the second condition too advantageous for the United States? Not that whoever designed this would care.”
Kim Hwiyeon grumbled, while Taesan narrowed his eyes instead of answering.
‘This…’
Such special rules had not existed in his previous life.
The reason was simple. The Colosseum, from the beginning, was designed solely for Amelia.
There was no reason to allow the possibility of her defeat. Hence, no special rules had been in place, and Amelia had claimed victory with overwhelming power.
But this time, special rules existed. The reason wasn’t hard to guess.
‘They’re trying to take me down.’
Taesan smirked.
The special rules were detrimental to the strongest participants. And the one most disadvantaged by them was, of course, Taesan.
“What a petty god.”
It wouldn’t stop at just this. They’d likely pull more tricks.
*Vwoom.*
[The quest begins.]
[Players are randomly assigned to spaces.]
“Ah.”
As people buzzed around, light began to envelop them.
“See you later.”
Taesan spoke briefly and closed his eyes.
When he opened them after the spatial transition, he found himself in a vast plain.
Looking around, he saw it was quite expansive. At least, he couldn’t discern the boundaries from his perspective.
[This is a space created by a god. Though it’s a temporary space destined to collapse before long, they’ve managed to create thousands of them in an instant. Truly, a god is a god.]
The ghost murmured in awe. Taesan gathered his magi and opened a pathway, drawing strength as he sensed the gaze of demons.
[You activated Leraje’s Domain Detection.]
Magi spread in all directions.
The number of people moving. Their strength. The terrain’s details.
All the information flowed into Taesan. He closed his eyes and organized it.
Before long, the detection reached the edge of the space.
“It’s not that large.”
The total number of allocated players was one hundred.
If he decided to move, he could finish them all within minutes. For now, Taesan planned to deal with the closest person first.
He started walking. As he sprinted rapidly, he soon spotted a man with a startled expression. Standing before him, Taesan observed the man.
“What, what the hell!”
The man recoiled in fear upon seeing Taesan. Taesan glanced at the man’s arm.
A red cloth. Hard mode.
The man, while cautiously observing Taesan, asked hesitantly.
“Japanese?”
“Korean.”
“Oh, sorry. You East Asians look similar, so it’s hard to tell.”
The man raised his hands apologetically. Sharp features, blond hair, and blue eyes.
Taesan spoke.
“You’re American?”
“Right. My name is Guster. A proud hard-mode player from the United States.”
Guster introduced himself with pride, then curiously observed Taesan.
“Judging by your lips, you’re not speaking English. But I can understand you. It’s not just the community system, huh?”
Guster smiled in satisfaction.
“No need for the hassle of studying languages. Fantastic. What’s your name?”
“Taesan.”
Guster’s eyes lit up.
“So, you’re the one Amelia talked about?”
“That’s right. Have you confirmed enough?”
As Taesan stepped forward, Guster’s expression changed. He gripped his sword and charged with a serious face.
[Guster activated Addition.]
[Guster activated Focus.]
As Guster charged at high speed, Taesan moved.
Guster collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.
[Guster received 4,032 damage.]
[Guster is incapacitated.]
Falling to the ground, Guster let out a hollow laugh.
“Unbelievable.”
“Not bad.”
The moment Guster encountered Taesan, he had judged he couldn’t win, so he attempted to distract him with conversation. After extracting the information he wanted, he tried to catch Taesan off guard and launch an attack.
His judgment was swift, and his actions precise. He had the skills to survive hard mode.
However, that was all.
“Let’s finish this quickly.”
Taesan stomped the ground, and his figure disappeared.
Guster thought of himself as strong.
This wasn’t because he was delusional or overestimating himself.
Objectively, he was indeed powerful. Among the many hard-mode players of the labyrinth, he ranked near the top.
When he first received the quest, he had confidence in his survival. While he knew he might not make it to the very end, he believed he could win at least three or four rounds.
But that belief was utterly shattered.
When he opened his eyes, he was back at the place where he had originally been.
“O.”
Guster scratched his head. A few minutes later, another man appeared, summoned with a dazed expression. Looking around, he spotted Guster.
“What? Guster? You’re back already?”
“Seves.”
Seves was an easy-mode player, quite far removed in skill compared to the hard-mode Guster.
Nevertheless, the two were very close. The reason was simple: they had been friends even before the labyrinth had opened.
Guster asked Seves.
“How did it go for you?”
“Of course, I lost. Even with no defense, I couldn’t do anything.”
Seves shrugged. Even if there was no defense, it didn’t matter if you couldn’t land an attack.
Moreover, easy-mode players’ attacks were so weak that they couldn’t even shave off the fixed 100 health in one go. Victory was virtually impossible.
“You must have won, though. Guster, our village’s pride.”
“No.”
Guster shook his head. Seves’s face showed disbelief.
“You lost?”
“…Seves, you know Taesan, don’t you?”
“That Korean solo-mode player? Of course, I know him.”
Seves nodded.
“Amelia, she pretends not to care, but you can tell she’s always mindful of him.”
Amelia was the strongest solo-mode player in the United States. Her monstrous power was witnessed by everyone who had survived.
So, naturally, everyone was aware of Taesan, the player whom Amelia was wary of.
However, they didn’t pay much attention to him.
“Still, he can’t be stronger than Amelia, right? I can’t imagine anyone being stronger than her.”
Amelia was, quite literally, a monster.
She could shatter the sea with a single strike and make the earth cry out with her steps. She was closer to a natural disaster than a human.
No one believed that any other human could possess such power.
That’s why, even though Koreans kept praising Taesan in the community, most dismissed it. They thought the stories were mostly exaggerated.
“…I thought so too.”
But.
Guster fell silent.
He was one of the strongest even among hard-mode players.
Thus, he had fought alongside Amelia many times and had sparred with her on several occasions. Each time, he felt the insurmountable wall that separated them.
But this was different.
The power of Taesan, whom he had faced.
He didn’t even use any skills. And yet, he dealt 4,000 damage.
While Guster wasn’t someone who frequently checked the community, he had occasionally heard chatter that Taesan had several damage-enhancing skills.
If that was true, then how high could Taesan’s damage go?
Guster briefly imagined it and let out a hollow laugh. Just imagining it was ridiculous.
“Should I be happy about this?”
Guster was conflicted. Having a strong ally was undoubtedly beneficial for their survival.
But it was impossible to be entirely optimistic, given how Amelia might react. The Amelia he knew was someone obsessed with being the strongest.
“What are you talking about?”
“I’ll explain when everyone gathers. It’s important. Very important.”
“Oh, right.”
Seves seemed to recall something.
“Oliver mentioned something similar.”
“Oliver Khan? Don’t tell me Oliver was in your space too?”
“Yeah. He told me to just think of it as bad luck.”
“That’s really unlucky.”
Oliver was stronger than Guster. Excluding Amelia, he was arguably the strongest in the United States.
Seves spoke.
“Oliver said he thought of a good way we could benefit from this, so I shouldn’t be too disheartened.”
—
[Quest complete.]
[You are the winner.]
[Calculating…]
[You have earned 20 points.]
[Returning to the winner’s location.]
Taesan arrived in a vast space.
Twenty points. This was likely the maximum points that could be earned. Looking at the system window, Taesan reflected.
In his previous life, he had also participated in the Colosseum. And he had been defeated in his very first battle.
It wasn’t until he surpassed the 60th floor in easy mode that he had begun acquiring proper skills.
Back then, even though he was strong for an easy-mode player, he couldn’t defeat opponents in normal or hard modes.
Taesan surveyed the surroundings. As the first winner, he was alone.
As time passed, others who appeared to be winners began to show up one by one.
“Phew, that was tough.”
Kim Hwiyeon appeared, wiping sweat from her brow. With no defense and health fixed at 100, she couldn’t let her guard down.
She had narrowly defeated a hard-mode player from the United States in her final battle.
And she wasn’t the only one to have won.
Kim Hwiyeon, Geum Jung-geun, Kang Jun-hyuk, and other top-tier players from Korea began appearing one by one. Soon, the system window appeared.
[All winners have been determined. You will move to the next battlefield in one hour.]
An hour. There was some time to rest. During this time, Kim Hwiyeon started gathering people to organize information.
“Korea had a total of 3,900 hard-mode players, right?”
How many had survived?
She calculated the numbers. Upon confirming them, Kim Hwiyeon muttered in astonishment.
“3,343? How did so many survive?”
