The Dark Demon Lord - Chapter 86

Arnin entered the large Cave Temple with the bun haired girl following close behind. When he first walked through the opening, what met him was pitch darkness. Only after walking another few steps did everything begin to clear up.

When the darkness faded, the first thing that Arnin saw was a large board. The board seemed to be made of a special type of dark wood which had empty slates split into three different groups.

‘What is this?’ Arnin looked at the wooden board and began to consider all possibilities. ‘This must be related to the statues that were stationed outside.’

He tried to relate the information he got from the three statues to the wooden board in front of him, and suddenly, it hit him. ‘This must be a place for battle! That’s the only explanation. Two statues fighting against one another, with one dictating who dies who survives. This board must be for the names of the participants.’

Arnin nodded his head and knew that he was either correct or very close to the answer. He began to look around the Cave Temple, and found that there were five doors. Each door had a wooden plate on top to inform others about what was behind them.

The first and last door had signs that said ‘Spectator’, while the three middle doors were labelled as the Bronze, Silver, and Gold Arenas. The Bronze Arena door was on the left, while the Silver was on the right, leaving the Gold for the middle.

‘Which door should I enter? Maybe I should head through the spectator door first and have her go and check things out for me in one of the arenas.’ Arnin looked at the bun haired girl, who was also looking around curiously. She held onto her unconcious sister as her eyes scanned the Cave Temple.

As Arnin was debating which room to enter, people began to swarm into the Cave Temple.

The first person that Arnin saw was a young man around the age of twenty. He had bright blue hair and brown eyes. His skin was somewhat dark, and seemed to be covered by peculiar black lines that were hard to notice at first glance.

The next person that walked in had blond hair and yellow eyes. He seemed to be friends, or at least partnered with the blue haired young man since both young men had weird black lines, however the blonde haired boy’s marks were easier to notice because of his pale skin.

More and more people walked in, some with unique features on their bodies, while others were quite normal. Arnin nodded his head and dragged the bun haired girl to one corner.

“Listen here, I am going to go into one of the spectating rooms, and you will enter the Silver arena so I can see what this place is really about.” Arnin was not going to waste essence on something like an arena since he didn’t know the secrets of the Cave Temple Zone, which was why he was sending the bun haired girl first.

“Bu–” Before she could finish, Arnin snatched the unconscious girl from her arms and began to walk through one of the spectating doors.

He turned his head and looked at her with a sharp glint in his eyes. “You know what I could do if you don’t follow what I say. I can finish you and your sister whenever I want and get myself a new scout; dont think I won’t.” Arnin then turned and walked through the door, leaving her gritting her teeth in increasing anger.

Although many were not watching the others around them, they still had their guard up since a fight could occur at any moment. Some were even able to hear Arnin’s conversation with the bun haired girl.

The blue and blonde haired boys were the closest to Arnin so they heard everything, as if they were right next to the three. “That kid doesn’t he seem familiar?”

The blue haired young man looked at the blond haired young man with his eyebrow raised. “Yeah, don’t you know who that is?” The latter looked at his friend with a small smile.

“Oh? It seems that my knowledge is not as boundless as yours, great sir.” The blue haired man said jokingly as he waited for his friend to explain who it was.

“Haven’t you heard about a recent infamous boy rising in let’s say prestige?” The blue haired boy held his chin and began to ponder a bit before his eyes brightened.

“Red hair, purple eyes, and three tattoos on the forehead. The Demonic Joker! It’s really him?!” The man was shocked since Arnin did not seem super strong, and although everyone knew that the Demonic Joker was very young, he did not think that he would be a child that just began to walk and cultivate.

The blond haired man smiled as he looked at the bun haired girl. “That girl is also somewhat famous, well her gang was at least. She and her two sisters make up the Triple Piercing however it seems that one is missing or dead.” The more the blonde man spoke, the weirder the situation got.

“Seems like this Demonic Joker took down the Triple Piercing, and is possibly even controlling the remaining two. Doesn’t that mean that his strength is around Essence Manifest – Earth?” Although the bun haired girl’s group was not extremely famous, there were still news of them because of their ability to fight people in Essence Manifest – Earth despite their Orb Birth strength. Although the three needed to work together to barely achieve this, it was still not a common sight.

“Let me see if I can remember that girl’s name the tactician and leader of the Triple Piercing should be called Canae.” The blond haired man spoke aloud, allowing his friend to hear every word that came out of his mouth.

“You really know a lot, don’t you? How do you know about such insignificant characters?” The blue haired man was surprised that his friend even knew the name of the leader.

The blond haired man snorted with an annoyed smile. “Unlike you who only looks for his next prey, I actually look into most, if not all of the people participating. I don’t want to waste time with weak people if we meet them or die in the hands of the strongest either. I need to make sure I know who I am up against before fighting them.”

The blue haired man smiled embarrassingly and coughed lightly before looking back towards Arnin. “So, do you want to fight that Joker or no?” Although the blue haired man was stronger than the blonde, the latter was still the tactician in the pair due to his vast knowledge and his cautious nature.

“Hmm, well I don’t think that killing him would be too difficult, but I still want to see more of his strengths. He was able to defeat Canae and her sisters with the measly strength of Orb Birth – Hell, meaning that he is able to fight people above his own realm. Although he probably can’t make large leaps, it’s still pretty good. We might even be able to rope him in with us.” The blond haired man spoke quietly but his eyes glistened slightly when he looked at Arnin.

Although fighting above one’s own realm was considered uncommon, it wasn’t rare, but fighting someone who is in a different large realm was considered rare. The blonde man saw Arnin as a potentially talented person who could assist them in getting through the battlefield test.

‘I need to find a way to learn more about this Demonic Joker. He is still a mystery in the battlefield. He appeared out of nowhere and no one had ever heard of a red haired child with such ruthlessness before. Plus, it doesn’t seem like he has shown his full potential and strength to anyone thus far.’

The bun haired girl, Canae, looked at Arnin with an aggrieved expression before walking through the Silver door. Arnin noticed that the board then showed something new as soon as she entered.

[Canae – Female – Twelve – Orb Birth Hell] vs []

Arnin nodded his head, and walked through the spectating door after he saw this. ‘Seems like this is like an arena and others need to walk through the door in order to challenge Canae.’

Others also saw the change on the board and couldn’t help but look at the Silver door. Canae was below average in strength when compared to the overall strength of the group, which made others want to go and attack her.

The blue and blond haired young men saw Arnin enter the spectating door closest to the Silver door and nodded their heads, following behind him. The blonde man’s goal was to rope in Arnin, so he wasn’t going to waste time on a weak character like Canae and ultimately displease him.

Suddenly, another young boy with long silver hair walked towards the Silver door. “Let’s see how strong this Canae is, and what this Cave Temple is really about.” Soon, he too stepped through the Silver door, disappearing behind it.

[Canae – Female – Twelve – Orb Birth Hell] vs [Piri – Male – Thirteen – Orb Birth Hell]

Arnin wasn’t present to see the challenger, but that didn’t matter too much because he was able to see what was going on inside the arena from the spectator area.

When he entered the spectating door, he was met with the typical grand seats that one would find in amphitheatres. There was a long fence that circled the large arena set on a lower level. Arnin looked at the air above the fence and snickered slightly.

‘Looks like a barrier to prevent intervention in the fight.’ Arnin didn’t find it surprising for such a thing to be inside the spectating area since the fights needed to be ‘fair’. He looked around elsewhere and noticed something on the other side of the seats.

It was a large wooden box with two tiny square holes. Arnin walked closer and noticed that there was a sign on the top of the wooden box. It had the word ‘Bets’ written in large letters.

‘Bets?’ Arnin walked closer and found that there were two different holes for two different types of bets one could make. The first tiny opening was for people who wanted to use normal currency of Afloria, such as gold, silver and copper coins. The second hole, however, was different. One would use something called Death Coins.

Arnin looked around and found that other than that, there was nothing else on the wooden box, however that only lasted for a few minutes. Suddenly, a name appeared on the wooden box.

[Canae: Win or Lose]

Arnin saw the name appear as soon as he felt the aura of the bun haired girl enter the arena. He looked down and saw that she was finally inside, but had a very cautious and nervous look on her face.

‘So, it seems that the fighting will commence very soon.’ Arnin waited for a little while longer before another change happened on the wooden box as someone else entered the arena.

[Canae: Win or Lose] vs [Piri: Win or Lose]

He nodded his head when he saw this. He didn’t have any money on him to bet, nor did he have the so called Death coins, so he simply waited until others entered the spectating area.

Half an hour passed, and the spectating seats were finally filled with many cultivators. Some others also went over to the wooden box and decided to bet with silver coins, however no one had any Death coins, or even knew what they were for that matter.

Arnin was sitting idly, waiting for the fight to start. The arena was an open field, but there seemed to be a barrier that separated the fighters from the spectators. He didn’t know when the barrier separating the fighters would disappear but he knew that it would happen very soon.

A couple breaths after that thought, a shadow appeared in the middle of the arena. Everyone, including Arnin, looked up at the origin of the shadow and saw that something was falling down. As they looked closer, they found that the object was actually a statue.

‘Isn’t that the statue that was’ Arnin also noticed the descending statue and found that it was the exact same statue that he saw outside of the Cave Temple. It was the one that stood in the middle.

*BOOOM*

It landed with a thunderous rumble, picking up the dust and creating a small screen. The dust screen surprisingly didn’t go back to normal, rather it began to solidify into a large cylindrical pillar.

“Welcome to the Cave Temple!” A deep voice, resounded throughout the arena and specting platforms. Arnin looked at the pillar with a smirk. “This is a one time explanation of the rules in the Cave Temple.” The deep voice did not sound robotic or preprogrammed, rather it sounded like a normal person.

‘This is probably a teacher or someone else associated with the Thorn Academy. The other zones most likely have a person like this as well.’ Arnin pondered this thought as he listened to the person inside the pillar.

“The Cave Temple is a battle arena with rewards. The better you do, the better the rewards you shall receive. Most have already seen that the Cave Temple is separated into three different arenas; Bronze, Silver, and Gold. The ones who are even slightly smart should understand that the Gold arena is for the strongest while the Bronze is for the weakest, Silver sitting right in the middle.” Many people nodded their heads when they heard this. Something like that was not too hard to figure out.

Suddenly, a cloaked figure appeared on top of the pillar, looking exactly like the statue that landed previously, but this time it was moving. “Anyone who enters the arena can only leave after the killing their opponent, however if I feel that the battle will not end quick enough, then I myself will intervene and decide a winner. The loser will, of course die.” When everyone heard this, they began to look towards one another, slightly nervous, but also a little excited.

“Although battles to the death are also happening outside the Cave Temple Zone, this place gives you rewards if you win and also something called Death coins.” At the mention of the Death coins, everyone’s ears perked up. They wanted to know what these things were since they could be used for betting.

“Death coins are earned through killing in the arena. Of course, you can earn some more if you use them in bets, but the only way to obtain your first coins is through battling in the arenas. I decide how much you earn depending on how well you do during your battles.” The more Arnin listened to the person in the cloak, the deeper his frown became.

‘The only way to earn Death coins is to kill someone, but the amount you get is determined by this cloak person. You also get rewards based on how well you do in battle, which is also determined by the cloak person. Not only that, but if the cloak person is tired of your battle, he will kill the person he feels should lose. Seems like one has to get in this person’s good books in order to benefit from the Cave Temple.’ Arnin was not the only one who thought this. Some of the more intelligent people also came to this conclusion, which included the blonde haired man with the black marks.

‘Interesting.’ The blond haired man also had a small frown. Although strength was a factor in the arena, what really mattered was becoming a favorite for the cloak person, because only then could one get good things from the Cave Temple.

“What is the use of the Death coins? Other then betting, can they be used for anything else?” A fifteen year old or so aged girl couldn’t help but voice out what was on most people’s minds. If the Death coins could only be used for bets, then they were virtually useless.

“The cloak person ‘stared’ at the girl and continued speaking. “The Death coins have three uses. One, they could be used to trade for Afloria currency. A single Death coin is equivalent to twenty silver coins. The second usage for them is towards rewards. The more your earn, the better reward you can get. The last and best usage of the Death Coins is towards academic points.” When these words came out of the cloaked figure’s mouth, Arnin couldn’t help but smile.

He knew that academic points were the currency used within the academies and they could be used for academy exclusive items and other things. They were not too difficult to obtain for someone like Arnin who could trade pills and cultivation stones for points, but for many of the common students, getting academic points was extremely difficult.

“Now then, there is one last thing that everyone must know. Although you cannot enter the arenas from the spectating seats, you can enter the arena mid battle if you desire from the original gates.” This news hit everyone like a lightning strike. Anyone could enter mid fight? Didn’t that mean that once a person died, someone else could enter and steal the points?

People began to wildly think about all that could happen, and the more they thought about it, the worse the expressions on their faces got. Most even planned on leaving the Cave Temple zone since winning could still lead to death.

The cloak person stood silently before lifting his arm. “I am not finished yet. Although anyone can enter midfight, that does not mean that they can enter after a victor is decided. Once someone wins, then that means that they can leave the arena unharmed.”

Arnin listened and couldn’t help but shake his head. He knew that there was still a major loophole one could use during the fights. Although one could not enter after a winner was decided, that didn’t mean that someone couldn’t enter right before the winner was decided. If someone could appear at the best time, then they would benefit greatly by killing two exhausted fighters.

‘These Thorn Academy teachers really encourage killing, but this is also a very good way for me to kill and cultivate with others’ blood.’ Arnin thought silently as he waited for the cloak person to finish.

“Now then, let us begin the battles. Bet all you want, and lets see who dies and who lives!” With that, the cloak person disappeared and the invisible barrier that separated the two fighters also vanished.

Arnin’s eyes narrows as he looked at Canae. ‘I have to make sure that she does not die too early. I still need her for now.’