Rogue Villain-Chapter 213: Tetraxia

As soon as the announcer’s voice died out, a large rusty iron grid, much like the one Ackster passed through but more than ten times the size, rose to the sounds of metal dying inside. At the same time, booming steps rang out, enough to rattle the entire colosseum each time. It was enough to make the ones unaware of the source panic.

The mini-earthquakes startled even the more experienced spectators, who had seen Tetraxia before. It seemed like she had grown since the last time she had to step forward.

The fact that the colosseum walls rumbled and the ceiling around Tetraxia’s entrance crumbled as it gave way to the monstrous being confirmed that theory.

If the large, reptilian being with six eyes, a rhinoceros-like horn, the stature of a small mountain, and wings too small for its oversized body had passed through there before, there would have been signs. But there was no doubt that Tetraxia had fought in the ring before since her body was littered with scars. She also had a heavy metal collar oozing with the magic necessary to keep her obedient, or at least not aggressively rebellious.

The announcers said something about the fight starting, but Ackster had already tuned out everything but the monstrous being in front of him. He couldn’t tell if it would be classified as a beast or a monster. But it didn’t matter.

It stared at him with its two rows of eyes, three each. The gaze was so heavy that Ackster could feel it weigh down on his body. And that was without the added pressure Tetraxia gave off due to its sheer size and power.

’What kind of fucked up drake is this?’

Ackster could tell it wasn’t a dragon. But it was a large reptile, which almost automatically made it a drake. It was just that the horn on its snout, its three pairs of eyes, and its lion-like tail made it look more like a chimera than a naturally existing monster. However, it wasn’t as ominous or dead as chimeras tended to be. There also wouldn’t be a need to control it using a magic collar.

’Oh, shit—!’

Ackster was forced out of his thoughts about the creature as Tetraxia stomped forward with surprising haste despite its speed. The ground shook like an actual earthquake during its charge. But Ackster’s reflexes, combined with Bo’s training and his experience with stormy waters on a small boat, made it possible for him to sprint like normal.

Just to get a feel for what he was dealing with, Ackster ran around to Tetraxia’s side and stabbed her hind leg with Stormcaller.

’Yeah, that’s not gonna work.’

Ackster’s weapon didn’t even scratch Tetraxia’s adamantine scales.

He noted that the scales on her legs, forehead, and back were larger and thicker than the rest of her body. So, he had areas to attack to try and find a weak point. But regardless, he would need to use mana to get through Tetraxia’s outermost defensive layer. And even if he did, she would have a rock-solid layer of muscle shielding her insides. With her massive body, it would also take half an eternity to bleed her to death.

Unless he could beat her with overwhelming force, Tetraxia seemed invincible. After all, despite all the scars she had gotten over the years, serving as Tarragia’s champion, she was still going strong and growing stronger.

Ackster glanced at the announcer, who was most likely stronger than he wanted to appear. If he were lucky, the Sun God Token would be with the announcer.

When he listened in on people’s conversations both before he entered the colosseum and after, he had never heard of someone being higher-ranked among the organizers than the announcer. So, it was very likely that he was the one in charge of the whole thing and would thus carry the Gladiatoreum’s treasure on him.

If he didn’t, the Sun God Token would either be with a trusted subordinate—unlikely—or inside a safe—less unlikely.

After looking at the announcer and noticing him feeling his gaze, Ackster decided it was worth a shot.

While running from Tetraxia and her whipping tail, Ackster started gathering mana with Stormcaller. Tetraxia noticed what he was doing at once and looked her gaze on his weapon due to its blooming pressure.

Ackster didn’t know if it was a monster’s greed for mana or an instinctual wariness of the danger his weapon possessed, but Tetraxia threw herself toward him with reinvigorated frenzy.

Of course, Ackster had no trouble avoiding the oversized monster in the small arena, where she couldn’t build any speed or momentum without crashing into the walls and earning herself a powerful electrical shock from the collar around her neck.

’Lucky.’

Ackster noticed the collar’s magic and how Tetraxia almost winced at the electric current crashing through her scales. Considering what he had planned, it was a lucky coincidence.

Ackster continued building up the mana in Stormcaller. Doing it while running around, chased by Tetraxia, was a little more difficult than when he stood still on the beach or in his boat. He needed to be a pinch more careful to ensure the mana didn’t slip out ahead of time or in the wrong direction.

Ackster didn’t need extreme precision, but the further astray the trident went, the further away the storm would end up. And if it was too far away, Ackster couldn’t use it for his plan to beat the Tarragia Gladiatoreum at their own game.

With the trident finally aglow with enough mana to render Ackster’s sight useless, Ackster decided it was time. He stopped running as he sent the tree trunk-thick lightning bolt straight into the sky.

He panted a little as the control necessary to gather that much mana had been more strenuous than expected. Ackster had also fought almost non-stop with all kinds of opponents for more than a day.

But he quickly caught his breath and took the opportunity to put some distance between himself and Tetraxia while she stared at the sky, along with every other being in the stadium.

They watched the grey clouds gather, darken, and grow at a frightening pace. The ones with keen enough senses, such as Tetraxia, could also feel an overbearing pressure separate from the clouds begin to build.

’Showtime.’