Chapter 227

“Ohhh!”
“Yay, courage!”
“But who is it?”
“I don’t recognize you.”
“Who cares, I’m having fun!”
“That’s right!”
As Ming Hu climbed into the ring, the crowd erupted in cheers once again.
“Do you dare?”
The middle-aged man asked Ming Hu.
“You said rewards are the elixir of strength, right?”
“That’s right, if you beat Steven, you’ll get 200 gold and 10 Elixirs of Strength. That is, if you win.”
Ming Hu smiled at the middle-aged man’s words.
“I’ll take the challenge.”
“The challenge costs 20 gold.”
The middle-aged man extended his hand. Ming Hu opened his inventory, took out 20 gold, and handed it to the middle-aged man. After checking the gold, the middle-aged man looked at Ming Hu with a satisfied smile and continued, “I’ll take it.
“How would you challenge yourself?”
“…in what way?”
How? Ming Hu couldn’t help but wonder.
“There are two types of challenges: fight and hold. Fighting is literally fighting Steven. You have to block 30 of his attacks or hold out for 5 minutes. Of course, you can’t attack him during the endurance portion of the challenge.”
“Fighting would be better.
There was no need to hold out. Ming Hu opened his mouth to say he would challenge him to a fight.
“Gross.”
“Of course, the rewards are doubled for harder holds.”
But the man’s next words stopped Ming Hu in his tracks, and he continued with a puzzled expression.
“If it’s double… does that mean double the elixir of strength?”
“That’s right, if you beat Steven with Endurance, you’ll get 400 gold and 20 Elixirs of Strength.”
“I’ll hold out.”
Ming Hu, who was about to challenge him to a fight, said with a look that said he didn’t even have to think about it.
“Oooh, they’re going to challenge you to a dare?”
“You’re a brave fellow!”
The onlookers looked at Ming Hu’s words in amazement. It was the same with the man. The man looked at Ming Hu with a surprised expression.
“Are you sure you want to hold out? You have 30 attacks or 5 minutes.”
“Yes, but can I avoid or block it?”
“Sure.”
“Then let’s get right to it.”
“I see, heh, heh.”
Myung Hu nodded at the man’s words, and the man nodded back with an understanding look and headed down to the ring.
“You’re going to hold out? Your liver is overboard.”
At the sound of the voice, Ming Hu turned to look at Steven. Chapter looked a little angry. Ming Hu smiled wryly at Stephen.
“…”
Steven’s expression hardened slightly at Ming Hu’s smile. Steven’s expression hardened slightly as he looked at the middle-aged man down in the ring.
“Can we get started right away?”
At Steven’s words, Ming Hu also looked at the middle-aged man.
“Sure.”
The middle-aged man nodded, and Ming Hu looked back at Stephen.
“You asshole. Expect.”
thump
Steven put down the mace he was carrying with the words expectantly, and with a thud, he began to move slowly toward Ming Hu.
“Oooh, is Steven using his fists?”
“Heh, heh, this is going to be fun.”
“I feel a little sorry for that young man.”
“This is going to turn up a lot of bodies today.”
“Is a fist more dangerous than a mace?
Listening to onlookers, it seemed that Steven was more dangerous with his fists than with a mace.
“Whatever.
Of course, it didn’t matter whether Steven was swinging a mace or punching the air.
“Search!”
Suk
Soon, Steven arrived in front of Myung-Hoo, punching the air and shouting.
Jaw
Ming Hu raised his arm to block a fist flying toward him, then opened his mouth to speak.
“1.”
“…Profit!”
Steven gritted his teeth at Ming Hu’s words and punched him again.
Jaw
“Number 2.”
Ming Hu also raised his arm again to block Steven’s punch.
“Oooh, something’s different than usual.”
“This can’t be…”
“Uh, Steven?”
“Steven must be looking out for me!”
“I suppose?”
As Steven’s attacks were blocked one after another, the onlookers began to chatter.
“You… you son of a bitch!”
As the onlookers listened, Steven became enraged and began throwing punches.
Tuck tuck tuck tuck tuck tuck tuck
“Three times, four times, five times, six times…”
Of course, the position of the punch was so obvious that Ming Hu was able to block it over and over again, and Steven’s face began to turn red.
“Thirty times.”
Soon, the 30 attacks were over. But Steven didn’t stop attacking, and Ming Hu frowned and grabbed Steven’s fist. Steven looked confused as his fist was caught, and he strained to pull it out. Sure enough, his fist didn’t come free. Steven looked at him in disbelief and began to struggle to free his fist.
Sigh
Ming Hu turned his gaze away from Steven and looked at the man down in the ring.
“We’re done, right?”
“…”
The man was speechless at Ming Hu’s words. It wasn’t just the man who was speechless.
“…”
“…”
The onlookers were stunned, and they alternately looked at Ming Hu and Steven, who was struggling to withdraw his fist.
“Excuse me?”
When the man didn’t say anything, Ming Hu opened his mouth again and asked.
“Ah… that’s right.”
“What’s the reward?”
“…Wait a minute.”
At Ming Hu’s words, the man walked off somewhere and soon came back to the ring with a box.
“There’s an elixir…hmm.
Ming Hu smiled as he looked at the box the man carried.
“What did this…what did this son of a…”
At Steven’s words, Ming Hu turned away from the box and looked at Steven, then released his grip on his fist.
Hudadak
Steven quickly stepped back and assumed a defensive stance. Ming Hu smirked at Steven’s defensive stance and turned his attention back to the man.
“Please.”
“…here it is.”
“Do you have any more elixirs?”
“It’s gone. It’s the last one in here.”
At Ming Hu’s words, the man hands the box he was carrying to Ming Hu.
[You have earned a chest with an Arena reward].
After receiving the box, Ming Hu looked at the message and used the box.
[You have earned 400 gold].
[You have earned 20 Elixirs of Strength].
Then a message appeared and the chest disappeared. Ming Hu quickly opened his inventory and began searching for the Elixir of Strength.
“…Hmph.
Soon, at the top of his inventory, Ming Hu found twenty glittering power elixirs, and with a satisfied smile on his face, he walked down to the ring. It was then.
“Stop!”
At the sound of Steven’s voice, Ming Hu turned his head and looked behind him. Steven, who had been in a defensive stance, was staring back at him with a very serious expression on his face. Ming Hu looked at Steven, who looked back at him with a questioning expression.
“Reattached!”
Then Steven continued.
“What?”
Ming Hu couldn’t help but ask, “Why?
“Let’s…get back together!”
Woof, woof, woof
The onlookers began to murmur.
“What’s in it for me if I reattach?”
“Th-that’s…”
Steven’s words trailed off and he looked at the man. Ming Hu also looked at the man and could see the man shaking his head. Seeing that, Ming Hu turned and walked back down to the ring.
“Anyone up for a challenge? The reward this time is 300 gold, and the challenge cost is still 20 gold!”
Down in the ring, Ming Hu listened to the man’s voice in his ear, opened his inventory, and began to take the power elixir.
[You have taken the Elixir of Strength, permanently increasing your Strength by 10].
.
.
[You have taken the Elixir of Strength, permanently increasing your Strength by 10].
After taking all 20 elixirs, Ming Hu opened the Character window.
Nationality : Helioca [Empire]
Titles: Count
Age: 22 Occupation: Blood Knight/Strong Smith
Reputation: 4606000 Achievements: 7770
Title: Hidden Hero (Effect: +50k Health, +50k Mana)
Level: 323
Vitality: 18655050
Mana: 2506420
Blood pressure: 7730
Strength : 775030 [77503(+7200)] Dexterity : 61665 Stamina : 62107(+500)
Intellect: 61310 Wisdom: 61011
Dexterity: 370
Contribution: Elgav – 1000000
“…I’m up 2,000, but I don’t feel like I’m up.
I took 20 elixirs to increase my strength by 200, and my skills ultimately increased my strength by 2000, but when I looked at my character window, I didn’t feel like I had increased much.
‘Because it’s still up.
He couldn’t feel it, but it was definitely up. Ming Hu closed the character window and checked the percentage of his crystal ball.
[Torren’s record crystal ball: 52%]
“Fifty-two percent… halfway to go!
The record crystal was over fifty percent full while he tried to hold on. Ming Hu tore his gaze away from the message and looked out over the ring. A large number of challengers had climbed into the ring to challenge Steven, perhaps in response to his humiliating defeat earlier. As Ming Hu looked at Steven and the challengers, a thought struck him.
“But why did you check for gold?
When I came in, the guy guarding the entrance checked to see if I had 100 gold or not. Now that I think about it, I don’t understand why he checked my gold. Ming Hu opened his mouth to speak to a man who looked to be in his early fifties who was cheering and watching from the sidelines.
“Hey, I have a question for you.”
“Oh, you’re the young man who defeated Steven earlier, what do you want to know?”
“You were checking your gold when you came in here. Why did you check it? I don’t see any bets in here.”
“Alas, it’s the underground dump that checks for gold.”
“…The underground arena?”
An underground arena?” Ming Hu couldn’t help but question the man’s words.
“Hmm? Didn’t you know? If you go that way, you can go to the underground arena. Not just anyone can go there, of course. There’s a hefty entrance fee. Plus, it’s a much different atmosphere than here, heh.”
At the man’s words, Ming Hu turned his head to look where the man was pointing. Men of similar size to those guarding the entrance were standing in front of the stairs leading down to the basement.