Chapter 32: Assassin

With the mages finishing up repairing the arena the crowd started to disperse letting him finally sit down. Nee had planted herself in his lap much to Ara's dismay though the red haired fairy had declined Nee's offer to let her take her place. With things settled down Sael finally got to review his system messages. He was shocked to see that the final messages hadn't been notifications that his skill had ranked up.

[Legendary Skill Acquired: Mountain Breaker Level Maxed]

'Holy hell. I thought I only got new skills when I maxed something. Does this mean I can unlock them without maxing a skill. Or did I just create a new skill? I wonder if Mountain Breaker already existed. Hmm who do I ask, If it requires flight it isn't like the adventurer's guild would know…" He was beyond excited the idea of being able to get high level skills himself coupled with getting a legendary tier skill made him giddy.

"Ehem. I'm not even wiggling around… much. I hope you can control yourself…" Nee was leaning to the side to look at him. When he looked at her she gave a little wiggle of her hips as the corner of her lips twitched. He was glad he still hadn't cut his hair and hoped it hid his burning ears.

"Stop that! I don't know what you are talking about." All the others in the group were looking at them. Ara looked confused, Beth was frowning, Dego suddenly found the floor interesting, and Peter was leering. Nee gave one more little wiggle but then let it drop, somehow he found her content smile annoying.

Entering the repaired arena was the young man wearing the fancy set of plate armor. He carried his helm under one arm while he waved to the crowd in an almost exact imitation to how Sael had done. Sael practically drooled eyeing the plate. All the metal was polished with a deep blue finish so dark it almost looked black. Silver and gold accents were a bit gaudy but just shy of being too much. Strapped to his back was a huge single edged curved blade made of what looked like bone. In some ways it looked crude and rough as if the bone had been chipped away to make a blade but Sael could sense what he could only guess was magic pulsing from it. 'I love my spear… but that sword looks so awesome. It makes me miss hunting monsters for materials…. Longswords for life!"

He was careful not to get too excited since Nee was still occupying his lap. With a sigh of envy he propped his head on top of hers using it like a chin rest. "Don't get all dreamy eyed over that second rate junk…. I'd have made you something way better if you'd gotten me the materials!" Beth hmphed next to him.

Grinning, he said. "I can't wait!" But watched as the second opponent entered the ring. It was another mass of muscle in the shape of a huge man dressed similarly to Granite Fist. His name moniker was Avalanche while the plate armored individual was called Godslayer. When he was announced Dego huffed complaining that who ever that guy was he didn't have any originality. Plus everyone knew a demon god slayer was way more awesome than just a Godslayer.

As the moderator started counting down Godslayer took his sword off and stabbed it into the sand before looking directly at Sael as he put his helmet on. "Do you know him?" Ara asked.

"Nope. But I hear he is strong. Good chance we will meet in the finals." Sael just shrugged curiously. When the countdown ended Godslayer walked away from his huge sword towards the larger man that approached just like his name sake. Soon the two were locked in a wild melee with the Godslayer using a wide variety of skills to pummel his opponent that simply used raw power in response. Between his armor and his array of impressive skills Godslayer managed to pummel the larger man in only a few minutes. That said everyone felt as if the fight was a bit of a let down after the wild events of the previous. None more so than Alan who had to be stopped from kicking the downed man to death out of frustration.

"Worthless! Trash! Garbage! You couldn't even make me look good. How pathetic. Now thanks to you I look inferior to some nobody!" Alan pushed away the moderator to deliver one last kick to the groaning man's face with his armored boot before stomping away.

"Well he's a prime example of an asshole." Sael pointed out.

From under his chin Nee responded. "He acts like most human nobility from my experience. They treat their own almost as badly as they do us." Sael was debating on asking for more detail about her comment when a staff member approached to let him know his next match would be soon.

Picking up Nee he sat her down as he stood up to follow the young man who looked almost as wide eyed as the small girl from before. He had to turn back to receive his good luck kisses from each of the girls much to his annoyance and Peter's glee. "You better keep your thoughts clean. There mine." His tone was so aggressively possessive it made him blush and the girls to giggle giddily.

Turning around he rushed back to the young man who now looked somehow more impressed. "Gods get me to the safety of the fighting pit!" At least the attendant had the courtesy to cover his mouth when he chuckled but led him along.

**********

Sael stood calmly in the arena once again waiting for his opponent. He waved and smiled at the crowd enjoying the attention. The arena was absolutely packed now. Every seat was filled and people were even standing in the walkways. He spotted Dego doing his best to keep the crowd from squishing the girls, especially the fairies who he seemed to think were made of glass because of there petite builds. Across from him his next opponent, Reaper, entered and drifted across the sand. The man didn't actually fly or anything just moved so smoothly it gave the appearance. He was fairly short, probably no more than five foot five with an olive complexion. His brown eyes had a glint to them as he made his way to his spot while his black hair was a neat bowl style cut. He had a short half cape of such a dark grey color it looked like a faded black. Equipped with a set of quilted padded armor he looked to be a more speed focused type, the estoc at his hip only further suggested it. He looked just like a cruel assassin worthy of the name Reaper.

'Dego is always going on about my speed but this will be my first time facing another high agility type. Combat Awareness don't let me down!' He still hadn't summoned in his spear yet, wanting to see just how far he could get without it. Off to the side the moderator counted down while inching back. The moment he said "Start" He bolted for the nearest tunnel as if he expected the world to end. Around them the arena was oddly quiet as if everyone was holding their breaths waiting. Even his opponent was standing still unmoving.

'Hmm I guess he is a bit scared after the last fight. Can't blame him. I was pretty awesome…. Damn now I'm starting to sound like Dego… Meh at least I can back up my own bullshit.' Just as he started to step forward his combat awareness triggered. 'The hell?'

With a hiss of drawn still the blades on his left arm extended into two claws. He brought his arm up and twisted it resulting in the sound of steel on steel. Suddenly his enemy appeared briefly, his estoc caught between the two claws of his conri armor and locked in place by twisting them. With a rasp of metal on metal the estoc was yanked free by the shocked assassin as he faded out of existence again.

Sael looked over at the adventurer standing across the arena from him and when he payed a bit more attention realized it was perfectly still, as in not even breathing. 'Wow that is awesome. Some sort of illusion combined with invisibility? Definitely an assassin type. I'm kinda jealous, I always did enjoy playing the glass cannon DPS. I'm more of a bruiser this go.' He turned to look at the invisible assassin as he tried to approach again. His unseen foe stopped and held his place.

"So is it a stealth ability or a magic skill? Can it be learned? What are the class requirements? Does it take mana? I'm guessing it is at least intermediate right? How much does it cost?" Sael couldn't resist asking, hoping he might get a bit of information. Suddenly the assassin reappeared shaking his head.

"I guess it is pointless to keep trying. Damn who knew you had a detection ability. If you can spot me then there isn't any point in continuing. I saw the last fight…" Suddenly the smaller man grinned. "You must be an Arrived too. Let's get a drink later!" Turning in the direction of the moderator he called out. "I forfeit!" The crowd booed but the man just shrugged.

Ignoring the crowd Sael walked beside Reaper as they left asking him questions about his skill set.

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours! What skills were those you used in the first match. That shit was wild. I half expected your hair to turn gold and spiky!" Reaper laughed suddenly looking a lot younger and far less… murderie.

"Damn, fair enough. Guess we both get to keep your secrets. But I'll take you up on that drink. Few more and we can have a full on party." He explained about Min as well as his group which Reaper seemed to get even more excited when he mentioned Beth being both an Arrived and an Armorer.

"Damn I'm glad I met her first. Lucky Lucky me!"

**********

Sael introduced Reaper, who's real name was Becket or Beck for short, to the group. Not only was he an Arrived but it turned out Sael and him had played a few games together. Not together together but the same game at least. It gave them something else to talk about which let them roll right into more talks about Earth. The fairies were extremely curious, since all Arrived were human and humans weren't really on the best of terms with fairies most of what they knew was second hand. He actually felt a bit embarrassed that he hadn't shared with them much and started to realize just how much he took them for granted. As well as the fact that other than focusing on grinding up he hadn't done much else since coming to the world.

'I'm kind of an ass. Come to think of it, I've never asked them what they wanted to do. I just did my own thing and accepted that they would follow along. I've never asked Ara if she wanted to go back to her people. Nee followed me out of her own castle and I never even questioned it. And Beth… well to be fair we both were kinda stuck just going with the flow but still…'

Beth poked him in the ribs "Stop daydreaming about Nee's butt again, perv. Beck was talking to you."

Sael was once again resting his chin on Nee's head who had taken her spot as soon as he sat back down. "Oops, I was just…. Plotting what to spend all my prize money on! Not anything pervy! You're the one with the dirty mind."

"Says the one with the harem!" Beth gave him a smirk and when Beck looked between the girls awkwardly she just nodded and gave a sigh while putting on a pitiful expression. "Yep this pervy perv has dragged us into a harem. He thinks he's the main character of some light novel or something. Just be glad you're a dude or he'd probably try and add you too!" Beth's eyes lit up and her smirk resurfaced. "Although you know I did kinda like BL…"

The three male Arrived locked eyes while the natives seemed confused before Beck pointed to the arena. "Look, the next match is starting!"

Beth snickered at their discomfort but did turn to watch the fight.

Once again the duke's son was in the arena wearing his fancy armor. Had they been paying attention earlier they would have seen him glaring at them all. Sael had seen him fight before or well paid enough attention to get a feel for him he thought. He was far more interested in the opponent. It was a man wearing a yellow robe with a cowl pulled down to shadow his features. He held a metallic staff of some dark metal capped in what looked like an egg shaped crystal of yellow color.

"Yellow robe means they are an earth mage of no specialty. Since the Guild Master's specialty falls under the earth classification they are pretty common. Earth's a decent combat skill too, well balanced in both offense and defense." Beck supplied seeing Sael's interest and having learned he was relatively new to the world.

"Cool. I'm pretty interested in magic actually."

Beck gave him a questioning look. "With your melee skills why would you bother?"

"Ugh, this one time I fought hundreds of corpse spiders at once. It was super annoying. All I could think was how much easier it would have been if I could have tossed a few fireballs." Sael sighed wistfully.

"If you did then you wouldn't have gotten me. Still wish you had your fireballs?" Nee pinched his thigh.

"Ouch!" He tickled her some. "Alright alright I'm glad I didn't have fireballs then but doesn't mean I don't want them eventually."

Nee wiggled around while trying not to giggle. "Besides, You wiped them all out in one attack using the castle. A fire ball would have never managed that."

Beck and Dego both looked like they wanted some more detail about that last comment when the sound of stone shattering brought their attention back to the arena.

Alan, the duke's son had just cleaved through three stone spikes that appeared to be erupting from the sand at his feet. Leaping up as several more shot out he started hovering in the air, tiny wings flapping at the heel of his boots. Excitement ran through the crowd as people pointed out his boots. "Angelic boot! He has Angelic Boots!"

"Shouldn't they be called Hermes boots or boots of Hermes. Bleh sounds lame." Sael stated making both Dego and Beck chuckle. Beth to roll her eyes and the fairies to seem confused at who this Hermes was.

With a wave of his staff the sand started to spin rising up into a tornado that engulfed the hovering knight. "So he can use air magic too?" Sael was really starting to wish he'd had a magic class.

"Naw, he's just controlling the sand with earth magic still. There is no actual wind. I've seen other earth mages do similar." Beck answered.

Before the mage could do anything else the tornado was blown apart as Alan slashed horizontally with his huge sword. "That's a Behemoth Blade. They are made from the bones of a well Behemoth. They are stupidly expensive because they can magnify the destructive force of any skill used. We're talking some exponential growth stuff. It's this world's version of a pay to win cash shop item."

"I hate pay to win." Was Sael's response while inwardly he questioned. 'Do they make Behemoth Spears? I want one!'

Diving down Alan activated the great sword skill Cleaver performing a devastating over head chop that true to its name cleaved the yellow robed mage in half down the center. The crowd gasped in horror before it morphed into shock as the stone puppet exploded apart. The rock of its body forming chains that wrapped around Alan as he passed between the two halves of the fake mage. With their ends sinking into the ground he was dragged down, stripping him of his flight.

Rising out of the sand was the real mage who lifted his staff high, overhead all the airborne sand from the tornado compressed into three ten foot long stone pillars. Their lower ends shrank down forming a point before the mage swept his staff in a downward arc causing them to launch down to impale the pinned fighter.

"Fuck me. I gotta learn some magic!"