Chapter 344: The Four Heavenly Kings (4)

Kai took a look around the spectator stands. Even till then, no one spoke a word. Kai finally turned and stepped down from the arena.

“

Uh... uhh...

”

A professional was indeed a professional for a reason.

The announcer was the first to regain his senses after seeing Kai head toward the waiting room. He gulped and turned to look at Nest, who had been defeated outside the arena.

“B-Banish has claimed victory over Nest and jumps to a new rank of 2,237 points! An upset has occurred!”

Along with the announcer’s voice, the sound of held breaths being released echoed from all directions.

“For real?”

“He seriously beat Nest... one of the Four Heavenly Kings?”

“Banish looked like he was getting pummeled, but he turned things around at the end.”

“I never thought Nest would lose in a contest of strength...”

Most spectators shared these impressions. But of course, a certain few who didn’t think the same were lost deep in thought about how to make use of the wildcard known as Banish.

Banish... so he’s proven that his skills work even on the 2,000 point stage.

He deflected attacks throughout the match to minimize damage, then ended it with a single blow.

His value is going to skyrocket.

What should we offer to recruit him?

Of course, not everyone was thinking that way.

“

Hm

...”

One man, who had quietly observed the match between Banish and Nest, showed a gentle smile.

“He’s an interesting one.”

It was Jackal of No Color.

***

“

Heup!

Haa, haa

...”

After practicing a final strike, Kai collapsed onto the floor. He laid on the ground for a long while, catching his breath. As he did so, he began to think.

It took longer than expected to learn Nest’s techniques.

A few days of training had been enough to mimic most of his past opponents' traits, but Nest was different. Even after nearly ten days of practice, Kai had only just started to get the feel for it. The biggest obstacle had definitely been the difference in weapon type.

Fists and swords. Closing the gap between them is harder than I thought.

Therefore, Kai had broken down all of Nest’s countless attacks and sorted out only what he could adapt. The same went for footwork, as martial artists and swordsmen even had to maintain different fighting distances.

“

Ugh

.”

Having resolved these difficulties through ten days of theory and training, Kai now felt exhausted. However, there was no time to rest.

It’s about to begin.

Lately, the Duel Arena had been in an uproar. There were two reasons.

One of them is me.

He had taken down Nest, one of the Four Heavenly Kings. This stirred up a new wave in the arena content, and the place where that wave was felt most intensely was, without a doubt, the community.

『The arena’s new super rookie continues to soar upward while breaking every record in history.』『Banish, a player who brought new possibilities to the arena once deemed a league of their own.』『Limitless' Guildmaster Katherine’s remark, ‘I truly look forward to facing him soon,’ stirs buzz.』

The Undefeated Empress Katherine at the top and the Four Heavenly Kings beneath her—it was true that ever since that system had solidified, few newbies entered the arena. After all, no one wanted to dip their toes into a stagnant pool.

However, Banish’s emergence completely shattered that notion. It gave others a sliver of hope. Thanks to that, the arena, which had been shrinking over time, was now riding the wind into a golden age.

And the second reason is...

As Kai stepped out of the training room, he picked up the newspaper that had been delivered to his suite.

“What is he thinking?”

Battle News, which reported on incidents, accidents, and match updates from the arena. Its front page was dedicated entirely to two individuals.

[Jackal of No Color VS Kane the Spirit Sorcerer confirmed. Jackal selects Kane as his debut opponent for the Four Heavenly Kings match!]

Just one week ago, Jackal had named Kane as his next opponent. People were thrilled and full of curiosity at the unbelievable news. Kai was no different.

"A match between two of the Four Heavenly Kings... that would come with enormous risk. Why would he do it?"

Of course, if one was certain of victory, the story changed. But no one could see the future.

If one were to lose in a match between the Four Heavenly Kings, they would not only be demoted to the 1,000 point range, but their rank among the Kings would also become fixed, inevitably tarnishing their reputation.

From what I found out, Jackal was supposedly someone with an extremely faint presence... Was the information wrong?

Before challenging Nest, Kai had analyzed all four of the Four Heavenly Kings. It had been the obvious thing to do because he was choosing his opponent, after all.

Jackal was the one I wanted to face the least.

The reason was simple. He had no color. Nest had overwhelming strength and martial arts. Seyri had powerful magic that fell like silent raindrops. And Kane was defined by his spirit magic. However, Jackal had none of that.

That’s probably why his nickname is No Color. He has no distinguishing traits.

He attacked plainly, dodged plainly, and won his matches plainly. Although he was one of the Four Heavenly Kings, this was also the reason his fanbase was unusually small.

"Maybe he struck a deal with the arena managers."

Now that the Duel Arena was thriving again, they would have wanted to take advantage of the situation.

A Four Heavenly Kings match in this situation would definitely be a major event.

In fact, looking back over the past week, more news had been coming out about the arena than main quests or raids. And naturally, the two fighters in the Four Heavenly Kings match were getting the most spotlight.

"Hard to say."

Kai shook his head and stepped out of the room.

***

Kai was guided to the highest-tier spectator seats, reserved only for players with over 2,000 points. It was a cozy place with cool drinks and all kinds of snacks.

Two guests were already seated there.

"...Yo."

Nest, who had tasted bitter defeat at Kai’s hands ten days ago, and a woman who glanced once at Kai before turning her gaze back to the arena.

That must be Seyri... Seyri of Silence.

Kai grabbed a coke, some chicken, and fries to enjoy while watching the match, then headed to his seat.

Three plush chairs had been arranged in the viewing area, with Nest and Seyri occupying the ends, leaving only the middle seat open. Naturally taking the center, Kai sat down, and Nest glanced at him.

Clearing his throat, Nest then said, "You seem curious why I’m here, so I’ll tell you. Over the past ten days, I’ve fought six matches. Obviously, I won them all. Thanks to that, I’ve recovered my rank back to 2,000 points."

"I wasn’t really curious," Kai shrugged and popped a fry into his mouth. "But, good for you."

"Thanks to

someone,

I had to go through all that trouble."

Spitting out those barbed words, Nest slowly began cutting his steak.

Just as he was about to bring a piece to his mouth, Kai asked, "Do you know anything about today’s match?"

Nest closed the mouth he had opened for the bite and replied, "What do you mean?"

"I don’t get why someone like Jackal would pick Kane."

"

Ahh...

" Nest set down his fork and slowly nodded. "Honestly, I don’t know either. Jackal never really interacted with others. Kind of like you."

"

Hmm

."

“If I had to guess, I’d say he received some kind of proposal from the managers. A match between the Four Heavenly Kings is the perfect event to attract attention. Considering the current state of the arena, there’s no reason not to do it.”

Nest shrugged and picked his fork back up.

Hmm, so the managers really might be involved. That part aligns with my thinking.

Then, Kai asked again, “Who do you think will win?”

This part was fairly important to Kai. He had been considering Kane the Spirit Sorcerer as his next opponent, but if Kane lost to Jackal here, it would all be for nothing.

Nest paused, slightly furrowing his brows as he stared at his meat, then set his fork down with a clack. “Kane.”

“Why?”

“Because I’ve fought him myself. For close-combat classes like me, guys like that are a pain. I’m sure it’ll be the same for Jackal.” Nest continued with a slight grimace, “Spirit sorcery in

MID Online

is really annoying. It’s similar to magic, but also different. For starters, none of the skills have cooldowns.”

“That’s true,” Kai nodded.

Since Kane was a candidate for his next opponent, Kai had already done a fair amount of research.

Just like Nest said, spirit sorcery is a pain.

None of the Spirit Sorcerer’s skills had cooldowns, which meant if they wanted to, they could spam skills endlessly. Of course, if that could go on forever, it would break the game’s balance. Naturally, a limit existed, and that was Nature Affinity.

To put it simply, it’s like using the spirit’s HP to cast skills. If Nature Affinity runs out, the spirits get unsummoned.

That was why the number of spirits a sorcerer had contracted with was extremely important. Each contract greatly increased Nature Affinity and regeneration rate. Of course, it also doubled the number of usable skills.

“How many spirits has Kane contracted with?”

“As far as I know, two. But...”

“He probably has a hidden card.”

Kai and Nest nodded at the same time.

All the Four Heavenly Kings would likely have the same shared goal—Katherine. If that was the case, then just as Nest had prepared a secret weapon in the form of a tackle, Kane would have something ready as well.

“Well, that’s how it is. And don’t talk to me right now. I’m going to eat.”

Determined to finally eat his meat, Nest quickly popped a piece into his mouth. As the juicy flavor of beef spread in his mouth and his expression began to brighten...

“Jackal will win.”

“

Cough, cough!

”

The meat he had just begun to chew flew right back out of Nest’s mouth.

In response, Kai looked at Seyri with a somewhat surprised expression.

I heard she’s only ever spoken three times in the history of the arena.

She hadn’t earned the nickname of Silence for nothing. In her case, it wasn’t because she was gentle or pure-hearted as a woman.

It’s because she never speaks.

She was so quiet, she didn’t even open her mouth when casting spells. She was a master of silent casting, a technique only usable when magic proficiency reached its peak.

Looking at the scattered pieces of meat across the table, Nest lost his appetite and pushed his plate aside. “What’s going on? You’re talking?”

“There’s never been a reason to speak before.”

“That’s strange. I always greeted you first.”

“You don't get it? There was

no reason

to speak before.”

𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

A moment later, as Nest’s expression twisted from understanding her words, Kai said, “You think Jackal will win? Why do you think that?”

“I’ve fought him before.”

“

Oh

, right. You and he faced off a while back,” Nest nodded as if recalling it. “But didn’t you barely lose that time? I remember it being a close match.”

“No,” Seyri shook her head. She narrowed her eyes while staring at Jackal walking onto the arena stage. “That guy wasn’t going all out back then. I felt like he was toying with me.”

“No way.”

Nest chuckled as he rejected her statement, but Seyri’s expression remained serious.

Seeing this, Kai looked down at Jackal with a new perspective.

Jackal of No Color...

Wearing a gray mask, he stood opposite Kane.