Right after Damien and Junior entered the arena.

Distracted by the lights pouring in from all sides, and the fireworks bursting around us.

"Yahooo! When was the last time we had a challenger?!"

A sudden guffaw echoed from a man’s voice. We all looked in his direction.

Right in the center of the colosseum.

There stood a large stage, with a man wearing a black jackal mask.

I murmured to myself upon seeing him.

"Jackal..."

He’s the NPC boss of this Colosseum dungeon.

"I can’t even remember the last time we had guests! But it was worth the wait!"

Fireworks shot up on both sides of Jackal as he shouted. Boom! Boom!

"Now, now, now! You’ve all been waiting! Are you hungry? Let’s get right to it! Blazing Colosseum, a monumental grand opening! Today’s first match-up!"

Jackal’s hand pointed straight at us.

"A band of stray dog adventurers from who knows where!"

At the words ’stray dog’, Lucas and Evangeline flinched.

Their self-esteem and pride were admirable, even in this situation.

"Versus! Our adorable little glutton of the Colosseum who’s been waiting for this day! Chi~~~mera!"

Below the stage where Jackal stood, a gate made of iron bars creaked open with a rumbling noise.

Grrrr!

With a chilling howl, a huge creature slowly walked out.

It looked like a monster mixed with various animals: a lion, a goat, a snake... and much more. The moment I saw it, I blurted out its famous name.

"Chimera..."

"Who will survive and devour the other? I do hope the stray dogs put up a fight. It would be too much if it ended in one round, wouldn’t it?"

As Jackal finished his sentence,

Ding!

[Blazing Colosseum - Wave 1]

- Defeat the enemy!

- Lv.45 Chimera Origin : 1 Unit

- Victory odds: 1.01 vs 100.00

The system window updated.

Chimera Origin.

The most primal and pure-blooded among the Chimeras. Which also means it’s pretty threatening.

But wait.

’Victory odds are 1.01 to 100...?’

This place, the Colosseum of a ruined kingdom.

There are no spectators, no one to place bets.

In the end, they modified the system a bit to maintain the betting system.

Keekeekee!

They gave each of the 100 goblins sitting in the audience one vote.

They vote on who they think will win, and the victory odds are derived from the results.

And the voting results—there they are.

to 1.

Victory odds, 1.01 to 100.

Since 100 to 0 is blocked by the system, this is basically the maximum.

They think we have absolutely no chance of winning.

"Even if we look weak, guys,"

I muttered, feeling rather deflated.

"This is just too much."

Keekeekee!

The goblins in the audience cackled at us, like they were mocking us.

Damn creatures. Let’s see what happens later.

Grrrrr...!

The Chimera Origin, gradually closing the distance towards us.

We decided to take it down first."Damien."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Lend me the Black Queen."

"Oh, sure!"

Damien handed me the magic rifle he had been carrying on his back.

Schick-!

I unwrapped it lightly and held the long, black rifle in my hand.

"Ahhh, the stray dog party pulls out something like a skewer against our hungry Chimera! But alas, the Chimera’s body is harder than a Frost Giant’s hardened skin! That little skewer, even if it gets a betting coefficient of 100, can’t even-"

"Shut it, Jackal."

He’s just as talkative in the game as he is in person. It’s seriously annoying.

With a low grunt, I aimed the Black Queen,

Grrrr-!

At the charging Chimera, and pulled the trigger.

BANG-!

It sounded like a cannon had been fired.

Tearr-!

The next moment.

The Chimera Origin was left with only two hind legs.

The bullet I had fired did not merely pierce through the creature; it vaporized it into smithereens.

"…Huh?"

Jackal couldn’t comprehend what had happened in the blink of an eye, stuttering in surprise.

"Phew…"

I let out a soft chuckle, brushing away the smoke that trailed from the Black Queen’s muzzle.

"Having the stake multiplied by 100 seems a bit overkill."

It was already an insanely powerful bullet, and it had hit with 100 times its original strength.

Even if it was a Level 45 boss-tier creature, there was no way it could withstand that.

"Oh, this is sweet."

I savored the experience points of such a high-level boss monster all by myself.

Such tasty experience points.

I gazed up at the stage with newfound appetite.

"What’s up for the second match-up, Jackal? I’m curious, you know?"

Jackal stayed frozen for a while, looking down at me in silence.

***

[Flaming Colosseum - Wave 2]

- Defeat the enemy!

- Lv.46 Frost Giant General: 1 Unit

- Victory payout ratio: 1.11 vs 10.00

"Versus! Straight from the 7th Zone of Jotunheim! The vanguard of the Frost Giant Legion, Frost Giant General Cherheim! How much wrath will he show us today?!"

He couldn’t show us any.

Right after stepping into the arena and roaring ferociously, the Frost Giant General’s head was blown to bits by a shot from the Black Queen.

The victory prediction was 90 to 10.

Too bad.

[Flaming Colosseum - Wave 3]

- Defeat the enemy!

- Lv.47 Daughter of the Black Dragon: 1 Unit

- Victory payout ratio: 1.25 vs 5.00

"Versus! The very daughter of the Black Dragon that almost destroyed the world! Eight wings! Twelve legs! Five tails, though one is missing? She is still powerfullll! The Daughter of the Black Dragon, Killitian! Will she surpass her father?!"

She couldn’t even surpass a bullet.

The Black Dragon tried to dodge my bullet trajectory by leaping high into the air. Regardless, I casually shot. Bingo.

The bullet slightly missed its intended target, the head, but hit the dragon’s right front foot, tearing its right half to pieces.

Screaaaaaam!

An immediate death.

The victory prediction was 80 to 20.

[Flaming Colosseum - Wave 4]magic

- Defeat the enemy!- Lv.48 Goblin God: 1 Unit

- Victory payout ratio: 1.43 vs 3.33

"Versus! I really didn’t want to bring this one out! The War God of our adorable goblin friends! The freezing flame, Kali-Aharg! With eight weapons in his hands, he cuts down his enemies in a blink!"

He couldn’t cut anything.

The Goblin God tried to block my bullet with the eight weapons in his hands, but as soon as the bullet touched the weapons, they all melted, and the bullet penetrated through the Goblin God’s center.

Kwaaaar.

The Goblin God let out a gasping scream and collapsed grotesquely on the floor.

Kyaeeeeeeee!

Kyaeeeeeeeeeeee!

Upon seeing this sight, the goblins in the audience burst into tears, fainting in the stands. It was such a satisfying sight.

The victory prediction was 70 to 30.

And then.

[Flaming Colosseum - Wave 5]

- Defeat the enemy!

- Lv.49 Fallen Blood: 2 Units

- Victory payout ratio: 1.66 vs 2.50

At last, the blood clan made an appearance.

"Versus! I can’t handle this! The host has freshly hunted a few of this season’s monsters! The blood clan! The most ferocious of them all! The Falllllen Bloooood!"

Fallen Blood.

A term referring to degenerate vampires.

Vampires who have not consumed human blood for a long time gradually devolve, losing their language, rationality, and eventually becoming something similar to beasts.

Growl...

Grrrrr!

These were those creatures.

Blood-sucking vermin crawling on all fours: the Fallen Blood.

Thwock-!

I fed the first one a shot from the Black Queen.

The creature tried to dodge the bullet with its lightning-fast reflexes, but the tail end of the bullet grazed its waist.

Poof…!

That was the end.

The Fallen Blood that was blown back to the wall vanished into ashes after a while. Receiving a 2.5 times stake was overly excessive.

"Well, enough with the tricks."

I lowered the Black Queen.

"Shall we use the remaining one for real battle training?"

Up until now, the highest-ranked opponent I’d faced among the blood races was a Ghoul.

A superior monster like the Fallen Blood would be a great learning opportunity.

At my words, Lucas unsheathed his silver sword, and Evangeline began twirling her silver spear.

"We’ve been waiting to hear that."

"You must have enjoyed fighting alone, senior? Now it’s our turn."

Hmm, honestly, I did enjoy it. Yum yum. Delicious.

"First off, this guy is much stronger than our party’s level."

I carefully eyed the remaining Fallen Blood.

His level was 49, far surpassing our party’s average level.

"However, our ultimate opponent is the No-Life King, the king of vampires. He’s several times stronger than this guy."

Eventually, we’d have to face someone even more dreadful.

If we couldn’t overcome this level of difficulty, the future raid results would be predictable.

"We should be able to knock down a monster of this level while smiling. Can you do it?"

Clank!

Instead of an answer, Damien raised a crossbow loaded with a silver bolt.

Lastly, Junior swung her mace around and raised magical elements behind her.

"Please give us instructions, my Lord."

Lucas, who held his silver sword upright in front of his chest, had a smile on his face.

"Give us your orders, and we will cut down any enemy while smiling."

I grinned back and pulled out my staff, Maestro, from my pocket.

This round’s victory prediction, 60 to 40.

It was time to show the gobsmacked Goblin bettors who they should really be placing their bets on.

--TL Notes--

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