Hero of Darkness

After the first match ended and all the contestants went to their respective resting areas and had to wait for their next matches, the battle ring automatically changed itself into small sizes and soon, instead of five, there were twenty-five small battle rings. 

Compared to the previous battle ring, each of these was only 50 meters long in radius but more than enough to hold a good battle for two individuals. 

Although Kahn did not understand how it was done, he knew for sure that it was done by incorporating magic formations and some sort of automation mechanism. 

After two hours, his turn finally came and this time only 5 battles were happening at once. So the organizers could prolong the battles and entertain people for more time. 

And the bettings on each of these matches will obviously gather more money spent by the audience. 

The time limit was 20 minutes for each match and the winner would qualify for the 5th round. The loser would also go home since there were no more qualifiers after this round. 

As for the betting odds… it was 80:20 for his match. Mainly because his opponent was someone who displayed some amazing fighting skills and they belonged to a particular species that had an advantage in open ground battles by a huge margin. 

And Kahn had very low odds because all he did in the previous match was to sleep without even unsheathing his sword till the end. So even with more than 50 thousand people from seven deadly sins organization betting on him only amounted to this much while the opponent was favorably looked on by the majority of the audience. 

When Kahn stood inside the battle ring, his opponent finally came and he understood why his odds were so low. 

In front of him, stood… more likely slithered a Lamia woman whose upper body had six arms, a head and everything below her waist was a body of a snake. In all of her hands were sharp and long swords that could easily cut through a man's body with a single slash. 

"The next contestants are Kythra of the Melvan clan, one of the prestigious Lamia clans of the capital. And her opponent is.. 

Kahn of Rukon district! A young swordsman whose strength is unknown to this point. 

Since everyone has already made their bets.. Let the battle begin!" declared the announcer. 

The other four battle rings also had such announcements and their battles also began at the same time. But as soon as their fight began.. Kythra talked in an arrogant tone. 

"I shall give you a chance to surrender, human. Leave now or you will only suffer humiliation at my hands." she warned. 

To her words, Kahn only gave a light smirk and spoke… 

"Looks like someone didn't get enough eggs and mice to eat today." he said in a sarcastic tone. 

"You.. Dare to compare me and my race to wild snakes?! Preposterous!!" exclaimed Kythra. 

She was a beginner rank grandmaster and so was her opponent. But given the physical and terrain advantages, she was most likely to win and hence, she offered a fair warning. 

Yet, her opponent not only retorted back.. He degraded her by comparing her to normal snakes who fed on eggs and small animals like mice. 

Boooo!! Boooo!! 

Thousands of Lamia species individuals amongst the audience booed Kahn after hearing his words on the projection screens. This was often a stereotypical slander made against the people of this species so none of the Lamias and Snakekins among the crowd welcomed this sarcastic response. 

Kythra's face instantly became enraged after Kahn's banter and she released her horrid and ominous aura and quickly slithered towards her opponent. 

SHRILL!! 

The six swords in her hands vibrated at high intensity and her green aura encapsulated her blades. Being a grandmaster, it was the stage where one could incorporate aura and mana into their attacks based on their class and also add an element to it depending on their affinity, so her blades glowed green. 

Slash! Slash! 

Kahn sidestepped and quickly dodged the multiple streams of aura blades. 

Sizzle! Sizzle! 

A sizzling sound came from the floor where the aura blades landed and Kahn could finally feel the lethality of these attacks. 

[So she's using her species and bloodline advantage.] thought Kahn because the blades that attacked him definitely had some venom incorporated in them. And Kahn could easily guess how the Lamia opponent was using her kin's specialty to add these elements and effects to her attacks. 

Slash! Slash! 

Clang! Clang! 

Kahn was forced to retreat after parrying and evading multiple of her sword attacks. But even despite limiting his stats and rank.. He should've had some advantage. 

Yet, the 3 meters tall and 10 meter long opponent was incredibly fast and her reaction speed exceeded twice that of a normal beginner grandmaster. 

Naturally, this was her species advantage and because of her physical structure that gave her speed and momentum in every strike, Kahn had no choice but to take a few steps back. 

Plus, the six swords were also hard to defend against at once as the one facing them would eventually leave an opening for the Lamia to strike. 

Kahn understood that Kythra was indeed a hard opponent to fight in a fair and square battle. So he had to acknowledge her. 

Kahn kept jumping, sidestepping, sprinting and countering all of her attacks hurriedly. 

"Time for you to pay for mocking me and my kin!" shouted Kythra and the next second, her mouth opened three times wider than usual and a burst of green fog was released towards Kahn's direction. 

[[Author : Reference Art for Kythra in chapter comments. Check it out.]] 

Cough! Cough! 

Kahn coughed after getting surrounded by this sudden green most and used his Heat Sense skill to locate the enemy's exact position to avoid getting attacked out of nowhere. Suddenly, both of his hands felt their grip loosening over his sword. 

But just then.. He heard a notification from the long-dormant system after many months.. 

[Warning! The host has been poisoned!]