Nameless King

Wain killed the demons and continued toward the exit of the forest. On his way to the epicenter of the arena, an interesting thought occurred to him.

'To improve all my skills, I need more than a hundred souls of different rarity and attribute moreover I need Essences. I was lucky that five demons decided to attack me, and I got half of the required number of lightning souls. However, it's actually a drop in the ocean.

I can fight monsters and other races and explore Dungeons and Nests. That way, over time, I'll definitely find what I need, but there's another option. Families, clans, and organizations set up bases in arenas. 

The bigger the organization, the stronger its leader and commanders. Instead of fighting hundreds and thousands, I'll kill one powerful enemy and rob him.' Wain thought.

Robbing someone was always the quickest way to increase one's wealth. It was a rather difficult and brutal way, but Wain was ready for it. This way, he could save time, and that was important.

Wain would attack a confident person in his power and security to get more souls of him.

'Hmm, by the way, when I killed the lightning demons, I only got one soul each, but that's impossible. They must have had a lot of souls that they kept to use in the future. It looks like souls can be stored somewhere other than the body. That's interesting.'

Whooooooosh.

Wain climbed to the top of the tree and jumped high. He decided to look around and see where the enemy bases were.

About a kilometer away, Wain saw a vast field where large-scale battles were being fought. There was a constant explosion, someone was dying, and rivers of blood were flowing.

In such places, everyone was fighting against everyone else, monsters against elves, demons against vampires, and so on. It was a real meat grinder and carnage.

In the distance, Wain saw small structures and dozens of massive tents. There were several of these places, and each signified the territory of some organization or clan.

Even though this was the Arena, even here, the organizations were able to establish a certain power and were afraid to be attacked. 

Sure, some loner could break into the base and kill a few members or even the leader, but there were consequences. They would hunt him down and kill him. 

However, the organizations also tried to fight only among themselves and not touch the loners. They knew there was no one to save them in the Arena. They would be avenged, but what difference would it make when they were already dead?

There were other locations around the forest, such as a waterfall, a stone grove, and a long, massive river.

Wain nodded and decided to go around the field and attack one of the organizations.

'Why do I feel like someone is following me?' Thought Wain looking around.

He felt as if someone had been staring at his back for a long time. It was an unpleasant feeling akin to suffocation.

Wain closed his eyes and concentrated. He wanted to figure out what was going on and find the spy.

'Hmm? Has he stopped?'

In the distance, a mile away, a tall girl was standing on a tree branch. She had pale skin and completely green eyes that glowed faintly. It was like two torches, with a dead, green flame. Her hair was pale yellow.

There were bony growths on her elbows and knees, and she wore a long black robe that concealed her well.

She noticed Wain long ago, but she did not attack him. Her job was to gather information and then sell it to someone, not to fight him. 

She wanted to retreat when Wain was laboring to deal with the lightning demons but decided to continue her pursuit.

'There you are.' Wain thought and suddenly looked in the girl's direction, even though dozens of trees between them blocked the view.

'What? Is he looking at me? No, that's impossible. He doesn't look like a spy or an assassin.'

She couldn't believe that Wain could detect her, but the reality was brutal. The next moment Wain's silhouette blurred, and she ran at full speed in her direction.

The girl didn't react immediately, but only after a few seconds, and ran away, but no sooner she walked a hundred yards than a blue flash appeared behind her. Wain didn't wait and swung his sword sharply.

He cut the tree in two, but the girl managed to dodge.

"Wait, I don't want to attack you!"

"What? You've been spying on me, don't you think that's reason enough to cut your head off?" Said Wain and swung his sword again.

This time the girl couldn't dodge and had to block the attack. She pulled two bone daggers from her belt sheath and used them to defend herself.

"Yes, I was following you, but anyone would have done that in my place. A dark pillar appeared with you. I was obligated to gather information about you."

"Shut up." Wain said coldly and threw his sword at her.

The girl dodged it, but she had to jump aside to dodge the dark sword the next second. Wain punched her, and she put her daggers out in front of her, thus blocking the blow.

However, she could not withstand the pressure and flew aside like a projectile and fell to the ground with a crash.

Wain stood over her and pinned her arms with his feet. He extended his arm, and the platinum sword returned to him. Wain was about to deliver one last blow, but the girl was not about to give up.

"Wait, there's no point in you killing me! I can help you!"

"Hmm? Why would I want to keep you alive? I don't need helpers, fragile ones like you."

"I'm an informant and keep tabs on others and then sell data to strong loners or captains of organizations." The girl said quickly, realizing that Wain could cut her head off at any moment.

Wain decided to look at her World of Darkness card.

[Estrid Labinth

Chronicle: First

Void: 0]

'Hmm, she doesn't have any Void. She seems pretty weak or doesn't want to draw too much attention to herself. Perhaps she can be useful.' Wain pondered.

"All right, I'll give you one chance. You didn't attack me, so if you help me, I'll let you live."

"Of course! I'll do what I can, I'm an experienced informer, and I've spent some time in this arena. I can tell you a lot about what's going on here."

"For starters, which of the organizations here is the strongest?"

Fallen Forest was Rank-B Void, which meant that some of the strongest representatives of the First Chronicle were gathered here.

"This is a Holy Tale. They are powerful and have sent many squads and several captains here to take over parts of Fallen Forest." Estrid replied quickly.

"Holy Tale? What is their purpose? What are their numbers? Where are they located? What powers do they possess?"

"The Holy Tale is a powerful organization whose members are all Elves. In short, they're fucking fanatics promoting the forces of light and light magic. They have absolute hierarchy and are happy to obey their commanders.

I don't know how many members there are in total, but Fallen Forest has about five hundred of them. Their goal is to take over as much territory as possible and find loyal allies who share their beliefs and join them. They only accept elves. The rest are killed."

"I see... That's useful information, but it's not enough to buy a life, don't you think?" With an icy look, Wain said.

"Wait! Their main base is to the east, not far from the waterfall. I also have important information that will be useful to you."

"Tell me."

"First, you must promise to keep me alive." Estrid said confidently. She hoped that Wain would now nod, but instead, he pressed one foot on her arm with all his might.

"One more statement like that, and I'll cut your head off right now. Tell me what you know, and then I'll decide what to do with you."

"Okay, okay, I got it!" With a grimace of pain on her face, Estrid said, "I'm not sure, but in a few hours, one of the commanders should be joining Holy Tale. He will be leading an operation to destroy one of the enemy organizations in the Fallen Forest. His pillar will be either red or orange."

"Hmm? A red pillar? What does that mean?"

Estrid was surprised that Wain asked her about it, but she quickly answered and explained everything to him in detail. 

She didn't have time to think about anything else when the sword blade was so close to her throat that she could feel the cold from the metal.

...

'Huh, so that's why so many people suddenly attacked me. The black pillar that flew out of me is most unusual. It's definitely the effect of the Faceless Aristocrat Mask.' Wain thought.

He hadn't expected there to be such a system in the arena that would immediately determine how strong and unique the fighter came.

"So one of the commanders of Holy Tale will be appearing in Fallen Forest soon?"

"Yes, I'm pretty sure of it."

"Well, given that you didn't attack me, I'll let you go this time, but don't you dare spy on me again. Do you understand me?"

"Of course, I will never again dare act covertly in your presence. It was just a professional interest."

"That's it, get out of here." Roughly said Wain and tossed Estrid aside.

The girl said nothing and quickly ran away.

'Damn, damn, damn. How could he have spotted me? If I could find out more about him, I would surely be enriched! Fuck, this is the first time I've met a person with a black pillar, and I'm so fucked up. Who is he, and why can't Arena determine his power?'

...

Wain believed Estrid. When he asked her, he saw fear, terror, and hopelessness in her eyes. Wain's aura was overwhelming, and his actions were cold and ruthless. 

Wain was sure that everything she said was true. There was no point in her lying while on the verge of death.

"So this time, it's up to me to destroy the elves, I don't know what position they hold in the world, but still no one will know I did it." Wain muttered and climbed a tall tree.

As he looked more closely, he saw a waterfall, as well as several structures and many massive tents. The base of Holy Tale was like a small kingdom, with stone walls and protective towers.

Wain decided to wait a little longer. He would attack Holy Tale, kill their commander, and take all his souls.

He didn't care if Holy Tale and all elves were good or bad. In this case, he aimed to get the souls, and for that, he was willing to kill them without regret.

For Wain, the concept of good and evil was relative. He himself was not a positive character, but he did not consider himself a bastard. He had principles, his view of the world, and his ideology. 

He did not think that everything in the world was divided into black and white, a lot of things were incomprehensible and were gray. 

Even in stories and films, it was not uncommon to see that viewers or readers liked the villain more than the protagonist. 

This was because the villain was revealed as a person, and his actions were shown from different angles.

Wain could be cruel and could do even the most horrible things if necessary, but each of his actions had reasons.

'Elves... Black Rabbit mentioned them, and this is the second time I have encountered members of this race. I wonder how strong they are and what their ideology is? I need to learn more about it.' Wain pondered, waiting for the commander to appear.

He was already used to the fact that there were other races in this world besides humans, but so far, he had only met some of them.

'Estrid was not an elf, and most likely, she was not a demon. Moreover, she smelled rather strange. It was like a mixture of the pleasant scent of flowers and rotting flesh. When I get the souls, I need to go to Sven. He needs to explain to me who is in charge of this world.'

Crackle.

"Looks like I didn't wait for nothing." Mumbled Wain looking at the base of Holy Tale.

Just as Estrid had said, a high-ranking elf commander arrived in the arena a few hours later. As he appeared, the clouds over the grounds turned golden, and the entire world seemed to stand still.

Then a massive, orange light pillar pierced the sky and the clouds. At that moment, everyone in the Arena stopped and looked in that direction. 

The black pillar appeared less frequently than the orange one, but it was a mystery while the orange pillar had a precise definition.

They knew that someone powerful had now entered the arena. The might of this elf could completely change the situation in the arena.

"Huh, my blood is starting to boil. I can feel it, it's incredible.. It looks like it's finally time for me to try on my aristocrat outfit."