Gamers of the Underworld

Hoodlum’s legendary story had spread throughout the nobles of the York Territory.

Hoodlum had to undergo cruel training under the coaches of the Duke of York and participate in various brutal Gladiator Fights. He fought with many different opponents of various races.

No matter how hard the battles were, he achieved victory. He had almost died many times. Once, his neck was stabbed multiple times. He suffered the pain of asphyxiation and dealt his opponent a fatal blow.

A grandpa nurse quickly treated Hoodlum’s wounds and saved him miraculously.

The Duke of York was so worried that he cried.

Of course, it was all hearsay.

Hoodlum’s fame spread like wildfire. When he was sleeping, nobody could wake him up, so everyone called him Slumbering Hoodlum.

A slave warrior with such strong characteristics was often beaten up, but it was like having a meal to him. The long period of beating and healing would have caused a normal creature to go mad, but Hoodlum didn’t. Instead, he was on close terms with the prison wardens.

In the midst of beating and being beaten up, he made many friends.

They even became close friends.

“Hoodlum, why do you have to sleep so long?” asked a prison warden who was on close terms with Hoodlum as he flogged him.

The prison warden wasn’t sure why he was flogging Hoodlum.

They would have various reasons for flogging Hoodlum. For example, if he took things without permission or if the prison wardens wanted to build up his endurance.

“I’m getting busier these days. Work and life issues. I’d like to resign from my full-time job to play computer games, but who knows if ‘Dungeon’ can survive. If the game is closed down one day due to a regulation breach, I’ll be in trouble. I’m a thirty-year-old man with elderly and young dependants and a house loan. The pressure is immense, so I can’t afford to resign.”

“Do you wish… to leave this place?”

“Leave this place? Impossible. I won’t be able to leave in my lifetime. I can’t make things or earn money. I can only be happy in the game. The beatings here are severe, the meals are delicious, and there’s free medical treatment. I won’t leave this place.”

The prison wardens couldn’t understand Hoodlum’s answers. Perhaps his brain was damaged by the beatings?

The Duke of York thought he could depend on Hoodlum to make a fortune, so he registered Hoodlum for the next Underground Dark Gladiator Fight in the Capital City. The prison wardens made a difficult decision.

“Ka cha… Zi ya…”

The prison cell was opened, and a few prison wardens stood at the entrance. At this time, Hoodlum was offline and looked like he was sleeping.

They looked at each other and nodded.

They carried Slumbering Hoodlum and placed him into a bag, then loaded him onto a carriage and sent the carriage off.

The prison wardens also fled with the carriage.

They looked gently at Hoodlum and silently thanked him. Because of Hoodlum, they found the meaning of their lives!

Once the carriage had traveled a good distance, they threw Hoodlum into some bushes by the road.

“Hahaha! The fat Duke took advantage of my wife, so we’ll throw his golden goose away! Let’s see how he’s going to handle the Gladiator Fight in the Capital City now!”

“Yes, yes! Big Boss, you’re so clever!”

“Big Boss, where shall we go?”

“Anything is better than being prison wardens at the Fat Duke’s Castle. We’ll become bandits!”

“Good, it’s good to be a bandit. We’ll capture the wife of that fat Duke and take revenge for the bullying of our big brother!”

The prison wardens discussed their plans as their carriage disappeared into the distance.

…

Darting Birds carried fully armed Riders as they ran across sand dunes.

A Gnome Rider wielded a Pike as he screamed loudly. Then, he was thrown off his ride by the Lance of a Black Armored Orc Knight.

“Kill all of them! We’re the final victors!”

Arthur rode on a Darting Bird. After knocking an enemy Gnome off his mount, he shouted to a group of fighting gamers behind him.

In the arena battle, the Gladiators didn’t form a row where they screamed and charged at each other.

The Gladiators were deployed far away in five different directions. After that, they charged at each other. Each side was allowed to deploy a minimum of 50 Gladiators.

The gamers who were tactically trained came up with the optimal deployment. They concentrated 300 Gladiators in one direction while deploying at least 50 Gladiators to the other four paths.

It was nonsensical to deploy the Gladiators equally. The gamers made use of their superior numbers to defeat their enemies and then reinforce the other paths. The smaller groups of Gladiators at the other paths could only defend. The victory condition was to have a sole survivor.

Both Changan City and the Pioneer Alliance used the same tactic. Arthur deployed his elite Gladiators to the upper path, while Changan City deployed their best Gladiators to the bottom path.

To achieve the greatest combat efficiency, both Guilds made use of Darting Bird Riders as their main force.

The Darting Bird Riders had the highest mobility and combat power.

Both Guilds spent a lot of money to buy Darting Birds from other gamers! All the available Darting Birds were bought by the two feuding Guilds.

The main forces of both Guilds overwhelmed their enemies, and they met on the middle path at the same time. It was obvious that the combat power of Changan City had improved by leaps and bounds.

The Pioneer Alliance had the 100 First Beta Gamers, which included the elite rich gamer, Arthur. Due to the recent rumormongering incident, the two Guilds were at odds. In this battle, the Guilds went all out to kill each other.

They planned to use explosives!

In the game, a gamer with the best Legendary Equipment wasn’t able to fend off a single Bladder Bomb explosion. If there was a gamer who could fend off a single Bladder Bomb, then the enemy would use two Bladder Bombs!

In the final battle, the entire arena became a sea of explosions. Frontal detonation, sudden explosions, flank detonations, and suicidal explosions…

What about the Darting Birds? They became casualties of war. Fortunately, there was no Darting Bird Protection Agency. Otherwise, they would come out and protest.

In the sea of explosions, there was a vulnerable figure who wandered around and created white flashes.

“Elves of Darkness, please heal the citizens of darkness. Give them a strong constitution so that they can deal a fatal blow to their enemies!”

Raintea had to chant an incantation each time she used her Healing Mana Skills. Her incantations were standard fluent Mandarin.

The Gladiators who were injured by the explosions were healed by Raintea if they didn’t die immediately or have broken limbs. Occasionally, the Gladiators would be badly burnt by the explosions and die. If that happened, Raintea was unable to help.

Raintea managed to heal about 20% of the injured Gladiators.

With the help of a healer and that powerful combat capability, the Pioneer Alliance quickly gained the upper hand…

Sherlock was sitting in the VIP stand and watching the battle scenes on the big screen, his ears filled with the wild cheering of the spectators. Nothing could be more exciting than watching such stimulating and bloody combat. The Underworld natives thought that the battle was enhanced with Mana.

The Gladiator Arena manager, Poison Skin, was accompanying Sherlock.

The body of the Poison Toadman was filled with lumps, and his appearance would cause a decrease in appetite. He clapped his webbed palms while he praised, “Lord Sherlock, though I’ve watched a few times, every time I watch your Gladiator Fights, I’m still astonished by their awesome performances!”

“This is what a Gladiator strives to do,” Sherlock said humbly.

“No, no, no. This kind of superior quality is only attributed to your Gladiators in the entire Underworld. We’re looking forward to your new invention so that we can promote Gladiator Fights to the entire Underworld!” the Poison Toadman spread out his hands and shouted, the metal stick in his mouth falling out.

Sherlock didn’t share the Poison Toadman’s exhilaration. He smiled cordially at the Poison Toadman and said, “Yes, I’d like to borrow your big screen.”

“What are you borrowing?”

“The big screen.” Sherlock pointed to the crystal ball in the middle of the arena. The spectators could watch the fights in the arena or the big screen that depicted details of the battle. The screen showed Arthur charging at MysteryMan.

“Yes, that’s the one. Please let me borrow it.”