Chapter 297

She couldn’t actually die here, Natalie reminded herself, but it was a hard thing to keep in mind while fighting a bloodthirsty monster.

The beast was bear-like, roughly, with dark orange fur that was filthy and matted. It stood as tall as Natalie and was many times bulkier. Vicious curved black claws swiped with surprising speed, and even Natalie was finding it difficult to keep it in check with sheer strength. It was dumb, though, and relatively easy to outmaneuver. Though its thick hide and bulk absorbed her hammer blows with only grunts and staggers, rather than broken bones.

Maybe it was better that she didn’t keep her partial immortality in mind, she briefly mused. Fighting for one’s life provided no small amount of motivation. Besides, she could still feel pain, and being disemboweled by massive claws would be an extremely uncomfortable experience, even if the Arena would somehow ... put her back together at the end.

It was the fourth round of combat. The first had been outright trivial for delvers of her and Vanetta’s skill level. The second and third had been simple as well, though increasingly less so. Only now, on the fourth round, had the difficulty raised to the extent she wouldn’t call the fights easy anymore.

Not hard though. If she were to pick a word, it would be ... routine. Blood pounded in her ears, and her heart raced as she went through that deadly dance with her opponent, but it was nothing she found frightening. She didn’t even need to tap into her mana-based skills.

Vanetta had claimed the majority of finishing blows in their duo, but Natalie had the pleasure this time. [Valentine] crushed into the bear-like beast’s skull, and without a sound, it crumpled into the floor and went still. A second blow, an executioner’s strike, ensured the fight was over. Sure enough, the corpse evaporated, leaving neither core nor Token behind.

They caught their breath, briefly, as two stone pillars emerged from the ground. Continue or forfeit, as the choices had gone each time before. The Arena was kind enough to let them recover between rounds. Only for a few minutes though.

“So,” Natalie said. “Time to talk about it.”

They hadn’t finished their earlier discussion, on when they should call it quits. The fights hadn’t warranted it; they were certain they’d be able to take on the next round, assuming the jump in difficulty wasn’t astronomical. So they’d kept going. With this medium-difficulty fight, though, it was technically possible they lost by some unlucky fluke on the next, Natalie had decided, and so they had to address it. Or ought to address it.

“Talk about it?” Vanetta asked, though the sideways glance told Natalie she knew what she was referencing.

“Not saying that was hard,” Natalie said. “Haven’t even had to pull out basic skills yet, much less my heavy hitters.” Vanetta seemed interested in that; she hadn’t seen [Smite], only her illusions. “But it’s getting there. And some unlucky misstep might end up with one of us dead.” Especially Vanetta, the rogue. She was unbelievably skilled, but she was frail. All it would take was one wrong move. “So. Yeah. We should talk about it.”

“I guess you’re right.”

She didn’t offer more, so after a second, Natalie continued for her. “If we keep going, we might lose. Will lose eventually. When do you want to call it?”

Vanetta shrugged. “Not yet. Let’s at least get to the harder fights before we worry too much.”

Natalie studied her for a second. She wanted to press the issue, but that would be patronizing. Vanetta knew what would happen if they lost. If she wanted to continue, she was weighing the risk of defeat against the potential reward.

So, she nodded, and they pressed the stone button that advanced them to the next round.

Two more fights followed. The first, against three tall skeletal warriors. She and Vanetta did best against single opponents, even if they were strong, because Natalie could distract while the assassin set up devastating flanks. Even so, they dispatched the multi-enemy encounter without too much difficulty. Natalie did need to call up some illusions, though.