Extra's Path To Demon King-Chapter 25: Salazar

Gareth waited for a few minutes to let the information sink in for everyone.

The examiner waved his hands and a total of 19 circles appeared on the entire arena. They were circles made of dense red marks.

Each circle had a 10-meter radius, and each of the contestants heard voices from their masks to indicate who would go to which circle. Axel also moved towards a certain direction, and some people near him went in the opposite direction. There seemed to be a lot of rearrangement in the positioning.

After Axel entered the circle he was designated to, he could not help but be surprised as a devilish smile crept up onto his face. As he thought to himself while looking around,

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'What are the odds of all three being in my very circle?'

Crow, viper, and Green dagger, all three of them were in the same circle as him, they didn't notice him yet. But Axel noticed all three of them. While crow and viper tried to steal his kill and they were supposed to since everyone was competitors here, but that didn't mean Axel wasn't pissed at that. It wouldn't be wrong to say that he was literally close to death when fighting that stupid orc. Axel's anger towards the crow and the viper wasn't too great since neither of them attacked him and only went for killing the Orc from a distance.

If it wasn't for that piece of trash Green Dagger, Axel would have been the one to kill the Orc at the end of it. He looked towards the sky at Gareth and surprisingly the Examiner was also looking at him with a smile, Axel chuckled to himself and understood that they were actually giving him a chance to make a comeback, this would also make a good spectacle for the audience.

While everyone's outfit was almost the same in the arena, there were minute differences in the masks that could help every contestant differentiate one another. After Axel had entered the circle, many people eventually noticed him as they began to move away from him in fear.

Eventually, everyone else in his circle, all 99 people, were looking straight at Axel, but he stood like a firm pillar with no fear or intention to back down. Green Dagger, Viper, and Crow, all three, were looking at him with apparent wariness. Crow was about to come forward and apologize, but the latter shot a cold gaze towards him that made Crow stop in his tracks.

Axel had already decided to butcher all the bastards in his circle. He would fight all of them alone. This made a strange scene that attracted the attention of everyone. The Audience, Nobles, Merchants, Royals, and the Examiners all had their attention fixed on that one circle.

This was done on purpose by the Head Examiner, he put all the strongest and noticeable contestants in just that one circle. The people didn't need a thousand average games, but one good spectacle was enough to be engraved in their minds.

In Axel's circle, many from the other side of the wall fought the Orcs on the other side. Most of them seemed unafraid of Axel, unlike those who fought on the same side as Axel. But there were some hesitation in them, they also heard that this one person named Axel, had almost killed the damn Orc all alone, while they did not believe it to be true. They were sure this person wasn't weak, seeing how all 99 other contestants were staying away from him.

In the VIP room, the heirs of all high nobles, top merchants, and royal prince and princes also had their eyes fixed on this one circle. Though most of them did not like the fact that the one named Salazar was most likely as strong as in his feats against the Orc.

Though most of the heirs in the vip room had an overflowing arrogance and a sense of superiority, a minority of them weren't haughty with mindless arrogance.

Some of them simply enjoyed the spectacle as it was supposed to be, while some others thought that he should be someone worth befriending. The Valkyrie's expression remained uninterested, but the 4th prince had an interested expression in Salazar. The 5th princess also seems to be interested in knowing who that person behind the mask could be.

In Axel's circle, Green Dagger eventually came forward and loudly announced,

"It seems you truly lack intelligence, you stupid bastard, do you think all of us together can't defeat you? It seems you haven't realized, but most of the strong participants are actually in this circle."

Axel tilted his head and let out sinister laughter that sent chills down the spine every other contestant, "AHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHA!"

Axel's red eyes shimmered in the sunlight as he looked towards his prey with a mocking gesture. He stated defiantly while spreading his arms, "Does it look like I care?"

Hearing his arrogant response, the crowd became even wilder as they continued to shout his name like a chant. The entire atmosphere of the colosseum was overflowing with excitement and tension for the upcoming event that would mark the end of the competition.

All 99 in his circle became even more tense at that unhinged laughter and that arrogant statement. Green Dagger shouted to everyone,

"Come on everyone, if all of us work together I know this bastard won't stand a chance. This guy is just scaring us."

Everyone held their weapons tightly and their expressions changed, more and more of them started to lean forward slightly to signal their support. Even crow and viper came forward showing their willingness to work together.

Crow stated, "Sorry, Salazar, but we have to do what we have to do to increase our chances for getting a spot."

Viper added with some hesitation, "Sorry for back then, but it's just a competition."

A group that fought on the other side of the arena came forward and spoke,

"Though I don't know if this person is truly that strong, but since we have decided to work together, none of you better stab us in the back."

This time, Axel was the one who spoke with a sneer, "That's right, don't think that I'll spare any of you if you decide to betray your own team, and don't worry, Green dagger, you will be the first I take out."

All of them had an angry expression hearing that, but the smart ones became even more worried, for Salazar to show such confidence openly only showed how strong he was.

Axel normally would not act this way since he didn't like drawing too much attention to himself. He was a true introvert.

But his anger towards that bastard 'Green dagger' won over him this time. Eventually, after everything was ready, the Examiner shouted to announce the start of the fight,

"LET THE FIGHT BEGIN.....!!!!!!!"

WOOOOOOOOOO! YEAHHHHHHH! LET'S GOOOOO!

The crowd continued its wave of frenzied excitement.

The moment the Examiner announced the start of the battle, everyone in Axel's circle shot forward at Salazar without a moment of delay. Axel, on the other hand, closed his eyes for a moment and let his mind reach a state of utter calmness.

The truth is, Axel actually did not have the prowess to eliminate them all alone, not normally that is. While the demon blood would grant him more strength as he becomes more injured, his mind also becomes more unstable, which is also one of the few reasons that he wasn't able to pay any attention to his surroundings when the fight against the Orc was at the cusp of its end.

That approach, fighting with pure strength, only worked against the Orc; it would not work when fighting against humans, not to mention these 99 were among the best ones of all the contestants.

He had to fight this time with a different approach, like how the butler fought against the wolf beast. Like an assassin, with a mind as calm as a lake.

Technique over strength, precision over agility. In that moment of intense need, his mind had finally entered a hyperdrive state as he noticed every angle of the attack, his brain maximized all his senses together, and showed him gaps and the trajectories of the attacks.

Arrows, sword slashes, spear throws, and countless more attacks converged together to rain down on him like a terrifying storm. With small but effective movements, he continued dodging one attack after another like a calm flow of river that caused no ripples, no destruction. It only continued elegantly, no matter what happened in the surroundings.

Axel did not know the fact that his butler was actually within audience in disguise as someone else. Vargas was utterly in shocked to see a contestant enter the flow state. He immediately recognized that fighting style, a wave joy spread in the old butlers chest.

He was already 80% sure that the one named Salazar was his young master. But even he did not expect him to perform so highly on all of the tests. Which made him doubt that perhaps it might be someone else. But now seeing that fighting style, how could he not recognize it, since it was something that he taught the young master personally?

He clenched his fists in excitement. He couldn't imagine how happy his Patriarch, Daniel, would be hearing such feats of his son.