Chapter 30: Really, I’m not that kind of person!
Chapter 30: Really, I’m not that kind of person!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The crowd held their collective breath as they watched Sven the Rogue Knight seemingly backed himself into a corner. It was all a ruse though, Baiyi had more than a dozen of ways to get himself out of this sticky situation and the only thing that was stopping him was deciding on which method he should use.
It would have taken him a little while longer to decide on how he should escape if not for the smug sneer that was prominently displayed on the summoner's face.
It was a smile that even mothers would not love and when he saw it, Baiyi had decided to go straight for the least appropriate but most satisfying way that he could come up with.
After a few parries with the hyenas, he sent the beasts to the back. Baiyi quit defending as he stood up straight and stabbed his sword lightly into the earth with a brazen expression on his face. He looked even more composed than the Summoner, who seemed like he had the upper-hand the entire time.
That uncalled for confidence that Baiyi exuded infuriated the Summoner. Does this asshole have any idea that he had been under my mercy this whole time? The only reason he is still standing before me is because I have been courteous enough to spare that life of his! I have been giving you time and multiple chances to just surrender and not only did you refuse take them, now, you’re mocking me!
…Alright. You asked for it. You really thought that I wouldn’t send you back to your maker, huh? The Summoner bit his lips briskly and hardened his heart.
He snapped his fingers and the hyenas immediately stood on high alert. He gave a signal to the hyenas that meant full assault.
The pack of hyenas immediately lowered their bodies, the muscles of their forelegs extended while their hindlegs contracted tightly like a springboard. They bared their fangs and coming out at the edge of their foam-coated jaws were the low growls of bestial excitement. Their eyes shone as lights shined on their dilated pupils and the pupils in turn reflected the parts on Baiyi’s body that they most wanted a taste of.
"Finish him."
The hyenas howled in primal joy, their jaws were wide open, dripping saliva and revealing white fangs as though they were collectively laughing as they threw themselves onto Baiyi’s slender frame.
Some of the audience started squeezing their eyes shut. Despite coming to the arena precisely for uncensored gladiator excitement, watching crazed beasts shredding the flesh and bones of a fellow human would still be too much for the stomach. Most humans, after all, cannot help but empathize with another once they start seeing them in a more human light.
Even the composed lady sitting in her first-class seat unconsciously tensed her muscles. The Rogue Knight might not have met her expectations completely, yet a talent was still a talent and she could not bear a talent, however rough its edges were, to simply perish in such an unnecessary way.
With a pang, she remembered that the same fate would be waiting for her as well. As she proceeded with her own quest, would she also face an end like this, when even her skills would not be enough to save her life?
In those few milliseconds, Baiyi still had not moved an inch nor did he show the slightest indication of doing so. Undine had decided that it was just a display of pride— an indignation towards being oppressed— rather than just his nature to be composed even at the face of danger.
That display of not backing down moved Undine, her background as a fighter made made her emphatized with Baiyi even more . Her cherry lips, tightly sealed up till then, started to part.
She was going to order her own Soul Armature to save that man.
The hyenas’ fangs were inches away from Baiyi’s body but he did not even flinch. Instead, from his throat came a low, calm whisper that only the hyenas were able to pick up, "Submit."
Undine’s worries were unnecessary.
That one word was so soft that no one else— not even the Summoner had heard it, but a heavy weight of pressure suddenly crashed onto the hyenas. The air was thick with an unknown force of oppression that instantly compelled every inch of their body down onto the ground.
It was nothing like the fake illusionary tricks that the Charlatan always employed.
The power truly emanated from Baiyi’s figure.
The atmosphere changed instantly. The hyenas slammed themselves onto the ground from midair and their bodies contorted while their jaws were screwed shut. In just a short amount of time, Baiyi was already surrounded by hyenas diving headfirst to the ground around him. With his figure cloaked in black, it was like a lone lieutenant, standing unperturbed, in the middle of a field filled with new corpses that were just shot down.
Then something even more unsettling happened.
The hyenas were scrambling to their feet immediately after hitting the ground. They then prostrated themselves around Baiyi, their heads completely on the ground, their eyes averted from even the sight of his back. Their primal minds had recognized the truth about that oppressive air that had pushed them down. It was not an external force that had seized their movement— it came from within. It was fear.
The hyenas had always been known to men and all of the Northern Wasteland as monsters capable of carrying Death’s wishes— yet here they were, assuming a position that could not be less dignified.
Undine’s mouth was agape, her command was stuck in her throat before it subsided. Even her experience as a Legendary-tier fighter did not help her in figuring out what had happened.
Undine was not alone. Despite his firsthand combat experiences, the Summoner himself was even more puzzled. Those beasts had never been submissive even to their master, let alone their prey! Could it be a mistake in the command? Or was it something else entirely, a fluke of some kind maybe?
Trying to dismiss that possibility, he brusquely spoke his incantation again but the hyenas ignored him.
Those beasts lacked awareness— they were driven only by their primitive emotions and instincts. When faced with a powerful and unknown presence, it was natural for all those animals to feel instinctual fear and to submit. Superficial conditioning, such as the summoner’s contract with them, could not possibly hold a candle to the waves of visions flashing in their minds— the barren bones of countless ancestors, turned so by the very same oppressive aura. That trauma had long ingrained itself into their genetic memory. The fear incited within them manifested into visions of leviathans, behemoths and even those cunning and brutal savages of the plains.
Yet somehow, those beasts knew that the smothering presence could not possibly be the same thing that their ancestors had faced. The visions were just a mental representation of what they were facing in the present.
A Voidwalker’s powerful could never be compared to other beings, including those monsters in the Northern Wasteland. Even right now, Baiyi was still concealing the majority of his aura. Had he released them all, those poor animals would have been driven to suicide.
He was only suppressing it because he did not want his identity exposed.
Glancing at the cowering hyenas, he merely murmured two words, "Get him."
The animals obeyed without the slightest hint of hesitation, turning around and baring their fangs once more, growling as their fur stood on ends. Their new target was their former master.
"No. No!!! What are you doing?—It’s me! Help me! ANYONE!"
Only the Summoner’s howls for help echoed in the silent arena. The pack charged relentlessly, delighted and eager to please their new master.
Nobody knew what happened to him after that.
The audience was silent throughout the ordeal. Even the announcer could not recover from his shock at this ominous turn of event. The atmosphere instantly turned unsettled and the people were unsure of what to do.
Only when Baiyi left the stage did the whispers started up.
Sorry, guys. I got a little too angry just now, Baiyi said immediately when he returned to the locker room.
"No need for an apology, my disciple. Voidwalkers are not meant to fail, especially not at the hands of a small fry like that," The Archmage replied quickly. "Pride is the only thing that support us through the darkness of the Void. Something as precious as that should never be damaged in any circumstances at all, let alone something as trivial as that pest!"
The First Walker clearly felt bad for his disciple. He was already enraged when the Summoner was so full of himself that he had pushed Baiyi to the edge. Baiyi was his most treasured disciples and what’s more— this was the man who held all thirty-three walkers’ hope to escape. His importance was comparable to a deity and yet, he was restricted to a worn out armor and was forced to hide his true powers from the public.
It was truly fortunate that Baiyi had a much calmer temperament than his teacher. He wouldn’t mind restraining himself a bit if it means being able to help his comrades out.
There was no way they could return to the arena after that incident. From now on, Sven the Rogue Knight was no more— which was a shame, Baiyi thought, I rather like this name.
Back in the arena, Undine was still in shock. Her stunned look was almost adorkable when she had finally recovered, "What. The hell. Was that?"
"Draconian aura, I’ll wager. The mighty aura that dragons emanated are so terrifying that it compels normal beasts to submit," Her Soul Armature replied in a serious tone, devoid of his previous playfulness.
That was the best that he could come up with, the most he could imagine was for him to be in the Legendary-tier.
‘How can humans even possess draconian aura?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Have you forgotten the existence of the dragon knights who triumphed in the sky? Being so close to the dragons all the time have resulted in them acquiring the same draconian aura," The Soul Armature replied. "Normally they would conceal it. But when the time comes when they need it, they could release it to tip the scales to their favor. We didn’t detect it before probably because its scope and influence were quite limited, though it seemed like it was still enough to oppress beasts like hyenas."
And that was how Baiyi started being mistaken for a certain character from a popular martial art novel…