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Team-bonding exercises were just excuses, it convinced Zote. Excuses for Elder Hu to send him with the most annoying Dream Warriors, aka Galien and Xero. He expected to be in there too, but the slug was currently nowhere to be seen.
Failed Champion was there too, throwing a damn tantrum. Kill him now. If there was anything Zote was thankful about, however, it was the fact that Galien and Xero chose each other to fight with, which left the Grey Prince with the maggot. He’d rather them than either of those two ghosts.
The task for the group was straightforward: bring back a Pale Ore from the Colosseum. Should be rather easy, considering three of the bugs here were powerful fighters. Failed Champion, if they could get the motivation to fight, was also superb. Gorb was… Gorb.
The cheers of the Colosseum were loud in Zote’s ears as they entered the warrior’s pit. Zote sighed at the somewhat unpleasant memories he had here as he helped Failed Champion polish their mace. “What’s the plan?”
“We go in there, we fight, we win. Easy.” Xero folded his arms. “We only have to make it past the first two trials. The third isn’t necessary.”
“I’ve signed us up at the entrance.” Galien nodded at the small fool chained to the ceiling above.
“Did you include Gorb?” Zote asked warily.
“Of course not.” Galien rolled his eyes. “Nobody knows what that slug would do if he fought in an arena.”
“Probably blow us all to kingdom come,” Xero muttered, standing up. “Let’s get this over with. I don’t like any of you.”
“It’s a shame we have to deal with you as well,” Zote fired back, glaring at the red-clad bug as he followed Xero to the arena entrance. Galien grabbed his scythe guiding Failed Champion along.
“It’s another beautiful day for slaughter here in the Colosseum! Who’s ready to see some bloodshed?!”
A cheer went up as the Fools cheered. Zote puffed out his chest as he basked in the arena's light. “Listen to them cheer! They clearly have good taste!”
“Egotistical ass,” Galien muttered. Xero smirked.
“Coming from you? Rich shit.”
Galien didn’t have time to respond as the arena door closed behind the group. Cages rose from the ground and several armored Fools appeared. “Let the action begin!”
The Fools charged, one leading the charge with their lance thrust forward. Zote laughed as he leaped into the fray, slashing at Fools with his trusty Life Ender. He flailed the weapon, the shellwood blade making the Fools it hit cackle. Zote either didn’t notice or didn’t care about the audience’s laughter as he summoned a Zoteling. The small hopping thing jumped at a nearby Fool, making them yelp and scramble to get it off.
Across the battlefield, Galien was fighting next to Failed Champion. The maggot was using their armor sparingly, only taking hits when they knew they had to. Their mace bashed Fools into the ground, orange streams falling from it each time it lifted back into the air. Galien sliced a Fool in half. More cages rose from the ground.
Xero let his nails fly, smiling as they speared enemies left and right. A sharp Baldur fell to a well-timed nail strike, as did the one replacing it. The first wave ended, giving the fighters little time to rest as wave two began. Five platforms rose from the ground as more sharp Baldurs appeared from the cages that descended from the sky. They with disposed of with one good strike from Failed Champion’s mace.
Wave three made the platforms vanish. Sturdy fools appeared this time, several tossing their crescent-shaped blades at their enemies. Xero and Galien hit a few of them back, the former holding his nail like a baseball bat. Surprise took Zote when a Fool sneaked up on him, slashing him sneakily. Failed Champion loomed above the Fool, ending its reign and life quickly.
Waves four and five spawned Primal Aspids. They were mostly unproblematic, though one caught Zote’s left horn with a ball of acid. Wave six made more aspids appear, this time accompanied by more Baldurs. Xero dealt with the aspids as Galien and Failed Champion made quick work of the Baldurs.
Wave seven made a Vengefly King enter the arena. Zote cursed as the King screamed, three Vengefly appearing to aid their ruler. “Take one for the team, guys. I can’t deal with them.”
“Send Failed Champion up there. They can knock the King down.” Galien glanced at the maggot, who shook their head.
“Do you want us to be crushed, fool?” Xero folded his arms. He sent his four nails to the vengeflies, killing them with ease. “Besides, why struggle with melee when you have ranged weaponry?”
“Showoff,” Galien muttered, picking his scythe up to finish the Vengefly King. Walls suddenly appeared, making the area smaller. More enemies appeared, flooding into the small arena.
The trial ended with relative ease. All four of the fighters escaped unscathed. The Trial of the Conqueror was no different, the Oblobbles only causing mild trouble.
“Let’s do the last trial,” Zote suggested, looking at the prize board with greed. “Over 2,000 geo? That’s a steal, especially if it’s as easy as the last two.”
Galien nodded in agreement, giving his scythe one last polish. Failed Champion wanted to object, but their words died as they saw Xero also agree. Fun.
-
Zote was dead wrong about the Trial of the Fool being easy. No wonder they named it after Fools- everyone who entered was exactly that.
The first waves were easy enough, and the enemies were defeated quickly. Waves came faster and faster, and by wave 10, the group’s exhaustion was incredibly obvious.
Zote groaned as more Fools appeared, accompanied by what seemed like every previous enemy they had killed. He didn’t have the energy to even pick up Life Ender, summoning a few Zotelings instead. Xero wasn’t fairing much better, his nails never boomeranging back to him anymore. Galien had little strength to swing his scythe, and Failed Champion, though the most energized of them all, seemed to struggle to lift their mace.
God Tamer was the Champion of the Colosseum. She looked the part too, lance and head held high as she rode out on her beast. She smirked down at the group of warriors. “So, you’ve made it this far, but how long can you survive against me and my beast?”
Nobody responded, only giving each other looks of dread. Tamer hopped off her beast, aiming a lance strike at Galien, who barely dodged. The beat curled into a ball and rolled at the group. Xero pulled Zote out of the way as it sped past, landing in front of the two as it ricocheted off of the wall.
Tamer focused on Zote as she swung her lance again. Zote flinched as it left a gash across his body. He barely had time to summon another Winged Zoteling to take the next hit. Tamer laughed in glee as she pushed her opponent back.
Failed Champion’s mace slammed down in front of the beast. The beast gurgled before spitting up several balls of acid. Failed Champion whined as it burned through their armor. They sidestepped the next roll, though the beast crashed right into Xero and Galien, who had been slightly arguing with entangled weapons.
Zote dodged another lance swipe as he hurried over to the two. “It’d be lovely if you stopped fighting with words and started fighting with weapons, you know! What do we do?”
“Isn’t it obvious? We can’t beat them on our own, but there are four of us and only one beast. Tamer’s hardly an obstacle. Focus on the beast.” Galien picked up his scythe as he spoke.
“For once, I agree. Zote and Failed Champion can deal with the beast when it’s rolling. Galien and I will attack it when it lands.” Xero grabbed his four nails as the beast prepared to charge again.
All four fighters dodged the roll. Failed Champion swung their mace in an arc, knocking the beast against the wall. Zote summoned more Zotelings, the small ghost-Zotes blowing up within moments of materializing. The beast uncurled to land and was face-to-face with Galien’s scythe and Xero’s nails.
Tamer stared in rage as the group attacked her beast. She hissed, grabbing her lance and charging. She pulled on Xero’s cloak and swung. Tamer grinned as it raked across the other’s chest, though his nails promptly floated in to attack. Xero recovered quickly and attacked Tamer.
The beast screamed as Life Ender pierced its chest. Its mask crumbled. Tamer shrieked in anguish, one that was cut short as she was pinned to the floor. Four nails floated at her neck. Xero, Galien, Zote, and Failed Champion loomed above her, the maggot’s mace raised.
“Do you yield?” She didn’t know who said it. The group seemed to speak in unison. Tamer nodded quickly.
“I surrender! You win!” She watched the four in terror. Xero’s nails vanished as he turned away. Failed Champion helped the Tamer up. The other three followed Xero, collecting money as the Fools went into an uproar, throwing geo down. Tamer watched them disappear, staring in awe.
-
“You all were very productive, I see.” Elder Hu looked at the collected goods the four had bought back. A good amount of Geo and the requested Pale Ore.
“You all look like you were in hell,” Markoth commented with a snicker.
“We were,” Zote responded curtly. He looked over at the Hot Spring where Galien, Xero, and Failed Champion were. The maggot had set their armor aside, as did Xero with his cloak, though his helmet stayed on. “Excuse me, but I will go join them now.”
Elder Hu smiled as he watched Zote fall into the Hot Spring, making the other three protest. He collected the Geo and turned away. “I believe that exercise was a success.”
“Send them on another one tomorrow?” Markoth asked, smirking at the four clamoring bugs.
“Oh, absolutely.”