A Trail of Blood And Fury
The first thing Magnus saw when he opened his eyes was-
'Snow?'
Only then did he notice his head was buried into the ground, before he pulled himself out of the ground.
Confused, he rubbed his eyes, before he surveyed the landscape around him.
"Where the hell am I?" he looked around, and as far as he could see was snow, with an occasional patch of grass sticking out from underneath.
Looking around, he remembered that he fell into some sort of tunnel. Before him though, both of the girls-
'Wait, the girls!?' he hastily looked around, trying to find Elara and Charlotte.
"They're not here... I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. They'd probably freeze to death here..." he looked down at himself, only a pair of half ripped pants covering his body.
He also noticed the wound he had received from the mace was gone. His mangled fist had also healed up, and he felt like new.
"Oi, system?" he called out, waiting for a response.
[What.]
Ignoring the slightly unfriendly tone, he asked "Hey so... Why did I get thrown into the middle of nowhere. Wasn't the reward supposed to be survival?"
[Sigh... What are you NOT inside of, right now?]
After thinking for a moment, he shrugged.
[The kraken. You're not inside the kraken.]
"Oh... Yeaaaaah!" he then stroked his chin, a inquisitive gaze on his face "But that doesn't explain why the two girls aren't here?"
[Because they wouldn't survive? The reward you get, since you fought three times without break got quadrupled. So those two are somewhere where they would be safe. And while I don't know why you ended up seperated from them, it shouldn't matter since you can find your vassal easily. Don't bother trying, they're tens of thousands of kilometers away.]
Trying to sense Elara, he did indeed get a feel for her general direction. 'Well... I'm not gona complain, we did survive. My wounds are also gone, so this isn't too bad at all!'
"Oh..." he paused for a moment, before digging into the snow. "Say, where's the rewards for the Arena then. I got teleported to god knows where, so I should definetely have gotten something good."
He found the box before the system could reply, and took a closer look at it. Although small in size, the box had intricately carved spiral patterns engraved on it. The wood, golden in color, gave off a pleasant fragrance.
'Risk = reward, so please be good!'
He opened the box, and concluded that he had no clue what it is.
A flat triangle occupied the floor of the box. Inlaid in the middle of it, a single polished stone. Three symbols in each corner, each one seemingly representing something, and some sort of clock hand.
'Syyysteeeeeem...'
[Pick one of the three symbols. Guess what they do. Press down on it with your finger.]
He took a closer look upon it. Indeed, three symbols were carved into the golden triangle. The first one was a hammer, the second one a potion, and the third were runes.
'Forging, alchemy, and I guess enchantment?'
[Took you a bit.]
'Well... I can't use enchantment since I have no mana pool. And I don't have any tools for alchemy, nor any knowledge where I am. Wow, so much choice what to pick!'
Wishing certain bad things to happen to the shadow, he moved the clockwork to be above the hammer symbol, before placing his finger on the stone.
A faint light shone from inside the box, and after a few seconds it disappeared. Moving his finger away, he noticed the stone in the middle was gone.
'...But I feel exactly the same? It couldn't have been a trap or a curse or something, right?'
Other than the slight pain in his head, he felt fine. The system refused to answer his inquiries, so he gave up.
"System, can you tell me at least one thing?"
[What.]
"Why did you delay the level up?"
[The arena seemed to pick an opponent based on your strength. So what is stronger, a half dead you or you after level up?]
"Wait, then what about that armored bastard at the end? You're telling me I'm supposed to beat it while almost dead!?"
[Correct.]
"..."
[The arena is a place made by monsters, for monsters. So, are you going to get cocky again? Considering you would've died without me cheating their system and delaying your level up, hmm?]
"... Thank you. But why did you help me live through, don't you want me to die? "
[Dying to the arena means even I can't revive you, I basically get nothing.]
"... Then what the hell is the arena if even a cheat system can't do shit?"
[Can't say.]
Once more, silence settled on the frozen plains.
Thock!
Punching himself, he spoke loudly. "From now on, safety first, safety second. I will not approach suspicious structures unless my life depends on them!"
[And you won't randomly decide to explore them, riiiiiiiight?]
"Yes, I won't..." after a lot of hesitation, he quietly added, "Unless I think I can handle it."
[... I give up, go die.]
After some more bickering with the system, his ears twitched. Stopping himself from saying anything further, he carefully listened.
Rumble.
Turning around, he spotted a bunch of dots in the distance.
'5 or 6... Somethings?'
As they drew nearer, Magnus made out who the new faces are.
Each of the was mounted on a direwolf as big as a horse. Bulging muscles and green skin, covered in roughly wrought iron armor.
"Orcs?"
The only things he remembers about the was, at least to other knights, they're 'annoying'.
The 6 Wolf Riders stopped slightly in front of Magnus. Up close, their faces were as horrible as one might think. 2 large tusks stuck out disgustingly as they drooled.
Thud.
One of them jumped off the wolf, eyeing him with a smile. The others also seemed to smile upon seeing him not running.
"Uhh... Hello?"
"Human. Hello."
He walked up to Magnus, towering over him. Although Magnus wasn't small at 180cms, the orc easily stood at 230.
The orc grabbed Magnus with both hands, and said while smiling. "The slave camp got another spot freed up, you'll make a fine replacement."
'Ah, this is what they meant with annoying.'
"How about this, survive a clap and we can be friends?"
"A clap?" the orc asked, confused.
Magnus arms stretched out slowly, his body assuming the shape of a T.
Swish!
Crack BOOOM!
A single clap hit the orcs's head. Blood and brain matter splashed everywhere, Magnus's two hands were where the orc's head had been.
Silence.
"RAAAAAGH, KILL HIM!"
Another clap, another dead orc. A wolf rider charged towards him, the wolfs wide open maw heading towards his head.
Overhead fist.
Crack BOOOM!
The head of the wolf burst like a watermelon, before his fist shot through the riders chest. Pulling his hand out, the orc collapsed and he continued his rampage.
Howls of beasts echoed tragically amidst the plains, and one rider abandoned his comrades.
Within seconds, the rest of his unit was destroyed, and now he wanted to do nothing but survive.
Swish!
HOOOOOWL!
The wolf under him collapsed, and when he turned around he felt fear.
Magnus stood directly behind him, the spine of the wolf under him lying limp. He placed his hand on the orcs head, before pulling it closer.
"Show me where your camp is. OKAY?"
The orc nodded furiously, cold sweat covering its body.