Survive as a Prison Guard in the Game

Chapter 165
Purgatory (2)

A cramped little room that looked like a waiting room.

He sat dazedly in a small claustrophobic room with gray walls.

“League….”

The information about the League was not detailed in the Purgatory Expedition book.

A duel of those who just want to be stronger.

The creator of the exploration guide, who wasn’t interested in getting stronger, only wrote down a few pieces of information heard from a friend.

-The duel is a battle for one’s soul.

-The loser is banished from Purgatory, and the winner gets to have everything his opponent has.

-Those in Purgatory are required to participate in the league once a month.

*Buuuuu!*

The jeers echoed outside the bars. It seemed like a match was underway. He wanted to see how it was going.

As Redin nudged the door to the cell, it creaked open.

Peering through, he glanced left and right, and saw the participants in the duel walking down the corridor.

He followed them down the corridor.

At the destination, there was a lounge where one could watch the matches. Participants occupied seats, observing the arena.

Turning his gaze, he looked at the arena.

The spectator seats went up to the third floor, and the arena was an elongated circular shape. The floor was covered with dirt.

There wasn’t anything special aside from that.

The bleachers were mostly empty, with a few scattered people sitting on the sidelines.

It seemed the lower leagues weren’t popular.

“How can he be so bad at fighting? How did he even get in here with that level of skill?”

“I would have killed him with one blow if I were in there.”

“Can you fight?

“Maybe a little better than you?”

Their confidence was sky-high as they exchanged words.

He looked at them and then at the arena.

*Translator Note: Shoutout to Chereads Site, Howl_Howl for stealing and copy/pasting my Translation.*

Inside the arena, two men were fighting.

An older man and a younger man.

The battle was so one-sided that the old man was pushing forward relentlessly. The young man was hastily blocking the old man’s attacks.

*Stab*

The aura blade from the older man’s sword struck at the younger man’s heart, piercing it as he failed to block the attack.

“Keugh.”

The aura blade was released, and the young man fell to the ground.

A defeat in the League meant immediate expulsion.

The young man’s body vanished, leaving a single blue orb in its place. The old man picked up the orb from the floor.

And then he opened his mouth and swallowed the orb.

“Wow. That experience orb must be fucking delicious.”

“I won’t eat that shit if you give it to me.”

“I’ll eat it if you give it to me.”

“Give it to you and you’ll eat it?”

“If it’s for free, I’ll take it, asshole.”

“You bastard.”

As they argued, the old man left the arena and new players entered.

Five more matches continued in a row.

As he watched, he had one thought.

Simply watching similarly skilled people fight is beneficial.

It’s not just a simple sparring match, but a fierce battle where life and death are at stake, so there was a lot to see. Their techniques and special moves poured out because of the stakes involved.
“Next.”

At the sound of the facilitator’s voice, his body was pulled by something and dropped into the center of the arena.

An array of weapons scattered across the ground.

Among them, he picked up the sword most similar in size to the one he used.

“Are you new?”

As he turned to the slightly thin voice, he saw a man with a dwarf’s frame standing there. He held a rapier in his hand, a sword specialized for thrusting.

He nervously fidgeted and urged for an answer.

“It’s your first time, right?”

“And?”

“If I lose this time, I’ll die with two losses, but can you give me just one? I’ll make sure to return the favor. Please…… I beg you.”

What’s the use of living in a place known as purgatory?

He wondered if there was any attachment to life after death.

Although Redin had many questions, the answer was clear.

“I don’t think that’s possible.”

He only had 20 days left.

To reach his desired goal in that time, he would need to go undefeated.

“Match Start.”

The match began with a nonchalant announcement. His opponent looked pitiful, with his sword hanging down, seemingly devoid of the will to fight.

Is he trying to evoke a sense of sympathy?

It felt more like a concept play.

It felt like they knew their skill was superior and they were just toying with the newcomers, almost like a veteran tormenting rookies.

Raising his sword, drawing on his mana.

After all, the majority of the people here can use an aura blade.

The next battle.

And the subsequent ones.

In the upcoming battle, to gain the upper hand, he had to defeat his opponents while hiding his true abilities as much as possible.

A quick battle.

With a burst of energy, Redin stomped the ground as he charged at his opponent. Rushing forward, he swung his sword filled with his own aura blade.

*Slash!*

The blade sliced through the wind, straight towards his opponent.

Observing the attack, the man grinned wickedly and clicked his tongue.

“Shit. I just want you to lose once, without a fight.”

In one breath, the man changed his tune and swung his rapier to parry the attack.

Stabbing attacks in rapid succession.

Despite the erratic barrage of attacks, he could see the path of the rapier. Shifting his body, he evaded the blows and brought forth his own weapon.

*Clang*

*Clang*

As he increased the speed to gain the upper hand in the battle, Redin’s opponent, sensing his imminent defeat, gathered mana into his rapier.

Blue light converged on the tip of the rapier.

It wasn’t really an aura blade, but it was more like he was building up mana at the tip before releasing it in a stabbing motion.

A technique he had seen once before in a previous battle.

“Die, brat!”

A blow charged with mana poured out of his opponent’s rapier like a ray of light.

Swinging his sword, he sliced his opponent’s attack in half, then ran through the gap and aimed at his opponent’s neck.

*Swish*

There was the sensation of beheading.

“Keuck.”

But the other man was not dead, and stood in place.

“Match over.”

With the announcer’s words, his opponent faded into a blur and disappeared.

It seemed that the reason he didn’t actually die was because he has the two remaining lives available from the Placement Duel.

However, since Redin won the battle, he was able to take the opponent’s experience orbs.

Grabbing the experience orb that fell to the ground.

As he popped it into his mouth, the Realm of Enlightenment flowed into his head, similar to when he had gained the Insight of the Sword Saint.

The enlightenment from his opponent and the enlightenment he possessed intertwined and merged into his body.

With that came a change.

[Sword Saint’s Enlightenment 100% Achieved].

He gained all of the Enlightenment of the Sword Saint, which he hadn’t gotten in a while. But nothing else happened.

That was the end of the message.

It didn’t give any indication of how he could climb any further, nor did it provide him with any other skills.

“…He didn’t leave everything behind.”

A hidden piece left behind by the Sword Saint.

In the game, he didn’t get the first one, so he wasn’t entirely certain how extensive the Hidden Piece was.

So when he first obtained the Hidden Piece, Redin naturally assumed that he would be able to reach the level of Mastery that Sword Saint showed in his final scene.

However, he was wrong.

When Harungel died, he didn’t leave everything behind. Only Advanced Expert level skill. Nothing more than a Master’s Wall.

He wasn’t sure if Harungel hoped that his successor would surpass him, or if he had some other agenda.

Redin wasn’t discouraged or frustrated.

“I’ll find it here.”

As he ate the opponent’s experience orb, he could feel it.

He was about to overcome the Wall.

In addition, it was because he wasn’t quite “perfect” that he thought to come here, and it was because of that he was able to learn so much.

“Next match…….”

Redin’s next opponent appeared.

This time, it was a woman holding a staff.

He could tell she was a mage because he could feel mana coming from her heart instead of her mana hole.

“Wow. That’s really not good for either of them.”

“Swordsman and Mage…”

Sword and Magic are different paths.

A swordsman and A mage.

The direction of their enlightenment is so polar opposites that he can understand the reaction of the spectators.

That would be too simplistic.

Not all of the matches here will be fought wielding the same weapons.

Surely, he’ll end up fighting mages too, and he might encounter spearmen, dagger wielders, or those who use poison.

To deal with them, one must have the relevant experience to handle them.

By gaining various insights in the lower league, it would be much easier to deal with those who use different weapons when he meet them above.

Moreover, he had the power to wield dragon magic.

Even though the woman in front of him may not be a dragon, the knowledge of magic is helpful in several ways.

“Maybe I’ll get lucky and meet a dragon.”

A smile spread across his lips as he raised his sword.

After three quick wins and the end of the placement duel, he was eager to move on to the actual battle.

*Thump*

He stomped his foot on the ground and charged forward, his sword bathed in an aura blade.

*Clang*

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“3rd consecutive win. Match Over.”

After defeating the second mage, his third opponent was a spearman.

Back when he was in the Special Task Force.

The experience of facing off against a spear wielder in the Task Force proved invaluable.

*Flash!*

As if someone had used teleportation magic, the landscape around him changed.

The blue clock tower from when he first arrived in town.

He returned to where he had taken the teleporter to enter the arena.

“Can you hand me the certificate, please?”

He handed over a piece of paper with a stamp on it.

“You’ve got three wins in a row, huh? Seems like you’ve got some skills. But don’t get too cocky. Three wins in a row here is just a rite of passage.”

“…..”

“When do you want to have your next match?”

“I’d like to do it tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? You could use some rest….”

“I want to get stronger quickly….”

“Well, I get it. So, any specific opponent you want? It’s not guaranteed you’ll fight your desired opponent, but it’s better to jot down your preferences than having none at all.”

“Preferably with a sword, please.”

“Okay.”

The worker hands over the certificate.

The staff further explained the place to him.

“You just need to go to the area marked ‘Zone A’ and get yourself a house. You can freely use anything in that area.”

“Is there anything worth using?”

“There’s a private training ground, a mock training facility, and you can attend the academy set up by the leagues above.”

“Thank you.”

Taking the certificate back, Redin made his way to the village.

The sky was still bright.

In Purgatory, day and night did not exist. The days were counted by the time on the blue clock tower.

“‘First…, I’ll visit the village.”

In the village where he first arrived, there were three forks in the road, and he followed the signpost labeled “A”.

It wasn’t long before a decent-sized village appeared.

One side seemed to be residential, possibly for accommodation, while in the middle there were places that looked like shops, and to the right, there were academies.

“Haap!”

“Raaaah!”

Energetic shouts from the direction of the academies. First, before looking for a room, he made his way towards the direction of the academies.

The number of academies was quite large.

*Translator Note: Shoutout to Chereads Site, Howl_Howl for stealing and copy/pasting my Translation.*

Among the types of weapons, there were more than 20 swords alone, and other similar academies lined up beside them.

“There’s magic and… even Shadow Arts?”

There was even an academy that taught druidic powers, so on his way back after making a lap, he paid close attention to the ones that dealt with swords.

Then, one in particular caught his eye.

[Harungel Swordsmanship Academy]