Martial Online.



The announcer's blasting voice entered Ambrose's ears.

He sighed and fell to his knees, filled with exhaustion.

The numbness had luckily disappeared, as the stun effect rarely lasted more than five seconds.

'In the end, he won.' Ambrose sighed and lingered his gaze in the direction of the screaming, bearded woman.

She was biting her lip while tightening a belt around her thigh to stop the bleeding.

Her leg from the knee downward was gone.

"..." Ambrose silently stood up and began walking towards the finish line to end his race.

Even though he didn't win, he was fine with second place.

After passing the Street of Sex and Alcohol, he arrived on the Street of Gambling and soon walked through the finishing line.

The loud celebrations echoed in his ears.

Surprisingly, the crowd also showered him with applause, even though he didn't win.

He looked around the crowd and saw them clapping, but most faces didn't show him any respect.

In the end, he was second because Johann didn't attack him.

'I wonder why he didn't kill me.' Ambrose thought while looking towards Johann, who received his prize money and looked rather bored, as if he didn't want to be here any longer.

At the finishing line, a one-legged Lulu limped and crossed the line.

Her face was pale like a bedsheet, and her eyes were filled with exhaustion and defeat.

While the cold sweat dripped down her forehead, she angrily looked at the bored-looking Johann, and whenever she caught sight of his red eyes, she began having phantom pains in her own eyes.

'My leg...' Lulu clutched her chest tightly and felt like crying.

She knew what would happen to her now.

The Sanctorium of Inquisitorious doesn't have any need for disabled Inquisitors.

Clap, clap—the race direction walked out from the House of Gambling and clapped his hands loudly.

"Thank you for participating in the Death Race, and I hope you all will participate in future races as well." 

He then walked to the side and showed a path to the building. 

"The owner of the House of Gambling wishes to see you, the top three participants!"

The crowd turned silent with shocked expressions on their faces.

They didn't expect the famous owner of the House of Gambling to be currently present in the building!

Johann's eyes shook, and he looked genuinely shocked.

He straightened his sleeves and tightened his necktie.

He suddenly looked far more handsome and professional, like a young business executive ready to take charge.

After he entered the building, Ambrose followed behind him, wondering who this owner was.

Lastly, Lulu followed behind the two men while limping and dripping blood behind her.

However, quickly, white-ranked servants came and wiped the blood off the floor.

...

At the outskirts of Warhaven.

A bruised Caius walked while dragging the black metal club behind him.

His mouth was bleeding, and his torn shirt showed a battered chest with claw marks that sunk deep into his flesh.

'That bastard managed to escape, but before that, he surely landed a devastating blow.' Caius touched his pained chest and remembered one thing.

'When I watched the race via Screen Halo, I saw that black-haired young man cut through Johann's Vampire Light.

'I couldn't do that. Because of that, he managed to land that blow on me. What is the trick to injuring the Vampire Light? How did that weakling manage to do that?'

With questions riddling his mind, Caius disappeared from the streets and returned to his house to mend his wounds.

But he and Johann alike, both powerhouses of brown rank, were left with questions about Ambrose.

A seemingly nobody who managed to do an impossible feat.

...

Creak—a pair of heavy doors opened, revealing a simple room with a single table in the center and a balcony where one could witness the beauty of night in Warhaven.

On the wall, there was a single bounty poster painted red with an eerie sketched image.

Johann, Ambrose, and Lulu entered the room and saw an ominous feeling settling over the atmosphere.

There were three people seated around the table; there were three more seats available.

One of them was a tall man with short red hair, and all his fingers had one ring each. He had a stern expression on his face, and his eyes seemed to pierce through anyone who looked at him.

His mouth had a cigar sticking out of it, letting out black smoke that swirled in the air around him.

The other two people wore black suits and looked like the red-haired man's subordinates. Yet they didn't look weak as they both held katanas on their waists.

Ambrose sweated heavily for some reason and couldn't stop it.

'The atmosphere is suffocating. I feel like it's difficult to breathe even!'

"Mister Russian." Johann placed his palm against his chest and bowed humbly.

That surprised Ambrose and Lulu, as they didn't expect a powerhouse of his caliber to bow to anyone.

But then, Lulu caught sight of Russian's grinning face and paled like she had seen a ghost in flesh.

She was utterly terrified!

'Who is he?' Ambrose wondered, but then his gaze wandered to the wall where a single bounty poster was.

The bounty poster's sketched image bore a great resemblance to Russian.

His eyes slowly widened before horror struck him.

***

[WANTED]

[ONLY DEAD]

[Rank: Red]

[Name: Russian "The Conqueror of the West" Motherlund]

[Reward: 2,001,025 silvers]

***

Russian smiled and took the cigar from his mouth, then pointed at the three seats available.

"Take seats, and congratulations to Johann for the victory. The race indeed became more interesting with the sudden appearance of Caius.

"However, the winner was clear from the start."

Johann nodded and sat in the center, with Ambrose on his left side and Lulu on the right.

Lulu grabbed her thigh and felt an agonizing pain, but she didn't want to show it in her face as she was in the presence of a true powerhouse who was miles ahead of her in terms of power.

"The Death Race might be over, but there is one "test" left." Russian smiled and nodded at the henchman beside him.

The henchman brought a suitcase and opened it.

Russian took the item hidden inside the suitcase and showed it to the three people.

Johann and Lulu frowned and wondered what it was.

However, Ambrose was very aware and almost swore out loud.

'A gun?!'

Russian held an item that resembled a lot of a gun, with a long barrel, trigger, and cylinder where one could place bullets. 

However, it still looked very primitive.

'It looks like a gun, but this game can't have one, right...' Ambrose wiped the sweat from his brows. 'I wonder how it works.'

"This is a special item created by a friend of mine." Russian rolled the cylinder for everyone to see. "Inside this metal cylinder, I can place things I call bullets and fire them.

"It's like using a bow and arrow, but in a more effective form.

"Unfortunately, it's still in development and is rather weak and inaccurate.

"We can only fire it one meter before it loses most of its accuracy and power.

"However, my friend and I created a rather interesting game with this."

'Please no.' Ambrose wished for his bad feelings not to come true.

Unfortunately for him, his thoughts became a reality.

Russian smiled and looked at the three people.

"I call it Russian Roulette.

"And I want you to participate in this small game.

"Don't worry, it's completely harmless!"