THE AURELIAN CHRONICLES SHARDS OF DAWN

Chapter 4 First Blood in the Execution Class

The heavy footsteps made the reddish sand beneath Arthur's shoes shake violently. From the dark tunnel behind the open bars, a monster crawled out into the brightly lit arena.

Arthur widened his eyes. The creature was not an ordinary wild beast at all. It was a living Gargoyle. The monster's height almost matched the main gate. Its skin was a mix of pale gray flesh and hard granite slabs. A pair of torn bat wings folded on its back. The monster's mouth was filled with dagger like fangs dripping with sulfur scented saliva. Its yellow reptilian eyes stared at Arthur with wild hunger.

From the upper stands surrounding the arena, the sound of slow clapping was heard through a magical speaker. A tall bald man with a scar slashing across half his face stood at the edge of the railing. The man wore light leather armor and held a spiked whip in his hand.

It was Instructor Vane. The most sadistic combat class teacher at Ignis Academy.

"Attention everyone," Vane's voice echoed to every corner of the underground arena. "Today we have fresh prey. Headmaster Alaric sent this stupid human boy straight to our class to test his pure physical endurance. No magic. No weapons. Pure survival instinct against an earth Gargoyle that has not been fed for three days."

Arthur took a quick glance at the stands. Hundreds of Elf students cheered with joy at the deadly spectacle. But Arthur's gaze stopped at one corner of the stands. Two silver armored guards were holding down Lyra and Finn, who kept

struggling. Lyra screamed curses from up there, while Finn covered his face with both hands because he was too scared to look down.

"Arthur, run, damn it," Lyra screamed at the top of her lungs from the edge of the railing. "Find a weapon, wtf. Do not just stand there."

The Gargoyle let out a long, deafening roar. Without any further warning, the monster dashed forward at a speed that made zero sense for its massive size.

Arthur immediately threw his body to the side. Red sand scattered as the Gargoyle's stone claws slammed into the ground right where Arthur had been standing a second ago. An explosion of dust covered his vision. Arthur rolled quickly and got back on his feet. His heart was racing like crazy.

"A weapon," Arthur muttered in panic, sweeping his gaze across every corner of the arena. "I need a weapon, asshole."

He ran along the edge of the stone wall. The Gargoyle turned its heavy body and chased after Arthur again. Its long tail, tipped with a stone mace, swungthrough the air. Arthur ducked just in time. The tail smashed into the arena wall, shattering it to pieces and sending sharp stone fragments flying into Arthur's back.

A stinging heat struck his back. The blue screen blinked in the corner of his eye.

[HP dropping. 70 out of 100.]

[Warning. Bruised ribs.]

Arthur ignored the damn system warning. He kept running along the wall. Right near the closed iron gate, he saw an object reflecting the torchlight. It was a broken, severely rusted iron sword. Half of the blade was snapped off, and the

hilt was wrapped in rotting leather. Leftovers from a previous student's fight.

Arthur slid across the sand, reached out his hand, and snatched the hilt of the broken sword.

Right as Arthur turned around, a giant black shadow had already covered his body. The Gargoyle lunged from above. Its mouth was wide open, ready to swallow Arthur's head whole. Arthur raised the broken sword horizontally with both hands to block the bite.

Stone fangs clashed with rusty steel. A high pitched screech of metal rang out. The Gargoyle's jaw was incredibly strong. The weight of the monster crushed Arthur down until the boy fell to his knees on the sand. His arm muscles shook violently, resisting the tremendous pressure. Sulfur scented saliva dripped onto Arthur's neck, burning his skin.

"Die, you damn monster," Arthur yelled with his teeth clenched tight. He tried to push his sword upward, but normal human strength meant absolutely nothing against this stone creature.

Up in the stands, Lyra gritted her teeth. She watched Arthur slowly losing his strength. The girl remembered a thin book she had secretly read while in the medical ward that morning. A book about basic kinetic energy manipulation. Lyra closed her eyes for a moment. She focused her gaze on a large iron torch stuck in the arena wall right above the Gargoyle's head.

"To hell with magic rules," Lyra cursed harshly. She aimed her palm at the iron torch from a distance. "Fall right now, wtf."

Invisible magic energy shot out of Lyra's hand. The iron peg holding the torch suddenly bent with a loud crack. The heavy, burning torch, weighing dozens of pounds, broke loose from the wall and fell freely right toward the Gargoyle's back.

Crash.

The hot iron smashed into the base of the Gargoyle's wing. The monster roared in pain and released its bite on Arthur's sword. Its focus was broken for two seconds.

Two seconds that changed everything.

Right when the pressure on Arthur's hands vanished, the blue screen in front of his eyes exploded into a blindingly bright blood red. A new notification appeared, covering his entire vision.

[Critical Condition Detected.]

[Option Available. Use Active Skill Adrenaline Rush.][Description. Increases physical strength and speed limits by 300 percent for three minutes.]

[Consequence. Minor muscle tears and minor nerve damage after the duration ends.]

[Accept Option. Yes or No.]

Time felt like it had stopped for Arthur. His brain worked at maximum speed. He knew he wouldn't survive the next minute in this pathetic physical state. There was no other way out.

"Accept it, damn it. Accept it," Arthur screamed in his head.

The screen instantly vanished. In its place, an overwhelming burning sensation spread from his heart to all his blood vessels. The veins in his neck and arms bulged out, turning deep blue. His pupils dilated. The fear that had been locking his muscles evaporated without a trace. It was replaced by pure, brutal killing instinct.

Arthur took a deep breath. His lungs greedily sucked in the arena air.

The Gargoyle, having just thrown the iron torch off its back, glared at Arthur with rage. The monster swung its right stone claw with full force to slice the boy's body in half.

But to Arthur, who was now under the influence of Adrenaline Rush, the movement of that stone claw looked incredibly slow.

Arthur pivoted on his heel to the left. Red sand flew into the air. The Gargoyle's claw only slashed empty air with a sharp whistling sound. Without wasting a single second, Arthur stepped forward into the monster's blind spot. He gripped the hilt of the rusty broken sword with both hands. His shoulder and arm muscles tensed to their absolute limit.

Arthur could hear the sound of his own bicep muscle fibers tearing slightly beneath his skin. The pain was very real, but it was masked by the insane wave of adrenaline.

With a hoarse scream that shook the entire arena, Arthur leaped into the air,stepping on the Gargoyle's knee as a foothold. His body hovered level with the monster's head. Both of his hands swung the broken sword with brutal force toward the only weak spot he could see.

Its yellow reptilian eye.

Stab.

The rusty blade pierced the Gargoyle's eyeball with a sickening sound of bursting liquid. Arthur didn't stop there. He used his entire falling body weight to push the sword hilt deeper, penetrating the eye socket until it reached the monster's brain.

Thick, dark green liquid gushed heavily from the ruined eye socket. The hot blood soaked Arthur's face and shirt.

The Gargoyle thrashed violently. The one ton monster struggled and slammed blindly into the arena wall. Arthur was thrown off the creature's face and rolled hard onto the reddish sand. His rusty sword was still buried deep in the

monster's skull.

The Gargoyle's roar slowly turned into a wet choking sound before the giant stone body finally collapsed to the ground with a loud thud. A tall cloud of dust and sand billowed up. The monster stopped moving. Completely dead.

Absolute silence immediately blanketed every corner of the underground arena.

There were no cheers from the Elf students. No condescending laughter. They allfroze in their seats. Instructor Vane stood stiffly at the edge of the railing with his mouth half open. His eyes stared in disbelief at the corpse of a mid tier monster that had just been slaughtered by a regular human without a magic core.

Arthur struggled to get up from the sandy floor. His Adrenaline Rush skill duration ended instantly.

A horrifying pain immediately hit his body like a train. Both of his arms felt like they were being stabbed by thousands of hot needles. The muscle fibers in his shoulders and arms were slightly torn, just as the system warned. He couldn't lift his hands higher than his waist. He was panting heavily. Green

monster blood dripped slowly from his chin.

He stood unsteadily, but he tilted his head up, staring straight toward the upper stands.

The blue screen reappeared, emitting light in the middle of the arena dust.

[Target Destroyed. Level 20 Gargoyle.]

[Level Up. Level Up. Level Up.]

[You have reached Level 4.]

[Agility stat increased by 5 points. Strength increased by 3

points.]

Arthur completely ignored the screen. His eyes kept searching for the figure of the silver haired Elf student who threw away his food in the canteen earlier.

Prince Kaelen stood in the very front row of the stands. Unlike the other Elf students who were terrified or disgusted, Kaelen stared intently downward with an expression that was very hard to read. There was no more bored look. Kaelen's silver eyes radiated a very strong interest. The Elf prince had found something incredibly valuable at the bottom of this dirty arena.

Arthur returned the arrogant prince's gaze sharply. While enduring the tremendous pain in his arms, Arthur spat onto the red sand. His saliva was mixed with his own blood.

Up in the stands, Instructor Vane finally snapped out of his shock. The sadistic man's face turned red with anger mixed with shame.

"Open the northern gate," Vane shouted with a booming voice toward the iron lever guards. The veins in his neck popped out. "Release two Orc Gladiators at once. I want to see this bastard human skinned alive today."

The screech of even larger iron hinges echoed, shattering the silence of the arena. Two sets of footsteps, far heavier than the Gargoyle's, could be heard walking out of the dark tunnel.

The blue screen in front of Arthur's eyes blinked red again with a panicked speed.

[Critical Warning. Physical limits have reached the maximum threshold.]

[Certain death in 10 seconds.]

Arthur wiped the green blood off his face with the back of his trembling hand. He smiled cynically, staring at the dark tunnel ahead of him. There was no fear left in his eyes. Only pure madness.