Undead Beast Master: Living Solely for My Desires-Chapter 229: The Breaking Point

One, dozens, hundreds of explosions made the entire arena tremble.

David was throwing countless chunks at Zaroth while he dodged some and sliced some with his odachi in two.

Zaroth's beasts attacked David unrelentingly, no matter how much damage they took, no matter how useless their attacks seemed, they were still attacking.

The fight wasn't easy for either of the men.

Even if they were still holding back, it was enough to cause chaos all around the arena.

At one moment, Zaroth was hit with a small debris of earth.

He didn't pay any attention to it whatsoever as he brought down his odachi.

The weapon struck with devastating power at David's head and bounced off not a second later.

David, of course, responded in kind as his fist hit Zaroth's chest, sending him flying away.

The armor that Zaroth wore took most of the damage, and he was more or less able to walk off the attack as if nothing had happened.

Zaroth didn't miss that the thing hovering behind David was constantly whispering something.

Was it advice, the best way to attack Zaroth?

Or was it insults, asking why David had not won yet?

Zaroth shook off the thought. It didn't matter; all he had to do was to exhaust the mana core of David with his constant attacks.

And yet, he stopped.

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Something was wrong.

Zaroth could feel it.

He was doing something that shouldn't be done.

'I am hesitating?' he asked himself in disbelief.

But not a second later, he shook off the thought. No, there was no way he was hesitating!

But there was a problem, something that he was unable to grasp.

"What is it, what is it?" Zaroth muttered in frustration, his instincts were telling him that there was something wrong.

He couldn't just stop and think, however, as he dashed at David, ready to attack.

'What is it?!' He looked at the man, trying to see if anything about him screamed danger.

But there wasn't.

Zaroth crouched, making David's fist miss by a millisecond, and then brought down his odachi. At the same time, Hellweaver attacked as well.

'What is it?!' Zaroth looked at the thing that was always behind David.

Was it possible that the cursed thing was going to attack somehow?

But if that was the case, why hadn't it acted until now? There was a low chance that this was the case, so Zaroth discarded the idea.

It was obvious that the feeling didn't come from David, so left with no choice, Zaroth looked at the audience.

The emperor wanted David to win, so was it possible that a third person was going to interfere?

But under the constant battle against David, it was hard to see anyone, especially from the tens of thousands of people that had come to watch the fight.

'What is it?!' Zaroth was becoming frustrated. His instincts were still telling him that something was wrong, yet he didn't see anything wrong.

Was it possible that his instincts were wrong? But if that was the case, it was going to soon doom him. He relied on them for dodging David's attacks as they were too fast.

Zaroth's brain was working in overdrive, trying to come up with why he was feeling like something was wrong.

The thing behind David only seemed to intensify its whispering into David's ear.

Finally, Zaroth slipped up and took a devastating attack to the side.

The armor held, but this one had a much stronger shockwave, so Zaroth felt his insides shook as he was sent flying

Managing to fall to the ground without injuring himself, he was about to dash against David for the countless time.

But he stopped as he looked in a certain direction.

There were countless eyes on him, but a few were much stronger than the others.

These eyes were the eyes of the emperor and the heads of the great clans and families.

"Ah…" Zaroth gasped.

His mind went quiet after so much thinking.

He finally got why he had felt the way he felt before.

"It is stupid…" he muttered in frustration.

"It's a stupid idea… but I'm only 18. If there's ever a time to act on a stupid idea, it's now, isn't it?"

David was about to hit Silverfang again, making the beast's jaw fall down.

Not that David hoped the wolf would stop attacking.

He had lost count of how many attacks the beast had taken only to remain standing.

The same could be said about Hellweaver, which was rushing at him as well, ready to attack.

David wasn't in a good situation at the moment.

He was also expecting Zaroth to appear any moment and attack now.

It was bad, as David had taken countless attacks. His mana core had used a good portion of its reserves.

At the moment, David was in a pinch.

And yet, the beasts disappeared.

Zaroth had desummoned them.

David looked around to confirm that the beasts had disappeared.

Seeing that this was the case, he gazed at Zaroth.

Contrary to what he believed, the man wasn't preparing to fire off a devastating spell, nor was he going to attack in some new, unique way.

Instead, Zaroth stood tall as he gripped the odachi with his right hand.

Neither of the two men said anything for a while as they just gazed at one another.

"David…" Zaroth suddenly spoke up. The arena was deadly silent, and something made the fighters' words carry effortlessly, causing Zaroth's voice to echo throughout the arena.

"You know, I just realized something." Zaroth's voice carried a hint of mockery, though it was aimed at no one but himself.

"My progress has been stagnant for some time…"

Many in the audience leaned forward in their seats, particularly the heads of the families.

Sure, they had come to watch the fight, but who could resist a little drama, especially in a place like this.

"And I have been wondering why that is… until today." Zaroth closed his eyes as a chuckle escaped from his mouth.

"The reason is that I've been holding back. I kept telling myself that, in the worst-case scenario, I could always use my trump card… and as a result, I never feared losing. I never felt I would die. How can one truly progress without the fear of death?"

Most of the audience didn't fully grasp Zaroth's words. After all, very few people had something that could bail them out of a dangerous situation.

Yet David understood it perfectly.

Every time he had fought against a strong opponent, he would just take more power from the Spectral Warden, and everything would be resolved.

"In other words, I grew bored. A fight where you don't risk your life isn't one from which you'll learn anything." Zaroth wasn't sure whether he should be angry at himself.

If he had realized that sooner, maybe he would be even stronger now.

He wouldn't have felt like he had made no progress for so long.

David's eyes widened. Was this why he didn't know anything about the Abyss?

Because up until now, he had never been truly challenged?

Now, the words of the Spectral Warden began to make sense. It had always said that he should go all out, and yet David hadn't listened.

David was terrified. If people learned what he was truly capable of, it could be dangerous not only for him but for his sister as well. Not to mention, going all out would undoubtedly have severe side effects. In the worst-case scenario, it could mean David losing his mind to the Spectral Warden, becoming a husk—a hollow shell of a man.

"I know that you feel like that too." Zaroth's words broke David out of his train of thought.

"Up until now… never having fought a foe with everything you have means you will never progress. And slowly, over time, you'll begin to walk the path to mediocrity."

Most people wouldn't understand Zaroth's words. After all, they didn't have a problem with being mediocre.

They didn't have unrealistic desires, driven only by greed, desires that only an insane person could have.

They weren't planning to kill the gods.

"This is going to change today." As soon as Zaroth spoke those words, the atmosphere in the arena grew tenser.

"And if you continue to be the way you are now, you will lose in an instant."

Zaroth's provocation was clear—if you don't go all out, you will lose.

David's sister's life depended on him winning; he couldn't fathom what the emperor would do to his only family if he lost. David also didn't doubt that Zaroth had something far more dangerous in his arsenal, with the Spectral Warden's words still echoing in his mind.

And lastly, he didn't doubt for even a fraction of a second that Zaroth wasn't insane enough to go all out right now. The twisted smile on his face and the look in his eyes told David everything he needed to know.

'If I don't go all out, my sister could die.' That was the only thought running through David's head.

His sister dying was worse than any side effect he could suffer from using his powers to their full extent.

So, he took a deep breath as the Spectral Warden behind him smiled menacingly.

Then, he unleashed all the powers that came from the Spectral Warden.

In the span of a single second, the center of the arena, which stretched for hundreds of meters, went black, as though something was preventing the audience from looking inside.

The Abyss had emerged.