My Dungeon Life: Rise of the Slave Harem

Chapter 1448

“My time is short.” I looked over the crowds of bloodthirsty cheering people. “Let’s put up a notice of recruitment, and then get out of here.”

As I turned to walk away, a voice spoke over the intercom. “And next up, we have the Bastard Brute versus the Catgirl of Doom!”

Two people walked out onto the stage. One of them was a large brutish man with muscles rippling muscles who wasn’t wearing a shirt. In the other was a woman who had her entire body hidden behind tight black leather. Her black hair was tied up in a ponytail, and her face was covered with a mask that was also shaped like a cat. She had two cat ears poking out of her head though and a long black tail behind, meaning she was genuinely a catgirl.

“Here, here… little pussy.” The man spoke in a gruff voice, causing some of the audience to laugh.

For some reason, seeing the catgirl brought a strange feeling of familiarity. I found myself unable to look away. A bell rang, and the man immediately lunged forward. He was surprisingly fast for his size, and it looked like he had wanted to use that to his advantage to quickly crush the catgirl. However, she was even faster, and her body nearly blurred as she dodged his attack. That was from my perspective, so from a commoner’s perspective, it likely appeared as she had teleported.

The man had thrown his attack down, creating a large boom, but the girl had disappeared. Even he looked shocked and confused. He didn’t even have time to recover as he was struck from behind. He slammed into the post, and then spun around with a roar, throwing out a punch. The catgirl flipped back, avoiding his strike.

This only seemed to make him angrier, and he attacked again. However, her extremely swift movements allowed her to dodge and attack, then dodge and attack again. As she moved, her actions grew increasingly familiar to me. She was a speed combat fighter. I could see that class without God and Devil Eye. The only other woman I had seen with such a class was Lydia. However, there was something else about the way she moved. It was far too familiar.

“Stop dodging me!” The man bellowed. “Why don’t you fight me like a man?”

That call caused him to receive several boos and about of mocking laughter. This fight that had seemed like it’d fall in one direction was quickly falling in the opposite direction. He had powerful attacks, but unless he could lock down an opponent, they were useless. They used all of his strength, and he was growing exhausted.

“X-slash!” The woman glowed and activated a skill.

She made slicing gestures with her arms, and it was at this point I had lost all doubt. That had been one of Lydia’s skills! It was an Advanced Swordsman skill. It was unlikely a catgirl as young as she would already be a level ten advanced swordsman. That could only mean that this likely was Lydia. She wasn’t dead, but she was fighting here in an underground arena?

“Lydia!” I shouted out.

However, as her opponent fell, the crowds stood up and started cheering. My call was lost in the screams and shouts. She turned around and left the stage without another word, disappearing from my sight.

Chapter 1449

“Where are you going?” Two buff guards stood in front of me.

“I need to speak with Lydia.” When I noticed the two looking at each other in confusion. “Um, the Catgirl of Doom.”

“A fan, eh? Well, lookers can’t come back here and harass the contestants!” He declared.

“I just need to talk to her for a second.” I tried to push through.

The man threw out his fist and punched me in the gut. I didn’t flinch or move. The guy’s eyes grew wide.

“Y-you going to cause trouble?” The other asked, grabbing his weapon at his side.

I opened my mouth, just about ready to cause this trouble, when I was grabbed and pulled away. Bernice stepped in front of me.

“Sorry, fellows! My friend here just had a bit too much to dring. He fell in love and now he’s being stupid. You know how it is.”

The men blinked, but then slowly gave accepting nods. “Well, see that he doesn’t cause any more trouble, or he’ll be kicked out.”

Bernice nodded back to them while pushing me against the chest and away from the area that Lydia went. I took several steps back, but it was mostly so I didn’t embarrass her. I remembered that Bernice could be a bit uptight when it came to her abilities.

“What are you doing?” I asked. “We’re the lords of this city.”

“And this is an underground fight! Did you not understand the word underground? This is all done under the nobility’s eye!”

“We’re the nobility!”

“Shhh!” She snapped, looking in both directions before shooting me a glare. “Do you want to cause an incident? Unlike the gladiatorship which has an official guild, these underground clubs technically break the laws of Aberis. If they suspected the palace was getting involved, they’d immediately scatter! If that happens, you’re going to get no one joining your cause, do you understand me?”

“So, that’s why you’re not taxing this place… Financially, we’d be in a better place if…”

“Bah. Bah! That’s let’s not talk about the financial situation right now. What’s important is being able to get along in the underworld. I was going to tell you before you went barreling off, but things are done a very certain way down here. First rule, you don’t start problems you can’t finish.”

“I’m pretty sure I could take care of those guys… and most of the others down here if I had to.” I declared, looking around at some of the matches going on in other corners of the club.

“Everything down here is about cred. If you just start cracking heads, you’re going to be banned, and your reputation will plummet.”

I shook my head. “This is ridiculous, I can just tell them who I man…”

“No!” she responded sternly. “You can’t just reveal yourself as a lord, and you can’t just demand people join your army. They won’t respond to a flyer? They follow who they respect, and they’ve only ever heard of you as that guy who lets slaves fight for him!”

“What about you then?” I asked. “Didn’t they respect the Demon-slaying Hero?”

“I got out.” She sighed. “I became a Knight already. Too many people here might recognize my face. If I were to attempt to compete, I’d be kicked out in an instant.”

“Compete? Who is competing? I just want to speak to that girl.”

“You’re the one who will have to compete!” She declared, tapping my chest. “If you want to get to her or these crowds of skilled fighters, you’re going to have to earn the street cred necessary in the ring.”

Chapter 1450

“Seriously? Mana scrambling?” I had glanced at my map to see if I couldn’t just Portal behind the enemies, but what I found resembled the Palace, where my Map couldn’t create a clear picture of the area.

“The underground has plenty of resources. A lot of money coming down here…”

“And yet Alerith is poor…”

“Geh! This was all set up under Demon Lord Aberis’s control! None of this is my fault.”

I let out a sigh as I looked down at the parchment to sign up. It cost a couple of coins to register as a fight contestant. These matches were scheduled on the fly, so I could sign up for tonight and be fighting tonight.

“Will I be able to go against the Catgirl of Doom?” I asked the guy behind the counter.

“The Catgirl of Doom?” He raised an eyebrow. “She’s a regular here. If you want to fight against her, you’ll need to be in the top tier. You’ll need to fight quite a few smaller fish before you’re ready to take on the cat.”

“What is with you and that girl?” Bernice asked, her voice almost sounding jealous. “Do you just chase after any pussy you see?”

“I’m going to pretend you’re referring to the fact she’s a cat.”

“What else would I be referring to?” She asked, cocking her head.

“Ah! Nothing.” I gave a fake cough. “Rather, I think that she is Lydia.”

She put on a dubious look. “You know… since you came from Chalm, I didn’t expect I’d need to say this, but not all catgirls look alike-”

“I know that!”

“She’s got black fur.”

“Yeah, and Lord Reign isn’t supposed to have breasts! A lot of things can be changed.” Both of us seemed to look down at her chest at the same time.

I looked away before she could hit me with a glare. When I looked back, she was glowering, her hands over her chest.

“I think Lydia is here in disguise. Once she sees me, she’ll realize I’m still alive and come home immediately.”

“Didn’t you tell me earlier that King Roth said he killed her?”

“I haven’t been able to resurrect her, but… I know she’s okay!”

“Master… I know that you’ve been through a lot… but you can’t get everything back…”

A flash of Terra just as she was being destroyed ran through my mind. It turned out that Terra’s soul was safe inside Sapphire, but she was still basically in a comma. Until I could bring Terra back, I had lost her. Before that happened, I had been racked with so much pain and fear. I couldn’t even allow myself to humor the possibility that Lydia was gone. This black cat was her. They had similar fighting styles, similar jobs, and even similar body types, although this one had her body completely covered.

“R-right. I forgot for a moment that the slave bond was cut.” Her expression turned somewhat sad as she looked at me from the side. “Your slaves, they matter to you? You… care about her, huh?”

“I do,” I responded, turning to look up at the stage. “You’ll see… as soon as she sees me, she’ll come running into my arms.”

“That! Um… about that…” I turned to her just as she lifted something in her hands, a guilty expression on her face. “You’re going to need to wear a mask.”

I let out a sigh. “Of course, I am…”