Chapter 2 — Anger Awakens
Orion, Taros Colosseum.
Thousands of spectators gathered inside the huge arena.
Today was supposed to be a special fight. One against ten. Ten selected adventurers from different families decided to experience the "legend of the Colosseum".
The Hulk.
He was standing in the center of the arena.
Huge. Four meters tall. The skin is black and green, like polished obsidian armor. There was still a slave collar around his neck. There were chains on his wrists, from which spikes of pain protruded.
He was silent. But the eyes... the eyes were blazing.
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— Let the battle begin! — the announcer shouted.
The adventurers surrounded the Hulk. They were fast. Trained. They had spells, potions, tactics.
But the Hulk... was rage.
One jerk and two of them are squeezed into the ground. The third was hit in the chest, and the armor burst like paper.
The magician in the back row released a fireball. He stabbed the Hulk right in the back.
The flames rose... and dissipated.
The Hulk turned around. The eyes are blood-green.
He lunged forward.
The fire mage didn't even have time to scream. Agility, speed, didn't matter. He was smeared on the sand of the arena.
The remaining fighters were trembling. The Hulk... made A SOUND.
— GRAAAAAHHHH!!!
His scream cracked the walls of the Colosseum. The sand trembled beneath him. And then a flash of light.
The wound on his back flared up like a demon's heart.
My body felt hot.
Somewhere beyond pain and rage... he felt it.
LEVEL 6.
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— He reached the sixth… Right in the arena?! — the priests whispered.
— Impossible...
— The monster… This is no longer a human being.
Taros stood up from the podium.
He felt the chains around the Hulk's neck tighten. They were enchanted, but... they were trembling.
The Hulk took a step forward.
One.
Second.
And then it started.
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The ground shook.
Deep under the arena, something exploded.
The magical barriers have burst.
Screams of terror rose from the south gate of the Colosseum.
Monsters.
The monsters from the Dungeon broke out.
— It's impossible! The guards shouted. —Dungeon broke through here?!
Horror crows and mutant goblins burst out of the black rift, followed by two armored minotaurs, huge, with red eyes and armored with bones.
They destroyed everything. They killed the audience. The guards were being torn apart.
The crowd was panicking. The gods were running away. The priests were calling for help.
And in the center of the arena stood the Hulk.
He looked into the monster's eyes, and saw himself.
The man Taros made him.
"I'm not a beast.
"I AM RAGE.
The chains on his body shuddered. The collar was cracked.
And then... the Hulk roared.
For the first time, not in combat, not on orders.
free.
TODAY.
The earth burst.
The chains snapped.
The collar exploded.
At that moment, one of the minotaurs crashed into the arena.
Roaring, mad, with an axe the size of a cart.
The Hulk came out to meet him.
Without an order.
Without chains.
Free.
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—Now... it's my turn," he croaked. The first time. In words.
And then he hit me.
The Hulk's power smashed the minotaur into the wall, breaking every bone. And when the second one rushed at him, the Hulk grabbed his head and smashed through the stone floor of the Colosseum along with the monster's body.
He roared as he fought.
Not like a slave.
But as a warrior.
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When the dust cleared, he stood among the bodies.
There's blood on his shoulders. His gaze is as sharp as a sword.
There is a ruined Colosseum all around.
The monsters are dead.
And the audience... stared in silence at the one who had recently been called a beast.
He slowly looked up to where Taros was standing.
"I'm coming for you."