Undead Beast Master: Living Solely for My Desires

"Remember, this is for your father," Sam whispered as he tightened his grip on the old sword he was carrying.

Some would ask him why he would bring such an old sword to the tournament. The answer was simple, it was a family treasure. This was the sword that his father had used to slay an Epic creature in the past.

Originally, Sam wouldn't have wanted to use the sword as he didn't feel worthy yet… but that changed about a year ago when his father had gotten an illness.

The healers told him that unless a healer of the highest level performed a skill on the sick man, he would die.

And Sam and his family, being poor, couldn't afford such things… that was until the emperor announced the tournament.

Sam might not have been part of the most prestigious academy in the empire, and yet he didn't give up. He trained endlessly until exhaustion and beyond, all in the name of winning the tournament, all so his father could walk again.

He wanted to repay his father for all the time he had taken care of him, Sam felt it was his duty as his only son

"This is the ninth round. After this, the rounds would be held in the grand arena, watched by the emperor," Sam hyped himself up as he entered the center of the arena.

His gaze immediately fell upon the audience. At the beginning, there were hardly any people who watched the matches, but now, as time passed and the amount of matches decreased, the small arenas were barely able to contain the thousands of people who had come to watch the fight.

Sam froze when his gaze fell upon a woman with crimson eyes and hair.

He didn't know her, but in that moment, he fell for her. He had seen his fair share of beauties in the capital, but nobody could hold a candle to her.

"Another reason to not lose," he muttered as he shifted his gaze to his opponent. Now, he didn't just want to win because of his father, but he also wanted to ask the girl out after the match.

"…?" His mouth opened a little in confusion.

Sam was in the ninth round, so he was expecting to see giant, rough-looking men and dangerously cunning women…

And yet, the man in front of him didn't seem that threatening, in all honesty.

True, the man had unique outer appearance as he was on the shorter side with white hair and green cat-like eyes.

"Is he dragon descendant?" Sam asked himself. He didn't know a lot about these people, but from the few rumors he had heard, they were a dangerous bunch.

"I shouldn't underestimate him…" Sam scolded himself as he got into battle pose.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" The announcer stepped into the middle of the area as his shout sliced through the muttering around the arena.

"Today we shall witness another fight in the name of the emperor!" the announcer spoke as he shifted his gaze to the side.

"On one side we have Sam!"

A few people cheered at the mentioning of his name, which made Sam feel nice. Sadly, it seemed that the crimson beauty didn't react when his name was called out.

"A pity…" he muttered under his breath.

"And on the other side we have Zaroth!"

A lot more people cheered than before, most likely because they had remembered Zaroth and his actions in the other rounds.

Sam felt his heart ache as he saw that the crimson beauty was also one of the people who were clapping enthusiastically.

Shaking his head off of the unnecessary thought, Sam focused on his opponent.

"For father," he spoke as the ground around him shook, and a second later, two humanoid creatures made from the earth, each about two meters tall, rose.

Even if Sam hadn't received a very strong blessing from the gods, that didn't mean he would give up.

Zaroth raised an eyebrow as he saw Sam's abilities.

Then he smiled.

A few moments later, Zaroth was surrounded by his beasts, four normal-sized wolves and one much bigger than the rest.

"He is a Beast Master?" Sam asked himself.

"Well, if that is the case, he must be weak up close!" Coming to that conclusion, Sam charged toward Zaroth, with his two golems to his sides.

'I will reach it! I will reach the end of the tournament and wish for my father to be healed!' With that thought, Sam used every fiber of his body to run forward.

Contrary to his expectations, Zaroth, rather than trying to make space between them, unsheathed the two daggers and met Sam's charge with his own.

'Is he confident or just delusional?' Sam asked himself. Usually, a Beast Master was weak in close combat, so why was his opponent rushing toward him?

"No matter." Sam muttered as a smile appeared on his face. This was clearly going to be an easy fight.

Reaching Zaroth, he swung horizontally.

Zaroth moved so fast that he appeared like a blur. Thanks to his short height, he had an easier time going below the strike.

"What—" Sam certainly didn't expect the Beast Master to be so agile.

Before he could react in any way, Zaroth used his left dagger to pierce Sam's side.

"Fuck!" Sam shouted as he tried to make some distance between them. But Zaroth wasn't letting go, using his other dagger to pierce Sam's leg, making it much harder to move.

"Help!" he shouted as he shifted his gaze to his golems. It seemed that he had underestimated Zaroth, so he was going to have to rely on his golems to close the gap.

Or at least, that was the plan until he saw that both of his golems were already broken. As a result, he was currently being swarmed by a pack of wolves.

'I… lost? What about my wish? What about father?' Sam had a hard time registering what had just transpired.

And he didn't have the luxury to think about it as he saw a dagger heading toward his head.

'I am going to die?'

Before the dagger killed him, however, it was stopped by the observer of the fight.

"Zaroth wins! He advances to the tenth round!"

Cheers burst all around the arena as Sam fell on his bottom, clutching his wounds in pain.

"No… NO NO NO! I can't lose! I can't!" he screamed in frustration. He was supposed to win! He was supposed to use his wish to make his father better! Not lose before even the main fights started!

"You fuck!" Sam shouted, his voice burning with fury as he glared at the person who had shattered his dreams, Zaroth.

Hearing the insult, Zaroth smiled menacingly as he answered.

"Oh? What is this? You're salty? Then I guess you should have trained better." Zaroth mocked him as he began to head out of the arena, not paying attention to the cheers around him.

Meanwhile, Sam lay on the ground, taking ragged breaths. He was losing too much blood, and he had to wait for a healer to come and fix him up.

Before he realized it, his eyes had teared up. His dream was broken… shattered… he would be forgotten, and his father would die, all because he was too weak.

This truly was an unfair world.

*****

"What the hell was that?!" Zaroth complained as he walked side by side with Midnight.

Raising an eyebrow, she asked, "What is it?"

"I thought that there was supposed to be some kind of sportsmanship when we fought in the tournament! Why must my enemy curse me when he loses? It's his fault he was too weak anyway," he answered.

Midnight smirked, "Zaroth, you know that each person has a dream they wish to achieve, and by winning, you are shattering other people's dreams."

Zaroth scratched the back of his head, "Oh, I know… and honestly, I don't give a shit about other people that I'm not close to."

"Really?" Midnight whispered, putting her hand on his shoulder and leaning in closer.

"What about me?"

Feeling his body getting hotter, he replied, "You are... one of the people that I'm close with."

After a second, he added, "... You know, after this fight, I feel pretty tired. I'm planning to go to bed… want to join me?"

Her lips curved into an alluring smile as she answered Explore hidden tales at My Virtual Library Empire

"Sure."