Kael remained seated in the reporter's box, observing every movement of the survivors below.
They crawled between the spectator seats, their movements slow, typical of ordinary humans.
He glanced back at his watch. The time showed 11:50 PM.
"Ten more minutes," he muttered as he leaned his head back against the wall of the box.
He closed his eyes, feeling the weight of all the physical and mental exhaustion he'd endured since returning to the past.
'Those damn gods… just because I started as a human, they chose me without asking to retrieve the Amrita,' he thought as memories of Kronos and the others sending him back to this time surfaced in his mind.
'Hah… Regret won't help me now. I just have to start over from the beginning,' he sighed.
Although he was furious with the gods, he couldn't deny that this time he had managed to obtain Ambrossia and become Awakened far earlier than in his previous life.
He opened his eyes again and looked at his watch.
11:58 PM.
He glanced at the survivors, now running toward the north exit, crossing the grassy field of the stadium.
'Fools,' he thought as he turned his attention back to his watch.
One minute to go.
His mind unconsciously began counting every second displayed on the digital watch.
Fifty-seven. Fifty-eight. Fifty-nine...
Suddenly, in the middle of the stadium, a large, unevenly shaped green circle appeared, hovering vertically about half a meter above the ground.
The circle started as a small crack, which gradually grew larger and larger until it expanded to a diameter of twenty meters.
The sudden appearance of the circle caused the people who were running to stop in their tracks, staring at it in shock.
Electrical sparks flickered inside the green circle, and one by one, second-type monsters began to emerge.
This time, they were much larger than the first monsters, with harder exoskeletons and sharper appendages.
Their bodies were taller, standing about three to three and a half meters high. They were humanoid in shape but bulkier and more muscular, covered in a dark, chitinous exoskeleton.
Their heads were grotesque, with spiked exoskeletal structures. Small, glowing red eyes pierced through the darkness as they scanned their surroundings.
Their arms ended in massive claws, and their legs were jointed like those of predatory animals, built for speed and agility.
Kael studied the energy patterns around the gate, analyzing the signals indicating the type of monsters emerging from it.
He'd never seen or heard of a green gate appearing in this world before.
In his past life, no one had survived the first encounters when these gates initially appeared.
This was because there were still very few people who had become Awakened.
Unlike later, when many became Awakened, the gate colors changed to blue and eventually red.
Kael understood that the types and classes of monsters emerging from each gate depended on its color.
And now, all the monsters coming out were the weakest among all that had ever appeared in this apocalyptic world.
Even so, ordinary humans still couldn't face these creatures unless they became Awakened first.
He watched the monsters closely, recalling that this type of monster was far smarter than the first creatures.
They hunted in packs and coordinated their attacks, more tactical yet far more aggressive.
The survivors began to panic, huddling together while raising whatever they had in their hands for defense.
Most of them were holding knives, while a few carried pistols. But none of their weapons would be capable of defeating those monsters.
The second-type monsters roared and moved together toward the survivors. Their claws opened and closed repeatedly as they walked.
Suddenly, loud growls echoed from the stadium's entrances, and several first-type monsters entered the arena.
The second-type monsters immediately lifted their grotesque heads and roared loudly back at the first monsters.
Forgetting about the terrified humans, they leapt toward the first monsters, who charged at them in return.
The two types of monsters clashed, filling the stadium with deafening roars.
The survivors who thought they had been saved, ran as fast as they could to escape the battlefield, but more monsters emerged from the gate, and chasing after them.
The humans screamed and tried to save themselves, with those holding firearms firing their pistols at the monsters.
But their efforts were futile, and they ultimately died at the hands of the creatures.
Kael watched everything from above, in the box, his face showing no emotion.
In his previous life, all this cruelty had become a part of his daily viewings. It had gradually eroded his sense of humanity.
And of course, he used common sense, if he fought all these monsters now, especially while more were still emerging from the gate, he would only face a pointless death.
'They're not easy to deal with. Their bodies are tougher, though the sword I carry can still penetrate them,' he thought while observing several second-type monsters fighting over human body parts.
His gaze shifted to the first monsters battling the second type, confidently concluding that the second-type monsters would win.
'The second type can't be fought with the salt trick,' his mind replayed everything he knew from his previous life as he watched them.
They could only be killed through a crack in their chests.
And to do that, Awakened individuals needed high skills in shooting or wielding their weapons.
He recalled who the first Awakened was capable of this.
It was a woman, a professional archer who had accidentally consumed Ambrossia. And Kael knew where he could find her.
'I have to find this woman first before I can take down all these monsters. The third gate is set to open in about a week,' he thought as he continued observing what was happening below.
The first monsters had been slaughtered, and now the second-type monsters began leaving the stadium.
They moved quickly, spreading across the city.
After hundreds of them emerged from the gate, it slowly began closing, with flashes of electricity sparking inside.
The stadium grew dark once more, and silence returned to the atmosphere.