The Voluptia Grand Casino was the largest building in Voluptia—one could even say it was the palace of Voluptia.
The owner of the casino was actually the ruler—or rather, the king—of Voluptia.
The main entrance of the casino was guarded by fully armed soldiers.
From within the lavishly decorated casino came the faint sound of elegant music.
The NPCs coming and going were all dressed in luxurious clothing, resembling medieval nobles.
In the center of the casino's grand hall hung an enormous crystal chandelier.
The individual crystals refracted dazzling light.
Directly beneath the chandelier stood a statue of a goddess, and behind it were three large doors spaced several meters apart.
To the left and right were staircases—one leading downward, which was unguarded, and one leading upward, which had several NPCs stationed at its entrance.
Just as Akimi and the others entered the casino, they heard a familiar voice—Kibaou's:
"Alright, tonight we have to win big again! We must get that sword! You got that?!"
Following his loud declaration, the members of ALS raised their arms in excitement and shouted:
"Yes!"
"Big wins, big wins!"
Then they marched proudly deeper into the casino.
"Those traditional gambling games wouldn't get them that hyped," Akimi said, watching their figures disappear.
"Looks like the Monster Arena's really paying off for them."
Argo shrugged and said, "From what I know, by daytime both they and the DKB folks had already won over a thousand chips."
And speak of the DKB—the DKB arrived.
After Lind gave a rousing speech similar to Kibaou's, he led the DKB members inside.
"The sword they mentioned must be the grand prize worth 100,000 chips—ten million Col," Akimi said.
"That's right," Argo said with a grin.
"Come on, I'll take you to see the grand prize."
Argo led the group through the middle of the three large doors, behind which lay a vast casino filled with every kind of gambling game imaginable—dice, poker, and countless others.
At the center of this casino stood a circular bar counter.
Inside, several NPCs dressed in red uniforms were exchanging chips for other elegantly dressed NPCs.
At the moment, there were no other players in the casino—the gamblers were all NPCs.
Although the Path of Tailwind had relatively fewer monsters, the difficulty was still quite high, so aside from members of the raiding guilds, lower-level players hadn't made it here yet.
Once Akimi and the others approached the bar counter, they saw the prizes that could be exchanged for chips: various potions and miscellaneous small items.
Displayed at the very top of the prize showcase was a magnificent longsword.
The sword gleamed like it was forged from pure silver, with golden threads embedded along the blade's center.
Its guard was made of gold, the hilt wrapped in red leather, and at the end of the grip sat a large crimson gemstone.
"Here, this is the prize list," Argo said, handing over a parchment scroll.
After quickly scanning the descriptions of the ordinary prizes, Akimi's eyes were drawn to the bottom of the parchment, where the longsword was listed.
"Sword of Volupta" — the Sword of Voluptia, was the name of that ornate longsword.
To the right of the name was the mark "VC," indicating the number of chips required to redeem it.
Below the name and cost was a short story describing the sword:
The sword of Faruhari, the hero who defeated the water dragon Sariyega and founded Voluptia.
It can heal its wielder's wounds, purify various poisons, and guarantees a critical hit with every strike.
"There's no basic stat info?" Kirito asked in a low voice after reading the sword's description on the parchment.
It was clear he was extremely interested in the sword—his eyes practically sparkled with anticipation.
In his mind, he was already doing the math:
All my assets together could get me about 900 chips.
To win 100,000 chips, I'd need to multiply that by roughly 112 times.
If I bet it all on something like high-low dice rolls every round, I'd need to win seven times in a row.
But the probability of winning seven consecutive rounds is only about 0.8%—not even 1%…
Seeing Kirito deep in thought and muttering to himself, Akimi was momentarily stunned, then asked,
"Hey, Kirito, don't tell me you're actually interested in that sword?"
Kirito responded with a serious look and explained,
"I did a quick calculation. Based on all the assets I have, there's a solid 0.8% chance of winning 100,000 chips within an hour. I think it's worth a shot…"
"Stop! Just stop right there!"
Akimi twitched at the corner of his mouth and said speechlessly,
"Kirito, do you even hear yourself? A solid 0.8% chance? You don't actually think you're the chosen one who can win ten rounds straight to hit 100,000 chips, do you? With your method, if you lose even once, you'll be flat broke!"
Hearing that, Kirito began to calm down.
His brows gradually furrowed as if he were trying to think of another way.
"Alright, quit daydreaming," Akimi said, patting Kirito on the shoulder and sighing.
"That sword's out of our league. Instead of wasting time fantasizing, we might as well go finish Argo's quest."
Argo chuckled and added,
"Exactly, exactly! C'mon, Kiri-bou, it's time to go!"
She then led the group out of the casino hall and back to the three doors.
This time, they took the staircase leading downward on the right.
"This direction is…"
Kirito felt a pang of dread as he saw Argo taking the lead through the right-hand door.
After descending to the first basement floor, they entered another large hall—slightly dimmer than the one above.
At its center stood a statue—this time, of a muscular lion-headed man trampling a lizardman.
Beyond the hall was the true Monster Arena.
The monster arena was filled with cheers, curses, and wails.
Despite the vast space, it felt almost too noisy.
At the center of the arena was a sunken, basketball-court-sized combat pit.
The pit was covered by a cage made of iron bars, surrounded by raised platforms, and separated from the arena by golden railings.
There was also a lower-level spectator area encircling the combat pit, allowing for close-up views of the fights.
On either side of the raised platform were bars with a few tables, and in one corner was a betting counter.
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