Category: The Azure Longsword

Chapter 44: “Her Majesty” Theodora

At 1:30 PM, Caesarea, a city in Anatolia, fell to the Seljuk army in a siege.

A plane from Constantinople circled overhead, quickly dropping 12 incendiary bombs.

The formations of soldiers hit by the bombs instantly burst into fireballs. Countless burning men screamed and ran around, but they couldn’t get rid of the burning oil and asphalt clinging to their bodies.

Soon, these burning men fell to the ground and died tragically, their bodies still slowly burning.

The Seljuk soldiers in the formations next to them remained calm and composed, not even glancing at their burning comrades.

Each formation had at least one Transcendental with Mind II ability, responsible for maintaining and controlling the morale of the formation.

Even if they all stood in line and were bombed by incendiary bombs, it wouldn’t take months to wipe them out.

Not to mention that the Seljuk reinforcements were continuously coming from Syria, the Caucasus, and even the Iranian Plateau.

In the luxurious command tent, His Majesty Sultan Suleiman, the supreme emperor of the Seljuks, had learned from the messenger about the capture of Caesarea.

He walked out of the tent with his head held high and said to the assembled officers and guards:

“Today, the Lord has brought us news of victory. Caesarea, the central fulcrum of Anatolia, has been captured by our brave warriors.”

The officers and guards cheered.

However, Suleiman quickly made a fist gesture for silence, making everyone quiet down again.

“These foolish Solomons have not yet realized why they failed. Did they fail in the Battle of Manzikert? Did they fail because of the emperor’s ridiculous military orders? Or did they fail because of their lack of military strength? Did they fail because of the lack of support from the West? Or even, did they fail because they are inherently inferior to us in strength and bravery?”

“None of the above!” Suleiman raised a finger and said forcefully, “Their failure is because they have become decadent!”

“The Lord said, I shaped you from the soil to multiply and thrive on the earth. Each of your families must have four children, so that after the parents return to heaven, the descendants who continue the bloodline can still run in this world.” Suleiman laughed contemptuously and said loudly, “However, you decadent Solomons, do you know how many children they have per household on average?”

“One!” The officers raised a finger and laughed in unison.

“They have become decadent!” Suleiman spread his arms, flames rising in his ambitious eyes. “They indulge in the so-called enjoyment brought by technology, pursuing mind-numbing alcohol and ridiculous variety shows. They have enough material to raise children, but they are unwilling to have them. They are afraid that children will consume their wealth and delay their own enjoyment. They ignore the past, do not seek the afterlife, they only want comfort and indulgence in this life!”

“However, the Lord said, a nation that does not pursue the future will not even survive the present!” Suleiman’s voice was like thunder, making the officers present involuntarily bow down in submission. “Now there are fewer and fewer Solomons, they are continuously castrating themselves, so much so that there are not enough people to inherit the glory of ancient Solomon, they are no longer worthy of enjoying this vast land and wealth! Seljuks, answer me, answer your Majesty!”

“What drives us to conquer the Eastern Solomon Empire?”

“The Lord, it is the will of the Lord!”

“According to the will of the Lord, who should rule this continent and ocean?”

“Us, the Seljuks!”

“Who are we!” Suleiman roared.

“We are the future of mankind!” The officers and guards also roared, their voices shaking the surroundings.

“Go, warriors!” Suleiman drew his sword and pointed it straight at Caesarea, where smoke was rising in the distance. “Go conquer Caesarea, bring salvation to those decadent Solomons! Kill all men taller than a saber! Kill all women with more than seven white hairs!”

“Send the children of the Solomons to our collective upbringing camps, they will become the best Seljuk warriors in the future! Send the young women of the Solomons to your tents and beds, cultivate them to your heart’s content! Give birth! Spread the bloodline of the Seljuks to the other side of the continent and the ocean!”

Following the order of His Majesty Sultan, the officers returned to the camp, shouting wildly.

A moment later, the Seljuk army began to march in formation, soldiers with swords and spears in their hands surging from all directions.

The smoking city of Caesarea, amidst the besieging army, was like a lonely island in a tsunami, about to meet its tragic fate.

…

Calculating the time, the Seljuk army had probably advanced to central Anatolia.

Standing by the street, Asker looked at the busy traffic and calculated in his heart.

In a month, the Seljuks would advance to Nicaea.

In half a month, the Seljuk army would finish transporting troops across the Aegean Sea and begin their siege of Constantinople.

In two months, Constantinople would fall.

Zoe and Theodora would be evacuated to the Siris province by plane, and tens of millions of Constantinople citizens would be massacred and plundered.

Thus, the main storyline of the open beta version would end here, and the plot timeline would enter the official version 1 “Bloodbath in the Balkans.”

For Asker, the final evacuation deadline was two months later, when the Seljuks crossed the Aegean Sea and officially arrived at the city of Constantinople.

Once the land route to the west was blocked, it meant that Constantinople would become an isolated city.

Tens of thousands of NPC soldiers were blocking the city. It would be impossible to break through. Even if Asker was an e-sports champion, he couldn’t do it, unless a GM account directly deleted these NPC soldiers.

The team still lacked an Arcane Mage… Asker thought for a moment, his gaze falling on the bench across the street, where a guy was sitting and reading a newspaper.

A court spy? Asker chuckled and walked away with Eleanor and the others.

The spy put down the newspaper, his eyes behind his sunglasses looking at Asker’s back, his hand quietly reaching into his trouser pocket and pressing the button of a transmitter.

On the other side, Theodora had gotten into the car, accompanied by two military officers and guards to protect Her Majesty Theodora’s personal safety. Michael personally sat in the driver’s seat, driving towards the GPS location of the signal.

More than ten minutes later, Asker and the others, following the clues provided by their neighbors, arrived at a local tavern.

As soon as they pushed the door open, the humid and sweaty smell inside made the three girls immediately cover their noses.

“Over there.” Miel pointed to the wine table in the corner, where three men were drinking.

Asker walked straight over, drew his pistol, first fired a shot into the air, scaring all the customers around and making them flee, then pointed the gun at the back of the young man’s head and pressed him onto the table full of spilled wine.

“I ask, you answer.” Asker said coldly. “Break the rules, get shot. Understand?”

“Understand.” The man raised his hands, his face pale and his voice trembling. The two companions at the wine table hurriedly fled in panic.

So only Asker’s group and the young man were left in the tavern.

“Come here, Miel.” Asker beckoned. “Is this man your uncle?”

Miel nodded.

“The noble who tried to violate her and was eventually killed, was he introduced by you?” Asker continued to ask.

“Yes… Yes…” The young man seemed to have a premonition of what was going to happen next, so frightened that his legs went weak, and he barely managed to stand firm by holding onto the table.

“Why did you do this?!” Eleanor asked angrily.

“I didn’t want to either!” The young man cried out. “Do you think I want to raise her? I’m just a hoodlum! I usually cheat and swindle to make a living. Suddenly, someone from the Civil Affairs Bureau came to me and said that my brother’s daughter had become an orphan, and according to imperial law, I, as her only relative, must adopt her!”

“But where do I get the money?” He pointed at Miel, who was standing behind him with a pale face, and shouted, “She’s not even my daughter, why should I adopt her? This damn imperial law! I only eat two meals a day myself, how can I afford to feed another mouth? How can I make money without doing the flesh trade? Besides, isn’t she still an elf? Don’t elves do this a lot…”

Eleanor’s face turned livid, and she suddenly went up and punched him hard, knocking out all his teeth.

Sidlipha immediately jumped out upon seeing this and said excitedly:

“Are we going to torture him? Let’s start the torture!”

Asker ignored her words, just looked down at Miel, and said gently:

“Kill him, or let him go? The decision is yours.”

Before Miel could speak, the young man, as if he had found a lifeline, pleaded with Miel in a trembling voice:

“Don’t kill me! Am I not your uncle? If you kill me, you’ll be committing patricide! You’ve already killed one person… Yes, you’ve already killed one person, if you kill again, your crime will be even greater! Those who ran away have already called the police, the police will be here soon! If you wait any longer, none of you will be able to escape, you will all be sentenced to death by firing squad!”

“Who said that?” A girl wearing a veil walked in from the door, stared at the pale young man, and said, “I heard outside that you seem to have an opinion on imperial law? But do you know that if you evade your duty of support, at most you will only be fined by the Civil Affairs Bureau and deprived of your guardianship rights. As for forcing a young girl into illegal physical transactions…”

She chuckled and said coldly:

“That’s what gets you shot.”

The young man shuddered involuntarily upon hearing this. He instinctively felt that this strange girl was very dangerous, because she had an aura of authority cultivated from being in a high position, and he was almost scared to the point of incontinence.

Asker, on the other hand, looked at this strange girl who suddenly came in with a strange expression. His eyes stared at her eyes that were exposed from the veil, and they overlapped with the face in his memory.

Theodora in purple? Why was Her Majesty here?

Chapter 43: The Achilles Family

Back on Furnace Island.

As soon as he entered the semi-plane, Asker saw the girls working hard.

On the flat ground in the center of the mountaintop, the area had been marked out with a ruler and thread, and a layer of cement foundation had been laid.

Eleanor and Sidlipha were carrying lumber, placing it one by one into the frame made of steel bars.

Nuo was holding a construction drawing, pointing at the construction site with Medea and the others.

“What are you doing?” Asker said, both amused and annoyed. “Have you finished your training? So free? Starting to build a house?”

“It’s all done.” Medea came up and said. “My arms are still numb… Who is this little girl?”

Her gaze fell on Miel beside Asker, and she raised her eyebrows.

“Miel, our new gunman.” Asker introduced.

“Oh.” Medea drew out the sound, looking at Miel’s wounds all over her face and body, and said with a smile, “She’s much tougher to deal with than I was back then, right? You were quite ruthless in recruiting her, weren’t you, Captain?”

Asker: ???

“My God, what happened to you?” Nuo saw Miel’s battered appearance, and immediately exclaimed in distress, hurriedly going over to heal her.

Fortunately, the wounds on her body were all small and not serious, and they quickly healed with Healing Touch. Nuo took out the handkerchief she carried with her and wiped the dust and dirt off her face.

“Where’s your father?” Nuo asked as she squatted down and wiped her face.

“I don’t have a father.” Miel replied.

“Sorry.” Nuo pursed her lips. “Then what about your mother?”

“She… passed away.” Miel’s eyes were a little dazed. “Last week, from malaria, we couldn’t afford medicine, and she never woke up again.”

“Sorry.” Nuo didn’t know what to say, thought for a moment, and then said, “Then don’t you have any other living relatives?”

“I have an uncle.” Miel was silent for a long time, biting her lip under everyone’s gaze.

After hesitating for about a minute, she looked at the gentle young lady in front of her and whispered, “He… said he would take care of me. But he moved into my house with his people, took all the money my mother left me, and… brought a bad man back.”

“Bad man?” Eleanor frowned.

“…As soon as he entered the door, he pushed me down on the bed and wanted to take off my clothes.” Miel’s eyes lost focus, and her voice seemed to tremble a little. “I struggled a few times, and he hit me… I hid the pistol my mother left me under the pillow, so I…”

“Took out the gun and shot the bad man.” Asker signaled her not to say any more and explained to everyone, “When I found her, she was being hunted by the police, for killing a noble.”

“Of course, she now has more than thirty lives on her hands, all policemen and mercenaries who were pursuing her. The little girl’s marksmanship is quite good.”

“Oh!” Sidlipha exclaimed in admiration. “She killed more than thirty people by herself? That’s amazing, I want to discuss the experience of killing with her. Was it a headshot? Or shooting the chest?”

Nuo glared at Sidlipha: “Don’t talk about that!”

“If that’s the case, she probably can’t leave Furnace Island now.” Eleanor said calmly. “With such a big case, Constantinople must be conducting a large-scale search and investigation. As soon as she returns to reality, she will probably be discovered and arrested.”

“That’s right.” Asker said, “It’s not a problem for us, she can stay here for a long time.”

Besides, Constantinople won’t last a few more months… he added in his heart.

“By the way, you said she only killed the noble who tried to assault her and the policemen and mercenaries who were pursuing her?” Sidlipha suddenly remembered something. “Then her bastard uncle is still alive?”

“You mean…” Asker pondered.

“Kill him!” Sidlipha said matter-of-factly, her tone as casual as “Let’s go have a meal.” “It’s a pity to let such a villain go, why don’t we make a ‘blood eagle’ out of him?”

“Blood eagle?” Eleanor asked.

“That’s the traditional way we deal with enemies in my hometown.” Sidlipha said excitedly. “Tie him upside down on the execution rack, first feed him a bowl of herbs to stop the bleeding and prolong his life. Then, carve the outline of an eagle on his back with an axe, then dig out the flesh and blood inside the outline, and break out the ribs inside, those are the eagle’s wings…”

“Sidlipha!” Nuo almost exploded. “Can you shut up?”

“Hey, what did I say wrong?” Sidlipha said discontentedly, but seeing Miel’s eyelids twitching, she leaned down and apologized:

“Sorry. If you want to take revenge yourself, I won’t fight you for the chance to kill the enemy with your own hands. Of course, if you want to make a blood eagle, I can teach you step by step…”

“Revenge is something to consider.” Asker said thoughtfully.

This was not out of any sense of righteous indignation, but because after helping Miel take revenge, on the one hand, he could win over Minerva Nas, and on the other hand, she would really have no living relatives and could only wholeheartedly follow the team.

It was the same reason why some startup bosses would give their employees small loans.

“I’ll go with you.” Eleanor said coldly. “I want to ask this scum how he could do such a wicked thing.”

“Count me in!” Sidlipha shouted excitedly. “I haven’t seen blood for too long, my axe is almost rusty!”

Eleanor and Nuo both facepalmed helplessly. This silly girl was usually as innocent as anything, but as soon as she talked about enemies, she would talk about “killing” and “torture,” and she would say it with an innocent expression… What kind of education did this guy receive as a child! There must be something wrong with your northerners’ early childhood education!

“Okay.” Asker nodded and said to Sidlipha, “But you’re not allowed to use that ‘blood eagle’ thing.”

“No problem, I also know a kind of boat torture.” Sidlipha clapped her hands and said, “Tie him to a boat, cut open his belly with a sharp blade but don’t hurt his internal organs, then stop the bleeding around the wound and smear it with honey, then put the boat in the sea, and the flies that smell it will…”

“Enough, Sidlipha.” Asker was both amused and annoyed, interrupting her with a straight face. “No torture, understand? There’s no point in torturing the enemy, just kill him directly.”

“You sound just like the most old-fashioned elder in our village.” Sidlipha pouted.

…

Inside the Palace of the Golden Throne, Empress Theodora and Empress Zoe spent the entire morning discussing the Empire’s military deployment plan with the Grand Domestic, their heads pounding and their brain cells almost dying.

How to defend against an army of 100,000 with 20,000 troops on the almost indefensible Anatolian Peninsula was an almost unsolvable problem.

In the ancient Republic of Solomon, 100,000 people were just a matter of dropping a few fuel-air bombs, but now the Empire could no longer produce fuel-air bombs – at best, they could only produce crude incendiary bombs, and forget about guidance systems.

There were still 12 aircraft in the hangar, all of which were currently in service, continuously flying to Anatolia in the east, dropping bombs on the detected enemy barracks. The military factory in the Golden Horn was also working overtime to produce aerial bombs.

However, this didn’t seem to have curbed the Seljuks’ advance – the Seljuks had equipped almost every unit with Transcendents with Mind Sequence abilities, so there was no such thing as morale.

Even if the incendiary bombs killed half of them, the remaining half, under the influence of the Mind Sequence, could still charge forward with full morale. Therefore, to defeat the Seljuk army, they had to kill all 100,000 of them. Don’t count on a morale collapse.

Even if one incendiary bomb could burn ten people to death, they would need at least 10,000 incendiary bombs.

If all 100,000 people gathered together and stood still, the fighter group would need to drop bombs at least 833 times. This was still without considering the aircraft’s service life and fuel consumption. If these were considered, this battle was almost impossible to fight…

So Theodora proposed another decapitation tactic, which was to organize the most elite supernatural forces and carry out targeted strikes to kill Emperor Suleiman, who was leading the Seljuk army.

This led to another problem.

In terms of supernatural power alone, the number of Seljuk Transcendents also far exceeded that of the Eastern Solomon Empire. This was where the consequences of the Orthodox Church’s long-term suppression of domestic Transcendents were revealed.

After thinking about it, apart from borrowing troops from Western countries or borrowing Templar Knights from the Church, the two Empresses really couldn’t think of any other way.

At noon break, after a sumptuous lunch, Empress Zoe went back to the Palace of Blachernae for a nap.

She was extremely concerned about maintaining her appearance and even chose the “Alchemist” bloodline path for this reason.

Theodora chose the “Matter Mage” bloodline, and was now level 2. The power of the Arcane surged within her, making her energetic all the time, with no need for a nap.

According to the tradition of the Eastern Solomon emperors, every royal child must be a level 1-2 Transcendental, so that they could both understand the importance of supernatural power and not lose too much fertility due to their bloodline.

However, at this moment, Theodora wished she could be promoted to level 20 or above, become a demigod, and even at the risk of her spirituality being drained, eliminate those hateful Seljuks in the east.

The Empire still lacked high-ranking demigods, she sighed faintly.

Coming to the barracks of the Imperial Kingsguard, Empress Theodora was pleased to see the officers and guards training hard. Michael, the captain of the guard whom she trusted, was fiercely training the officers and guards while pointing at the gladiatorial fight recording on the screen opposite them and shouting:

“Look carefully, how did he perform the Tiger Cut, severing the throat with one strike! While cutting the trachea at the right spot, he didn’t even touch the cervical vertebra! What about you? Are your arms so weak that you can’t even lift your swords? Tiger Cut is used to cut throats, you bastards! Raise your arms!”

“Andreas, are you performing a ground-hugging Bat Cut? If you like lying down so much, then you’ll be in charge of cleaning the toilet floor today!”

The officers and guards didn’t even dare to groan, they could only grit their teeth and practice silently. Suddenly they saw Michael kneeling on one knee, leaning on his sword – they immediately turned around and knelt on one knee, leaning on their swords:

“Basileus!”

(Basileus, meaning “Emperor” in Siris.)

“Rise.” Theodora said lightly, her eyes curiously fixed on the recording on the screen. Asker was swinging his sword, cutting open a gladiator’s throat, then slashing vertically at another gladiator, cutting off his weapon, splitting open his helmet, cleanly performing a Splitting Slash, Cracking the Crown.

“This…” She considered her words. “Who is this warrior on the screen?”

“Your Majesty, this is Asker Lepidus Achilles.” Michael replied quickly. “He is the only son of the Achilles family in this generation.”

“The Achilles family?” Theodora closed her eyes and thought for a moment, finally remembering. “It’s the family whose ancestors came from the Dragon Kingdom in the east, if I remember correctly, it was during…”

“The early Fourth Epoch, during the reign of Emperor Trajan of the ancient Solomon Empire.” Michael reminded. “When the Emperor’s eastern expeditionary army was attacking Parthia, they encountered a group of Dragon people from the east in the Persian Gulf, led by an envoy named ‘Gan Ying.’”

“Gan Ying.” Theodora savored the name. “I remember now, what a rhythmic name. The language of the Dragon Kingdom is like a song, naturally with a beautiful melody… Continue.”

“That was the first time we learned of the existence of the Dragon Kingdom.” Michael continued. “During the Great Colonization of the First Epoch, there were actually colony ships landing in the Far East. Unfortunately, due to the First Magic Tide, too much information was destroyed in the long river of history.”

“After confirming that there was still a human kingdom in the Far East, Emperor Trajan was very pleased and took the envoy group to Solomon. He also built the Column of Trajan to commemorate the first contact between the East and the West.”

“On the way back, a soldier from the Dragon Kingdom got a local girl pregnant in Apollonia, Siris province.” Michael said with a wry smile. “He originally thought the other party was a prostitute, but he didn’t expect that she was actually the daughter of a local prominent family, who had a one-night stand with him because she was fascinated by exotic customs. The girl’s father was very angry and forcibly detained him and married him to his daughter.”

“That is the ancestor of the Achilles family.” Theodora nodded.

“Yes.” Michael echoed. “The people of the Dragon Kingdom, whether in skin color, hair color, or eye color, are similar to us Solomons, and they are also natural warriors. That soldier was also good at using swords and spears, with superb and strange combat techniques, even the equally warlike Spartan warriors were no match for him, so the woman’s family named him ‘Achilles (Ἀχιλλεύς),’ meaning ‘Warrior from the River Styx.’”

“Warrior from the River Styx…” Theodora chewed on the words. “I want to meet this warrior. Michael, can you arrange it?”

“I can have someone summon him to the palace for an audience.” Michael said immediately.

“No.” Theodora thought for a moment and shook her head. “Find him. Then take me there, I want to observe this person myself.”

Chapter 42: Minerva Nas

Although glamorous on the competition stage, the daily training of professional players was quite boring.

Among them, the youth training camp, which focused on “laying the foundation,” was the most boring. Essentially, it was about turning people into “fighting machines.”

In the early days of the e-sports industry, the prerequisite for entering a professional team was: reaction speed within 0.2 seconds, movement error within 3 centimeters, and attack landing point error within 1.5 centimeters.

In other words, a wooden dummy was generated in front of you with a red dot located at the heart position on its chest. You had to draw your sword within 0.2 seconds and accurately stab the red dot at the heart position, with an error of no more than 1.5 centimeters.

To reach this standard, it took at least tens of thousands of hours of practice. The process was not enjoyable, but torture.

Therefore, the difference between an e-sports player and a professional gamer was that the former was not playing games.

It was work.

“I can’t do it anymore!” After being knocked to the ground by Asker with another Lion’s Fang, Medea threw away her sword, her whole body limply collapsed on the ground, and she cried out, “I really have no strength left… I can’t fight anymore…”

With a clang, Asker’s sword was thrust into the ground in front of her: “If this was a real battlefield…”

“Then I would be dead! Dead!” Medea shouted in despair. “Dead, okay? Even if I’m dead, I don’t have the strength to move anymore! Are you human? You’ve been training me for half an hour, how can my body take it?”

“Don’t talk dirty.” Asker’s face darkened. “It’s just a few sparring sessions, and I’ve been hitting you with the flat of my sword…”

“Not a few times, but hundreds of times, brother!” Medea said tearfully. “Your sword is thick and hard, my weak body has been beaten black and blue by you! I feel like I’m dying!”

“I said, no dirty talk!” Asker saw the strange looks on the girls’ faces and could only cough awkwardly.

“How about this, I’ll go out and see if there are any suitable people to recruit. You help me watch over everyone’s training, practice each of the Eight Tactical Forms 1000 times, no one can slack off.”

“Can I use my psychic abilities?” Medea asked.

“Fine.” Asker thought for a moment. “But don’t overdo it.”

“Okay.” Medea nodded and activated a group mental suggestion. The girls around her immediately felt full of energy, as if they had endless strength.

“Hey, hey, hey, Medea, are you using suggestion?” Nuo was the first to notice something was wrong. Because she originally didn’t like this kind of fighting, but now she was inexplicably filled with the desire to practice swordsmanship.

“Lend me the book, I’m going out for a bit.” Asker said to her.

“Oh.” Nuo took out “Absurd Dreams” from her backpack behind her and handed it back to Asker.

Extending his spirituality and touching the door, Asker quickly returned to the real world. Leaving the ancestral home, he stood on the stone steps outside the door and began to calculate in his mind.

There were still two professions left to recruit, one was a long-range gunman, and the other was an Arcane Mage.

Relatively speaking, the team currently needed a long-range gunman more, because Arcane Mages were used to deal with monsters with high physical defense, and such monsters were after all a minority. Medea, who possessed the Fire I ability, could temporarily act as a mage.

Asker himself used a pistol, which could only act as a secondary gunman at close range. When the distance was far, the pistol’s accuracy was not enough.

In Constantinople today, there were four quests with potentially recruitable gunman NPCs: three of the NPCs were male, and one was female.

Judging from the perspective of malleability and future achievements, the only female gunman NPC was actually the best – she was killed by players as a wild boss during the open beta.

After Constantinople was captured by the Seljuk Empire, she was resurrected by an undead necromancer. Reborn as a banshee, she changed her name to “Minerva,” the name of the ancient Solomon goddess of war who punished evildoers.

However, players all respectfully called her “Minerva Nas,” in homage to Sylvanas from the famous game “World of Warcraft” in the last century.

In fact, Minerva Nas was much fiercer than the Banshee Queen, because Sylvanas used a bow and arrow after all, at least her firing speed couldn’t be too exaggerated.

While Minerva Nas used an automatic rifle… In the official version 1, when the Seljuks besieged the Siris province, Minerva Nas alone killed more than 3,000 players in the Battle of Chrysopolis.

According to the participating players, as soon as Minerva Nas appeared, the sound of gunfire was “da da da da da” non-stop, and then the players fell down in rows like dominoes. All the players who were shot were hit in the head, the bullet piercing through the skull with one shot, there was no extra second bullet hole.

Others might prefer to recruit other male gunman NPCs to balance the gender ratio in the team…

But again, Asker had no discrimination against women, everything was judged based on strength.

Go find this Minerva Nas.

He remembered that Minerva Nas’ quest appeared on the second day after the two princesses ascended the throne, which was today.

So, based on his memory of the forum battle reports he had seen in his previous life, Asker took the subway to the Golden Gate subway station and got off.

He walked a few hundred meters in the direction of the Seventh Hill and soon saw that the road leading up the mountain had been cordoned off by the police of the Constantinople Police Department. Three policemen stood in front of the cordon, vigilantly watching the passers-by nearby.

“Hey! You, you can’t go any further!” Noticing Asker approaching, a policeman immediately warned.

“What happened, officer?” Asker asked casually.

“Nothing.” Another policeman said, “A minor girl shot and killed a noble with a gun, and she’s running around in the mountains now. Our colleagues are chasing her inside. If someone rashly enters… they won’t be very happy.”

“Shot and killed a noble?” Asker raised his eyebrows. “I think the victim’s family would be willing to pay a lot of money.”

“Isn’t that right?” The policeman laughed. “50 pounds, the bounty offered by the noble’s father, so many mercenaries have already gone in.”

“You don’t stop them?” Asker asked.

“Stop them? Of course.” The policeman sighed. “But the Seventh Hill is so big, we can’t possibly surround the entire mountain with a cordon. Now, if you don’t intend to trespass our line, you can turn around and go back.”

Asker turned around and entered the mountains from another direction. As the policeman just said, they could only block the main road, and if players wanted to drill into the bushes, they definitely couldn’t stop them.

Passing through the dense bushes, Asker quickly found a small path. After trekking for about half an hour, he finally found a torn cloth strip on the bushes by a mound.

A player who came here in Asker’s previous life happened to have a dog in the game. So, with the help of the dog’s keen sense of smell, this player was the first to find Minerva Nas who had escaped into the mountains, and was unsurprisingly killed on the spot.

Even though she was still a living minor girl, Minerva Nas still showed an extremely high talent for shooting. According to the player’s account, he was headshotted on the spot, and didn’t even have time to take a screenshot.

However, Minerva Nas didn’t know about the player’s respawn function, so this silencing act was meaningless. Soon, her coordinates were posted on the forum, and in the end, she was killed by the players who came upon hearing the news.

Asker continued forward, taking the wrong path twice in the middle, but fortunately, he finally recognized it and went back. Between a few trees, he found the bodies of three policemen, still holding their police firearms that they hadn’t had time to fire, the magazines were all full.

All headshotted, killed with one shot. This accuracy… Asker clicked his tongue in wonder. It was hard to imagine that a level 0 little girl with no supernatural abilities could do this. If there was a skill level for NPCs in the game system, Minerva Nas’ shooting skill would definitely be maxed out.

Not far from the corpses, he saw a few small footprints, definitely left by a little girl. Obviously, Minerva Nas didn’t know how to erase her tracks at this time, so Asker followed the tracks and continued forward. After walking for ten minutes, he saw the bodies of two mercenaries, also headshotted, killed with one shot.

In the subsequent exploration, the corpses that appeared one after another were like road signs, indicating the location of the boss to Asker every certain distance. When he counted the twenty-seventh corpse, he knew that the other party’s bullets were running out.

The little girl was still naive after all, she didn’t know how to loot bullets from the corpses. How long could one magazine last?

Coming to a mountain stream, Asker saw the red water flowing down from upstream, as if someone was washing their wounds not far away. He drew his sword, went around the corner, and suddenly swung his sword upwards.

With a clang, he deflected the bullet aimed at his forehead.

Asker charged forward at full speed and saw a petite figure sitting by the stream, holding a gun steadily aimed at him, her calm eyes focused and without any distractions.

Another gunshot rang out, Asker raised his sword and split the bullet shot at him again. He was already level 2, and his physical strength could completely keep up with the speed of pistol bullets.

The third gunshot rang out, Asker performed an Eagle Cut, once again cleanly splitting the bullet in half. Three consecutive shots missed, the little girl’s face showed no anxiety or fear, she just calmly turned the gun around and stuffed it into her mouth.

The next second, the pistol was knocked away by the sword, spinning and falling into the stream in the distance. Asker’s sword was against her delicate throat, and she was forced to raise her head, her eyes still emotionless, just calmly staring at Asker.

“Do you want to die that much?” Asker asked lightly.

The little girl stared at him, her numb expression finally loosening: “If I don’t want to die… what else can I do?”

“You can be a mercenary with me.” Asker put away his sword. “With your marksmanship, you’ll have a bright future.”

The little girl was silent for a long time, and said: “I killed a noble.”

“What’s your name?” Asker asked.

“Miel.”

“Listen, Miel.” Asker said, “I have a good place, very safe, no one can find it, neither the police nor the nobles’ lackeys. There, you don’t have to worry about the threat of death. You just need to join my team and work for me, and you can enter that place and receive protection.”

He took out a contract from his bag and handed it to her: “Sign it.”

The little girl took the contract, her brows furrowed imperceptibly – Asker had just knocked away her pistol with his sword, and the force of the blow had broken her finger bones. Although her index finger was in excruciating pain, she still endured the pain and read through the contract page by page.

She’s a natural calm shooter, Asker observed her every move and couldn’t help but sigh in his heart. Names ending in “-el” were a typical characteristic of half-elves.

Just by looking at her appearance, one could also tell that Miel had half-elf blood. Her hair was a light pink, her eyes were emerald green, her features were delicate and beautiful, the tips of her ears were pointed, and her skin was so smooth that almost no pores or vellus hair could be seen, obviously not a characteristic that pure humans could have.

But because she had been beaten and had been on the run in the mountains for a long time, her current appearance was simply a mess.

Her hair was disheveled, her cheeks were dirty, her right eye was bruised from being punched, the corner of her left mouth was bloody and swollen, her clothes didn’t know how many times they had been torn by small branches, and the cloth fragments were clinging to the wounds, stained with blood, mud, and dust. It would be impossible for her not to get infected.

After signing the contract and pressing her fingerprint, Asker rolled up the contract with his left hand, grabbed Miel’s arm with his right hand, extended his spirituality towards “Absurd Dreams” behind his waist, and the two quickly disappeared from the spot.

Forty minutes later, the police arrived, only to see a small pool of blood on the stone beach by the stream.

Chapter 41: The Eight Tactical Forms

“True war is impartial,” Asker said solemnly to the girls, his hand resting on his sword as he glanced around. “It doesn’t care if you’re a princess, a noble, or a commoner, a helpless woman or child, or a swordsman, gunman, or mage.”

“When you truly face war, in a narrow encounter, only the strong survive. If you’re not strong enough, you get killed, it’s that simple.”

“Medea and Nuo, your roles in the team are not close combat, but enemies in close combat won’t ignore you because of that, so you must also undergo training.”

“I don’t require you to master sophisticated swordsmanship, knife techniques, spear skills, or shield use, but you must know how to counterattack, defend, or dodge when facing various attacks, and engrave it into your bones.”

“Do you all understand? Any objections?” He shouted loudly at the end.

“No more.” The girls replied sparsely.

“Good.” Asker clapped his hands, and Peggy brought a bundle of iron swords, throwing them on the ground in the center for everyone to pick up.

“Weapons in this world are divided into many types. Taking close-combat melee weapons as an example, the common ones are swords, knives, spears, battle axes, maces, daggers, and so on. Among them, knives, battle axes, and maces are good for slashing, while spears and daggers are good for thrusting.”

“Only the sword can both thrust and slash, and can be considered a versatile weapon, so we will start by familiarizing ourselves with the sword.”

Asker picked up a sword, and knowledge from Sharp Weapon I immediately poured into his mind.

He casually swung it a few times and commented: “This is a Spatha sword popular in the early Fourth Epoch. The shape is quite primitive, with no crossguard, no fuller, and no pommel to adjust the center of gravity, but it’s enough to kill. Next, I will use it to explain and demonstrate.”

“First is the attack. Taking the sword as an example, there are swordsmanship, sword techniques, and sword forms. What’s the difference between the three? The difference is that swordsmanship is composed of a large number of sword techniques, while sword techniques are composed of two or three sword forms, and sword forms are the smallest unit of attack movements, which cannot be further divided.”

“Different countries on the continent today have developed different swordsmanship systems.”

“Generally speaking, Solomon swordsmanship is the most sophisticated and complex, advocating to defeat the opponent without injury; Frankish swordsmanship emphasizes simplicity and practicality, ending the battle as quickly as possible. As for northern swordsmanship, there’s nothing to say, it’s basically all about brute force, trading blows, and attacking head-on.”

“Hey!” Sidlipha shouted in dissatisfaction.

“Although the military strength of the Solomon Empire has declined to the bottom, I still want to start teaching you Solomon swordsmanship. The reason is simple, Frankish and northern swordsmanship, more or less, rely on physical qualities, and this tactical thinking is very unprofessional.”

“Remember, there will always be enemies with better physical qualities than you. We not only have to learn how to bully the weak with strength, but also learn how to defeat the strong with weakness. This is the original intention of inventing swordsmanship.”

So Sidlipha also shut up. Her long experience in the arena forced her to admit that Asker was right.

Northern swordsmanship was actually quite crude. As long as one’s physical strength and agility surpassed the opponent, they could basically win in a one-on-one gladiatorial fight. On the other hand, Solomon gladiators, who seemed weak and small, could occasionally make a surprising comeback.

“Emperor Leo VI of Solomon, more than 100 years ago, was a war scholar who had studied the fighting techniques popular among ordinary people and Transcendents for many years, and summarized 8 basic sword forms, known as the Eight Tactical Forms: Lion’s Fang, Left Lion’s Fang, Right Lion’s Fang, Eagle Cut, Tiger Cut, Dragon Cut, Wing Beat, and Rapid Thrust.”

Asker paused here and said, “Now I need a sparring partner, who wants to volunteer?”

“Me, me, me!” Eleanor and Sidlipha hurriedly raised their hands. The former was for learning, the latter was for fighting.

“Eleanor, come here.” Asker effortlessly saw through the latter’s ill intentions and beckoned Eleanor to come forward. “Now I will demonstrate the attack, and you will be responsible for blocking.”

“Okay.” Eleanor said as she held the sword horizontally in front of her with both hands, assuming a blocking posture.

“First form, Lion’s Fang.” Asker held the sword with both hands, raised it high above his head, and then quickly slashed down towards Eleanor’s head.

With a clang, Eleanor blocked the blow. Asker’s sword pressed against hers, and he explained at the same time:

“Lion’s Fang, a straight slash from top to bottom, aiming at the head. Because the human skull is relatively hard, it’s easy to get stuck after cutting in, so Lion’s Fang is generally not used for killing, but to force the enemy to move and dodge.”

“If you are facing the enemy’s Lion’s Fang, I usually recommend dodging, not blocking, because the sword path of Lion’s Fang is from top to bottom, and the weight of the weapon itself adds extra force to the straight slash, so it’s more difficult to block than ordinary attacks.”

“For example, the Franks developed the Holy Roman military swordsmanship – Mountain Splitter – based on Lion’s Fang. They use a heavier two-handed greatsword, and use the power of their waist and abdomen when slashing. Watch my movements.”

Asker said as he raised the sword high above his head again, at the same time stretching his back, straightening his waist, and then slashing down forcefully, his entire upper body leaning forward abruptly.

The sword slammed heavily on Eleanor’s sword. The huge force made her stagger back a few steps before she barely managed to stabilize her body.

“Facing Mountain Splitter, blocking is a very dangerous move, because the slashing force is very strong, it’s very likely that even if you make a blocking movement, your weapon will be directly cut off, and you will be killed by a Splitting Slash, Cracking the Crown.” Asker said seriously.

“Based on Mountain Splitter, the northerners invented the Jump Slash sword technique, which is to jump into the air and use Mountain Splitter during the descent, thus adding the weight of the whole body to the slashing force, almost reaching the limit of lethality.”

“I’ll emphasize it again, if you’re not sure about facing this kind of attack, don’t block.”

“Hmm, hmm, hmm.” The girls nodded one after another, thinking of the generally burly physique of the northerners, they couldn’t help but feel a little afraid.

“The second and third forms are Left Lion’s Fang and Right Lion’s Fang respectively, which are more commonly used than Lion’s Fang.” Asker symbolically slashed at Eleanor’s block a few times with his sword.

“The difference from Lion’s Fang is that Lion’s Fang slashes straight at the head, while Left Lion’s Fang slashes diagonally from the upper left to the lower right, aiming at the enemy’s right shoulder. Similarly, Right Lion’s Fang slashes diagonally at the enemy’s left shoulder.”

“The purpose of slashing the shoulder is to disable the enemy’s arm. If the enemy is unarmored, then you can slash all the way from the shoulder to the waist, creating a huge wound on the enemy’s upper body.”

“Asker.” Eleanor, maintaining her blocking posture, asked, “Is there any difference in tactics between Left Lion’s Fang and Right Lion’s Fang? I mean, besides the difference in direction.”

“Good question.” Asker said, “The difference between left and right involves the issue of dominant hand. For example, if the enemy is right-handed, then the sword is usually hung on the left waist or carried on the right shoulder. If you attack with Right Lion’s Fang, then the opponent can easily block when drawing their sword, while Left Lion’s Fang is not so easy to block.”

The girls held their swords and compared each other, finding that it was indeed the case.

“The fourth, fifth, and sixth forms are Eagle Cut, Tiger Cut, and Dragon Cut respectively.” Asker demonstrated horizontal slashes, and Eleanor steadily blocked with her sword vertically. “The difference is that Eagle Cut aims at the eyes, Tiger Cut aims at the neck to the chest, and Dragon Cut aims at the waist and abdomen.”

“In terms of lethality, Tiger Cut is greater than Dragon Cut, which is greater than Eagle Cut. The throat is the most fatal part, as long as it is cut open, it will definitely cause serious injury. Precisely because of this, the enemy will often focus on defending the neck, such as wearing a steel neck guard.”

“Dragon Cut is lower, it will cut open the abdomen, and even spill the internal organs, but it will not cause immediate suffocation and sudden death like Tiger Cut, which cuts open the trachea.”

“Eagle Cut aims at the eyes, its deterrent effect is greater than its lethality. Its usual function is to confuse the enemy’s vision and judgment. Of course, if it really hits, then the enemy is blind, which is no different from death on the battlefield.”

Nuo raised her hand and curiously asked a question unrelated to swordsmanship: “Eagle Cut, Tiger Cut, Dragon Cut, these three sword forms are named after three animals, is there any special allusion in them?”

“No allusion.” Asker replied. “The eagle’s claws are small, so it can only grab the eyeballs. Tigers usually bite the necks of their prey. The dragon’s mouth is the biggest, so it can only bite people in half at the waist, that’s the idea.”

“The seventh form, Wing Beat, an upward slash with the sword.” Asker lowered his arm, his sword pointing straight at the ground, but he didn’t attack, just said, “Opposite to the sword path of Lion’s Fang, Wing Beat’s lethality is not great.”

“Its function is mainly for sneak attacks – because the tip of your sword is pointing straight at the ground, the opponent doesn’t know if you are going to attack. Wing Beat is generally used as the opening move for sneak attacks, attacking the enemy’s lower body, which is difficult to defend, such as Wing Beat followed by a thrust, stabbing the enemy’s ankle or calf.”

“Is the lower body more difficult to defend?” Peggy asked thoughtfully.

“Of course, the farther away from the eyes, the harder it is to see the details and intentions of the enemy’s attack.” Asker replied. “And attacks aimed at your lower body are naturally the farthest from your eyes.”

“The final eighth form, Rapid Thrust, is actually just a straight thrust.” Asker sheathed his sword. “This needs to be explained in detail. If the opponent is a lightly armored or unarmored enemy, then Rapid Thrust has the greatest lethality among the eight forms, much stronger than Lion’s Fang.”

“The reason is, first, the sword path of the thrust is very short, a short sword path means a fast attack; second, it creates a very deep wound.”

“Of course, there is no universal tactic. Heavily armored enemies are almost immune to thrusting attacks, and you can only use armor-piercing weapons such as battle axes or maces to smash them. There is one weapon that is an exception, and that is the spear.”

“Spears rarely have horizontal slashing movements. The only killing movement is thrusting, whether straight thrusting or diagonal thrusting, it’s all about the fastest and straightest path. Combined with the knight’s high-speed charge, the armor-piercing effect of the spear is also quite terrifying.” Asker turned to Eleanor and nodded. “As for spear techniques, I will train you separately later.”

“Okay.” Eleanor nodded.

“So the Eight Tactical Forms have all been explained.” Asker said finally, revealing his fangs as the “Captain.” “Now, everyone practice each of the Eight Tactical Forms a thousand times. For those whose movements are not standard, I will personally spar with them.”

“No way!” The girls cried out.

Chapter 40: The First Professional Training Session

Two hours after their ascension to the throne, Empress Zoe and Empress Theodora, who had just become co-ruling emperors of the Eastern Solomon Empire, encountered endless troubles.

First was the domestic industrial problem.

Since the Great Schism between the Eastern and Western Churches, the exchange of science and technology between the two sides had completely ceased.

So far, the civilian industry of the Eastern Solomon Empire had recovered to 40% of the ancient Solomon Empire, and some complex household appliances such as refrigerators, air conditioners, and televisions had resumed production.

In terms of military industry, they were currently only able to manufacture firearms and mortars. This meant that the rockets, powered armor, and aircraft currently sealed in the warehouse were almost used up one by one.

Looking at the dense reports, most of which were marked with bright red deficits, Empress Zoe rubbed her brows in distress. She finally understood why her father had gone on an expedition to the Seljuk Empire. The reason was simple: no money.

The treasury revenue of the Eastern Solomon Empire mainly came from the surplus of import and export trade, as well as the output of the mainland, especially the Anatolian Peninsula.

The rise of the Seljuk Empire in the east was both sucking blood from the Empire’s East-West trade route and threatening the production order of the Anatolian Peninsula. Launching a war was in the Empire’s interest.

The only problem was that they unfortunately lost.

So how to preserve Anatolia became a headache-inducing, almost unsolvable problem.

The Seljuk Empire controlled the densely populated Caucasus and Syrian regions. In the Battle of Manzikert, they had deployed as many as 100,000 combat-ready troops, including 20,000 Transcendents. This was no longer something that the Eastern Solomon Empire, with its remaining troops of less than 20,000, could match.

“Can we borrow troops from the West?” Theodora said seriously. “Our Solomon Empire is known as the ‘Shield of Civilization,’ guarding the eastern gate for the Western world.”

“If Constantinople falls, the first to bear the brunt will be the Venetian city-state, the Holy Solomon Empire, and the Hungarian Kingdom. We might as well borrow troops from the three countries in the name of ‘defending the Christian world.’ Especially the Holy Roman Empire, its Empress Theophanu is from the Sclerena family of the Empire, which can act as an intermediary between the two countries.”

“Agreed.” Zoe nodded. “Lord Bryennios, please go and sound out the Sclerena family.”

The Grand Domestic, Bryennios, hurriedly bowed in agreement.

“In addition, the position of the Western Church must also be considered.” Theodora added. “Since the split between the Eastern and Western Churches, the technology sharing agreement has been terminated, causing the Empire’s powered armor production line to almost come to a standstill.”

“We might as well try to reconcile with the Church, and in the name of the threat of heretics, ask Pope Innocent to launch the Templar army to help the Empire repel the Seljuk heretic invaders.”

“Empress Theodora.” Zoe said gently, “You should know that the split between the Eastern and Western Churches was caused by the struggle for leadership in the ideological and religious beliefs of the continent. What if Pope Innocent demands that our Orthodox Church submit and revise the classics according to the will of their Pope, and even allow Catholic priests to enter the country to preach?”

“In times of national crisis, how can we talk about heresy?” Theodora felt that something was wrong, but she still subconsciously expressed her thoughts. “The right to preach must never be given, but revising the classics seems to be acceptable. Since the Church’s science and technology are ahead of ours, it proves that their classics may not be entirely useless. If necessary, can we persuade Patriarch Alexius to make some concessions?”

Zoe was silent for a moment and said faintly:

“In that case, I will go and sound out Patriarch Alexius.”

The two Empresses continued to discuss and approve the proposals submitted by the Grand Domestic Bryennios one by one, while Lady Varomina, the official scribe, quickly recorded them into edicts. It was already late at night when all the government affairs were dealt with.

…

Time went back to the evening.

The thief girl, Mia, walked down the street, lost in thought. Unconsciously, she came to Asker’s ancestral home again.

She still couldn’t accept the fact that Maestro and the others had abandoned her, taking the rest of the guild with them to Kiev.

Now it seemed that everything had been pre-arranged, including finding an excuse to deliberately kick her out of the guild, mentioning intentionally or unintentionally before that Asker’s team had made a lot of money, actually hinting and inducing her to go to Asker.

It was all to leave her here.

Mia stood in front of Asker’s ancestral home, hugging herself timidly.

She didn’t know how to face Asker. Her previous joke about joining his team was just to find a temporary place to stay until Maestro calmed down and she could go back and plead with him.

But now that the Thieves Guild had completely withdrawn from Constantinople, if Asker didn’t accept her, she would really have nowhere to go.

“What are you doing standing outside?” Asker’s voice rang out. Mia hurriedly looked up and saw Asker standing by the window, his hands on the windowsill, looking at her.

“Dinner just arrived, you came at the right time.” He tilted his head and gestured to Mia. “Come in.”

Mia whispered “Hmm” and walked up the steps, quietly wiping the mud off her boots. Opening the door, a long table had already been set up in the living room, laden with a variety of delicious food.

Although it was all takeout.

“Listen up, everyone, we have two new members.” Asker clapped his hands, attracting everyone’s attention. “On the right, is Sidlipha from Helsing, who will be our team’s melee DPS.”

The girls applauded. Only Peggy slapped the table, stood up, and said unhappily:

“She’s the DPS, then what am I? Am I not the DPS?”

“No one said there could only be one DPS in the team, Peggy.” Asker explained. “Besides, Strength DPS and Agility DPS are different. You should know that enemies have the distinction between heavy armor and light armor.”

“Against lightly armored and unarmored enemies, Agility DPS is more efficient at killing, because in the time it takes for Strength to attack once, Agility can attack 2-3 times. But against heavily armored enemies, single attacks will be severely weakened and reduced, and that’s when Strength DPS is needed for brute force armor penetration.”

“No problem, I’m good at brute force.” Sidlipha nodded upon hearing this, her transparent sky-blue eyes stared at Peggy for a moment, then she suddenly smiled. “You smell of blood, I like it.”

Peggy pursed her lips awkwardly, stopped talking, and sat back down. Sidlipha didn’t ask any more questions, but just ran to the middle of Medea and Peggy, pulled up a chair, and sat down.

“Hello.” Medea smiled at her.

“Oh, beauty. Hello, hello!” Sidlipha’s eyes lit up and she said quickly.

“And this one is the Shadow Thief from the Thieves Guild, Mia Cinquemani.” Asker continued his introduction, pushing out Mia, who was still a little reserved and timid. “She will be our team’s scout, responsible for reconnaissance, support, lockpicking, and trap handling.”

“Clap, clap, clap!” The girls applauded again, looking at their new companion with friendly eyes.

This 14-year-old girl had healthy light wheat-colored skin, big and lively eyes, a small nose, and lips as thin and tender as petals. Although her figure hadn’t fully developed yet, she was a real beauty just by looking at her face, especially the shy and timid look on her face when she saw strangers, which was simply pitiful.

“Come, come, come! Mia, sit on my right!” Nuo almost didn’t hide her fondness, pulled up the chair next to her and beckoned her over, treating her like a younger sister.

“Go ahead.” Hearing Asker say behind her, Mia bit her lip and trotted over to Nuo.

While the two Empresses were working on government affairs all night long in the Palace of the Golden Throne, everyone in the ancestral home had already finished dinner. At Asker’s suggestion, they started playing board games and card games, the kind where you have to drink a can of beer if you lose a round.

In this lively atmosphere, Sidlipha and Mia successfully integrated into the group – Mia even drank so much that she threw up and ran to the bathroom four or five times. Sidlipha also got drunk, drunkenly picked up a soup spoon from the dining table, and slurred that she wanted to show everyone a set of sword techniques. Eleanor and Asker worked together and it took a lot of effort to hold her down.

The next morning, Asker woke up from his hangover with a slight headache.

E-sports players shouldn’t actually drink alcohol, as it would numb the nerves and reduce reaction speed. But… in this world, it didn’t matter.

He finished washing up and went to the second floor. This was originally the guest room and servants’ quarters, but now it was all allocated to the girls. Walking quickly through the corridor, he knocked on each door.

“Get up! From today onwards, the team will have daily training during non-mission hours!”

He announced loudly in the middle of the corridor. Now that most of the necessary roles in the team had been assembled (only the gunman and the Arcane Mage were missing), it was time to start using the training plan of an e-sports player to strengthen and polish this team.

“Aaaah.” The girls who came out of their rooms cried out in unison, making Asker’s eyelids twitch. In the game world of “Iron and Fire,” the best players were basically all male. After spending a few months in professional clubs, the e-sports teammates around him were all male.

Training with a group of girls… it was unimaginable for him before.

But awkward as it was, the training plan had to proceed as usual.

Twenty minutes later, everyone was fully armed and entered Furnace Island with Asker.

The top of the central mountain peak of Furnace Island was already piled high with building materials that had been transported in yesterday. Everyone found a place to sit down and listened to Asker’s plan:

“In professional player training, different roles receive different specialized training. Of course, since everyone is still a newcomer, there is no need to break down the training plan to each individual.”

“My current plan is that in the first month, I require everyone to master the basics of attack, defense, and dodge thoroughly. In the second month, I will teach you advanced combat techniques.”

Did he mean that they had to start learning from the basics? Eleanor and Sidlipha were a little depressed. These two had been trained in combat since childhood, and they didn’t take Asker’s saying about “laying a good foundation” seriously. Just as they were about to speak, Asker interrupted them:

“I know that some of you may have learned some miscellaneous martial arts in the past, so you think you have a higher starting point than others and can skip my basic training and start learning advanced techniques directly. For those who have this idea, I can only say: Sure, as long as you can beat me, you can skip the basic course.”

Eleanor and Sidlipha immediately shut up. Beat Asker? You must be joking, it would be good enough if they could withstand five moves in front of him.

“Do non-combat professions also need training?” Medea raised her hand and said. “For example, I am a Psychic, and Nuo is a healer. We both don’t directly fight on the front lines in battle, do we also need to take your basic course?”

Asker turned around and put one hand on his sword. Suddenly, with a clang, the sword was unsheathed like lightning and slashed straight at Medea’s neck. The latter didn’t even have time to scream, she just instinctively shrank back, her hands protectively covering her chest in fear.

The blade stopped in front of her, and Asker said coldly: “If it was on the battlefield, and the enemy’s sword was slashing at you, could you tell him: No, I’m a spellcaster, I don’t directly participate in combat, you can’t use weapons to attack me?”

“I can use my supernatural abilities.” Medea’s face was pale, and she still argued. “I can use my psychic abilities to subdue him first.”

“Heh, will you have time?” Asker said.

Medea was speechless. In fact, the moment Asker’s sword slashed down, her first reaction was to curl up. Such a clumsy performance couldn’t be refuted.

Chapter 39: The Fall of the Dragon, the Rise of the Dragonet

“So you got fired from the Thieves Guild?” Asker looked at her with a smirk.

“Well, it wasn’t intentional!” Mia sat on the railing of the stairs leading to the second floor, swinging her legs idly.

“I thought, since golden striped leeches can be sold for money, why not sell them sooner rather than later? So I caught all the leeches in the reservoir, mashed them into a paste, and put it all in a jar. I was going to sell it… ahem, hand it over to Maestro to sell.”

“But as soon as I got back to the guild, I saw him standing at the entrance with a livid face, asking me what was in the jar. I honestly told him it was golden striped leech paste. He snatched it, took a look, and beat me up! He said I had committed a major property damage crime and that the Thieves Guild had expelled me.”

The more she spoke, the angrier she became. She clenched her fists and punched the railing, “How could this be! I didn’t even sell it privately! Didn’t he take all the paste back? What major property damage! This is simply, simply a trumped-up charge!”

This NPC can even use idioms… Asker thought to himself. Of course, considering the original “Iron and Fire” game world wasn’t purely Western fantasy, it wasn’t surprising for an NPC to spout idioms. In the province of Shirish, there was even a Chinese NPC from the Dragon Kingdom who could recite the “Tao Te Ching” and the “Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon.”

“Do you know why golden striped leeches are valuable?” Asker asked her.

“Because noble young masters like you would buy them,” Mia said flatteringly.

“Stop flattering me!” Asker’s face darkened. He flicked her forehead, making Mia yelp and cover her head with her hands, tears welling up in her eyes. “Golden striped leeches are spiritual materials used for making potions, understand?”

“You mean the potions that superhumans take, right?” Mia said with a “Of course, I know” expression. “Then, then just sell them to superhumans.”

“Golden striped leeches are one of the main ingredients for the Life Stealing sequence potion. However, not all superhumans need to take the Life Stealing sequence potion,” Asker explained to her.

“If you can’t find a superhuman buyer who needs that specific path, your paste won’t sell at all. And once a golden striped leech is killed, its spirituality slowly dissipates from the material.”

Mia slowly opened her mouth wide, and after a long while, she said with difficulty, “So, my whole jar of paste… can’t be sold?”

“It’ll be difficult,” Asker said.

“And the spirituality will dissipate, becoming useless if I can’t sell it quickly?” Mia asked.

“Yes,” Asker said.

“Please take me in!” Mia suddenly pounced at Asker’s feet like a wild cat, hugging his legs and bursting into tears.

“That jar of paste… probably had sixty or seventy golden striped leeches… That’s a loss of six or seven thousand pounds! Even if you sell me, I can’t repay that much! Maestro will definitely kill me! Please let me join your mercenary group. If Maestro comes looking for me, you have to protect me from him!”

Asker looked at her with a speechless expression. If he really wanted to kill you for that, you wouldn’t even be able to leave the Sunken Palace, okay? And my team just happens to need a thief. Maestro practically delivered you to my doorstep. Why does this feel like a carefully orchestrated scheme?

Could it be that he’s targeting our team’s wealth? The over seven thousand pounds we earned from selling to the Life Cult? A honey trap?

As he was thinking this, Asker’s phone vibrated. He received an email. He opened it and saw that it was from Maestro:

Respected Master Achilles,

Perhaps you have already learned the news of His Majesty’s defeat at Manzikert. Our Thieves Guild has judged that the future fate of Constantinople is unpredictable, and we may face the danger of the entire city being overturned. Therefore, last night, we all boarded a passenger ship on the Black Sea, intending to go north to Kiev to seek a new life.

Mia, like other children, grew up in the Thieves Guild since childhood, but her identity is different from other orphans – we found her on the reefs off the coast of Gallipoli.

At that time, she was being held by the body of a drowned noblewoman, and she still had the strength to cry loudly after drifting at sea for several days. On the delicate silk swaddling clothes around her, the name “Mia Cinquemani” was embroidered with needle and thread.

We believe that she is most likely of noble birth.

A noble dolphin should not mingle with leeches in the sewers all day long, as this will only tarnish her noble bloodline. Therefore, I used some clever means to drive her out of the guild and guide her to you.

You are also a noble person with an upright heart, and you should be able to give her the care that a noble deserves.

If possible in the future, please take her to Palermo, Sicily. According to our many years of research and investigation, “Cinquemani” seems to be an ancient Sicilian noble surname.

After the Normans established the court of Palermo, this family was once massacred, but recently it seems to have been revived in the local political arena.

Yours sincerely,
Maestro.

Asker looked at his phone, speechless. This plot development… a standard hidden quest routine, and it didn’t look like an ordinary side quest, it might even be a quest chain.

He handed the phone to Mia.

Mia muttered and looked at the phone, gradually unable to look away.

Then an expression of horror appeared on her face, as if the world had collapsed.

“I, I, I…” She stammered, stood up with a lost look, “I have to go back and see!”

Throwing the phone back to Asker, she ran out of the door like the wind.

“Don’t need to chase after her?” Sidlipha asked, arms crossed.

“No need.” Asker said, “She’ll be back.”

As they were talking, the sound of funeral bells suddenly rang outside.

To be precise, the funeral bells of the entire Constantinople rang, resonating into a vast sea of sound over the imperial capital. Sidlipha was so frightened that she reached for her weapon, but she missed and was grabbed by the arm by Asker.

“Don’t be afraid, it’s the news of the Emperor’s death.” Asker said.

Soon, the news of the defeat at Manzikert spread throughout the capital. Citizens were discussing this sad news in public:

“His Majesty Constantine was shot three times on the battlefield of Manzikert and returned to the Lord’s kingdom of heaven on the spot. The army suffered heavy casualties to retrieve his body. Now his body has been placed in the Monastery of the Theotokos in Nicaea, and the two Purple Princesses have already flown there by private jet.”

Outside the monastery in Nicaea, Princess Theodora hurriedly jumped out of the helicopter, lifting her skirt and rushing into the monastery. Then came Lady Varomina, the Emperor’s official scribe. She bowed slightly and gracefully extended her arm.

Princess Zoe took her arm, stepped out of the helicopter with dignity and solemnity, and said lightly:

“Lead the way.”

“Yes.” The official scribe, Varomina, bowed again, thinking to herself that Princess Zoe and Princess Theodora had completely different personalities.

Princess Theodora was quiet and elegant on the surface, but in reality, she was like a lively fawn, doing things with vigor and vitality.

Princess Zoe, on the other hand, seemed to be good at conversation, but in reality, she didn’t talk much, her thoughts were deep, just like the late Emperor Basil.

Perhaps this also had something to do with the age of the two princesses. Princess Theodora was only 17 years old this year, a full 7 years younger than Princess Zoe… Varomina quickly realized that her thoughts were a little presumptuous, so she lowered her head deeply in fear.

“Father…” In the main hall of the monastery, Theodora hugged her father’s coffin, almost sobbing uncontrollably.

Emperor Constantine VIII lay peacefully in the coffin, his smoke-blackened face skillfully repaired by the embalmer, now appearing excessively pale. Princess Zoe stood behind, not crying like Princess Theodora, but just wiping the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief.

The monks present were well aware of the different attitudes shown by the two princesses.

During his lifetime, Emperor Constantine, fearing that his future sons-in-law would interfere too much in state affairs, had delayed the marriage of the two Purple Princesses.

Theodora was still young, but Princess Zoe was already 24 years old, an age when she longed for marriage, family, and the love of a husband, but she was “imprisoned” in the deep palace and not allowed to see any man. How could she not resent the Emperor?

Then, the Emperor’s coffin was transported to Constantinople, passing through the Golden Gate all the way. All the citizens spontaneously gathered on both sides of the funeral procession, holding signs, scattering flowers, lighting candles, and weeping sadly.

Of course, this was not necessarily because the citizens were sad about the Emperor’s death, but because people always liked to pretend to mourn in the face of misfortunes that had nothing to do with them, using such rituals to obtain a sense of self-moral satisfaction.

Just like in Asker’s previous life, whenever something bad happened abroad, there would be a lot of “lighting candles,” “crying for them,” and “tonight we are all X countrymen” on Weibo in China, making it seem as if the whole country was mourning together – in fact, most of these bloggers, after posting mourning words and crying emojis, would put on their makeup and go out happily to eat hot pot and spicy skewers.

The Emperor’s funeral would be held solemnly for three days and would undoubtedly dominate the hot topics of discussion in the imperial capital for a long time.

Another matter that could no longer be delayed was the coronation of the new emperor.

As soon as they learned of the defeat at Manzikert, the imperial bureaucracy, the nobility, and the church quickly reached a tacit consensus to support the two Purple Princesses to ascend the throne and become the co-ruling emperors of the Eastern Solomon Empire.

Under the military threat of the Seljuk Empire, this was the quickest way to stabilize the situation in the imperial capital.

The coronation ceremony was then held at the Hagia Sophia. In front of the iconostasis, Alexius, the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Solomon Orthodox Church, took the imperial crown from the box held by the bishop beside him and placed it on Princess Zoe’s head.

He then took out a smaller crown, which also symbolized imperial power, and placed it on Theodora’s head.

Then a pair of boys and girls in white came forward and applied the holy ointment to the faces of the two Majesties.

Finally, the golden orb and cross, symbolizing power, were solemnly taken out of the box held by the bishop beside him by the Ecumenical Patriarch Alexius.

Staring at the golden scepter, Empress Zoe’s breathing subtly quickened. She wanted to reach out and grasp the golden orb and cross directly, but Theodora’s call stopped her:

“Sister!”

She came back to her senses and looked at Theodora, whose tears had not yet dried.

Alexius smiled and handed over the golden orb and cross. The two sisters looked at each other and then grasped the imperial scepter together.

Chapter 38: Promotion to Level 2

The barbarian warrior’s weapon was knocked away, and he fell to his knees, drained of strength. Sidlipha struck him hard with her axe, almost breaking all his ribs, and he fell to the ground, unable to get up.

Dropping the broken weapon in his hand, Asker glanced at the ground and casually picked up a two-handed greatsword. The audience went wild. Many of them stood up almost simultaneously, excitedly shouting the nickname “Viking,” their voices almost shaking the heavens.

On the other side of the arena, Theotis, covered in blood, dropped his weapon and knelt on the ground to surrender, his eyes full of frustration and fear of defeat.

The barbarian leader, a Geat warrior nicknamed “Ice Wolf,” sneered and turned around. He was a burly northerner with a thick beard, his face painted with red ochre war paint, his eyes as if burning with flames.

“Viking?” His voice was cold and hoarse, as if it had been rubbed with sandpaper. “Just a bunch of weak Siris lambs, daring to name yourselves after the heroic ancestors of the north?”

These words enraged the crowd, and the stands almost exploded. Many spectators even jumped onto their chairs, shouting at him furiously.

In the box, the Imperial Kingsguard officers’ faces were all livid, only Michael remained expressionless, his eyes a little gloomy.

It should be explained here that the ancient Republic of Solomon had conquered Siris with military force, while Siris had conquered Eastern Solomon with its advanced cultural industry.

Today’s Eastern Solomon Empire had been completely Sirised culturally. The citizens were keen on watching Siris plays and movies, reading Siris novels and poems, and even speaking and writing in Siris instead of Latin.

However, only racial identity was absolutely non-negotiable. The Solomon identity inherited from the ancient Solomon Empire was the greatest pride of the citizens of Constantinople.

Calling them “Siris” was equivalent to calling them “primitives,” an act even more vicious than killing them.

Asker briefly explained this in a low voice, and Sidlipha understood, saying with an “oh”: “That’s too vicious, are you going to duel him?”

“Duel?” Asker asked.

“He insulted your people. In order to regain your honor, you must challenge him to a sacred duel.” Sidlipha said matter-of-factly. “Here, take my axe and throw it at his feet.”

What do you mean my people, I’m Chinese, okay? Asker smiled wryly in his heart, but he couldn’t explain it clearly with this NPC body, so he simply took her axe and threw it at the feet of the “Ice Wolf” opposite him.

“I accept your challenge.” Ice Wolf sneered and picked up the axe on the ground.

He had observed Asker and Sidlipha killing the enemy together before, and he was both surprised and afraid. He knew that he definitely couldn’t defeat these two at the same time, so he deliberately “insulted” Asker to provoke him to challenge him to a duel, thus forcibly creating a one-on-one environment.

“Then let’s make it quick.” Asker said as he raised his two-handed greatsword.

The two men, holding their weapons, charged towards each other at the same time, their figures passing each other almost instantly.

Asker turned around and dropped the two-handed greatsword to the ground. Ice Wolf, maintaining his post-slash posture, suddenly felt a sharp pain spreading from the left side of his neck to his lower right abdomen.

“…So fast… When… His sword…” He muttered, his mouth open, but he couldn’t make any sound. His thoughts suddenly shattered into fragmented pieces, and he fell to the ground, falling into a dying state of serious injury.

Before the announcer could announce the final result of the victory, the order in the stands had completely collapsed.

Many young citizens jumped over the fence, almost crawling and rolling, and lifted Asker up in a victorious posture, howling and starting to parade around the arena.

The rest of the people picked up the weapons of the defeated and the dead, held them high, followed the parade, and sang the victor’s song.

It was not until the carnival dispersed that the Gladiatorial Gold Cup was brought by Cedric.

According to the rules of the arena, it should be held up by all the red team gladiators together.

However, Asker turned around and looked, and of the three remaining people, only Sidlipha was standing beside him. Theotis, who had survived by surrendering, had long since disappeared.

“Let’s just do this.” Sidlipha winked at him, smiling and revealing a mouthful of white teeth. Amidst the cheers and applause of the audience, she and Asker held up the Gladiatorial Gold Cup together.

The subsequent “Daily Champion” undoubtedly went to Asker as well.

Cedric led him to the Hall of Honor inside the arena, where the traces of the “Daily Champions” of past years were displayed.

Asker was first asked to take a photo, then he left his handprints and footprints on a clay tablet, and then he received a medal made of magic copper.

“Last but not least, it’s our reward time.” Cedric cleared his throat and said with a smile. “A prize worth 500 pounds, or it can be converted into cash.”

“What are the available rewards?” Asker asked, prepared.

“The most popular are of course weapons and armor.” Cedric took out a catalog. “Let me see, the most redeemed is a set of ‘Spellbreaker’ armor and shield, made entirely of magic copper.”

“This mysterious mineral can isolate the influence of supernatural power, making you immune to attacks and harassment from any supernatural abilities. If you choose mithril or adamantine, you can only choose weapons, and there are no magic circles on them.”

“Then there are medicines rich in spirituality. We have a large bottle of 500ml of Life Essence Stamina, which can completely heal your injuries or any disease dozens of times.”

“Of course, there are also potions and potion formulas, but they are all from the Gladiator Sequence, you may not like them very much…”

“How much are the potions?” Asker interrupted him.

“We currently only have level I potions, 400 pounds a bottle.” Cedric blinked. “100 pounds for a formula.”

“I’ll choose the potion, Sharp Weapon I.” Asker said, “Convert the rest into cash.”

Cedric didn’t speak, but just clapped his hands, and soon a servant brought a bottle of potion.

This bottle of “Sharp Weapon I” had a metallic silver-white color, with messy and sharp lines, as if it contained countless tiny iron pieces, slowly flowing along the center of the vortex.

“Is there a quiet room?” Asker asked. His “Perfect Physique X” had been completely digested in the gladiatorial fights, so he could immediately take the next potion.

“Yes, we have an Eastern-style meditation room.” Cedric said.

He took Asker to a small compartment at the end of the corridor, opened the door with a key, and then turned and left. Asker entered the compartment, sat down on the only cushion, and opened the potion bottle.

After drinking the potion, his eyes immediately widened. All the hair on his head turned silver-white and stood on end, like a hedgehog or porcupine facing an enemy. The blood vessels on his body also bulged, with slight tremors and ringing, as if thousands of sharp blades were cutting inside.

A scorching evil qi climbed up from his throat and esophagus, bringing a sharp pain like a knife cut.

He knew that this was the conflict between “Perfect Physique X” and “Sharp Weapon I,” so he just forcibly suppressed it.

Suddenly, a bloody cut opened up on his face, as smooth as if it had been cut by a blade, then a second, a third… Countless cuts opened up on the skin all over his body. Combined with the indifferent expression on his face, he looked terrifying, almost like a blood-soaked demon.

Finally, the cuts slowly closed and healed, leaving only faint new flesh marks. He let out a long breath and stood up.

“Sharp Weapon I” had been initially digested, and a large amount of knowledge about using sharp weapons poured into his mind, some of which he knew, but more of which he had never known before.

In the previous life’s game, even in a full-immersion virtual reality game, there was no way to instill memories into the player’s mind, so the effect of taking “Sharp Weapon I” was to provide system correction and data visualization when the player used sharp weapons.

However, at this moment, Asker, like an NPC, truly obtained all the knowledge of using sharp weapons, and his understanding of the combat system of this world deepened.

Entering level 2, he took another step towards “Weapon Master.”

The next potion was “Dodge I.”

Taking the remaining 100 pounds of bounty, Asker left the arena and saw Sidlipha waiting outside. This tall and slender androgynous beauty wasn’t wearing any armor at this time, so she constantly attracted the attention of passers-by.

“Where’s your armor?” Asker asked.

“It was taken back by the arena.” Sidlipha replied dejectedly, not hiding the frustration in her voice.

“It’s okay.” Asker comforted her. “Since you’ve joined my team, of course we will provide you with weapons and equipment.”

“That’s good.” A smile immediately bloomed on Sidlipha’s face again. The happiness of a martial arts fanatic was so simple.

In the red team’s underground training ground of the arena, Theotis was alone, silently looking at the Gladiatorial Gold Cup that was casually thrown on the ground because no one wanted it, his eyes complex and lost.

It turned out that this guy he had always been hostile to had never taken him seriously from the beginning to the end.

…

Taking Sidlipha back to the ancestral home, Asker pushed open the door and saw a girl rummaging through the living room. Hearing the sound of the door opening, she abruptly turned her head.

“Are you… Mia?” Asker said uncertainly, recognizing the girl from the Thieves Guild named Mia Cinquemani who had helped him get the supernatural materials before.

Mia froze, a guilty expression flashing across her face for a moment, then she quickly adjusted herself as if nothing had happened, and said:

“Ahem, our guild recently discovered a batch of luxury goods flowing into the market, so they sent me to inquire about whether any nobles were short of money and wanted to sell their furniture for money. As a result, the investigation led me to your house…”

“Oh, you can tell us if you are short of money, like silver cups, silver candlesticks, paintings, etc., our guild can buy them at a very reasonable price.”

“Thief?” Sidlipha looked at her, then asked Asker.

“No, no, no.” Mia hurriedly defended herself. “How could I steal Master Achilles’ things? I know him! We’ve dealt with each other and done business before.”

“I have indeed been selling things recently.” Asker ignored her defense and just said, “Because the church knights came to my house before and broke a lot of things, so I just took these scraps out to sell. You’re late, Miss Mia, I guess almost everything in the house has been sold.”

“That’s good, that’s good.” Mia echoed subconsciously, not knowing what was good about it, and suddenly asked, “By the way, did you form a mercenary group?”

“Yes, why?”

“Are you short of a thief?” Mia smiled ingratiatingly.

Chapter 37: Battling Beowulf

“Master Achilles!” Cedric said helplessly. “You were using the two-handed greatsword so well in the first match, why did you switch to a one-handed straight sword in the second match? Now we have to give you a new arena nickname. How about ‘Nightblade’?”

“Sure.” Asker said.

“Strange. Others are very picky about nicknames, for fear that they won’t sound imposing enough. But you don’t care at all, you treat fame like nothing.” Cedric shook his head in puzzlement, sighed, and left. Sidlipha, who was sharpening her axe next to him, looked up and smiled:

“Great. Every time I hear you called ‘Viking,’ I get goosebumps all over.”

“Want this nickname?” Asker said.

“I’d rather be called ‘Barbarian.’ Don’t you think this nickname is more aesthetically pleasing than Viking?” Sidlipha said, “But it doesn’t matter. The arena audience is fickle. When you’ve been here for a long time, unless you can perform one-versus-many feats every time, you won’t even have the chance to be mentioned by the announcer.”

“The next match is against the green team, right?” Asker asked.

“Yes. The day before yesterday, yesterday, and today, they have already won the Gladiatorial Gold Cup for three consecutive days.” Sidlipha said, “Do you know why the blue team this morning was so weak? Because all the veterans of the original blue team were killed by the green team, only the leader, Polar Bear, survived by surrendering. Hehe, timely surrender is still very important.”

“By the way, the green team members are all northerners who were eliminated from the Varangian Guard.” Sidlipha finished sharpening her axe and gently stroked the blade with her finger. “Don’t underestimate them just because they were eliminated.”

“In that case, let’s change our tactics after the next gladiatorial fight starts.” Asker pondered for a moment and said.

“What tactics?” Sidlipha asked curiously.

“Teamwork.” Asker said.

Soon, the final gladiatorial horn sounded. On the other side of the training ground, Theotis and the red team members were also ready to go. They didn’t look at Asker with malice like the previous two times, but just had cold expressions.

It seemed that the green team they were going to face in the end also brought them a lot of pressure.

Everyone filed out of the underground passage and came to the arena. The members of the opposing green team were also assembled, and as expected, they were all tall and strong northern Norman men, holding two-handed greatswords or giant axes, their arms alone as thick as Asker’s calves.

“I understand why you suggested teamwork.” Sidlipha said with a sigh. “Any one of these guys could knock me down in a one-on-one fight.”

Asker chuckled. Of course, his suggestion was not because he couldn’t win in a one-on-one fight, but because he wanted to see how Sidlipha’s teamwork awareness was.

“Ladies and gentlemen! The final gladiatorial fight of the day has begun!” The announcer’s commentary style seemed to be more restrained and serious, no longer as vulgar and nonsensical as the previous two matches. “The ones in green cloaks are our defending champions, the Geat barbarians from distant northern Scandinavia! Their bravery and barbarity need no further description, I’ll just say one word, and that is ‘Beowulf.’”

“Beowulf,” the famous epic film trilogy, whose protagonist Beowulf was the legendary lord of the northern Geat tribe, was widely known for his heroic battle against monsters.

So the audience shouted excitedly, throwing coins into the arena, hoping to provoke the anger of the yellow team gladiators and make the upcoming battle more intense.

“The challengers are our red team! Led by the cunning Thracian ‘Brown Bear,’ and our rookie king ‘Nightblade,’ as well as his inseparable partner ‘Big Guy’!”

“Damn it!” Sidlipha almost jumped in anger. “My nickname is ‘Barbarian’! ‘Barbarian’!”

Asker slandered in his heart. Was the nickname “Barbarian” any better than “Big Guy”?

“So, are the Solomons of the south more skilled, or are the Geats of the north more invincible? Let’s raise the curtain of war!” As the announcer ended his passionate speech, the starting pistol also fired.

The battle began, and Asker and Sidlipha instantly charged out. To their surprise, the red team gladiators didn’t contract their formation and cut them off, but rushed out at almost the same speed, clashing with the fierce and wild barbarian warriors on the other side.

A Geat barbarian warrior charged towards Asker, his bearded face overflowing with crimson blood mist. Asker was using a Holy Roman military cut-and-thrust sword this time, a Tiger Cut swinging horizontally towards the opponent’s neck.

The barbarian suddenly held his two-handed greatsword horizontally, steadily blocking this Tiger Cut.

Something’s wrong, Asker realized that the opponent’s strength exceeded the normal human level, his physical strength was at least level 4 or above!

The barbarian warrior quickly leveled his two-handed greatsword and then abruptly thrust forward. Asker blocked with his sword horizontally, and the opponent immediately pushed his sword forward, the blade of the greatsword pressing against the guard of the cut-and-thrust sword, making a creaking sound.

“This is bad.” The Kingsguard officers in the box discussed. “This opponent seems to be a Transcendental, and his physical strength completely surpasses his – Achilles is in danger.”

“Michael, should we ask the arena to pause?” A Kingsguard officer asked. “It’s a pity for someone with his talent to die here.”

“If he dies, then he’s simply not skilled enough, what’s there to pity?” Michael said coldly.

The Kingsguard officer was speechless.

“That chatterbox announcer, he actually got it right this time.” Michael was silent for a moment and continued, “This gladiatorial fight is a duel between the exquisite swordsmanship of Solomon and the strong physique of the northerners. If we use our power to save him, what will the audience outside think? They will think that we Solomons are no match for the northerners in a head-on confrontation and can only resort to underhanded tricks outside the battlefield!”

He spoke sharply, and the surrounding Kingsguard officers all lowered their heads and remained silent.

Many clever officers even thought of a deeper level, which was that the Emperor’s Kingsguard and the Varangian Guard had recently chosen to pledge allegiance to different Purple-clad Princesses.

Michael had chosen Princess Theodora, while the Varangian Guard, composed of northerners, had chosen Princess Zoe.

Perhaps the relationship between the two Princesses was not as harmonious and united as it appeared on the surface? Or perhaps the princesses had no intention of competing, but the imperial scepter could not be held by two hands at the same time, and the people who had chosen sides had already begun to fight each other?

In the arena, Asker took half a step back. The barbarian warrior was about to take advantage of the situation and push his sword forward when he suddenly heard the sound of wind behind him.

He hurriedly ducked his head, and Sidlipha’s battle axe slashed past his head.

“Good.” Asker said approvingly. Besieging Wei to rescue Zhao was the most basic tactical awareness that a professional player should have.

Although Sidlipha was a silly girl, she still had basic tactical literacy. She twisted her wrist slightly, flicked her sword, and attacked the barbarian warrior, saying at the same time:

“Want to try a pincer attack?”

Sidlipha immediately understood, her two battle axes swung up like whirlwinds, chopping from another direction.

The barbarian warrior swung his greatsword horizontally with force, deflecting Sidlipha’s battle axe. Asker had already seized the gap after he swung his sword, his cut-and-thrust sword thrusting swiftly from his right side, reminding him:

“Jump Slash!”

The thrust of the cut-and-thrust sword was too fast, the barbarian warrior had no time to retract his sword to block, and could only step back to avoid it. Sidlipha on the right had already jumped high, her whole body tensed like a bow in the air, her two battle axes raised high above her head, slashing down fiercely with the help of her whole body weight!

With a loud bang, it almost deafened people. The barbarian warrior hurriedly blocked with his sword horizontally, catching Sidlipha’s Jump Slash, and was instantly pushed back staggering by the huge force. He saw a flash of cold light out of the corner of his eye, but it was too late to dodge, Asker’s sword tip had already slashed across his throat.

“Beautiful.” Asker shook the blood off his sword and said to Sidlipha, “Next one?”

“Come on!” Sidlipha savored the battle just now, feeling that her cooperation with Asker was simply seamless, and couldn’t help but feel confident and excited. “Quick, quick, quick! Kill another one!”

The two didn’t stop, quickly locking onto the next target. That barbarian warrior had just killed a red gladiator and pulled his battle axe out of the corpse when he saw these two people charging towards him murderously.

One against two, the barbarian warrior was fearless. He held his axe with both hands, aimed at the two’s charge, and swung out a Moon Slash horizontally. Asker suddenly slid to the ground during the charge, lowered his body to avoid the Moon Slash, and smoothly slid to the barbarian warrior’s feet.

Sidlipha, on the other hand, blocked with her axe horizontally, but was staggered by the Moon Slash. The barbarian warrior was about to step forward to pursue, when Asker, who was close to the ground, bounced up with his sword, the tip of the sword stabbing straight at his lower jaw.

The barbarian warrior tilted his head to avoid it and twisted his body, his battle axe slashing down diagonally.

Asker jumped back to dodge, and Sidlipha had already stabilized her body, fiercely swinging her battle axe and charging over.

The barbarian warrior hurriedly blocked her battle axe. Asker kicked off the ground behind him and approached like lightning, the tip of his sword pressing against the opponent’s chainmail. He pressed his left hand on the hilt and pushed hard. The cut-and-thrust sword immediately tore through the iron rings, deeply piercing into the opponent’s back.

“What about your sword?” After the barbarian warrior’s corpse fell to the ground, Sidlipha put away her battle axe and asked. The sword that had pierced through the chainmail was stuck by the broken iron rings, and it seemed difficult to pull it out.

“Just in time to change weapons.” Asker released the hilt and picked up the giant axe on the ground.

The battle in the arena was fierce, blood and flesh flying, making the audience excited and throwing the coins in their bags onto the field like rain.

The view from the top box was even clearer. Overall, the red team was at a disadvantage, the battle damage was basically two for one, but Asker and Sidlipha, these two killing gods, specifically picked out lone yellow-clad barbarian warriors to hunt, and they actually managed to maintain a balance in numbers between the two sides.

“Who is that ‘Big Guy’?” Michael suddenly asked. “The one fighting alongside Achilles.”

“Sidlipha of Helsing.” A Kingsguard officer next to him brought the arena list. “Northerner.”

“A northerner from Varangia? Have they already contacted him in advance?” A Kingsguard officer’s expression slightly changed, and he said suspiciously, “Perhaps it was Princess Zoe’s instruction.”

“Unlikely.” Michael said disapprovingly. “Sidlipha is a northern female name, and the Varangian Guard never recruits women.”

“So she’s a woman? She seems to be quite good at fighting.” A Kingsguard officer looked down and said, “She’s also very strong, 1.9 meters tall, like a polar bear.”

Suddenly, cheerful laughter rang out in the box.

Chapter 36: A Violent Output Teammate

Bone Splitter’s shoulder was covered with shoulder armor, which completely blocked the Falling Phoenix Slash. Asker landed steadily, sidestepped to dodge Bone Splitter’s charging punch, and flicked his sword upwards for a straight thrust.

“Upper Rapid Thrust?” A Kingsguard officer exclaimed in surprise. “It doesn’t look like it.”

“It’s Cloud Piercer.” Michael said. “When he sidestepped to dodge, his knees bent down, and when he thrust his sword, he quickly bounced up. This is the classic movement of the Bavarian Lion Spear Technique, Cloud Piercer.”

“Is it the spear technique of that Lion Henry, the Duke?” The Kingsguard officer said incomprehensibly. “Can a straight sword also be used to perform spear techniques?”

“If the user’s understanding of both swordsmanship and spear techniques reaches the pinnacle, it should be possible.” Michael said.

The straight sword pierced into the lower jaw of Bone Splitter’s helmet, sparking a bit, leaving only a faint white metal mark.

Bone Splitter swung his greatsword furiously, the whistling wind carrying an extremely sharp feeling, even Barbarian and Bone Splitter’s deputy, who were fighting next to them, felt a strong sense of danger and hurriedly retreated while fighting.

Asker abruptly squatted down, dodging Bone Splitter’s huge horizontal slash, his straight sword swiftly and nimbly swinging out continuously, clanging against Bone Splitter’s greaves.

“Ancient Solomon swordsmanship, Bat Cut.” The Kingsguard officer complained. “This is too cheap. That Varangian is fully armored, just like a steel turtle. Even if Achilles’ swordsmanship is superb, how can he break through with a straight sword?”

Since Michael had inquired about Asker’s local noble identity, the other Kingsguard officers, who were also from imperial military noble families, had naturally developed a good impression of Asker and were now completely on his side.

“He’s probing.” Michael frowned thoughtfully. “He should be probing for weaknesses in Bone Splitter’s armor, looking for any places to attack.”

“Probing in front of an opponent of this level? That’s too dangerous, one hit from that greatsword and he’s dead! There’s no way to save him.” The Kingsguard officers discussed.

“Dangerous? He has already exchanged four moves with the opponent, where does he look like he’s in any danger? He’s obviously at ease.”

“Look at him… Oh, Wing Beat + Double Thrust, this is the Soaring Eagle Sword. If the opponent, Bone Splitter, didn’t have armor protection, he would have died several times by now.”

“He’s still at a disadvantage because of his weapon, what a pity.”

“Moon Slash? No, it’s Moon Cross Slash! A straight sword can also be used to perform greatsword techniques, I’m impressed.”

“Guess how many more swords Bone Splitter will be hit by?”

“I understand!” Michael suddenly slapped the table, attracting the attention of the surrounding guards. “He’s provoking the opponent! Luring him to reveal an opening!”

In the arena, Asker dodged the greatsword again, his sword slashing upwards with a Wing Beat, hitting the codpiece between Bone Splitter’s legs, making a metallic clang.

“Heh, codpiece.” He chuckled.

Bone Splitter had already swung his sword more than ten times, but he hadn’t even touched the corner of Asker’s clothes. He was panting when he heard the other party’s taunt, and a nameless fire immediately rose in his heart.

“Waaaaaaaah!” Bone Splitter roared and raised his greatsword, slashing down at Asker in front of him with all his might.

He was going to tear this jumping clown to pieces!

Asker sidestepped and rolled, quickly followed by a sliding tackle, instantly flashing behind the opponent with extremely fast movement.

Bone Splitter was still maintaining the Mountain Splitter posture at this time, his body leaning forward, his head lowered, and a gap finally appeared at the junction of his helmet and back armor at the back of his neck.

Now! Asker’s sword pierced into the gap with a whoosh, drawing a long trail of blood. Bone Splitter’s body fell to the ground, and a pool of blood gradually formed beneath him.

“Beautiful!” In the audience box, the Kingsguard officers immediately applauded and cheered, more excited than if they had killed the opponent themselves.

Barbarian and Bone Splitter’s deputy were still fighting fiercely, both almost exhausted.

Asker approached with his sword, thrusting straight forward with a charge. The deputy hurriedly blocked, the sword brushed past his sword and pierced into his throat.

“You’re right.” Barbarian, who had survived the ordeal, gasped for breath, looked at Bone Splitter lying in a pool of blood next to him, and smiled wryly. “I’m indeed no match for you. If we can win the Gladiatorial Gold Cup, the Daily Champion will definitely be you.”

“You flatter me.” Asker said, “Shall we continue?”

“No more.” Barbarian said, “But I want to get a few kills.”

He charged towards the main battlefield, which was almost in chaos, with his two axes. When he encountered a red gladiator, he bumped them away without mercy. When he encountered a yellow gladiator, he would swing his axe down. If he hit, he would kill them on the spot. If they dodged, he wouldn’t pursue, but quickly looked for the next opponent.

Asker followed behind him and finished off the remaining enemies. Those yellow gladiators who could nimbly dodge Barbarian’s axe were like rats scurrying around in front of a cat in front of him, killed by a few sword strikes.

These yellow-clad Franks were also very tough. Until the last one was killed, none of them dropped their weapons and knelt down to beg for mercy. So the yellow team was completely wiped out. The statistics showed that Barbarian killed 3, Asker killed 3 (including the leader “Bone Splitter”), and the rest shared 3 kills, 2 of which were killed by Theotis.

Theotis stood among the corpses of the yellow team, his eyes full of bewilderment. A red gladiator had died in the battle just now, leaving a vacancy in the red team, so his younger brother could smoothly join the team tomorrow. But…

…why did he feel so frustrated? Wasn’t he the leader of the red team? Why was the limelight stolen by those two people?

And the yellow team’s “Bone Splitter,” weren’t you the famous “Bone Splitter,” the steel mammoth in full armor! How did you die at the hands of that chick too!!!

Frustrated as he was, he no longer had the motivation to kill Asker, but just sullenly called everyone to leave.

“That…” The announcer’s cautious voice came from the loudspeaker. “Can I speak now?”

“Make it short.” Another voice urged.

“Okay, then…” The announcer took a deep breath. “The winner is our, red team! Let’s cheer for the victors!”

The audience cheered and screamed.

Returning to the underground training ground, Asker threw the Caucasian straight sword on the weapon rack and found a cushion to sit down on.

“You killed well.” Barbarian walked up to him, crossed his arms, leaned against the wall, and said, “By the way, I seemed to hear just now… you tried to recruit that Bone Splitter? To be your companion?”

“Yes.” Asker said with a wry smile. “He refused.”

“It’s only natural that he refused.” Barbarian said, “He’s the leader of the yellow team, you suddenly asked him to come to the red team and be your subordinate, of course he would think it was a taunt on the battlefield.”

Asker’s mouth was half open, and he suddenly slapped his head. So that was it, he hadn’t made it clear.

“Actually, I wanted to invite him to join my team.” Asker explained. “Being a gladiator is just a temporary gig. My actual profession outside is the leader of a mercenary group.”

“Oh, my apologies.” Barbarian said, “Is your team still short of people?”

“Interested in being a mercenary?” Asker asked with a smile.

“To be honest, as long as there are battles to fight, I don’t care if I’m a mercenary or a gladiator.” Barbarian said, “But, if it’s your mercenary group, I think I’m interested.”

“You have good taste.” Asker took out a contract. “Here, sign this contract and join my team. The terms are all written on it.”

Barbarian still crossed his arms, just looked at the contract silently, and after a long time, said:

“I can’t read.”

“Simple, just press your fingerprint.” Asker said, “Do you want me to read it to you?”

“No need. I trust you.” Barbarian said as he took off his left arm armor, made a cut on his index finger with the edge of a weapon next to him, then smeared the blood that flowed out on the pad of his thumb, and pressed it on the end of the contract.

This guy, a bit fierce… Asker was both amused and annoyed, sincerely admiring his way of directly using blood as inkpad.

“Ahem.” Asker introduced himself. “My name is Asker Lepidus Achilles, what about you?”

“Such a long name.” Barbarian said, “I can’t remember it, I’ll just call you Asker. Hmm. My name is Sidlipha, Sidlipha of Helsing.”

“Are you male or female?” Asker finally asked the question that had been puzzling him for a long time.

“Female.” Sidripha, now Sidlipha*, snorted from her nose and nodded. “I never said I was male, did I?”

“Oh.” Asker nodded.

Again: Asker, who grew up in a civilized modern society, naturally wouldn’t have any discrimination against women.

Probably only elementary school boys generally thought that being with girls was very shameful, very embarrassing, and very unmanly, so they deliberately avoided interacting with girls, even drawing a line on the desk… Asker had naturally long passed that youthful and ignorant age.

His criteria for judging teammates were simple, either they were strong enough or they had the potential to be cultivated, whether they were male or female didn’t matter at all.

Not to mention that in the game, the gender of NPCs was just an attribute, there was no evidence that female NPCs were weaker than male NPCs.

“I’ve thought about it.” Sidlipha sat cross-legged next to him, propped her knee with one hand, and said carelessly, “With our strength, forming a mercenary group will definitely allow us to conquer the world and become famous in all countries.”

“When the time comes, the kingdom nobles will come to recruit us, and we can also become earls. It would be best if the territory is near the North Sea, then I’ll take you fishing, have you ever seen a whale?”

“Yes.” Asker thought to himself, did seeing it online in his previous life count? “Well, actually, there are already four people in my mercenary group.”

“Oh, to be able to join your mercenary group, they must be very powerful warriors.” Sidlipha showed a yearning expression.

“Including me, there are probably only three warrior professions.” Asker said, “The other two, one is a healer, and the other is a mage… We have a chat group, do you have a phone?”

“No.” Sidlipha said.

Asker felt that he couldn’t continue this conversation. How could they communicate if she didn’t even have a phone?

“By the way, are you a transcendent being?” He asked in a low voice.

“What is a transcendent being?” Sidlipha was confused.

“I understand.” Asker nodded, so this was a silly girl who didn’t know anything except fighting, which made things easier. “Have you considered becoming a transcendent being? You will become even more powerful after becoming a transcendent being.”

“More powerful than a powered armor knight?” Sidlipha asked.

“Uh, these two are not from the same system. Powered armor knights are from the technology side, transcendent power is from the mystical side, different systems cannot be compared, you understand?”

“No.” Sidlipha said.

“Okay.” Asker could only say against his will, “Transcendent beings are more powerful.”

“Okay.” Sidlipha nodded vigorously. “In that case, I want to become a transcendent being.”

“That’s great.” Asker breathed a sigh of relief. If she was a pureblood supremacist and didn’t intend to enter the transcendent world, then he really couldn’t take her with him. If she was willing to take potions, then things would be much easier.

***

When the character introduces herself, the author switches to a different character for her name, ‘li’. . However, I’m unsure whether this change in characters reflects the author’s intention or the protagonist’s shifting perception. Initially, the protagonist believed the character was male and the text referred her as ‘利 li’, but after her true identity as a female is revealed, the character is written as ‘莉 li’. To convey this distinction, I’ve used ‘Ri’ and ‘Li’ in the translation to highlight the difference.

Sidripha(using利)  – Sidlipha(莉)

• 利 (lì): Means sharp, benefit, advantageous, etc.
• 莉 (lì): Primarily used in female names, means jasmine flower.

Chapter 35: The Second Gladiatorial Fight

Life Steal I, through close contact, could absorb the target’s life force.

It could interfere with the flow of life force within the target’s body, such as preventing the target’s life force from flowing into a wound after it was created, causing the wound to heal slowly. Or it could lock the flow of life force at the shoulder, causing the arm to necrotize and atrophy due to lack of life force.

It could also form a drop of flesh essence from the stolen life force, which, when diluted, would become a healing elixir. Applying it externally could quickly heal injuries.

The absorbed life force could be used to satisfy the daily need of Flesh I to consume 2ml of blood.

Asker looked at the text message Nuo sent on his phone and roughly understood the characteristics of Peggy’s ability.

Good, then there was one level 2 in the team. Asker thought to himself, one and a half, if Medea was included.

Life Steal I had some use in early battles, but it became completely useless in the later stages of the game. Because it had to be in contact to absorb life force, and the enemy obviously wouldn’t just stand there and let you touch them.

So it became a wretched playstyle of rubbing against the enemy in battle, and the amount of blood that could be absorbed was really limited. If this Sequence was upgraded to Life Steal II, then it would become long-range blood sucking, which would be much more practical in battle.

“In the next gladiatorial fight, our opponent is the yellow team.” The big guy “Barbarian” sharpened his battle axe next to him and said lightly. “The leader is a Varangian, a descendant of our Viking compatriots in the Siberian wilderness.”

“He is equipped with a two-handed greatsword, even longer and heavier than the greatsword you used in the last battle. I was also defeated by him once, and only saved my life by throwing away my weapon in time.”

“If possible.” He picked up his battle axe and blew on the polished blade. “Let’s kill him this time.”

“Are you so bloodthirsty?” Asker frowned. If this guy was a murderous maniac, wouldn’t recruiting him into the team simply disrupt their unity?

“Huh, don’t you become a gladiator to kill people?” Barbarian asked strangely.

“No.” Asker replied confidently. I became a gladiator for the “Sharp Weapon I” potion, and to see if I could recruit potential teammates. “Are you here to kill people?”

“Of course not.” Barbarian said, “I originally went to apply for the Emperor’s Varangian Guard, but I was rejected in the interview. And I spent all the money I brought with me on the road, so I had no choice but to come here and be a gladiator to make a living.”

“Then what is your dream?” Asker asked casually. “For example, after you have money.”

“I want to be a lord.” Barbarian said, “First find a noble to serve, then be knighted, get my own territory, and then kill bandits, escaped criminals, and so on every day.”

“And you say you’re not bloodthirsty?” Asker said, both amused and annoyed. “Who would dream of killing criminals?”

“What I pursue is not killing, but enjoying the process of fighting, understand? For us northerners, only by dying gloriously like a warrior can we be taken to Valhalla after death and enjoy feasting, singing, and wrestling all day long.” Barbarian sighed.

Asker heard the noise outside getting louder again: “3 hours are up, it’s time for us to fight.”

“It’s the two of us.” Barbarian corrected him. “These red-clad cowards don’t intend to fight alongside us.”

“Yes, the two of us.” Asker picked up the Caucasian straight sword. “Let’s go.”

“Wait, you’re not using the two-handed greatsword from last time?” Barbarian asked incredulously.

“Just trying out a different weapon.” Asker said.

“How can you change weapons casually?” Barbarian said incomprehensibly. “Haven’t you heard the saying: A weapon is a warrior’s bride.”

“Then it doesn’t matter.” Asker joked, “I have many wives.”

“If you’re a philanderer, be careful of being betrayed by your wife on the battlefield one day.” Barbarian said.

“Are you two done?!” Theotis, who was leading the red team in front, was furious and turned around to shout angrily, “If you want to chat, go chat in the gutter outside the arena!”

The entire red team walked out of the passage, came to the arena, and met the yellow team gladiators who were walking towards them.

These yellow team gladiators were generally armored, with a higher armor rate than the previous blue team, and the personnel were mainly stronger Franks.

Leading the yellow team was a northern Varangian, with messy hair and bear-like blue eyes. After putting on his helmet, his whole body was wrapped in steel armor, without revealing a single gap.

“The red team has also entered the arena! Led by the familiar Thracian ‘Brown Bear’!” The announcer howled like a drunkard. “And! Our hero from the last battle, who single-handedly killed three blue gladiators, ‘Viking’!!!”

The audience immediately cheered enthusiastically, obviously many of them had watched the last match.

“Do me a favor.” Theotis shook hands with the yellow team leader and whispered in his ear, “Later, kill the two people on the far right of my team, the reward is 3 pounds.”

“5 pounds.” The Varangian’s cold voice came from behind the helmet. “All their bones will be broken into pieces.”

“Deal.” Theotis nodded slightly.

After the two sides finished saluting, they led their teammates five steps away, drew their weapons, and stood ready.

“Who will be the MVP of this bloody gladiatorial fight?” The announcer was still shouting vigorously. “Is it the yellow team’s leader ‘Bone Splitter,’ or the red team’s leader ‘Brown Bear’? Can ‘Viking,’ who brought us a feast of carnage in the last match, continue his glory in this match…”

“Wait, am I seeing this right? ‘Viking’ is using a one-handed straight sword, not his signature two-handed greatsword?”

The arena referee also walked in and asked Asker:

“Did you choose the wrong weapon? If it’s because there are no two-handed greatswords in the training ground, I can go to the warehouse and get one for you.”

“No, thank you.” Asker said, “I plan to use this straight sword for this match.”

The referee nodded and made a “continue” gesture to the surrounding audience. The announcer’s incredulous voice came from the loudspeaker:

“Oh my God! ‘Viking’ actually refused the referee’s permission to change weapons and decided to use a one-handed straight sword in this gladiatorial fight? Please reconsider, ‘Viking’! What the audience wants to see is your heroic figure wielding a greatsword and smashing the enemy’s bones, not your miserable appearance when you are killed because your weapon is too weak!”

“How can a ‘Viking’ who doesn’t use heavy weapons be called a ‘Viking’? Do you want to change your nickname? Sicilian? Illyrian? Siris?”

“This commentary is so annoying.” Asker complained. “Is there any way to shut him up?”

“You think so too?” Barbarian echoed. “I’ve been putting up with him for half a year. If I could kill him, I’d rather not be the Daily Champion.”

In the box above the arena audience stands, the Imperial Kingsguard officers and Captain Michael were staring coldly at the arena below.

To be precise, they were staring at Asker, who was wearing a red gladiatorial cloak.

“The announcer is too noisy.” Michael frowned and said, “Shut him up.”

“Yes.” Two officers got up and went out.

The announcer’s roaring voice continued from the loudspeaker:

“…Listen, our audience is booing too. ‘Viking,’ let me teach you a lesson, a man’s weapon doesn’t have to be sharp, but it must be big! Thick! Hard! How can a one-handed straight sword, a weapon like a toothpick, be considered a weapon? Let me tell you… Huh? Who are you? You can’t come in here… Ah!”

The sound of microphone grabbing and fighting came from the loudspeaker, followed by a scream, and then silence.

Asker and Barbarian looked at each other speechlessly.

“It wasn’t me.” Barbarian shrugged. “I take back what I said before. Even if the announcer is killed, I still want to be the Daily Champion.”

“It has nothing to do with the announcer.” Asker said, “The reason you can’t be the Daily Champion is because I’m here.”

“Okay.” Barbarian said excitedly, “Then let’s see who kills more people this time.”

The starting pistol fired, and the battle began immediately. The red gladiators quickly contracted their formation, isolating Asker and Barbarian on the right wing. The yellow team also seemed to have coordinated in advance, sending out two yellow gladiators. One of them was the leader, the Varangian “Bone Splitter.”

“I’ll hold him off.” Staring at the 2-meter-tall, fully armored Bone Splitter, the 1.9-meter-tall Barbarian showed a wary expression. “You go and deal with his deputy, ‘Bloodthirsty.’”

“How about we switch?” Asker objected.

He stepped forward and thrust his sword straight at the opponent. Bone Splitter, behind his helmet, sneered coldly, his greatsword swinging up like a storm – it was a greatsword over two meters long, and because the center of gravity was too far away, it took a lot of strength to use it well. However, once it was used, it was extremely powerful, with a super large attack range.

Asker, as if he had expected it, rolled under the greatsword the moment it slashed down. Bone Splitter exerted force on his arm again, the greatsword turning a slight arc, and once again slashing down heavily like a mountain.

With a loud bang, the stone slab floor of the arena was almost split by the greatsword. Bone Splitter looked up in disbelief, only to see Asker standing unharmed on his greatsword, his straight sword casually slung over his shoulder.

“Not bad, you actually used such a ferocious weapon with skill.” He said with a chuckle. “I just happen to be short of a companion, are you interested?”

Compared to Barbarian, this Bone Splitter was obviously more suitable for the “violent output” role, so Asker didn’t bother to continue observing and directly tried to recruit him.

“Me?” Bone Splitter was stunned for a moment, then misunderstood what he meant. I’m going to abandon the leadership of the yellow team and become your companion, a red team gladiator? Damn, even the leader of the red team, ‘Brown Bear,’ wouldn’t dare to taunt me like this!

He bared his teeth, laughing angrily:

“Okay, I’m still missing a skull in my collection of trophies, are you interested in being their companion?”

“No? What a pity.” Asker said regretfully. Bone Splitter gripped the greatsword with both hands and abruptly lifted it upwards. Asker was thrown into the air by his great strength, his straight sword thrusting straight out in the air, aiming right between Bone Splitter’s eyes.

“Caucasian assassination swordsmanship, Shadow Hawk’s Prey.” In the box, Michael looked down and suddenly said.

Bone Splitter released his left hand from the weapon and grabbed at the tip of the sword. His palm was covered with steel gauntlets. As long as he grabbed that one-handed straight sword, he could easily twist it into a pretzel. Asker’s sword touched the nose guard of his helmet and was quickly retracted like the wind, a backhand slash landing on his shoulder.

“Far Eastern swordsmanship, Falling Phoenix Slash.” Another Imperial officer said.