This is a carnival like a holiday celebration!
Char's first impression after seeing the previous scene with my own eyes! !
The outer wall of this ancient arena is angular, and after entering it, there is a huge oval square surrounded by stepped stands ranging from several meters to more than ten meters high.
In the center, a large circular pit with a diameter of about 100 meters was dug out of the ground, and the depth of the excavation also reached four or five meters. The spectators in the surrounding stands are above the safety height of the edge.
Seeing the highest place is due north, the stand on that side is 15 meters high, the height of the city wall, one fence-shaped protruding terrace shape, square and round stone pillars are arched, the middle terrace is the highest, semi-circular shape. , Even the railings of the fence are painted gold, and the terraces on both sides are about one meter apart, showing a wild goose-wing spread.
The rest of the stands are of ordinary ladder style. When Xi Ya walked into the arena, the giant arena, which was enough to accommodate more than 20,000 people, was nearly half full.
According to Avre Carter, this is just a preliminary match, and in the main stage, the arena is full of seats almost every day. The ones closest to the front row are the most expensive, because you can hear the roars and shouts of the slaughtered warriors in the arena at the closest distance, and see every detail of the scene of blood and flesh more clearly, and even sometimes, You can even feel the blood sprayed from it!
- These seats have always been the patent of those nobles or wealthy businessmen who are willing to spend a lot of money.
And the terraces that look like boxes in the distance are owned by the real powers of the empire. The one in the center and the tallest belongs to the royal family. In the annual competitive competition and the final main game, His Majesty the Emperor himself will attend the observation. The terraces on both sides It belongs to prime ministers, generals, imperial justices and so on.
Stepping into the stand inside the arena from a gate, Char followed Afre Carter to the east and near the north. There are also special waiters in the arena. These people wear short-sleeved black gowns, obviously big It was a cold day, but he was so tired and sweaty that he was running around barefoot, some holding a large plate full of discarded notes, and various currencies, including gold and silver.
"These are the people who are in charge of betting." Avre Carter smiled: "Such a competitive competition is full of business opportunities. As early as many years ago, His Majesty sold the gaming rights of the competition to several people in the empire. Owned by an ancient chamber of commerce with a long history, such an auction of gaming rights is held every ten years, and each time the three chambers of commerce with the highest bids will jointly own the gaming rights.”
He pointed to the waiters who were running around, and said in a low voice: "Before entering, the bulletin board outside has the names and origins of the fighting samurai. Before the start of each game, the audience can place bets on the waiters. When betting, pay in cash, in exchange for a note with the bet written on it, and after the game, you can use the note to exchange the winning bet."
Avre Carter smiled, then pulled over a waiter who was running by him, took out a silver coin from his pocket and stuffed it into the other party, shouted and gestured twice, the waiter quickly respectfully put the two coins away. The person was led to the front row below the northeast stand, and found an empty seat in the third row for the two of them to sit down.
Afterwards, Xi Ya experienced the intense splendor and... cruelty of this kind of competitive competition with a long history in the Byzantine Empire! !
The huge arena below, the large circular pit is divided into six independent small competition fields with a stone wall that can be pushed by pulleys. This is the rule during the preliminaries, and once it enters the main competition Every game, the entire field can be occupied.
There are different preliminaries being held in the six independent small competition arenas, and Xiaya looked at it roughly, and could see a bit of taste.
In the three divided small competition arenas, two or two warriors were fighting against each other. Judging from their strength, they were all weak in the preliminaries. However, there was a competition field, but it was not a contest between warriors! But man and beast!
A man wearing a leather male armor, a shield and a long sword, half-squatting, is facing a blood-devouring mad wolf! That mad wolf is an adult wolf, with a strong body, and its physique is about the same size as the one that Xi Ya killed on the Wildfire Plain, but its fur is thicker and brighter, and its physique is obviously more outstanding!
The samurai was already wounded, and the bare arms and thighs were left with deep scratches from two wolf claws, dripping with blood, and there was blood on one of the wolf's front paws. Somewhat incoherent, apparently also wounded by the samurai.
When Xia Ya watched, the wolf jumped over and threw the samurai directly back to the ground, but the samurai used his shield to block his face. Although he was thrown down, the wolf's head was on the shield. The claws tore and grabbed it, but could not penetrate the shield. The samurai took the opportunity to use his long sword to stab the wolf's belly a few times! !
With the sound of puffing blood, the audience beside the stand shouted excitedly in unison. The mad wolf screamed and whimpered, and was finally overturned by the samurai. His stomach had already been ripped open, and even his internal organs and intestines were flowing out. Falling to the ground, the warrior strode over and stabbed the wolf's head with his sword, then raised his shield and shouted victory. It won applause from the audience in the stands.
Seeing this, Xia Ya retracted her eyes and sneered.
Avre Carter also noticed the situation over there, and seeing that Xi Ya didn't take it seriously, he explained: "During the lottery process, in order to increase the viewing experience, many years ago, the project of man and beast fighting was added. If the lottery is drawn This kind of thing is the most popular scene for the audience... Well, the beasts drawn in the preliminaries are generally not too strong, there are more ordinary jackals, ligers, and less monsters. These animals are raised in the chamber of commerce, specially It's for use during games."
"It's fake." Xia Ya hit the nail on the head and sneered: "Look at the mad wolf that was killed, hmph... How can the blood-devouring mad wolf be so weak? These citizens of the imperial capital have no knowledge and have never seen a real mad wolf. The ferocity, the real mad wolf, I'm afraid that a few pounces and bites will kill that warrior."
Avre Carter nodded and said in deep thought: "Sir, you are right. In these games, fraud often happens, and those chambers of commerce sometimes do some manipulation in the game in order to make a profit. People are not easy to control, but This beast is much easier. If you want people to win a battle between humans and beasts, you should give the beast some drugs such as anesthesia before the game, so that the beast's response is slow and its strength is weakened, so ordinary audience can't see it. If you want the beast to win, give the beast some stimulating and exciting drugs, which will make the beast go crazy in a short period of time and improve its combat effectiveness.
Xiaya shook his head: "I'm not talking about that. Hmph... I just tell you, even if you don't control it with drugs, the monsters used in this kind of competition are much worse than those in the real wilderness."
The turtle sighed: "Raising big things in cages, and the wildness that grew up in the wilderness, mountains and forests, is stronger or weaker, needless to say! Even if it is the same tiger, raised in a cage for many years, it is not enough. Transformed into a cat."
Alfrekat nodded again and again, in agreement. She couldn't help but cast a somewhat agreeable look at Xia Ya.
After commenting on these, the two suddenly heard the audience around them suddenly stand up, and there was a burst of shouts and cheers like a tsunami of mountains and tsunamis. Everyone's faces were full of excitement and excitement like admiring heroes. Xia and Affleck were stunned for a moment, then looked down...
It turned out that just below the northeast stand where the two were, facing a small divided competition arena, the competition was empty just now, and the players who were fighting had just appeared.
Obviously, among the players in this competition, there are probably some famous guys, or famous players with outstanding records before, which caused these audiences to cheer and shout.
Alfrekat and Char looked down, their eyes widened at the same time.
"Damn! It's actually this bastard?!"
I saw two warriors walking in from the arena below the stage. One of them was wearing silver fine-steel light armor. He was handsome. He was carrying a silver cross sword. Distribute the attention-grabbing momentum.
This guy, but let Xia Ya and Avre Carter look at them, and they suddenly show anger, especially Afre Carter, who is even more jealous when the enemy meets!
This person is actually the leader of the silver python warrior group who ambushed the two on the way to the imperial capital, Philip! !
"How could it be this guy?" Xia Ya snorted and squinted his eyes: "Is he a high-level warrior? Isn't that Silver Python warrior group very famous? Why did he come to play the preliminaries?"
Avre Carter gritted his teeth fiercely: "According to the strength of the Silver Python Warriors, he does not need to play the preliminaries. However... He did not participate in the first three competitions, but let his younger brother play, so calculating the previous results, Although his samurai group is well-known, in the individual competition, he has to start from the beginning... Hmph, maybe he did it on purpose, after all, his brother defeated me in the last competition, which damaged their reputation, this time He made a comeback and used his opponent's weakness in the preliminaries to win a few games in a row to gain some fame."
Philip under the stage naturally didn't notice Char and Afre Carter hidden among the dense crowd in the stands.
His opponent was a fierce-looking warrior, about thirty years old, armed with an iron shield in one hand and a long sword in the other. Wearing a cowhide breastplate—regardless of strength, just looking at this outfit, everyone can tell who is stronger and who is weaker.
The warrior seemed to be nervous too, but he couldn't bear to back away at the moment, just stared at Philip closely.
Philip was arrogant, showing his long sword held high, greeting the audience in the stands, earning enough cheers from the audience, and then turned around, facing the opponent in front of him, smiling coldly, and pretending to be elegant bending over, OK In the ancient ceremony of a samurai, the long sword was swung, and it was gently drawn, and the movement was really quite a bit of everyone's demeanor.
Afterwards, the two naked wrestlers next to the competition field reasonably slammed a heavy hammer on a giant round gong, and with a bang, announced the start of the competition! The two quickly carried the giant gong and retreated from the side door.
Philip stood on the spot with a calm and relaxed expression. He had already calculated that he would never meet an opponent who would truly threaten him in the preliminaries. Although there were no hidden dragons and crouching tigers in the preliminaries, his large sum of gold coins had already been scattered. He bribed the person in the chamber of commerce who arranged the game, and he already knew the lottery process. At least before the main game, all the way was smooth - Alfre Carter was right. Victory times, to add some power to yourself.
Before the current game, he had won four consecutive victories, and in one of them he even killed a wind arrow-toothed beast on the spot! That's a mid-level monster! That game gave him a lot of fame, but others didn't know that the arrow-toothed beast that was fighting against him had been poured down a large barrel of spirits mixed with anesthetics before the game!
Glancing at the opponent, this opponent is far inferior to me from the perspective of the equipment. The sword and shield in his hand are ordinary goods, and the leather armor on his body is a defense only used in a remote mercenary group—even if he himself Just parrying and not fighting back, with his first-class silver armor, it is not easy for the opponent to hurt him!
The rival samurai bent over and held a sword and shield, turned half a circle beside Philip, and carefully captured the fighter plane. Philip stood there, holding his sword proudly and smiling, looking at his opponent coldly.
Finally, the opponent couldn't find the flaw, his heart slammed, and he shouted, and a faint gray light emerged from his body. Obviously, the level of vindictiveness has reached the ranks of middle-level warriors. , protected his vital point with a shield, and slashed down with a volley! Above the blade, the fighting spirit shines!
hum! ! !
Philip took a step back and blocked the horizontal sword. He heard a squeak. The warrior stepped back, and the blade in his hand was missing a small mouth! Philip laughed, deliberately showing off, and shouted loudly: "You are not my opponent, throw your knife and surrender!"
After he finished speaking, his whole body was covered in silver light, and the silver light instantly enveloped his whole body. Under the silver armor and silver sword, it filled his body with a sacred and awe-inspiring aura! The knowledgeable audience in the stands immediately shouted and cheered.
High-level fighting spirit! High-level fighting spirit! ! ! !
"Yi?" Xia Ya couldn't help but wonder.
This Philip, when he ambushed himself that day, didn't seem to have such a strong grudge
Alfrekat glanced at it and sneered: "He cheated!"
"Fake? Can vindictiveness also cheat?" Xia Ya's eyes widened.
"There must be some kind of magic blessing on his armor. This is an illusion. It uses light to amplify the light of Dou Qi. It looks scary, but it's actually... hum, his brother used this method last year. Before the competition, the momentum was high. Just let the opponent be a little bit jealous first, and when they fight, it will be more beneficial to grab the first mover. It's just that his younger brother is still getting down on the ground by me, hum! Both of these brothers are not good things."
Sure enough, when the opponent warrior saw Philip's gorgeous vindictive radiance, his face became more and more difficult to look. Philip shouted loudly, jumped up, and stretched out like a big bird. His movements were indeed gorgeous and vigorous. The sword fell, the glazing blade on the edge of the sword was separated, and a strong light of fighting qi was cut down. The opponent raised his shield to resist, and with a squeak, the ordinary iron shield was suddenly cut in half!
Philip landed in front of the opponent, stabbed with his sword, and the opponent struggled to block with a horizontal sword. The two fought four or five in a row. Pressed, the shield was chopped off, and he couldn't help but weaken a bit of momentum. Although the blade tried hard to block, but after a few hits, he retreated again and again, the left side crumpled on the right, and with a scream of pain, he was hit with a sword on the shoulder. ! Philip deliberately showed off, and with a twist of the sword, he snapped the shoulder straps of the opponent's breastplate with a snap, and with a whimper, the opponent's breastplate was completely lifted by him!
Taking a step forward, he kicked the opponent's heart. The samurai spewed blood, flew backwards, fell to the ground and struggled a bit. When he was about to stand up, Philip had already caught up, and he raised his long sword and slashed!
Klang-kang-kang! !
The silver splendid light suppressed the opponent's warrior's gray Dou Qi light almost invisible. After a few consecutive strikes, the warrior was already kneeling on the ground, unable to stand up, but after holding the knife in both hands for a few consecutive blocks, there was a cluck, hand. In a light, the blade has been shortened!
Philip sneered, and the sword was placed on the opponent's neck. Then he kicked the opponent to the ground again, and stepped on the opponent's heart. He raised his long sword and repeatedly signaled to the audience in the stands.
At this time, the audience in the stands was boiling!
To be able to see a high-level warrior with silver fighting spirit in the preliminaries, this is an extremely rare scene! It seems that this kind of master has always entered the main competition directly!
At this moment, the audience shouted loudly. Many people shouted vigorously. They picked up a handkerchief from under their seats and waved it vigorously.
Others who bet on their opponents and lose money are so angry that they tear up the betting slips and shout "kill" loudly!
There was a sound of "kill" all over the place!
This is originally a bloody and cruel tradition. On the competitive stage, life and death are determined by fate, and murder is innocent! Although not every game will be divided into life and death, but according to ancient rituals, many times, if the surrounding spectators wave their handkerchiefs in unison and shout to kill, then the samurai below can execute their opponents at the request of the audience! Such a move does not need to be investigated by the imperial decree!
Of course... If you have good intentions in your heart, it is natural to keep people in your subordinates.
It's just that this Philip naturally won't have any good intentions. Since he came to participate in the preliminaries as a high-level warrior, it is to create momentum. The more murders, the more sensational it will be!
In the sound of shouting and killing around, Philip sneered, and looked down at the opponent who was stepping on his feet. The warrior's heart was bright, his face was full of fear, and he shouted loudly: "I admit defeat! Rao..."
puff!
Before the samurai finished his plea for mercy, Philip stabbed the opponent's throat with a sword, and then the sword's edge turned, and the sharp blade cut off his neck. Philip bent over and grabbed the opponent's hair and pulled it hard!
puff! ! !
Blood spurted wildly in the cavity, and then rained down again, covering his bright silver armor with red spots!
Philip raised his sword in one hand and held the severed head high above his head with the other, blood dripping down, but he laughed wildly at the audience in the stands.
In an instant, the enthusiasm of the audience in the stands was ignited! These people come here to watch, just to seek the bloody stimulation of this sense! Seeing the killing in public and beheading the head, the bloody scene became more and more stabbed into the frenzy of the audience. Countless people stood up and shouted madly at Philip. Even in other stands, some people paid attention to the scene here, and they were all over the place. Jumping up and shouting applause.
For a time, the stands in the entire arena were almost attracted by Philip's actions, and no one paid attention to the movements of the other competition arenas.
With applause from the audience, Philip felt contented. He only felt that it was a wise decision to drop his status to participate in this kind of preliminaries, and spending thousands of gold coins to manage the relationship was really worth it!
The cheers and applause continued for about a minute, and two wrestlers came out of the side door to take out the gong, and the gong was about to end...
At this time, Philip suddenly made a move that made the audience even more excited! !
He suddenly flew up and cut off the copper hammer in the hand of the warrior with one sword!
The two fighters were stunned on the spot!
Philip, on the other hand, strode to the edge of the arena, opened his arms, and raised his silver cross sword high with one hand - but turned the hilt upside down, with the blade pointing down and the hilt up, facing the surrounding people. Ring the stands to signal! !
This action immediately made the audience boil, and the roaring and cheering sound almost overturned the buildings of the arena! !
"Challenge! This is a challenge!!"
Avre Carter and Xi Ya sat in the crowd, Avre Carter's eyes flashed, and his fists clenched: "This is an ancient ritual for competitive competitions! This guy seems to be desperate for a blog name. !"
The clamor next to him was deafening, and Xiaya frowned and asked loudly, "What ancient ritual? What does he mean by challenging?"
Avre Carter raised his voice and shouted in Char's ear: "That is, the winner has the right to demand that the game not end, and the contest continues!! As long as the gong does not ring! According to the ancient ritual, the victorious warrior, in order to show off his Wu Yong, you can challenge the entire audience. If anyone in the audience admits that he is dissatisfied with the winning samurai, he can immediately leave the field to challenge! No matter whether you kill or kill, you will not be held accountable!! Hmph! He is very smart, he knows the preliminaries. The people who came to watch are ordinary spectators, and when it comes to the finals, there will be many famous martial artists in the stands to watch... So, he actually made such a move in the preliminaries, cunning bastard!"
When Xia Ya heard this, she suddenly laughed wildly on her face.
"Hahahaha! Free challenge? Good! Very good!! This guy is worried that he can't find him bad luck! He wants to die himself, so I can't blame him!"
After speaking, the turtle suddenly slapped Avre Carter and shouted: "Open your eyes and watch carefully, I will avenge your dead brothers!"
Xia Ya suddenly jumped up from the stand, who was in the air and jumped into the battle platform below with a bang! !
His sudden appearance made the entire audience go crazy! Watching such a game, such a dramatic scene is what the audience is most looking forward to! Sure enough, as soon as the turtle appeared, most of the applause in the audience went to the guy who jumped from the stands.
The whole arena is like a huge beehive, and the buzzing sound is deafening...
※※※
Xia Ya jumped off the arena without any fancy moves, and after smashing to the ground, a pit of dirt was smashed out of the place where his feet landed!
Xia Ya wiped the dirt on his face, looked up at that Philip, with a grin on his face: "Hey, little white face, I'm here!!"
Philip originally had an calculus in his mind. There would be no masters watching the game in the preliminaries, and there would be no danger in doing some outrageous actions by himself. Just now, the audience cheered. He was proud of himself, and suddenly such an evil spirit descended from the sky. God come? !
Philip saw the person coming, and suddenly his heart was mad! How could he not remember Xi Ya? He was ambushed on the road that day, this madman intervened and saved the Afrekat, and when he was fighting with himself, this guy’s martial skills were outrageous! Push yourself back step by step! If it wasn't for the help of the magician he hired, I'm afraid he would have been slashed by the opponent at that time! Even so, the scene in which Xia Ya forcibly killed the magician head-on, holding the bloody head of the magician, looks like a suffocating...
Every time I think about it afterwards, it makes Philip have nightmares again and again! !
And at this moment, just when he was most proud, this nightmarish guy actually appeared out of nowhere? !
Philip was so startled that he almost couldn't hold the sword. He subconsciously took two steps back, staring at Xi Ya with wide eyes.
"Huh? Why are your eyes so big?" Xia Ya narrowed his eyes and slowly pulled out the fire fork, with a wicked smile on his face: "Don't you recognize Lao Tzu? Come on, little white face, come over obediently, Let you, Mr. Xia Ya, stab him a few times!"
The screams around him were like a tsunami, but at this moment, where is Philip still proud? He just wished he could slap himself twice in the face!
Staring at Xia Ya stubbornly, Philip's face turned green and white, and finally he gritted his teeth and let out a sentence: "You! I have no grievances with you, why are you persecuting me so tightly..."
As soon as Xia Ya waved his hand, he pushed forward step by step, the fire fork slashed again and again, and grinned: "If there is any grudge or no grudge, let me stab it a few times before talking about it. Come on, don't hide!"