The Hippodrome of Constantinople.
"The first to appear is the Blue Team! The leader is Scolpo 'Polar Bear'! In the battle last month, he tore the enemy's head off his neck with just his bare hands!" The host was explaining through the loudspeaker with saliva flying, skillfully stirring up the atmosphere.
"Any opponent weighing less than 140 kg who encounters a polar bear should seriously consider whether his neck is made of iron!"
The crowd in the audience also started shouting wildly.
Since the Eastern Solomon Empire was culturally assimilated by Sirius, the upper class aristocrats have completely turned to art, literature, and film, and have turned their disdain on this bloody and barbaric sport.
The urban middle class still had a special liking for the classical gladiatorial culture, and the poorer they were, the more they liked to watch people fighting, bleeding and dying in the arena.
Of course, the gambling industry, which is closely related to gladiatorial combat, is also an important reason why the gladiatorial combat culture can prevail among the grassroots.
"Then it's the Red Team! The leader is the Thracian Brown Bear!" the host continued to shout, and one could even hear him jumping excitedly through the loudspeaker. "The Brown Bear's muscles may not be as developed as the Polar Bear's, but he is flexible and cunning enough!"
"This is a showdown of strength and skill. Two bears fight each other, and only one can survive in the end. We don't recognize draws in the arena! Whoever can stand to the end will be able to hold up a gold worth his weight on the enemy's corpse!"
Ask carried a giant sword and entered the field with the red team members. Then, the two teams, wearing red and blue robes, shook hands and greeted each other. Theotis looked at the leader of the opposite team, stretched out his hand and made a fake cut on his neck, and quickly glanced at Ask on the far right.
This action of cutting the neck was done for himself to see. Ask knew what he meant, but the other party did not seem to understand and just grinned fiercely.
The starting gun sounded, and the fight began instantly. The crowd in the audience stood up almost immediately, waving their fists at the gladiators below, shouting to encourage the gladiator team they supported to fight bravely, or cursing the tragic death of the opposing team.
The red team's formation on the field suddenly shrank, and everyone squeezed to the left wing (leaving only Ask on the far right), and started fighting with the blue team's right wing.
This was obviously beyond the blue team's expectations, but they certainly would not miss this opportunity. First, the team's strength shrank to the right wing, and then two people rushed to Ask on the left wing, naturally with the purpose of reducing the opponent's number by one.
"Oh my God! Theotis, what did you do? You abandoned a poor teammate on the far right wing!" The host tried to pretend to be crying exaggeratedly, and then turned into a plausible analysis, "Is this a bait?"
"Sure enough! The blue team chose to send out two people to take the bait, so the original main battle line immediately became eight against seven! Abandoning local forces in exchange for a numerical advantage on the front, is this your purpose? Cunning brown bear?"
"This damn clown host! I will tear out his intestines and strangle him to death!" Theotis, who was fighting, was annoyed by what he heard and even lost his concentration. He was also hit on the helmet by someone on the opposite side, which made his ears buzz.