Chapter 776: Turning The Tide Around
The two people in the center of the arena were panting violently.
The battle had been going on for quite some time, and judging from the audience’s enthusiastic reaction in the stands, it was apparent they were delighted with the battle.
After a few simple tests, Bach and Rufus immediately started to fight.
Muscle to muscle, slashing to cleaving, the sound of weapons and shields colliding, splatters of blood and sweat on the ground; male hormones filled the whole arena.
Rufus had to admit that he had underestimated the newcomer in front of him. Bach’s combat skills might need a little polishing, but this was a newcomer’s common problem. On the other hand, Rufus could sense that Bach was born with an instinct to detect threats.
Every time he set a trap, Bach would always detect it at the final moment. And the cunning Bach would make use of his trap to go against him. The wound on Rufus’s waist was the best proof of that.
Bach’s sword hit so hard that it almost chopped off his bones. After the judge paused the battle and inspected the wound, he ruled that the battle could continue.
Rufus was used to a situation like this.
Such was the fate of a gladiator. Unless he was severely injured or the other party surrendered, the battle would continue no matter what.
Hence, Rufus had gotten used to fighting with different kinds of injuries on him. However, the wound on his waist did affect his next move, especially his dodge action. Fortunately, Bach was no better than Rufus. The latter’s calf was stabbed by Rufus.
Now, the two were back on the starting line.
In the next battle, both sides deliberately took advantage of each other’s injuries. Rufus forced Bach to put more weight on his injured leg, while Bach forced Rufus to twist his waist more often.
The blood flowed down from Rufus’s and Bach’s thighs to their ankle, where it would finally land on the arena’s grounds. The whole thing was a brutal and bloody affair, hyping up the thousands of spectators at the stands.
However, this intense atmosphere did not affect Rufus. He was still trying his best to focus on his opponent. The expression on Bach’s face frustrated Rufus. Bach, as a newcomer, was not nervous about the battle. And the most important thing was that he showed no emotion as he stared. It was as if he was staring at a dead person.
Rufus could not figure out why Bach would hate him so much. It was common that the gladiators would fight with each other in the school for various reasons. To attract more audience, the arena would deliberately cook up some drama among the gladiators. However, Bach had just entered the gladiator school not too long ago, and he had been focusing on his training. Rufus could not remember when he had offended Bach.
No matter what, he had to win this battle.
Rufus rushed to Bach, “Game’s over, kid. I’m going to fight seriously now. If you don’t want to die, remember to kneel and surrender to me.”
Bach grinned. “So these are your last words?”
Immediately, Rufus struck at Bach with his trident, exerting all his strength to press Bach down. His astonishing willpower had helped him to overcome the pain from his waist injury. When both sides had reached their physical limits, he forcibly pushed himself back to his perfect state.
It was then that the battle began to lean towards Rufus. It did not take long for Rufus to stab Bach in his left arm, forcing Bach to drop his buckler.
Upon seeing that, Rufus’s supporters immediately stood up and cheered for him.
At the audience seat, Mark Reuss’s face was dark. He looked at Gaby angrily and asked, “What’s the matter? Didn’t you tell me that Rufus is the most suitable person for Bach to fight against in the opening match? All I see is Rufus beating him up. With this kind of combat skills and strength, how are we going to make him the successor of Sethnets? I have spent so much money to buy him. Is it going to be a failed investment?”
Gaby was surprised by Bach’s performance as well. He had been in charge of Bach’s training, and Rufus had also been trained by him back then. In other words, Gaby knew both of them quite well. He had gone through careful consideration before he made this arrangement. He was not saying that Bach would definitely win the battle. It was that Bach shouldn’t have been beaten up by Rufus so badly.
“I… don’t know what happened, but I can assure you that this is not all of Bach’s strength. I don’t know what’s going on with him or what he is thinking. Losing this battle on purpose will not benefit him in any way.”
When the two were talking, the battle was about to come to an end. The situation had become more and more unfavorable for Bach. He lost his shield, and his performance was going downhill. On the other hand, Rufus had only become braver, at the same time, prepared to attack Bach with his fishing net.
Finally, he waited for the moment when Bach’s footsteps became utterly disorganized. Rufus caught Bach’s weakness and threw the fishing net at him. The moment he did that, he had, for some reason, the sudden feeling that something terrible was going to happen to him. He saw Bach abandoning the “nowhere-to-escape look,” turned into a cheetah, dodged the fishing net, and pounced at Rufus, directly hitting his arms.
Rufus wanted to raise his armguards to protect himself, but it was too late. The moment Bach charged towards him, he fiercely inserted the dagger in Rufus’s neck and pierced through the latter’s throat.
Those shouts of applause from the audience were silenced all of a sudden.
Everyone was stunned by this sudden change of outcome.
Blood gushed out of Rufus’s mouth, and his eyes were filled with horror and surprise. He opened his mouth and tried to say something, but only unintelligible sounds came out of it.
But Bach knew what Rufus wanted to ask, and he moved closer to the latter’s ear. “Aren’t you curious about why I want to kill you? It’s simple. I checked your resume. Five years ago, you participated in the war against us. Presumably, you must have slaughtered quite a few of my people. Consider your death as a debt payment. Even if I can’t kill you on the battlefield, we can still meet in the arena. Am I right?”
Rufus’s eyes were filled with regret. He did not regret joining the army but regretted not finding out more about Bach before the battle. Otherwise, even if he lost, he could get to keep his life as he conceded in time.
The audience on the stands could not hear the conversation between the two. After a short moment of silence, they immediately cheered for Bach.
Except for the people who placed their bets on Rufus, most of the audience watched the performance with great excitement. Upon Bach’s brilliant play to claim the victory, the audience immediately gave a round of applause to Bach and cheered for him. As for Rufus, now lying in a pool of his own blood, he would be forgotten really soon.
In the stands, Mark Reuss also breathed a sigh of relief. He could now relax again. Although Rufus’s accidental death caused him to lose a great gladiator, he still cared more about Bach since he was the future arena’s trump card. Besides, this was an arena, and it was normal for someone to die here.
Only Gaby seemed to have thought of something and frowned. He probably knew why Bach’s performance was so unbearable to watch earlier. He was trying to use his weak performance to confuse Rufus, seeking a perfect chance to kill him and wanting to prevent him from begging for mercy. For that, he deliberately let Rufus injured him.
After all, Gaby was the winner of this battle. So, Gaby only warned him about it with his eyes.