The three-day gladiatorial performance had finally entered its final stage. This would also be the climax of the entire gladiatorial performance. Seventy-two gladiators from different gladiator schools with different skillsets were gathered in the arena today. They would compete with each other until the final champion was determined.
Unlike the previous twelve-men brawl in the Victor Arena, there were more gladiators this time, and they were stronger. Instead of fighting in a team, they would have to fight one-on-one. The loser team would not be granted a second chance to fight again. In other words, any minor mistakes could cause the gladiator to be eliminated.
The audience had been looking forward to this epic battle for a long time now. When the gladiators appeared on the stage, they screamed and cheered nonstop.
At this time, Sartonilos and others finally came back to their senses, realizing that they were now standing on the highest pedestal of the gladiatorial performance. All of them represented their respective gladiator schools. After going through yesterday’s horrifying events, they were now extremely fearful of Zhang Heng. However, that did not mean that they would give up on the final battle.
This performance was of paramount importance to all the gladiatorial schools. It would determine their rise and fall for the next few years or even exceeding ten years. Therefore, the owners of the gladiator schools had given their gladiators a fight-or-die order. Other than asking them to fight for the championship, they had set a minimum goal for them as well.
Sartonilos and other gladiators had not acquired their freedom. If they failed to achieve their goals, they would also face a lot of pressure. So, they could not give up now. After all, they were powerful and famous gladiators. Even if they could not beat Zhang Heng, they still had the upper hand against other gladiators.
Hence, they only needed to pay attention to avoid Zhang Heng in the next battle. However, when the battle started, the audience in the stands was surprised to find out that the powerful gladiators they had high hopes on had failed to threaten Zhang Heng’s current position. Their performance was worse than what the spectators were expecting.
Sartonilos and others were deeply affected by what they saw yesterday. The horrifying experience affected them physically and mentally. Compared with other gladiators that were fully prepared for today’s battle, most of them were rejuvenated. However, Sartonilos and other gladiators who had attacked Zhang Heng stayed up the whole night. And the lack of sleep had also weakened their mental state. Their reaction and cautiousness had deteriorated to varying degrees. Other than that, they were distracted by Zhang Heng when they fought, worried that they might have to face him in their next battle. Thanks to that, they were unable to unleash their full potential.
Still, the fear in their heart did not take away the skills that they had mastered. Under normal circumstances, they could control the rhythm of the battle. However, their opponents were not ordinary gladiators. These were the elites that survived the previous rounds of battles. Even if there was a large gap of strength between them, the difference was not that significant.
As a result, the audience in the stands was shocked by what they saw. The gladiators who were well-known in Rome could no longer fight like they used to. Some spectators familiar with Sartonilos and Danaos could not help but wonder if they had decided to lose on purpose during the battle’s early phase. Otherwise, no one could explain their unbearable performance.
On the other hand, among the group that attacked Zhang Heng yesterday, Habitus performed the best. He lost two fingers and ran away alone after he realized his sneak attack had failed. As a result, he missed the scene where Zhang Heng ascended to the sky. That was why his mental condition was fairly stable. He did not perform as well as he used to because his physical strength had deteriorated. As Zhang Heng said earlier, the loss of two fingers greatly impacted how he handled his weapon.
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However, Habitus found a solution to overcome this problem. He switched to holding the sword in his left hand and holding the shield in his right hand. The hand with fewer fingers was holding a shield. With that, he did not need to perform too many complex movements with his right hand.
Of course, he did not dare to use his shield to block his opponent’s attack. He was worried that he might drop the shield if the opponent’s attack was too powerful. Fortunately, he was a flexible gladiator. Not too long ago, he had learned some footwork from Dadatis, and even though he had not mastered it, it was enough to cope with the current battle. Eventually, he would gain the upper hand in his battle.
Habitus did try his best to fight this time. Not want the reputation that he had accumulated over the years to be wasted, he gritted his teeth and exerted all his strength. He even changed some of his previous fighting styles by cutting down some skills to attract the audience’s attention. He had to play safely in his first round of battle. After a while, he finally defeated his opponent successfully and claimed his first round of victory.
Like others, Habitus was monitoring Zhang Heng’s movement closely as well. Seeing that Zhang Heng was still quite a distance from him, Habitus hurriedly ended the battle and started the next. However, when he saw this second opponent, he was shocked.
Bach grinned at him, showing his two rows of teeth, “Oh, isn’t it a coincidence? It seems that the grievances between us can finally be solved.”
Habitus was only paying attention to Zhang Heng earlier. He had completely forgotten about Bach. Paying attention to only one person was his limit. He did not have enough energy to pay attention to two people at the same time.
Before the incident that happened yesterday, Habitus was afraid of fighting against Bach. Bach’s disadvantage was that he was too young and inexperienced. Compared with Habitus, he had more experience in battling against other gladiators. And he was at least 70% confident that he could defeat Bach.
But now, the circumstance had changed. Two of his fingers were missing. Although both his left and right hands could still hold a sword to fight, his left hand was not as flexible as his right hand. Moreover, he barely won the previous tough fight just now. And it forced him to spend a lot of his energy to claim the victory. In contrast, Bach had an easy fight just now.
Bach was determined to fight against Habitus in the final battle. Earlier, he could have claimed the victory, but he deliberately delayed it until Habitus finished his fight. He wanted his revenge.
Habitus then looked at the judge on the side. “We are from the same gladiator school. It doesn’t make sense for me to run into him so early.”
However, the judge ignored him and signaled them to start the fight. Immediately, Bach charged at him with a grin. Although the two did not like each other, Habitus still thought that Bach was almost as powerful as him. When the two met for the first time, he won the fight against Bach easily. However, there were many factors that contributed to his victory. First, Bach was tired and hungry. At the same time, he did not know much about him. And he underestimated his enemy as well. That was why he lost in that battle.
But this time, Bach came prepared. As soon as the battle started, Bach did not hesitate to deliver a heavy blow to Habitus. Instead of targeting Habitus’s weakness, he intended to make sure that Habitus couldn’t jump to dodge his attack. Hence, he would have to block his attack head-on.
Habitus was unlucky. Only after blocking two attacks, he felt that he was about to drop his shield. And this time, he did not have a solution to overcome this problem. So, Bach made use of this opportunity and continued to deal heavy damage to him. Bach’s attacks were not fancy, nor could they be considered as combat skills. All he did was used all his strength to attack Habitus brutally.