Heroes of Might and Magic: Grand Consul

Chapter 77 Gladiators

The day of the duel arrived quickly, and thanks to the propaganda of some people, the whole city knew about it.

The rules are simple: each non-hero unit sends one person to fight in a one-on-one duel in the arena; surrendering or dying results in a loss.

The reason heroes aren't sent out is because their destructive power is too great, and they're difficult to control once they use magic. Furthermore, heroes are all commanders, so having them duel one-on-one wouldn't make much sense, unless it's a deep-seated, irreconcilable feud. Otherwise, the kingdom doesn't allow heroes to participate.

Heroes are not entirely uninvolved; they apply command-type buffs, making warriors even stronger.

The order of Su Mu is simple: Mead and Lie Feng, that's enough.

He personally commands the troops, and with the support of his governing skills, if the opponent survives until the third round, he will lose.

Humans are martial, and their very nature is filled with savagery and bloodlust; duels are a way to vent their primal desires.

The Griffinson family representative emerged from the east gate of the arena, a burly warrior clad in leather armor, making his grand entrance amidst the adoring crowd.

"It's Giles! I can't believe Griffinson actually brought him here."

"He's the most famous star in the arena, highly skilled, an expert in both sword and shield, and incredibly fast. We're in luck now."

"Place your bet! I'm betting 10 gold coins, no, 100 gold coins on Giles!"

The gladiator warmed up before entering the arena. Seeing the cheers from the surrounding audience, he showed off his swordsmanship. Even though he was wearing armor, he was very agile. His shield flew freely on his arm like a bird, and he was able to accurately block even powerful archers.

【Gales (Gladiator Commander, Level 3 Special Unit): Attack 20 (25), Defense 14 (19), Damage 6-12, Health 80, Speed ​​8, Medium Size.

Element: None.

Features: flashy skills, blocking, vanity

Soul of the Arena (19): Can acquire different battlefield skills based on individual training level (requires winning a sufficient number of times in the arena to unlock; if the winning streak ends, the effect will be greatly reduced).

Gladiator - Weakness Exploit: Skilled at finding the enemy's weaknesses. There is a 10%-30% chance to find the enemy's weakness when attacking, and attacking the weakness will deal 150% damage (the greater the difference between attack and defense, the higher the probability of finding the weakness).

Gladiator Parry: Allows you to quickly use your shield to parry archer attacks. The first parry increases damage reduction by 80%, which decreases with each subsequent parry (to half).
Commentary: Gladiators can possess a wide range of skills and abilities, but the cost is enormous.

As expected of the king of the arena, capable of both offense and defense, Griffinson fully considered the strength of the archers in Kuraki Town and spent a lot of money to hire Giles, precisely to counter the archers from afar.

Given the distance of the arena, Giles can at most withstand two ranged shots before closing in on the archer and launching a melee attack. Once a ranged archer is brought into close combat, even a hero-level character will find it difficult to defeat a gladiator.

The idea was good, but unfortunately, Su Mu had no intention of using a marksman.

"Bang!"

The moment the iron gate opened, a shield-bearer in full armor stepped out. He not only held up a thick shield, but his armor was also completely seamless.

The nobles, accustomed to seeing warriors fighting bare-knuckle, burst into laughter.

"coward!"

"A dwarf encased in sheet metal!"

"Gales has his own way of dealing with big, clumsy bears like you."

Clearly, despite the lack of magical reconnaissance, based on past gladiatorial experience, no one had high hopes for the Shield Soldier Commander.

Mead didn't have Giles's flashy skills; he was like a machine, walking straight to the center of the court.

Although Giles was strong, he appeared somewhat frail next to the fully armed Mead. However, having fought in the arena for many years, he was well aware of his advantages.

He quickly approached Mead, circling around him without ever engaging in a direct confrontation.

The shield before him was thick and sturdy, and even Giles couldn't find any weakness in the enemy; he could only desperately try to circumvent it.

The nobles watching the match immediately erupted in clamor.

"Hurry up, Giles, take him down."

"Find a gap in the armor and stick the rapier inside!"

Amidst the surrounding noise, Mead's defense seemed to falter. Giles circled behind Mead, only to find that his opponent had no time to turn around. He stepped forward, sword in hand, and thrust at Mead's neck.

Generally speaking, even the strongest armor has gaps and weaknesses at the joints. The shieldbearer before him was troublesome, but Giles trusted his experience.

Just as the dagger touched the Midgard armor and was about to pierce through, the shield suddenly spun around, emitting a powerful earth-colored light that slammed heavily into Giles.

Dust billowed up, and no one could see what was happening. They only saw Giles lying on the ground, bleeding from his limbs, struggling to crawl towards the outer edge.

The entire arena fell silent, everyone staring at Mead in astonishment. Only Ouling turned to look at Su Mu, knowing that it was definitely the lord who had bestowed Mead with such great power.

【Mead: Attack 12 (17), Defense 16 (21), Damage 6-6, Health 60, Speed ​​6, Medium Size】

Loyalty: 80, Shield Formation.

Giant Shield Counterattack (Governing Blessing): Loses counterattack effect, replaced by Earth Shield Counterattack, with a fixed damage of 3 (affected by defense bonus; for every 5 points of defense the shield soldier has, the damage increases by 6).
Shieldbearer Commander (Governor's Blessing): You have incorporated thrusting techniques into the defense of the Rock Shield, taking very little damage on the first hit (maximum damage taken is 90) and inflicting additional recoil (fixed value +10)].

Giles slowly got up, looking in horror at the broken dagger in his hand. This weak point attack hadn't even pierced the opponent's outer armor.

He couldn't understand why the other party, who was clearly just a first-level soldier commander, should be so powerful, even after being baptized by the elements.

Humans are like that; no matter how good they are in a certain field, they will panic when they encounter events that are completely incomprehensible.

Giles dared not attack at all; he could only drag his injured leg and slowly retreat.

Mead, however, did not want to give him a chance. He slowly moved closer, cornering his opponent.

Giles stood with his back against the colosseum's stone bricks, the crowds and nobles above urging him to attack, but he could hear nothing; fear overwhelmed his thoughts.

Under extreme pressure, Giles chose the worst possible tactic, raising his longsword to launch another desperate attack.

The outcome was predictable: the giant shield slammed down on Giles' head, blasting him into the stone wall.

In that instant, Giles seemed to understand the other party's characteristics, but unfortunately, he realized it a little too late.

Mead delivered another heavy punch to the gladiator's chest, causing him to cough up blood and clearly die.

The arena's order officer tried to call a halt, but the nobles had gone into complete frenzy, shouting for a new gladiator.

"Mead! Mead!"

"kill him!"

Mead stretched out his giant hand and lifted Giles up. Giles opened his eyes wide as if he wanted to beg for mercy, but Mead snapped his fragile throat.

He certainly wasn't trying to pander to the audience, but the owner behind this arena had connections with Griffinson, so Giles was destined to never leave.

"boom!"

The gladiator's body was thrown in the center of the arena, kicking up a cloud of dust.

"Gladiator combat? The battlefield is the real arena. Your skills are still far from sufficient!"

A deafening roar, congratulations to the Shieldbearer Commander on his victory.

Su Mu and Maggie sat on the highest viewing platform. He was completely unmoved by the victory, as if he had expected it all along.

Several nobles around him glanced at Su Mu with strange looks. Although they had long heard that his men were incredibly brave, they hadn't expected them to be this fierce!

If a commander is this powerful, what about the other heroes?

With subordinates like these, there's really no need to rack your brains; you can just direct them to do the work.

No wonder he dared to go head-to-head with Griffinson; he's got guts!
A group of people from the council opposite him surrounded Acker Griffinson, their faces deathly pale.

However, they still forced a smile: "It's just a game, it won't have any impact."

Besides, even if we lose to them, the worst that can happen is we have to pay them a piece of land. What difference does it make?

Although the group was unhappy, they only thought it was a game. Gladiators were just toys for nobles, just for everyone's amusement. So what if they died?

Griffinson managed to remain calm, but a sense of unease gradually crept into his heart.

If it were just Maggie, he could just accept losing and it wouldn't be a big deal.

But what does it mean that such a powerful figure as Su Mu has stepped onto the stage and killed a gladiator in broad daylight? Is he warning me?
Griffinson felt it wasn't that simple. He looked around and saw that his personal guards and mounts were still there, and his family's private army was at Griffin Cliff in the city. He breathed a sigh of relief.

Before he could figure out the problem, he was interrupted by the sound of the giant bell.

"Boom!"

"The second match features sharpshooter Andy against Gale!"

(End of this chapter)