People in Terra, governing a bizarre little country

Jian herself didn't care; she even felt a little excited.

The reason is simple: although she predicted that the Blood Knight would win, in her opinion, the Blood Knight's level was just so-so.

A certain viewpoint in Diocletian is like a signboard for selling heads!

The most likely way for him to defeat Fremont is by exhausting him physically. Fremont's key to victory, however, lies in a powerful spell capable of delivering a decisive blow.

And Fremont did just that; after watching the video, he still vividly remembered the surging "blood tide".

But she was not afraid at all; all she felt was intense excitement and fighting spirit!

Although the blood tide was shocking, it paled in comparison to the avalanche that Jian had witnessed in Shelag, which crashed down the hillside like a truly raging torrent, an unstoppable force.

With a professional background, I'm not afraid of a blood tide at all!

war!

Compared to the increasingly excited Black Knight, Enshiodis's attitude was much more cautious.

From his perspective alone, Fremont is very strong, and his strength is far from his limit.

The Blood Knight should feel sorry for not making Fremont use his full strength.

In response, although she claimed that "a blood tide is no match for an avalanche, and it's just a mere spell, right? Watch me knock it back!", Ensiodis wanted to say that her confidence was somewhat unnecessary.

Although you sound amazing, I seem to recall that you fought against avalanches 102 times, which is also a legendary feat.

The words stuck in Ensiodes's throat for a long time, but in the end, he didn't say them out loud.

He simply changed the subject without saying a word:

"No matter how strong Fremont is, that's something for after you advance. What you need to do now is prepare for your opponent."

"The supervisory committee has already arranged the match; you'll be playing against Marner."

Her nod conveyed her unwavering confidence, regardless of the enemy's identity. Her subsequent shake of the head, however, expressed her doubt.

"Who is Marner...?"

"The true representative of this competition in Kazimierz. Full name: Marna Nearl."

Ensiodis said,

"He's a relative of Nearl, the one who won the championship after you left. A member of the most famous knightly noble family in Kazimierz."

Jian nodded in sudden realization, then waved his hand dismissively:

"I see. Then there's nothing to fear."

The Lin Guang family, as Jian also knew, had shocked many Kazimierz people when she was forced to retire. A large number of knightly gamblers who hoped to get rich by betting on her to win were also greatly affected and made a big fuss demanding that the Black Knight return, otherwise they would never watch knightly gambles again.

Their commotion wasn't entirely ineffective; in fact, after the Black Knight left, the popularity of the knightly competition that year did experience a dramatic and alarming drop. And the person who suddenly appeared at this critical moment, forcefully rescuing the ratings, was none other than the Radiant Knight—Margaret Nearl.

No matter how the Business Federation tries to discredit her, slander her, downplay her influence, or suppress her popularity, the name Margaret Nearl will not fade just because her portrait is not displayed on the Wall of Champions.

Because she is Nearl!

Even the most decadent and dissolute Kazimirians have heard of this surname. In Kazimir, any textbook or book about the Uka Wars inevitably includes descriptions of Cyril Nearl leading his Silver Spear Pegasus to rout the Ursus Army Group and the invincible Wendigo Legion.

The moment the words "Near Light" and "Knight's Arena" were linked together, this IP successfully rebounded just when it was about to hit rock bottom!

This is why, even though Nearl didn't cooperate with the Business Federation's marketing efforts at all, the Business Federation didn't send out the Unarmored Alliance as it did with the Black Knights.

Cyril Nearl was still alive, and his name still resounded throughout Kazimierz. No matter how powerful the Business Federation was, they dared not defy the world! In the end, they could only force Cyril to tarnish his own reputation by acknowledging Margaret as an infected person, thus damaging Nearl's name and securing his own future.

There are countless heartbreaking and helpless situations that are unavoidable. But in Jian's view, this is also a kind of weakness.

Jade may be broken but its whiteness cannot be altered; bamboo may be burned but its integrity cannot be destroyed. The Black Knight, in the end, did not compromise with the Merchant Guild, but instead broke through their encirclement and forcefully claimed her third championship trophy. She also fought the Knight Assassin of the Unarmored Alliance to the bitter end. Being from Letania and having never received any favors from Nearl, she alone was the most qualified to offer such a assessment of Nearl's name.

Cyril chose to protect his family, which was correct; Jian chose to uphold his dignity, which was also correct. This is the difference between two sets of values.

As for this "Marna Nearl" who has suddenly appeared out of nowhere, Jian has only one attitude.

A momentary coward or a lifelong coward makes no difference to her. Moreover, Marna Nearl is currently on the side of the Business Federation.

That's the place that forced your family to leave their homeland. What makes you so humiliated? If it were a mace, blood would have been spilled five steps away long ago!

Those who lack the will and determination to fight are nothing to fear from her!

One strike of the mace will surely send him utterly defeated!

Chapter 398 The Ruthless and Hardcore Manna: Family Hero, I'd Rather Be My Own Slave!

Kazimir, Great Knight Commander Kavaleriagi, Pegasus Arena.

The official competition will begin tomorrow, and as Kazimierz's representative, Marna has an unspoken privilege: he can arrive at the venue early to familiarize himself with the environment.

After the battle between Fremont and Blood Knights, the entire arena had to undergo a major overhaul.

Fremont's Blood Tide spell was so terrifying that even now, the Originium Wizards of Kazimierz haven't figured out what kind of spell could melt the ground, which was originally made of high-strength materials, and embed the Blood Knight into the ground, rendering him unable to move.

Fremont offered no explanation, and the business federation finally realized that there were problems their technology, cameras, and analysts couldn't explain.

Standing on the ring, Marner mentally assessed his chances of winning against Fremont.

The answer is not optimistic. Just as Charne underestimated Fremont, people knew absolutely nothing about this "professor" from Letania. By now, some within the Federation have begun to speculate that Fremont is not a university professor at all, but rather one of the Twin Queens' or the Witch King's secret weapons.

The exact truth remains unknown.

After careful consideration, Marner could only come to one conclusion—a swift victory was imperative!

As the saying goes, in martial arts, speed is the only way to win. Only by using absolute speed to prevent him from having any opening to release his spells can one have a chance to win. This requires Marna to maintain a high intensity of continuous attacks from the very beginning.

This was indeed a rather demanding requirement for him.

No joke, Marner hadn't seriously held a sword in a long time. He did teach Margaret and Maria some swordsmanship and sparred with them, but it was more like playing around than practicing.

Margaret was no match for him. Even if he didn't use any Originium Arts, and simply held his coffee in his dominant hand while wielding his sword in the other, allowing Margaret to attack first, she wouldn't last three moves against him. Moreover, by the time he defeated her in those three moves, not a drop of his coffee would have spilled.

That's how big the gap is between the two.

Even after Margaret grew up and became stronger, Marna never took her seriously. It wasn't that she didn't want to, but that it wasn't worth it.

Over time, Marner's skills really became rusty. So much so that when he finally gripped the sword, it took him almost half a minute just to regain that familiar feeling from back then.

To be precise, it lasted a full 22 seconds.

In a battle between masters, even a difference of a second can be the deciding factor, let alone twenty-two seconds.

Marner knew very well that if he were to face Fremont in his current form, victory might only be possible through a miracle.

Hmm... or we could go through the back door and have Fremont fight Jesston Williams. Ernst's men are very brave, and if nothing unexpected happens, they've probably hidden something.

During the recent off-season, the Business Federation and the Supervisory Council conducted an in-depth investigation into the background and achievements of [Grandmaster] Chongyue. However, for some reason, every time a clue seemed about to reveal Chongyue's identity, it would inexplicably come to an abrupt end. And when they tried to dig even deeper, they ran right into the behemoth that is the Great Yan Dynasty.

【confidential】.

The origin of Chongyue can only be described using these two simple characters from the Yan Kingdom.

But sometimes, some words seem to say nothing, but in fact they say everything.

Moreover, although his origins are unknown, Chongyue's battle record is verifiable.

To put it simply—he has searched the world and never been defeated!

This "world" doesn't refer to all of Terra, but specifically to the Yan Kingdom. The people of Yan like to refer to their country as "the world," so a literal translation of this sentence would be, "Chong Yue searched the entire Yan Kingdom, but found no one who could defeat him."

It might be an exaggeration if one or two people say so, but it's hard to say if all of Yan's external information websites record this person's life in this way.

Marna felt that the outcome of his fight with Chongyue would be a 3:7 split. However, if Chongyue was arrogant and didn't bring a weapon, the outcome would be reversed, resulting in a 6:4 split, with him at 6 and Chongyue at 4.

If Jeston can fight Chongyue to a standstill while hiding his things, he might actually be able to fight Fremont.

Marna thought with a touch of irony: I never thought that one day I would have to worry about the outcome of the knightly competition.

Fortunately, he didn't hit him.

He fought the Black Knight.

The Business Federation made a cunning decision, assigning him a Black Knight. This would not only attract attention to the Black Knight's comeback, but also allow them to defeat the Black Knight, thus washing away the shame of being severely humiliated by the Black Knight and losing three crowns. It would also help them warm their hands, achieving three goals at once.

And once he successfully regained his former form, even in Fremont, Marner dared to confidently ask:

"Would you like to test the sharpness of my sword?"

I just hope the Black Knight is strong enough and won't disappoint him.

"Uncle Maenna!"

A clear, youthful voice, sounding like a girl going through puberty, jolted Marner out of her thoughts. Visibly, Marner, who had just been quietly enjoying the breeze on the field with her eyes closed, suddenly shuddered. Her previously relaxed muscles tensed up abruptly, and only her wide-open eyes looked rather frightening.

"Uncle Maenna?"

Seemingly wondering why Marna wasn't responding, the blonde girl jogged over to Marna's side and called Marna's name again.

Marner then turned his head, looked down at Maria who was barely up to his chest, and forced an awkward smile onto his stiff face, asking:

"Maria, what are you doing here?"

"Grandma Russell brought me here!"

Maria blinked, looking at Marna, who wore a dark blue trench coat, a stylish golden half-armor on his right hand, and held a golden sword. A look of amazement and envy flashed in her eyes.

"Uncle, you're so handsome!"

Noticing the admiration in Maria's eyes, Marner closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and shook her head, suppressing her anger.

"Uncle looks ugliest right now."

He raised his head and looked at Russell, who was walking slowly towards him. A rare hint of ferocity appeared in his eyes.

"Russell, why did you bring Maria here?"

“This was Maria’s own request.”

Russell shrugged.

"Besides, why can't you bring it? You are serving the country, and there's nothing shameful about it."

"Does knightly competition count as serving the country?"

"That depends on the situation."

Russell bent down, stroked Maria's head, and whispered,

"What does Maria think? Doesn't Uncle Manner look handsome now? Isn't what he did glorious and honorable?"

Maria nodded in deep agreement.

She didn't understand why Marna suddenly changed her expression and looked angry. She also didn't understand why the knightly competition, which everyone in Kazimierz liked and was willing to participate in, became an unforgivable demon in her uncle's eyes. So much so that even when the knightly competition was broadcast on TV at home, Marna would immediately change the channel.

Isn't that strange? Everyone else seems to like it, so why does only my uncle hate it so much?

Maria is still young, but she is quite sensible. She wouldn't be foolish enough to think that her Uncle Marner, who worked overtime every day until he was exhausted and raised her with great difficulty, had outdated values.

She simply found it strange.

I find Marna particularly strange now.

"Isn't Uncle bringing glory to the country? The World Games, everyone's talking about this event! Even the masters are paying close attention, debating every day whether the Blood Knight or the Candle Knight can go further. Although it seems like the answer is already out."

Marna pursed her lips, her teeth clenched tightly together.

He gently patted Maria's shoulder, saying nothing, but his resolve to leave only grew stronger.

He had long understood this principle, but recent events had only confirmed it for him.

"Russell, do you know why the Oversight Council has declined in its struggle with the Business Federation?"

Russell looked up, his expression somewhat surprised, as if wondering why Marner would suddenly bring this up, especially in front of Maria.

But Marner simply continued calmly:

"Because the era of using so-called glory, morality, and expectations to hold a person hostage is over. People are more pragmatic now. A plaque is not as valuable as a cart of gold and silver, a word of praise is not as valuable as a job, and a promise of the future is not as valuable as a banknote in your hand."

Call it pragmatism or decadence, however you like. In today's consumerist Kazimierz, the idea of ​​striving together for a common goal has been replaced by the derogatory connotation of "pie in the sky," and the concept of sacrificing the individual for the greater good has been transformed into a refined egoism prioritizing self-interest. Forget about selfless dedication; it's utterly empty talk, a laughable joke.

The Kasimir people may have sensed something was wrong, or they may have felt that this was how things should be, and that no one was able to change it, because this was the era, an era that everyone had created and lived in together.

Marna didn't want Maria involved in this mess. She was still young, and her sister had already paid a heavy price for her rebellion. Marna had even hardened his heart and decided that if Margaret disappeared into the wilderness, he wouldn't go looking for her.

At most, after finding his brother and sister-in-law, he would explain and apologize to them.