But the Gladiator herself was not the biggest problem.
In a one-on-one fight, Ice Storm feared no opponent.
The problem was the servant soldiers.
Ice Storm's servant soldiers had been hastily cobbled together in just five days.
The challenger from a Powerful Clan, however, had servant soldiers his Lineage had raised for years—well-trained and skilled in combat.
—In the Turan Language, ratfolk were also divided into "wild rats" and "house rats."
People like Ye Zi lived in little mountain villages far from Black Horn City. Though the places were poor and remote, the mountains were high and the emperor far away. They were not directly governed by the Clan Lords. As long as they handed over enough Mandala Fruit as a "blood tax," they could live freely, and Black Horn City would not care whether they lived or died.
But Black Horn City was, after all, a magnificent metropolis with a population of several million.
To keep such a city functioning day to day required countless workers, servants, and slaves.
The lords with glorious bloodlines could hardly be expected to do all the filthy, exhausting work that did nothing to improve their combat strength.
Thus, Black Horn City was home to ratfolk several times more numerous than Clan Warriors.
Living beneath the lords' very eyes, they naturally each had masters of their own.
These were the "house rats."
Many military nobles kept "house rats" numbering more than ten times their own retainers.
Besides serving as laborers, they were trained as servant soldiers and became their masters' claws and fangs.
Many house rats had served the same master's family for generations, dating back hundreds of years.
They were fiercely loyal to their masters, and their masters trusted them deeply.
Clan Warriors could not possibly teach their house-rat servant soldiers methods of