Sir Rayman was clearly a decisive man. The moment he entered the field, he charged, picking up speed with every stride. The plume atop his helmet streamed behind him as the fully armored warhorse bore down on Li Ang, carrying an oppressive, chilling presence.
Li Ang angled his horse and accelerated, avoiding Sir Rayman's charge as he began circling around him.
Light armor against heavy armor—the difference in weight, momentum, and defense was simply too great. A direct clash would be suicide.
He could only rely on his lighter gear, lower burden, and more agile horse to continually evade Sir Rayman's aggressive charging thrusts.
The two horses began one pursuing and the other fleeing. Whenever they occasionally crossed paths at close range, their relative speed was not too high, and Li Ang accurately deflected the incoming lance with his sword and lance guard.
Li Ang's successful blocks, time after time, made Sir Rayman realize that this young man possessed superb skill. He had to increase his speed and charge with his heavy lance if he wanted to overwhelm finesse with force.
Thus, Ryman charged at full speed again and again. A cavalry lance empowered by such speed could not be blocked—only avoided.
After one perilous dodge after another, Li Ang finally heard Ryman's warhorse begin to pant heavily.
He deliberately widened the distance between them, leaned forward slightly, and raised his lance toward Ryman in a gesture of challenge.
This was an invitation to a knightly duel!
Applause finally rose from the stands, which had previously been filled with boos. It seemed this slippery young man was finally going to face his opponent head-on!
Ryman charged at him once more, while Li Ang guided his horse at a slight angle and charged forward, maintaining a small angle between their paths.
He was not trying to use the same trick again. Ryman's warhorse was clad in heavy barding, and was not so easily brought down.
He merely wanted them to be positioned on Ryman's off side when their horses crossed.
—For two men holding lances in their right hands, this was the off side. Holding a lance from the off side made it easier to maintain balance; it was the standard way to duel.
But at that moment, Li Ang suddenly clamped the sword in his left hand between his teeth and passed his lance into his left hand!
He was not carrying a shield, so switching hands was easy...
Moreover, he controlled the horses' paths so they remained just beyond the range of an off-side thrust!
That tiny bit of distance truly proved that an inch longer meant an inch stronger!
The expression on Ryman's face was spectacular! He had not expected his opponent to have such a move. Judging from how steady that lance tip was, Li Ang was clearly also highly skilled with a lance in his left hand.
Naturally. After all, proficiency over five hundred did not distinguish between left and right hands...
But Sir Rayman was not left-handed. He could not switch hands to fight, so he could only make his horse move as close to Li Ang's path as possible.
However, after several rounds of charging, pursuit, and circling, the warhorse was already exhausted and could not react that quickly...
And in such a high-speed clash, the moment when they approached one another lasted only an instant.
Li Ang's left-hand lance had already thrust out at an angle.
Ryman knew he could not reach Li Ang with an off-side thrust at that distance, so he simply raised his shield with all his strength to defend his head, intending to weather the blow.
Yet, to his surprise, the lance did not strike the shield. Instead, it hit his abdomen, with an obvious upward lifting motion!
"Bang!"
"Clang... clang..."
The tremendous sound of the lance shattering rang out, followed by the heavy clatter of a metal can and weapons falling to the ground.
Sir Rayman was knocked off his horse by a single thrust, but his plate armor's defense truly was impressive. Other than a slight dent in his abdomen, there were no visible external injuries.
The instant the lance shattered, Li Ang released it. He removed the sword from his mouth and began turning around.
He had never intended to attack his opponent's heavily defended face. He only wanted to knock him from his horse.
Falling from a horse while wearing seventy or eighty pounds of plate armor made it nearly impossible to mount again without help. Besides, the damage might well be greater than slashing his opponent several times...
Li Ang's equipment was adequate against light armor, but against the Furious Lion Knight's plate armor, his longsword and wooden lance could barely do more than scratch it.
So Ryman, having been knocked from his horse, did not concede.
Groaning, he climbed to his feet, spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, drew the greatsword from his back, and assumed a fighting stance once more.
But Li Ang had already turned his horse and circled around. Leaning down, he lightly flicked his sword, picking up Ryman's fallen lance into his own hand just a few steps away from him...
This had clearly been premeditated!
Sir Rayman shook his head with a bitter smile and began coughing violently.
After coughing up a mouthful of bloody phlegm, he threw down his greatsword, removed his helmet, and slowly walked off the field.
The knight had conceded!
An uproar swept through the audience. They seemed even less able to accept this fact than Sir Rayman himself.
The battle-hardened Furious Lion Knight, who had never suffered defeat, had actually conceded?
Sir Rayman knew quality when he saw it. Once his opponent had gotten hold of his lance, despite his reluctance, he could only choose to concede.
Fighting on foot in heavy armor made it difficult to avoid a cavalry lance charge, not to mention that he had indeed suffered some internal injuries when he fell.
His own heavy cavalry lance was not some disposable weapon like Li Ang's, which snapped after a single thrust. It was a sturdy battlefield lance. Even the hardest plate armor could not save someone if it struck true...
The entire arena watched Ryman walk off the field in silence. But soon, applause and boos rose together.
Clearly, the underdog victory had satisfied the audience's desire for excitement, but their lost wagers had also enraged them...
This appeared to be a final that left most people dissatisfied.
Li Ang, who had won the championship, was not happy at all either.
He really had not wanted to win the championship.
Because after winning, he had to reveal his face to everyone. Black hair and black eyes were extremely conspicuous in Pendor. The Crimson Brotherhood's spies had surely already noticed him.
Besides, there was no prize money for this championship.
And he had to travel to the Noble Council in Lion City, at the center of the continent, to claim the tournament's reward—only after registering with the Pioneer Baron Certificate could he become a Pioneer Lord awaiting evaluation.
The journey was over a thousand miles. It would surely be fraught with danger.
Outside the prison cells beneath the arena, Fat Boss Andrew handed a parchment scroll to Li Ang.
"Those Meitengheim people are inside. They're not easy to keep under control..."
Li Ang nodded and entered. He desperately needed some warriors now.
This place had originally been used to imprison gladiatorial slaves. Its heavy doors were extremely sturdy.
Inside stood more than a dozen burly men with bare upper bodies, each nearly two meters tall on average.
Andrew had bought them intending to turn them into money-makers for the arena, but unfortunately, these burly men were not very obedient. They were extremely enthusiastic about eating, but never did any work.
Andrew had sent people to "teach them a lesson," only to lose quite a few thugs instead.
He had planned to starve them for a few meals, but these fellows ended up eating all the lions and crocodiles in the arena...
It now seemed those lions and crocodiles had provided them with ample nutrition. Every one of them still looked like a hulking, broad-shouldered, heavily muscled brute.
At that moment, these muscular men leaned together, some sitting and some standing, looking exactly like a mountain of flesh.
If muscles were a crime, then every one of these men was probably guilty beyond redemption.
Before you continue