Promotion

Kirk clearly disagreed with Spartacus's idea. Suddenly, without a sound, he lunged fiercely, thrusting [Mori's Hand-Cutting Blade] at Spartacus's chest!

"Too naive!" Spartacus blocked with a downward parry, sending Kirk flying. If not for Mori's Hand-Cutting Blade's built-in wrist guard, his left hand would have been ruined.

However, Kirk had now completely calmed down. Spartacus was indeed strong, but he still had weaknesses.

Spartacus's first crushing defeat was at the hands of Cress, forcing the proud gladiator to humiliatingly extend his index and middle fingers to beg his master, Bartitas, for mercy. Before that, his pride had led him to endure lashings rather than learn this gesture of surrender. Kirk intended to fully draw upon Cress's experience in defeating this monstrous figure.

What was the biggest flaw in Spartacus's personality?

Pride.

Cress had exploited Spartacus's eagerness to prove his Strength, deliberately provoking him into attacking and revealing his weaknesses, then unleashing a combo that forced Spartacus to surrender.

Now, he just needed to make Spartacus impatient and careless. Fortunately, this wasn't difficult; Kirk's "excellent" performance had already instilled sufficient carelessness in Spartacus.

Next, it was time to set the trap.

Spartacus feinted with another deceptive move. Kirk leaped again, attempting to evade an attack from his left. Spartacus followed with a kick, knocking Kirk down and leaving his guard wide open.

Without hesitation, Spartacus swung his blade. If it had hit Kirk's head directly, it would have exploded instantly.

But, a slight smirk played on Kirk's lips as he calmly unleashed his most powerful advanced skill, [Throat Cut]!

He was gambling. If Spartacus wasn't greedy, he would conservatively attack the lower body or legs, severely wounding Kirk and slowly finishing him off. But the arrogant Spartacus, wanting a perfect kill, had to aim for the chest or above!

The wooden sword, styled after a Roman gladius, wasn't long. It was similar in length to Kirk's Hand-Cutting Blade. Therefore, Spartacus had to lower his body to attack Kirk's head.

Kirk hadn't used [Throat Cut] before because Spartacus guarded his throat meticulously, and Kirk hadn't found an opportunity. This time, Kirk used his own vital point as bait, tempting Spartacus to willingly expose his neck.

Kirk's gamble paid off! There was no suspense this time. The attack registered, and Spartacus, leaning in, suffered a critical blow to his throat. A spray of blood splattered across Kirk's face.

Spartacus staggered back, clutching his throat in pain, paying the price for his underestimation and haste.

Even with over 25 Stamina, the instant-death checks for [Decapitation] and [Throat Cut] would surely fail, only dealing four times the damage of a fatal attack and 30 Bleed damage, which would certainly be significantly weakened by his powerful defense and damage reduction skills.

However, with Kirk's 19 Strength, [Mori's Hand-Cutting Blade]'s high damage of 20-35 multiplied by 4, 30 Bleed damage, and the weapon's built-in blood gauge damage, Spartacus instantly lost over 100 health. His throat bled profusely, plunging him into a critical state.

Spartacus was thoroughly enraged. His pale blue eyes blazed like a furious tiger's. Hoarsely, he growled, "Scrap, you could have died painlessly!"

Kirk knew Spartacus's personality all too well. This man was no saint; a man who had nearly overthrown the mighty Roman Republic could never be a saint. After his comrade Cress was killed by the Roman army, he had cruelly ordered 300 Roman nobles to fight to the death in a gladiatorial combat to avenge him.

Fortunately, Kirk was no saint either. Offending someone was fine; Strength was everything. He made a vulgar gesture, provoking his opponent.

Spartacus was truly enraged. Gripping his wooden sword, he charged like a Mighty Lion!

Kirk and Spartacus fought like two cornered beasts, ferociously clashing.

Kirk had abandoned evasion. He leveraged the advantage of [Weapon Dual-Wielding], ignoring Spartacus's heavy blows, and rapidly swung his two sharp weapons, inflicting equally heavy injuries on his opponent!

Trading blows!

One minute later, the ground was stained with blood. Both men were severely wounded. However, overall, Spartacus was gradually gaining the upper hand, and Kirk was slowly being suppressed.

Spartacus roared. He had intended to finish off this "scrap" cleanly and show his might, but now it had turned into a mutually destructive battle, something the proud Spartacus could not accept. The fighting skills of this brat were as crude as the smiles of prostitutes in a Roman brothel, but he had considerable strength, moved quickly, and was particularly resilient. Even other gladiators might not have lasted this long against him. This earned Spartacus a grudging respect.

However, this was no Water Margin; there would be no scene of two heroes fighting until they pitied each other and shared a laugh of camaraderie. On the gladiator's battlefield, only one could survive!

Suddenly, Kirk tripped on a branch at his feet, stumbling and losing his balance.

Spartacus roared and fiercely swung at the off-balance Kirk!

Blood and screams filled the air.

Kirk's right arm was almost severed by Spartacus's blow, with only a few muscle fibers barely holding it together.

"It's finally over for this kid," Spartacus thought. But then, he saw a faint green light again, like a starving wolf in the Sereis Mountains!

"No!" he exclaimed in alarm and dodged desperately. But it was the same trick again; Kirk, who had self-mutilated to lure him in, wouldn't let him go!

[Throat Cut] struck Spartacus's throat again, critically wounding him! This time, he collapsed, blood gushing out as if it were free! Spartacus's health was around 250-300 points. Both [Throat Cut] attacks were considered fatal, dealing 4x damage + a fixed 30 Bleed damage. Combined with the weapon's [Blood Gauge] and other additional damage, the iron-willed Spartacus was pushed into a near-death state!

Kirk had also paid a heavy price, trading his entire right arm for Spartacus's throat!

Kirk was able to reach this point in the gladiatorial combat by fully exploiting Spartacus's eagerness for a quick victory, trading blows, and maximizing the high damage effect of [Throat Cut].

Kirk hadn't expected his plan to go so smoothly when designing the opponent's tactics. But it was his only option.

Now, his health was only at 16%, barely avoiding the [Near Death] state.

Yet, Spartacus, like a wounded wolf, stood up again! In his Mediterranean-blue eyes, an incredibly resolute light shone!

"Sura is waiting for me! How can I die here!" Spartacus roared to the heavens like the God of War!

In the gloomy sky, a golden light broke through the heavy clouds, shining down on Spartacus!

At that moment, he seemed to have transformed into the Roman God of War, Mars! His bronze skin gleamed golden, like an ancient deity! His wild roar to the heavens was like that of a divine descendant! Even the gloomy sky had to make way for him!

"Damn it, this is cheating. I worked my ass off to get the protagonist to near death, and now he's transforming into a demigod!" Kirk lamented. "Gods, look at all the trouble you've caused with your affairs. Us mortals can't handle this."

Spartacus's eyes had changed from pale blue to golden yellow. Clearly, he possessed a trace of ancient divine blood, radiating immense majesty and chilling killing intent!

Kirk was numb and speechless, resigned to his fate.

Spartacus gripped his wooden sword and kicked Kirk away. Kirk slammed into a large tree, which snapped instantly!

Kirk entered the near-death state!

"I can't accept this, did I guess wrong?" Kirk's vision blurred as he watched Spartacus approach.

"Stop!" Bartitas's gloomy voice rang out, sounding like heavenly music to Kirk's ears.

"Finally," Kirk gave a wry smile and collapsed.