Forest Troll

Inside the Gladiatorial Arena's meeting room, The Bald Man, Scarface, The Fat Man, and The One-Armed Man were gathered, discussing something.

Scarface said triumphantly, "Count Sarik is bringing quite a few noble lords to watch the matches tomorrow, so the Gladiatorial Arena absolutely must arrange the most high-stakes 'Monster Hunt Battle'! That Forest Troll has been kept for half a month; it's time for it to make an appearance, isn't it?"

The Bald Man's expression was grim. He protested, "The elite gladiators haven't even recovered from their injuries, and there are only a dozen high-level gladiators. There's no way they can defeat that monster! Let's arrange some other matches instead!"

This time, Scarface didn't back down. He continued to insist on his opinion. A group of noble lords were coming to watch tomorrow, so holding this "Monster Hunt Battle" was absolutely essential! The Bald Man's opposition was useless.

The Fat Man remained silent. He didn't care about these things; he was just quietly thinking about tomorrow's betting odds. The noble lords were wealthy, and tomorrow would be a huge business opportunity that absolutely couldn't be messed up.

After listening to The Bald Man and Scarface argue for a long time, The One-Armed Man finally spoke up to arbitrate: "The 'Monster Hunt Battle' must be held tomorrow. The noble lords aren't here to watch commoners play make-believe!"

Several of the noble lords coming to watch tomorrow's matches were awakened bloodline powerhouses. Battles between ordinary people simply wouldn't interest them!

However, The One-Armed Man still considered the gladiators' injuries and added, "Prepare some good weapons for the gladiators tomorrow, and don't give the troll any weapons. Let it fight bare-handed."

"I wouldn't want the Gladiatorial Arena's gladiators to lose to a troll while a group of noble lords are watching. That would be a huge embarrassment!"

The One-Armed Man was the highest-ranking person in the Gladiatorial Arena. Once he made a decision, there was no refuting it. Neither The Bald Man nor Scarface said anything more.

The Bald Man left the meeting room with a heavy heart. Even with the finest weapons, could a mere dozen high-level gladiators truly defeat the Forest Troll?

The Forest Troll was 3 meters tall and weighed nearly 1000 pounds. Its strength was almost ten times that of a human, and it possessed an agility that severely contradicted its massive size.

The most terrifying thing was the Forest Troll's regeneration speed. No matter how severe its injuries, it could recover quickly. Even if its limbs were completely severed, they could regrow.

To kill the troll, one could only continuously wear down its vitality. With just a dozen high-level gladiators, even if they won, probably only a few would survive.

Thinking this, The Bald Man stopped. He made an important decision in his heart and walked towards Harrot's ward.

The Bald Man entered Harrot's ward and immediately said, "Are you willing to challenge the troll with me?"

Harrot was a bit bewildered. He was engrossed in reading the novel Knight Abin when The Bald Man suddenly rushed in and interrupted him. He didn't understand what was happening.

After some conversation, Harrot understood the situation and agreed to The Bald Man's request.

When he first transmigrated, he was sent flying by a blow from the Forest Troll. To say he wasn't afraid of the troll was nonsense, but if The Bald Man was willing to step into the arena himself, wouldn't he be a bad brother if he didn't help?

Harrot believed that with him and The Bald Man, two legendary gladiators (The Bald Man was recognized, Harrot was self-proclaimed), fighting together, and the support of a dozen high-level gladiators, a mere troll would be no match!

As long as the final outcome was a gladiator victory, even if he was unfortunately killed by a single punch from the troll, he could still be revived from near death with the System's protection. The troll couldn't possibly ignore the other dozen gladiators and just desecrate his corpse, could it?

The Bald Man, deeply moved, embraced Harrot, tears welling in his eyes, and shouted, "Brother! I really didn't misjudge you! Don't worry, tomorrow will be your last gladiator match. After this, I'll recommend you to Count Sarik!"

"You don't need to worry about tomorrow's match. I'll have the best weapons prepared. I'll be the main attacker, and you just need to help cover the other gladiators."

With Harrot's support, The Bald Man's confidence soared. He straightened up and walked with Harrot towards the Training Ground, preparing to rehearse tomorrow's battle plan.

At first, the high-level gladiators were a bit scared when they heard they had to fight a troll tomorrow. But as soon as they heard Harrot and The Bald Man, their boss, would also be fighting, they immediately became confident and began to study the battle plan.

Soon, the next day arrived. The Gladiatorial Arena was filled with spectators early on, and the "Monster Hunt Battle" was incredibly popular.

Count Sarik also took his seat in the VIP section with a group of noble lords. The One-Armed Man was managing things in place of The Bald Man, while Scarface was diligently explaining the gladiator match arrangements to the nobles.

Many warm-up gladiator matches were arranged before the main event, including official gladiator duels and free-for-alls involving a dozen people.

These matches were usually very popular, but today, not only the noble lords but even the ordinary spectators weren't very interested.

Soon, Count Sarik instructed Scarface, "Go tell Hodri (The One-Armed Man's name) to postpone the other matches. The main event should be next!"

"Yes, my lord Count, I'll go right away!" Scarface quickly left to carry out the order.

A noble sitting beside Sarik, who resembled him greatly, watched Scarface scurry away and said to Count Sarik with deep meaning, "Such a foolish scapegoat, quite comfortable to use, isn't he?"

Sarik calmly replied, "He is quite comfortable, but it's almost time to discard him. Holding onto him any longer will dirty my hands!"

The young noble who asked the question snorted coldly, frowned, and said nothing more. He disapproved of Count Sarik's methods.

The other nobles in the VIP section witnessed the small friction between the two but didn't meddle. Viscount Marcus and Count Sarik were both the Old Marquis's sons; taking sides wouldn't please anyone.

After the gladiator matches in the arena below concluded, the announcer loudly proclaimed, "The next match is... the 'Monster Hunt Battle'!"

The audience immediately cheered excitedly. The announcer then introduced, "Today's main characters are our Gladiatorial Arena's elite gladiator team, including 'Undying God of War' Harrot and 'Death Archon' Cle! On!"

After the announcer's introduction, The Bald Man, Harrot, and the others entered the arena to the cheers of the crowd. The Bald Man was an undefeated legend of the Gladiatorial Arena; all the spectators had heard of his reputation.

The gladiators appeared together. Besides The Bald Man and Harrot, the other gladiators were all uniformly armed with halberds and javelins.

Harrot wielded a fine steel greatsword, weighing a full 30 pounds, with a very sharp blade.

The Bald Man was even more ferocious, carrying a giant double-bladed axe on his shoulder. Harrot had estimated the axe's weight to be a terrifying 60-plus pounds.

Don't be fooled by the mighty generals in Romance of the Three Kingdoms casually using weapons weighing seventy or eighty pounds, or even a hundred pounds. First, one jin (pound) in the Three Kingdoms period was only 250 grams. Second, mounted combat and foot combat are not the same concept.

Harrot, with 21 points of strength, found the 30-pound greatsword just right. Any heavier would start to affect his performance.