First Battle!

Stone, having decided to meet force with force, raised the greatsword he held, rested it on his shoulder, and with a roar, charged towards Harrot. As he drew close, he stomped his right foot down hard, putting all his strength into bringing the greatsword straight down onto Harrot's head.

Although this move looked simple, mastering it required extensive practice. One needed to coordinate footwork and body movements perfectly, and possess extraordinary explosive power and body control, as generating power while moving was far more difficult than from a stable stance.

The power of this move certainly justified its difficulty. Not only could it effectively channel the strength of almost the entire body—from shoulders to arms, waist, and legs—but it also leveraged the momentum of a forward charge, making its destructive force extraordinary. When executed perfectly, it could easily repel enemies significantly heavier than oneself.

The best way to counter such a direct yet powerful attack was to dodge left or right. Failing that, even a slight block to deflect the force and retreat was a good idea. But what about our amateur Harrot?

Facing Stone's fierce blow, Harrot stood his ground, body slightly bent, gripping his greatsword with both hands, and parried in the exact same manner. Well, no surprises there, that's just how clueless amateurs are!

With a thud, he met the attack head-on. An immense force surged through the greatsword in his hands, and Harrot nearly lost his grip, involuntarily taking a step back. However, thanks to his '+10 Golden Bell Shield' and robust physique, his hand didn't feel much pain.

Stone, who also experienced the recoil, was forced to retreat three steps, his hands aching from gripping the greatsword. But the shock within him was even greater. He had guessed his strength wouldn't match Harrot's, but he never imagined such a vast difference. His full-power strike, bolstered by the momentum of his charge, was still less powerful than Harrot's seemingly casual swing from a standing position!

The spectators below were equally stunned. They were all seasoned veterans and could clearly see Harrot's awkward posture during the strike. Yet, even so, he had effortlessly defeated Stone, who was already performing beyond his usual level.

The difference in their strength wasn't just a little; Stone was already one of the Gladiatorial Arena's most renowned strongmen. Just how strong was this Harrot?

It must be said that Harrot possessed innate divine strength; his 20 Strength was practically at the peak of human capability. While Stone's Strength wasn't low, around 17, he couldn't contend with Harrot's [Power Strike] skill. A Level 4 [Power Strike] granted Harrot an additional 32% Strength bonus during attacks.

This meant Harrot's effective Strength was more than 26, roughly 1.5 times that of Stone. If Harrot's technique hadn't been so poor, only utilizing 80% of his full power, he wouldn't even have needed to step back and deflect the force just now.

Not only was Harrot stronger than Stone, but his physique also far surpassed Stone's. He recovered faster, and continued to swing his greatsword at Stone.

Stone immediately felt a sense of unease. His feet had barely stopped, and he hadn't had time to steady himself or adjust his stance. He could only manage to awkwardly swing his greatsword to block Harrot's attack.

Harrot paid no mind to anything else. After being parried, he continued to swing his sword with fierce attacks. Thanks to his Level 2 Weapon Mastery, he could unleash consecutive strikes with considerable ease.

Although Harrot's attacks were relentless, the angle of each attack wasn't particularly sharp, which gave Stone a lot of room to deflect the force. Even though it was a struggle, he managed to parry Harrot's attacks.

This made Stone feel both relieved and a touch of shame. He had previously thought Harrot was too arrogant, but now, even with Harrot holding back, he was struggling to keep up.

He didn't believe a warrior as strong as Harrot wouldn't know such a basic attack technique as adjusting the proper attack angle. He simply assumed Harrot was going easy on him.

However, Harrot truly didn't understand. But even so, with each successive sword swing, the force of Harrot's attacks grew. Stone retreated and parried, feeling like a small boat in a storm, constantly in danger of being capsized.

"Ha!"

"Ha!"

"Ha!"

Harrot couldn't help but roar with each attack, feeling the strength building in his hands grow greater and greater, and his overall momentum becoming stronger. He felt incredibly invigorated.

Finally, during another powerful, heavy attack from Harrot, Stone's upper body could still barely resist, deflecting Harrot's greatsword to the side, but his lower body suddenly went weak, losing all strength and causing him to fall backward.

Just at that moment, Harrot, now fully in the zone, brought his sword down again with a fierce chop. Stone, still in mid-air, couldn't exert any strength. With a crack, the wooden sword in Stone's hand snapped clean in half. The front half flew far away, and the remaining half broke free from Stone's grasp and fell to the ground.

Stone fell clumsily to the ground, his hands bleeding profusely from the impact. His chest heaved violently as he gasped for air. Though the exchange had lasted less than a minute, his stamina was almost completely depleted.

Harrot received a System notification: '+18 Experience', and felt greatly encouraged. The experience gained from defeating an enemy was only one-tenth of that from killing one, so this amount was normal.

In Mount & Blade, the experience needed for early levels was very low; before Level 5, only a few hundred experience points were needed to level up.

More importantly, he could defeat a mid-to-high-tier Gladiator in the Gladiatorial Arena while at full health. Even if there was an attribute counter, it still showed his combat prowess was truly extraordinary, which greatly boosted Harrot's confidence.

In his good mood, Harrot looked at Stone lying on the ground with much more favor. He extended his hand and helped Stone up.

"You alright, mate? I wasn't paying attention and used too much force. My bad, brother."

Stone, using Harrot's hand to stand up, looked thoroughly embarrassed. He had actively sought out a spar only to be utterly dominated, and now the other party was apologizing for hitting too hard. This made Stone lose quite a bit of face.

"Hahaha, I really made a fool of myself! Harrot, your strength is far beyond mine. I'm not even fit to be a sparring partner for you!"

Fortunately, Stone was naturally optimistic and cheerful, and it wasn't his first time being utterly dominated. He simply laughed and quickly adjusted his mindset.

The surrounding spectators also gathered around, praising Harrot. A strong person, no matter where they are, will always receive preferential treatment, and this was especially true in a place like the Gladiatorial Arena, which worshipped strength.

"We've got a new God of War in our Gladiatorial Arena!"

"You're the strongest person I've ever seen. What did you eat growing up?"

Harrot also smiled and responded. While it wasn't crucial, building good relationships with the Gladiators was always a good thing.

As the group happily chatted and complimented each other, an uninvited guest interrupted their cheerful atmosphere.

A scrawny middle-aged man with a long scar across his face walked into the Training Ground, accompanied by several well-equipped guards.

The Scarface middle-aged man was not tall and somewhat hunched. He glared fiercely at Harrot and the other Gladiators, saying, "You're all having a grand old time chatting, aren't you? Have you forgotten who you are, hm?"

All the Gladiators scowled at Scarface, but not one dared to openly retort. Harrot naturally wouldn't be foolish enough to stick his neck out either. This guy must be that beastly overseer, Scarface.

Scarface continued to pick a quarrel relentlessly, pointing his finger at Hark and asking, "You old good-for-nothing, tell me, what are you people?"

"We are Gladiators belonging to the Gladiatorial Arena."

Hark stepped forward reluctantly to answer. Due to the rules of the Gladiatorial Arena, no matter how displeased Gladiators were, they couldn't openly defy the overseer. However, the rules also prevented the overseer from punishing Gladiators without reason.

"Oh, you're Gladiators, are you? I thought you were noble knights returning triumphantly from battle!"

"You were let out of your cells to train, not to chat and play around! Every single one of you, understand your place! As Slaves, you should act like Slaves!"

Scarface grew more agitated with each word, finally slapping Hark twice across the face.

"You!" "Bastard!"

The Gladiators around Harrot were furious and wanted to rush forward and deal with Scarface, especially Stone, who even pushed past the Gladiators in front of him and charged forward.

"What do you think you're doing!" "Behave yourselves!"

The guards around Scarface immediately used their halberds to pin Stone. Stone had little energy left after sparring with Harrot, and just one pin from the guard was enough to drain him.

One of the guards kicked Stone in the leg, sending him straight to his knees. The other Gladiators grew enraged, ready to charge and take down the guards, who in turn raised their weapons to face the rioting Gladiators.

"Stop all of you! Are you crazy? Do you dare attack the Gladiatorial Arena guards? I wasn't training seriously; it's right for the overseer to discipline me. Don't worry about me!"

Hark roared, stopping the Gladiators who were on the verge of rioting. He knew this was Scarface's plan.

Scarface's goal was to completely drive The Bald Man out of the Gladiatorial Arena. The Fat Man was only responsible for managing bets and gambling, not interfering with internal Gladiatorial Arena affairs. The One-Armed Man was there to retire and had no interest in managing trivial matters. As long as The Bald Man was overthrown, Scarface would be in charge of the Gladiatorial Arena!

These Gladiators were all supporters of The Bald Man, and they were also an important reason why The Bald Man had gained favor with the Nobles.

Although Gladiators were just Slaves, any Gladiatorial Arena owner who wasn't a fool knew that Gladiators were the core of the Gladiatorial Arena. Without excellent Gladiators, the Gladiatorial Arena wouldn't make money.

As long as Scarface couldn't handle these Gladiators, then the Nobles behind the scenes would never let The Bald Man leave.

Scarface had tried various methods to win over the Gladiators, but Gladiators weren't imbeciles. How could they betray The Bald Man, who came from a Gladiator background, and turn to support a beast who didn't treat Gladiators as human, and who madly conceived of cruel gladiator fights like Man-Beast Combat?

Since enticement didn't work, Scarface could only resort to coercion. He was prepared to beat these disobedient Gladiators into submission. That's how he dealt with Slaves; no matter how disobedient, a few beatings would make them obedient and afraid to resist.

However, Gladiators were the property of the Gladiatorial Arena. As long as they didn't commit any offenses, Scarface had no good way to deal with them. But if he caught them doing something wrong, he would make them pay dearly.

Scarface saw Hark preventing the Gladiators from making a big mistake and felt like a cooked duck had flown away, stomping his feet in anger. But then he saw Stone, who was pinned by the guards, and a sinister smile suddenly spread across his face.

"Hmph, you old useless man actually has some brains. But no rush, we'll take our time. There's plenty of time to deal with you worthless bones. Today, I'll start with this fool who dared to attack me!"

With that, Scarface fiercely pointed at Stone, who was held by the guards.