First Battle!

Stone, having decided to meet force with force, raised the greatsword in his hand and rested it on his shoulder. With a loud roar, he charged at Harrot. Once he closed in, he stomped down hard with his right foot and swung the greatsword with all his strength, cleaving straight at Harrot's head.

Though this move looked simple, mastering it required long, hard practice. Not only did it demand proper coordination between one's footwork and body, but it also required explosive strength and bodily control beyond that of ordinary people. After all, exerting force while moving was far more difficult than doing so from a stable stance.

Its power matched its difficulty. It could fully engage nearly the entire body's strength—from the shoulders and arms to the waist and legs—while also borrowing the momentum of a forward charge. Its destructive force was extraordinary. When executed perfectly, it could easily knock back a heavier opponent.

The best response to such a simple, direct, yet powerful attack was to dodge to either side. At worst, one could lightly block, redirect the force, and retreat. But what did our amateur Harrot do?

Facing Stone's ferocious blow, Harrot stood still with his body slightly bent, gripped his greatsword with both hands, and slashed back in the exact same posture. Well, nothing wrong with that. Amateurs were just that stubborn!

With a clang, he met the blow head-on. A tremendous force traveled through the greatsword in his hands, and Harrot nearly lost his grip on the hilt. His whole body was forced back a step. Still, thanks to the +10 Golden Bell Shield and his strong physique, his hands barely hurt at all.

Stone, who had also suffered the backlash, staggered back three full steps. His hands ached fiercely from the vibration, but the shock in his heart was even greater. He had guessed that he was weaker than Harrot, but he had never imagined the gap would be this large. His full-strength strike, boosted by the momentum of his charge, had actually been weaker than Harrot's casual swing from a standing position!

The spectators watching below the stage were equally stunned. They were all battle-hardened veterans and could naturally see that Harrot's posture just now had not been ideal for exerting force. Yet even so, he had easily overcome Stone, who had performed beyond his usual level.

The difference in strength between them was anything but small. Stone was already one of the Gladiatorial Arena's strongest men, so just how strong was this Harrot?

It had to be said that Harrot possessed innate divine strength. His 20 points of Strength were nearly at the human peak. Stone's Strength was not low either, at around 17 points, but Harrot had the Power Strike skill. Level 4 Power Strike gave Harrot an additional 32% Strength bonus when attacking.

That put Harrot's actual strength at more than 26 points, a full 1.5 times Stone's. If Harrot's technique had not been so poor, allowing him to use only eighty percent of his full strength, he would not even have needed to step back and bleed off the force just now.

Not only was Harrot stronger than Stone, his physique also far surpassed Stone's. He recovered faster and swung his greatsword at Stone again.

Stone immediately sensed trouble. His feet had only just come to a stop, and before he could steady himself or adjust his stance, he could only barely raise his greatsword to block Harrot's attack.

Harrot paid no attention to anything else. After his blow was blocked, he continued swinging and pressed the attack fiercely. With Level 2 Weapon Mastery, chaining slashes together took relatively little effort.

Although Harrot's attacks came one after another, the angles of each strike were not particularly sharp. This gave Stone plenty of room to redirect the force. Though it was difficult, he still managed to block Harrot's attacks.

While relieved, Stone also felt a trace of shame. He had thought Harrot was being too arrogant before, but now, even though his opponent was clearly holding back, he was already struggling to endure.

He did not believe that a warrior as strong as Harrot could fail to understand something as basic as adjusting to the proper attack angle. He simply assumed Harrot was going easy on him.

But Harrot truly did not understand. Even so, as he swung strike after strike, the force behind his attacks grew greater and greater. Stone retreated while blocking, feeling like a lone boat in a storm, in danger of being overturned at any moment.

"Ha!"

"Ha!"

"Ha!"

Harrot could not help shouting as he attacked. He felt the strength gathering in his hands grow greater and greater, and his entire presence became more and more imposing. He could not help feeling exhilarated.

Finally, during another heavy strike from Harrot, Stone's upper body barely managed to block and knock Harrot's greatsword aside, but his legs suddenly went weak. Unable to muster any strength, he fell backward.

At that moment, Harrot, already caught up in the fight, chopped down with another fierce blow. Stone was still in midair and could not exert any force at all. With a crack, the wooden sword in Stone's hands snapped in two. The front half flew far away, while the remaining half was jolted from his grasp and fell to the ground.

Stone fell awkwardly to the ground. His hands had been shaken bloody, his chest heaved violently, and he gasped for air. Though they had fought for less than a minute, his stamina had almost been completely exhausted.

Harrot received the system notification: +18 Experience. He was equally exhilarated. The experience gained from defeating an enemy was only one-tenth of that gained from killing one, so this amount was perfectly normal.

In the early stages of Mount & Blade, the experience needed to level up was very low. Before Level 5, only a few hundred experience points were needed for each level.

More importantly, he had completely overwhelmed a high-ranking gladiator of above-average strength in the Gladiatorial Arena without losing any health. Even if his attributes countered Stone's, it still proved that his combat ability was truly exceptional. This greatly boosted Harrot's confidence.

In his good mood, Harrot found Stone, lying on the ground, much more pleasing to the eye. He reached out and pulled him up.

"Are you alright? I wasn't paying attention and used too much strength. Sorry about that, brother."

After using Harrot's hand to stand, Stone looked thoroughly embarrassed. He had challenged Harrot to a spar only to be completely crushed, and now his opponent was apologizing for hitting too hard. It was truly hard for Stone to save face.

"Ha ha ha, I'm the one who made a fool of myself! Harrot, you're far stronger than me. I'm not even qualified to be your sparring partner!"

Fortunately, Stone was naturally cheerful and optimistic. Besides, it was not his first time being thoroughly beaten. With a laugh, he quickly adjusted his mindset.

The surrounding spectators also gathered around and showered Harrot with praise. The strong received preferential treatment wherever they went, especially in a place that worshipped martial strength like the Gladiatorial Arena.

"Our Gladiatorial Arena has a new god of war!"

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

Harrot smiled and responded to them as well. It was not terribly important, but having a good relationship with the gladiators was always a good thing.

Just as everyone was happily chatting and praising one another, an unwelcome visitor interrupted their cheerful atmosphere.

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

The scar-faced middle-aged man was short and somewhat hunched over. He glared viciously at Harrot and the other gladiators before saying, "You all seem to be having quite a nice chat. Have you forgotten what you are, hm?"

All the gladiators glared at Scarface with hostile expressions, but none dared openly argue with him. Naturally, Harrot was not foolish enough to stand out. This man was probably that beastly overseer, Scarface.

Scarface continued picking a fight without letting up, pointing at Hark as he asked, "You old piece of trash, tell me. What are you?"

"We are gladiators belonging to the Gladiatorial Arena."

Hark stepped forward helplessly and answered. The Gladiatorial Arena's rules restricted the gladiators. No matter how dissatisfied they were, they could not openly defy an overseer. At the same time, those rules also prevented overseers from punishing gladiators without cause.

"Oh, you're gladiators? I thought you were knights returning triumphantly from a victorious campaign!"

"You were let out of your cells to train, not to chat and fool around! Every last one of you, know your place! As slaves, you should act like slaves!"

The more Scarface spoke, the more worked up he became. In the end, he directly slapped Hark across the face twice.

"You!" "Bastard!"

The gladiators around Harrot angrily wanted to rush forward and teach Scarface a lesson. Stone in particular shoved aside several gladiators blocking his way and charged forward.

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

Scarface's guards immediately pinned Stone with their halberds. Stone had little stamina left after sparring with Harrot, and once the guards restrained him, he had no strength to resist.

One of the guards kicked Stone in the leg, sending him directly to his knees. The other gladiators were enraged as well and prepared to rush forward and knock down the guards. The guards also raised their weapons, ready to deal with the rioting gladiators.

"Stop! Have you lost your minds? You dare attack the Gladiatorial Arena's guards? I wasn't training properly, so it's only right that the overseer punished me. Leave me alone!"

Hark roared, stopping the gladiators from nearly rioting. He knew this was Scarface's scheme.

Scarface's goal was to completely drive The Bald Man out of the Gladiatorial Arena. The Fat Man only handled betting and gambling and did not interfere with the Arena's internal affairs. The One-Armed Man had come here to retire and had no interest in managing trivial matters. As long as Scarface brought down The Bald Man, the Gladiatorial Arena would be his to command!

These gladiators were all supporters of The Bald Man, and they were also the main reason he was valued by the noble lord.

Although gladiators were slaves, as long as the owner of the Gladiatorial Arena was not an idiot, he would know that gladiators were the Arena's core. Without outstanding gladiators, the Arena could not make money.

As long as Scarface could not deal with these gladiators, the noble lord behind the scenes would never let The Bald Man leave.

Scarface had also tried all sorts of methods to win the gladiators over, but gladiators were not idiots. How could they betray The Bald Man, who had risen from among gladiators, and support a beast who did not treat gladiators as human beings and had insanely invented cruel contests like Man-Beast Combat?

Since bribes and incentives had failed, Scarface could only resort to threats and coercion. He planned to beat these disobedient gladiators into submission. That was how he dealt with slaves: no matter how defiant a slave was, a few beatings would make them obedient and too afraid to resist.

However, gladiators were the Gladiatorial Arena's property. As long as they did not break the rules, Scarface had few ways to deal with them. But if he caught them by the handle, he could make them suffer terribly.

When Scarface saw Hark stop the gladiators from making a grave mistake, he felt like a cooked duck had flown away. He stomped his feet in rage, but when he saw Stone restrained by the guards, he suddenly smiled sinisterly.

"Hmph, you old piece of trash do have some brains. But don't worry, we'll take things slowly. I have plenty of time to deal with trash like you. Today, I'll start with this idiot who dared attack me!"

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