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Chapter 776: 776

Chapter 776: Turning The Tide Around

The two people in the center of the arena were panting violently .

The battle had been going on for quite some time, and judging from the audience’s enthusiastic reaction in the stands, it was apparent they were delighted with the battle .

After a few simple tests, Bach and Rufus immediately started to fight .

Muscle to muscle, slashing to cleaving, the sound of weapons and shields colliding, splatters of blood and sweat on the ground; male hormones filled the whole arena .

Rufus had to admit that he had underestimated the newcomer in front of him . Bach’s combat skills might need a little polishing, but this was a newcomer’s common problem . On the other hand, Rufus could sense that Bach was born with an instinct to detect threats .

Every time he set a trap, Bach would always detect it at the final moment . And the cunning Bach would make use of his trap to go against him . The wound on Rufus’s waist was the best proof of that .

Bach’s sword hit so hard that it almost chopped off his bones . After the judge paused the battle and inspected the wound, he ruled that the battle could continue .

Rufus was used to a situation like this .

Such was the fate of a gladiator . Unless he was severely injured or the other party surrendered, the battle would continue no matter what .

Hence, Rufus had gotten used to fighting with different kinds of injuries on him . However, the wound on his waist did affect his next move, especially his dodge action . Fortunately, Bach was no better than Rufus . The latter’s calf was stabbed by Rufus .

Now, the two were back on the starting line .

In the next battle, both sides deliberately took advantage of each other’s injuries . Rufus forced Bach to put more weight on his injured leg, while Bach forced Rufus to twist his waist more often .

The blood flowed down from Rufus’s and Bach’s thighs to their ankle, where it would finally land on the arena’s grounds . The whole thing was a brutal and bloody affair, hyping up the thousands of spectators at the stands .

However, this intense atmosphere did not affect Rufus . He was still trying his best to focus on his opponent . The expression on Bach’s face frustrated Rufus . Bach, as a newcomer, was not nervous about the battle . And the most important thing was that he showed no emotion as he stared . It was as if he was staring at a dead person .

Rufus could not figure out why Bach would hate him so much . It was common that the gladiators would fight with each other in the school for various reasons . To attract more audience, the arena would deliberately cook up some drama among the gladiators . However, Bach had just entered the gladiator school not too long ago, and he had been focusing on his training . Rufus could not remember when he had offended Bach .

No matter what, he had to win this battle .

Rufus rushed to Bach, “Game’s over, kid . I’m going to fight seriously now . If you don’t want to die, remember to kneel and surrender to me . ”

Bach grinned . “So these are your last words?”

Immediately, Rufus struck at Bach with his trident, exerting all his strength to press Bach down . His astonishing willpower had helped him to overcome the pain from his waist injury . When both sides had reached their physical limits, he forcibly pushed himself back to his perfect state .

It was then that the battle began to lean towards Rufus . It did not take long for Rufus to stab Bach in his left arm, forcing Bach to drop his buckler .

Upon seeing that, Rufus’s supporters immediately stood up and cheered for him .

At the audience seat, Mark Reuss’s face was dark . He looked at Gaby angrily and asked, “What’s the matter? Didn’t you tell me that Rufus is the most suitable person for Bach to fight against in the opening match? All I see is Rufus beating him up . With this kind of combat skills and strength, how are we going to make him the successor of Sethnets? I have spent so much money to buy him . Is it going to be a failed investment?”

Gaby was surprised by Bach’s performance as well . He had been in charge of Bach’s training, and Rufus had also been trained by him back then . In other words, Gaby knew both of them quite well . He had gone through careful consideration before he made this arrangement . He was not saying that Bach would definitely win the battle . It was that Bach shouldn’t have been beaten up by Rufus so badly .

“I… don’t know what happened, but I can assure you that this is not all of Bach’s strength . I don’t know what’s going on with him or what he is thinking . Losing this battle on purpose will not benefit him in any way . ”

When the two were talking, the battle was about to come to an end . The situation had become more and more unfavorable for Bach . He lost his shield, and his performance was going downhill . On the other hand, Rufus had only become braver, at the same time, prepared to attack Bach with his fishing net .

Finally, he waited for the moment when Bach’s footsteps became utterly disorganized . Rufus caught Bach’s weakness and threw the fishing net at him . The moment he did that, he had, for some reason, the sudden feeling that something terrible was going to happen to him . He saw Bach abandoning the “nowhere-to-escape look,” turned into a cheetah, dodged the fishing net, and pounced at Rufus, directly hitting his arms .

Rufus wanted to raise his armguards to protect himself, but it was too late . The moment Bach charged towards him, he fiercely inserted the dagger in Rufus’s neck and pierced through the latter’s throat .

Those shouts of applause from the audience were silenced all of a sudden .

Everyone was stunned by this sudden change of outcome .

Blood gushed out of Rufus’s mouth, and his eyes were filled with horror and surprise . He opened his mouth and tried to say something, but only unintelligible sounds came out of it .

But Bach knew what Rufus wanted to ask, and he moved closer to the latter’s ear . “Aren’t you curious about why I want to kill you? It’s simple . I checked your resume . Five years ago, you participated in the war against us . Presumably, you must have slaughtered quite a few of my people . Consider your death as a debt payment . Even if I can’t kill you on the battlefield, we can still meet in the arena . Am I right?”

Rufus’s eyes were filled with regret . He did not regret joining the army but regretted not finding out more about Bach before the battle . Otherwise, even if he lost, he could get to keep his life as he conceded in time .

The audience on the stands could not hear the conversation between the two . After a short moment of silence, they immediately cheered for Bach .

Except for the people who placed their bets on Rufus, most of the audience watched the performance with great excitement . Upon Bach’s brilliant play to claim the victory, the audience immediately gave a round of applause to Bach and cheered for him . As for Rufus, now lying in a pool of his own blood, he would be forgotten really soon .

In the stands, Mark Reuss also breathed a sigh of relief . He could now relax again . Although Rufus’s accidental death caused him to lose a great gladiator, he still cared more about Bach since he was the future arena’s trump card . Besides, this was an arena, and it was normal for someone to die here .

Only Gaby seemed to have thought of something and frowned . He probably knew why Bach’s performance was so unbearable to watch earlier . He was trying to use his weak performance to confuse Rufus, seeking a perfect chance to kill him and wanting to prevent him from begging for mercy . For that, he deliberately let Rufus injured him .

After all, Gaby was the winner of this battle . So, Gaby only warned him about it with his eyes .