Zhang Heng was willing to guide Terufelos because he had a good impression of him. That was why Zhang Heng wanted to help to grow his reputation. Other than that, he needed a heavyweight fighting performance to help him ascend to the throne of champions.
Although getting consecutive victories was an enjoyable thing, the audience might get bored if nothing exciting was presented to them. When that time came, the audience would wish for a challenger powerful enough to pose a threat to Zhang Heng. And now Terufelos was playing this role.
And more importantly, Terufelos found that he could not say no to Zhang Heng’s plan. It was not because he could not let go of his fame. Still, Zhang Heng also told him frankly that if he chose to concede when they were evenly matched, the audience would be disappointed by him. There was a high chance that they would be asking the organizer to execute Terufelos.
Therefore, Terufelos was now left with no other option. He could only continue to cooperate with Zhang Heng to complete this epic battle. The audience in the stands finally got to feast their eyes and appreciate the duel between these two outstanding gladiators. Among them, Zhang Heng’s combat skills were outstanding, and he was incredibly agile. On the other hand, his opponent, Terufelos the Giant, could not keep up with Zhang Heng’s rhythm, but his battle instinct was extraordinary.
No matter how Zhang Heng changed his footwork, the large man could always complete the defense setup before Zhang Heng could land his sword on him. Sometimes he did not even need to look back, and he could somehow block the attack with his shield. And the audience was bewildered by what they saw. Some even felt that there was something wrong with this battle. The owner of Terufelos’s school, for instance, had heaps of unanswered questions about this battle in his mind.
He knew Terufelos’s strength better than anyone else. Seeing that he took the initiative to pick Zhang Heng as his opponent, his master was furious. Ever since Zhang Heng showed his true strength in front of everyone, he had given up on claiming the championship. He just wanted Terufelos to take advantage of this final battle to accumulate his game and reputation. If his popularity rose, he would be able to sell more tickets in the future. It seemed like the goddess of fate had started to favor him.
On the other hand, Sartonilos and the other gladiators were saddened by what they saw. During this crucial final battle, their performance had deteriorated severely. Some of them were still stuck in their first battle. Therefore, Terufelos’s owner wished that he would not meet Zhang Heng as his opponent so early. It would have been perfect if he could defeat a few more opponents and show off his strength. By doing that, his reputation would bump up in Rome. However, he did not expect that Terufelos would be insane enough to challenge Zhang Heng voluntarily. He did not avoid Zhang Heng like everyone else.
This posed a huge problem to Terufelos’s owner. He was worried that Zhang Heng would defeat Terufelos within a few moves. All the fame and reputation that he accumulated for such a long time would be in vain if that happened. It was a shame that this matter had to turn out this way. The owner had no other choice but to pray that Terfufelos would not be defeated so quickly.
In the end, Terufelos gave him a pleasant surprise. Up until now, Terufelos was the only gladiator who got to do a real fight with Zhang Heng. Here came the question: was this Terufelos still the same Terufelos he knew?
He knew his ace gladiator, Terufelos, all too well. From the moment he bought him, then found him a teacher and helped him discover his potential and talent, it took him a lot of effort and time.
In other words, he was the only person that watched Terufelos grew to become such a powerful gladiator. His skills and strength were always better than him. For the first time, the Terufelos in front of him looked like a stranger. Whenever he thought that Zhang Heng would defeat Terufelos, the giant somehow managed to crush his pessimistic prediction with his outstanding performance.
Did that mean that the giant in front of him had suddenly awakened, or he had been hiding his true strength all this time? Maybe he was always stronger than he appeared to be. The question was, why did he hide his true strength? Could he have been planning to escape from the gladiator school? Was he going to kill his master? The more he thought about all these questions, the more terrifying it became for him.
While Terufelos’s owner was dwelling in all those questions, the battle between Zhang Heng and Terufelos became fiercer. When Terufelos took on Zhang Heng’s attack with a flashy move again, he finally could not help but ask, “Are… Are we good now? We have been fighting for a long time. I think the audience should also be satisfied by our performance.”
And the next moment, he finally heard the reply that he had been waiting for a long time. Zhang Heng nodded and said, “Well, it’s almost time to stop.”
Terufelos felt a sense of relief when he heard the words.
There was never a gladiatorial performance that could tire him out so much. Though it looked like he was as powerful as Zhang Heng, he no longer felt that he was a gladiator, but a troupe actor, holding the script in his hand and performed. It was hard for him to get through the whole thing. After the performance was over, he could think about where he wanted to reward himself.
When the battle had almost come to an end, he realized that his nightmare was not over yet. He heard Zhang Heng saying, “We need to make the ending more dramatic to impress the audience.”
“Wh…What do you mean by dramatic?” Terufelos had now wholly transformed into Zhang Heng’s obedient student. He just wanted to end this honorless battle as soon as possible.
“I will attack you later. I was hoping you could use your shield to block my attack. An accident will happen at around the eleventh strike. My sword will stick to the inside of your shield. At that time, it will be your chance to fight back.”
“What? I still have a chance to fight back?” Terufelos almost cried when he heard that.
“Yes, please control the battle first.”
“How should I fight back?” Terufelos asked humbly for advice.
“Just follow your usual fighting style.”
Terufelos wanted to say that Zhang Heng had guided him during the entire battle, and he almost forgot his usual fighting styles. Fortunately, he held back his words and only replied with an “Understood.”
“Don’t worry. It will be over soon,” Zhang Heng reassured.
“That would be great.” Terufelos doubted Zhang Heng’s integrity. After all, he was forcing him to put on a show. He was probably not the most honest or trustworthy person.
Zhang Heng then started to do a beautiful combo to end the battle finally. Terufelos also had to stay sharp again and used his large shield to block Zhang Heng’s storm-like attack. He initially had some doubts about Zhang Heng’s words, but when he counted the eleventh strike, Zhang Heng’s Persian sword was indeed stuck on his shield. So Terufelos seized this opportunity and charged at Zhang Heng with his shield instead of attacking him with his sword. This was the kind of decision that a top-tier gladiator would make during an intense fight like this. It was because it would take him longer to swing the sword. And his shield was closer to Zhang Heng. So, he planned to knock Zhang Heng out of balance first. After that, his sword attack would be more effective.
Everything that he expected happened right before his eyes. Zhang Heng was knocked down by the shield, and the audience fell into a hushed murmur, worried for him. Immediately, Zhang Heng let go of the Persian sword, fell to the ground, and dodged Terufelos’s attack.
Terufelos reacted quickly and immediately smashed Zhang Heng with his shield on the ground. Before he attacked Zhang Heng, he gave a polite reminder, “I will smash you now.”
He then swung the shield in his hand. At the same time, his body was wide opened for Zhang Heng to attack. The next moment he saw Zhang Heng got up from the ground quickly. Not only did he escape his shield attack, but he also managed to get closer to Terufelos. This time, Terufelos was truly frightened by him. He then slashed at Zhang Heng subconsciously. However, he was still half a beat slower than Zhang Heng. When he finally got to move his short sword a few centimeters away from Zhang Heng’s arm, Zhang Heng has already placed his Persian sword in front of Terufelos’s neck.
The judge looked at their final postures and finally ruled that Zhang Heng was the winner. A burst of suppressed cheers broke out from the stands. As for the loser, not only did Terufelos was not disappointed and sad, but he showed a long-lost smile as if he was the winner.
