Chp.35: The gladiators' victory

The guards were unable to organize an effective defence; the attack of the gladiators was so sudden and sudden that it was impossible for them to organize in time. The soldiers were swept away by the living river formed by almost a hundred warriors armed with swords, maces, spears and any other type of weapon.

With just the first strike, the spearmen eliminated at least twenty guards, who were surrounding Haku and were therefore all conveniently in the same place. The spears pierced their bodies with unprecedented violence and they could do nothing to prevent it. They fell lifeless to the ground and were trampled by the army of gladiators.

The other guards were more fortunate: not being in the line of their opponents' charge, they had time to fortify their bodies with mana and prepare for the attack. Before they could reassemble, however, the gladiators in the rear scattered and forced the guards to remain divided; the strongest among them, like Brenno, charged and killed several in one shot. In addition, the archers and crossbowmen in the battlements aimed at their heads and as soon as they saw an opportunity they struck them, killing them instantly.

The guards were quickly outnumbered. On top of that, they were tired and had already wasted a lot of their mana due to the fight against Haku and the beasts, while the gladiators hadn't fought yet and therefore didn't feel tired. In addition, months or even years spent in the arena fighting every day had fortified the body of the gladiators, making them not only stronger but also more resistant to fatigue and pain; even with a sword planted in his shoulder, a gladiator wouldn't have screamed or become despondent, but would have continued to fight to the death. This gave the gladiators an edge. And besides, and this hadn't to be underestimated, the guardsmen fought only because that was their job and they were in danger, while the gladiators fought for their freedom and they had the absolute certainty that they would win; morale on both sides was clearly in favor of the latter.

And finally, the gladiators had a dragon on their side. A dragon who, despite being very young and with a strength barely at the level diamond, was still a living war machine and possessed an extraordinary fighting intelligence. Taking advantage of the brief moment of pause obtained thanks to the charge of the gladiators, Haku had engraved new runes on his scales and had used his blood to feed them (he had no difficulty in obtaining it since he already had several wounds on his body, albeit only superficial and not at all painful); after that, he ran around the arena attacking all the guards in his path and killing as many as possible. With the guards busy facing the gladiators and the power of the invisibility rune, Haku could easily attack them by surprise and eliminate entire groups in a single strike. Whenever they saw him appear, the gladiators stood aside and let him do his job, while they went to face another group.

Zamor too was running all over the arena. Using his incredible lizardman agility, he was able to move easily through the chaos, constantly swinging his spear and always aiming at his opponents' heads. He continually shouted orders, indicating how to stand and how to act, and the gladiators readily listened to him; obviously there were some hotheads who did just as they wanted, among which Brenno and Darbi stood out, but most of the others followed his commands and thanks to them he was able more easily to get the better of their enemies. Zamor was a formidable leader and thanks to his orders, despite the extremely chaotic situation, the gladiators were easily maintaining their advantage and were crushing the now very low resistance of the remaining guards.

Unfortunately, his voice was not audible just to the gladiators. The guards quickly realized that he was the leader of that sudden rebellion; and so, despite being disorganized, some of them decided to eliminate him immediately to weaken the enemy's morale and strategy. Even if with a lot of effort, they managed to isolate and surround him. Zamor swung his spear and struck a few, but the others took advantage of the brief moment in which he pulled the weapon from his opponent's body to attack him from behind.

However, their weapons never hit the lizardman's back; their bodies were suddenly crushed by enormous force and their heads were smashed in an instant. Zamor turned around and saw that Haku had appeared behind him and eliminated the guards who were attacking him from behind. The dragon and the lizardman exchanged a knowing look, then they charged at the remaining guards and scythed them away with quick and precise blows. Haku swung his tail and claws to eliminate large numbers of them, while Zamor used his agility and spear to kill the remaining ones and those who tried to get too close to the dragon. In a few moments, only the two of them were standing, surrounded by corpses.

"Mph. That was a close call" Zamor commented when they finished, looking at the bodies of the guards who had tried to hit him from behind, most of which were still under Haku's paws.

"Shouldn't you say thank you?" the dragon grumbled.

But the lizardman giggled. "As if I don't know very well that you only did it because we have a deal" she said. "Do you want to deny it?"

"No, you're absolutely right. Under normal circumstances, I would have let you die" Haku replied with no emotion in his voice.

"As I expected. Oh, by the way..." Zamor raised his spear and hurled it at Haku's head. The dragon ducked instinctively and the weapon passed over his horns and struck a still alive guard who was trying to stab his neck from behind. "Shouldn't you say thank you?" the lizardman added.

Haku snorted. "Don't give yourself too much credit. I had heard him coming. My senses aren't limited like yours. I just wanted to see his terrified face when I would stop his attack and tear his arm off"

Zamor rolled his eyes. "You're a real asshole, do you know?" he murmured. "I want to let you know that I was tempted to wait for the guards to kill you"

"Don't worry, I predicted it. And I also predicted that you wouldn't since you need my help to get out of here" Haku answered. "So no hard feelings"

The lizardman raised an eyebrow. "Really? Is that all your reaction?"

"I told you, I predicted it. I have no reason to be angry" Haku said. "I would have done the same thing, after all"

Zamor narrowed his eyes in annoyance. He imagined that the dragon would consider a possible betrayal, but it rather annoyed him that he didn't consider it relevant, since he knew very well that in the end he would be forced not to implement such betrayal. But most of all it bothered him that Haku had just compared him to himself, albeit quite accurately. "Alright. Let's finish this mess, I want to get out of here"

Haku nodded, and the two charged at the remaining guards, cutting them down one by one. The ground of the arena was covered in blood and death as they passed.

All the guards fell in the end. The gladiators felled them all ferociously, showing no mercy, and thanks to their strategic and numerical superiority they met practically no major obstacle. Most of the gladiators were only lightly wounded in the fight, and the few seriously wounded were quickly dragged to safety away from the battle. There were only a few dead on their side. Finally, the clatter of clashing weapons and the screams of the soldiers ceased, leaving only countless corpses strewn on the ground and the merry gladiators raising their weapons and cheering. "Victory!" Darbi yelled. "We won!"

Zamor breathed a sigh of relief; at least up to that point the plan had gone well. He looked at Haku and saw that he was taking the corpses of the guards and beasts and putting them in his dimensional bag. "What are you doing?" he asked inquisitively.

"Dragons don't waste anything. I won't leave all this food and stuff here" Haku replied.

Zamor let out a cry of disgust, but he said nothing. After all, he knew Haku enough to know that he had no qualms about eating people. "What's the next move?"

"Send your men to a high spot, where they can see outside, and tell them to warn you as soon as a woman tries to enter. She's our key for the escape" Haku replied. "For the rest, send the other gladiators to look for any surviving guards. And finally... make them tell us how to deactivate the magical barrier". As he said this he licked his lips viciously. "I can help you with the last part if you want. They are good at loosening the tongue of even the most stubborn people"

Zamor wasn't sure it was a good idea to let the dragon take care of the interrogation, and above all that it was a morally acceptable thing, but he knew they couldn't afford to waste even a second of time; so he nodded and walked towards a corner of the arena, where the gladiators had amassed the few guards they had managed to capture alive. Darbi and Brenno were guarding them, though it was highly unlikely they would try to escape since they were exhausted, wounded, bound, and completely depleted of mana. But despite that, they still wore a proud expression on their faces and looked at the gladiators with anger and revulsion. Notably, when Zamor arrived, one of them almost spat on him. "When the army will arrive, all of you will be dead!" he growled, with everyone else's assent.

"That's our problem, not yours" Zamor replied. "Now I want to know how to deactivate the barrier"

"I'll never talk, you filthy criminal!" the guards answered almost in unison.

Zamor shrugged and let out a sigh of resignation. "You don't have to talk to me. Talk to him" he said moving slightly to indicate Haku who was approaching.

The guards sweated a little when they saw the dragon coming, but they kept their composure nonetheless. Haku looked amused by their attitude. "Don't worry, they'll talk to me. I guarantee it" he said to Zamor.

"I'm sure of it. Brenno, Darbi, let's go. I don't think the show will be to our liking" Zamor ordered turning and walking away. The minotaur immediately followed, while Darbi first glanced at his brother, and only after his assent did he leave.

Left alone, Haku looked at the guards. "So, how can I deactivate the magical barrier? Tell me now and at least you will be spared the suffering"

Of course they refused. "Never, you filthy beast!"

Haku ignored the insult and burst out laughing instead. "You know… I was hoping you'd say that" he said as he moved closer to them, so close that they could hear his breath and clearly see his teeth. "I love when they act tough..."

Haku returned to Zamor after about ten minutes, with his muzzle and paws completely covered in blood. "The magical barrier is powered by a crystal containing a large amount of mana, which is periodically switched and replaced with another whenever the mana runs out. If we destroy the crystal, we also destroy the barrier. It is located directly below us, and to get there, just follow the underground corridors. I asked for the route, now I'll describe it to you"

Zamor preferred not to wonder what methods of persuasion Haku had used to get such detailed information revealed. When the dragon had finished he said: "Knowing the route to take, I don't think it would take anyone more than ten minutes to go down there and back"

"I can do it in five" Darbi said, slapping his chest.

"I'm coming with you. There might still be some guards down there" Brenno said.

"Me too. Better to have someone watching your back" Gord added.

Zamor looked at them, then he nodded. "Okay, you'll go. We'll wait for the person Haku mentioned to arrive, and then you'll go and deactivate the barrier right away. As soon as you do, come right back here, okay?"

The three of them nodded. At that point Haku asked: "Well, since we have to wait, could someone please help me get all this blood off? It's kinda annoying having it on my body"

The others groaned in disgust, but Darbi smiled and stepped forward. "Of course, brother, don't worry! Now I'll clean this..."

The other gladiators watched the scene a bit bewildered. "It's a good thing those two found each other" Gord whispered to Brenno, who nodded sympathetically.