Red dragon: in charge of natural disasters

The qualifiers are still in full swing. Not only are the individual and guild competitions in full swing, but the team competitions are also quite lively.

Mantou, Singo, Tiansheng Zhan Kuang, and Xia Ye Qiu Yu formed a four-man team and won the game effortlessly, but the process was a bit boring, and they couldn't even make up a one-minute video material.

When the opponents saw that the opponents were four professional players, their hearts suddenly sank.

Before Tiansheng Zhan Kuang rushed up with a giant axe, they directly admitted defeat to the referee.

This made Mantou feel quite disappointed.

I haven't fired yet, why did you fall?

For these professional players, the qualifiers are particularly easy and there is not much pressure. Some players who like to make trouble also show all kinds of tricks.

For example, Langli Baitiao, he relied on the inhuman recovery ability of vampires, opened his arms, and stood to let the opponent hit him.

During this period, he did not forget to say "It doesn't hurt~", "Didn't you eat?", "Come on! Beat me to death!" and other dirty words, which aroused the anger of the audience, and they wanted to beat him to death.

His opponent was also mentally broken by Langli Baitiao's cheap play. He chopped more than 300 knives in a row, but found that the opponent was still alive and well, so he had to admit defeat.

Mantou watched the game for several days in a row, and he took the opportunity to make a video collection of the performances of those players.

He edited videos such as "Top Ten Super Burning Famous Scenes" and "Top Ten Hilarious Famous Scenes", and took advantage of the popularity of the Empire Conference to eat a wave of traffic.

Mantou even shamelessly put his video of roaring and charging with a dragon and piercing the enemy with one blow at the end of "Top Ten Super Burning Famous Scenes", and also matched it with a blood-boiling bgm.

However, the audience's reaction was not as he wished, and the barrage on the screen was full of "That's it?" "Smuggling private goods?" "It feels not as good as the previous one."

That's wrong.

Shouldn't it be "Mantou is so handsome"?

Looking at the screen full of bad reviews, Mantou slumped in front of the computer with an extremely messy expression.

I finally pretended to be cool, but why is the response so bad?

No, it's too obvious this time. Next time, I have to add some private goods secretly to achieve the effect of "moistening things silently".

However, Mantou's video has also received a lot of response on major video platforms, and the popularity of those large-scale and rich guild wars has soared to a very high level.

The collision of magic and machinery, the duel between the Roman army and the "immortal cultivators", and the fight between the undead army and the paladins have made more people want to play "Erezaigai".

It can actually be played like this?

Is the degree of freedom really so high?

What, there is even a loli version of the fire dwarf?

This is what many passers-by thought after seeing the video, so "Erezaigai" once again topped the hot search list, ushering in a new wave of popularity.

"Where can I buy Erezegai?"

Once dominated the hot search list.

In the empire, the imperial authorities also launched a massive propaganda offensive, focusing the attention of the whole country on this grand competition.

Under the official propaganda, whether it was imperial officials, ordinary citizens, workers, soldiers or scholars, they all knew the name of this "Imperial Duel Competition".

The preliminaries, which lasted for half a month, ended hastily, and the next was the highlight - the real imperial gladiatorial competition, that is, the knockout competition, which was to be held at the Istalia Arena.

The Imperial Commerce Department, which was responsible for organizing the competition, released 100,000 tickets to the market, priced at 50 silver nars.

These tickets were sold out in just half a day, and on the black market, a ticket was even sold at a sky-high price of 5 gold nars.

There are many factors that make this game so popular: the martial spirit of the empire, the official propaganda, and the influence of the Starfallers in the empire.

But the most direct and important reason is only one:

The Emperor of Burning Embers, the Lord of the Empire, and the Supreme Ruler of the Great Wasteland of Anzeta - His Majesty Cassius Klauberu Norikius will personally visit the Istalia Arena.

The Istalia Arena, also known as the Imperial Arena, was built between 1783 and 1785 in the new calendar. It was built by the Empire with tens of thousands of players and hundreds of frost giant slaves.

The Great Arena consists of a series of circular arcades. Its circular outer wall is 60 meters high and divided into five layers. The lower four layers each have 80 arches and classical column decorations.

The Great Arena can accommodate about 150,000 spectators, with a total of four layers of seats.

The higher the status, the higher the seat. The dragon blood nobles sit in the "honor seat" at the highest point and can have a panoramic view of the venue.

Rich spectators can sit in the front row and experience the cruelty and intensity of the gladiatorial contest up close, while ordinary spectators can only sit in the middle seats.

At the top is a specially made huge platform with a solemn and luxurious golden seat on it - this is the throne prepared for the emperor.

This configuration must be present in any building in the empire. Although it is not used most of the time, it is used to show the designer's loyalty.

The designer of the Istalia Arena is also a starfaller, who is said to be from a guild called [Roman Era]

"Oh oh oh oh!"

"It's about to start!"

At this time, the audience seats in the arena were crowded with people, noisy and noisy, cheering, discussing and even scolding each other.

There were even cheering groups of star players gathered together, holding light boards and shouting slogans in unison.

"So many people!"

"Oh my god, is this venue so big?!"

"There must be tens of thousands of spectators, I'm a little nervous, how should I play later?"

"S God must be the champion!!"

"Singo's crazy fans are going crazy, this time the champion must be my brother Crazy Tide!"

Not only players, but also the natives of Anzeta gathered together, humans, hobgoblins, tieflings, snakemen and even ogres, all appeared in the audience.

They also talked a lot and gathered together, but the game itself was not their main concern.

"It's a rare event."

"Yes, in the old Northern Kingdom, a medium-sized city only had a population of tens of thousands, but now, there are 100,000 people in this arena alone."

"There are more and more Starfallers in the empire, and I don't know whether it's a good thing or a bad thing."

"They helped me a lot, but they also brought a lot of trouble. These guys are crazy all day long."

"Do you think His Majesty will really come?"

Before the voice fell, mottled black shadows appeared in the sky, and flying dragons flapped their wings, landed on the pillars of the arena, and raised their heads and roared.

"Ah--"

A space portal suddenly opened, and the Prime Minister of the Empire, the Grand Ogre Mage Rump, appeared above the venue with a smile on his face.

The crowd was in an uproar.

"It's the Prime Minister!"

"He's here too!"

Trump cleared his throat and laid the scepter flat, his voice spreading throughout the venue: "Everyone, please be quiet."

"The first Imperial Gladiator Contest is about to begin."

"No matter what race you are, what status you are, whether you are human, tiefling or ogre, as long as you are a citizen of the Empire, you can enjoy the fun of this event."

The venue was large and there were many people, but Trump's words could be accurately heard by everyone, like a breeze.

Trump raised the scepter high, and his tone became a little excited.

"This will be an unprecedented and unparalleled event, and more importantly - His Majesty will come in person."

The Centaur military band standing on the platform played passionate music, and there were bards chanting in a low voice.

If you listen carefully, you can hear that it is the "Ode to Cassius" widely circulated in the Empire.

Suddenly, a huge shadow was cast, covering many spectators.

"Look--"

"That's--"

"It's His Majesty's true form!"

"It's really His Majesty! Praise the Burning Emperor!"

"Kay, Cassius, this is too huge!"

People raised their heads one after another, their tone excited, their eyes fanatic, as if they had seen the gods in their hearts with their own eyes.

The red dragon, which was more than 40 meters long, spread its extremely broad wings and circled over the Istalia Arena, showing its majestic figure to the fullest.

The music of the Centaurs was still going on, the military drums beat rhythmically, and the red dragon slowly descended with the grand music.

In the end, the huge dragon body gradually became virtual, turning into a majestic shadow, overlooking the people in the arena.

And the man with black hair and golden eyes and a face that was almost divine gradually solidified with the flames, and finally appeared on the throne-that was the incarnation of Cassius.

Due to the limitations of the venue, Cassius had to shrink his body and turn into a human form, but the crown and dragon horns on his head still proved his identity.

"It's the Lord of the Empire!"

"This, this is the divine appearance of His Majesty!"

Someone in the audience couldn't help but exclaimed - the citizens of the Empire are also quite familiar with the human form of Cassius.

For this human-like form, the citizens' admiration is far greater than their fear, and Cassius rarely kills in human form.

Some people even call him "the Lord of Mercy", "the Noble Ruler", and "the Incarnation of God's Demeanor".

They regard this form as a special incarnation that is essentially Cassius, but has its own independence.

The performance of the players is even crazier - for example, the [Cassius Cheering Group] in the audience has already started cheering crazily.

"Ahhhhh!"

"It's His Majesty Cassius!"

"Cassius, the man among men, the male among males, the ruler among men, the ruler among men, the lord of men, the terminator of men!"

"Master! The male god emperor!! The devil! The overwhelming man! The immortal peak in the history of human game modeling!!"

Not far away, the notorious president of the [Dragon Control Club] stood up and glared at the support club composed mainly of female players.

"You bunch of heretics!"

"Humph!"

"Cassius's body is the coolest! The dragon form is the orthodox!"

The dragon control behind him stood up immediately to support their president. They raised their hands high and shouted the slogan of the [Dragon Control Club].

"Humans are the worst! Dragon fetishes are the best!"

"I want to touch the tail of His Majesty Cassius!"

"You are talking nonsense!"

"Cassius is obviously a man among men! A male among males."

Seeing that the two sides were about to fight, the guards patrolling the venue rushed in with guns in time to strangle the possible conflict.

And the other players quietly distanced themselves from them - these two groups of people seemed to be abnormal, and they didn't want to be affected by the "War of Inquisition" that really broke out.

"I want to touch the tail of His Majesty Cassius!"

"Ahhhhhh!"

It is definitely a big challenge to maintain one's dignity and image in such an empire full of players.

Listening to some strange shouts from below, Cassius on the throne resisted the urge to hit down with a meteor and tried to maintain a dignified demeanor.

But the corners of his mouth twitched slightly, and his face looked a little ugly.

Well, don't be impulsive.

Don't destroy the image you have created.

These players should have been controlled long ago.

Thinking of this, Cassius looked down at the crowded venue and said calmly:

"Silence."

As soon as these words came out, it was as if an invisible decree had been issued, and the surrounding space suddenly solidified.

The medium in the air was isolated, and no sound could be made. The two groups of people who were still arguing could not make a sound even if they cursed.

In the venue of more than 100,000 people, there was silence, and even the sound of a pin drop could be heard.

People looked up at the high platform together, with expressions of great surprise.

This is the supreme authority that Cassius has in the [Empire Domain], which can be regarded as "what he says is what he means".

Cassius looked down at the players who opened their mouths wide but could not make any sound, and thus became amazed. The corners of his mouth slightly raised, revealing a barely perceptible smile.

You can't speak now, right?

This is the beauty of the Great Silence Technique!

For these players who are a little crazy, only this kind of coercive method can work.

Otherwise, when he is giving a speech later, a dragon controller suddenly comes out and shouts something like "touch the tail", and the image he has worked hard to create will be shattered.

However, he still felt a little helpless when he looked at the banner "Cassius, a man among men" in the distance.

Tsk, this is the necessary price to pay for exploiting players, and you have to taste it.

Cassius slowly stood up, stood on the high platform, looked around, and overlooked the faces with different expressions in the audience.

"Very good."

He opened his hands and smiled warmly: "Hello, fellow citizens of the empire."

"The development of the Burning Empire from the initial ruins to the current prosperity is inseparable from your contributions. I regard every citizen of the empire and every person who has contributed to the empire as my child."

"And now, I hope you can temporarily break away from your busy work and enjoy everything that is hard-won."

"I, Cassius, solemnly declare in the name of Emperor Burning - the first gladiatorial contest of the empire has begun!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the invisible ban was lifted.

The Centaur Military Band continued to play the impassioned music and issued rhythmic war drums.

In the venue, salutes were fired, applause was thunderous, and the crowds were boiling. The cheers and shouts resounded through the sky and filled the entire city of Istalia.

"Long live His Majesty Cassius!" The shouts were endless, like waves, one after another, spreading to the entire Anzeta Wasteland.

The first Imperial Gladiator Tournament has begun!

"The arena laid the foundation for a complex political ritual, a ritual in which the emperor created and manipulated the public's emotional response through direct personal attitude."

"When you witness with your own eyes how much the people of the Burning Empire love the sport of gladiatorial combat, you will understand why their army is invincible and undefeated on the continent."

--Nadia Dennis, a former court scholar of the Fadlan Empire (end of this chapter)