Count Caspar may not know how heavy the door is, but he knows that when it was installed, it took hundreds of people using all sorts of tools and exerting tremendous effort just to stand it upright.
Can one person lift it with their own strength... how can a human do that?
At this moment, his cheeks twitched violently, and his heart sank to the bottom, even dropping the wine glass in his hand without feeling it.
The entire square fell silent as Gray stepped forward, leaving deep footprints with each step. The door shook and looked like it could collapse at any moment. The residents retreated in fear, voluntarily making way for him.
Eight-fold Herculean Strength, a third-level magic mastered to the level of a grandmaster. In fact, Gray could add another fold, reaching nine folds. If he did, he would definitely be able to carry the door without shaking, but there was a possibility that a slight mistake could crush his bones and armor.
After all, the auxiliary magic of lich is generally not used on themselves.
Gray trampled the fence in front of him and finally walked to the center of the field, heavily placing the door on the ground. In the fearful eyes of everyone, he fixed it like a tombstone.
Everyone watched silently as Gray moved around until he was satisfied. They watched as he coiled the thick iron cable around himself, and then slowly climbed up. They watched as Gray climbed to the very top of the "tombstone" and stood tall.
The silver moon peeked out from behind the clouds, and its light shone down, casting a shadow of him and his opponent.
At this moment, his opponent's facial expression had twisted beyond words.
"Can we begin?" Gray asked the emcee.
The emcee was startled and quickly said, "Y-Yes, we can begin!"
Before the emcee could finish speaking, Gray's opponent had already "clang" thrown down his weapon on the ground.
"I surrender."
Suddenly, the square erupted with earth-shattering cheers. Everyone was applauding, everyone was shouting.
Gray had yet to do anything, but he was already tonight's winner. No one doubted it, not even Count Caspar. Everything seemed to have been rehearsed, as if in a script, with the protagonist finally making an entrance at the end, pushing the atmosphere to a climax.
What else could be done besides surrendering? No one there believed they could survive being brushed past by someone who could single-handedly lift a heavy iron gate.
As Caspar's knights left the stage, a new opponent was pushed forward, but the newcomer unhesitatingly dropped their weapon. Throughout, Count Caspar had no courage to question, just sitting in his seat with wide eyes, silently watching. His hand trembled slightly, and his face twisted into a knot of wrinkles.
"No! I don't want to fight him!"
"You can't beat him! No one can beat him!"
"What a joke..."
Count Caspar's remaining knights passed the buck to each other.
The audience's cheers rose and fell, with girls shouting themselves hoarse for this new knight, clapping until their hands turned red, even though they didn't know his name or what he looked like. His presence was as mysterious and inscrutable as the shadow he left on the sand at this moment.
"Who is this guy? Where did he come from? What's his name?" The street vendors who sold gossip were asking around but to no avail. Clearly, they had entered their blind spot.
Eileen was completely frozen.
Horsche was completely frozen.
Abe Robert was also completely frozen.
Mike struggled to sit up from the makeshift pile of hay that had been prepared for him, looking at his surroundings in terror.
Pas, who had bandages wrapped around him, whistled, "Hey, looks like we've got ourselves a war god."
"Isn't that the idiot who came to seek refuge today?" Two soldiers, one tall and one short, murmured quietly to each other from within the crowd.
"Coward! Coward! Coward! Coward!"
No knight of Count Caspar had entered the arena, and the audience had already begun to stir.
"Quickly, find a solution!" Count Caspar turned to his steward and roared.
The steward scrambled down from the platform and, after discussing with others for a while, could only return to tell Count Caspar, "No knight is willing to fight. They would rather give up their knightly titles than fight. Unless... it's a horseback battle. In that case, there might still be a chance."
"A horseback battle?"
"Yes, a horseback battle."
The steward widened his eyes and looked at Count Caspar, sweating profusely.
Would the other party choose a horseback battle? Obviously not. Then, did he have to break the rules himself? It seemed there was no other way.
He propped himself up on the armrest and slowly stood up, then shouted loudly, "This knight, your strength has already amazed us. As the organizer of this competition, I, Count Caspar, am eager to see your horsemanship. I want to know if your horsemanship is as amazing and admirable as your strength."
"A horseback battle?" Eileen realized what was going on and quickly stood up, walking to the front of the platform and retorted loudly, "Count Caspar, we agreed that the winner would decide whether it's a horseback or a on-foot battle, didn't we?"
"Yes, but if you don't agree to a horseback battle, my men won't fight. If no one fights, then this competition will go on forever and there will never be a winner."
"You!" "Charge! Charge! Charge! Charge!" The knights of Count Caspar's shouted in unison.
"Fraud! Fraud! Fraud! Fraud!" However, the audience's boos quickly drowned them out.
Count Caspar was obviously feeling guilty, but he still held his ground and refused to back down. Eileen gritted her teeth, but she was helpless.
"Um..." Gray, who was still standing on the "tombstone," raised his hand. "Can I ask a question?" "You may." "If I agree to the horse battle, can you send all the knights to fight me together?"
"All...?" Eileen didn't react for a moment. "All? You mean, all the remaining people together?" "Yes, that's what I mean. I'm afraid you won't fight again later, and I may not have enough to make up fifty." Gray said seriously.
"May God bless you! Brave knight, your request has been granted!" Count Caspar was ecstatic in an instant. "Are you crazy?" Eileen went crazy in an instant. "You want to challenge forty-eight knights at once?"
"No, is that not allowed?" Gray asked with a grievance. He just wanted a knight's title and was really worried that something unexpected might happen. After all, this lord didn't seem to keep his word.
"You still ask me if it's allowed? Do you think I'm not losing fast enough?" At this moment, Eileen didn't care about her image anymore and was about to slap Gray directly. "Hey hey hey, niece, how do you know he will definitely lose? Your knights are so brave, shouldn't you be happy? In the name of the Holy Spirit, how can you stop him from showing his bravery?" Count Caspar couldn't help laughing out loud.
"Charge! Charge! Charge! Charge!" The onlookers who loved a good show started cheering again.
"As a lord, one must know how to listen to the voices of the people," Caspar smiled.
In wave after wave of cheers, Eileen could only sit back in frustration.
Horsche had become dumbfounded and quickly turned to Pars, shouting, "Does your friend have a mental problem?"
"Yes," Pars answered without hesitation. He thought so too.
With that, Horse was even more at a loss. Unfortunately, he had no way to stop things from escalating.
"All knights on the field!" The announcer shouted loudly.
Soon, all forty-eight knights appeared on horseback in the arena. It was a sea of darkness, almost like an entire cavalry regiment...was this still just a competition?
The originally spacious arena now looked somewhat crowded.
The audience was ecstatic, but Eileen, Horse, and Abil-Roberts were all extremely nervous.
Would a miracle happen? Could a miracle happen twice in one day?
Gray calmly climbed down from the "tombstone," untied the iron chain that bound him, and dusted off his clothes.
On the other side, a dozen or so people had to work together to drag the screaming bone horse out of the corner and push it onto the field.
Walking up to the bone horse, Gray gently stroked its spine and whispered a few words in its ear, calming it down.
Riding on the horse, Gray wobbled his way towards the center of the arena, holding a seemingly cheap long sword in his hand and without even a shield.
A one-against-forty-eight battle was about to begin, and the opposing knights were all eager and ready.
Horsche hesitated whether to offer his own spear and shield to Gray.
"Gray! Gray! Gray! Gray!" Finally, Gray's name leaked out through the mercenary group, and the audience on the field finally had a name to shout.
Gray raised his long sword high, instantly pushing the atmosphere to its peak.
A line of long spears was raised, and Count Caspar's knights quickly formed their formation. Forty-eight long spears charged simultaneously, meaning that Gray had no space to dodge.
However, the audience on the square did not think so. They believed that this mysterious knight, like a god descending from the heavens, must have a way to resolve it, otherwise, he would not have taken the initiative to propose such a duel.
As the emcee's loud shout echoed, the final match officially began.
Gray took the lead and charged out on his horse, his speed as fast as the wind. Holding his long sword, he aimed a slash at the knight standing at the front!
Everything happened so fast that neither the opponent nor the audience had time to react.
Next, something unbelievable happened. Gray's sword was deflected. Yes, because the opponent's armor was too hard, and Gray didn't grip it properly, the sword flew out of his hand and spun in the air for a few circles before finally landing not far behind Gray.
The amazement that was on everyone's lips was swallowed back by the audience, and everyone watched quietly with widened eyes.
Watching Gray ride his horse in a circle and run to the spot where the sword fell, then struggle for a moment.
"What is he doing?" someone among the opponents whispered.
"He... he dropped his sword. His arm isn't long enough to reach it," another person replied in a hushed voice.
"Can't reach it?"
"Yes. He can't dismount, or he'll lose. So, he has no weapon!"
Count Kaspar's knights cheered.
The audience was stunned.
Even Eileen's eyes were about to pop out.
As for Horsche, he was almost furious. His whole face was twitching.
Pas covered his face with both hands and couldn't bear to watch.
What the hell is this? He lost just like that.
The whole square was silent.
The sudden scene left Count Caspar stunned. After he finally breathed a sigh of relief, he squeezed out a cold sweat and shouted loudly, "Alright, let's end this farce! My knights!"
"Yes!"
The sprint began, and forty-eight horses galloped towards Gray at the same time. Gray was so frightened that he became flustered.
However, just when everyone thought he was doomed to lose, unexpectedly, the bone horse let out a deafening neigh and started to move!
It didn't choose to dodge, but instead charged straight ahead.
Gray quickly recited the spell in cooperation.
For a moment, Holz, who was an expert in horse warfare, even had his heart stop because he knew very well that this strategy was certain death.
However, another miracle happened, a miracle beyond everyone's understanding!
"Quad Power! Quad Shield! Overlay!"
Right in front of everyone, the long spear of the knight at the forefront accurately pierced the bone horse's neck. However, upon contact, a barely perceptible ripple spread out, and the long spear was broken abruptly, without even slowing down Gray's speed. It was like stabbing a metal statue.
No, it's harder than a metal statue. Such a charge, no matter what, would at least leave a scratch on metal, but on the bone armor of the skeletal horse, there wasn't even a scratch.
This is a third-order superimposed magic that no human on the entire continent can perform...
Gray knows more than a thousand kinds of magic, even more than all known human mages. Although he is not proficient in most of them, especially some attack magic and flight magic that are not needed in the underground world. But obviously, this does not include self-blessing magic that is helpful for escaping. During the year when he was being chased by Blut, he almost used these magic spells all the time, to the extent that his proficiency in these magic spells has reached an incredible level.
Facing a terrible undead over ten thousand years old, magic spells that can only be used for escaping are more than enough to deal with mere mortals made of flesh and blood.
Of course, the most critical thing is that the undead finally sat back in the auxiliary position that he should have belonged to, and the true protagonist of this game, the skeletal horse, appeared!
Everyone was stunned, watching as the skeletal horse kicked, side-kicked, back-kicked, and even bit like a lion among a chaotic mass.
How terrifying can a skeletal horse be with triple giant strength, triple armor, and the initial triple gale blessing?
Forty-eight knights were completely helpless against it! As for the countless attacks that landed on it, it was as if they didn't exist at all, not even leaving a scratch!
"I can't fight anymore! I surrender!" A knight threw away his weapon and ran away on his horse.
"This is a monster! I surrender!" Another knight jumped off his horse and left the center of the field.
The confidence that was condensed by the large number of people collapsed completely. Soon, only Gray was left in the center of the field, standing alone on the skeletal horse.
The silver moon, symbolizing luck, witnessed this miraculous scene.
The whole world was silent, only the sound of the wind could be heard.
The fire flickered.
Everyone held their breath and looked at Gray, who was looking at Eileen, and Eileen was looking at him.
Under everyone's gaze, Eileen picked up the long sword that Gray had dropped at the beginning, held it with both hands, and handed it over to him.
If it weren't for the fact that the whole process was like a hilarious comedy, this would probably be a legendary scene. But, in any case, Gray won, didn't he? He won an impossible battle with unbelievable power. No matter how well-written the script in the theater is, it's not as good as seeing it with your own eyes.
Just as everyone was silent, waiting for the hero to say a classic line at a critical moment to push the atmosphere to a climax, Gray picked up his sword, straightened his crooked helmet, and asked Ellyn softly, "Um...I counted them, and there were exactly fifty. Can I get the title of knight?"
The next moment, cheers exploded in the square.
Well, maybe people just wanted to cheer, and they didn't care what Gray said.