Bang!
The ferocious strike landed squarely on the Storm King's head, instantly splitting skin and flesh.
With a casual blow from Spartacus, who could easily shatter boulders, this mutated beast, the Storm King, suffered a grievous injury.
The voices of those cheering for the Storm King abruptly cut off.
The subsequent battle and slaughter far exceeded people's imaginations,
When the Storm King was sent tumbling by that single strike, Spartacus let out a war cry, the furious roar actually making the Storm King tremble all over.
Its body slowly knelt to the ground.
As Spartacus began to fight in earnest, the Storm King, sensing the aura emanating from him, finally realized just how terrifying and unfathomably deep an enemy it faced.
The beast's survival instinct, when confronted with a monster far beyond its own life level, far beyond anything it could handle, instinctively made it retract its ferocious and vicious demeanor, becoming utterly docile.
With just one strike and one roar, the mighty Storm King was forced to kneel.
The people in the audience stands were already stunned.
Reality was more fantastical than myth; they could hardly believe the scene before their eyes was real.
While the crowd was still in a daze...
Spartacus, seeing that his opponent had submitted also stopped.
He had no intention of continuing the attack on a foe that had lost its will to fight.
A coward without even the courage to attack did not deserve to die by his hand.
He would only kill true warriors and the tyrannical, oppressive magistrates who abused their power.
However, the arena manager on the high platform sternly shouted,
"Kill him! Spartacus! Only one of you is allowed to walk out of this arena alive!"
It's over—!
Upon seeing this, Marius, who was in the VIP room, was extremely satisfied.
He got up and left, instructing Crassus to hurry up and deliver the person to him.
He was very fond of this slave warrior!
Just by his imposing presence alone, he could make the ferocious beast Storm King, who had killed a Spartan warrior with a ten-win streak, bow its head.
Clad in those thick, heavy iron chains, he could still swing them to deliver a terrifying strike capable of shattering boulders...
He believed this man could even wield a stone pillar as a weapon.
What Marius did not know was that because he left too early, he missed the scenes that followed.
At this moment, Crassus stood up to see Marius off, and the two left the venue together.
Down in the arena, Spartacus frowned and turned back to look at the Storm King, which had already declared its submission.
Countless gamblers who had fallen into frenzy at the prospect of losing their bets now blamed the potential loss entirely on the Storm King's lack of fighting prowess.
They began cursing wildly and urging Spartacus to hurry up—!
"Kill that damned beast!"
"Who allowed it to submit?
Who allowed it to bow its head?!"
Although at first, seeing a powerful beast submit with just one strike and one roar before a human had shocked and awed the crowd, once they thought about how much money they stood to lose because of it, these people no longer cared about whether the scene was epic or not.
Some angrily cursed, demanding the Storm King stand up and keep fighting.
Others urged Spartacus to quickly kill this useless beast.
Yet Spartacus, whose heart was incomparably kinder than his exaggerated exterior suggested, hesitated at this moment.
He wanted to act according to his own principles, but he also did not want to violate the rules here.
For now, he still needed to continue lying low in the arena; the time to leave had not yet come.
His compatriots were still waiting for him to save them...
And just like that... Spartacus fell into hesitation, this man who feared neither mountains of blades nor seas of flame possessed a heart gentler than anyone present in the arena, fierce as a tiger yet delicately sniffing the rose.
Time passed bit by bit.
Just as the people in the audience grew impatient and their shouts and curses grew louder, suddenly, an invisible pressure swept down from the stands.
The Storm King, as if stimulated by something, abruptly revealed a look of extreme terror, far greater than the fear it had shown toward Spartacus's power.
It was the frenzied hue of a creature at the bottom of the food chain suddenly encountering the apex predator.
Terrified, the Storm King let out a furious roar, scrambled to its feet, and charged forward.
Spartacus, facing this suddenly berserk beast right in front of him, did not dare to slack off, and instinctively roared in response, throwing a punch.
That steel-clad fist smashed like an iron hammer squarely into the already-split flesh on the Storm King's forehead from his earlier strike.
The next instant, boom!
Like a watermelon exploding, the Storm King's brain and the front half of its body suddenly burst apart, leaving only its massive lower body crashing heavily to the ground with a thud~!
When the dull sound of the collapse echoed...
The people on the high platform were stunned for a moment, then suddenly let out screams, while some thrill-seekers, seeing this scene, were not afraid but delighted, cheering wildly for this ferocious punch.
"The victor is—our Thracian warrior, Spartacus!!"
Ohhhhhhhhhhh!
Countless people roared excitedly for the fall of the old king and the rise of the new king.
Only Spartacus's mind was still buzzing as he raised his head, his gaze suddenly locking onto a certain direction, where he saw Night smiling and waving at him.
'Was it that man...?'
Even after leaving the arena, Spartacus remained somewhat dazed.
How had the other man done it?!
Though it was only intuition...
Not long after Spartacus returned to the rest room and sat down, a staff member suddenly brought Night here.
When he saw Night,
Spartacus froze, it was him?!
The staff member looked at him and spoke. "My lord, please don't talk for too long. Be mindful of the time.
Also, do you really not need us to send someone to accompany and protect you?"
Night waved his hand to dismiss the staff member quickly.
He had spent money specifically to meet Spartacus face-to-face, and for the conversation that followed, he didn't want anyone else present to overhear.
As for protection, that was even more laughable.
With his strength, the one who needed protection wasn't him, but Spartacus.
And if he were just a weakling, conversely, if Spartacus truly decided to act, could those pathetic guards in the arena possibly stop him?
Once the staff member left,before Night could speak, Spartacus spoke first. "Was it you who provoked that beast in the arena just now?"
"Yes...I merely gave it a little push from behind."
"Thank you..."
Aside from prey, he did not kill opponents who offered no resistance.
Regardless of why the other man had provoked the beast, it had indeed helped him avoid making a choice against his conscience.
Night also spoke.
"No need to thank me.
Come work under me, Spartacus. Your power shouldn't be buried here, killing for the amusement of others. It should be used on the battlefield, to build glory for yourself."
Spartacus shook his head, rejecting without a second thought.
"No. I'm not interested in glory or anything like that. I'm sorry to disappoint you; you've got the wrong person."
"Is it that you're not interested, or that you don't want to leave."
Hearing his words, Spartacus's body jolted violently, every muscle tensing... ready at any moment to spring into combat stance.