Pirate Kingship.

Chapter 431 Hercules: Twelve Heroic Triumphs

Byron and his party, who were preparing to temporarily avoid the sharp edge of the two holy relics, were blocked by a suddenly rising high wall. Even if Fukin and Wuni suddenly flapped their wings and flew high, they still could not cross the wall of the Colosseum.

“If we compare the background, the Habsburg dynasty, which owns the only empire in the church state, will not lose to any of us.

It's just a fourth-level hero, but he has so many powerful treasures in his hands. The Habsburgs are really extravagant."

The Colosseum of the Beasts is quite famous. When Byron and Violet were studying continental history as children, this place was listed in the textbooks.

It is one of the required subjects for those who want to join the Tower Sequence [Historian].

The Colosseum is nearly 1400 years old, longer than many nations have existed.

The reason it became a holy relic was not because it had witnessed any major historical events, but simply because it was the oldest existing dueling arena in the Old World.

The entire main building covers an area of ​​20,000 square meters and can accommodate 90,000 spectators.

When the Silver Empire still retained the tradition of gladiatorial combat, countless ferocious beasts were released from their pens, and gladiators, most of whom were born slaves, were driven into the arena.

The beasts want to eat humans, and humans want to survive. After each fight, there are very few survivors, and the scene is extremely bloody, which is why it is known as "Ten Thousand Beasts Weeping Blood."

There is only one extraordinary effect, which is similar to one of the core abilities of a gladiator - [War Shackles].

But it is much better than the shackles of war.

The latter requires: "Neither the enemy nor us can escape or surrender in battle, and there will only be one final winner."

Failure just once means complete death, and even the craziest gladiators dare not abuse the shackles of war.

The former can demarcate multiple areas for different "gladiators" to fight at the same time, up to four groups, and can also limit the duel time, driving everyone together and forcing them to fight.

The most important point is that you can freely control the opening or closing of the arena, and you won't kill yourself like the "Two-Face" Smith.

Obviously, as an imperial noble of noble blood, even if August Habsburg was only a branch of the family, he would not risk his life as easily as a lowly gladiator.

Byron was more willing to believe that the other party did not possess the original body of the wonder of civilization, and it was most likely just an ability card from the [Pawn Merchant].

There is no need for him to actively release it, as long as you kill him, the Colosseum will be automatically released.

"Run!"

The other trial participants who were still alive in the field were frightened by the effects of [Thief of Time] and [Dagger of Cassius], and they all subconsciously dodged in all directions.

But although the arena is huge, where can you escape to?
The native princes may not know the effect of this civilization wonder barrier-type relic.

Just by looking at the slowly shrinking space around them, they could calculate that before dawn, they would not be able to obtain the Sun Badge that would lead to the next level, and the Colosseum would be reduced to a point where they would have no escape.

The third prince [Blood of Heroes] had obviously drunk a lot of wine while resting in the evening. He had a somewhat crazy look on his face and his tone was even louder than the second prince [Playboy] just now:

"You dare to compete with me for the throne? None of you can escape today!
Please help, Mr. August. If you can get the [Sun Crown], I will ensure that my best sister and daughter will marry into the old Tyrol branch of your family.

Even if there is a fourth-rank princess who wants them, it won’t be a problem.

From now on, our Sun Empire and your family's Holy Silver Empire will be brotherly countries!"

Hearing the third prince's promise again, August was excited, and felt that his adventure of personally coming to the front line of the battlefield was meaningful.

"I believe Your Highness will keep his promise.

Maybe your bloodline will be able to ascend the throne of the emperor in the future and take down the supreme [Crown] of the Silver Continent!"

In fact, every family has its own problems.

The Habsburgs were a large family, with multiple branches ruling over the Holy Silver Empire, as well as numerous kingdoms, duchies, and vast subordinate territories.

But in the recent Silver Age of 1450, Albrecht's line died out.

Only two branches of Leopold's line remained: the Old Tyrolean branch and the Styrian branch, each controlling different territories, and the family's descendants were also not very prosperous.

What’s worse is that in order to maintain the purity of their bloodline and the concentration of power, they always insist on inbreeding.

Nine out of 11 marriages are between close relatives, and marriages between uncles and nieces or cousins ​​are very common.

As a result, many "people possessed by demons" appeared in the family.

These "possessed people" usually cannot speak until they are four years old, and cannot walk until they are eight years old. They are short, thin and weak.

He is mentally abnormal and has almost no interest in anything around him.

They also had the Habsburg-specific "Habsburg lip (mandibular protrusion deformity)" and their tongues were so large that they had difficulty speaking and often drooled.

The head is too big, the intestines are inverted, the body often convulses, and in more serious cases, the individual may even lose further fertility.

Many "people possessed by demons" have become old and frail by the time they are 30, with large areas of swelling on their legs, feet, abdomen and faces.

In their final years, they could barely stand on their own and suffered from hallucinations and intestinal spasms.

If we ask the Bloodthirsty Cult and the Skin-Flayer Church to help them diagnose, they will find out.

This is actually a genetic disease caused by disordered genes in the ancestors' bodies: one is the lack of pituitary hormones that causes hormonal imbalance, affecting their growth and development; the second is hereditary kidney disease.

But the Habsburgs, who had not been exposed to the corresponding taboo knowledge, did not know this.

For a long time, I thought my family was cursed by political enemies.

The Habsburg dynasty had few descendants, which also led to the fact that there were not many adventurers. All of them were from the side branches of non-noble families. August of the Old Tyrol branch was one of them.

After he came to the Empire of the Sun during the window period, the things he cared about were different from those of others.

The first thing that caught his attention was not the gold that was everywhere, nor the immortal fifth-level [pseudo-god].

But it is the mystery of fertility in the Solar Empire.

For more than a thousand years, every king of this great empire would marry his own sister, generation after generation, but there had never been a situation like theirs.

The king often has hundreds of children.

Even the marriage of a totem god whose true form is an earthquake dragon and an alpaca is no problem.

Does that mean that as long as the Habsburg family, who made their fortune through "marriage", intermarry with the "Son of the Sun", they can solve the problem that has troubled them for nearly three hundred years?

The magical ability of the descendants of the Sun is simply a gift from God to the Habsburg dynasty!
In the past, "ruling the world with your lower body" was just a joke, but it may not be the case in the future!
Why not seize the opportunity and rush in without thinking?
After reaching a deal with the third prince, August also worked hard for the future of his family.

Seeing those ordinary third-level princes running away, he remained calm and raised his hand casually and gave an order:
"The arena is open. Mode: melee! Number of matches: two!"

A light curtain immediately rose up in the arena, separating everyone.

According to the information provided by the third prince, the eldest prince [Earthquake Light] has the strongest personal power, and the second prince [Playboy] has the widest circle of friends, so he immediately put the two strongest families into one group. Let them fight until both are defeated, and then he can pick the peaches.

He himself selected the weakest of the four governors, the fourth prince [Hand of Fortune], and assigned him to Group Two.

I feel that facing this kind of "fat pig" who has only money but no ability is just a matter of one knife.

As for the other ordinary princes and guards who had been scared crazy, they were randomly divided into two groups.

One group has three complete teams, nine level three.

Group Two has three complete teams, as well as the four remaining guards after the prince was killed by the [Thief of Time] and the [Dagger of Cassius], a total of thirteen level three guards.

"kill!"

The drunken Third Prince [Blood of Heroes] led the guards around him and took on the mythical form of the pure-blooded Son of the Sun. They each brandished a bronze spear and rushed towards the lower-level brothers with wild laughter.

In the same path of [Bloodline Codex], the superior has a natural suppressive power over the inferior.

In the Old World, three level three warriors are enough to fight against one level four warriors, and they can withstand the pressure in a short period of time, but here they are almost vulnerable to collapse.

"Ahhhhh."

The screams were deafening.

The same goes for August, who is holding the Dagger of Cassius.

He put the gleaming dagger to his mouth, licked it with his tongue, and sucked it.

Unfortunately, the special attack on the prince is a characteristic of the holy relic itself, and it is not poisoned, so there are no famous scenes that people like to see.

The three of them were like a tiger among a flock of sheep among a group of lava giants.

“We can’t let them kill everyone.

You guys hold back the two Sons of the Sun, I'll go and take care of this most difficult Habsburg first, at least I have to take the dagger away from me."

Byron gave an order to Violet and Atahualpa, then forced himself to overcome his instinctive fear of the dagger, summoned the spear transformed by [Mingchao], and took the initiative to kill Augustus.

clang!
Just when the opponent was about to stab another prince, a huge spear wrapped in wind and thunder suddenly knocked away his dagger.

The tip of the gun exploded with a cold light, one turned into two, two turned into eight, and forced him back several steps.

At the same time, Byron took out the golden page contract that Atahualpa had signed when he bribed his brothers, and shouted to the [Lava Giants] who were fighting on their own:

“As evidenced by the contract, my fourth prince will help you all, unlike the other three governors.

If we fight on our own now, we will be killed one by one. Everyone, come closer to me, and we will fight our way out together!"

He spoke Quechua fluently, and August still hadn't realized that he and Violet were not actually indigenous totem gods who came to help.

They didn't care about his words at all. The power systems of the Old Continent and the Southern Continent were different. Even if the latter gathered together, they could not achieve the extraordinary effect of the former.

It's still a piece of loose sand.

He just looked at Byron, an opponent of equal strength, and calmly twisted his neck, shouting:
"Sworn Heroic Spirit, Hercules, summon!"

The Silver Law manifested in the air, and a tall figure as majestic as a mountain leaped down from it and pounced into August's body.

The latter's body expanded rapidly, and the outlines of his muscles seemed like protruding cold and hard granite, full of unshakable power.

August, like Byron's guardian knight Bruch, is also a [Oath Knight] of the Inquisition.

But unlike the oath of the guardian knight, which was to protect the lord, his oath was to protect the family:
"The Habsburgs will live forever, even at the risk of their lives!"

When he fights for the interests of his family, his strength will also increase.

At the same time, there is also a sworn hero spirit from this nation, country, and region.

The Hetigns are the [Twelve Knights of the Round Table], while the heroes of the Holy Silver Empire are mainly the [Ten Heroes] of the mythological era: Hercules, Achilles, and Odysseus.
Hercules was the most famous hero among them, renowned for his unrivaled strength.

"Roar--!"

Followed by three wild beast roars.

The shadows of a lion, a stag, and a wild boar appeared behind Augustus, then exploded in the air and transformed into three halos that blessed him.

Those were the Twelve Trials of Hercules, also known as the [Twelve Heroic Trials], which began after he reached the fourth level.

Only three of the tasks were completed: skinning the Nemean Lion, capturing the doe on Mount Cerynea, and capturing the Erymanthian boar alive.

After completing a trial, a halo will be added, corresponding to defense, agility, and strength.

His body shook, and the earth trembled. It seemed that he could poke a big hole in the sky with just a punch.

With this powerful supernatural ability, August is confident that he is no less capable than any mythical creature that takes the forbidden route.

creak creak
On the opposite side, just a halo of power from the "Erymanthian Boar" made Byron's joints tremble, as if he was carrying a mountain on his back.

Fortunately, taking advantage of the opportunity when Byron and his two companions blocked the three princes' team, the [Lava Giants], who were already in an absolute disadvantage and had no choice but to try their best, had gathered behind Byron.

"When fellow villagers meet, they shoot each other in the back. It's time to give them a little shock from home."

Byron stomped his feet, and a blood-red halo suddenly exploded above his head.

Instantly connected with the nine surviving third-level lava giants in his own camp.

Byron's aura surged, and the surging spiritual glow turned into a blazing red flame, lingering around his mouth and nose, and was vaguely unified by a shining [Storm King Seal] in the center, so he did not lose control.

Everyone breathed in unison, combining into a huge whole; even the gun in Byron's hand was dyed a dazzling red.

Rolling heat waves roared out.

"【Knight Commander】?! You are not a native!"

August, who had been nonchalant, suddenly became furious.

Boom!

It was as if gunpowder exploded, and a huge gun, driven by a hot cyclone, tore through the air and shot in front of him like lightning.

The latter had only time to hold the dagger across his chest in a hurry, and then he was hit head-on as if by a heavy battering ram held in the hands of a giant, and his feet left the ground and the whole person flew back like a cannonball.

Only then did he hear Byron's voice:
"Wrong, it's [Knight Commander] plus [Breath of All Things]!"

(End of this chapter)