<h4>Chapter 158: Arena of the Dry City 2</h4>


    And it didn''t take long, and about 30 thousand people had upied the entire space of the arena!


    "Ah... This ce is fascinating. I think I wille here a lot in the future!" Someone said in the middle of the crowd.


    "Hmm, even if I can''t fight here, for now, there will be a lot of fights here in the future!"


    "I wonder what will happen today..."


    "Haha, rest assured, your older brother here will tell you ..."


    "I heard from a friend of mine that a smallpetition is going to happen here today!"


    "Apetition, huh? This will be my first time seeing this, I just watch the professors at the former ck Star Academy activating their techniques, but I never witnessed a real fight." A young woman said, with a smile of anticipation on her face.


    "See there! It looks like it''s about to start!"


    And as soon as someone said that, Sergeant Pyke went up to the stage in the center of the arena and used a sound array to wee everyone.


    "Ehh, wee to the opening of the Arena of the Dry City!"


    "Today, we are opening this building for the first time, so the ck in Army will be holding a smallpetition for the audience present."


    He then started talking about what would happen next, including the rules of this small tournament.


    ording to Pyke, eight army soldiers would fight in a key tournament, with seven matches in total. There would be no dispute for the third ce since only that soldier who took first ce could win the prize of a thousand low-grade crystals.


    Anyway, among the soldiers were the strongest in the army, at level 42. As for Sergeant Pyke, he usually had a leadership role in the group, even though he was on the same level as them, so he was notpeting but just acting as a match referee.


    And it didn''t take long, and all the soldiers who were going to participate in this inauguralpetition had already arrived at the ce.


    "Well, if everyone is ready, let''s start the first fight!" Pyke said excitedly, looking at the two men who would make the first match.


    These were two soldiers who hade from the group of guards of Minos, who had apanied him from the City of the Setting Sun, until here, in the Dry City.


    One of them had a broad and robust body, with hair shaved from the sides, and he held a blind sword in his right hand. The other was a man with ''a few extra pounds,'' with a round face and a metal shield resting on his left arm.


    As they positioned themselves on the stage, the two looked at Pyke, waiting for authorization to fight.


    "Start!"


    Upon hearing this, neither of them waste. Both were already running towards each other, activating their respective battle techniques.


    Crash!


    Quickly, the strong man cut his way towards his opponent''s fat body, while making a quick move with his sword.


    However, despite appearing vulnerable, the fat man managed to defend himself with his shield while heading towards his opponent, ignoring this attack and delivering a strong punch to that soldier''s right chest.


    Pow!


    "Ahh!"


    Upon receiving this unexpected attack, the strong soldier took a few steps back, expressing pain at the blow he had just taken. ''This fat man is truly good at hiding behind a shield!'' Heined in his mind.


    And it didn''t take long for their fight to be more intense.


    ...


    Pow!


    "Ahh!"


    Soon the strong man could no longer stand the constant attacks of his rival when he was finally thrown off the stage after being hit in the face.


    It was a beautiful sight to see!


    By the time he received the blow, the man with the sturdy body was already exhausted when he started to fall towards the ground.


    But unfortunately for him, the opponent''s punch was already close enough to his face when the collision had finally happened.


    That muscr man''s face was beaten as his cheeks shook from side to side, and he was thrown away thebat tform, like a sack of potatoes!


    The fat soldier really knew how to use his defense, protecting himself from the enemy and attacking in moments of vulnerability. This ensured his victory, even though he seemed to have some disadvantage in some fight moments.


    "Okay, let''s go to the next fight!"


    ...


    "Hmm, very interesting how that soldier used his shield. I didn''t think you could use a shield that way!"


    "Ehh, the shield is not just any item. It can be decisive in a fight. The problem is that most people prefer to use weapons such as swords, spears, etc..."


    "Look, one more fight is going to start. Let''s see what will happen now!"


    ...


    After a while, finally, the fourth fight of the day, thest of that first phase of the arena''s openingpetition, was about to happen.


    "Ladies and gentlemen, get ready for another fight. After this match, we will stop for 1 hour so that thepetitors can recover their energy."


    Pyke then looked at the man and woman who were on the stage and said. "Well, get started!"


    Hearing this, the two took no longer and began to fight.


    The woman was a former resident of the Yellow City, and she had joined the army just over seven months ago. As for the man, he hade from Stone Ind and had been with Minos'' forces for four months.


    Anyway, the two were very happy with their current reality and, even more, were very motivated to win those thousand crystals offered to the winner of this small tournament...


    The woman then used her moving technique, deflecting the mes created by her opponent while she attacked him, punching her opponent''s back.


    Pow!


    Sssss!


    However, when her fist was about to touch the defenseless back of that man, a fire barrier appeared in her path, burning towards the woman''s arm.


    ''Ah! Shit!''


    She mourned inwardly, seeing that this had been a trap of her opponent.


    "Ahh!"


    And then a cry of wail sounded in the air as the woman was thrown on the floor with part of her clothes on fire.


    Seeing this, the man whoes from Stone Ind quickly took this chance, attacking her.


    me Fists!


    Sssss!


    But to his surprise, the woman from the Yellow City had her own ns for thispetition, so she was putting everything into this fight.


    She then jumped towards where her opponent was, using most of her remaining spiritual energy in her moving technique, and then attacked him as ast-ditch attempt!


    ''Damn it! That woman tricked me! ''


    Pow!


    Quickly, the woman used all of her strength, punching her opponent in the face with force, hurling him into the distance.


    "Ahhh!"


    He hit his back hard on the floor while turning from side to side in pain, with an ugly expression on his face, making sounds of non-local wailing.


    She had nailed him the moment he had hesitated.


    Upon seeing this turnaround at the events, the general public in the arena went into amotion, seeing how decisive thatpetitor had been.


    At a crucial moment, she had counteracted her opponent''s trap while still suffering from the damage of his previous attack. However, she had managed tond a critical blow with her strong perseverance, recovering thest obstacle.


    "Haha, what a woman with personality!" A man said out loud.


    "Hmm, she really wasn''t affected by what happened before. I thought the fight was going to end at that moment."


    "Hehehe, I feel sorry for that guy. Look, he seems to have lost some teeth..." A young woman said while pointing at the man who was trying to get up, spitting a mouth of blood, with some teeth mixed in the middle.


    After that, he couldn''t bear to continue fighting, and the woman was finally dered the winner of thest round of the quarterfinals!


    "Well, the fight is over!" Pyke said excitedly while sighing for a moment. These guards were truly taking this event very seriously, but he could understand their motivation...


    "Okay, guys, let''s stop for an hour, and then we''ll be back with the semifinals!"


    ...


    Meanwhile, in the VIP room of Minos, the young sovereign was watching everything from the deck of that ce while Dillian and Mia were there with him.


    Mia thenmented surprisingly. "Hey, I never thought these things were so exciting!"


    She was not a warrior. She was just an ordinary cultivator who did this to live more and better. And living in a ce like the Dry City, Mia hadn''t seen many fights in her life.


    So, she was amazed by this type of event.


    Butler Dillian then smiled gently and spoke. "Ahh, I remember the time when I was still young, and I saw the Spiritual Tournament. It is not bad to watch some friendly matches..."


    "Hmm, who knows, in the future, we may have our own Spiritual Tournament..." Minosmented with a smile on his face.


    This would be a good way for them to attract people to the ck in in the future. After all, this was the most effective way to attract the region''s talents.


    But that would only be in the future when Minos'' forces were strong enough to be able to do this.


    "Hmm, it would be interesting to do this here. Many would certainlye after the awards." Dillian agreed, shaking his head in approval.


    Most of the Spiritual Tournamentpetitors didn''t even have a chance to make it to the 3rd test, so they would undoubtedly be interested in other opportunities.


    And doing something like that in the region would also not be a bad idea, since these youths would not have to take any chances, going to an empire, where they would be just ordinary people...