Chapter 56: Survival and Massacre in the Arena

Shen Jiang felt a tightness in his heart when he saw those soldiers in armor and armed with accessories ruthlessly grabbing the orc brother and sister.

Ellis was already incredibly strong. This year on Dragon Mountain, he'd been working long hours, and with good nutrition, his muscles were barely noticeable beneath his clothes. Noticing the unfriendly nature of the man before him, he took advantage of his moment of slack and suddenly transformed into beast form. With a sudden burst of brute force, he knocked the knight unconscious.

Seeing one of the male orcs openly resisting, several knights immediately surrounded him.

Two fists are no match for four hands. There are six knights in the patrol group. No matter how strong Ellis is, he can only surrender after being surrounded by the knights.

"He actually dared to attack someone. His crime is even more serious. Send him to the arena for reformation!" The Knight Commander was completely furious this time, and his serious face was full of cruelty.

Beatrice's ability lacked offensive power, unlike her brother's, who possessed a powerful innate ability. Faced with several knights wielding swords, she could only surrender. She had no idea what she had done wrong.

How could this happen? Did they capture the witch too?

They had been in the mountains for over a year, unaware that, due to the great turmoil caused by the Black Witches in the Rose Empire a year earlier, all nations were now on high alert against them. Even a powerful empire like the First Empire, renowned for its absolute security, would not allow anyone without a pass to circulate within its borders.

As elites nurtured by the First Empire, the Knights were committed to safeguarding the safety of citizens and the peace and stability of the Empire. Therefore, upon hearing reports of a black witch appearing near the fountain, they rushed to investigate. Unexpectedly, they encountered no black witch, but instead two orcs who had recklessly infiltrated the Empire.

Facing the angry orcs, the citizens present all looked accustomed to it. It was unclear from which unfortunate individual they had stolen the magic teleportation scroll. You know, it was not only expensive, but only magicians were eligible to purchase it.

The Knight Commander ordered two of his men to escort the two orcs to the arena, while he and the rest of his team continued their search for the Black Witch the people had been talking about. The crowd that had originally gathered quickly dispersed with the Knights' departure, leaving Catherine and Cecilia staring at each other in dismay.

Catherine and Cecilia supported each other to avoid losing their composure. Catherine initially tried to intervene, but Cecilia quickly restrained her. Their faces, tanned from the wind and sun of their daily work, resembled those of village women who toiled year after year. The knights simply dismissed them as unworldly country folk who had come to watch the fun and paid them no attention.

Shen Jiang observed the situation and said with a cold face: "Priest, you didn't tell everyone at the beginning that this situation would happen."

Priest complained, "I don't know how you dared to show up so brazenly in the imperial capital. Didn't that old woman say she was a citizen of the First Empire? Doesn't she know that the First Empire has very strict entry and exit controls? If I hadn't been quick, you would have been the one arrested."

Shen Jiang sneered: "Isn't it because I am your contract master that if something happens to me, you will also be in trouble?"

Priest was furious at her unreasonable behavior. He didn't live here, so why did he have to think about so many trivial things? Damn it, he wanted to strangle her to death.

"If you want to save them, you might as well give me a potion. With it, I won't have to fear the silver cross on the knight's sword..."

Shen Jiang glanced at him coldly and said, "I won't give you anything until Ellis and the others are rescued. Now, go and bring Catherine and the others here."

Shen Jiang's attitude of giving orders to the contract disciple Priest was unquestionable. Priest was inspired by the contract and had no room for bargaining. He had to go to the fountain to pick up the person in a dejected manner.

The young man wearing a mask and dressed elegantly attracted a lot of people's attention. Priest seemed to be very accustomed to this kind of attention, and his depressed mood immediately dissipated.

"She asked me to come pick you up, follow me."

Cecilia and Catherine were cheered up after finding their backbone. They knew that the witch would definitely find a way. Fortunately, they didn't cause trouble just now, otherwise it would be troublesome if they were captured together.

*

"My Lady Witch, this is all my fault. Decades ago, the First Empire allowed orcs, elves, and witches to move around. I didn't expect the management to be so strict now." Cecilia felt extremely guilty.

"You also said that it was decades ago, and the capital of the empire has changed twice. How could it be the same as before?" Priest was the first to stand up and criticize her, and he couldn't suppress his eyes that were watching the show.

"Priest, the 100 kilograms of bat droppings I mentioned this morning has increased to 200 kilograms."

"Why?!" Priest widened his bloodshot eyes in disbelief, looking extremely ferocious.

Shen Jiang started to feel a headache when she saw this unruly brat. She didn't want to bother with this guy at all, but now he was the most powerful person here, so she had to take him with her. It was really annoying.

"We are allies on the same front now. If you see your companions in trouble, at least you shouldn't kick them when they are down."

"I'll go to the arena and get the person out later." Priest bargained seriously with the owner of the contract. "I promise to bring the person out in the same condition. You can't increase the number of that thing."

"You said you would protect Beatrice for me, but I now seriously doubt your credibility."

"Humph, that's because you didn't give me the potion in advance."

Seeing the tension between the Witch Lady and the Strangers, Catherine stepped forward and said worriedly, "Let's hurry up and act. If we delay any longer, I'm worried that Ellis will be tortured."

Just now, because of Ellis's fierce resistance, she had watched him suffer a lot, and she was very worried that if she went too late, Ellis would encounter an accident.

Shen Jiang said seriously, "Yes, I may have to leave in a few hours. Let's go!"

Priest looked at her strangely: "Leaving? Where are you going?"

Shen Jiang ignored him, lowering the brim of his hat. He followed Cecilia out the other end of the alley, heading in the direction where Ellis and the others had just been escorted.

Seeing that no one was going to answer him, Priest felt a little embarrassed. Thinking of the potion, he touched his nose and followed reluctantly.

"Do you know where the Colosseum is? Wait for me."

*

The non-public area of ​​the Duogang City Arena.

Beatrice had never expected that she would be imprisoned separately from her brother.

She had been quite cooperative throughout the journey, and therefore had suffered less than her brother. Thinking of her brother who had just been beaten black and blue by several knights and couldn't stand up, she couldn't help but worry about her brother's condition.

At this moment, she was escorted by several staff members to a row of iron cages marked with the D symbol. Beatrice stared in disbelief at the orc lying in the cage, barely a sliver of flesh intact. Clearly, she must have endured long-term, inhumane torture.

"What did you do to her?"

Beatrice was answered by a warm, sticky feeling sliding across her arm. She quickly shook off the large hand that suddenly came up to her arm and slapped it back.

Of course, the staff of the Colosseum did not let her succeed, but when he saw that the orc dared to resist, his face changed and he swung the whip made of animal skin in his hand and lashed her hard. Beatrice felt pain and was beaten into the cage in a very embarrassed manner.

"You bunch of rats who sneaked in, the Colosseum is your best destination! You'll know how she became like this in a moment." The fat man grinned evilly, and looked at the orc in front of him with ill intentions.

Speaking of which, this beast girl, between childhood and maturity, was quite rare. Especially since the beast girl before him was not only adorable, but also possessed a subtle, unconscious charm. Even being stared at by her, the obese man found it quite enjoyable.

Unlike A-level beasts that can engage in deadly duels on the field for the entertainment of the bigwigs, D-level orcs are not very powerful, and their duels are not very interesting, and usually have other uses.

Beatrice was startled. She seemed to vaguely realize that the direct desire in the other person's eyes was not right. That look seemed to be integrated with the sticky touch on her skin just now, which made Beatrice feel very disgusted.

"Get away! You disgusting thing!" Beatrice said as she turned her back.

With a snap, the whip lashed against the cage, the sound of it breaking through the air and the clanging of the iron cage. The previously unconscious beast girl trembled subconsciously before Beatrice. The surroundings were now eerily quiet; the beastmen in the cages huddled together, not daring to utter a single word.

"You don't know what's good for you!" The fat man walked away cursing.

*

With Priest around, Shen Jiang easily climbed over the wall and sneaked into the arena. Even if the Knights searched the city hard, they would never have thought that the person they were looking for would actually run into the arena.

Cecilia and Catherine were waiting for them under a large tree in the square not far from the arena. They had wanted to go in, but Priest's weakness was obvious. Although it was a cloudy day, it was not yet night. At night, that would be his home turf.

Shen Jiang planned to make more potions after returning. Priest's personality was unruly and she could not control him at all. If she did not dangle a carrot in front of him, it would be difficult for this guy to cooperate.

However, after actually entering the arena, Shen Jiang fell silent.

She had a rough idea of ​​what those people were planning to do by bringing Ellis and Beatrice here. It was simply to have them duel with others in the arena for the audience to watch and enjoy.

These life-or-death contests often thrill the audience's adrenaline, making them a surefire way to rake in cash. Tickets, betting, tips, advertising—any method can help the people behind the arena win big.

But she never imagined that this would be the case behind the arena.

Priest took her directly to the ceiling so that she could see all the furnishings in the room without any obstruction.

Thousands of iron cages were placed in front of him in a shocking manner, with all kinds of wild beasts and orcs lying inside. It goes without saying that there were powerful lions, tigers, cheetahs, etc. There were also orcs with the upper body of humans and the lower body of horses, orcs with the upper body of wolves and the lower body with two human legs, and so on.

They all looked different, yet they all shared the same expression. They were all listless and numb, as if their souls had been drained from their bodies, leaving no color behind. These caged creatures were like lambs to the slaughter, lifeless and sullen.

This arena is like hell on earth for the creatures imprisoned in the cages.

Shen Jiang's expression was not very good. She didn't know why they were captured. But she knew that the reason Ellis and the others came in was because they didn't have a pass to the First Empire.

This does not mean that the First Empire can abuse these people unconditionally, without any bottom line and endlessly.

Priest was so stunned by the scene that he was speechless for several seconds. He had already smelled the stench of blood, not just here, but in many other rooms like this one. He also smelled the stench of an alarming number of corpses, right at the back door of the arena.

A robin suddenly appeared in front of Shen Jiang and Priest.

Priest said curiously, "Strange, why is there a bird here?"

Shen Jiang's eyes lit up: "It's Beatrice! Follow this bird and we can find her."