Chapter 204: Presenting a Gift (1)
Anubi’s birthday finally arrived.
Without question, this was an occasion that everyone kept a close eye on. No Ravager knew what kind of spectacle would appear at Anubi’s celebration, but none of them would have any high expectations.
This was because, according to past experience, he would always come up with all kinds of big, unexpected surprises.
On Anubi’s previous birthday, the Crazed Monarch had required every official in his governmental chamber to hand over his wife. Even though Sachar, who was still alive at the time, had managed to stop most of them, there were still a few that managed to reach Anubi. This was where the recently deceased Alicia had come from.
The year before that, Anubi had set his own residence on fire. His reasoning was that he wanted to confirm that he was still the emperor and had the ability to do as he pleased. By the time Sachar had managed to make it on the scene, most of the house had already collapsed. Sachar had flown into a rage and "attacked the monarch", pinning him to the ground and beating him up. Anubi had guffawed with laughter the entire time.
The year before that, Anubi had been more well-behaved. All he had done was to choose to personally take on a Demonic Beast. That in itself wasn't so bad, but after the battle he had chosen to mount it.
Yes, he had done it with a Demonic Beast, right in front of all the nobles watching in the gladiator arena.
Sachar was so mad that he almost went crazy, but it was obvious that while he could control most aspects of Anubi's life, he couldn't control Anubi's appendage. That fell under Anubi's "personal matters".
For this reason, everyone was already used to Anubi trying to pull some kind of inconceivable stunt on his birthday.
This was the first birthday Anubi was going to have after Sachar's death. What would he do? Everyone was curious.
Su Chen came to Anubi's palace early in the morning.
As the head of internal servants, Su Chen had some duties of his own to handle. Of course, his main responsibility was to amuse Anubi. While training Le Feng and the others, Su Chen had taught them a few things that they could do in order to satisfy Anubi's requirements.
To Su Chen, this was not very difficult.
Actually, someone like Anubi wasn't that hard to understand.
As the emperor, he had seen and done everything. When everything was at your fingertips, those things all became quite tasteless.
As such, Anubi was constantly pursuing different novelties and doing all kinds of unconventional things just so that he could experience this freshness.
The Ravagers’ limited creativity made it very difficult for them to satisfy Anubi’s demands, but to Su Chen, this wouldn’t be a problem – at least in the short term.
Even if it wasn’t a particularly grand ceremony, just a few small changes here and there would give Anubi this kind of sensation.
At this moment, Su Chen came to Anubi’s room, ignoring the charming, beautiful, scantily-clad maidens sprawled all over the ground. He bowed to Anubi respectfully and said, “Your Majesty.”
“Oh, Lontu, my dear head of internal servants. You’re finally here,” Anubi chuckled. “I’ve been watching your Recording Disk right now. Well done.”
“Just a few toys I got from the humans, Your Majesty. As long as you enjoy them, we are good,” Su Chen replied.
“How come you have things belonging to the humans?” Kenwo asked shadily from the side.
“Perhaps he got it from selling out other Ravagers again,” another Ravager said from the side. He was Kenwo’s personal aid, so he naturally knew when to say what.
“They did come from the humans, esteemed Chief Imperial Officer, but I didn’t need to sell anyone out to get them. I just gave them some food to tide them over a bit longer,” Su Chen replied. “Actually, those humans were ones I got from you, Sir Kenwo.”
Kenwo was stunned. “Those human gladiators?”
Su Chen nodded. “I asked them to exchange their valuables for better treatment. We all know that the human race’s ability to invent things is secondary only to the Arcanists. Their brains are very quick. Wasting them on a battlefield like this is a bit too much of a waste. What I mean is, at least before we extract everything we need from their brains first, we shouldn’t be in such a hurry to kill them off.”
Anubi nodded. “That’s a smart way of looking at it.”
Kenwo still wanted to say something, but Anubi waved his hand. “Kenwo, I know you don’t like Lontu, but don’t use such lowly methods to undermine him. Take this guy out and behead him.”
The Ravager who had just said that Su Chen had sold out the other Ravagers was immediately dragged out.
Kenwo’s expression shifted slightly, and he didn’t dare speak anymore.
Anubi said, “Oh, these humans must be the surprise you’re talking of, right?”
Su Chen replied, “Partially, but not entirely.”
Anubi laughed loudly, “I knew it! I knew you weren’t someone who would do the bare minimum necessary to satisfy me. Tell me, what pleasant surprises have you prepared for me this time?”
“Surprises don’t have to be the only items on the program. There are some things whose impact won’t be affected even if I divulge them to you know,” Su Chen replied.
Anubi said, “Oh? Tell me more.”
Su Chen said, “How about having those humans present you with a gift? Have them kneel before your feet and surrender their loyalty to you as a praise of you?”
Kenwo laughed. “That’s not possible. There’s no way these stubborn humans will capitulate so easily.”
Any human that could do battle with a Ravager force was absolutely an elite individual. Even if they were captured, there was no way that they would surrender. This was obvious given how only three had given up when Su Chen was testing them.
Not to mention that Su Chen was planning on having them act out praising Anubi.
They would need to throw their entire being into it. It would be hard for them to put on a good performance if they had any trace of unwillingness in their being
Su Chen said with a slight smile, “See? Witnessing things that no one can achieve can also be entertaining. I’m sure their praising of Your Majesty will be a great glory to the Inferno Tribe.”
“Hahahaha! That’s quite an innovative way of thinking about it,” Anubi guffawed. Just as Su Chen had said, if this really panned out, it would be a great glory to them since they were able to do what many others could not. Indeed, not everything needed to be a surprise to be entertaining.”
“If that’s the case, what are we still waiting for? I can’t wait to see your present!” Anubi yelled as he stood. “Go, my underlings. Bring me to the gladiator arena so that I can see these humans kneeling before me personally!”
“ROAR!”
It was impossible to pinpoint the source of the cry in response to Anubi’s command. Hundreds of Ravagers suddenly swarmed the palace as they howled and cheered with excitement.
At the same time, Anubi walked out of the room half-naked, completely lacking the majestic and imposing presence an emperor should have.
Su Chen wasn’t really that surprised. He knew that this was equally a kind of tradition of the Ravagers. They used this kind of showiness and recklessness to display their fearless, unrestrained way of life and inner substance.
They all surged towards the gladiator arena, preparing the strongest wine to pair with the most brutal battles. They howled and jeered, releasing all of the excitement and energy pent up in their bodies.
Another extravagant day of fighting began.
Because it was the emperor’s birthday, the quality of the battles was also extremely high.
The “Gladiator King”, Shtuck Slaughteraxe, took the stage first to put on an extremely bloody show for Anubi. Immediately afterwards, two Death Warriors from the Dark Highlands were pitted against each other. These creatures were dark-skinned, bloodthirsty abominations. They preferred to cleave their opponents in two, using the opponent’s blood to wash themselves. This kind of a barbaric, violent style of battle caused the noble spectators to yell with excitement.
Battle after battle unfolded in such a manner. In the blink of an eye, seven battles had gone by.
On the eighth battle, Su Chen’s humans finally took the stage.
Thirty gladiators marched onto the stage in an orderly fashion, full of fighting spirit.
They walked over to the gladiator arena’s wall, then knelt down and declared loudly, “Greetings to our glorious chieftain. Your most loyal soldiers are here to fight until the death for you with no regrets!”
Their declaration seemed to soar to the heavens, immediately rendering all the Ravagers present speechless.
These damned humans were actually bowing to a Ravager?
If there were just one or two scaredy-cats, this wouldn’t have been such a big deal. But for tens of soldiers to kneel simultaneously in an orderly fashion to announce such a rehearsed declaration, not to mention that their gazes were filled with emotion and staunchness……
This was not something that the fear of death alone could accomplish.
This required a firm conviction and acceptance coming from the depths of their hearts.
How was this possible?
The Ravagers were only good at killing people, not at subduing and convincing others.
Were they brainwashed?
“Hahahaha!” Anubi howled with laughter. “As you said, they’re kneeling! They’re worshipping me!”
Even though announcing it earlier had lessened the surprise factor, it had increased the expectation.
Anubi felt incredibly elated when that expectation of his was finally fulfilled.
Hanbull’s analysis had been spot on. If Su Chen was serious about pursuing this career, no one else would have been able to take his spot.
A moment later, an earth-shaking commotion began to appear on the gladiator arena.
All of the Ravagers exploded with discussion at this moment. They yelled with excitement, as if they had managed to completely conquer the entire continent.
Le Feng coldly watched all of this as he sneered in his heart, “Jump and laugh all you want. Revenge will be ours sooner or later.”
These Ravagers didn’t know that they weren’t kneeling to Anubi, but rather Su Chen.
He was their true leader.
He was the one they were laying down their burdens and swearing their loyalty to.
If the spectators were human, they might not have been satisfied with the soldiers not mentioning Anubi’s name explicitly, but this declaration was enough for the Ravagers. Their simple brains couldn’t handle thinking so much into it.
Most importantly, they never thought about how others felt. It was good enough as long as they themselves were happy.
After paying their respects, the thirty humans retreated to prepare for battle.
Paying respects was important, but they still needed to prepare adequately.
Su Chen had thought carefully about this aspect as well.
The opposing door slowly creaked open. A massive shadow stalked out of the dark doorway.
It was a massive humanoid figure roughly fifteen meters in height. In its hand was a metal hammer covered in black flames, and heavy iron chains were wrapped around its entire body. At the center of its head was a single large eye.
“ROAR!” The violent howl reverberated through the entire arena like a shockwave.
“Single-Eyed Giant Demon!” Anubi yelled. “It’s a Single-Eyed Giant Demon! Lontu, how could you be willing to pit the soldiers you trained so hard against one of these things?”
“Perhaps the opposite is true, Your Majesty.”