Rise of the Blood Prince: From Slave to Emperor

Aslan chose a bow made from lifon sinew. There were many bows with stronger tension, but after trying them a few times, the bow he chose had the highest completion.

"Try shooting."

Liscal said this while handing him an arrow. Aslan drew the bowstring without hesitation. Everyone watched, knowing his form was extraordinary.

The lifon bow was strong enough that a very strong man would have to give his all to draw it. With Aslan's current strength, he shouldn't be able to handle it properly.

So he used his energy.

The bowstring was drawn taut, and it hit the target properly.

"You were born with strength."

Everyone let out admiration. They knew well how difficult it was to draw bows made from monster sinew.

Seeing Aslan draw it very lightly, it was natural for exclamations to come out.

"If you had been fully grown, Maran might not have disappeared."

Liscal said. Then Aslan replied.

"How could that be?"

"Hmph. You speak well too. Well, you were royalty, so that makes sense. How many arrows will you take?"

"The more the better. How many are there?"

"At least over a hundred. Come this way."

Liscal guided Aslan to where the arrows were.

***

The value of archers on the battlefield was very great. So Isaac, Oben, and Chira took on the role of escorting Aslan.

They headed to the northern entrance of District 3.

"Blocking this place is our mission. Very many will come flooding in, but we must block them. If it's breached, we'll be plundered. They say District 4 is already like hell."

It was a slave rebellion.

Did they have any cause?

This rebellion was an expression of anger that had been building up. Naturally, the expressed anger would involve violence—very cruel violence, more than what they had received from the Empire.

"At least it's fortunate that District 4 wasn't a place where many residents lived. Still, very many would have died. Very many."

When slaves plunder, they start with murder. They covet food and covet women. And sometimes they set fires too.

At the northern entrance, guards were heavily armed. Shield bearers in front, spearmen behind them, and wooden barricades and soldiers in between.

Archers mixed among them could also be seen. The personnel from Rocom Arena were clustered together.

All together, it was a number slightly over 300.

"How long do we have to hold out?"

Isaac asked Liscal. Then Liscal gave an indifferent answer.

"Until the suppression forces arrive."

While waiting, Aslan kept touching his bow. There were many things he liked about the lifon bow. Usually, a bow's range was about 150 to 200 meters, but the lifon bow seemed capable of up to 500 meters if he put his mind to it.

Of course, Aslan had no intention of aiming at such long distances. He would use his energy moderately and use the bow at moderate distances.

Though he was capable of sniping, Aslan preferred shooting bows at medium range, especially rapid fire.

"I think they're coming."

"They're here?"

It was dawn, so darkness still covered everything. The rebels couldn't be seen yet, but to Aslan, whose energy sense had developed after creating his dantian, the approaching enemies could be sensed from afar.

"Yes."

Aslan spoke while raising his bow at a 45-degree angle and shooting.

Then the arrow flew very far in a parabolic arc.

"Gueek!"

A strange scream was heard from far away. Then everyone's ears perked up as if they'd all coordinated together. They realized the battle was beginning.

"Everyone prepare!"

***

There was no commander here. Only gladiator slaves drafted from arenas and guards were defending the entrance.

Since the overseers were each taking care of the forces they brought, there was no commander controlling all of them.

Still, they listened to Liscal and acted. The other overseers also didn't mind Liscal shouting.

'He must have a good reputation.'

If his reputation wasn't good, even soldiers from other arenas wouldn't have listened to Liscal in this situation.

Anyway, the rebel group quickly revealed themselves. Fighting began at the front, and Aslan, who was in the middle line, drew his bowstring. Isaac, Oben, and Chira weren't very tense and were watching the situation. It wasn't time for them to step in yet.

"Whoosh!"

Aslan shot arrows briskly.

"He was an archer?"

He'd sensed earlier that his form handling the bow was extraordinary, but his true value was revealed when battle began.

It was terrifying rapid fire.

Aslan, standing on the table he'd brought, was shooting arrows at intervals of just a few seconds. And those arrows were hitting their targets.

Most of them right between the opponents' brows.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

The rebels weren't idiots either. When arrows poured down, they held up shields and advanced to fight. Since their own numbers were so few, mixing together happened quickly.

When that happened, it became difficult to shoot arrows because you might accidentally shoot allies.

Imagine fighting hard when an ally's arrow comes flying at the back of your head. Nothing could be more terrible.

"Put down the bow now."

Liscal said, but Aslan didn't put it down.

It was a numerically disadvantageous situation. Eventually, it would definitely mix into chaotic battle as time passed.

So he had to use the bow as much as possible at opportunities like now.

'No way.'

If he was going to put down arrows this quickly, he wouldn't have brought them in the first place. He'd brought over 200 arrows.

He hadn't even used a tenth of them yet. Aslan planned to shoot all those arrows.

"They're pushing. Let's go back."

He had been active as a military force of a large power in the Martial World. He wasn't someone who would jump into battle without thought. Would such a person have joined his companions without thought?

There were reasons for everything.

The advantage of archers was seizing distance. On a battlefield like this, when enemies pushed in, you could retreat that much because the vanguard was blocking with their lives.

After loading arrows into a small cart and retreating about thirty steps back, he began shooting again. Then Liscal got annoyed.

"Allies might get hit!"

"Whoosh!"

"Thwack!"

But it was unnecessary worry. Aslan accurately aimed at enemy forces even in the chaotic battle. However, his arrow shooting speed was about twice as slow as before.

"They won't get hit."

"..."

Confirming they weren't getting hit, Liscal awkwardly turned away.

"Will you check more?"

"No. It seems they won't get hit."

"Whoosh!"

An arrow flew again. Though the speed had slowed, it was still fast.

"Whoosh!"

Like sniping, arrows stuck into the rebels.

As long as they weren't tangled up, it was a very good situation for arrows to be active. The rebels' armament was terrible. They were armed, and there were those wearing armor too, but it wasn't properly unified armament, so it was sloppy.

And with the lifon bow he was holding now, he could easily pierce through light armor.

"Thwack!"

An ally who'd dropped his sword was about to be hit, but Aslan's arrow saved him. The guard looked back in surprise, and his eyes met Aslan's.

They nodded to each other. Then he picked up his dropped sword again and headed to the battlefield. Though he'd saved him like this, that person probably had a high chance of not surviving.

"Damn... just how many came over? Were there this many gladiator slaves in District 4?"

"Would only gladiator slaves have come over? All the slaves probably joined too. And you forgot District 4's main matches? They mainly do group battles there."

Each district had match styles they mainly promoted.

Among them, District 4 was where only the largest arenas among Airs' arenas were gathered. The reason was that it was a place where group battles were held more than individual battles. So the number of gladiator slaves in District 4 was very large, and they were very familiar with battlefields.

Even more than gladiator slaves who mainly did single combat.

"Come back, Isaac."

Aslan was relaxed even in this situation. You'd wonder what kind of heart he was born with. Even veterans Isaac and Oben were consumed by battlefield excitement, feeling both fear and awe. So they were preparing to get involved and fight at any moment.

But Aslan was calmly shooting arrows while properly grasping the surroundings. When Isaac got excited and moved forward, he calmly called him back.

"Anyway, the time will come when we have to go out and fight. Save your strength for then."

"But... we're being pushed back too much."

"That's their job. They've been trained for situations like this, and they've been paid accordingly. Wait. There will be fighting to do."

"They're here!"

Oben shouted excitedly because soldiers were pouring from behind.

"Are they suppression forces?"

"No. They're guards from other arenas."

"Tch. When are they coming?"

"They're slow. They'd be sprawled out sleeping in their respective mansions, so how could they come right away?"

The battle lasted quite a while. It was a situation where it almost got breached quickly, but guards from other arenas joined and firmly blocked the entrance.

If that entrance was breached, the rebels waiting behind would enter, and the situation would end instantly.

The troop difference between the rebels and guards seemed to be at least 10 to 1. You couldn't even see how many were waiting behind the entrance.

Eventually, rebels came over even to where Isaac, Oben, and Chira were, but fighting was still continuing at the front lines.

"Swoosh!"

While skillfully dealing with enemies who came over, Isaac shouted.

"It doesn't seem like only District 4 joined. Didn't District 5 come over too? There's no end!"

"Is that important now? They're starting to come over. Protect him. We must protect Aslan no matter what. Damn, we're starting to get pushed back."

More and more rebels were coming over. The fighting became fierce, and being numerically disadvantaged, they quickly became desperate.

Still, they could hold out because their own numbers were being intermittently replenished.

This is why command structure was important. If the arena guards had been under one command system, they could have responded more efficiently in situations like this.

But strictly speaking, these were just employees hired by individual business owners. So the timing of obtaining information and reacting to it all had to be different.

"Chira!"

Chira fell backward while facing two opponents. He'd cut one, but couldn't cut the other, and tried to resist while fallen, but was about to get a hole punched somewhere in his body.

But there was a helping hand for him.

More precisely, a spear.

A spear about 2 meters long flew and pierced through the chest of the man trying to stab Chira.

"Clatter clatter clatter!"

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

A figure approached at tremendous speed and cut down three men.

"It's a knight!"

Oben shouted.