Caesar swallowed with difficulty, his mouth opening and closing.
"That... that... that..."
Completely overcome by an unexpected mental freeze, Caesar had no idea what to do next.
Lin Ran, too lazy to waste more words on this inexplicable person, subtly withdrew with Luo Qingyan. A few blurs of movement later, they had vanished from the scene.
Such elusive movement techniques!
It seemed these two people from Long Country actually possessed some considerable skill!
After Lin Ran's simple display of power, the onlookers' perception of him shifted somewhat.
While they were still displeased by Lin Ran's arrogance, this display at least proved that the pair were not mere pretenders.
After all, in this world, it was always strength that spoke loudest, regardless of the circumstances.
This was especially true in a direct confrontation like this tournament.
Arrogance coupled with commensurate strength was the aura of a born king, a true overlord;
but arrogance without matching strength was merely the foolishness of inviting one's own doom.
Arthur sighed, looking at Caesar, who remained frozen in place, and put an arm around his shoulder.
"Come on, let's go grab a couple of drinks."
...
Squash Island.
Squash Bar.
Caesar, Arthur, and Catherine sat at the same table, drinking heartily.
However, none of the three seemed to be in high spirits.
Caesar tilted his head back and took a large gulp of his ice-cold drink, slamming the empty glass down on the table with a thud.
"This is utterly ridiculous!"
Arthur chuckled.
"What do you find so ridiculous?"
"The Golden Emerald Ark, or those two mysterious people from Long Country?"
Caesar poured himself another large glass.
"Both!"
"I truly can't fathom how that Golden Emerald Ark was built. It's completely illogical!"
"When it comes to the construction of vehicles, I am an absolute top-tier expert..."
"But that Ark achieves almost everything that is physically impossible, and then bafflingly forms a mystical array that is beyond comprehension..."
"What's even more infuriating are the terrifying magical structures contained within the gold and emeralds, and it seems the entire body of gold and emeralds was taken from a single raw stone, radiating an aura of flowing life force..."
"You understand what I mean now, don't you!"
"Even finding a single piece of gold that large and with such a capacity for magic is almost impossible in this world, let alone having an emerald alongside it."
"Even if I were to sell the raw stone itself, I couldn't afford even one ten-thousandth of its value, even if I were to go bankrupt!"
"And an aerial battleship crafted from these two ridiculously exaggerated raw stones... I can't imagine anything in the sky that could bring it down..."
"I feel like even our country's entire air force fighter wing would suffer a crushing defeat!"
Arthur gasped.
"That exaggerated?"
"Then what about your Golden Ship?"
Mentioning this, Caesar immediately looked dejected.
"To be honest... my Golden Ship is utterly unworthy of even carrying their shoes..."
"In terms of prestige, cost, appearance, combat power, practicality, or any other aspect, it was completely outmatched!"
"Otherwise, I wouldn't have lost my composure like that..."
Arthur nodded in understanding. "But losing your composure didn't help, did it!"
"Such a thing, without even mentioning the raw materials, the very method of construction is not something you could obtain through normal means."
"How could that young man named Lin Ran possibly tell you?"
Caesar remained silent, glumly taking another drink.
At this point, Catherine, who had been silent for a long time, finally spoke.
"So, it seems these two are quite powerful..."
"Otherwise, how could they possess such an exaggerated vehicle?"
Arthur nodded.
"But I still can't figure out why Long Country didn't send more people..."
"If these two are truly that strong, wouldn't it be better to equip them with even a few subordinates, rather than nothing?"
"If they end up losing a good opportunity due to insufficient manpower, wouldn't that be a colossal waste?"
Caesar took a deep breath.
"What if... Long Country is confident that those two alone can win the championship?"
Hearing Caesar's words, Catherine's expression immediately changed.
"Impossible!"
"Let alone the fact that they both look so young, their ages are not at the absolute limit..."
"Even if their ages were at the limit, they couldn't possibly take on seven opponents with just two people!"
"That's pure fantasy!"
Caesar slowly sipped his wine and glanced at Catherine.
"You should recall that I had a brief confrontation with that person named Lin Ran, right?"
Catherine blinked and nodded.
"I remember..."
"But so what?"
Caesar's gaze sharpened, his expression solemn.
"When I blocked Lin Ran's path for the second time, a nearly imperceptible killing intent erupted from him..."
"You were further away and not directly targeted, so it's understandable you didn't sense it."
"Although this killing intent seemed incredibly faint, its substance was extremely potent."
"Unless one has walked through mountains of corpses and seas of blood, they wouldn't possess such killing intent."
"Based on my initial estimate, the number of beings who perished by his hand is at least in the hundreds of thousands!"
Arthur and Catherine's pupils constricted, their hearts filled with dread.
Hundreds of thousands of beings?! And at least at that number?!
How long would it take to achieve that kind of slaughter!
The reason they didn't doubt Caesar's words was that Caesar himself had a similar penchant for hunting and killing.
He had also slain quite a few ferocious beasts and alien races.
People of their relatively high status didn't live lives that were solely dependent on competitions like gladiators.
Although the main focus remained on training, their lives were considerably more varied.
Catherine sighed.
"But I still find it hard to believe that they possess such power with just two people..."
"Killing many doesn't necessarily mean they can shine in the competition."
Caesar nodded.
"That's true..."
"It's like that Tin Man from Lighthouse Country. I heard he's never killed anyone, yet last year he still completely dominated me..."
"It's truly frustrating."
Arthur, at this moment, suddenly smirked.
"Hearing you say that, I've thought of something quite interesting."
"Others aren't as discerning as Brother Caesar, and they don't realize the extent of Lin Ran's terror."
"His boasts and arrogance at the port just now have probably already angered many people."
"If these people go to confront him, then we're in for some real entertainment..."