Chapter 178: Capture Him!

The unexpected confession coming from the three elders didn't actually make the Caerleon's citizens directly turn against the adventurers. It only gave them some doubt, causing them unable to utter anything.

Tristan also realized this fact, and was thus quite surprised by it. It seemed that the image these adventurers had among the populace was indeed much higher than he previously assumed. Even so, this also enhanced Tristan's decision to get rid of them once and for all. 

He definitely had to remove them now if he ever wanted to succeed in this town. Otherwise, these people would always be on his path no matter where we go, and Tristan was sure of this.

"If you are not involved, step aside!" Tristan said loudly once again, causing several citizens in the area to flinch.

From the few dozens of adventurers standing around the area, only several people moved away from the masses, clearly indicating their intention to not be involved.

Looking at those who were looking at him with apparent hostility, Tristan was in fact secretly excited. After all, he always preferred a contest of whose fist was bigger as the way to solve a problem. He would welcome this kind of problem-solving method any time at any day.

But first, before all pretense was broken down and a fierce brawl ensued, Tristan had to confirm a few things.

"Captain Gazef!" said Tristan with a stern voice. He pointed his finger at Connor and added, "I order you to capture that man!"

Tristan still had one variable that could severely affect everything, Gazef. He wasn't sure if the man could be trusted or not. 

Both him and the golden adventurer cost too much Blood Essence for [Blood Seal] to take effect, and it wasn't worth the bleed his reserve had to suffer. After all, he only needed to know their true thoughts, and for that, a [Blood Seal] application wasn't worth it.

As he had basically crossed the sure way off the list, Tristan could only do it in the old-fashioned way.

The Caerleon Town's head guard had similar battle power when compared to the 'hero'. However, the golden adventurer also had high spirit force on him. Therefore, it would not be an easy task for Gazef to subdue the latter, and the man obviously knew this fact as well.

Tristan's aim for ordering Gazef wasn't for him to subdue Connor in flawless and efficient manner. No, he only needed to see if the former would take the task seriously or not.

As expected, Connor still refused to be arrested and decided to fight.

Now, all Tristan had to do was stay back and enjoy the show.

The crowd swiftly made an open area for the upcoming fight, while the two people were readying their weapons.

Captain Gazef was using a standard military-issued sword and shield to fight, while the 'hero' Connor wielded a massive two-handed sword that was almost as long as himself.

Looking at the two meter long sword, Tristan was reminded of his own. At this moment, he secretly promised that he would take that sword for himself.

The fight started with a few exchanges. One of them would attack, and the other would block. This cycle of attacking and defending were going between the two, causing a stalemate.

Just as Tristan had thought, a fight between two people with similar battle power would result in a situation where none of them could overpower the other. Moreover, it appeared that both of them had similar sword skill and fighting experiences.

Connor glanced at Tristan, which the latter noticed, for a second before he used a spell. In the blink of an eye, his whole body suddenly turned into metal.

[Silver Body], a Tier 4 metal element spell that not only greatly increased its user's durability, but also enhanced its battle power.

Seeing that Gazef was pushed back when he parried a blow from Connor, Tristan scanned the man one more time.

[Battle power 142]

[Spirit force 163]

Tristan was really surprised when he looked at Connor's current stats. There was a staggering 30 points increase in his battle power. And this outrageous matter could be accomplished by an utilization of one spell. He only had one word for this spell: Impressive.

This kind of spell was a very powerful spell for fighters, such as him. Tristan now could see how Connor managed to defeat an orc warchief.

In the meantime, Captain Gazef also didn't stay idly when he saw his opponent use his card. Tristan could see the man also used a battle art called [Power Up]. It allowed his battle power to increase by 10 points, which was barely enough to match the golden adventurer.

Looking at the sight where Captain Gazef was being pushed back over and over by Connor's strikes, Tristan shouted, "Don't give up, captain! Keep going! You can definitely do it!"

There was no way Tristan would let the man retreat. After all, the whole point of this fight was to see how far this head guard would be willing to go for him.

With every strike and exchange the two did, wounds started to appear on Captain Gazef's body. Slowly but surely, the ground was painted by the man's blood that spilled around. Even so, the man still kept fighting the 'hero' despite the disadvantageous situation he was in at the moment.

After fighting a hard battle for almost 10 minutes, Captain Gazef finally received a fatal wound. He couldn't move fast enough against a downward slash sent by Connor. As a result, his shoulder received a wound deep enough that one could faintly see the bones.

However, even though Gazef clearly didn't have a capability to fight anymore, Connor didn't finish him. His last move was kicking the head guard away before he once again spurred the nonsense of his innocence to the masses.

Seth quickly brought Captain Gazef away as the latter's condition wasn't optimistic. 

Meanwhile, seeing the head guard's pitiful display somehow raised Tristan's trust of him from 0% to 20%.

Now it looked like there was no other strong fighter standing beside the mayor, only the pitiful guards and Seth. The lancer was looking at Tristan with an expression basically asking him for mercy and not sending him in, which in all honesty, quite funny and made him smile a little.

While Connor continued on his streak of preaching, Tristan took a few steps forward and said, "Connor, Myre, and everyone else who stood in front of me. I AM Tristan, your Lord. Stand down and kneel, or pay the consequences!"

It seemed that most of the mayor who took post in Caerleon Town wasn't a fighter as Tristan could see the 30-something adventurers begin murmuring and laughing with each other while their gaze locked on him.

The contempt he received, as well as the prospect of massive Blood Essence coming from the 30 imminent corpses tempted Tristan to take action. A moment later, his hand suddenly glowed brightly, and a sphere of searing flame formed above the palm. Tristan then threw it to the adventurer without a slightest hesitation.

[Fireball]

Kaaaaboooommm!!

The adventurers who were right in the middle of the explosion were immediately burned to ashes. On the other hand, those who stood close to the center were scorched while the rest were thrown away like a bowling pin.