Chapter 65: Five Champions

"Another championship in hand."

Reaching the finish line, Yan Luo listened calmly to the cheers of the crowd—while secretly reflecting to himself.

In truth, running was the most important event in the Olympic Games. Aside from the sprint, there were the middle-distance races with two laps, and the long-distance ones with twenty-four laps; yet none of the other athletes seemed interested in continuing.

Next came boxing. Unlike in the modern world, there were no protective measures, athletes competed naked, and naturally, no boxing gloves were worn. The fists struck faces with real pain!

There were no rounds or weight classes. Each pair was drawn by lot, and the two contestants fought one-on-one, with no time limit, until one was knocked unconscious or conceded defeat. The winner advanced to the next round, and ultimately, the champion had to defeat all opponents!

It was not uncommon for someone to be beaten to death.

Even modern underground boxing matches are not as brutal as this.

However, something happened that drove the referees mad.

All the athletes who had previously signed up for boxing forfeited!

It wasn’t a protest, but rather, the memory of Yan Luo’s one-against-twenty Spartans yesterday was still fresh. Afterwards, nearly every Spartan had broken bones; some still wanted to fight in running, but boxing—unless they were masochists—no one dared enter.

Someone who could face twenty opponents alone: a legendary demigod hero! Not someone mortals could contend with.

The Olympic Games were held every four years; forfeiting once meant another chance four years later. But being killed or crippled on the field meant life was over.

The same went for the wrestling.

The popular favorite, Plessinas, the famous Spartan strongman, was forced by Yan Luo first to kneel, then to lie flat, unable to move, and finally kicked more than ten meters away! Just imagining it sent chills down one's spine.

On the third day of the Olympics, the final event was pancratium.

The so-called "pancratium" combined boxing and wrestling. Unlike wrestling, which only required throwing the opponent down, pancratium included the brutality of boxing. Both sides fought with all means until the opponent lost the ability to resist or admitted defeat! Toe-stomping, nose-poking, ear-pulling, finger-breaking, choking—even attacks on the unprotected groin were not unheard of.

Injuries, mutilation, and fatal bleeding were common occurrences!

In such pure one-on-one battles, no one dared challenge someone who could defeat twenty others—a figure with the aura of a demigod hero.

On what was supposed to be the busiest day of the Olympics, with group matches, semifinals, finals—hundreds of competitions across four major events—only Yan Luo and nine others ran a single race, and astonishingly, all contests had ended!

It was simply unbelievable!

Yan Luo’s display of power in defeating twenty Spartans had shocked everyone.

In fact, had the matches proceeded—boxing, wrestling, or pancratium—the athletes would have discovered they faced a “paper tiger.” That might be overstating it, but Yan Luo, despite his superior physique, had never trained in boxing or wrestling.

Winning the championship would not have been easy.

After all, boxing, wrestling, and pancratium required winning multiple bouts, each time defeating an opponent.

Now, victory came without a fight.

With everyone else forfeiting, Yan Luo didn’t compete in a single match, yet collected three championships. Combined with running and the pentathlon, he now had five titles!

"Yan Luo! Yan Luo! Yan Luo!"

The spectators, though they had only witnessed one race, were not disappointed; instead, they cheered in excitement at this miraculous event, having witnessed someone frighten every athlete into forfeiting! If this was not a demigod hero, then what was?

Those Bronze Age heroes had truly existed!

"Ah!"

Zhu Xiaoyong suddenly looked crestfallen.

"What’s wrong?" Wang Dongwei turned to him.

The chubby youth said regretfully, "If I had known, I would have entered an event, like boxing. Since everyone else forfeited, I could have faced Yan Luo and asked him to let me win a championship—an Olympic title! For someone like me, winning just one Olympic championship would be amazing."

Wang Dongwei: "..."

Still standing in the stadium, basking in the cheers, Yan Luo noticed that the emotions he absorbed had reached one hundred points. He chose to fuse them; however, since they included despair, helplessness, and frustration from the running event, the emotions were numerous and mixed. The fusion failed, leaving eight percent fragments.

The fragments of the Heroic Soul Mask had reached sixty percent.

"I’ve won five Olympic championships, but haven’t received the title... It seems ‘I Am Legendary’ requires more than five, at least six..."

At this point, the Olympic Games were nearly over—only two major events remained: horse racing and chariot racing, both regarded as exhibition matches. Even so, there were champions awarded in exhibition matches; to earn the ‘I Am Legendary’ title, victory in the chariot race was necessary.

As the day’s competitions ended, Yan Luo returned to his lodgings, accompanied by Wang Dongwei and Zhu Xiaoyong.

The two would participate in tomorrow’s chariot race. Strictly speaking, the three would form a team, so they would stay together tonight. As for the three horses, all had been brought over—along with a chariot! It was purchased by the two within the past couple of days.

"Yan Luo, you were amazing!"

Seeing Yan Luo’s performance at the Olympic stadium, Zhu Xiaoyong, as a typical couch potato, was filled with envy.

"Enough nonsense," Wang Dongwei interjected, though his eyes glowed with excitement. This loser, besides being a cultured man, was also a staunch patriot. Yan Luo, winning five championships in ancient Greece—the cultural center of Western history—had let the name of China be known among the Greeks, and Wang Dongwei was deeply stirred.

Suppressing his excitement, Wang Dongwei spoke seriously, "We bought a chariot. Last time, most of our wealth went to bribing the priesthood; little remains. I sold a few pieces of equipment—ones we couldn’t take with us anyway."

"This chariot is decent—the best four-wheeled chariot of the era. But... it’s a pity we couldn’t get a bronze chariot and horses from the Qin state..."

The Qin bronze chariots and horses should have already appeared during the Spring and Autumn period.

"Tomorrow, there are two events: horse racing and chariot racing," Yan Luo said calmly. "We didn’t sign up for horse racing—chariot racing, I hope to win the championship."

Riding a horse is easy to learn, but becoming a skilled rider is hard. Thus, Yan Luo didn’t register. Chariot racing was a chance for Wang Dongwei and Zhu Xiaoyong to participate in the Olympics and complete their main quest.

Now, they had to win the championship!

"This is going to be tough!" Wang Dongwei sighed.

"Chariots in Greece are mostly two-wheeled. I bought a four-wheeled chariot, which gives us some advantage. The chariot is suited for a three-person team: one drives, one carries a shield for defense, one uses a bow for attack."

"Driving a chariot isn’t easy, is it?" Yan Luo asked.

"Well... I can manage," Wang Dongwei replied.

"You know how to drive a chariot?"

"Just a little, just a little."

If Yan Luo had emotions, he would be deeply curious about this loser—who seemed to know an extraordinary amount! But emotionless as he was, he didn’t ask, leaving the outwardly modest but inwardly expectant Wang Dongwei quite frustrated.

You sense strong emotions:
Frustration +1

"Yan Luo, I’ve practiced archery for several days, and I can barely hit a person with an arrow now," Zhu Xiaoyong said excitedly.

"Chariot races... we shouldn’t shoot arrows at people, right..." Wang Dongwei broke out in a sweat and said to the chubby youth, "You should defend with the shield. Don’t let me get attacked during the race. I’m not really a professional charioteer—just a novice."

He turned to Yan Luo: "In the chariot race, bows aren’t allowed, but cold weapons are. You’ll be the attacker."

At this moment, he suddenly paused and said, "Wait... you want the chariot race championship—could it be... the ‘I Am Legendary’ title? Yes, more than five events... chariot racing would be the sixth... Looks like tomorrow we need to work hard. If we win, the fat guy and I can get the Olympic champion title! And you’ll get ‘I Am Legendary’."

"If we lose, the loss will be huge!"

While the three discussed their plans, athletes from dozens of city-states gathered to talk about tomorrow’s competition.

"That Chinese—Yan Luo—has signed up for the chariot race. He already has five championships. We must not let him take another! Chariot racing isn’t just about personal skill—it’s about horses, chariots, and teamwork... Tomorrow, we must stop him!"

The speaker was Arcadian warrior Kolneru, who had previously boasted about wrestling Yan Luo, only to forfeit himself. Now, his only chance for revenge was in the chariot race.

"If we let a foreigner take all the championships at the Games... except for the unregistered horse race, wouldn’t that be a disgrace to all Greek athletes?"

Phileus from Mycenae, despite his rivalry with Kolneru, agreed that now was the time for united resistance.

"Absolutely. Tomorrow’s chariot race—we must show this foreigner the power of the Greeks!"

One athlete after another, thinking about how Yan Luo had claimed all five major event championships, clenched their teeth and swore to themselves.

Today had indeed been unbearably humiliating!