When the first lion pounced, General Stylico's lieutenant Gainas thought he was hallucinating.

The beast, which weighed five hundred pounds, slammed down the horse of the captain of the cavalry at once—the young man sitting on the horse's back was defenseless, and was thrown to the ground along with the fallen mount. His head slammed into the golden pedal of one of his subordinates beside him, and blood immediately gushed out. The subordinate was quick-eyed, ripped off the cloak behind him, and hurriedly wrapped the captain's head, so that the lion, who had bitten his red eye, did not smell blood.

Although the beast is ferocious, it easily does not dare to attack humans. Unless there is some irresistible incentive to make them lose their minds in an instant.

Even when pushed into the arena, the beasts tend to just spin in place, and in order for them to pounce on the gladiators as their "prey", the entire bodies of these strong, unarmed men are usually coated in blood beforehand.

The crimson color and smell of blood were the most irritating to the beast's sensitive nerves, which was why the subordinate just now quickly tore off his cloak and wrapped it around the captain's bleeding head.

"General!" the quick-witted Gallic lad cried out hoarsely at Ganas.

Guynas had now come to his senses, and he felt five thunderbolts hit him, and he couldn't help but cry out, "God, how is this—how is this possible?"

"I'll drag the captain down first, he's not lightly injured!"

"Go, Castor—the shieldbearer?" Ganas drew his sword and swung it in the air. "Hurry up and stop the beast!"

Hundreds of infantrymen rushed forward with half-man-high shields, followed by the inferior Synergy with javelins raised.

A wild beast roaring wildly swooped up, smashing the shield into a "clang" sound, like a thunderclap suddenly exploding on the ground. The cavalrymen had already jumped off their horses and drew their swords. The captain was dragged away by a subordinate named "Kasto", who had passed out.

Even if there is no one to command, these well-trained lads know exactly what to do.

Hundreds of shields were connected in the blink of an eye, surrounding Gainas, and many more shields were lifted by hundreds of infantry, covering the top of the great man's head.

The cavalrymen followed the example of Casto, and quickly tore off their bright red cloaks and threw them away. Some headless beasts pounced on them and tore at them.

The people were screaming wildly, some of them were colorless, some of them were already frightened, and some were peeing their pants—thousands of voices calling God, mothers, and children sounded everywhere, and the fierce waves of chaos and commotion were set off one after another, and they almost overturned the triumphal arch above everyone's heads.

Gonas brandished his sword in all directions, and groups of soldiers arrived just in time, and the subjects in the square were surrounded by shields, which formed a circle, and the beasts were kept at a safe distance from the crowd.

Kastoh hastened his steps, and hurried back again, sweating profusely and panting, and when he came to Gainas's ear to report what he had heard, he could not even utter a complete sentence:

"I gave the captain, the chief, to the royal physician who was at the chauffle! I inquired with the crowd, and they all said that these beasts had run out of the gladiatorial arena! They pounced on horses when they saw them, they bit cattle when they saw them, and swallowed whole chickens and dogs when they saw them! So—they didn't hurt anyone! They were all afraid—they were afraid of people! Presumably, when they were tamed in the gladiatorial school, they were frightened by them!"

"What a blessing in misfortune!" said Gainas. "Otherwise, I won't be able to explain to the general!"

"As to how they got out, everyone says - there are different theories! Some say it was because of a flock of crows, some say it was because the crows were fighting with a mouse, some say it was because of a bewitched pigeon - in short, it's outrageous, you don't listen!"

Suddenly, Gainas's eyes widened—his upper and lower teeth chattering violently, "Oh no, 'Divine Beast'—she—she—"

"It was the cry of the 'Divine Beast' that frightened her two war horses, and the door of the gladiatorial arena was knocked open! Although she was the most noisy one, fortunately, the golden carriage containing the 'Divine Beast' was strong enough, and she roared and crashed for a long time, but she couldn't escape!"

"Thank goodness!"

"But it's strange that there isn't even a decent animal trainer in the arena except for the slaves guarding the gate and the soldiers guarding the door!" said Kasto, raising an exaggerated eyebrow.

"What do you say? Normally there would be at least two thousand slaves there! Today is the day of the gladiatorial show, and His Majesty the Emperor will be there to see it in person—not even a single animal trainer?"

"It's true! It's true! Last night, I also took people to debug the elevator underground, for fear that there would be chaos during today's performance--there were more than a thousand people following us at that time! Just now, one of my subordinates came to me in a hurry and told me that the animal trainers in the gladiatorial arena had run away, but he didn't know when he did!"

When the unlucky subordinate ran up from the ground, the people who had gathered at the entrance of the arena to watch the excitement had already been scared away by the beasts that rushed out of the carriage, and the soldiers who had been busy maintaining order were also involved in this conspiracy, and they also ran away with the crowd, and of course they would not be caught by that subordinate.

"Why did he come to report? What did he do earlier?"

"I left him there last night thinking I would have a baby. Who knew that he and his team were drugged, and as soon as they fell asleep, they didn't know who was going to die!"

"Don't ask," said Gainas, hanging his head, snorting, and trying to be as reserved as he could, "it must be Olympius, and he hasn't done this kind of malicious destruction once or twice." ”

"It's so hateful, he knows that today is the big day of our great general!" Kastoh clenched his right hand into a fist and slammed it on his left palm. "That old man who paints eyebrows and sideburns all day long, is neither male nor female, and has a weird yin and yang, why can't His Majesty the Emperor leave him?"

"Or you and I have not done well, and we have not done enough for Your Majesty!" Turn, Gainas sighed heavily. Compared to the old eunuch beside the young emperor, he and his general Stirico did seem rough and clumsy. Speaking of the trick of the general Sacred Heart, the strength of the heart that tends to be inflammatory, and the courtesy of the servile and servile, they are even more incomparable. As a military general, Gang Zheng, the barbarian honesty, and the middle-aged people will inevitably have Mu Ne, but they are all occupied by these two powerful Roman generals.

"Coming back to you and the general, you want to make big things small and small things, so he will become more and more arrogant and unscrupulous!" Castor clenched a pair of iron fists angrily, and the "squeak" of bones being twisted out sounded particularly harsh.

"Don't say anything, quickly mobilize two thousand armor soldiers, and then select five hundred elites from the gladiators, and rush to the gladiatorial arena to start preparations - you personally lead the team, and make sure that everything is as usual when the emperor is driving!"

"It's so difficult, the armor soldiers are not familiar with the equipment there at all—you also know that those delicate things are complicated, difficult to operate, and no one can play without special training and repeated drills! Besides, most of the elites among those gladiators are barbarian prisoners of war, and it is very difficult to control in the gladiatorial school, picking quarrels and provoking troubles is common for them, in case there is a disturbance-"

"This is an order, and you can't consult with me!" Gainas scolded. "Go ahead, today's chaos is really endless!, and now it's making a fuss about it-"

"When I look up, I can see Zeus, really, don't believe me!" said Kasto, in a playful tone, "When he was cheating with Europa last night, he was bumped into by Hera's Heavenly Mother, so he was furious early in the morning. Looking down and seeing the great general parade through his great capital with only two horse-drawn golden horses, how could such an act of open rebellion against his holy authority not make him resentful?"

"And then?"

"He spat on the general's head, so you and the general are destined to have an endless mold every day!" said Castor.

"Play your poor mouth again, and see that I don't break your legs!!" said Ganas, who smiled as he waved his sword at Kasto, and the clever lad grimaced and ran backwards.

In the Roman folk proverb, the unlucky man who spat on the angry gods was bound to be lucky. The naughty joke that Castor had made had somewhat relieved Gainas's heart—alas, his nervousness and anxiety at the moment were beyond anyone's comprehension!

He turned his head to look at the huge temporary hard armor that was held up by the shield, but it was completely integrated and impermeable.

The flattering face of Olympius came to his mind, and when he smiled, the thick powder that fell on his face fell and stained his pink and purple Toga. The string of jewel-filled bells that hang around the neck will "ding" everywhere you go. When people listen to it, they will feel upset for no reason. He always looked so lazy, soft, and gentle, and his heart was as delicate as a hair and as sinister as a femme fatale.

Gainas didn't pay much attention to him today, because the general had sent him to the Colosseum early to fight the front station, so he was full of thoughts about how to make the Colosseum more beautiful and solemn.

At this moment, his great general, Stiricus, must have been standing on the same golden chariot as the emperor, and Olympius was snuggled limply on the bronze chariot behind him, a few meters away from each other, and no one wanted to look at his face that was forever pale as paper.

What a treacherous Olympius, he is really pervasive!

The general had never been an enemy of him in his scheming, but today he never expected that he would make such a vicious move: after emptying the beast tamers in the gladiatorial arena and letting Ganas arrive with a large number of men, he could not carry out the plan in advance.

Gainas even decided that these beasts were also released by the damn old eunuch!

"You've wronged him!" a magnetic, old voice rang out beside Ganas without warning. The lieutenant of the great general, who was now riding a sturdy warhorse, looked down and saw an old priest in rags. This surprised him, where did this smiling bad old man come from?

"Y-who are you?"

"It doesn't matter who I am, the important thing is that your great general has now entered the city gate with His Majesty the Emperor!"

"How do you know?" said Gainas, mentally calculating the time—not so soon! It was only then that our lieutenant noticed the thick Bible that the old priest was holding in his arms. "You were sent by the Bishop of Rome to celebrate mass for the gladiators?"

"I'm from Byzantium!" said the old priest unhurriedly. "There are no gladiators there—that's why I'm here to meet the Holy Rat!"

The immortal rat of the world's name, Gainas had also heard of it, and if he was lucky enough to meet it on this trip, he would not be able to ask for it. So he asked, "Did you see him? Is he still in this gladiatorial arena?"

"Today is his big day, of course he will stay in the gladiatorial arena all the time!" Thinking of the true meaning of the holy rat's big day, the old priest suddenly fell silent, but couldn't help but laugh for a while.

——————————————————————————

"Where are the beast tamers?" shouted Kasto, as he ran.

The general's lieutenant led a huge contingent of more than 10,000 men, and there were also some skilled animal trainers in case of emergency—because they could not ride horses, the barbarian men dressed in animal skins, wearing bull's horns, and carrying snakeskin whips stood at the back of the line, and it naturally took some time to summon them.

The makeshift circle soon became lively.

After the trainers got in, they flicked their whips and quickly drove the exhausted beasts together.

They pulled the minced meat from the food basket hanging from their waists and threw it to the "hungry ghosts" who roared like thunder in their throats.

The subjects were no longer alarmed, but were in the mood to watch, tiptoeing, poking their heads over their half-man-high shields and looking into the circle. I don't know who raised their arms and shouted "fight", and sure enough, two lions fought together for a piece of minced meat.

For a while, cheers erupted, and many people began to throw food and flowers and fruits into the circle, and the animal trainers were in a hurry, and instead threw their whips at the crowd: "Don't you want to die?

"It seems that there is only that!" said Castor, looking at the beasts in the circle, who were no longer hungry for food, but tired from their bellies full of meat, and moved slowly and slowly in the circle.

"Originally, I starved them for a few days, so that I could watch them more during the performance. Well, now you can skip the beast fighting part for a while!"

A young officer ran to Kasto, "Master Gainas is getting impatient, and asks when the shields can be removed. ”

"Withdraw now, pull out half of the men, guide the subjects, and enter the gladiatorial arena as soon as possible. Master Gainas's men will be there to answer you. Once the audience is in, the burlesque will begin, or the poets will be asked to recite a few long hymns to amuse the subjects and get them up again. In this way, when His Majesty the Emperor enters, there will be some atmosphere. ”

"Yes!"