Walking barefoot on the cold rocks of Targon, Tarik didn't feel much pain - on the contrary, this pain was the greatest comfort to him.

He started climbing from Kalamanda, and climbed over countless mountains, large and small, and now he finally came to the foot of Mount Targon. Even though the cold and danger here were far worse than before, he still had no intention of stopping.

Like Lux, Taric was also a victim of the Stone Crown.

Unlike Lux, he did not have a teacher to teach him how to climb Mount Targon, and he did not truly reach a transcendent level before climbing the mountain.

For him, this is almost a fatal climb.

However, from the time he set out from Kalamanda, Tariq never hesitated in his steps.

……………………

Taric was born into a small noble family in Gendel, Demacia. Although his grandfather only had a lordship that could not be passed down to future generations, he was still regarded as an out-and-out decent person in the local area.

Therefore, Tariq's father, Tariq, was able to put on a full set of armor, ride a war horse, join the army and fight when he became an adult.

However, unlike his grandfather's generation, when Taric joined the army, there was no war on the Demacia border.

As Demacia's biggest rival, Noxus was currently trapped in the quagmire of the Ionian War, struggling to escape. The shift in strategic focus resulted in the Valoran continent being sandwiched between many principalities and city-states.

They all had to turn their heads towards Demacia.

It was against this background that Taric joined the Demacia army, and after being selected, became a member of the Dauntless Vanguard - and Galen Crownguard, at the same time as Taric

among the new recruits.

Therefore, Tarik's first mission after joining the army was to "counter-rebellion" with Galen and clean up the nobles of Mithril City.

Later, the situation in Demacia suddenly changed. Lux, who returned to the capital, set off a shocking wave under the planning of Kalya, and both the Illuminati and the Noble Council were involved.

The whole incident ended with Lux voluntarily admitting defeat and suffering the punishment of the Stone Crown, preventing the Illuminati and the Council of Nobles from causing trouble again.

Since then, the rising star of the Crownguard family has left the stage of history. Without the threat, Lux has become a model of nobility praised by all the nobles in the capital of Demacia. When she boarded the ship to Kalamanda, everything changed.

It seems the dust has finally settled.

As a bystander, Tariq witnessed all this turbulence with his own eyes.

Although he was not in the whirlpool of Demacia's capital, he could clearly see from Garen beside him the huge blow this incident had had on the Crownguard family - even as cheerful as Garen, after learning that his sister

After having to stay away from Demacia and fearing that I might never come back for the rest of my life, I was depressed for a long time.

However, just as Kalya expected, as Lux was exiled from Demacia and suffered the punishment of the Stone Crown, the nobles of Demacia must also make compensation to the Crownguard family.

No matter how bad the relationship with the Crown Guard family is, this time the Crown Guard family stood from the perspective of all the nobles and severely cut off the Illuminati's hand that wanted to interfere in political affairs, and even paid their legitimate daughter for it.

Run away and bear the price of the stone crown.

Therefore, after Lux left Demacia, at the suggestion of King Jarvan III, Demacia held a tournament of unprecedented scale.

Demacia, which relies on the Forbidden Demon Stone, is one of the countries in Runeterra that lacks the desire to expand. When the Noxians are sinking into the quagmire of war, Demacia can only use this kind of performance to show off its muscles.

own martial ethics.

Naturally, many nobles readily agreed to Jarvan III's proposal - commoners were not even qualified to appear in this kind of competition, and now that they had no merit in battle, it was natural for everyone to decide the outcome in the arena.

As a result, the grand square of Demacia's capital was transformed into a temporary arena. Demacia's envoys set out from here and rushed to various principalities and city-states in the central area of ​​​​the Valoran continent, inviting them to watch the ceremony as guests, and they could also be sent

The contestants participating in the competition participated in the grand event together.

As the "pole" of the Valoran continent, Demacia's invitation is naturally taken seriously by many principalities and city-states. At this time when the Noxian strategy is shrinking, countries that want to have good relations with Demacia are like crossing the river.

Crucian carp, so after receiving the invitation from the envoy, various city-states and principalities sent their sons, princes, and grandsons as their own envoys to Demacia.

The reason was to observe the competition and participate in the grand event, but in fact, the conference was completely treated as a diplomatic event.

Of course, this is also Demacia's external purpose.

As for internally...

As the legitimate son of the Crown Guard family, Galen, who has been training diligently since receiving the news, was regarded as a seed player and became Demacia's "official hype target" for this competition.

In a sense, Galen can be regarded as reaping the "political legacy" of his sister.

For the nobles, giving this silly boy like Garen super treatment and turning him into Demacia's new business card and new benchmark is a matter of killing two birds with one stone. This aspect shows that everyone will not forget those who "serve the cause of the nobles."

On the one hand, "the person who sacrificed himself" also put the Crown Guard family under the spotlight of the moral high ground, forcing them to truly serve the country loyally and without any ambiguity, which was a fool's errand.

The well-mannered and thoughtful Lux is a difficult opponent for the nobles, but the solid-eyed Galen, like his father and uncle, is a useful tool man with solid eyes. Give him reputation and let him

It may be a beautiful thing to work hard!

It was precisely because of the fact that Galen was a more open-minded kid that the nobles did not directly notify him during the hype. As a result, when the confident Galen stepped onto the arena, the crowd was filled with excitement.

He almost sent him away with a voice of "Come on! Power of Demacia".

What a hell!

What is the power of Demacia? It was the title of middle school that Garen gave himself when he bullied a little girl. He only mentioned it when Kashina "challenged a duel" to him!

Now being called out by the "water army" that had been arranged for a long time... Galen, who was suddenly exposed to the dark history, almost abandoned the game on the spot!

Fortunately, despite the shame in his heart, Galen's hard power is still very strong - he has studied with Xin Zhao for many years. Although there is still a lot of room for improvement in terms of skills, this kid's physical development is becoming more and more incomprehensible.

.

Galen, who had just turned 19, was stronger than many adult players. He held a large sword like a door panel in his hand, and showed no sign of Xin Zhao's superb thrusting skills in battle. He only relied on overwhelming others with strength and overcoming skill with force.

Just pass all the way and kill everyone.

Even though as a seeded player, Galen's opponents are not a tough nut to crack, but Galen's own strength still attracts everyone's attention - plus this method of defeating ten guilds with one force is the most intuitive and easiest to see.

I understand, so the title of Power of Demacia has gradually changed from a unilateral hype by the navy to a consensus recognized by the public.

In the later stages of the game, every time Garen appeared on the stage, the people who came to watch the game would shout out the name "The Power of Demacia" like a tsunami. This made Garen almost become the most dazzling among young people.

That one.

And the reason why I say "almost" is because there is one person who is more eye-catching than Galen, and that is... Tarik.

……………………

As a player who is not very promising, Tarik is one of those who "comes up in the auditions".

For the children of such a declining noble (strictly speaking, he is not a noble at all), the people who arrange the schedule will naturally not take any care of him. Considering that he rushed out of the auditions and has good abilities, Tarik finally

Was placed in the death group.

As for why this group is called the group of death...

The reason is simple. There are also participants from Noxus competing in the same group as Taric.

Yes, the Noxians are here too.

Although the Noxians were already in decline in Ionia when the competition began, based on the principle of benefit without cost, Commander Darkwill still sent a special envoy to Dema.

The West Asians are causing trouble.

What? Demacians want to show off their muscles?

Then I, Noxus, will definitely destroy the place!

With this in mind, several "gladiator slaves" were sent by the Noxians to join the competition.

Although Noxus can be refused to participate in the competition, at this time when the strength of the Noxians is completely reduced, Demacia will not lose momentum in this place anyway - and this is our home game.

The use of magic and magic items is not allowed, so why are you Noxians so arrogant?

With the intention of embarrassing the Noxians, Demacia allowed these people to participate in the competition.

However, in the qualifying stage, the performance of these Noxians made the organizers of the competition feel frightened.

Although they are gladiator slaves without heavy armor, these Noxians are really good at fighting, especially the one named Urgot. Even Xin Zhao silently smacked his lips when he saw them.

Is this monster with infinite strength and no fear of pain really a gladiator slave?

What are the Noxians up to?

Noxus did use some tricks, but at this time Urgot... was really just a gladiator slave.

The only difference from other gladiator slaves is that the identity of Urgot's slave has just been revealed - as the executioner of Noxus, he is a direct descendant of Darkwill, and he reluctantly demoted him to a slave.

It was because this guy's excessive bloodthirsty performance on the Ionian battlefield aroused extremely violent resistance, which affected Swain's battle plan, and Swain beat him to the end on the spot.

For Urgot, sending him to Demacia to compete as a slave is not a punishment for him, but Darkwill's protection of his direct lineage. From a procedural point of view, being demoted to a gladiator slave is

It was a punishment for him, but if he achieved good results in this competition and slapped the Demacians in the face, then it would be justifiable to use him again.

Noxus employs people regardless of their origins!

Darkwill's idea was very good, and Urgot's performance was worthy of the commander's trust. In the qualifiers, even though he was focused on because of his identity as a Noxian, the one he fought against

The noble swordsman of Demacia was still beheaded on the spot within three moves!

The tournament in Demacia is different from the gladiatorial tournament in Noxus. It is not a fight to the death. Players cannot make last hits. Once the opponent loses resistance, he will be kicked out if he takes further damage. However, Urgot acted too fast.

, after killing his opponent, he simply threw away the ax and said with a grin, "This guy is too weak, I was not careful", which made the Demacians unable to stand on the spot.

Even if it was so cruel that the Demacians could not do anything to Urgot in the end, they could only artificially create a death group and send all the members who could pose a threat to Urgot to this group.

, hand this guy over to Galen for execution.

For these people, being able to play something with Urgot is considered a success!
To be continued...