“Shield Wall!” Gilgamesh shouted.

  On command, his disorganized soldiers arranged themselves into formation. Six rows of ten formed the vanguard, shields out firmly and spears pointed straight ahead. The remaining 40 formed ten rows of four behind them and waited to act.

  “Rearguard, flank!”

  The four rows behind rushed out around the vanguard, twenty soldiers on each side, to attack the flanks of the imaginary army.

  “Better than at the start.” Gilgamesh assessed.

  Every soldier had the same equipment; a bronze chestplate and helm, along with a large round shield and a spear. Still, not everyone had invested into physical attributes. As such, he organized his army into a vanguard comprised of the most physically powerful, and a rearguard of those remaining to attack enemy army's flanks.

  That wasn’t to say the rearguard was completely useless. This was only the Third Trial but the effects of the weakest being steadily weeded out were already apparent. Most of his soldiers even had Bronze tier Abilities, not that that mattered here.

  [ Charioteer’s Right: Force another Charioteer into single combat. Useable once. ]

  Gilgamesh glanced at the message that appeared with his thoughts again. The Trial had given him one ‘challenge’, but if he could kill an enemy charioteer with just his soldiers, then that was what he would do.

  The soldiers he had been given were not enchanted or mindless, but they could not disobey his orders. A fate inflicted on all those who had passed the first stage by killing common puppet soldiers. Still, that did not mean they had suddenly become experienced soldiers.

  Gilgamesh had chosen to delay his participation in this second stage of the trial in order to drill the soldiers in some basic battle formations. Since he had been given new pawns, he intended to get the most out of them.

  But he couldn’t linger around forever. There was little point in drilling anything else, as these amateurs wouldn’t be able to execute anything sufficiently once the fighting began. That said, even a basic formation and mediocre execution would devastate most of his opponents.

  “On me!” Gilgamesh ordered. “We’re heading out.”

  Gilgamesh set off into the barren battlefield at an easy pace in search of any target who was not from the Seven Magi Clans. It was a surprisingly vast and scarce land. He had thought as much during the half hour it had taken to train his soldiers, and it seemed just as empty while on the move now.

  A charioteer appeared in the distance but quickly turned around and fled. Gilgamesh did not bother giving chase as he would likely exhaust his soldiers for nothing. From another direction, a charioteer rode straight towards him.

  Dark-skinned and bald with a thick beard, he stood well over six feet tall. Muscles and veins bulged against his skin to make for an imposing build, and the cocky smile and greedy glint in his eyes displayed his strong urge for a fight.

  “A Sabaean?” Gilgamesh guessed. They were hardly among the strongest of the clans, but it was still too dangerous to fight one. Gilgamesh preferred caution in such a choice.

  “Osee Baptiste!” One of his rearguard exclaimed, an ordinary freckled-faced young man.

  “...you know of him?” Gilgamesh asked.

  “Yeah, I mean… That’s the kickboxing heavyweight champion.” He replied.

  “It’s true…” A brute of a woman in the vanguard added.

  “A commoner martial artist…?” Gilgamesh mused. The Charioteer had drawn close enough for Gilgamesh to now see his eyes, and they lacked the distinctive blue glow that Sabaeans were said to have.

  He had never once been outside of the Zoraster estate nor had he ever observed a fight between trained commoners, but he did know that fights to the death had long been outlawed for them. This commoner might be better trained than most, but he would know nothing of the ruthlessness and boldness that comes from a life of true combat.

  “Soldiers, take formation!” His army gathered in front of him and braced towards the charging threat.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  “Attack!” Osee gleefully roared his own army into nothing more than a disorganized frontal charge.

  “Shield Wall!” Gilgamesh’s soldiers braced themselves, and easily withstood the enemy’s assault. “The first step is a success. Now to finish them off.”

  But before Gilgamesh could order a flanking maneuver, Osee took unexpected action. He did not slow his chariot. Instead, he rode around the battle straight for Gilgamesh.

  “He wants a duel right away…” Not a trace of panic showed on Gilgamesh’s face. “Rearguard, defend me!”

  The forty soldiers in the rearguard lined up around Gilgamesh against the charging Osee. Gilgamesh did not fear a duel, but that did not mean he wouldn’t have his soldiers cut the enemy down if such a path was available.

  Osee rode right up to the wall of spears and sneered. “Challenge!”

  Gilgamesh suddenly found himself standing on the dry dirt of the land. Soldiers of both armies now stood still and silent in a complete encirclement around him, and facing off against him was the commoner martial artist. He donned a leather chestplate and steel gauntlets, though he held no weaponry in his hands.

  Gilgamesh found he could not move from the spot where he stood, exactly opposite his opponent. So he summoned his three main golems and waited. Soon, the surrounding soldiers burst into cheers and roars without warning, and Osee burst forward with them.

  Gilgamesh wielded Boulder Ape to charge back. Master Golem Core was a costly ability, but he did not intend to leave this duel to chance. He strained against the troublesomeness of the Trait and smashed one of the stone golem's arms down at Osee.

  Osee was not as fast as his golem, but the stuttering delay of its attack allowed him to sidestep the attack cleanly. Though he was outmatched in raw might, Osee did not distance himself from the golem. Instead, he rushed in closer as mana surged over his right arm and he landed a titanic punch on the golem's body.

  Osee's fist dented into the durable gray stone and cracks broke across most of the Boulder Ape's size. The sheer impact bumped the heavy golem a step back, and Osee's grinned in conceit.

  But the Boulder Ape swung its arm down again as though nothing had changed. Osee just barely managed to throw himself out of the way. No sooner had he sprung himself back up from the ground, did he hear something piercing through the wind.

  Osee ducked his head on reflex as an iron bolt sailed just past his face. Osee's focus shifted to the Bolt Viper slithering prominently in the distance, but it was forced right back to the threat in front of him as the Boulder Ape attacked again.

  Gilgamesh had his stone golem hurl mauling blows as sharply as he could. Osee could not even hope to block or parry blows this heavy, nor could he even devote his full focus to the Stone Ape as the Bolt Viper spat iron arrows from the side. To his credit, the commoner was doing fairly well within the danger, but his arrogance had waned.

  "I would have won from the start if my golems moved as well and as quickly as my intentions, though I admit this Osee is skilled. I had not expected that of commoners. Perhaps their warrior days have not entirely yielded to cannons and guns. But..." Gilgamesh's eyes grew colder. "That isn't enough."

  Gilgamesh made Boulder Ape close the distance, and swung both its arms in a wide sweeping maul. One of them sailed just over the ground, and the other just above the first.

  Osee reacted fast enough in the only way he could. He leapt into the air to narrowly avoid being crushed in half, but now he was helpless.

  "Wait, wait!"

  Gilgamesh did no such thing. He reached out his Boulder Ape's hand and crushed the skilled charioteer in its grip.

  [ Osee Baptiste - Hero (Iron Rank) ]

  Attributes:

  Strength - 25

  Agility - 21

  Vitality - 10

  Perception - 8

  Force - 4

  Spirit - 7

  Control - 6

  Willpower - 9

  Magic:

  Haymaker lvl. 2 (gold)

  Traits:

  [ Haymaker (gold) ]

  'Greatly enhances the speed and impact of a strike.'

  Mana Cost: 70 motes

  [ You have slain a Charioteer. Will you remain? ]

  Gilgamesh stared at the question. A choice whether to continue or end the trial. This was something he hadn’t expected.

  He eyed Osee's status coldly. Osee was not weak. And he had managed to level a Gold tier Spell in a week, so he was neither lazy nor a fool, either. But Gilgamesh had won easily.

  "The other Heroes will catch up to my golems eventually, if the Trials continue as they have been. But, at the moment, my golems are superior." The shackles on Gilgamesh's ambitions started to loosen. "I should take advantage of this."

  “Yes.” He answered. If there was an option to remain, then there must be a greater reward for killing more Charioteers. The quest was to ‘distinguish oneself’. Naturally, slaying ten generals was a greater feat than slaying just one.

  The encirclement ended with the completion of the duel, and Osee’s former soldiers were added to his own army. The total of which now stood at about 180.

  “Kill Charioteers to strengthen my army to kill more Charioteers.” Gilgamesh saw the path. “Then I should aim to kill as many as possible.”

  “Hear me, new soldiers!” He called out. "You were not fortunate before but you are fortunate now! It is inevitable that we will pass this trial, but first… We must train.”