My Players Are So Fierce

The Crimson Citadel has been very lively these days. As reported by the administrative civil servants, after missing several traditional festivals in a row, the locals were very enthusiastic about the sudden King of Fighters Championship. Not only did the People's Army soldiers guarding the Crimson Citadel select representatives to participate, but there were also tough fighters eagerly signing up from the five newly established collective farms.

During Murphy's patrol of the territory these days, he could see people practicing everywhere after work.

Many women even watched the boxing matches while holding their half-grown children and cheering, which gave Murphy a deeper understanding of the "national character" of Transians, and made him once again sigh that people from other places having misconceptions about Transia wasn't just baseless rumors.

After all, even the well-traveled Murphy knew this place truly had a fierce folk culture that produced ill-tempered barbarians when he saw several old gatekeepers from the administrative office throwing punches at each other at dusk.

Murphy never expected this "mass movement", which was meant to guide little players to do something productive while helping the dog planners find bugs and gaps, would unexpectedly develop to this extent in such a short time.

It seems that to increase the happiness of Transians, there's no need for sophisticated things like drama and poetry to cultivate their temperament. Organizing more popular activities like the King of Fighters Championship is the right way to go.

This festive atmosphere continued until it reached its real peak when Countess Sharon arrived at the Crimson Citadel with a group of mountain warrior who were as strong and large as small giants.

When they heard that the mountain folk from the north would also participate in the competition, the mindset of the local folks who were originally just playing around underwent a subtle change.

These people raised in poor and treacherous mountains value face the most, which along with backbone were the only two things they had.

Everyone was unwilling to see themselves outdone by those isolated and strange mountain folk, so the selected boxers received extra "friendly encouragement" from their fellow villagers and relatives.

If you don't perform well, just wait to get beaten up/kneel on the washboard/sleep outside when you get home!

Later that day, when the "advance team" of the northerners arrived at the Crimson Citadel along with Maxim and some blood servant prisoners, this atmosphere of everyone striving to excel was further fueled by the addition of "national and personal grudges", like pouring a ladle of oil onto an already blazing fire.

Transia's relationship with its northern neighbors had never been good over the years, and with the northerners' betrayal at the end of the Ten-Year War when they joined the Goldflower Kingdom in dismembering the Portia Federation, the locals had no good will towards these northerners.

Especially after hearing that these guys were thugs and prisoners from various northern regions, that blazing anger could no longer be suppressed.

Damn it, Transia was already in such a miserable state, yet these northern thugs still planned to suck some blood from these poor people?

Who do you think you're looking down on?

Thus, the local selected boxers received another "warm concern" from their families.

We can lose the boxing match, but the northerners must die!

If you lose and disgrace us, just wait to kneel at the ancestral graves and beg for forgiveness when you get home.

This back and forth put immense pressure on the local boxers.

But fortunately, they still had a backup plan – those famous "battle maniacs" warriors under Lord Murphy would also represent the local Transians in the competition. If they happened to lose, they could still count on those warriors who weren't even afraid of death to regain some face for them.

So as dusk approached before the official start of the King of Fighters Championship, some little players who had passed the qualifying matches mysteriously received a lot of support from the locals.

For example, Khaki Tony Tai and Path of Mud and Oil, who represented Building 3 of the Crimson Citadel residential area in the competition, were bewilderedly crowned with flower wreaths by several NPC aunties, and were paraded through the streets surrounded by NPCs from Building 3 like heroes.

Although they didn't quite understand what was happening, Khaki and Old Oil were still very happy, doesn't this just show that they had earned the respect and love of the NPCs?

This is great news!

It must be because they had grinded reputation well to trigger this unique plot.

The two kept waving their hands on the street, causing the crowd of spectators around them to howl and shout, heating up the atmosphere. This made Shrimp Catcher, who had just entered the game and hadn't passed the Black Iron Trial yet and could only be an assistant to these two dormitory good sons, look on with envy and jealousy.

Meanwhile, Precipitation Niuniu, who was wearing fitted armor and making final preparations, met Miss Amber who came to cheer him on.

But Amber always took the unconventional route. When she saw Niuniu throwing punches, she mocked:

"Old Eugene and Grandma Marianne both see this boxing match as an opportunity to promote Avalon's strength. They sent the strongest young witch hunters Sankey and Kerenge to represent the church in the competition, and there are also Avalon warriors Led More Than Three to Five Pecks, Day One No Fap and Black Stockings Under the Keyboard from that 'Big Bird Team'.

How much chance of winning do you think you have against such a lineup?

Why don't you withdraw, Niuniu?

Save yourself from getting beaten black and blue, and having me apply medicine for you."

"Hmph, our Blood Vulture Clan has also sent out strong contestants."

Niuniu snorted, looked left and right, and after confirming no one was around, he relaxed and walked to Amber's side, standing over her with hands on his hips, saying:

"And who are those cats and dogs you mentioned? Meow King's team is okay at coordinating, but I'm not afraid of them one-on-one. Even if I can't win, don't I still have my sister?

You know how strong she is."

"Sister Pomegranate, you mean? Indeed very strong."

Amber uncomfortably shifted her shoulders and said quietly:

"But she seems to have something against me, giving me cold looks every time she sees me. But I don't remember offending her?"

"Don't mind her, she just occasionally goes crazy because she can't get married."

Niuniu viciously complained, then reached out to pull up Amber's eye patch, revealing the elite witch hunter scout's eyes that were always hidden.

When Amber blinked, you could see her two eyes had completely different pupil colors, the uninjured one was light blue, while the other eye's pupil had reddish patterns, looking quite demonic. This was an after-effect from when Amber was tortured by the blood inquisitor under the young lady's command. She thought it was ugly, but Niuniu didn't see it that way.

"Doesn't this look much better?"

Niuniu said with a grin:

"I really don't understand why you always hide it."

"This is an ominous sign. In my homeland, if people see it they'll say I'm a forest witch."

Amber swatted away Niuniu's hand and put her eye patch back on, but seeing Niuniu's disappointed look, she asked quietly:

"Do you like my eyes?"

"Mm-hmm, they're beautiful. This is what you call character, understand? If they were just like everyone else's it wouldn't have that special quality."

Niuniu answered honestly, making Amber shake her head, thinking this guy really was a blockhead.

"Nevermind, I won't disturb you anymore. Go prepare well."

The gallant witch hunter waved her hand, took out a roll of nature-blessed bandages from her bag and threw them to Niuniu, saying:

"Wrap these on, they can help reduce your injuries when boxing without breaking the rules. By the way, I need to do reconnaissance in the Foul Swamp in a while, can you come with me?"

"Sure."

While wrapping the bandages around his hands, Niuniu said without looking up:

"I'm your warrior after all, naturally I'll follow wherever you go. Just give the word, Lady Amber, and your warrior Niuniu will come at your call to serve you."

"Hmph, who wants that?"

Amber rolled her eyes and left humming a tune.

A few seconds later, Sister Pomegranate walked in with a gloomy face. She stared at Niuniu without saying a word, and little brother simply turned around ignoring her, feeling that his sister was being increasingly "bewitched" by this game.

"Niu Xiaochuan! Just wait and see how I beat you up when we get in the ring!" Sister Pomegranate was so angry she threw down these harsh words before striding out again.

"Shit, she even used my real name, looks like I really made her mad."

Niuniu shrank his neck, and prayed in the preparation room:

"Hope some anonymous cat brother eliminates my sister midway, otherwise I really won't escape this beating today."

Time ticked by minute by minute, and by nightfall when the boxing matches officially began, the entire fighting club was packed full.

But since this was just a sewer entrance it definitely couldn't accommodate too many spectators. To avoid letting down an event where the atmosphere had already been heated up, Grand Duchess Tris, who loved watching excitement, simply led the young lady and all the vampire spirit mages under her command to take action.

They used simple spirit projection rituals to create "big screens" in various places around the Crimson Citadel, and the administrative office also assigned dedicated people to use computation beads for filming and recording at the fighting club.

Murphy also opened temporary permissions to allow all NPCs with computation beads to see those exciting moments in the beads' projection mode.

To be honest, the computing power of these third generation beads still wasn't good enough. Murphy originally wanted to do "live streaming", but unfortunately these things couldn't support such advanced functions.

According to Miriam, the halflings had specialized computation beads for image capture. When the commercial expansion led by Lady Palen begins soon, they must bring back a batch of "special beads" from there, and then resell them at ten times the price to little players who need them under the name of "custom orders".

Tsk tsk, all according to plan!

Right now in the "boxer preparation room" of the newly renovated fighting club, Murphy was waiting for his "opening fight" to begin when he came up with another inhuman "vampire good idea", then unexpectedly heard a sharp and exaggerated voice from outside.

"Good evening, Transia! The final tally from last night's death gladiatorial combat was exactly 18! Thanks to the endless Black Iron Trials, 10 gnoll fighters died. But one warrior with insufficient skills also died, and I see you all have to pay up! Because his Crimson Hammer and Sickle team definitely won't swallow this grievance.

Another attack occurred at Anderma Hills, with the armament factory under construction being sabotaged, another good deed by those Wolfsbane scum.

Meanwhile, the Blood Rat Gang is collecting corpses in the Smuggler's Woods for victims of the skeleton army constantly emerging from the swamp. We all know there's a strange group of gnolls who have pledged allegiance to the great Governor Murphy over there.

We don't like gnolls, but they're not tonight's protagonists!

Hi, I'm Brother Dog North Paddle, special opening host for the Transia King of Fighters Championship. My dear Transian barbarians, let's start enjoying tonight's feast of fists and feet together!"

This rapid-fire speech made the little players in the audience hold their stomachs laughing and howling, and while other locals couldn't quite understand what was funny about Brother Dog's speech, they also gave their applause for this unique opening.

At least these few sentences delivered in a strange tone let everyone know what was happening in Transia right now.

Higher up in the "VIP seats", Count of White Mountain and his loyal servant Vesta, who never missed a gladiatorial match, had already secured good positions. Further away, Regent Miriam had also given herself a day off to accompany Professor Malcolm's family to watch the matches.

Beside them was Civilian Protection Officer Kudel with his stern face, and his precious granddaughter Miss Becky who was holding cotton candy and looking around curiously.

The knight maiden from the Anju region and her good friend Knight Liwen found everything fresh and interesting as they sat watching, in the self-proclaimed "civilized" Goldflower Kingdom, barbaric things like gladiatorial matches had long been banned by King Louis, though underground boxing matches were said to still be rampant despite repeated prohibitions, giving many local authorities headaches.

As for why Becky knew so much about this…

Because her father secretly ran the largest underground arena in Nantes City!

"These 'foreigners' are doing a good job with the atmosphere!"

On the other side of the arena, in the Blood Rat Gang's "special box", Lady Dorothy, the "Queen of the Sewers" of Crimson Citadel, held a glass of blood wine and instructed her subordinates with a boss-like attitude:

"Watch carefully! Learn well! Look at their techniques, though I can't understand what they're saying, see how lively this is! In the future we need to find more eloquent people to learn from them, and strive to make the gladiatorial matches bigger and better. This is a profitable business."

"But boss, aren't you going to prepare to go on stage?"

The Blood Rat Gang's veteran and current number two, Old Freeman, who often moonlighted as a bartender in the sewer bar, bent down and said to the smug Dorothy:

"Lord Murphy said you also need to participate in the boxing matches as a 'special guest', and during the competition period, you need to fight at least 3 matches every day."

"Shut up, can't you let me enjoy some simple happiness? Don't mention these annoying things."

The subordinate's tactless mention of this immediately made Dorothy very unhappy. She couldn't guess why Murphy wanted to do this kind of "sharing joy with the people" thing, but whether from a superior-subordinate or clan perspective, she couldn't refuse this request.

Even Grand Duchess Tris had the obligation to go on stage to "play along", let alone a minor character like her?

Just as Dorothy was looking very displeased, Brother North Dog Paddle below the boxing ring had finished warming up the atmosphere. As someone who worked as a bartender in the bar and occasionally guest DJ, seeing the atmosphere was about right, he announced decisively:

"Now, let's welcome with cheers and applause our esteemed Governor of Transia, the great Count of the Blood Vulture Clan, founder of the Crimson Citadel, liberator of Anderma Hills, protector of witch hunters and savior and benefactor of the people – the mighty Lord Murphy!

As a true Transian, he will carry forward this land's traditions and personally present us with an opening match that's bound to be spectacular!"

"Woohoo!"

Amidst the thunderous cheers from all around, Murphy spread his blood wings and gracefully glided down from the shadows. His outstanding demeanor and divine-like appearance made the howling of the little players in the surrounding arena even more piercing.

And his opening match opponent also stepped onto the boxing ring at this time.

However, when they saw the terrifying shadow cast by Sir Valand's 3-meter tall body under the gas lamps, now a Holy Grail Knight, even the surrounding cheers stopped for a few seconds, as the contrast in their physiques was really too dramatic.

Murphy had to spread his wings just to be a head taller than Valand in terms of size.

"Sigh, I originally arranged a newly captured gnoll chief for Lord Murphy, thinking we'd just go through the motions."

Miriam covered her eyes in the audience seats and said:

"Who knew little Sharon would come and sweet talk, saying they wanted to promote the mountain folk's virtues so they let Knight Valand compete, plus Knight Valand had a prior sparring agreement with Lord Murphy. But if the governor loses, wouldn't that look very bad?"

"F**k! Miriam, you're playing for real huh!"

After seeing Knight Valand come on stage, Murphy also felt a jolt in his heart, feeling this must be something Miriam arranged for him, thinking that little red-haired girl who used to just be a bit clever has now learned to be mischievous too.

However, a few seconds later, Murphy noticed a hint of "inconsistency" in Knight Valand, his will seemed to be constrained by something invisible. Just that gentle smile on his big face that was completely at odds with his temperament proved this guy's state wasn't quite right.

So Murphy frowned and cast a detection spell before the fight began. The information that came back opened his eyes:

Name: Valand Osprey Ophol

Status: Holy Grail's Temptation – Subspace Delusion – Personality Disorder

Character Description:

【Not every soul can maintain clarity after contact with the power of subspace, and those legendary deities happened to come from that chaotic place. The principle that great beings can only be observed from afar but not approached represents not only respect for power, but also a form of protection for ordinary mortals.】

"I get it, brainwashed by the Forest Holy Grail's 'subspace essence' originating from Avalon, right?"

Murphy flexed his fingers. Looking at Knight Valand who still maintained a gentle expression even while taking a combat stance, he silently mobilized his "hidden power" in his mind.

Although Knight Valand before him wasn't contaminated by subspace, but merely slightly influenced due to contact with the mysterious Holy Grail, since it was something from subspace it should be eliminated from the material world.

And speaking of coincidences, isn't this perfect?

The antivirus program "Omega" lazily seemed to be judging the condition of the Osprey Knight before him, but was finally invoked and activated by Murphy! The personality correction punch that had been undefeated since his "debut" was now loading!

Hey, knight of the mountains, let this governor's burning fists wash away your confusion and bring you back to the mortal realm where your mission remains unfinished.