Chapter 1410: Hidden Move!
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
“My name is Bloom. I heard that your speed is decent, so I’m hoping to exchange a few pointers with you, but I’m not sure if you have the guts to do so!” The thick set man challenged Xia Fan while he remained in the ring.
Bloom was 1.9 meters tall, and weighed over 100 kilograms. With a flat expression on his face, he was not smiling when he spoke. In fact, there was no sign of any emotion on his face; it was likely he had a very cold personality.
*s.h.i.+ng*
Hundreds of eyes turned on Xia Fan. Though it was said that free battles were encouraged, the approach that Bloom had taken made it sound like less of a challenge and more of a provocation!
Everyone waited for Xia Fan’s response, but all he did was scratch his head and smile, “I think it’s best for you if you forget it.”
!!
Lin Xiaowu was quite taken aback by that. He had already noticed the situation happening to Xia Fan; any discerning individual could tell that there was something going on between Xia Fan and Jaden and his bunch.
Hearing Xia Fan refusing Bloom’s free challenge, Lin Xiaowu was somewhat baffled. After all, Xia Fan was a speedster and possessed great combat strength. There shouldn’t be very many people who were even stronger than Xia Fan in this semester of the training camp, so why would he reject the challenge? After all, he would lose ten points if he rejected a free challenge, and he might not end up losing if he just accepted the fight!
“Hahaha!” Bloom laughed uproariously as he declared with disdain, “That’s why I said everyone with the surname of Xia are cowards!”
Xia Fan was a little annoyed, but he kept his cool. Because he did not accept the challenge, ten points were deducted from Xia Fan’s point total, dropping from 670 to 660.
“What’s the matter with you?” Soul Flying Bird asked Xia Fan with a frown, completely puzzled by Xia Fan’s actions.
Xia Fan chuckled softly. He nudged his chin to the bunch across from them and said, “Look, they are all in it together. Such a free challenge, I’ll lose face if I lose, but if I win, I would just end up becoming enemies with the whole lot of them. It’s not worth it.”
Flying Bird was startled, but he saw the reason in XIa Fan’s words. There were ten cadets around Jaden, and almost all of them were evaluated with A tier combat strength. Xia Fan was hoping that he could just make the major issue into something minor and just shrug off the entire matter altogether.
Xia Fanhad very quickly calculated that the reason why these people viewed him as the enemy was for no real reason whatsoever, most likely to be related to the incident when the Skywings had eradicated Ashen Dragon and Hidden Moon. Animosity should be resolved rather than further complicated. If he were to attack, the misunderstanding would only deepen.
Hunter Grandpa said it best: there’s no need to reason with wild beasts. The evaluation of a hunter was not in the amount of prey they killed, but rather how long they could survive in a forest where danger abounded.
That was why Xia Fan had decided to bear this slight. It was as the old saying went: Hold on for a while, and the sea will eventually settle.
But what Xia Fan had not expected was that as Bloom walked off the ring, a second person leapt right into it!
This person was dark-skinned, with a thin physique. His legs were long, looking like he was an endurance runner.
This person did not say a word but turned toward Xia Fan and declared in an ambiguous tone, “My name is Torah. I heard that your speed is decent, so I’m hoping to exchange a few pointers with you, not sure if you have the guts to do so!”
They did not even change the line they used!
Flying Bird was stunned. Evidently, Jaden and the people with him intended to bully Xia Fan to the very end! If Xia Fan were to reject them again, then a third person would immediately step out!
This was really too much. These people were relying on the fact that they held the numerical advantage, and actually wanted to take turns challenging Xia Fan!
Though Flying Bird always showed a cheerful and happy-go-lucky personality, he actually had a very strong sense of justice. The moment he saw this situation, he immediately leaped up to his feet and yelled right across the arena, “Jaden, what do you mean by all this?!”
That bald teenager named Jaden lifted his eyes and did not answer Flying Bird. All he did was reveal a mischievous smile.
Flying Bird was enraged. He rolled up his sleeve and was about to jump into the ring, but that was when Xia Fan used his left hand to hold him back.
Flying Bird lowered his head to regard Xia Fan and his usual smile, though the expression on the rest of Xia Fan’s face appeared more severe than before.
Xia Fan smiled at Flying Bird. “Forget it, these people are looking for me, not you. If you were to stand up for me, I’d just end up losing face.”
Flying Bird was startled and grit his teeth.
*Whoos.h.!.+*
Xia Fan’s figure suddenly disappeared from where he was standing, and with a speed of 250 meters per second bolted toward the ring! He abruptly appeared at a spot some twenty centimeters away from Torah’s face!
He moved so swiftly that Torah was spooked by him, unconsciously taking two steps back.
Xia Fan revealed a radiant smile as he looked right at Torah’s eyes, before sweeping his gaze over to Jaden and the others behind him, softly stating, “If that’s the case, then let’s do it!”
…
The small rings covered an area of twelve by twelve meters, while the big rings were about fifty by fifty meters in size. An Advanced cadet in black uniform acted as the referee, prompting Xia Fan and Torah to separately take the left and right ends of the ring, leaving approximately thirty meters of buffer s.p.a.ce in the middle.
After inspecting the two individuals and ensuring neither had brought any lethal weapons, the referee leaped out of the ring and raised his right hand up high.
“Begin!” As the referee’s arm went down, the free-challenge official started.
*Bang!*
With an explosive burst of strength to his legs, Xia Fan went shooting out like a sharp arrow, not running but catapulting forward at high speeds!
His powerful bones and muscles allowed him to reach his top speed right from the beginning!
An extremely imposing momentum!
Xia Fan raised his right fist and pulled it back, guiding his strength to run through his entire arm!
A savage blow!
His opponent Torah appeared to have trained his neural response speed to a very high degree. Though he was not a speedster, his reactions were not any slower than one; Torah crossed his arms to form a block in front of him against the explosive punch from Xia Fan.
*Kaboom*
Xia Fan’s one punch struck squarely on Torah’s arm, and in that moment Xia Fan sensed something was amiss. He did not feel as if he had just punched someone’s body, but a steel plate! It was very hard!
Looking at Torah, he saw that his appearance had completely changed. He had originally been rather skinny, and had very long legs as well, but in the moment when Xia Fan struck, the muscles all over Torah’s body had expanded, turning into an extremely stocky individual with an outer layer of muscles that was covered in green veins!
Strengthening type!
Torah’s muscles could be strengthened; the moment he was done, it would be akin to him wearing a suit of st.u.r.dy metal armor, with iron skin and steel bones! He was not afraid of any attacks, nor would he feel any pain!
“You’re courting death, kid!” Torah bellowed. Strengthening-types loved melee combat. Torah’s ridiculous body of muscles would not only increase his defense, it would also improve his explosive strength!
Because he could not feel any pain, Xia Fan’s explosive attack did not affect Torah at all. Pus.h.i.+ng hard with the arms he had crossed in front of his chest, Torah quickly twisted his wrists, attempting to grab Xia Fan by his arms.
The moment a Strength-type warrior like Torah could grab hold of Xia Fan’s arm, he would instantly lose his advantage of speed. In melee confrontations like this, no one was a match against a Strength-type. Torah after boosting himself up was practically a beast-man, not feeling any pain no matter what Xia Fan threw at him. Instead, it would be Xia Fan who would be in great pain if any of Torah’s blows connected.
Just as the situation was becoming dire, everyone watched as Xia Fan made an incomprehensible turn all of a sudden, and like a spinning top, a beautiful arc came in from the left side, brus.h.i.+ng past Torah.
“What an amazing twist!” Flying Bird yelled out in his surprise.
Everything had their weaknesses and flaws. The weakness of speedsters was their lack of flexibility and opponents who were tougher than them. After all, when moving at high speeds, any attempt to evade, spin, change direction, or s.h.i.+ft would be extremely difficult.
But Xia Fan did not seem to suffer any of the flaws that speedsters commonly had. Not only was he fast, even more inconceivable was the fact that before anyone could even make out what had happened, Xia Fan had already circled past Torah like a crafty loach.
After a brief exchange of blows, Xia Fan and Torah returned back to the stand-off state, standing twenty meters apart.
Torah would not take the initiative to attack, because he was not fast enough with his movements. Taking the initiative to attack would be to his disadvantage, while even though Xia Fan was fast, he did not seem to have any way of dealing any real damage to the boosted Torah. This half-beastman appeared to be someone who wasn’t afraid of getting pummeled, but was worried if an enemy did not come to attack him!
As such, Xia Fan was forced into a dilemma. While he could use his high speed to engage in a quick repeated a.s.sault, throwing out twenty punches at Torah in the span of a second, none of those twenty punches would achieve anything other than wasting his strength since Torah would not feel even a hint of pain. Instead, if he got careless and Torah managed to grab him, Xia Fan would be the one ending up in trouble.
What should he do?
“Heheheh!” Torah’s face pulled into a mischievous smile as he beckoned at Xia Fan with one finger. “Come over here if you’ve got the guts, you who go by Xia!”
Time ticked pa.s.sed by the second. A free-challenge was limited to three minutes, and the longer it dragged out, the more disadvantageous it became for Xia Fan.
“Looks like that’s it. Xia Fan excels in high-speed attacks, but Torah isn’t afraid of any attacks.”
“But of course! Just look at that body of strengthened muscles Torah has! There’s simply no dead angles at all; even his face is twisting with ferocious muscles! Knives are the only thing that can be used against Strengthening-types, but the rules do not allow the use of weapons. Xia Fan is at a huge disadvantage if it’s just bare-fisted combat!”
The cadets around were discussing the fight avidly. Xia Fan and Torah were in a big ring, which was enough to attract a good majority of people’s attention. That included the Combat Division Gead Lin Xiaowu; everyone was interested to see just how Xia Fan would deal with the unfavorable situation right.
All of a sudden, Xia Fan’s lips curled in a weird arc as he chuckled once more, displaying an inscrutable smile.
Speed, activate!
In that instant, Xia Fan charged up to Torah again. He was still moving as fast as ever, hitting his maximum speed of nearly 250 m/s! He needed only a tenth of a second to close the gap between them.
Nevertheless, Xia Fan’s attack style was completely different from the first time he struck; Instead of unleas.h.i.+ng a standard speedster’s quick attack, he chose to make a speedy grapple!
Just as Torah saw that Xia Fan was about to get near him, he raised his arms like before to block, and at the same time wondered just how he could grab Xia Fan’s arm.
But what Torah had not imagined was that Xia Fan suddenly disappeared as he came charging in!
Xia Fan’s entire body abruptly dipped low. After adopting the clever posture, his right hand grabbed hold of Torah’s groin area while his left hand grabbed one of Torah’s legs, and he exerted strength upward.
*Whoos.h.!.+*
Everyone watched as Torah lost his balance and was sent flying up into the sky!
He was now a rocket man!
Xia Fan did indeed have no way of clas.h.i.+ng head on with Torah. His muscle-strengthening was very powerful, so Xia Fan decided to send him flying!
There was nothing considered excessive on the Holy Tomb planet, aside from the fact it overflowed with scoundrels!
Xia Fan had learned a myriad of techniques and tricks from his elders, who had caused great troubles in the universe during their time!
Among those old scoundrels was one who Xia Fan called Barbarian Grandpa. This particular grandpa was a wrestling expert: wrapping, pulling, carrying, flinging, low blows or smas.h.i.+ng the joints or knees; each of the moves and tricks Xia Fan had learned was only more sinister than the last.
Just now, Xia Fan had used two moves that Barbarian Grandpa taught him. One was the old groin twist, and the other was the pull and throw.
A fight between coursemates did not require them to wear protection. Hearing Torah’s shrill scream, the twist must have been quite tragic. That was the most sinister of moves, since no matter how much Torah boosted his muscles, there was no way he could strengthen his family jewels, making it an extremely effective move.
After such a twist, Torah practically all power to resist. Though Xia Fan could not beat up such a muscle-bound individual, surely he could just toss him away, right?
That was why Torah was now experiencing flight, letting out a scream as he went, his hands clutching his crotch. He flew for a whole eighty meters, landing perfectly in the middle of Jaden’s crowd, sending them all falling down as well.
No one believed that Xia Fan had not intentionally tossed Torah their way. Everyone watching was just dumbfounded. Even the experienced Combat Division Head Lin Xiaowu had a bit of trouble wrapping his head around what had just happened. It seemed Xia Fan had very viciously targeted Torah’s family jewels?
Was that not a move used by a street hoodlum? Where did Xia Fan learn such a messed-up move?
He just did not seem like the type. Seeing him always smiling, yet he had no qualms unleas.h.i.+ng such shameless moves; the dissonance was just too great!
There were some female cadets blus.h.i.+ng from the display!
“Heheh!”
After Xia Fan sent Torah flying with that sinister move of his, he took a step toward Jaden and the others. By this time, the whole lot of them were propping up Torah, whose face was pale, still clutching onto his crotch as he squealed like a pig in the slaughterhouse.
They all saw Xia Fan chuckle and breezily lift his right arm. He mimicked the same tone Torah and Bloom had used on him, “My name is Xia Fan! Xia, as in Summer, and Fan, as in normal! I hope to be able to exchange a few pointers with you today, so I wonder if you all have the guts?!”
*Zing*
Upon hearing that, Jaden leaped up to his feet, the veins on his forehead throbbing visibly as he yelled out and asked, “The one with the surname of Xia, are you challenging me?!”
“No, you’re mistaken,” Xia Fan flashed him an innocent smile and shook his head. “I’m not challenging you. Everyone counts, so yours truly will be challenging the whole lot of you!”