--(Before Vile Reaper and Nathan"s match is announced)--
"It"s done, miss."
The butler, Albert Connor, had given the mental barrier skill to Vile reaper as per his young miss" instructions.
"I hope that intimidation skill wasn"t all you had." Despite her words, Iris was grinning.
The mental barrier skill would allow Vile reaper to resist Mr. Pepe"s skill.
With this, Iris would finally see what Mr. Pepe was capable of.
At the same time, the match between Mr. Pepe and Mother Mash comes to an end.
"He won! Old man, give me my money!"
The woman elbowed the butler ecstatically.
"Here you go."
The old man operated his device and transferred 800,000B to the woman.
"Albert"s predictions were wrong?"
Iris was more surprised that Albert was wrong than the fact that Nathan won.
As an a.s.sa.s.sin, Albert is very good at judging the opponent"s strength at one glance.
It was a sweet surprise that Albert was wrong for once. Iris didn"t want the person she found to be interesting to be weak.
Albert"s expression worsened when he thought that his young miss was disappointed in him.
"I"m sorry for this failure, miss."
Iris waved her hand and asked him why he thought Nathan would lose.
"Mr. Pepe is not a seasoned warrior, no, I think he has rarely fought much, let alone him being a warrior."
"Why?"
"It"s the way he carries himself. His posture, the pitch of his voice, the tension in his muscles when he is sitting in an unfamiliar environment, everything shows his lack of experience. For comparison: Any warrior gets injured or hurt when they fight, and this makes them, through years of experience, subconsciously protect those areas, but Mr. Pepe doesn"t have anything like that. He doesn"t have real experience in fights."
Albert looked at the corpse of Mother Mash and continued.
"On the other hand, Mother Mash has years" worth of battle experience."
"But he still won."
Albert glared at the woman for disturbing him. But eventually sighed and nodded.
"Mr. Pepe won because he used Mother Mash"s battle experience against herself."
As a battle-hardened warrior, Mother Mash has honed her instincts to a high level. She can react to sudden attacks even if she is startled.
But Nathan used that against her.
If the enemy is hiding, then they are preparing for an attack. If the enemy is rushing towards you, then they are attacking. All of these are the basics of combat, and every warrior has a different way of dealing with them.
However, Nathan"s actions were completely out of the norm.
He used the smokescreen but never set up a trap. He, at the end, rushed to Mother Mash as if it was the final clash, only to use a shield.
His uncanny actions made Mother Mash"s battle experience useless and, in a startled state, Mother Mash wasn"t able to keep up with his follow-up attack.
-THE FIRST MATCH WILL BE BETWEEN VILE REAPER AND MR. PEPE!-
"But there is a limit to what can achieve with trickery."
*
--(Present)--
"Your skill isn"t working?"
Vupp-
Vile reaper teleported in front of me.
He whispered to me.
"If you lose, we will be working as teammates, but don"t you think a trash like you don"t deserve to work on the same level as me?"
Bam-!
His toes struck between my ribs, making me stifle.
"Let"s see the precious face you are hiding."
He stretched his arm.
I wanted to fight back, but my head was still ringing. I wasn"t able to focus.
*Pulls away*
"What is this? Are you using a skill to hide your face?"
Crack-
Vupp-
A crack appeared behind Vile reaper, forcing him to teleport away.
(Are you okay?)
"Right forearm is probably cracked, 3 broken ribs, and a slight concussion. Yeah, never been better."
I forced myself to stand straight.
At the other end of the arena was Vile reaper perfectly fine and jolly.
"Huuuu….. Teleportation is a cheat ability."
"Right? It"s something that only someone blessed like me can get."
Teleportation was a cheat.
Even a barrage of simple punches and kicks became nearly unavoidable when combined with teleportation.
Though I may have a way to fight it.
"Eth"
(I"m on it)
"Let"s get started!"
Vupp-
(Right)
Bam-!
Vile reaper"s punch hit my shoulder, nearly dislocating it.
Vupp-
(Behind)
Swosh-
Immediately, I kicked behind me. If I hesitated now I wouldn"t be able to hit Vile reaper.
Before I felt the impact, Vile reaper again teleported.
Vupp-
(Lef-)
Bam-!
A solid punch landed on my chin.
Thankfully, I pulled my head back at the last second, or it would"ve been an instant knockout.
"It isn"t working"
I grimaced.
I knew from where Vile reaper was attacking, but I can"t react fast enough to counterattack.
The lag between Vile reaper"s teleportation, Eth"s instruction, and my counterattack was almost a second. It was too short of a window to attack.
If only I could attack him at a single thought…
*
"What is this? Are you using a skill to hide your face?"
Crack-
Vupp-
A crack appeared behind Vile reaper, forcing him to teleport away.
"It"s weird. How is he still standing?"
Vile reaper thought to himself.
He didn"t pull his punches when attacking Nathan. Why was then Mr. Pepe yet to be knocked out?
Nathan, with a hand over his ribs, stood up.
"Huuuu….. Teleportation is a cheat ability."
"Right? It"s something that only someone blessed like me can get."
"Let"s get started!"
Vupp-
Vile reaper teleported and was about to punch Nathan"s shoulder when-
-Nathan turned towards him.
Bam-!
"He knew where I was going to teleport?!"
Vile reaper was shocked as Nathan has turned to him before he could attack.
"No, it must have been a fluke."
But Nathan wasn"t able to block his attack. Vile reper thought that he was only lucky to turn towards him.
Vupp-
Next Vile reaper teleported behind Nathan only to get shocked.
Nathan kicked to the back!
Vile reaper quickly understood that Nathan had a way to detect his teleportation. He decided to be a little more serious.
Vupp-
Bam-!
Before Nathan"s kick could land on him, he teleported to Nathan"s side and hit his chin.
"So, what if you know where I"m going to teleport? You still cannot block my attacks."
Blood dripped from the corner of Nathan"s lips.
No one could see his face, but the puddle of blood beneath Nathan and his panting figure were clear for all to witness.
"Don"t surrender yet. This is only the beginning~"
Vile reaper had a crazed grin on his face as he started teleporting.
Vupp-
Bam-!
He kicked Nathan in the guts, making him puke.
Vupp-
Bam-!
Nathan staggered as he was. .h.i.t hard in the head.
Vupp-
Bam-!
Whenever Nathan would try to retaliate, Vile reaper would teleport again and attack him.
Nathan wasn"t able to defend himself, let alone counterattack.
Over time, Nathan stopped defending.
"Wrong! It isn"t worth it if you don"t-"
Vupp-
"-fight back!"
Bam-!
Nathan"s body skidded across the arena. He no longer had the strength to continue standing.
It was the perfect time for Vile reaper to begin his torture.
But Vile reaper didn"t move.
"H-how?"
Vile reaper looked at the dagger, the dagger that was stabbed into his abdomen.
On the other side, Nathan was trying to push his body with his arms to stand.
His arms were shaking, and he had lost too much blood from continuous bleeding. Yet, he was grinning like a madman.
"Didn"t expect that?"
Vile reaper"s eyes turned bloodshot, and he roared.
"How dare you hit me?! A trash like you isn"t allowed-"
Vupp-
Bam-!
"-hit me!"
Vile reaper kicked Nathan while he was down but at the same time, another dagger lodged into his shoulder.
His eyes widened when he realized that he had been hit again.
At the same time, Nathan cackled.
"Hehehe…one dagger for one hit. Let"s see who will go down first."
?