"This…" The audience became silent.
"Isn’t Ragna fighting better than expected?"
"But didn’t Tarkan manage to blow him away earlier?"
"But Ragna counter-attacked and almost hit his throat…"
The people were sucking a cold breath. They thought that the battle would become one-sided.
"No, no. This is just the beginning. There’s no way Tarkan has unleashed all his abilities."
"Y-yeah. The battle will progress soon and…"
The people suddenly fell silent. There were a lot of noises in the arena. However, the situation was actually the opposite of what they had in mind.
"Kh." Tarkan kept blocking Ragna’s attacks from his spear while maintaining a certain distance so that Ragna didn’t attack him with his shield.
Instead of Tarkan gradually getting the upper hand, Ragna was actually suppressing Tarkan.
Ragna’s thrusts were swift and precise, causing Tarkan to have a hard time blocking them.
Tarkan couldn’t help but think, ’As expected, he is like those abnormal people. I didn’t notice it earlier, but when I first launched him away, he actually jumped slightly so that it was possible. He even positioned himself so that, while flying, he wouldn’t hit a pillar. This Ragna is much stronger than Erwin’s analysis.’
Tarkan deflected another thrust and punched forward.
Surprisingly, Tarkan did the same thing with his shield, causing the clash to actually neutralize each other’s force.
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"What rumors? You’re this strong?" Tarkan grinned in frustration. Their strength was actually equal. Even though he focused more on his technique unlike Gilza, it didn’t change the fact that he had Muscle Affinity.
On the other hand, Ragna had a Bones Affinity, which boosted his defensive power. He should be stronger than Ragna.
But the reality couldn’t be any more different.
What he didn’t know was that the result was achieved through three things. The items from Another World Mall, the Star Method, and the technique book Clovis gave not long ago.
Ragna’s eyes were locked on Tarkan as he couldn’t help but recall the time he learned the dwarven technique.
"Dwarven Shield is a special technique that utilizes a shield in three different ways. The first is the stance that has a very low gravity, using the ground to absorb some impact. The second is to protect people behind you, the body and the shield have to act as a mountain, unmovable and sturdy.
Last but not least… the shield is not a tool to receive attacks but to protect… even if it means…" Ragna was reading the book at that time.
But recalling such a thing made him fire up. He ran toward Tarkan and bashed him with his shield.
Tarkan also extended both hands, barely stopping the movement. However, his body tilted back due to the impact.
’…To attack.’ Ragna charged forward, not wanting to let Tarkan go. He rammed his shield on Tarkan and pushed him back like a bull. ’Move like a boulder!’
"Kh." Tarkan gritted his teeth. Ragna was planning to push him to the pillar, which ultimately squashed Tarkan.
Still, Tarkan was the vice captain of Imemine. There was no way he would go down without a fight.
When his back was about to hit the pillar, Tarkan actually kicked the pillar and shattered it.
"!!!" Ragna was startled. At first, he thought that Tarkan planned to use the pillar as a weapon. However, the shattered rocks started falling toward them.
Ragna gritted his teeth and tilted his shield downward, trying to push Tarkan down so that he remained in this position. At the same time, he allowed the rocks to rain on them.
Ragna got hit by multiple rocks: one on his forehead and the others on his arms and shoulders. But because he used this position to stop Tarkan, the latter also got hit by several rocks.
Still, due to their position, it was clear that Ragna got hit more. Even then, Ragna had a special constitution that allowed him to recover from all these injuries quickly. In that way, he would be the ultimate victor.
However, he didn’t know that Tarkan was actually a much more terrifying person.
Tarkan suddenly let Ragna push him to the ground, which finally broke Ragna’s stance. He used his elastic body and pushed him with both hands and feet into the air.
"!!!" Ragna gasped because Tarkan started grabbing the shattered rocks right after that.
He threw the rocks toward Ragna.
"Kh!" Ragna gritted his teeth and tried to block most of them with his shield midair.
As soon as Ragna landed, Tarkan ran toward him at full speed and jumped into the air while extending his foot forward.
Ragna knew how much momentum he had and the force he would produce in such a situation, so he chose to dodge.
At the same time, Ragna turned around and thrust his spear, trying to get Tarkan.
However, Tarkan simply crushed the pillar and escaped from the spear’s reach. He landed right after and grabbed the stones, throwing them again at Ragna.
With a more stable position, Ragna easily blocked all those rocks without taking a single step.
But Tarkan used that chance to close the distance between them and did the same thing.
Seeing the momentum wasn’t as fast as the previous kick, Ragna stomped the ground and moved forward, smashing his shield on the foot.
Bam!
The ground underneath them cracked and Tarkan’s momentum was completely stopped.
’This is it.’ Ragna stepped to the side, trying to stab Tarkan the moment he landed on the ground.
To his surprise, Tarkan actually raised the other leg and stomped on the upper’s part of the shield, which actually anchored his position on top of the shield.
"!!!" Ragna raised his head, finding Tarkan tilting his body down and ready to punch him.
"Kh!" Ragna hurriedly let go of his spear so that he could retract his arm, protecting his head.
Tarkan ended up hitting his arm. This should be enough to push back the arm and injure the head, but Ragna actually lowered his body even further, following the momentum of that punch so that the arm didn’t touch his head at all.
’He’s too good.’ Tarkan gritted his teeth. Even in such an advantageous position and taking Ragna by surprise, he still couldn’t injure him.