The man flew outside the arena at high speed and landed right before hitting the concrete wall leaving everyone speechless. Not even those who had money invested in the fight knew whether to cheer or curse because it was impossible to tell whether or not the fat hunter had survived.
Four field medics hurried over to check up on the injured man, but found him to be completely fine. Uriel, though, was writhing in pain after hurting his fist for using too much force. Now that he didn’t have Water warlock’s blessing, his body could hardly endure being taken to the limits Uriel was accustomed to and he was now paying the price for not thinking things through.
Nevertheless, a faint smile remained on his face as he just defeated that unpleasant man. Read exclusive chapters at freewebnovel
Had Uriel not seen Phlox’s match, his fight would have ended in defeat, but thanks to the insight he gained watching the fight he was able to figure out his trait. That man’s trait was pretty powerful, he was able to channel fux energy to receive kinetic energy, enhance it and then return it to the attacker. The more powerful the attack he received, the more damage the attacker would receive.
However, his trait consumed so much energy it was almost useless against cryptids or during long fights.
That’s why the man worked so hard to provoke his enemies and also why Uriel needed to wait until he was distracted to strike.
"And the winner is... the Masked boy, man, kid..." The presenter said after confirming the hunter was alive, though he didn’t sound excited at all. Uriel was one of the weirdest challengers ever since the ladder was created and that was saying a lot.
The next fighter was also wearing a karategi pretty similar to the first man he faced. It was a tall woman with a slightly disproportioned body that made her legs longer than they should be. In spite of that, she looked both graceful and dangerous at the same time and Uriel realized he was in trouble as soon as she opened her mouth.
"Hope you enjoyed humiliating my big brother, because now I’m going to do the same thing to you." She didn’t sound scornful or overly angry, she was just stating a fact. Uriel was about to be defeated by her in the same manner he defeated her brother.
Uriel, who was still experiencing some pain after his last match, had barely enough time to process what she said before she disappeared. Next thing he knew, the woman was directly in front of him and he barely managed to activate Dash in time to dodge the leg sweep.
Although the woman wasn’t as fast as Uriel, he noticed how her eyes didn’t stop following him which made him cautious to attack her. Even if she looked as though she was moving really slow, Uriel felt there were no flaws in her defense and that she might be able to counter if he hit her.
Taking advantage of his enhanced speed, Uriel moved to what he thought was her blindspot, but as soon as Uriel came into range to land a fist an unseen smile appeared on the woman’s face and her leg moved faster than she was able to think.
Her trait was unrelated to speed, but her years of training in martial arts allowed her to react faster than she was able to think and the length of her legs allowed her to strike with an incredible power.
Uriel moved to the side as fast he could, knowing full well that blocking would result in him losing the match, but even with Dash activated he was unable to dodge it entirely and the tip of her feet scratched the gas mask Uriel was wearing, but the strength behind the kick was so much the mask was cut in half.
Now that she was standing in one feet, though, Uriel had the advantage and he kicked her rear to make her lose balance, then followed with a hit on the back of her head just for good measure.
However, without the mask to concel his identity, Uriel was forced to leave the arena before running out of mana.
"What happened?" A whisper was heard from the presenter’s microphone. He was in utter shock as the speed of the match was too much for him to follow. It wasn’t until the medics confirmed the woman was unconscious that the presenter finally announced the result. "It seems we have a tie!"
Leaving the arena meant Uriel was disqualified, but since he did manage to defeat the woman before that it also counted as a win. That meant that the next time he challenged the ladder he would be able to start right where he left it, but he had no intention of going back to that place.
"That was really close! I don’t want to think what would have been of me if she landed that kick." Uriel said with a jagged breath once he was inside the room waiting for his winnings to arrive.
"You’re worrying too much, this arena is safe for hunters. No one would risk killing their opponent because that means no one gets paid." Phlox said after taking a sip of her beer.
Uriel couldn’t help but chuckle at the similitude between Nika’s and Phlox’s character, but that thought only made him miss Nika more than he did before. While it was true that Phlox wasn’t a stranger to him, being far from his shadow companion made him feel like he was missing something.
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Thinking of Nika was like scratching an itch that would only grow stronger after doing so.
"Thanks for making us money chief." The bald man said with an awkward smile.
"Oh, that’s..."
"I have to say I was pretty surprised when you said you were a hunter, but I didn’t know you were that strong. I’m not going to ask you what you were doing in that place, but I’m glad you’re back on your feet. After all, no one should live in that damned place..." The skinny man said referring to the museum that served as Uriel’s hideout.
"What about it?" He asked.
"It’s nothing, don’t pay any attention to him." The bald man said.
"You know the rumors! People always go missing in that place! If it’s only rumors, then why were you so scared to enter when we were looking for stuff to sell?"
After finishing the ladder Uriel wanted nothing but to go to a hotel and rest for the night, but something in his gut told him that he couldn’t ignore the rumors about the building that used to be Houston’s Space Center.