Victory and Defeat

Shivana had never been patient to begin with, and in her fury, she gave Black Snake no room to catch his breath.

Her assault was like a raging storm. The enormous Great Axe spun in her hands like a bamboo fishing rod.

Black Snake decided to drag things out and focused solely on evading.

His combat experience was far richer. Having once been a rogue, he understood every muscle and bone in his body with perfect clarity.

That allowed him to slip through gaps in her attacks like a boneless venomous snake.

But seeing her attacks miss time and again only made Shivana angrier—

This was a duel she could not lose.

There was only one prophet.

Yet there were plenty of old fools who refused to accept this chieftain.

"Coward! What kind of skill is hiding and dodging!?"

If he had been at full strength, Black Snake would not have minded throwing a few words back.

But now, he only felt exhausted and did not even want to waste the strength to speak.

He retreated again and again until he reached a Beastfolk with nowhere left to evade. Then he leaped up, stepped on Shivana's shoulder, and pulled himself to the other side.

Shivana was still furious.

But that fury would eventually turn into frustration.

Then, disappointment would make her calm down.

That would be his chance to strike.

Seeing Black Snake dart and weave, steadily regaining control of the situation, Tang Qi felt that the outcome of this duel was merely a matter of time.

But the closer they came to the end, the less he could afford to relax.

The Goblin warlock was their only bargaining chip.

He absolutely could not let her take the opportunity to escape.

Otherwise, they would not even have the right to negotiate.

Yet during the duel, the old Goblin had been surprisingly well-behaved.

The trace of necromantic energy around her wound was stabilizing her injuries...

Tang Qi could not help considering the threat she still posed—

Logically speaking, after casting Fireball and Fear Spell in succession,

her Spell Slots should have been completely depleted.

Spell Slots were closely tied to a Spellcaster's mental strength.

For example, a Spellcaster at New Star's level had enough mental strength to support two Second Ring spells and four First Ring spells.

Unless extraordinary methods were used, once Spell Slots were exhausted, the brain could no longer bear further strain. It had to rest for a long time and recover its mental strength to its peak condition.

Warlocks, despite also being Spellcasters, had pitifully few Spell Slots.

Of course, since their power did not truly belong to them,

they only needed a brief rest to release all that pressure.

False Life was a special blessing granted by the Sovereign and did not count as one of her spells.

What worried Tang Qi was this:

During the time Black Snake and the female Beastfolk had been dueling,

did the old Goblin, whose abdomen had been pierced by a curved blade that had never been pulled out, count as having rested?

Perhaps it would be safer to stab her in the waist again while he had the chance?

Tang Qi could not quite figure it out.

"Forget it. Better be safe."

No sooner had he thought of it than he acted. He yanked out the curved blade and stabbed toward Babaya's other side—

"Damn human, what are you doing!?"

The sudden stab made the old Goblin cry out in pain.

Tang Qi realized that the dark green glow around her wound vanished with that strike.

No wonder Babaya had become hysterical—

She had originally taken advantage of the fight between the two people in the arena to close her eyes and pray for the grace of her "master," easing the pressure in her mind.

But that sudden stab directly severed her connection to her prayers.

And the disappearance of False Life meant that, from then on, any damage she suffered would be borne fully by herself...

Was it a coincidence?

Or was this human's eye truly that sharp...

She gritted her teeth tightly, her expression uncertain.

As Tang Qi delivered the extra stab, Kuru suddenly shrank his neck and edged closer to Tang Qi's legs.

"Watching. Lots of people!"

Tang Qi immediately looked around and discovered that many Goblins and Beastfolk standing atop the turtle shell were constantly gathering toward the center for a better view.

Now that the duel was growing more intense and Shivana held the upper hand,

the cheers and shouts around them were endless. It was only natural that more spectators gathered...

No.

Tang Qi narrowed his eyes slightly.

He was now inside the encirclement as well, only a few feet away from the crowd.

The curious onlookers gathering around came from many races, but most of those clustered near him were short Goblins with yellow-green skin.

"Kuru, keep a close eye on our surroundings."

Tang Qi had no choice but to tighten his grip on the old Goblin's neck and move farther away from the Goblins behind him.

"Behave yourself. Don't try anything."

"You already stabbed me once. What else could I possibly do!?"

Babaya's shrill, hoarse voice always made one's skin crawl.

Meanwhile, Black Snake had already led the frenzied Shivana on a lap around the crowd.

He kept calculating how to let Shivana win this duel with dignity.

Though he was reluctant, sometimes "defeat" was a kind of "victory."

He was not trying to prove himself superior to anyone. That was the sort of thing he enjoyed when he was younger.

Right now, he had to get back to the town before the Beastfolk did.

Having figured out the key, Black Snake stopped hesitating. Seeing the anger in Shivana's eyes gradually fade,

he knew this was the only opportunity he could seize.

He immediately stopped, turned around, and sprinted toward the barbarian.

Seeing the irritating flea finally stop scurrying around, Shivana roared and swung her Great Axe at his head.

A scarlet crescent tore through the gale.

But the human was nowhere in sight!

As her swing missed, the fury in her eyes and the savage bear behind her vanished in an instant.

Black Snake had already slid behind her. He kicked off the ground, leaped up, and swung his blade as he turned.

Shivana panicked at once. She quickly twisted at the waist with the momentum, shouted, and prepared to use inertia to turn her Great Axe into a full moon, spinning it toward the enemy behind her!

But the black blade had already split the night, slashing toward Shivana's neck—

If that slash was fast enough, it would strike her neck before Shivana's axe could land.

It might not take her life.

But it would certainly determine victory and defeat.

Shivana clenched her teeth.

After fighting Black Snake for so long, she knew she was not fast enough to stop this carefully prepared strike.

After this slash, her earlier boasts and her hopes of winning glory would all vanish.

For a moment, she regretted agreeing to the duel proposed by that silver-tongued human.

After losing, would she have to honor the agreement and let them leave?

After a brief hesitation, Shivana ultimately chose to deny it.

What contract? What honor?

No Beastfolk would care about such things.

And no tribal chieftain would tolerate someone stronger than themselves living for more than three days...

Otherwise, that person would replace them and become the new chieftain.

Tribes were that savage.

They had to die here!

Shivana steeled herself for the ending she had imagined.

Yet the blade did not slice across the back of her neck as expected.

Instead, the sensation of the Great Axe biting into flesh reached her hands first.

"Rumble!!!"

Using the momentum, Shivana blasted Black Snake away.

Victory and defeat had been decided!

She turned back hesitantly and saw the human lying facedown, a vicious bloody gash clearly carved across his back—

The wound looked terrifying, but it had not hurt his spine at all.

Only then did she realize that, at the final moment of the duel, the man had not turned and swung that blade.

Instead, he had judged the distance in advance and controlled the injury within a suitable range.

He had held back.

And her victory was undeserved...

"Uha!!!"

But no Beastfolk had seen what truly happened.

They had only seen the result before them.

In an instant, rough cheers exploded around Shivana.

"Shivana! Shivana! Shivana!"

She did not know whether she deserved to enjoy those cheers.

As she remained silent and the cries resounded through the forest,

Tang Qi's back felt as though it had struck an ice spike.

The numbing sensation unique to Alertness hit him in an instant!

But he was still gripping the old Goblin tightly, his movements hindered.

The instant he sensed danger approaching, he simply tightened his hold on Babaya's neck and turned her around to block the attack behind him—

Several silver flashes streaked before his eyes. Four Goblins who had emerged from the spectator crowd simultaneously swung their shoddy curved blades at their respected prophet.

"Ah!!!"

Babaya let out a strange shriek, tears the size of beans streaming from her narrow eyes.

"You useless trash, you hit me!"

The Goblins froze. They had never expected the human to react so quickly.

They had thought no one had noticed them.

But the Goblins' failure did nothing to ease Tang Qi's urgency.

He was a bard, not someone known for his strength.

The only reason he could hold a blade in one hand and lift Babaya with the other was because the old Goblin was short and her withered body had barely any flesh on it.

But the solid, heavy strikes from four Goblins shifted Babaya's center of gravity.

As a result, he could no longer keep a firm grip on the back of her neck.

She slipped from his hand and fell to the ground!

"Damn it!"

Tang Qi did not dare delay. He hurried forward to seize their only "bargaining chip."

But the four Goblins pressed their advantage, swinging Blade Light once more at Tang Qi's forehead.

"Rua!"

Kuru waved his wand and fired an ice crystal into one Goblin's forehead. Frost stiffened him, making his curved blade utterly harmless.

Following Alertness, Tang Qi sensed where the other three Goblins' strikes would land and deflected their attacks.

He did not counterattack.

Instead, risking another attack from the three Goblins, he tried to pass through them and rush straight toward the fallen Babaya—

But the three Goblins had already bought her a brief moment.

Ignoring the bleeding wounds on her body, she stubbornly grasped the pendant before her neck, the one granted by the Sovereign.

The warlock uttered harsh, chaotic profanities between her lips and teeth, like mosquitoes and flies buzzing around one's ears.

A dim, sinister light burst forth, linking her pendant to her fingers.

"Magic Blast!"

In that instant, Alertness sounded.

The approaching danger made Tang Qi shudder from head to toe—

In an instant, the surrounding cheers, the Goblins' shrieks, the Kobolds' worried cries...

every sound seemed to turn into dull white noise, gradually falling silent.

Tang Qi suddenly realized that his vision had become extraordinarily sharp.

So sharp that he could see the trajectories of two invisible columns of repulsive force, warping the firelight, white mist, and air in their path.

They were like two sharp swords.

Piercing through everything in their path.

Until they reached his chest, his heart.

Tang Qi had already experienced the power of that repulsive force.

Just being grazed across his waist and abdomen had been enough to blast the water out of him with difficulty.

This frail body could not withstand its successive bombardments.

Dodge.

His mind had never been clearer.

It was the only choice he had.

Move, dodge.

He tried to move his legs.

Only to find that they seemed trapped in sinking mud, heavy and powerless.

They held him firmly in place, leaving him unable to move.

Move the fuck out of the way!

Tang Qi roared inwardly, but his legs, sinking into the mire, had already grown roots and embedded themselves deep in the ground.

No matter how he called to them, they would not budge.

The chill down his spine made Tang Qi realize why—

[Alertness] had heightened his perception of danger.

It was equivalent to infinitely stretching the distance his reflex nerves needed to travel within a fixed span of time.

It left his brain in an illusion almost like "Bullet Time."

But his body was too weak to keep up with the signals from his nerves.

Thus, he had fallen into this state where thought and flesh were almost completely separated—

Nothing in this world could offer the best of both worlds.

[Alertness] could help him avoid dangers he had time to react to.

But it also made the terror he could not escape unforgettable to the bone.

That invisible repulsive force arrived in an instant.

It let Tang Qi touch death.

Yet there was nothing he could do.

Bang, bang!!!

Two explosive booms tore through the air, like thunder accumulated among storm clouds!

Tang Qi was sent flying backward.

His hearing gradually cleared, his vision dimmed, and his chest grew heavy...

When he hit the ground, he felt as though he could no longer breathe.

But this was not what death was supposed to feel like.

It was the suffocating pressure of a heavy object crushing his chest.

Tang Qi opened his eyes blankly and felt around the heavy object in front of him.

Slick, damp warmth seeped onto his fingertips.

A dense stench of blood flooded his nostrils—

This was a person!?

Cough, cough! Cough, cough!

Black Snake, whose back had suffered a heavy blow, felt a sweet metallic taste surge up his throat and spat clotted blood onto Tang Qi's shoulder.

Tang Qi had not expected that the one who saved him at the last moment would still be this mercenary.

But he understood even less.

Why had Black Snake been willing to suffer injury just to save him with everything he had?

"You—why!?"

"Cut the crap. If you die, how the fuck am I supposed to get back to town?"

Black Snake panted heavily, and even his cursing sounded weak.

Star Plum Town... was it really that important to this mercenary?

"Save it until we're out of here! Help me the fuck up first. We still have to fight our way out."

This was absolutely not the time for pointless talk—

Babaya once again gripped the pendant on her chest.

Filthy words were about to spill from between her teeth:

"[Mana]—"

Before she could finish the chant.

A heavy punch suddenly smashed into her cheek.

The punch carried tremendous force. The skin on her cheek trembled from the gust it created, and her cheekbone immediately caved in.

The old Goblin was blasted into the crowd of watching Beastfolk. They scattered aside, allowing the prophet to carve a deep furrow through the damp soil.

She could not withstand such overwhelming force. Her eyes rolled back, foam spilled from her mouth, and she passed out on the spot.

"Uha!?"

The Beastfolk were also stunned by that sudden punch and turned to look at the leader who had thrown it—

Shivana spat coldly and drove the Great Axe in her hand viciously into the ground.

"I'm not fucking done fighting yet! What are you butting in for, you old hag!?"

The tribe's duels were sacred.

Before a victor had been decided, anyone who interfered in the fight, regardless of status, would be considered disrespectful to the tribe.

Black Snake could still move. He had not surrendered. It was not over yet.

So Shivana had every reason to teach that old Goblin, who had irritated her from the start, a lesson.

As for that human...

Watching Black Snake, supported to his feet by Tang Qi, trying to stand perfectly straight.

Shivana could not help clenching her fists.

Honor told her that she should explain to her tribespeople that her victory had been unfair.

"For this position, for the tribe, I have to learn to suppress myself, to restrain myself..."

Shivana let out a long breath, then slammed a fist against her chest with a bang.

"You lost.

Our [Flame Roar] tribe has no place for the weak.

But some blind old fool interrupted this wager.

So—

Get the fuck out of here!

Go back and nurse your wounds.

Cling to your fear of [Flame Roar] and watch our iron hooves crush that little town—

I'll be waiting for you there.

When the time comes, we'll resume this unfinished duel!"

"Uha!!!"

Perhaps they had enjoyed the spectacle too much, or perhaps none of the Beastfolk wanted to defy Shivana's decision.

They only cheered, celebrating yet another victory.

Shivana, meanwhile, sighed.

Perhaps she really had grown up.

She could now tell shameless lies without changing her expression, just like her father.

But no matter what, she would let this human go—

Since she had gained the reputation she wanted, she did not mind honoring this wager.

Besides, she did not want to recall the outcome of winning unfairly.

It gave her the strange feeling that although she had won the duel, she had lost everything.

Keeping him in the tribe would only make her feel irritated.

But one day, she would reclaim the dignity that belonged to her.

Before then, sparing him was not entirely unacceptable.

She would consider it...

Respect for the strong.

"Strength."

Was the creed of the [Flame Roar] tribe.

"Hu, ha!"

"Hu, ha!"

"Hu, ha!"

The Beastfolk opened a path through the forest for them.

Their battle cries beat like drums—both a celebration and a threat.

Before Shivana could change her mind halfway through, Tang Qi and Black Snake exchanged a look and strode forward with their heads held high—

They were also intimidating some of the Beastfolk, telling them that their injuries were nothing at all.

But after they took Kuru and passed beneath the forest leaves.

After they believed they had put some distance between themselves and those slow Sky Turtles.

Black Snake could finally no longer maintain his deliberate composure.

His mind grew increasingly dizzy, his vision gradually darkened, and weakness flooded his entire body.

Making him want to simply fall asleep.

Whether or not he would wake tomorrow.

He was gradually losing even the ability to feel pain.

His knees gave out, and he dropped to the ground.