The Pummel

Night fell, and Sett waited in a room. There were three kinds of monsters in the town: the Shadow Cat, which had the advantage in speed; the Iron-Bristled Wild Boar, which had high defense; and the Tiger Mastiff, which was fast and strong.

Sett heard snuffling outside. It was probably an Iron-Bristled Wild Boar.

He steadied his breathing and kicked the door off its hinges. At the noise, the Iron-Bristled Wild Boar outside immediately turned toward him.

The Iron-Bristled Wild Boar stared at the human warrior, whose fists were wrapped and whose combat suit bulged with muscle. It let out a low growl, then charged, its thick hooves pounding the concrete and kicking up dust. It barreled toward Sett like an out-of-control truck.

"Now you're talking!" Sett shouted, charging toward the Iron-Bristled Wild Boar.

Just as they were about to collide, Sett darted aside and landed two punches on the boar's body.

The boar lurched sideways from the blows. Its charge was interrupted, and it lost its balance, tumbling to the ground.

"Come on, then!" Sett beckoned to it.

The Iron-Bristled Wild Boar got back up with a howl and charged again. Dust billowed behind it as it rushed forward. Just as its two sharp tusks were about to gore Sett, he calmly watched them approach, then darted aside and dodged its charge once more.

With a crash, the Iron-Bristled Wild Boar slammed into the room where Sett had just been resting. Sett hurried after it.

"Not so tough now that you can't run around, huh? My turn!" Sett said.

"Pummel!" Sett unleashed his Innate Secret Technique. A faint golden light shone from his fists, illuminating the dark room with a hazy glow. Then he pushed off the ground and charged at the boar.

The Iron-Bristled Wild Boar had just slammed into the wall and was still dazed. By the time it came to its senses, the human was already right in front of it. It hurriedly thrust its tusks at him.

Sett dodged the incoming tusks, then punched the Iron-Bristled Wild Boar in the head with his left hand. Its head jerked to the side, and Sett followed up with a punch to its jaw with his right.

Thud, thud! Sett's fists slammed into the Iron-Bristled Wild Boar's head twice. Pummel doubled Sett's strength outright, and each punch carried 8,000 kilograms of force.

The Iron-Bristled Wild Boar's skull cracked. Its eyes widened, and it dropped dead.

"Haha, that felt great! Pummel really is something." Seeing the boar's smashed head didn't disgust Sett at all. His fists were itching for another fight, and he wanted to find his next monster as soon as possible.

"The Martial Artists from Mingyue Residential Quarter said you shouldn't just charge at monsters blindly, but should target their weaknesses and kill them quickly. But the feeling of landing a solid punch suits me better." Sett cut off the Iron-Bristled Wild Boar's left ear and packed it in his backpack, thinking.

Heh, one down. The hunt begins!

Meow, meow.

"Hm? There's a Shadow Cat nearby." Sett had only taken two steps when he heard two meows. He followed the sound.

After rounding a corner, Sett spotted a half-meter-long cat wandering around. It heard him and darted toward him. When it was five meters away, it leaped and extended its front claws, which gleamed in the moonlight.

"Hmph! Pummel!" Sett raised his hand and punched the lunging Shadow Cat in the head.

With a thud, its head burst apart. Its body continued flying under its own momentum, landing several meters away.

"You little cat. You wouldn't let me pet you, and now you're getting handsy with me." Sett muttered to himself. After all, monsters that looked like cats were still cats. The Shadow Cat had mutated from a house cat, and aside from being bigger, it looked much the same.

With a slice, Sett cut off the Shadow Cat's left ear. "The more I fight, the itchier my fists get. Better hurry and find another one."

Minute by minute, brutal battles continued to erupt throughout Monster Town.

"Haha, this is great! Come at me together!" Sett shouted when he saw two Shadow Cats. The Shadow Cats weren't about to back down, and both attacked him.

The two Shadow Cats shrieked and pounced on Sett. They were fast, but their speed was only around 40 meters per second—nothing Sett couldn't handle. He dodged one with a quick sidestep, then punched the other to the ground.

The Shadow Cat he'd knocked down staggered back to its feet, while the other continued charging at Sett.

"I'll take care of you first." Sett silently invoked Pummel. His fist glowed gold as he punched the Shadow Cat in the body. It flew several meters, like a kite with its string cut, and crashed into a wall. Its legs twitched twice, then its head lolled to the side. It was dead.

"You're next." Sett looked at the Shadow Cat that had just gotten up. "You survived one punch? Then have another!"

The remaining Shadow Cat cried out and fought Sett.

A black shadow flew through the air, ending the battle.

"Woof, woof, woof!" Sett had just killed the two Shadow Cats when he heard a dog barking.

"Fine. I've run into Iron-Bristled Wild Boars and Shadow Cats. You're the only one left, Tiger Mastiff." Sett looked at the Tiger Mastiff.

The dog was covered in spots and had a body as large as a tiger's. From a distance, it looked very much like one, which was why it was called a Tiger Mastiff.

"Pummel!" Golden light shone from Sett's fists as he charged at the Tiger Mastiff. When it saw him coming, it whined twice, turned, and fled, disappearing around the corner.

By the time Sett reached the spot, the Tiger Mastiff was nowhere to be seen. It must have hidden somewhere. It seemed the monster had been frightened by Pummel. Sett wondered how often the technique's fear effect activated.

"Lucky you ran fast," Sett said.

He shook his head, thought no more of it, cut off the ears of the two Shadow Cats, and disappeared around the corner.

In an alley, a Tiger Mastiff was eating a Shadow Cat's corpse. The Shadow Cat had only just died, so it was still fresh, and the Tiger Mastiff had a hearty meal. For some reason, there were so many corpses to eat tonight.

The Tiger Mastiff was happily eating. It had never been full while caged by humans, but now that it had been let out, it could eat to its heart's content. Of course, with its limited intelligence, it had no idea what was going on.

Just as it was enjoying its meal, Sett jumped down from a rooftop six stories high and crushed the Tiger Mastiff beneath his foot. Then he rolled forward to absorb the impact.

"Lucky you. At least you died with a full stomach." Sett cut off the Tiger Mastiff's ear and left.

Whenever Sett couldn't find any monsters, he climbed onto a rooftop. In the faint moonlight, he could spot the monsters on the ground quite clearly.

Thanks to his physical conditioning, he could jump down several stories without a scratch. He used this method to kill monsters quickly.

"Number five. Usually, getting more than three is enough to qualify. Now I can really work on my knife skills." On a street beside Sett's, Luo Feng had just killed a Tiger Mastiff. He cut off its ear and thought to himself.

Sett relied on his Innate Secret Technique and charged straight ahead. There wasn't a monster he couldn't finish off with one punch. If there was, he just threw another. Under Pummel, monsters dropped dead one after another—either their heads were blown apart or their internal organs were pulverized.

Luo Feng, on the other hand, deliberately held back and fought the monsters to improve his movement and knife skills. After all, at the intermediate Warrior Level, Luo Feng could kill the monsters in Monster Town as easily as a grown man beating up a child. It was a piece of cake.

"Luo Feng, you're having this much trouble killing two monsters? Looks like that's all the Extreme Martial Arts Hall is good for." As Luo Feng fought two Tiger Mastiffs using only Beginner Warrior Level strength, the young man beside him sneered. He had a purple birthmark on his face. It was Wan Dong, the man who had previously made a bet with Sett and Luo Feng.

At the sound of his voice, Luo Feng's blades flashed twice like lightning. The two Tiger Mastiffs fell to the ground, twitched a few times, and went still.

"Hmph. Worry about yourself. Don't end up going home in your underwear tomorrow." Luo Feng cut off the two monsters' left ears and vanished without even looking at Wan Dong.

"Hmph! You two just wait. You'll be losing your money tomorrow." Wan Dong had seen how quickly Luo Feng had struck, but he wasn't worried. He carried the Ghost Moon Blade and strutted down the street, charging at every monster he saw and taking it down with two strikes.

Over a thousand Quasi-Martial Artists were killing monsters in Monster Town. Some were fighting monsters for the first time, panicked, and hurriedly pressed the distress button. Some were pale with fear but kept searching for their next target. Others were enjoying the slaughter, growing more and more excited.

"Number eighteen." Sett had just faced two Iron-Haired Porcupines at once. They were tough opponents, but they still died under his Pummel.