Next came the duel between the player and Alexander.
Cheers rose all around, but everyone was looking forward to this duel. It was just that the background music was too rousing.
Alexander: "Come on! Let me feel your strength!"
Alexander's attacks were unexpected. Besides Spinning and Alexander's Fist, he could actually retract into his jar and roll around, charging about like a human tank.
Every collision packed tremendous force. Getting hit was no joke. Occasionally, an Earthshaker Fist took out more than half the player's health bar, sending them scrambling to drink a healing flask.
But he had weaknesses too. As a Warrior Jar, Alexander's racial trait of stubby legs limited his walking speed. Under the player's shameless kiting tactics, Alexander kept taking a beating.
Nearly five minutes later, Alexander let out an exaggerated scream, and his round body crashed to the ground.
"Ohhh-!"
He lay on the ground with his limbs in the air, his jar body trembling slightly.
The player sheathed their sword and waited for the story to progress.
But nothing happened.
Alexander simply lay there, motionless.
Puzzled, the player looked around and spoke to Alexander. All they got were worthless remarks like, "Oh! That hurts! What a powerful attack!"
The only other NPC around they could speak to seemed to be Erlonmel, the referee.
The player approached him to talk.
Erlonmel seemed very impatient. "...Tch, why didn't you kill them? You're all the same."
"You want a bloodless duel? What kind of hero is that? Kill him and give him a warrior's glory!"
Options appeared on the screen:
[Refuse] [...]
The player chose [Refuse] without hesitation.
Erlonmel: "Boring mercy..."
"Fine, I'll do it myself."
The moment he finished speaking, a health bar appeared above his head.
[Erlonmel]
The player's heart tightened.
*Fuck,