Knowledge Is Power

A metal-gauntleted fist whistled through the air and slammed into the Fairy Gentleman's phony smile.

Viscous green fluid splattered everywhere. The sheer physical force of the punch knocked its enormous body backward and sent its top hat flying.

The instant his fist struck the jelly shell, Wei Zhenzu felt a strange warmth surge up his arm and spread through his body.

His muscles seemed to spring to life all at once, and an inexplicable rush of excitement shot through his brain.

[Status gained: Elation (1 stack)]

"Yeah! Hit it on the left side of its face! Oh, wait, it doesn't seem to have a face. Then hit it in the stomach!"

Paimon excitedly waved her little fists from atop a distant barrel. She had also found a little colorful flag somewhere and was waving it furiously.

As a TETH Level Abnormality, the Fairy Gentleman was clearly not so easily dealt with.

Its hat knocked off, it let out a piercing shriek, furious at being hit.

The wings on its back beat wildly, and its bloated body burst into motion with unreasonable agility.

Then he swung his thick arms, bringing them down on Wei Zhenzu again and again amid splashes of highly corrosive saliva.

Wei Zhenzu raised the heavy codex to block, its metal cover repeatedly colliding with the fairy's arms.

He stepped back to absorb the force, then seized openings to counter with a barrage of heavy punches.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Heavy blows struck the Fairy Gentleman one after another, each hit making his blood boil a little hotter.

Two stacks, three, four... The more Wei Zhenzu fought, the more boundless strength he felt coursing through him, and his heavy punches came in an impenetrable flurry.

But when his fifth heavy punch struck its belly, the warmth of "Elation" suddenly changed.

Wei Zhenzu's head buzzed, his vision began to double, and his feet grew unsteady. His body swayed out of control.

[Elation reached 5 stacks and transformed into: Tipsy]

Damn, it's gone to my head.

But as we all knew, the Rodya personality overwritten onto him belonged to a thoroughly booze-crazed drunkard.

Rather than weakening his combat ability, the intense Tipsy state fully awakened this body's fighting instincts.

Wei Zhenzu's footwork grew strange. Swaying from side to side, he managed to perfectly evade the Fairy Gentleman's heavy combo.

Each counterattack carried a savage force that defied all convention. It was as though he had awakened the legendary "drunken fist," and his blows drove the Fairy Gentleman back again and again.

Just then, the Fairy Gentleman suddenly pulled away and stopped attacking.

Its mouth, stretched in a grin from ear to ear, moved. Smiling, it actually spoke, its voice raspy and strange. "Whew... I didn't expect to be able to drink so much."

A moment later, a short hiccup came from its bloated throat. "I'm a little... a little scared."

As the fairy spoke, it slowly raised the cup of "Fairy Wine" in its right hand, which it had never once put down, to its mouth.

"Ah! Um, is it going to sober up?" Paimon keenly sensed that something was wrong.

It has to stay drunk.

If I don't break that cup, or if I let the monster drink it, it'll recover health and gain a terrifying buff! I have to stop the fairy from tipping that cup into its mouth.

"Looking for a hangover cure? No chance!" Fueled by his Tipsy state, Wei Zhenzu raised the metal codex, heavier than a brick, in both hands and leaped high into the air.

He put his full weight behind the codex and, using the force of his descent, unleashed his second skill.

[Weight of Knowledge].

"The ignorant are the least free, because... uh, how did the rest go again?!"

Though he stumbled over his battle line, even sounding a little innocently foolish, it did nothing to diminish the force of the codex's fall.

Boom!

The heavy codex instantly smashed the cup of Fairy Wine to pieces, and the tremendous impact also slammed into the Fairy Gentleman's arm.

Green wine and bits of its body burst across the alley. Its left arm was smashed to pieces on the spot, and it immediately entered a weakened state.

With its cup destroyed, the Fairy Gentleman flew into a complete frenzy.

Looking at Wei Zhenzu, reeking of alcohol and swaying in his "Tipsy" state, it suddenly stretched the gaping maw on its belly to an exaggerated size.

[I'll Eat This!]

Its enormous green body swooped down on him with tremendous pressure.

Unable to steady himself immediately in his "Tipsy" state, Wei Zhenzu had no way to dodge. The Fairy Gentleman swallowed him and his codex in one bite, straight into its sticky belly.

"Liangzi-!" The little flag fell from Paimon's hand, and she let out a frightened, shrill cry, spinning anxiously in midair.

But before the Fairy Gentleman could swallow him down, its bloated body suddenly froze in place.

Then its belly began to churn and twist violently, muffled blows sounding from within.

Forcibly swallowing South Section Rodya, who had an extremely high resistance-to-blunt-damage stat, sent the Fairy Gentleman straight into an agonizing [Stagger] state. Green foam kept spilling from the corners of its mouth.

"While you're down, I'll finish you off."

With a muffled roar, the Fairy Gentleman's belly suddenly bulged outward.

A metal-gauntleted fist tore straight through the green jelly shell from within.

Wei Zhenzu forced his way out through the hole in the monster, giving it no chance to catch its breath. He seized the Fairy Gentleman's battered, staggered body in both hands.

[Painful Enlightenment]

Wei Zhenzu drove upward from his waist, the muscles in his arms bulging as he violently hoisted the monster, more than a size larger than himself, over his head.

He let out a battle cry and, with a textbook shoulder throw, slammed the Fairy Gentleman into the bluestone pavement.

Bang!

The ground trembled violently, and the bluestone slabs split with a web of cracks.

Crushed by the sheer violence of the throw, the Fairy Gentleman's green body finally gave way. It burst apart completely, turning into a pool of green, alcohol-scented foam that dissipated into the air.

The battle was over.

He dusted off his hands and took a deep breath. Rodya's voice sounded in his head:

"Whew, so that means I haven't fallen behind in my studies, right? Yeah!"

The black coat on Wei Zhenzu's body and the codex in his hand dissolved into points of light and vanished.