Chapter 65: Duel

In reality, the most important factor for a successful plan was good leadership. 

No matter how much preparation or how big of an army one had, without proper leadership and chain of command its loss would be imminent if not guaranteed.

What was the point of fixing the gate if the orcs would later decide to just charge out to the enemy like before. Hence, there was no point in defending the fort with only the companions Tristan had right now. With the measly number of people he had, it was akin to throwing a small pebble into the vast ocean. 

Thus, when the female orc gave him the idea, Tristan confidently accepted it.

Right after, the situation quickly escalated. The orcs in the surroundings were fired up while the warchief who stood a few meters from Tristan eyed him with an intense gaze.

Tristan knew what one had to do when they challenged the leadership of an orc. It has nothing to do with democracy, It was all decided by the fists.

Tristan's companions and the dwarves were being sidelined and guarded by a few orcs so they wouldn't be able to help him. Meanwhile, all the remaining orcs of the camp formed a circle, creating an open area where Tristan and Ghral could face and fight each other to their heart's content.

The orc warchief Ghral roared, screaming out what sounded to be cursing words. Then he took off his armor, tore up the piece of fabric that covered his body, before proceeding to spit on both of his palms and turned them into fists.

His green-colored skin, massive frame, bulging muscles, and the roar earlier made him look intimidating, and his current appearance reminded Tristan of a certain character in a certain hero movie.

Tristan realized something from the warchief's demeanor and confirmed it with Karra. Apparently, this kind of battle was typically an unarmed one, but he was allowed to use a weapon if he was afraid he would lose.

This setting surely made things more difficult for Tristan, but he wasn't afraid. He took off his upper clothes and followed the chief's example by also spitting on his palms.

Tristan's action unexpectedly made the orcs agitated as their excited cheers resounded through the air. Karra then stepped aside from the arena, which marked the start of the duel.

[Orc, Warchief]

[Battle Power 128]

Tristan rechecked his opponent's battle power for assurance purposes. Seeing that he was 22 points higher than his opponent increased his confidence on facing the green bulk of muscle standing several meters away.

"This can't be too difficult, can it?" Tristan thought to himself as he took his stance.

At the same time, Ghral made his move. 

He dashed towards Tristan with his two arms opened, ready to give a 'warm hug' to start off the duel.

Seeing such a massive figure coming towards him, while his every step made the ground tremble violently, would surely make any sane human move out of the way; and dodging was just what Tristan did.

There was no way in hell that Tristan wished to wrestle against such monstrosity.

Swissshh! Swiissshh! Faint sounds of air being cut through were heard as Tristan swiftly sidestepped the charging figure.

The man definitely had a higher speed than the orc, and it would be stupid for him if he didn't take advantage of any edge he had over the latter.

Tristan perfectly dodged the charge as the orc's figure went past his vision. With his dominance in mobility, he would be fine as long as he didn't miss a step. Alas, Ghral was still not finished yet.

The charging orc miraculously stopped in his tracks, turned around, and did another round of dash towards Tristan. 

Seeing how impeccable the orc did his maneuver, Tristan realized that things would not change if he didn't do anything. Hence, he decided to go for the offense this time.

This time, the moment the orc slipped past him, Tristan threw his fist to the orc.

Bammm!!! A loud sound was heard as Tristan's blow directly landed itself onto Ghral's body, just right above his waist.

But to Tristan's surprise, he discovered that the orc warchief had such a thick and hard skin that his punch left no visible effect on it. Sure, the orc growled as a sign of pain, but he didn't think his punch earlier did much to the former.

When Ghral's two large hands once again tried to grab him who still in momentum due to the aftermath of the blow, Tristan swiftly made another maneuver. He circled around the massive body of the orc and arrived at the back of the creature.

Bammm!! Bammm!! Bammm!!

A train of heavy punches reached the orc's wide-open back, enough to make him growling and drop to his knee.

Tristan quickly pursued the lead as he sent a kick to the back of the orc warchief. But surprisingly, Ghral managed to predict his move even without looking.

The orc grabbed Tristan's feet that headed for his back, successfully locked it. He then leveraged it upwards, sending Tristan's body smashing to the ground.

Baaammm!!! 

The impact was so hard that it caused Tristan to bleed out of his mouth.

A stomp was coming from Ghral to finish the deed, but Tristan quickly used all the strength he could muster to rotate his body and jerk his leg to free himself from the orc's grasp. Immediately after, Tristan rolled away while quickly getting up to his feet again.

"What the fuck!? He's much stronger than I thought!" cursed Tristan as he eyed Ghral.

Tristan then tried to use a function of the system he once used and it succeeded

[Analyze target's body..]

[Battle Power 128]

[Strength 140]

[Speed 86]

[Defense 158]

From the stats the system showed to him, it was apparent that the main attribute of Ghral was his defense. Looking at the staggering 158 points, Tristan began to regret his decision not to use weapons.

With such a bulky and powerful defense, how could he defeat the monstrosity before him?

Tristan worked his brain to its utmost capacity while he continued to dodge Ghral's assault on him.

Dozens of dodges later, Tristan's mind somehow landed on a concept that he once learnt at school back on Earth, one that could possibly help him in this situation. Left without any other idea, he decided to carry out the plan in his mind. Otherwise, he had lost the duel.

When Ghral went to charge at him once again, this time, instead of purely dodging the speedy figure, Tristan went ahead and grabbed the orc's arm while also sending a kick towards his leg. He used the momentum and weight of the orc to send it to the ground. 

Afterwards, Tristan used his feet and two arms' strength to break the joint of the orc's arm he was holding.

Craackk! Crisp, crackling sound was heard, signifying that the deed was accomplished.

"That should do it!" Tristan thought as he backed away from the grimacing orc. He was scared that the latter would attack him in desperate fashion. Hence, he retreated.

The knocked down orc slowly got up, and Tristan could see one of his arms was dangling around, proof that it was broken.

Tristan smiled and wanted to do the deed again as he could see the plan was working. Alas, he was startled when Ghral suddenly roared his lung out and his muscles seemed to contract.

His eyes swiftly turned red as he shouted the orc words that the system translated as [Berserker Rage].

Ghral casually grabbed his broken arm with his other, and snapped it back to its initial place. Tristan was shocked to see the dangling lower part connected to the upper part as if nothing happened. And then, he realized that Ghral's battle power was slowly rising.

An incredulous thought popped into his mind.

"Dammit! Orcs have skills as well?!"