Chapter 1098: Unexpected Loss

Chapter 1098: Unexpected Loss

Hannibal Cho felt conflicted about his opponent. He didn’t wish to look down on the man, but he couldn’t help thinking less of him, after analyzing the Chosen of Balder.

He had seen the man fight in the preliminaries. Although his physique was impressive, his technique was basic. There were some signs of a systematic skill, but his fighting style didn’t implement any principles or circulation techniques.

It felt like he was disparaging the man, though he simply tried to make an objective judgment. However, his verdict was, that his opponent relied mostly on this exotic power granted to him by some Idol or totem beast.

If it was like this, then he wouldn’t be much more than a very tough punching bag. It saddened the cultivator because he had been looking forward to hard fights, that would help him widen his horizon.

His eyes wandered once again over his opponent, as he readied himself for the fight, waiting for the lady with the loud voice to announce the start of the fight. Mathias Bartholomew only wore a pair of trousers. The bare chest was decorated by some tribal tattoos, and he displayed a beard of such girth, that nobody from the Cloud Continent could have copied.

“Let the fight, begin!” Umi gave the signal, and Bartholomew vanished from his sight for just a moment. Hannibal just managed to block the sudden attack with his forearms. A smile played around his lips. Fortunately, it seemed like he ended up underestimating his opponent.

A quick back-and-forth of punches and blocks forced Cho to focus on the battle at hand. Although his technique didn’t improve, the Chosen of Balder surely made sure not to show the full extent of his power during the preliminaries.

The cultivator had to admit, the man’s physical prowess was even slightly above his own, despite already using qi to reinforce his body. A certain light appeared in Hannibal Cho’s eyes. If things were like this, maybe he would be able to go all out for a little while.

...

As expected, the fight between the two hand-to-hand-to-foot combatants was a high-speed exchange of brutal punches. Although Seth himself had little interest in weaponless fighting skills, like the audience, he couldn’t help to be intrigued by the brutal and fat battle between two men, who had become human murder weapons.

At first, the fight was mostly silent, only the smacking of their slaps, punches, and kicks, echoed across the arena. Then it became faster, the staccato of meat being tenderized as the two combatants battled it out held the audience in suspense.

Mary wanted to see for himself, whether the cultivator was still in the mood to keep his word. Seth wouldn’t have blamed him if he wanted to leave after receiving such a brutal beating. The man was literally beaten to death in front of a live audience.

“So, what did he say?” the blacksmith asked curiously.

“What did he say? He simply laughed. This guy actually thanked me for the chance to experience such a death and went on to babble about some kind of closed-door training...” Mary complained tired. “I allowed him to stay in the room in the arena for now, but I don’t know if he is still in the right state of mind...”

“Hoho, my guess would be that the little friend had an enlightenment during the fight,” Master Mountain commented on Mary’s report.

“He definitely saw a lot of lights in that fight with the Chosen of a God of Light, but what does have to do with his mental state?” Fin asked half-jokingly. Yu smiled amused.

“Us cultivators rely on the understanding of our techniques. We grow through experience and knowledge, but sometimes we get stuck at things we can’t wrap our head around. A good rattling, like the one he experienced, can get these thoughts unstuck. I believe, once he sorted his thoughts and comes back out, he will be a lot stronger than before,” Master Mountain gave a short lecture, ignoring whether Fin made a joke, or genuinely asked.

Of course, the others had also listened in on their conversation. Some were left with thoughtful expressions when Yu ended his explanation. It was good that their ally would grow stronger, but on the other hand, it was concerning that cultivators had the potential for sudden power-ups. That was different from the temporary improvement they had seen so far.

“Don’t worry, it’s not that common to have an enlightenment. It is a rare chance, often only attained in a life-or-death battle at the brink of destruction,” Yu tried to calm them down, seeing their concerned faces.

“So, you are saying there is always a chance that a really tough opponent has a sudden burst of power just before we can defeat them?” Seth asked mischievously. He understood what Yu was trying to do, but he couldn’t help rain on his parade.

“I didn’t mean it like that!” Yu said hurriedly, but he realized the blacksmith was just joking with him when everyone around started chuckling. As tough opponent suddenly becoming stronger just before their imminent demise? It stopped being something unusual to them. Especially Dungeon bosses loved to pull such stunts.

They talked a little longer about the enlightenment of cultivators before the break finally ended. It was time to draw the pairings for the second round.