Chapter 361 Head To Head

The development of the second match of the third round was certainly as unexpected as it was interesting. The audience watched as a one-versus-two match transpired, followed by a beast tamer going out of control, and then followed by his teammate manifesting a portal from out of nowhere and going inside it.

A minute or so had already passed and yet the audience remained quiet as their gazes were fixated on the grand stage. They had no idea where Kim Jin Seok brought Link, and they were more than curious to know as to how he was beating Link up.

In retrospect, after such a performance like that, there's no way the audience would be pleased to see that both the winners disappeared after going inside a portal. The entire premise was interesting, at least, but the audience was more interested in a beating that they'd actually see, rather than a beating happening in a secluded area. As mentioned before, the audience, or rather a majority of them,  accepted the fact that Link really needed a beating. They wanted to watch the one-sided beating not because they were into pain, but because they wanted to see Link get the punishment he deserved.

Link may be a good guy, but his overall character when it comes to his beast taming fighting style... well, not a picometer of it was commendable.

"And that's the second match for this third round. We'll have a five-minute break before we announce the third match! I hope you all enjoyed that second round. It was cut short, but it was a surprising win for both Kim Jin Seok and Link." The commentator tried to sound as chirpy as he could, but the disappointment was still evident in the tone of his voice.

Claps were heard from the audience, but they were almost inaudible since not a lot of people clapped. Seeing the audience's negative reaction, the commentator turned towards Luke for ideas. He felt as if he had failed as a commentator just because of one negative response.

"Please look forward to the third match. I'm sure that it would be as predictable as the first and second matches. Also, we're going to do our best to  look for Kim Jin Seok and Link. Hopefully, we can find them before the end of the day...  and hopefully, the two of them are still fighting so we can include it in the rerun of the current live stream.

Upon saying that, Luke then stood up and got out of the booth where the commentator was stationed. He decided to go look for  Kim Jin Seok and Link in the meantime while they waited for the third match. There were plenty of locations where the two of them could've gone, but Luke knew that it would be easy for him to track them down.

After all, he's got plenty of experience when it comes to portals.  That's why tracing one end of the portal to its other end is just child's play for him. As soon as Kim Jin Seok and Link teleported out of the stadium, Luke was already hot on their trail, tracing the faint energy emanating from the closed portal and focusing on its other end where it was connected. It was just a split second but it was plenty of time for an expert like Luke. In that really short span of time, he managed to pinpoint their general location.

"I believe they are in the beast dimension. But why did they teleport all the way over there?" Luke asked himself, scratching his head as he too created a portal and teleported out of there.

...

"They went to the beast dimension, right?" Yun Zhe muttered. He didn't even need to trace the faint energy that the closed portal emitted. As soon as the dimensional portal was created, Yun Zhe instantly concluded that they were going to the beast dimension.

"Right," Satoshi answered without thinking. As someone who frequently uses portals, Satoshi could tell that that's where they were headed.

"I'm going over there, see what they're up to." Yun Zhe pointed out, jerking a thumb towards his back before he created a portal, thanks to a certain tamed beast of his.

Satoshi immediately realized that Yun Zhe was indirectly inviting him. He stood up and volunteered to go with him before he stepped inside the portal.

Needless to say, the beast dimension is nothing but tiny. Even though they concluded that Kim Jin Seok and Link went over there, they had no idea where exactly they spawned. That's why as soon as Yun Zhe and Satoshi got to the beast dimension, they started teleporting here and there, searching high and low for their presence.

It didn't take long before they found them, though, since Yun Zhe skillfully darted everywhere as if he knew the beast dimension like the back of his hand. Even Satoshi was speechless at his masterful display of teleportation.

As it turned out, Kim Jin Seok and Link teleported right in the middle of a rocky barren land. Kim Jin Seok stood on one side, his one hand transformed into a huge gauntlet that looked like a monster's claw. As for Link, he was still in his Trinity Beast Integration. His back was hunched as his head leaned sideways, showing his deranged nature as his uncontrollable side got the better of him.

"I won the match while you sat there doing nothing. I have the right to call you a coward." Link said in a low voice before vines came out of his fingertips. He aimed at Kim Jin Seok's blind spots while he charged at him.

With his giant claws, Kim Jin Seok easily tore through the vines before delivering a decent punch right at Link's solar plexus, sending him flying.

Link was unfazed by the attack, however, and he did a somersault before flapping his wings in the air. Extending his hands, Link started shooting a flurry of dark leaves toward Kim Jin Seok.

At first, Kim Jin Seok assumed that Link was using razor leaves or something along those lines. That's why he opted to dodge the dark leaves. As soon as one of the dark leaves got into close proximity, it exploded. Despite their small size, the dark leaves actually packed a decent punch.

It was evident from Kim Jin Seok's expression that the dark leaves did some significant damage. He didn't come out of the attack unscathed. Once the onslaught was over, Kim Jin Seok was left holding his side which took one of the many explosions caused by the dark leaves. Blood escaped his mouth as he coughed.

"You can't even defend against my attack. You really are a useless coward." Link smirked.

"Y-you!"

...

Meanwhile, Luke Skyrunner himself teleported to the beast dimension in hopes that he'd be able to witness a legendary fight between Kim Jin Seok and Link. He was fairly certain that the two of them would be evenly matched since their performance during the second round could be compared to each other.

When he finally caught sight of them, however, he was surprised that Kim Jin Seok was pretty beat up. Even with his superior abilities and formidable tamed beasts, Kim Jin Seok was losing against Link who was currently running amok. Somehow, Link's erratic movements and total disregard for his life were what gave him the advantage against such a careful fighter as Kim Jin Seok.

"If only he could harness such fearsome power. He'd be a pretty intimidating beast tamer." Luke said to himself, pulling out his phone as he recorded the fight. Not only did he record the fight from one angle, but rather, he made full use of his portal creation and teleportation skills to record the fight from different angles. It would be a fine addition to the video that they're going to post on youtube as soon as the Official Beast Tournament was over.

Just as he teleported to a certain hidden side of the area, he realized that there were two more people present. He immediately recognized them as Satoshi and Yun Zhe— both were top candidates to be the finalists, that's why Luke recognized them right away.

"What are you two doing here?" Luke couldn't help but ask as he joined them on their spot behind a huge boulder.

"Ah, it's just Luke." Yun Zhe brushed off his presence as if he was a nobody. "We just happened to come here since we figured the two of them would be bashing their heads together here."

"That's a rude greeting, as expected of a certain someone's disciple," Luke said, sitting beside Satoshi.

"As if, your manager couldn't even hope to beat mine. The only reason why he's ranked higher was because of his looks." Yun Zhe continued.

"Eh?!" Satoshi commented. It seemed like there was some sort of bad blood between the two.

"Heh, that's rich coming from someone who never had the looks in the first place." Luke returned.

"Well then... why don't we go at it, right now? Let's see who's the better disciple?" Yun Zhe challenged before calling out his two tiger partners.