Like two ferocious predators that met in the jungle, the two individuals circle each other warily with their bodies riddled with wounds. Their eyes are fixated on one objective in mind. Both have their own motivations, and their backs are against the wall.
One is fighting for his reputation while the other fights for his kingdom.
Due to the deal agreed between King Samobas and Rex, Flunra now has a heavy burden on his back. If he loses this fight then he would put Rex's reputation to shame and he also failed to prove himself worthy of Rex's trust and the power he has been given.
As for King Samobas, he's fighting for the fate of the entire Tigermen Kingdom.
But despite the heavy burden on his back in commencing this high-stakes battle, he was not stepping out of his comfort zone. Reigning the land as its King, the fate of the entire kingdom is always on his shoulder and this is no new feat.
In spite of the high-stakes battle, there is no fear inside their eyes.
Only the heightened senses of things from the blowing wind mixed with the stench of iron and blood, the pacing heartbeat due to the damages their bodies suffered, and also the sound of battles that are decorating the background.
While looking at the two, Rex can feel the tension that keeps rising with each passing second.
The tension reaches its highest when the both of them stopped circling each other and went back to their battle stances, their bodies are unmoving like a statue, and even their breaths become rough in expecting the start of the battle.
Rex gave Flunra the benefit of a doubt, he gambled and trust Flunra with this fight.
Just then a sound of an explosion from the side reverberated into their ears, Flunra and King Samobas' attention was instinctively pulled to the direction of the explosion. It came from the battle in front of the capital city.
A Tigermen did it, and that act knocked dozens of Dark Elves and Dwarves into the air.
Reckoning the fact that the battle will start to be one-sided the more it keeps on going, Flunra lets out a mighty roar as a sign of the start of the battle. Flaring his claws, he dashes straight at King Samobas with determined eyes.
King Samobas also reply with a roar as he too lunges forward fiercely.
Bam!
Slash!
Both of their clashes come to a halt when both of them got attacked at the same time. Flunra got punched in the face that turned his face to the side forcefully, a shockwave was created from the impact showing the power behind that punch.
On the other hand, King Samobas got slashed on the face leaving four claw marks across his eye.
Despite the similarities in their race nature, the distinct backgrounds and fighting styles were clearly shown. One focuses more on martial art while the other is tapped onto their animalistic side, but there's one thing they have in common.
Inside their eyes there was a fire blazing brightly, they even smiled in response to the attack.
From the exchange, it's clear that another part of them was happy to meet a worthy adversary. It didn't take long for them to exchange blow after blow, they were relentless with their attacks despite the current state of their bodies.
At the point of exhaustion, they are basically forcing their bodies to move right now.
Both of their attacks were only able to knock the opposing side a couple of steps back, their power was greatly toned down after fighting through the night until now. If it were last night, each of their attacks would be destructive to them and the landscape.
Even though that is the case, their attacks can easily kill a seventh-rank realm creature.
Once again their adrenaline kicked in which fueled their bodies with the energy needed to move for this extremely high-stakes battle, the slashes, punches, bites, and stabs were all powerful and left a fresh nasty wound on them.
Rex needed to jump back a little to give them some distance.
If he stayed there then he would be interfering with the fight that looks more like a brawl.
Just as he did that the ground behind him curved into a mound, but Rex didn't move on his spot with his arms crossed in front of him. Soon enough a strand of energy comes out from the mound before it materializes into the Dwarves that leads Rex to this place.
This ability is a means of transportation for the Dwarves, it's quite unique only to them.
When he managed to sense Flunra's presence Rex immediately hasten his pace to reach the place leaving the Dwarves that are leading him. The Dwarves try their best to catch up, but only now had they managed to arrive at this place.
Upon gaining back their physical forms, the Dwarves saw the fight happening in front of them.
But their eyes quickly shifted from the fight between Flunra and King Samobas to the battle near the capital city in the far distance, the Tigermen were dominating the fight and the Dark Elves and Dwarves are being pushed back.
"A-Aren't you going to help them...?" Mofous asked while watching the fight unfold.
Rex shrugs his shoulders with his eyes still glued onto the fight between Flunra and King Samobas, "I made a deal with Samobas, the battle between them will determine who will be victorious today" he replied nonchalantly.
"W-What?" Mofous was at a loss for words, he started to feel angry when he heard this.
One of the Dwarves behind him then exclaimed, "Our people are dying down there, we should help him to minimize the casualties of this battle. If this keeps on going, even if we did win the cost would be too much to bear"
"I agree with him, please help them. We must help them!" another added.
Snapping out of his daze Mofous also nodded his head firmly, "If the fight between Sir Flunra and King Samobas will determine the victor, then why not stop the fight between the two armies? With your power, you can stop them with a flick of your finger!"
But upon hearing this, Rex slowly turned his face toward Mofous.
Rex's expression was cold and there was even a slight frown that indicates his clear annoyance at what the Dwarves are saying, he looked at them for a good ten seconds in silence, and his stare makes the Dwarves shut their mouths.
In times of crisis, they forgot who they are talking to for a brief moment.
"For the respect of the Dark Elves and the Oath Pact, I risked one of my few pack members to help in this fight. Is that not enough, compared to you I think I risked way more" Rex replied with a cold tone.
Upon hearing that cold tone, the Dwarves unconsciously halted their breaths.
Turning his towering body to face the Dwarves, his eyes glowed red as he continues, "Don't talk like this battle and the casualties are my fault, this is your decision. I never insinuate the Oath Pact myself, your kingdom decides to agree with the Oath Pact. Coming to that decision, you also accept the fact that there will be sacrifices"
At the end of the day, this battle was done to keep the secrecy of the Oath Pact.
It's true that he can stop the battle if he really wanted to, but Rex doesn't like the way the Dwarves demand it of him as if he was their underlings. On top of that, casualties are imminent in war so they shouldn't have reacted like this.
Squinting his eyes at the silent Dwarves, he then said, "Just sit there and watch"
"Watch as my trusted pack member win this battle for you" Rex added before he turns around to watch the battle once again, leaving the Dwarves in complete silence. It's true that they overreacted, this is war and death is common.
Crack!
Roar!
King Samobas roared when he got bitten on his collarbone by Flunra.
Due to his swiftness and battle instinct, Flunra finds it hard to hit King Samobas that is already alert, he can only manage to reach him after sustaining many counter-attacks that he powers through. Many parts of him already bleeding profusely.
Although that is the case, each of Flunra's attacks that landed inflicted grievous injuries.
Since he has become the Paragon of Primordial Werewolf, his claws also become way sharper than before, even sharper than King Samobas. In terms of strength, he also won against King Samobas but everything else was not in his favor.
Flunra is slowly being chipped down and weakened, and this bite is a desperate attempt from him.
But King Samobas didn't let him bite for long as he sent a perfect knee-uppercut to the jaw that forcefully makes Flunra lets go of the bite, he then twist his torso before sending a perfect roundhouse kick to the side of the face.
Bam!
Looking at Flunra that fell to the ground coughing blood, King Samobas becomes excited.
"This battle is over, I won!" he declared and lunges forward.
King Samobas jumped into the air with victory in a sigh, his hand moved swiftly as he takes out a long and curvy dagger that came out of nowhere. It glistens under the sunlight, and Rex and the Dwarves instantly frown when they saw this.
"Silver! It's a Silver Dagger!" One of the Dwarves exclaimed.
Unlike the Werewolves, the Tigermen doesn't have any problem dealing with silver as they are not nocturnal creatures damned by holy beings. In that sense, they do not have a weakness against silver and are able to wield it perfectly fine.
Mofous and the other Dwarves that saw this widened their eyes, this is clearly bad for Flunra.
Everyone knows that Werewolves have a devastating weakness against silver, which is the only mineral that can really hurt them aside from White Rye. So seeing that King Samobas wield a silver dagger made them quite alert.
Stab!
"Rarrgh!" Flunra grunted when his chest got stabbed by the silver dagger.
King Samobas feel exhilaration filling his entire body while the Dwarves feel their blood runs cold, they all know that this is game over for Flunra. With a silver stabbed into him, his power would be drained faster than a leaking bucket.
"It's over... King Samobas won this fight..." Mofous mutters in disbelief.
Upon hearing this King Samobas can't help but smile, he too already knows that he has won the fight fair and square. Winning against a Silverstar Pack member is a feat that he can boast about, "I've admired you, but this battle is won by me. It's a bad choice for you to fight me"
Mofous quickly looks at Rex in search of an answer, "What shall we do?"
But instead of the same worry as the other Dwarves are feeling right now, Rex watches this scene before a light smirk crept onto his face, "Keep watching..." he mutters silently, there's no hint of worry in his eyes.
Just then King Samobas frowned when his arm was grabbed by Flunra.
Slowly raising his face, King Samobas was surprised to see that Flunra is smirking devilishly. Looking at the silver dagger, King Samobas only finds a weak sizzle or steam coming out which shows that it was not as effective.
"H-How...? It's pure silver!" King Samobas exclaimed.
Flunra's smile grew even wider as he saw the terror in King Samobas' expression, "It seems you are mistaken, King Samobas. The moment you consider the Werewolves from the Silverstar Pack the same as other Werewolves is the moment you lose your chance of winning..."
Stab!
"HUAKHH!!"
Out of nowhere, King Samobas spat a disturbing amount of blood from his mouth.
Slowly looking down he can see his stomach being pierced completely by Flunra's claws, he was surprised to see this. "I'm the victor of this fight, the victor is already determined from the start. Werewolves of the Silverstar Pack doesn't lose, remember that..."