Chapter 283 Top 100 Part 4
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"?!"
'He…'
/BOOOM!/
Dale's heart exploded with heat, pumping blood and energy all throughout his body as he dashed forward.
His steps were heavy, leaving impact craters on the ground as he ran.
The injury in his arm did not matter to him anymore as right now he was going all in, his testosterone levels were pushed to their limits as his eyes turned red.
He wanted to defeat her on his own terms and not those of his Skill!
He knew how inferior he was and he knew it was arrogant to not make use of everything he had from the start, but be it pride or something else, Dale wanted to fight her with his strength, regardless if he considered the Reflection a part of himself or not.
/FIRE!/
His chest started to burn his shirt as a collum of fire sprouted from above his heart, his Mana circled as it gathered into a thin layer above his skin.
"Hupp!"
'I have yet to integrate most of what I've felt through the Reflection...'
'However, after having it "possess" me dozens of times already, the feeling of some Skills has already been engraved in my mind and body.'
'This by far the greatest reward from this trip to Babylon.'
'Even if I don't understand why these Skills happen the way they do and why they work, I can still do something as simple as this.'
'I didn't want to rely on the which I don't understand, but this isn't anything special.'
'From everything I've felt and learned, the Blast Chamber is a Vessel meant to amplify and magnify my own powers, to contain and explode my energy into unbelievable levels.'
'That's why… I don't need to hold back at all.'
/Shine…/
The tip of his spear flared with light.
/PIERCE!/
Dale plunged his spear in the Assassin's direction, uncaring if it hit her or not.
/BLAST!/
"Urg?!"
A wave-like wall of blueish energy was released from the spear's tip, carving a long trench on the ground as it ravaged everything in its path.
The girl barely managed to evade it by rolling to the side, quickly spotting that her left arm had been grazed by it.
/Fwoosh…/
"!!"
Dale gave her no time to breathe, appearing right in front of her with his spear raised as he dropped it down at her violently.
Just like the enemies he fought before, as he swung his spear around, a string of bluish energy remained, cutting through the air without discernment for friend or foe.
/CLANG!!/
/BOOOM!/
"GUAH!"
The girl raised her daggers, blocking his strike, but that proved to be a mistake as the strike contained more energy than she could handle, exploding directly above her as the ground beneath her cracked.
/Shuaa…/
It was this time that the girl's eyes sharpened as a tint of red stained her cloth mask.
Half of her body started to dissipate as she repeated right at Dale's side, slashing sharply at his sides!
For the first time since the fight started, she was using a lethal technique!
/GRAB!/
"?!"
"Heh… I'm quite the reckless person." Dale said out loud as he grabbed her dagger
Albeit his palm bleed, that didn't matter.
/S-Spark!/
As their energies collided, sparks were created
/PULL!/
/SMACK!/
Dale pulled her dagger, and she easily let go of it, using this opportunity to hit his face.
But he resisted, taking the blow straight to his nose.
Taking her by surprise he hit her stomach with the back end of the knife, sending her flying back violently.
/Spit!/
Dale spat some of the blood on his lips and cleared his nose of blood as well as he shook his head.
"Phew... Hupp!"
/CRACK!/
Dale held the knife with his two hands as he applied his strength to it, and immediately after, the knife broke into two parts he soon threw onto the sand.
'One down.'
/Dash!/
He ran after her, appearing right behind her with his spear raised.
Gathering at its edge was an unbelievably dangerous amount of energy...
"HAAA!"
/SWIPE!/
/SLASH!/
He swiped his spear diagonally, creating a blue wave of energy that cut through the arena, leaving a large gash behind in the sand and stone…
/Boom.../
The wave eventually hit the walls of the Arena a hundred or so meters away from them.
But the girl was unphased, vanishing right in front of him as she approached him, this time in another stance focused on her sole knife.
Several rings of greenish aura surrounded her limbs as she moved.
/Clang!/
/Fwoosh!/
She started by swinging her blade towards his neck, but he parried her blow by trusting his instincts and spinning his spear with his right hand, grabbing her arm with his armpit as he raised his left hand, delivering a punch to her face!
/Slash!/
/Bam!/
"Urg..."
But she didn't just take it, twisting her head as her eyes glowed green, leaving behind a trail of light as she moved.
Using her leg, she kicked at his side, causing him to loosen his grip on her which she then used to escape as she kicked his stomach to create distance.
"... Huff… Huff…"
Breathing a bit as he started to grow tired, Dale smiled widely as he looked at the girl.
"Huff… You're quite pretty." He said with a devious smile as he looked at her now-revealed face
"!!!!!"
'My mask… Don't tell me he did this…'
Exactly, all of his movements so far were only meant for this, to get her close to him so he could pull her mask out and take a look at her.
And what he saw was exactly what he expected, a girl, and not just any girl…
It was an extremely pretty one.
(Image?)
"You…?!"
/SMASH!/
Before she had the time to finish her sentence, Dale's fist was already right in front of her eyes.
He had enough appreciating her beauty.
/BOOOOOM!/
Evading his fist, she gently moved her hands across his arm, positioning them across his joints, ready to pop them.
/PUSH!/
/Cra… ck…/
"!"
But even though she used all of her strength and technique, Dale's muscles just bulged as his smile widened.
/ROAAARRR!/
As if his muscles were roaring, Dale's heart beat violently as he unleashed his Prime Origin, momentarily freezing her in place.
Because even if the intensity of his Origin had weakened due to his lowered Stats, it still burned as intensely as ever before!
Like standing in front of a massive beast, even a trained Assassin like her froze, not out of fear, but due to her brain thinking about how to act next.
An instinctive reaction that gave Dale enough time to hold her neck with his hand as he raised her right in the air.
"GHARR!"
She struggled in his grasp, but his physical strength was massive, and without a knife, there wasn't much she could do.
/CUT! SWIPE!/
She used her nails to try and dig through his flesh, but he had been given enough time to gather Mana around his skin, strengthening it just enough for her to be unable to do so.
Her training came in handling her own body with or without weapons, but she couldn't move very well in this position.
But it was far from over, she had a lot of energy left, and so did Dale.
/Fwoosh!/
"?!"
Dale raised his fist, aiming at her stomach!
She prepared to block it, ready to counterattack, but instead, Dale stopped, letting go of her.
Having let go of his hand, the only thing holding onto her was Dale himself, and by letting go of her...
This caused her to be in a very awkward position in the air as she looked at him in disbelief.
While she was in extreme surprise, Dale smiled.
In this slowed world where the two looked at each other, he took hold of her foot, and the moment he did so, she realized something rather harrowing…
That this was going to hurt.
/Lift… SLAM!!!/
Dale raised her high in the air, and like a bat, he crushed her against the ground.
/BOOOOOOOOOM!/
All of his Mana, Physical Strength, and Prime Origin were used in tandem to slam her onto the rocky ground, creating a massive explosion that rang across the entire Arena that lifted sand and rock fragments all the way to the ceiling and corners of the Colosseum.
/G-GASP!/
/Step…/
Taking a step closer to her as the dust settled, Dale looked at the gasping girl who now looked rather pitiful.
She kept taking quick gasps and it was clear she was in no position to defend herself.
He had won, making use of her own extreme knowledge and technique against her, making her expect something he never even wanted to do in the first place.
And now, he just needed to finish what he had started.
"You're incredible." Dale said out loud as he looked at her
/Gasp! Gasp!/
"... I imagine you're not actually Rank 90, are you? You must've lost a few matches on purpose to be here, because I don't believe this Rank represents your full power at all."
"However, there's something I want to know… What do you want from me?"
/Gasp!... Gasp!.../
She obviously could not reply, and even now her health continued to dwindle, her chest and back had likely been completely smashed and from the blood coming from her lips, nose, and the stains on the sand behind her head she may have ruptured her lungs as well.
The amount of pain she must be in is definitely no joke.
"... I've fought all kinds of creatures, from Humans to Devils."
"I know what it feels like to be in front of a being that wants to kill you, devour you, rip you apart." He said coldly as he looked at her eyes
"Gasp…"
"But I feel none of that from you. So tell me the truth, what do you want from me?"
/Inhale…/
"… Haa…"
With each following breath, she lost her strength, Dale didn't even know if she could even hear him.
As a HardCore player, she was no different from a real person, and it would be no surprise she was in a half-concussion state after the blow he gave her.
He could've been talking with air all this time as she slowly died from her injuries.
"... We'll have to continue our talk later." He said as he crouched next to her, holding her head as he pulled her closer to him
"...?"
Slightly surprised as her vision blurred, she looked at him, finding his gesture odd.
Somehow, this situation felt oddly…
[Ding]
"?"
At the verge of death, the girl received a notification, the only thing straight in her darkening vision
[Player DareDevil has sent you a friend Invite]
[Accept?]
"..."
The girl's eyes turned dark as her last breath escaped her lips.
[Ding]
[Player Proud Child has died]
/Din Din Din!/
[Champion of the Arena!]
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Notes
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m