Yawn! Hawk rubbed his eyes and looked boredly at the fight in front of him. It had been more than twenty minutes since the two brutes started fighting, but neither of them seemed to be gaining an advantage over the other.
The bald brute was aggressive with his attacks as he backed his opponent into a corner several times, but the slippery mouse dodged most of them without taking any noticeable damage that would hinder his movement.
Even though the mouse seemed to be at a disadvantage in terms of physical strength and speed, he was able to keep up thanks to his quick reflexes and his ability to anticipate his opponent's next move and counter accordingly, just like now.
Like a gorilla with a tree trunk, Mike slammed the augmented hammer down on the ground, cracking it on impact, but as impressive as it was, it was useless as it missed the opponent. The mouse rolled across the floor, picked up a medium-sized rock, and smashed it against Mike's head. Mana moved out of Mike and formed a protective shield around him, shattering the rock upon impact.
The mouse clicked his tongue and backed away, picking up another rock. His breathing seemed steady now, and he didn't look like he was struggling in the fight, unlike at the beginning, when his movements were a bit awkward. The more time passed, the more relaxed he became and the more refined his movements became. It was as if he wasn't used to moving like this and was slowly adapting as the fight went on.
Hawk had to admit that the brute was strong for a rank 1 warrior, but because of his obvious repetitive attack methods, it made the opponent figure out his attack patterns, which allowed him to keep up without having to strengthen his body with mana. No, not just keep up, but as the battle progressed, he began to gain a slight advantage.
Even though he had augmented his body with mana, which improved his body's performance in every way, Mike was still at a disadvantage. The only reason he was still standing and not losing was because of the [Mana Shield] protecting him.
[Mana Shield] was a popular skill among hunters because it could save them at the most critical moment when they were caught off guard, but it wasn't an absolute defensive skill. In fact, if you understood how it worked, you would realize that it was more of a hindrance than a help.
To activate [Mana Shield], one had to circulate one's mana through the skill's rune. After absorbing the magic power, the rune would form a protective shield around the user, and the strength of the shield would depend on the amount of mana given to the rune. In other words, the defensive strength of the shield could be controlled at will.
At first, this might sound like a strong skill, but like many things in the world, it had its flaws. Ignoring its 20-second duration and nearly two-minute cooldown, just as the skill manipulated mana and turned it into a shield that prevented attacks from reaching the user, it also prevented the user from attacking before it was canceled.
This might not be a big deal against mindless monsters, but it would be a different story against humans. An intelligent being would quickly discover the flaw and use it to his advantage, which was why the Hunters' training had advised not to use the skill against humans unless necessary, but clearly, this brute had missed the lesson, and now the opponent had discovered the flaw.
***
"This is getting boring."
A voice interrupted Hawk's thoughts. Glancing aside, he saw that Marco had crossed his arms and was watching the fight with a disinterested expression.
"Yeah, it is," Hawk said.
At first, the fight was entertaining, especially because he was interested in the abilities of this mysterious intruder and what gave him the courage to enter the forbidden zone of the temple. It was a well-known rule in the city that no one could enter the forbidden zones without permission, and even hunters like them were subject to this rule. Anyone who violated this rule, no matter who they were, would be punished by death.
Since this mouse had dared to enter the forbidden zone without the temple's stigma, they had the right to do whatever they wanted with him; even killing him wasn't out of the question.
"Do you want me to finish this?" Hawk raised his bow and moved toward the battle in the distance. He was ready to fire the arrow as soon as he got permission.
"No, we need him alive."
But it seemed that his friend had other plans and decided to capture him instead.
"Why?" Hawk looked confused as to why his friend insisted on capturing the target instead of killing him. It would be more effective to just kill him, as it would reduce the hassle they would have to go through for the paperwork they would have to file after this mission.
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"We need someone to take the blame," Marco whispered.
Hawk's eyes widened as he heard his words. "I see. So that's your plan."
He understood what Marco was thinking. They were sent here on a mission to investigate this place after the patrol team discovered it but failed to get past the trap. But so far, they hadn't seen anything remarkable except for the arrow traps and the dead plants in this place. They couldn't just go back to the headquarters and tell them that they hadn't found anything. They would suspect them of stealing something valuable and trying to hide it, which wasn't new among the hunters.
But he and Marco couldn't afford such suspicion because they had their secret. But if they could bring this intruder and blame everything on him, they should be free of suspicion. As for the intruder's fate, it had nothing to do with him. As long as he and Marco were safe, he didn't care about anything else.
"Then why don't we just catch him instead of letting Mike fight? That would be a lot faster than this," Hawk said.
"Mike wanted to earn some metrics by capturing the intruder. And I also want to see his skills to see if he's good enough to join our team." Marco said.
There were two divisions in the Hunters Department. The first was the Patrol Division, which was responsible for investigating the forbidden zones and reporting any findings. They would mostly be looking for unexplored dungeons.
The second was the Assault Division. As the name suggests, their job was to kill the monsters after the patrol team reported back.
Although both divisions were under the same department, they didn't have the same position because the Assault Division had a higher status. And of course, the pay was better.
Mike, the bald brute, was in the Patrol Division, but now he wanted to be promoted and transferred to the Assault Division. To join the Assault Division, the hunter had to take a test under the supervision of an Assault team. That's why they were here—to investigate this dungeon and to supervise Mike's test.
"You have been observing and testing Mike all this time, so what do you think? Do you think he's good enough to join us?" Marco asked.
Hawk looked at him before turning his attention back to the fight. "You noticed, huh."
"Of course I did! Who do you think I am?" Marco said. "I've known you for years, and I know what kind of person you are. You wouldn't usually go out of your way to banter with someone you barely know, so you must have other motives for harassing Mike."
"I really can't hide anything from you." Hawk chuckled before saying. "You're right about me having motives. I was testing his character."
"And what did you find?" Marco asked.
"Hmm, he's a short-fuse muscle head brute with a narrowed vision that only focuses on what's in front of him and ignores the big picture," Hawk said without pausing before looking at Marco and smiling. "Exactly the kind we're looking for."
"So you don't think he would say anything even if he accidentally found out about us?"
"Hmm, well, I'm not 100 percent sure. Human behavior is unpredictable due to so many factors that it's impossible to accurately judge."
"You should know that there's no room for error; we can't afford to make a mistake in choosing our next team member. We're already under suspicion after the previous two mysteriously disappeared," Marco said.
"You don't have to tell me; I already know," Hawk said. "Don't worry, I'll take care of it myself."
Marco looked at him for a long time before shifting his attention back to the fight. "Alright, I'll leave the matter to you. Deal with it as you see fit."
They both fell into silence, watching the battle unfold before them. But after a while, Hawk scratched the back of his head and said, "The way I see it, this standoff could go on for a while.
"5 minutes," Marco said.
"Huh?"
"If the fight doesn't end in 5 minutes, I'll step in and end it myself."
"Oh, that is unusual. Are you that bored? Or were you frustrated that we didn't find anything valuable here and want to blow off some steam on the intruder?" Hawk said and looked at Marco.
Marco didn't say anything, but Hawk noticed him clenching his fists and couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the slippery mouse. He would suffer.