'No mercy. Let's crush them as quickly as I can,' Lone thought coldly as he lowered his body and waited for the Wolfkin to make the first move.
Thankfully, he didn't have to wait for very long. With practised movements, the Wolfkin ran towards Lone in a graceful manner that looked almost like he was performing some sort of dance.
"Too slow," Lone whispered, and like a flash, he disappeared.
"W-What?" the Wolfkin man asked with confusion when he noticed that he was now lying on his back with Lone crouched over him. A sharp tail was pressed roughly against his neck. He had absolutely no idea what had happened to him. 'How the hell did I end up on the floor?! How can a D-Ranker move so fast?!!'
"Weakling," Lone said out loud, however, it didn't seem like he was saying that to the man lying beneath him. He turned his head to look at the three other Wolfkin, all of whom were unsure of what had just transpired. "Next," he ordered.
'To think that a beastkin could use their tails like that... not only did he trip Relton with one of his tails, but he repositioned himself with a few others and he still had room to spare to pin one against his neck... ' the Leader of the Wolfkin thought to himself in shock.
He stared at Lone who seemed emotionless and cold, different to his hot-blooded and somewhat aloof attitude from earlier. 'Certainly... nine-tails and a bunch of awakenings... is the difference between talent and hard work? How many years have I trained in hopes to get only half as intimidating as him?' the leader of the Wolfkin wondered as he watched one of his other companions enter the ring.
This Wolfkin was slightly stronger than the last and specialised in frontal assaults, so the Leader was hoping that perhaps, this companion of his, could prove to be somewhat of a challenge to Lone since it was widely acknowledged that melee fighters were stronger than rogueish, speed-based ones, in a one-on-one scuffle, though he avoided getting his hopes up.
"I look forward to a good fight," the Wolfkin said to Lone before he slightly lowered his body and put his arms up and a defensive manner.
'Weak,' Lone thought about his opponent. He slowly nodded his head and again, much like the first fight, it was over before anyone could even blink.
"I-I FORFEIT!" the Wolfkin yelled as he struggled to breathe. Lone was holding the man up with a stranglehold using one of his tails as four others constrained the Wolfkin's limbs. Two more were pointing straight at the warrior's eyes, mere millimeters away from piercing them.
"Hey, Foxkin," the Leader called loudly. "Are you really a D-Ranker? You move as quickly as a B-Ranker, heck, maybe even as fast as an A-Ranker. Surely your awakenings can't create this big of a gap between my friends and you. I'm not really the proper judge. Are you hiding your true power?" he asked with suspicion in his voice as he watched his friend scramble out of the fighting ring.
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'Heh, so it wasn't that they were unaware of my awakenings, but it might be more common than I first thought?' Lone was interested in this and he added it to the list of things to ask Lossa, the Crimson Foxkin Clan's Elder.
Lone leisurely scanned his eyes over the growing crowd. "I guess? I mean, I'm holding back a lot, but I genuinely am a D-Ranker if that's what you're asking. Now, I can see where this is going to go, everyone, please, step into the ring now if you wish to fight me. I'll take you all on at the same time. If you lot so much as manage to scratch me, I'll give you all a thousand gold. What do you say?" Lone asked with a prideful tone.
'All of my worrying in the Dungeon was pointless. I am powerful. I am a genius. Who gives a fuck if these talents weren't originally mine? They're mine now and I'll be the strongest being to ever exist! I'll get strong enough to protect what I care about, and to be able to dominate all who oppose me! Maybe I'll even found a Kingdom, heh, who knows?' Lone declared internally with a slightly juvenile mood.
The Wolfkin leader spat on the floor and looked at Lone a bit hatefully. "Hey, buddy, if you can excuse my behaviour with your lady friends, I've been nothing but nice to you, and you have no right to look down on a C-Ranker like me when you're just a D-Ranker. I gave you face since I was in the wrong, but you've crossed the line," he claimed with spite. The crowd murmured and agreed with him.
It was a well-established rule amongst Adventurers that you respected those who stronger than you. Not to the point of worship, but showing at least a certain level of acknowledgement for the struggles and hardships they had gone through to get to the point they were at.
"Stop growling, you mutt, and get up here to fight me. Show me what you're worth," Lone said harshly while he bared his canines provocatively. Clearly, his hatred for Wolfkin was influencing his actions and words somewhat.
"Fine," the leader answered with a sharp tone.
He then jumped onto the ring with a powerful leap. "You'd best prepare yourself for a beating, buddy," the man growled.
"I doubt it, try your best though," Lone said with his arrogance on full display. 'Mmmmm, being in full control like this, it's nice. Clicker fucked with me too much. This is working surprisingly well as a stress reliever,' Lone added in thought.
"Heh, you'd best not underestimate me, you're just a stupid D-Ranker," the Wolfkin spat back before he lowered his body and suddenly, he grew in size and silver-grey hair sprouted out from his armour on his back and all over his face, making him look like a Werewolf.
"That's an interesting skill..." Lone muttered as he stared in fascination at the transformation.
Lone, in turn, created a pair of gloves from his multi-coloured bones. "You wanna use skills? I'll show you a few skills," Lone, after saying so, created a small ball of lightning and it happily flew around him. 'I've learned a lot in the Dungeon. Let's see if this dog's hide can withstand my lightning magic?' Lone thought in excitement.
The crowd was getting hyped up, especially after seeing Lone conjure up the lightning ball. Magic was a rare ability for anyone to have since activating one's Mana Brain and Mana Heart was exceedingly difficult to do and required talent.
Mere seconds later, the clash between the world's most unique Foxkin, and the World's most average C-Rank Wolfkin, began.