At the moment, however, Ackster’s greatest interest in the beast ahead of him wasn’t its material worth. It was how it would help him train his skills and feed his rumbling stomach.
Ackster managed to sneak close enough to get a decent look at his sparring partner-to-be. And while he didn’t know the specific type of beast, it looked strong. He briefly considered looking for a more suitable target since he couldn’t tell how much stronger the bull-like beast was than him.
He shook his head slightly to clear it of any hesitation. He hadn’t had any trouble tossing his life into the air before. Why was he doubting himself now? He would make. There was no other option or alternative.
With that, he stopped hiding.
The skills he was going to aim for with this bull as his opponent were Fortify and Iron Wall. Neither of them were ambush or sneak-attack skills. He had just been careful with his approach so he could get a proper look at the beast before making a decision. In the first place, he wasn’t even sure he had succeeded with that, so there was no need to lurk around like a coward.
He stood up straight and started walking toward the bull, his every moment rustling the waist-high grass.
The bull looked in his direction as soon as Ackster stopped hiding, which confirmed Ackster’s guess that the bull had already spotted him. The bull turned its horned head in his direction and stared him down.
Ackster felt like the bull was smiling as it tilted its head forward slightly and angled its flat-tipped horns toward him. Unlike the sharp, pointy tips of most horns that he was familiar with, the bull’s horns looked like a pair of battering rams. They probably wouldn’t gut him or tear him apart the same way an ordinary pair of horns would. But if the bull were as strong as it looked and felt and rammed into him with those, Ackster probably wouldn’t be far from turning into mashed potatoes.
Unfortunately, even if he wanted to avoid the bull’s horned charge, Ackster didn’t have the luxury.
He could train Fortify in other ways as well since it was a more active overall burst of reinforcement of his entire body that focused on upping the effects of his Strength and Fortitude. It was just that since it did a lot to strengthen his body’s defenses, trying to acquire it by defending was more efficient.
Iron Wall, on the other hand, could only be acquired by defending, more specifically, by acting like an Iron Wall.
Iron Wall was the opposite of charge skills and turned the user into an immovable iron wall. With the skill, Ackster would become stronger and tankier as long as he remained in place. He would also have an easier time blocking or stopping charges and attacks. It came with the downside of being useless if he moved forward or lost his balance. But the positives more than made up for it.
Iron Wall would add another card Ackster could use in his battles, and he wouldn’t be stuck with charging headfirst into battle to try and gain the advantage. He could instead let his opponents charge into him and, as if they had hit an iron wall, injure themselves.
Naturally, the best way to acquire Iron Wall would be to try and do the same as what the skill would do without actually having the skill.
So, Ackster dug his feet into the ground, one leg behind his body, propping it up like a support pillar. He leaned forward slightly and put his hands up like a wrestler as he braced for the bull.
The bull snorted and scraped its hoof against the ground twice before moving forward. The beast’s hulking body accelerated with surprising speed and quickly crossed the distance between it and Ackster.
Ackster’s eyes narrowed, and he could feel Keen Senses sharpening his sight and helping him see through the darkness and keep track of the bull’s movements. Battlesight didn’t activate, but he didn’t need it to predict what was going to happen in only a matter of seconds.
Ackster didn’t blink, but even if he had, he would still have been able to track the bull’s charge through the tremors spreading through the ground and up his feet.
The bull lowered its head slightly to adjust its horns and line them up with Ackster’s torso.
‘Shit.’
The closer the bull got, the more vividly Ackster could sense its strength. He realized he might be in over his depth. But Clear Mind and Iron Will helped him keep his head cool and focused on what was in front of him, and he tensed his body to brace for impact. His toes stretched and clawed into the grassy ground to increase his grip. His leg muscles bulged and stretched the pants he wore under the training equipment taut.
He took a shallow breath and turned his torso and abdomen into a solid block of stone that would hopefully remain unmovable and unbending even in the face of the bull’s charge. He adjusted his hands and positioned them so they would receive the bull’s horns like a pair of baseball mitts. Except, instead of catching a pair of baseballs, he was catching a pair of cannonballs.
Ackster’s eyes were wide open as he stared down the bull in desperate stubbornness. He didn’t dare blink now that he was on the verge of collision.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Eventually, there was no longer any ground left for the bull to cross, and Ackster could see its wet and hairy nose flare as, with one last push of strength, it blasted into him.
The flat horns hit Ackster’s palms like a pair of freight trains, and he couldn’t even try to resist as his arms were pushed back before the bull’s horns crashed into his shoulders and sent him flying backward like a ragdoll.
The world turned into a kaleidoscope of grass, bull, stars, and the moons. But only for a few seconds before Ackster crashed into the ground and tumbled around. If he didn’t want to get dirt and grass in his eyes, he had to close them, so everything went black until he felt his body stop moving.
Ackster didn’t have time to laze around or dally, and he got up as soon as he stopped moving. He ignored the pain in his shoulders until he realized one of them was in a state he couldn’t ignore.
The pain of the dislocation wasn’t so bad, thanks to Pain Tolerance and the adrenaline rushing through his veins. However, the fact that he couldn’t move it properly was a problem, especially if he was going to try again. So, while looking up to see where the bull was and how far it had flung him, Ackster grabbed his dislocated shoulder with the arm that, while hurting, wasn’t as badly injured. He gritted his teeth.
He hadn’t dislocated or relocated his shoulder before or seen someone do it. But he could feel what was wrong and where his arm needed to go to return to its rightful place. He gripped his wrist tightly and, with an explosive jerk, popped his arm back in place.
Ackster grunted before swinging his arm around to see how bad it was. Fortunately, it was just a little stiff. It might be because of the adrenaline and the heat of the battle, but he couldn’t sense anything else wrong. But it could also be thanks to his skills and stats.
Ackster didn’t have any more time to leisurely ponder on the state of his shoulder as the bull was already charging at him. He was pretty sure he could see the bull’s eyes gleaming with a sadistic playfulness. It was a little like a child with a new bug to tear wings from.
It felt like the bull was just playing with him.
“I’ll show you why you don’t play with food, you fat cow.”
Ackster glared at the bull and reassumed his defensive stance.
The bull hadn’t flung him that far, but it was still enough for it to build up enough momentum and ram Ackster again. Ackster wasn’t sure whether trying again would lead to a different result. But it didn’t matter.
If he wanted to get Iron Wall in the shortest time possible, this was what he would have to do. Thankfully, he had met a beast more than willing to help him focus on his training. And if the bull had such a mean attitude as what Ackster could feel from it, he would probably get pretty far in his training. The only problem was that he didn’t have any real ways of fighting back against the bull.
He had his gauntlets, but the bull looked sturdy enough, and its hide resilient enough that ordinary attacks probably wouldn’t do much.
But that was a matter for later. First on Ackster’s agenda was acquiring Iron Wall and Fortify if possible.
So, when the bull tossed him back after another charge, Ackster wasn’t discouraged. He got back up without any trouble. He felt a couple of bruises begin to blossom in several places over his body, and his hands had taken a headstart on Nold’s secret technique since it seemed like he had broken a majority of the bones in them.
But with Strong Body, his increased Fortitude stat, Leather Skin, Resilience, and Stone Fists worked together to keep his body operative and ready for yet another charge. Strong Body was also doing its best to recover the scrapes, bruises, and fractures he incurred. It seemed like his hard work in harming himself and incurring as many injuries as possible had helped develop his Strong Body a little. Broken bones healed quickly enough that he didn’t have to think about it in the heat of battle, as long as the damage was slight enough.
Broken hands made it a little more difficult to receive the bull’s charge, but strangely enough, it helped him focus on the other parts of his body and make up for where his hands dragged him down.
Since his hands couldn’t take the impact, he had to use the rest of his body. But he wasn’t strong enough to receive the bull’s full power, even when he used his body and his hands were intact.
But he didn’t have to use his body.
Instead of trying to catch all of the bull’s charge with his physical strength alone, Ackster began trying to use his surroundings. He was still too weak to do it properly, and he could feel his body, muscles, spine, and knees buckle under the pressure. But he wasn’t tossed into the air as soon as the bull made contact.
Ackster grabbed the bull by the horns, and rather than trying to block its charge, he acted like a lightning rod for physical power. He channeled the bull’s charge into the ground below him. He bent down and leaned forward so that it was nigh impossible for the bull to topple or flip him backward.
He didn’t have enough grip with his feet to stop the bull still, so the bull plowed the ground with him until he hit a stone and fell over. But his slight success had him brimming with a crazed thrill.
Somehow, stopping a stampeding bull, or being capable of such a feat, was unexpectedly self-confident. And the closer he got to succeeding, the happier he was. So, even if it took tens or hundreds of tries, and no matter how many times he got thrown about and tackled by the bull, who was gradually becoming bored of Ackster, he didn’t give up.
His hands were a couple of bleeding messes, and he had dislocated both shoulders several times, which, without fully functioning hands, were difficult to relocate. It was even worse when both popped out of their joints at the same time. But he figured it out by jumping back and landing on one shoulder at a time to fix them.
Ackster hadn’t even realized how much time had passed until the sun’s light crawled its way up the horizon and gave the grass’ dye of grey nightly darkness a glossy green shine. The sudden realization of time also made Ackster acutely aware of how hungry and tired he was.
‘I need to end this.’
The bull was also panting heavier than it had done at first, but it wasn’t as tired as Ackster. It was, however, more than fed up enough with Ackster’s stubbornness. And it seemed like daybreak was a sign for it to begin wrapping things up now that it had had its fill.
Ackster realized that it was now or never. If he didn’t succeed this time, the bull wouldn’t wait for him to get back up. It would ram him again and again. It would run over him, trample him, and turn him into a tenderized piece of meat that would fall apart in its mouth if it decided to eat him.
He got in position again. As did the bull. One last time.