Both broadswords one covered in slick kobold blood and another pristine with a few nicks here and there, lifted into the air and flew back to Lord Yshavol and disappeared into thin air blood and all as the broadswords reached the vicinity of the dragonoid.
The dragonoid started
“The next challenger can step forward and declare their preferred method of combat.” Lord Yshavol eyes breamed with light and the smile on the dragonoid was practically ear to ear, the demise of one of its knight did nothing to diminish the enjoyment of the battle that happened just a few seconds ago. It waved its right hand, a few words escaped from its lips while it held its right hand towards the arena , large swathes of green liquid appeared in front of the dragonoid once the words it spoke were finished. The green liquid flew towards the arena expanding as it did so.
Riley,Brian and Aurelius all stepped back a few steps to avoid getting sprayed by the unknown green liquid as the green liquid grew large enough to cover the entire arena. It hovered above the arena shaking on the spot as if it could not decide whether to drop or continue floating, the dragonoid cut down with its right hand. The green liquid following the action of the dragonoid, dropped instantly on to the arena.
The trio watched as the green liquid met the floor of the arena with enough force to cause serious injury to any one of them, just as the liquid touched the arena all the force behind it seemed to dissipate as the liquid gently enveloped the arena. Everything within the touch of the liquid began repairing itself, the marks and damages caused by the heavy steps of Aurelius and the first kobold knight was being restored at such a rapid pace that their naked eyes were able to see the process.
The blood spilled by Aurelius was also absorbed into the green liquid, within a minute or two the green liquid made good on what the dragonoid said and finished the repairs to the arena. The dragonoid waved again and the green liquid dissipated, while Brian and Riley was mesmerised throughout the process initiated by the liquid. Aurelius looked towards Jacob, his thoughts were unknown but it was not hard to guess that he was cooking up yet another plan.
Before Brian stepped up to volunteer for the next challenge, Aurelius stepped beside him and spoke.
“ Request for unarmed combat with no skills and armour, not just what you intended to say. If you want the chance at winning of course.”
“Didn’t the Lord only mention that we can only choose our weapons?” Brian replied confused by what Aurelius said.
“The li-Lord did not limit us, the criteria is to first blood and we can choose our weapons to accomplish that. He did not say that we could not see conditions for the challenge, I did not set any because I was confident. You do not feel the same, hence my advice.” Aurelius replied leaving Brian to mull over what he said, however the dragonoid was not a well of patience.
“Volunteer now, before I just send my entire retinue at the lot of you.” Lord Yshavol boomed with annoyance. Brian and Riley paled a little before Brian quickly shouted out.
“I’m next my Lord! But I have a request to make for the battle, due to my own incompetence. I do not possess any skills nor proper equipment, may you grant me unarmed combat without skills or armour as the conditions?”
“Pfft, you would make demands of me? You cretins are only fit for entertainment and you dare to make requests?” The air around Brian grew heavier with each word that came out of Lord Yshavol as the face of the dragonoid turned darker and darker. Aurelius spoke out to help relieve the growing tension.
“Lord Yshavol Thornedge, we do not mean any offense to you great one. Please understand our predicament, we have only just entered into the System and against the elite kobold knights. That you have personally raised, we would need every advantage that you are willing to grant us. Even the meager victory I ecked out was thanks to your graciousness, without you we would be worse off.” Lord Yshavol face was practically filled with smugness even his chin was tilted up, Brian and Riley rubbed their eyes to see if the sharp nose on the dragonoid grew sharper or was it due to their imagination. They looked at the dragonoid again but it was the usual resplendent sheen and smug smile, nothing else looked out of the ordinary.
“It would be beneath me to continue, I suppose that it is an easy enough request to grant. I will allow the condition set by the second challenger, it is gonna make the fight more interesting at least. He does not seem like he would amount to much.” Lord Yshavol laughed a little as he finished speaking, Brian kept his cool from the smarting remarks. Patience would be the key to get through this ordeal, Brian would be a saint, if it meant his survival.
Another kobold knight stepped forward from the remaining 5 after a motion from Lord Ysavol, it started removing the clasps from its chest armour. A clang resounded as the first armour dropped, followed by the greaves and the vambraces. Revealing a brown skinned kobold warrior within the armour as it removed the helmet that hid its features, the kobold warrior had arms the size of a barrel and legs like tree trunks.
The torso holding the very lethal looking limbs, was carrying firm and unyielding muscles. The scaly skin of the kobold warrior seemed to strain under the pressure of holding the muscles creating an imposing look as the kobold warrior stepped forward. Causing a mesmerising roiling mass of poetry in motion.
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Both fighters took the same position that the previous contenders took with Brian casting off the top half of the tunic to reveal his own impressive set of muscles, while it was nowhere near the kobold warrior. Brian clearly put work into maintaining functional muscles, while the muscles did not look as robust as a bodybuilder. He was confident that the work he put in, made him a deadly hand to hand combatant if it was against a human opponent.
Brian observed the kobold warrior in front of him, it carried itself with confidence maybe too much confidence. It looked similar to its master when Lord Yshavol was complimented by Aurelius. With no skills and no armour, Brian believed he now had a non-zero chance of winning.
The blue countdown appeared again with the number 3 along with the ‘doong’ sound, Brian took the chance to regulate his breathing and calming his frazzled mind while he was at it. 2, He took a running stance. He did not manage to figure out why Aurelius and the previous kobold knight did not immediately start the fight, but he was dead set on starting with a high tempo and maintaining it. One, the horn rang out again signalling the start of the match.
Brian poured essence out from his core, he shot out of the starting position. Face tight as he flew forward with each step of his essence filled legs, he brought his arms up ready to deliver the first blow as the kobold warrior facing him was getting bigger and bigger.
The kobold warrior was winding up its right hand for a big swing as Brian and it both closed the distance between them with immense speed, Brian saw the exceptionally telegraphed swing coming in and waited for his chance.
With a roar the kobold warrior lashed out with its right hand throwing a heavy haymaker with all the intention to end it then and there, Brian easily ducked under the haymaker and with his right hand infused with essence sprang up with an uppercut using his right hand aiming right for the kobold warrior’s jaw. The uppercut made the intended connection, throwing the kobold warrior into confusion.
As the kobold warrior reeled backwards from the impact, Brian not letting the chance slip away got within punching distance again and released a barrage of punches onto the chest of his opponent. Each punch was swift and accurate, ribs, solar plexus and livers delivering as many gut punches as he could. However, no blood came out from any of the hits. The only thing it achieved was forcing the combat training of the kobold warrior to surface.
The kobold warrior was shocked into clarity from the pain delivered by Brian, it dragged its claws across the air in furious swipes as it locked onto Brian again free from its confusion. This time the swipes were all within balance and never over-extended, clearly learning from the counter that Brian dished out. Riley gasped as the first swipe almost caught Brian in the chest, her eyes were full of concentration as the fight played out in front of her.
Brian now on the back end was forced to dodge the first, second and the third swipes. The swipes kept coming, until the swipes got faster and faster as the kobold warrior started powering the swipes with essence. Brian frowned at the increased speed, unsure of what he could do in this situation. He figured that outlasting the kobold warrior might not be feasible but he was also afraid of the sharp claws swiping without end. The kobold warrior kept the steady pace, not intending to do any more or any less. A throaty sound came out from the kobold warrior, it was laughing. Brian realised as he saw obvious ridicule in the eyes of the kobold warrior as he dodged another swipe, he gritted his teeth as he saw no way out of his predicament.
Brian dodged another swipe as he jumped to his left to avoid it, his brows were covered in sweat and his upper body was covered in a sheet of glistening sweat too. He did not know how long he had been dodging but he was tired and sooner or later he would messed up his dodge, realising there was no way but to directly confront the kobold warrior.
He had to make sure there was no direct contact with the claws, if a straight up fight was out of the question. He would have to take the kobold warrior down to the ground. Another swipe came in as Brian stepped back to avoid it. However, Brian had no means of counter attacking as the next swipe was already coming in. He decided to take the gamble and waited for the claw to come in, this time he stepped into the strike avoiding the strike by dropping lower than the claws while stepping into the kobold warrior.
Fully expecting to get hit by the next swipe of the kobold warrior if he did not act now, Brian quickly wrapped both arms around the kobold warrior. He poured out the essence within his core, as he dragged the first arm further forward to bring it out of balance. He was met with success as the second claw did not come in to finish him, instead the kobold warrior was now spread out as if he was stretching.
Taking the chance, Brian kicked the out-stretched leg offered to him by the kobold warrior. Causing the warrior to howl in pain as it was forced to do a split, finally seeing results in his efforts. Brian continued his movements, while the warrior was still reacting to the pain he performed an arm bar on the kobold warrior. Making sure both his legs were out of reach of the jaws of the kobold warrior.
The kobold warrior continued howling in pain, but no blood came out. So the match was not called, while Brian kept channeling his essence throughout his body to keep the arm-bar. Facing the immense pain and not having any way to release it as it howled, the kobold warrior bit down on to its tongue causing itself to bleed hoping the pain would end once the match it called.
“First blood has been drawn, The second challenger has won. That was an interesting technique human, what is it called?”
Brian hearing that the win has been called released the hold he had on the kobold warrior, the kobold warrior laid on the floor gasping for air not even feeling the pain from its bleeding tongue. It seemed to feel only relief as it was released from the arm bar.
Brian got up on unsteady feet as he put all his energy into keeping the hold against the much larger opponent, he was glad that the kobold warrior did not slam him into the cold hard ground. He would have lost then and there from just one slam. He wiped his sweat off his brow before he replied to Lord Yshavol in between shallow breaths.
“Tha-ank you, Lord. Its called an arm-bar, its usually used against larger opponents by hyper extending the ar-rm of my opponent and leveraging its own strength I can hold the opponent down while the elbow is under constant pain and agony. If the opponent refuses to surrender I can also break the arm.”
“Interesting, very interesting. I shall have my knights study this form of combat the next time, do you humans have any literature on these techniques?”
“Yes my lord, I’m not sure if any still remain though. We were transported with only our clothing and not our belongings, are there methods to get back our items?”
“So many words, but you find me in a good mood. The Honoured Heavens will also integrate the knowledge your race held and start using it as rewards and items for sale should the objects and knowledge be useful, if you want to know more finish this tutorial. The next challenger can step forward in a minute.”
Brian started walking to the side where Aurelius and Riley was waiting, however a blast ringed out from behind him as he moved. He felt slick and wet splatters rained onto his back along with some slimy chunks. Riley’s scream gave him a hint of what happened as he looked over his shoulder to find flakes of brown skin and some small chunks of brown scale covered meat covering his left shoulder. He felt the urge to vomit as the smell hit him, he held in the urge as best he could and quickly swiped at all the foreign substances on him.
“If you would like the Restoration spell can also fix you up, you can stand near the edge of the arena while I cast the spell on to the arena.” Lord Yshavol spoke with so much ease that it made Brian and Riley’s skin crawl. As the Lord did not even mention anything about the kobold warrior it blasted to death without a warning.