Enraged, Shaquille’s body muscles swelled up. He grinned, revealing his sharp teeth. Just standing at a distance from him was enough to make Lazer feel intimidated. Shaquille was a veteran fighter and surpassed Lazer both in speed and strength. With minimal cover in the surroundings, Lazer suddenly realized that it had been a long time since he faced an opponent like this one on one.
The last time that he experienced a real possibility of death was in the Martyrs’ Colosseum, where he had to confront various monsters using a primitive weapon while overwhelmed by a sense of brutality and violence.
Since then, his opponents had always been humans. He learned to be more cunning and well-versed in various fighting skills—not for self-protection, but for making himself stand out among his lizard companions. This was the only way for him to climb up the ladder and disprove the stereotype that humans are weaker than lizards.
Shaquille swung his scimitar at Lazer.
Lazer bent his body and used the force exerted by Shaquille to push his scimitar away. Lazer then took out another rune device and tossed it in Shaquille’s direction, causing it to explode in front of him. The sparks were markedly disturbing. Although they did not harm Shaquille, they effectively limited his movements.
Lazer found a chance to attack, but his sword was unable to cut into Shaquille’s thick skin; he barely created a shallow wound before being knocked away by Shaquille’s push. Lazer flew a few steps back and bent down to try to stabilize himself.
“Damn bug, have you had enough?!” Shaquille waved off the remaining smoke in the air and growled, gnashing his teeth. “Have you no confidence to beat me without using these pathetic little tricks!?”
“Whoever survives wins. This is what your kingdom has taught me,” said Lazer, swinging away the blood on his sword and looking askance at Shaquille. “What is wrong? Are you afraid of these pathetic little tricks?”
“Bullshit! I am not—"
Lazer threw another rune device at Shaquille before he could finish his sentence.
Shaquille roared out of agitation and closed his eyes again. Lazer took advantage of the distraction and attacked Shaquille again but saw his sword being repelled by Shaquille, who used his other arm to grab Lazer’s right arm—despite having his eyes half-closed, Shaquille was able to capture Lazer’s movements based on Lazer’s desire to kill. Such combat instincts surprised Lazer. Shaquille refused to let go of Lazer’s arm and forcefully pulled Lazer towards him. He moved his feet forward and tried to pin Lazer to the ground to break his wrist.
Lazer broke out in cold sweat and threw his last remaining rune device at Shaquille. Shaquille closed his eyes to endure the flash and stubbornly refused to let go of Lazer’s arm. Lazer revealed a blade hidden in the cuff of his left sleeve, stabbing fiercely at Shaquille and successfully stabbing his waist. Unable to tolerate the pain, Shaquille finally let go of Lazer’s arm.
Lazer seized the opportunity to distance himself from Shaquille. The weapon Lazer had on the back of his hand resembled a thin, long dagger that resembled an stitching awl needle. This weapon could be used to attack the unscaled parts of lizards’ bodies such as their throats and parts of their face.
Shaquille stared at him, this time with more than anger; he really wanted to kill Lazer now.
