The realization annoyed Burge to the core. It's as if he was being toyed by someone weaker than him.

In truth, Burge was really stronger than Emon in terms of stats. However, Emon had experience handling his knife as he was able to train with them for some time before the outbreak started.

After the apocalypse started, he somehow felt that his experience on the knives became more defined and clearer. That somehow became his talent during this dangerous apocalypse.

He may be weaker than the muscle-filled Burge, but he knew he would be able to contend with him using knife techniques alone.

Suddenly, Burge made a sharp while swiping his sword towards a tree branch with all his might.

As the branch separated from the trunk, Emon and Burge also started to fall down due to them losing their foothold.

However, unlike Emon, Burge was not flustered as it was his plan all along. While mid-air, Burge suddenly spun his body, delivering a strong kick towards Emon's chest.

This time, it was a clean hit and Emon's eyes bulged like a balloon as he endured the pain coursing through his body.

The pain he felt was not the end as it was then followed by a pain originating from his back when he landed on the ground.

As he felt the excruciating pain, he suddenly saw a knee descending towards his face. Gritting his teeth, Emon forcefully endured the pain before rolling sideways.

A loud 'boom' noise suddenly resounded beside him as Burge's knee hit the ground.

"It fucking hurts!" Burge commented as he rubbed his aching right knee.

However, he didn't dwell with it for too long as he immediately pursued the rolling Emon, delivering kicks that the latter would manage to avoid every last second.

The sword on Burge's hand might be sharp and was coated with poison, but he knew how fragile it was. He wouldn't risk it hitting the ground and breaking. That would be quite a loss.

A stalemate occurred as Burge's kept on kicking the ground while Emon kept on dodging by rolling sideways.

Meanwhile, Damian and Dexter were still on staring contests since earlier.

On one hand, Dexter was only trying to occupy Damian so he wouldn't be able to reinforce Burge. He was unwilling to act first, and if possible, he would surely settle down on a staring contest all day long.

On the other hand, Damian was also being careful. The fragile sword in his hands has the same origin as the sword in Burge's hand. They were fragile yet extremely sharp. They even coated the blade's surface with a mutated toad poison before covering it with sticky bone fragments that came from the mutated lizards.

He was unsure if Dexter had any hidden weapon that might have caused his sword to break. Just like Burge, he felt that it would be a loss if it's the case.

Just as Dexter was trying to relax his tense nerve a little, he suddenly saw Damian making a move.

He was flustered resulting in him staggering back. However, it also somehow managed to save his life as at that moment, a fist was also thrown towards his face. The fist missed the tip of his nose by an inch. How lucky.

However, Damian didn't rest there as he swung his sword towards Dexter's head. Dexter realizes his impending doom, a cold shiver runs down his spine as the poison-coated blade gets closer and closer to his face.

Swoosh!

"Fuck, almost got me there!" Rolling backward with all his might, Dexter felt elated that he somehow managed to avoid that crisis.

'Four!'

Dexter stomped his foot firmly and with a burst of strength, he lunged directly towards Damian along with the sword in his hand.

'Three!'

Swoosh!

The sword on Dexter's hand traveled swiftly towards Damian's chest.

'Two!'

However, strangely enough, Damian didn't move and only stared at the incoming sword calmly.

"One!"

As if a verdict, the moment Dexter heard the word "One!", his sword suddenly halted in mid-air, stopping right next to Damian's chest with an inch gap between it.

'Huh? What's happening?' A bewildered look surfaced on Dexter's face as he stared at the strange arm in front of him.

'Why can't I feel anything? What's happening?'

Slowly, his sword dropped to the ground without pretense.

Clang* Clang* Clang*

'Eh? Why is the world spinning? What exactly happened?'

Dexter's mind was still functioning properly, however, his body would no longer respond to his thought.

Bam*

As his body dropped to the ground, a trace of blood could be seen flowing down his face. The tip of his nose was no longer there and what replaced it was a red liquid flowing towards his cheeks.

Dexter was screaming for his body to respond as he saw Damian inching closer to him.

Damian looked down on the paralyzed Dexter as he raised the sword in his hand.

The glossy sharp sword now has a blood-red spot on one corner of its blade.

"The poison of the mutated toad was really potent. The sword only managed to graze the tip of his nose but the effect still managed to surface after 4 seconds just as expected. I'm glad that Burge thought about coating the blade with the bone of the sticky lizard, else if we accidentally cut ourselves even a little... phew*"

"This dude is all talk though, he didn't even notice that the sword managed to graze him from that last swipe."

Hearing Damian's mumbling, Dexter couldn't help but become dumbfounded. 'I was hit? When?'

"Well, the effects would most likely last for a minute before wearing off, better finish this dude already."

Hearing that, Dexter's finger seems to twitch a little. However, it was all he could do for now with the effect of the toad's poison.

Damian raised the sword in his before pointing its tip to Dexter's chest.

'Fuck! Stop please stop! I don't want to die!' Dexter kept on screaming inside while regret and reluctance were oozing from his unmoving eyes.

Just as the sword was about to descend a sudden voice suddenly resounded forcing Damian to stop in his tracks and stare at where the voice had come from.

"Hohoho!"