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Chapter 289: Underdog

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Siva’s eyes were fixed on that image of the large Godhammer that’s about to meet his face.

Cramer was viciously merciless and he doesn’t want to hold back any of his blows one bit.

He wanted to taste the limits of this battle so he never chose to hold back his punches. He wanted to push Siva to his limit, to take this challenge in a serious manner, to bring about that beast that he saw in the videos of Dragona that day.

No words spoken in that one moment but he was laughing in this –wishing even– that Siva wouldn’t die with this strike.

And as if to grant this wish, although Siva’s eyes were focused on that descending Godhammer, making Scion, who’s hands were grasping each other in a prayer gesture in front of her supple chests, worried… his body moved in a way that was weirdly impossible to explain in Humanity’s standard of comprehension.

A quarter of a meter away from him, Siva’s body inclined in an angle; his already lowered upper body descended even lower.

He almost knelt on the ground on his right knee, inclining his body… to let the Godhammer pass through the left side of his face and avoid him.

“Tsk. Not yet…” a low sounding complaint drifted in the air that Cramer picked as a murmur.

Time seemed to flow slowly on that moment and although it all happened in a span of a moment; the audience don’t know if Siva would be able to survive this attack or not; but Cramer knew it clearly himself that this was just the beginning and that his victim wasn’t actually a victim for Siva had the air of calmness in his shoulders when he angled his body to dodge and survive his attack.

BANG!!

The stage resonated with a loud explosive sound as cracks spread around that area where Siva was standing on. Dust clouds flying off immediately, something diametrically smaller than the slabs of smoothened rocks that made up the stage shot out from that fog of brown heavy smokes and flipped in the air, landing brilliantly, while making distance against Cramer’s overbearing force.

“That’s Siva!”

“He survived!”

“My Gaaaaahd~~~!! I held my breath deep!”

“Is he still human?! I was sure it was a hit!”

Surprised exclaims exploded from the audience and from the glass-windowed veranda on the 3rd level, Scion, Agatha, and Cassiopeia heaved their sighs in unison, making FlowerLord sigh and shake her head in turn as well.

“Can’t control it yet…” another complaint drifted in the air at that moment.

“What are you mumbling about?” Cramer asked.

Siva wasn’t holding his Godhammer when he had emerged from the cloud of dust smokes and Cramer didn’t follow up immediately as he walked out of that cloud like an emerging war god; some of the smokes even sticking close to his body as if they were his fumes, while his own Godhammer was nestled on his right shoulder.

His calm and steady pace was so good to look at in the camera and Kathleen Brew, above the stage on her (slave) wyvern, giggled at the showman-quality that Cramer was displaying.

“This is going to be huge!” her cat ears twitched.

Siva dusted himself as he stood straight but there is no smile plastered on his face as he was still stabilizing the pain in his body brought upon by the pressure of that strike.

The white mask on the upper portion of his face hid his eyes but even with that, Cramer felt really satisfied as he knew that the entire book-worth of things he wanted to convey to Siva was delivered in that one single attack.

“You’re fast at dodging.” Cramer beamed at him.

“You’re faster to recover. I admit that you are far stronger than me on that regard.”

Having said that, Siva lowered his center of gravity and prepared a tackle position, like a bull with his arms serving as a horn and one foot in the vanguard, ready to be launched.

Siva looked funny when seen in the cameras but this imposing presence, when amplified by his identity, wasn’t something funny to look at on Cramer’s vision.

Cramer felt it and as if holding a katana and not a 45we-heavy Godhammer on his right hand that is comparable to almost 130kg, his left thumb and fingers in an “L” position, palm against Siva, he never put away the smile plastered on his face as he made a pulling motion with his body then like an arrow, he shot forth towards Siva.

“Haaaaahh!!”

This one single step traversed an entire 4m gap and in but a second step, Cramer was already in front of the white-masked farmer-dressed Siva.

“Control it…” Siva mumbled, or rather, tried to give an order to himself.

“Stop mumbling!”

Cramer yelled heatedly. Siva was surprised at just how fast this charging speed was but the moment did not allow for any hesitation as, with a charge of his own, he met Cramer’s hammer charge with an agile body maneuver.

XIAAAAA!!

Again, with a fast and nigh-impossible angle and body motion, Siva’s body arched to the left and let the Godhammer pass through his right side to where he used to be; Cramer’s entire right flank an opening for him to plant a deadly smash.

…or that’s how it should be.

But Siva didn’t do it and he gasped.

Instead, the eyes behind his white mask widened in surprise as he moved his arms in front of him to block a right uppercut at the very next moment.

“How?!” Siva yelled in astonishment.

The punch is blocked but the weight of the attack wasn’t. Since he was halfway through his step, his body was also halfway floating and so it was easy for Cramer to lift him up with his fist and punch-hit him away like a tennis ball.

PANG!!

A sonorous blunt yet squarely sounding hit rung.

Even the audience was surprised by this sound, but more than that, they were all surprised by this very scene.

The Godhammer was floating but it wasn’t being carried by Cramer’s hand and was instead literally floating in front of him!

Many from the audience thought that Cramer was cheating but if he was cheating, the umpire would have already called it so and the point of this duel would have been useless.

And so, they remained silent.

“It’s his Initial Ability.” Someone from the audience said, “He rarely displays it but it’s Cramer’s Initial Ability…. [Stay in Place]. Those who had invested some of their 100 free points in DEX should be able to explain it further.”

“Right.” Someone not far away who heard this claim cut in, “It wasn’t even a rare ability. Even if you only invest 10 points in DEX, you’d still see it there in the list. Some Rangers and Sword Mages choose this ability to help them carry their items easily as it saves them the trouble of casting the Telekinesis Spell. Mana consumption is almost the same but this Initial Ability saves you the trouble of saving all the resources for its talisman, not to mention you also save the trouble of the cast time.”[1]

“It’s a famous a convenient Initial Ability.” A third man followed the claim.

*****

While the audiences were trying to solve the puzzle of Cramer’s feat, Siva was already landing with a magnificent twirl to the ground.

But just as his feet landed, he did not have the time to collect all his bearing as he just bent back his body to dodge a sweeping back-handed strike of Cramer’s Godhammer.

The wind pressure of that attack could be felt an inch away from his chin and he flipped tree times like a ninja backwards then stepped back six times before leaning his body to the right, dodging a follow up kick, then taking a few paces back again to create distance from Cramer.

Cramer was really like Hagrid…… like a berserker, he seeks his opponent relentlessly and he never stops his attack, never giving Siva a chance to go and unleash a counter and break his momentum.

He was really determined to summon that monster he saw in Dragona that day.

“What’s wrong, Siva? Fight me!”

After this small provocation, Cramer made another charge –accompanied by a fake crashing motion of his Godhammer– and delivered a falling fist to the half-way dodging Siva and smashed his cross-armed block attempt, planting his feet slightly to the ground.

This was an opening and Cramer exploited it with a left kick on Siva’s body.

“Argh!!”

Cramer’s vicious kick landed squarely on Siva but he wasn’t finished as he also unleashed another kick that landed directly on Siva’s left flank.

POW!!

It was an impossible sound to make but it is there and it sounded so painful that the audience could only imagine if the Neutral Zone anti-damage spell was working properly or not.

Siva was thrown off his feet and fell towards his right like a fallen tree. He smashed on the ground and skidded for two meters, before flipping with his hands again to stand on his feet.

Cramer’s fighting style wasn’t elegant as Karim’s, it wasn’t imperiously graceful like Hagrid’s, nor was it as magnificently showy and refined as Kladis’s swordsmanship; in fact, Cramer’s posture was a mess and his form was painful to look at, but it was still strikingly and domineeringly whole like a complete set because all of his movements had meaning and when his attacks connects, you could still feel the pain despite being just a third eye in the sidelines.

This was a style and presence fashioned by years upon years of piled up experiences fighting in the streets and spending enough time in the jungle.

Cramer was an American ex-soldier and his body was trained not in conventional warfare but in the art and science of Guerilla frontline.

He was trainer and he was really good at his job.

Although his expertise was the bow and rifle, he was one who enjoyed a brawl and because of this nature, it was hard to be himself in the real world so he chose to unleash this fierceness in RPG: Terroa……… until he was convinced by the ideals Thorn presented to him when he joined his ranks.

When Siva raised his head to look at Cramer, he was shocked to discover the Godhammer —flying directly at his face!

Cramer had just thrown it at him!!

There was no time to think. Reflex was important.

CLANG!!

It was a magnificent yet weird sound to hear a bang of something solid hitting flesh.

As a matter of fact, or rather, in the first place, was it even possible to create that sound?

But indeed it was impossible since what Cramer’s throw had hit was Siva’s own Godhammer that he used to block that attack.

It was better to receive a slight knock, than to be smashed heavily by direct contact.

This is really Siva’s specialty…. paradigm shifting!

He copes up with critical moments by changing his equipment or shifting his fighting style. He could be a swordsman, a caster, an archer, a gunslinger, a brawler, or a BlackTech user.

This was the strength of Engineers! They may be weak in all aspects and mastery of skills, but they cope up with their weaknesses by using multiple inventions with mechanical functions and special abilities.

Still, he was thrown off-balance and inclined back, never having the time to completely recover his ground as Cramer was already charging over.

“Tsk! Even at this point, I can’t control it…” it was this thinking-out-loud moments that are starting to tick off Cramer.

Siva clicked his tongue and forced his legs to endure the stress as he bent over to swipe-throw his own Godhammer to Cramer who was just two meters away from him.

“Is this your limit? Stop mumbling!” Cramer yelled.

Cramer dodged to his right, the one with the most opening against Siva, and took a charging open-armed stance going for a tackle!

With a jumping lunge, the two meters gap within the two of them was shortened but the moment that Cramer was delayed gave Siva enough time to go back on his feet and make a pose not too far off from Cramer’s street fighting-stance.

Cramer launched a punch on Siva’s face and Siva did the same.

A large grown man against a normal-sized teen… was a mismatch from the very beginning.

But…………

[You are inside the Killing Zone.]

[Your defenses are reduced by 70%]

“Are you getting serious now?” Cramer was rather happy than surprised.

The sound of their fists hitting each other could be heard resounding even in the furthest parts of the open arena, thanks to the speakers, and this fist brawl without weapon was more exciting to watch than the earlier clash!

—no.

In fact, it was even more exciting this way than the other PPVs of professional boxers in the ring.

Now this is what you call a duel between men!

Cramer was big and so he had big advantages in almost every area but Siva had the [Killing Zone] and so his disadvantages were neutralized by his increased damage that hurt more than the limits of the Neutral Zone could reduce.

Ignoring sound facts about their weight divisions, this was a sensational fight between an underdog Siva and a champion Cramer.

The two staggered back three steps but just like earlier, Cramer was the first to recover and made a comeback punch to the still recovering Siva.

It was the difference between their experiences and it was also the difference between the two’s strength divisions!

Siva made a right back step. He faced Cramer’s incoming right punch with a glare and another set of courage from his own reserves.

“Raaaaaahhhh!!!”

“Ahahaha!!”

Siva’s roar echoed and Cramer’s laughter rung.

Two simultaneous punches connected with each other again and both their weights were put into their punches, with only them knowing who was the stronger and more resilient to damage and the blunt shock.

Staggering five steps each, Cramer’s laughter was the epitome of his satisfaction.

Terroa was his hunting ground and his stage. This is the place he treats as his second home and his fights in this place were all heart-felt matches, with this one being one of the most exciting one.

“More! Show me your power!” Cramer was really ecstatic and aside from proving his hunting skills with the bow and rifle, street fights were also his favorite sport.

Siva was gritting his teeth. For some reason, he had really miscalculated his opponent. He had overestimated his abilities.

He had greatly belittled the people and the world.

“I need that weapon.” But in this fight, his greatest motivation was the ownership of the Godhammer, the GOD amongst all Blunt Weapons, the Mjolnir!

He has the Hand of Midas, the Black Ender, and then the Godhammer.

Aside from these, the Sword of Triune was a useless sword full of rust while The Chalice, the Skeleton Key, the Dead Man’s Chest, and Naiki’s Scepter of Divinity are all items that can’t be used in almost all of his fights, including this one.

It’s his current arsenal.

But the Mjolnir…. it was a Legendary Weapon and aside from the Hand of Midas, it was the only one that can be used with the Warship Akhenaton.

In the end, the Akhenaton Humanoid Warship can only assimilate Legendary-ranked equipments and above. And the Godhammer was one of it.

“If I lose it, I can’t fight against my enemies!”

That’s why he had to fight. He had to agree with this duel no matter what to not only retain his legal and valid ownership of the Mjolnir, but to also gain the full support and wholehearted help of a strong player like Cramer.

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Motivation drives everything but….

Will Siva’s ‘something’ helps win this fight?

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