A miraculous recovery speed.
A skilled spear-wielder.
Fabian was already a tough opponent with just these two traits.
Sure enough, as the 2nd ranked Elf Warrior, he had no visible weaknesses, and the reach difference was too extreme to fight with my longsword like usual.
But.
‘He’s no comparison to Old Man Kang-hyuk or the Cheonma.’
[Those two are real monsters.]
A little annoying Ear Goblin.
That was how I concluded my evaluation of Fabian in my head.
With my hands relaxed, I focused my magical power through my magical power tattoos and slowly approached.
Left-hand magical power tattoo, 10 o’clock, wire.
Right-hand magical power tattoo, 7 o’clock, long spear.
I looped the wire around my wrist, letting it hang from both hands, then grabbed the long spear.
Similar to the long spear Fabian used, it had a spearhead shape.
“Ha! You think you can charge at me with a spear?”
“Why use a spear when you’re so small? Is it insecurity?”
“You bastard!”
Unable to hold back my anger, Fabian thrust his spear deeply, and I angled my spear against his.
Then I twisted the spearheads and pulled them back hard.
That was my plan to seal away the very pattern of spear fighting.
I figured I was at a disadvantage if we fought with spears anyway.
“You’re using shallow tactics!”
Fabian resisted the flow of power and approached me, bringing his left hand to his waist.
In that instant, a number appeared above Fabian’s head, and a mirror fragment materialized.
Through the mirror fragment, I saw a glimpse of Fabian’s future before his regression.
After my eyes turned dull, I had roughly 8 seconds to see his future without penalty.
During those 8 seconds, I etched as much information into my retinas as possible.
Fabian pulled a dagger from his waist and threw it at ‘me.’
The dagger bounced off my defensive coat, and at the same moment, Fabian manipulated something in his left hand, causing the sheen of my defensive coat to vanish abruptly.
Immediately, Fabian let go of his spear with his right hand and pulled out a grenade he had hidden in his chest, yanking the pin and stuffing it into ‘my’ coat.
And with that, as Fabian landed a kick on ‘me,’ the future I could see without penalty ended.
Returning to the original moment, I quickly raced my thoughts.
‘Once he manipulated something, my defensive coat was neutralized.’
[Seems like he already knows about you.]
‘Seeing his preparations, he’s surprisingly meticulous.’
Just like before, Fabian threw a dagger from his waist.
As the dagger bounced off, he tried to manipulate something with his left hand.
“Do you have a rotor hidden in your hand?”
“What!!!!!”
I had already released my hands from the spear.
With a dagger materializing in my right hand, I slammed it down toward Fabian’s left hand.
The moment the dagger pierced through Fabian’s left hand, a small plastic piece fell to the ground, split in half.
That must be what nullified my defensive coat.
I immediately yanked the dagger out and swung it diagonally toward Fabian’s chest.
–SHAK!
As Fabian’s clothes tore open, grenades hidden inside were revealed.
Fabian let go of his spear to stop my advance, but my hand was faster.
With my left hand, I yanked out the pins from the grenades and shoved them into him.
But.
–KABOOM!
Fabian stamped down hard on my left foot with his right foot, preventing the distance between us from widening.
Then he grabbed my right hand tightly.
As if he would never let go.
“Ha ha ha ha! Unlike me, you won’t escape unscathed!”
“Why are you trying to blow up together?”
“That’s right!”
Oh, that’s great.
“You too?”
“……What?”
I reached with my left hand to my right side, yanking out the safety pins from a stash of grenades I had hidden inside.
Before the fight started, Hyeji had just asked me to keep them safe, never thinking I’d use them like this.
Every time the safety pins clattered to the ground, Fabian’s smile faded, and his eyes flickered nervously.
“I’m too!”
“You, you crazy bastard!!!!”
Fabian desperately tried to flee from me.
But this time, I stepped hard on Fabian’s left foot and twisted my right hand, tightly gripping Fabian’s left hand.
“Me too!!!”
“This son of a bitch!!!”
A red number rose above Fabian’s head.
In that instant, amidst numerous explosion sounds, smoke billowed between us.
–BOOM!!!!
The watching elves screamed and stared in horror at the explosion.
As the smoke cleared and they saw us, they each let out sighs of relief and despair.
The sigh of relief was because Fabian still stood.
And the sigh of despair was because I was still standing.
Of course, neither of us was in good condition.
My defensive coat had lost its sheen, and I was bleeding from my right side, unable to absorb all the shock.
Some fragments must have grazed my thighs, as blood oozed from my pants.
On the other hand, Fabian’s body was grotesquely torn, revealing the ‘Mysteries of the Human Body (ver. Elf)’ in all its detail.
Though his wounds were healing, they were healing at a pace far slower than before.
I glared at Fabian and laughed.
“Ha, damn, the door-fixing guy finally got repaired.”
“Are you actually insane!”
Then I noticed that Fabian’s lower half was in tatters.
To shake his mental state during this standoff, I began taunting him.
“You’re useless anyway as a little one, so I tidied up a bit.”
“AAAAHHH! I WILL RECOVER!!!!”
“Don’t worry if you disappear. I’ll take responsibility for your wife.”
“Get lost, you homewrecker!!!”
Fabian glanced at my lower half, nearly screaming his last words.
“6.9 cm little elf bastard. This is the difference in physicality.”
“Shut up! I’m not a little one!!!”
[‘You little elf bastard shouldn’t be shaking at 6.9!’]
‘Yo, you crazy bitch. You local, right?’
As Fabian spat indignantly, I busily moved my hands entangled in the wire.
“UAH! It’s coming to where my husband cannot reach!”
“Please shut up!!!”
“I’m sorry for losing to a little bastard of a lower race, dear.”
“AAAAKK!!!!!”
“But… I… am so happy as a woman now.”
“Die!!!!!”
Losing all sense, Fabian swung the arming sword with his right hand while pulling the dagger in reverse with his left.
Fabian swung the arming sword horizontally and the dagger vertically toward my head simultaneously.
In that situation, I was unable to move easily due to the injury in my thigh.
I raised my hand to grab Fabian’s left hand, making the dagger pierce through my palm.
With my left hand, I firmly gripped Fabian’s right wrist that wielded the arming sword.
Seeing my hand get pierced by the dagger, the watching elves cheered, thinking it was a clear victory.
“Die, Sapiens!”
“Hey, leave the little guy alone!”
“Who do you think you can match against, you inferior bastard!”
Hearing the cheers, Fabian mockingly laughed at me and tried to retract his hands.
But.
“Huh?…”
“Finally caught you, you piece of shit.”
That attempt was thwarted.
If Fabian had been just a little calmer, he would have aimed for my body.
Especially targeting my bleeding right side would have put me in significant danger.
But because he didn’t,
Fabian would pay the price.
Taking advantage of my previous taunt, I reaped the results of the wires I had strewn around.
Finally, my hand and Fabian’s hand had tangled in the wires, making it hard for us to separate.
Adding my grasping strength to the mix, Fabian’s hands could not break free.
Ignoring the pain of the dagger still embedded in my right hand, I condensed magical power in both hands.
“Let go!!!!”
“A door like that is trash!”
–BOOOOM!!
Both hands released the Cheonma Repulsor simultaneously.
Fabian’s hands, gripping my left and right wrists, literally exploded.
Only some muscle and bone barely remained.
Meanwhile, the blade that pierced my right hand shattered completely, but the wound had become slightly larger than before.
It was certainly fatal damage.
But still, it didn’t pose a significant problem for using my right hand immediately.
The elves were now silent, all watching our duel in awe.
With eyes mixed with rage and hate, Fabian screamed at me.
“This superior being will never lose to an inferior being like you!”
I squeezed Fabian’s ruined hands tightly.
Despite groaning in pain, he wouldn’t stop talking.
“You’re just a short-lived race!!! Fighting so hard for a mere mongrel!!!”
“A mere mongrel?”
“You fleabags daring to crawl up to a superior race, how ridiculous!”
With his still healing face, Fabian was laughing madly as he babbled.
“No matter how much you struggle, filthy-blooded inferior races—!”
“Shut up.”
–KLANG!!!!
“AAAHHHH!”
I slammed my head down onto Fabian’s head, gripping his hands.
The sound of my insane hardness colliding with Fabian’s skull began to resonate.
It sounded like metal clashing together.
At least as the 2nd ranked Elf Warrior, Fabian was holding on without collapsing yet.
But that’s all he was doing.
Nothing more, nothing less.
I looked at the screaming Fabian and said.
“Blood doesn’t determine superiority or inferiority.”
–KLANG!!!!
I slammed Fabian’s head down again.
“The one who wins.”
–KLANG!!!
The sound grew louder.
“The one who survives.”
–TENG!!!
[……The sound seems to have changed?]
‘…Let it go this time.’
“A true superior being.”
“Stop, stop……”
I continued to headbutt him, ringing Fabian’s head like a bell.
After all, it was nearing the end of the year in this storyline.
And every time I slammed down, Fabian’s head vibrated intensely, and before the vibrations subsided, new ones began to resonate.
When I delivered the final headbutt, I heard a crack in Fabian’s skull.
With that, he finally collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
I looked at the fallen Fabian and said.
“And these days, the trend is for the Sigorja’s breed to be the best.”
The first duel.
The battle between me and Fabianer.
It was my victory.
